danger because one of the down stream effects of lying all the time from the oval office is a decrease in trust and a feature, not a bug for those folks who want to hold on to power and that's the danger for democracy we need to confront. >> thanks very much and thanks to all of you. anderson starts now. good evening. if you've been wondering what it would be like when the plug is pulled on donald trump, that certainly hasn't happened yet but more republicans seem willing to at least consider it with house democrats preparing an alta may tum, including mitch mcconnell and liz cheney of wyoming. remember, it was yesterday house republican leader kevin mccarthy was telling his members that the president had indeed shouldered some of the blame for the insurrection he incited. the republican membership is telling them to vote in their

conscience on the president and mockery of congress mccarthy's faith in him. >> what is your goal in what happened at the capitol? is your personal responsibility? >> if you read my speech and many people have done it and i've seen it both in the papers and in the media, on television, it's been analyzed and people thought that what i said was totally appropriate. they've analyzed my speech and my words and my final paragraph, my final sentence, and everybody to the t thought it was appropriate. >> because of course, why wouldn't he say that? of course he would not take responsibility, just as he took no responsibility for the pandemic spinning out of control saying quote it is what it is when about 1,000 people dying a day. it more than 4,000 now. he took no responsibility for that or testing failures saying quote i don't take responsibility at all and finally, leader mccarthy seems to have finally gotten the message and "the new york times"

citing people familiar with mitch mcconnell eets 's thinkin told associates he believes president trump committed impeachable offenses and he believes it will make it easier to purge him from the party from the man that has done anything to dry clean the president's dirty laundry, blocking and mocking anybody who notices the stick and the president reportedly lost him, too. not that he cares about him or anyone else. his lawyers and advisors have been urging the president to tone down rhetoric. he's not. because even as he threw in several stock phrases today about the need for the country to heal, he continued to deepen the wounds. >> the inmpeachment hoax is a continuation of the most vicious witch hunt in the history of our country and causing tremendous anger and division and pain far greater than most people will ever understand, which is very

dangerous for the usa especially at this very tender time. >> one of several threats the president made today just minutes later, he said this. >> respect for law enforcement and the great people within law enforcement so many are here is the foundation of the maga agenda. >> i mean, come on. he actually said that today. he stood by in the white house reportedly gleefully watching on television as capitol police officers were attacked. the so-called maga crowd killed, murdered a police officer when they stormed the capitol based on the president's lies and the president's encouragement. they also beat at least one other, another one, another police officer to within inches of his life. dozens of officers were injured, some tasered by the supposedly police loving attackers according to several reports. these people who wrapped

themselves in the flags, some used a flag pole to beat a police officer. it wasn't just police being hurt in melee, it was individual acts of violence like this up close and personal. how dare a president of the united states says respect for law, for law enforcement is the foundation of his agenda. come on. thankfully, we did hear from law enforcement today, fbi and justice officials briefed the public on what these law lovelo lovloving attackers did and encouragement. >> when looking at significant felony cases tied to sedition and conspiracy, as people know there were pipe bombs found outside the capitol. in addition to that, we've focused on and emphasized on assaults and batteries on police officers both federal officers and local npd officers that were

assaulted. >> assault and battery on police officers and to be perfectly clear, this was carried out by people carrying trump flags and wearing trump caps whipped into a frenzy by the president and others at that trump rally. this was his followers beating police officers, not showing respect for them menacing them, cornering them, hunting them, trampling them and beating them and as we said, murdering one. the president knows this. according to the reporting, "the washington post", he could not respond to pleas for help from trapped lawmakers because he was too busy watching it all on tv. he was glued to the tube. quoting "the washington post" reporting quote, he was hard to reach and you know why? because it was live tv said one close trump advisor. if it's tvo, he hits pause and takes the calls. if it's live tv he watches it and he was just watching it all unfold. watching an attack on democracy, watching people hunt the halls

of congress for his loyal vice president mike pence to hang him and zip ties searching for pelosi and others. what do you think the president was thinking watching that and not responding to send in national guard and followers ordering them to stop? he watching hoping it would continue? was he hoping the man he tweeted against, his own vice president would be killed and nancy pelosi would be and usher in a new trump era in america and ivanka could take over after that and then don junior? it's possible the president could have hoped this would result in him continuing on in power or in some new form of power. but if he didn't want it to go on, then why didn't he act to stop it? remember, his first video message after the worst of the attack was him expressing his love for the attackers calling them special people.

when sheldon attleson died today, he was quick to send condo condolences. he hasn't sent anything to the family of brian sicknick. he's been too busy making threats calling in so many words for unity or else. to say the obvious to any republican looking for a reason not to impeach or convict the president is not giving them much to work with and today, house and senate republican leaders gave permission to end this. question remains how many will finally step up. jim accosta is at the white houe with breaking news on what the vice president's next move is. jim, what is going on? >> reporter: house democrats demanded vice president pence invoke the 25th amendment and attempt to force the president from power and that constitutional manner. vice president pence has just fired off a letter to the house speaker nancy pelosi informing her he does not support invoking the 25th amendment and does not

believe it's in the best interest of the nation or constitution so the next step is impeachment and democrats are poised to impeach the president of the united states for the second time only this time around they tre are going to be republicans getting on board. the house republican from wyoming, liz cheney, the former daughter of the vice president and i talked to, you know, i talked to a trump advisor this evening who said listen, trump is in serious trouble tonight. republicans in the house and the senate may decide that now is the time to quote tear the band-aid off. this advisor went on to say looking at what mitch mcconnell, the senate republican leader did today in the senate essentially sending a signal to his caucus that they can go ahead and vote however they want in all of this, that the presidents' days could be numbered and by that i don't mean the number eight as in how many days he has left in office. it could be fewer than that. i did talk to a senior trump

campaign advisor that said some of the president's advisors are trying in vain to warn and threaten and intimidate fellow republicans not to vote to impeach the paresident and remoe him from office. >> they're scared of their own base. i mean, that's the situation a lot of these republican members of congress are in. they don't want to be like, you know, yelled at in every airport for the rest of their life like lindsey graham has been. is the white house concerned there could be a ground swell? it's hard to imagine in congress, you know, the senate may be one thing but, you know, in congress and the house you have all these republicans who even after the attacks still stood up to contest the results of the election. >> yeah, the president and i think, anderson, perhaps at no other point has he been more so in this position.

he is not most precarious position he's been in politically as president of the united states. he now has members of his own party saying out loud that they're willing to vote to remove him from office when he just has about a week or so left until the end of his administration. you know, his own advisors have been urging him almost begging him to please tone down the rhetoric. you mentioned this a few moments ago saying you have to tone down the rhetoric because you're running the risk of potentially being prosecuted for inciting an insurrection but sued for money that potentially he doesn't have after he leaves office and so they've been trying to warn him over and over and over again he's putting himself in a very serious position and the president has as you were just pointing out a few minutes ago, he's been watching this on tv not really taking seriously how damaged he is. he is not a lame duck anymore, anderson. he is a wounded duck.

and his days may be numbered and as i've said, may not be the number eight, anderson. >> jim acosta, thanks. joining us sean patrick maloney. what is your reaction to vice president pence rejecting the speaker's call to invoke the 25th amendment? >> reporter: it's just the latest in a disappointing failure. the president should resign barring the cabinet and vice president should do their duty but we of course, assume they won't. we've all learned that by now. that's why tomorrow we'll move forward to do our duty to hold this president accountable. >> do you believe there will be significantly more house republicans who vote to impeach beyond the small hand full who have already announced their intention to do so? a republican source says from ten to 25 members of the party and house may vote to impeach. >> reporter: well, i don't know. i'll believe it when i see it. we've watched for years as they look the other way during kids

in cages or payments to porn stars or other scandals and /or corruption of this administration and the duty they have swore an oath to uphold when they joined the congress and recognize they are taking a tough vote but right now is the time to stand up and be counted. >> mitch mcconnell signaling according to multiple reports he's furious with the president and open to impeachment. how likely in your view is the senate would actually convict the president seems very heavy lift in terms of numbers. >> we don't know. it's a dynamic situation. it's about time republicans found their voice and moral c compass. remember, we have the votes to impeach the president in the house. we're going to do our duty. we'll hold him accountable in the house. it might be with some republican votes but it is the republicans in the senate that hold the

keys. they can remove this president if they choose to do their duty. >> do you think senator mcconnell actually is genuine in an effort to distance from the president? i mean, clearly he's enabled this president and, you know, as much as he possibly could, up until now. >> well, i don't know and i don't know what calculations, you know, there is a lot of people finding religion with one week to go in the administration and violent attack on the capitol. i mean it. my parents went to church every day. we will welcome them back, but they must admit their wrongdoing and be held accountable for the transgressions that have brought us to this point, and for those who continue to dissemble or lie for this president to spread the mistruth that the election was stolen, well, they need to be held accountable, too. >> congressman maloney, appreciate your time, thank you. >> thank you. author of a number of best

sellers. thanks for being with us. there has been a lot of movement from republicans around president trump and impeachment given all we've seen from mcconnell's stance on impeachment to liz cheney starting to publicly say they will vet to impn vote to impeac trump, do you think this is a tipping point for president trump? >> yeah, i think, anderson, what we've seen today is he's going to be impeached, and he's going to be impeached to some degree. we don't know how much. in a bipartisan way by democrats and republicans. i think that's a very important message. it's a very important message to people who want to do this again and it's a very important message to history. the mark of shame is going to be on trump's forehead forever as it deserves to be. he will be the first president in history to have been twice impeached and he deserves it. when you look -- i want to say one thing. you've done so well tonight, anderson, cnn, others, we're now learning so much more about what happened up there that day.

not just about the people who were tragically murdered and died in this but also just the amount of planning that went into it. >> yeah. >> i think once we fully understand it, we're going to want to impeach him a third time. >> yeah, i mean, as the more -- the details of it come out and the personal acts of horror and viciousness, it's just -- it just gets worse and worse. the last time i interviewed you was january 4th, two days before this attack. you said then, you said wednesday is going to be a historic day in american history. it will be the first time in our history we'll see a legislative attempt at a coup day tie in the quit united states of america. in your darkest state of mind did you think you'd see the president of the united states inciting an insurrection against his own government?

>> i was talking to a friend of mine and he said i'm shocked but not surprised. i think we're all shocked, but we're not surprised. because we know that everything was leading up to this. that this was a president who kept going through red lights and he was enabled by an echo system to do that and enabled by his party to do that. so the actual scenes of it are shocking. i couldn't have predicted it but at the end of the day, we're not surprised. >> you know, i remember seeing you in the lobby of a hotel in egypt in the midst of the revolution and it was a really scary day. i was i've seen a lot and i was very scared that day. you've been to a lot of civil wars. i was in rwanda in the genocide and iraq, afghanistan, you've been around the world and seen a lot. i hear people talking about civil america as if they know what they're talking about and they know what that looks like and unless you've seen it up

close, it is a horrible, horrible thing. i'm upset when i hear people talking about civil war as if it's some sort of a cleansing. >> you know, anderson, i lived through about four and a half years of the lebanese civil war. there is an important lesson, when you break something, you break a system like that, it is really hard to get back and what is so appalling is people whether in the media or rupert murdoch, whether they're in politics, some republicans, whether they're running facebook think they can stress and stress and stress the system for glory and profit and nothing will happen. i want to ask then do you go home at night to some offshore island where this doesn't matter? >> rupert and -- they have places in australia on the

yachts. >> the rest of us don't. and the willingness of people to just stress and stress this system thinking there will be in implications and doing it for politics 1and profit is ap appalling. >> i spoke to the senior cybersecurity official fired from the trump administration said we're on the verge of a pretty significant breakdown in democracy and civil society here. do you think he's right? >> i'll tell you, i don't know if i'd describe it that way but what is so frightening about the events on capitol hill is how the people there believed that big lie. they believed it. they weren't faking it. we have to remember how big and appalling that lie was. we talked about this once. we actually had the most heroic election in american history. more americans turned out to

vote than any time in our history. they turned out to vote in the middle of a pandemic. the neighbors counted the votes. the secretaries of states and courts affirmed them. this was one of the greatest expressions of democracy ever in the world and donald trump took that and for his own selfish reasons, he turned it into what he called a fraud and then he turned on his information ecosystem and made millions and millions of americans believe it. that to me is worth impeaching in and of itself. i wish we could impeach him four, five, six times to send the message you shall never do this again but because all these people are marinated in conspiracy theories, getting the news from their own ecosystems, i don't know how we breakthrough that. >> why wouldn't the republican party now see this as an opportunity? if they don't -- you know,

you've written about this, about the divides in the republican party and what should happen in the republican parties to reinvent itself and rebound from this but if they don't rid themselves of trump now, he is going to maintain a grip on them for the time to come. >> well, there is a poll the other day that said 70% of republicans still are with him. he is the base and the base is the party and that's why that party has to fracture. i think trump's only good purpose in lifer is to keep stressing that party so it blows up because if it blows up, the sort of rump trump cultis will never have the power to win another election and i believe if it blows up, the small principle republicans and they are there, people like mitt romney and senator mcce mccaw -

mccowski, they put together an outstanding cabinet of center right people, if we can actually get a few principled republicans to work with him, we can have a huge problem solving caucus to get things done on infrastructure, health care and education. there is huge potential but for the country to thriver, that party as it is currently constituted must die. >> it's incredible. four years ago when they were running against trump, they all spoke about what he would do to conse conservatism and the republican party and saw the writing on the wall and once he beat them and they wanted to maintain power and have their free parking space at the airport, they went along with it. >> yeah, what history will talk about is just the supine nature

of that party. let's be honest, anderson. the republican party had lost its way for a long time. they just had a convention the republican convention before the election where they had no platform. they said their platform is whatever their dead lead erdears it to be and he wanted to be whatever served him. that's insane. how could a party do that? this party is actually really a political brothel that rent the itself out by the night to whatever could energize the base. sarah palin, the tea party and trump but in the case of trump, he took over the whole brothel. >> tom freed man, appreciate yo being on today. >> thanks. the republican lawmakers opposing one key measure. a live report tonight and later, new reporting on the possibility the president would try to pardon himself. aficionado. sneakerhead. me? gearhead. ♪ ♪

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which can lead to dehydration and may worsen kidney problems. i have it within me to lower my a1c. ask your doctor about trulicity. daddy? yeah? who's peter? well sweetie, he's your great-great grandfather. here, does he look like me? yeah. your family's story is waiting to be shared. at ancestry.com some house republicans at a tipping point on impeaching the president and leaders giving them the go ahead, a standoff just ended outside the house chamber with an issue that you wouldn't think would be an issue after last week, namely, security. ryan, what happened? >> reporter: well, anderson, a congresswoman lauren from colorado recently elected from that state who has been very vocal about her desire to want to carry a weapon here on

capitol hill walked through the brand-newly installed metal detectors outside the house chamber, set those off and then when was asked by capitol police if they could look inside her bag, she refused to do so. it led to a stand off of about ten minutes where she stood off to the side where she tried to negotiate with police being able to look inside her bag. during this period of time, other members of congress were coming through the metal detectors making their way on the floor and some republicans rushed to her defense saying it was ridiculous she wasn't being let in. police let her in. i couldn't tell whether or not they did look into her bag but we saw the bag on the house floor after the fact but it is incredible, anderson, these metal detectors were just installed a few hours ago and already put in place in large part because of what happened last wednesday and the concerns surrounding the violence and the

riot that took place on wednesday and ahead of the innothi inno inauguration, the capitol police taking special precautions to make sure everyone is safe and one member of congress challenging it and other members of the republican house very upset those metal detectors were in place, anderson. >> thanks, appreciate it. the top senior law enforce. > -- enforcement officials briefed on threats that may lie ahead.ment officials briefed on threats that may lie ahead. how do law enforcements feel about the on going threat? >> reporter: it has not diss dissipated. fbi and law enforcement are running on threats they think they should be concerned with. in talking to one official describing staying it is nuts, we're seeing a level of thread and a level of the fbi running at a pace that perhaps we have not seen since 9/11.

just think about it. the u.s. attorney today, the man that is leading this investigation said they are treating this as if it's an international terrorism case. they are treating it as an international terrorism case but what is different it's actual u.s. citizens, people who live in this country from this country that they're trying to run down because they are afraid they may do something, anderson. >> yeah, it's us. it's us attacking ourselves. did the justice department and fbi feel like they cleared much up with the press conference? there were questions why the head of the fbi, the acting head of the department of justice weren't speaking. >> reporter: yeah, those questions still remain. we've yet to hear from the director of the fbi get before a podium and take questions. instead, they sent out the director of the washington field office. the man in charge of that and then we had also the u.s. attorney, the acting u.s. attorney who is really running this entire investigation. one of the things they want to explain is this intelligence

lapse, whether or not there was. it still not entirely clear the fbi is defending saying they did have this information and did share it but it wasn't specific enough like they had a name attacked to it as something to run down so they wanted to clarify that. the other big thing in this anderson from people we're talking to is based on the video that they have seen of this attack, they say that once that, if it ever becomes public, people are going to be shocked by what they see and a heroic efforts by the reinforcement that came in, the local police department. the d.c. police department, the fbi obviously and the atf went in there and the video of just the hand to hand combat in some cases between this mob and many of the capitol police officers is just shocking and the other thing i want to point out is one of the things the u.s. attorney certainly is focussing on is coordination, whether or not there was someone else who was perhaps giving these people money to come here, the hotels that they were staying at. i mean, i've been here since this happened.

many of the hotels were staying in many of the hotels here. who was paying for this? was there bigger coordination? that's what the fbi and department of justice is trying to figure out. the pipelines, when did those get placed? there are many unanswered questions on the plot and who was behind it. >> let's hope they release the video because as sickening as it is, it's important to see what occurred and understand and get a look at and wake people up about what is actually happening. appreciate it. perspective from former fbi special agent, also former fbi deputy director and current cnn contributor andrew mccabe. according to the washington post, virginia fbi field office issued a dire warning ahead of the capitol attack. the fbi today saying they shared intelligence with the joint terrorism task force.

is it clear who dropped the ball here? >> it's really not clear yet, anderson, and it will take time after the inauguration passed and we have the opportunity to go back and look at this thoughtfully before we get to the bottom of it. what the fbi said at the press conference today, is yes, the norfolk field office compos that raw intelligence report, sent it to the washington field office to be considered in the work around the inauguration and the washington field office relied on its jttf, which is the squad in which all terrorism cases are worked and it includes members of the capitol police and members of the metropolitan police department for d.c. the question is did they go to the efforts that are really necessary to highlight that intelligence to the leadership of those departments or did they just rely on kind of the standard swirl of intelligence that takes place in the jttf? i would argue that intelligence

of this specificity, this close to an event that we have concerns with should have been some sort of positive hand off of information there but we'll see if that happened or not. >> what did you make of the briefing by the fbi today? >> yes, i have two questions. with regard to the intelligence you just mentioned, i think there is a question for whether that proper flow of information, which andrew just described was impeded in any way. let's remember that back in september an intelligence analyst from the department of homeland security filed a complaint with the office of the inpspector general claiming cha wolf and ken had asked him to modify his intelligence assessment to down play the threat of white supremacist violence to comport with the narratives that trump was putting out and so, you know, i have a question of whether was

that pressure indirectly or directly also being put out in the weeks and days leading up to this in someway? the other thing about that press conference was that it seemed to me quite tepid compared to what you normally see with the f fbi doj press conference and i'm wondering whether they felt free to really give a lot of information perhaps out of fear of who the president might do. the director, director wray has been straightforward about terrorism and white supremacist and that has not made trump happy and the last thing the fbi can afford right now is for director wray to be fired with this all hands on deck investigation and also trying to secure both the inauguration and pass information to all 50 states about articulated threats. so that may be one reason why there was -- it wasn't as oh

b r -- robust as we might expect. >> it seems like wray has been talking about violence on the right and the threat which many intelligence officials have pointed out is the preeminent threat in the united states. the president talks about antifa and protesters, that's not what most law enforcement and intelligence, am i right about that? >> absolutely. i think you're right about it. i think director wray's comments to congress about the importance and the danger that the country faces from right wing in the organization so far, which is all the more reason why his silence right now is more questionable and i understand the point making and as usual

and i would argue the director in place but this critical moment calls for speaking the truth about the threats we face and that calls for the leadership of the fbi director to get engaged with right wing extremism in the way this country needs to hear it whether or not the president agrees with that sort of assessment. >> i want to play some of what the president said today. >> the 25th amendment is of zero risk to me but will come back to haunt joe biden and the biden administration as the expression goes. be careful what you wish for. >> i don't know what that means. >> i think it means that in addition to not understanding the first amendment he doesn't understand the 25th. i mean, what he is suggesting is somehow i guess biden's own

cabinet is going to turn on him and declare him incapacitated and unfit. it doesn't make sense at all. >> at least he acknowledges biden is going to be the president. the president hasn't congratulated president elect biden at all. he's not man enough to do that apparently and, you know, today he's sort of -- anyway. he's leaving. appreciate it. andrew mccabe, thank you very much. breaking news, related to the impeachment talk on trump's quest to pardon himself when we continue. carvana's had a lot of firsts. 100% online car buying. car vending machines. and now, putting you in control of your financing. at carvana, get personalized terms, browse for cars that fit your budget, then customize your down payment and monthly payment. and these aren't made-up numbers. it's what you'll really pay, right down to the penny. whether you're shopping or just looking. it only takes a few seconds, and it won't affect your credit score. finally! a totally different way to finance your ride. only from carvana.

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as we proceed toward a second impeachment votes si signaling they will vote to impeach, another breaking story at this moment involving a possible pardon. jamie joins us with details. >> the pardon is whether or not he'll 3pardon his children and i'm learning with my colleagues, there are increased discussions and a new sense of urgency since the january 6th attack on the capitol discussions about having these pardons, a self-pardon for the president and pardons for his children. one source told cnn that there is a belief that trump's pardon of his family and kids is more likely and more urgent now

because it could stave off prosecution if investigators determine that there is any grounds for that. we're also told that the president is interested in the self-pardon and this is not a new idea. even though there -- the justice department put out an opinion, a memo in 1974 during richard nixon saying that under the theory that quote no one may be a judge in their own case, that this wouldn't work. the source tells me that quote trump could care less about the justice department memo. we'll do whatever he wants and he will fight it out in court if he has to. we reached out to the white house. we have not heard back any comment on this and we also

reached out to the children. one of trump's children, donald trump junior we're told doesn't want a pardon. a source with knowledge told cnn quote his father has never raised the issue with him but don has told friends he doesn't want a pardon. he doesn't believe it's necessary. anderson? >> i mean, obviously, the concern on a president pardoning, any president allowed to pardon himself or herself would be that any future president could commit any kind of crime they wanted while in office in just pardon themselves on the way out. >> correct. and one of the things i've learned we've been following the story of the self-pardon actually since almost the first year president trump was in office and a former senior administration official told me that he has been fascinated, obsessed if you will with this idea from day one. he loves the notion of pardons

because he has unilateral power to do it but also because he sees it where other people are concerned about doing a favor for them, and that they would owe him something in return and we're also hearing that there are going to be a lot of pardons coming in this final week. >> thank you very much. appreciate it. >> perspective from the republican, abby phillips and david axelrod and former senior advisor to president obama and cnn political commentator. abby, what do you make of this moment when some republican members of congress are still repeating the lies that led to the storming of the capitol and same members come out in support of impeaching the president? >> there is krclearly a divide the republican party but we should be clear, there is by no means a large majority of the republican party turning against president trump.

we saw last week over 140 members of the house voting even after the riots to try to overturn the results of the election and so far, we only have three house republicans saying that they would be willing to vote for impeachment in the house. that's better, i guess, in someways than the democrats did in terms of bipartisanship last time around but it is not by any stretch of the imagination a sign that they're turning on him because especially in the house of representatives many of these members believe that they need the president, they need his base and there is no distinction, frankly, between the folks who showed up outside of the capitol last week and many of the members who are sitting in the chamber themselves. the ideology that led to the riots are the same ones that many of these members believe in. it will be hard to see them turning on trump at this moment. >> david axelrod, first of all, you got the award for dramatic

lighting in a zoom appearance. i like it. >> that's good. i learned it from -- [ laughter ] >> cnn is reporting mitch mcconnell has indicated he believes do you think held ac -- he'll actually vote to impeach the president? >> i think he could. mitch mcconnell throws words around like manhole covers. he's careful what he says and signals. it is interesting the story surfaced and that coupled with liz cheney's decision does create a permission structure for those with members of the house and senate who want to break with the president. i think to abby's point, you know, there was a poll, tom freedman mentioned earlier that said the president still has a 71% approval rating among republicans and there is other polling in the last couple days that show that, you know, there

is a portion of that party significant that stands by him here. so there is this fear, you know, the first instinct of politicians is self-preservation. what is notable here is that there are people who are willing to risk that and have stepped most notable and we'll see what happens tomorrow and after tomorrow but mcconnell is definitely sending a signal and yes, i think it's possible, you know, trump cost him the majority. he sees trump as an albatroz to the future and he may see this as the rubicon. >> on one hand, there is -- maybe i'm over thinking this but, you know, to make it principled stand, you may believe something is an impeachable offense and then

there is the reality what do your supporters actually believe and if the president has this wide spread support and, you know, do they want to be chased through airports and yelled at for the next however long they have in office? >> well, yeah, and there is also the reality, there is only eight days left in office so he's leaving anyway. look, i think what is really important is that the president still has time to tell people to not show up, to not cause violence, to stand down. there are militias out there that potentially cnn reporting could still do some harmful, horrible acts that have nothing to do with the republican party i lived my whole life working for. i urged him to come and say don't do that, stand down, i lost the election. this is over. i think that's far more important than the vote tomorrow. the vote tomorrow, he's going to leave office in eight days whether that vote passes or not. but in terms of him doing what

he hasn't done so far, which is tell all these people not to do this and i think every republican and democrats together have to urge the president to step forward and tell these militia folks to stand down. >> mike, you know he will never say that, i mean, he will never go back and say i've been lying this entire time and this wasn't a fraudulent election. as tom freedman pointed out, it was a remarkable election with huge turnout on both sides of the pandemic. >> as someone who is a republican who is supporting the republican nominee and the republican president, was looking for evidence of fraud. i've been in elections where there has been fraud. there was no evidence. we kept looking to see what is the evidence brought forth in court? it wasn't there. the election is over. joe biden won. maybe the president is not going to come out and say that but he can certainly tell people to stand down. the lack of his remarks after this attack already happened is to me the most reprehensible

aspect of this and here we have reports that something could still happen and he needs to step forward and say stand down, don't do this. i think that's more important than a vote or how republicans in the house feel about someone who is leaving office in eight days >> anderson, i appreciate what mike's saying and it would be incredibly important for the president to do that. we got a little insight into his thinking today when he stepped out in public for the first time today and said that what he said at the rally was absolutely appropriate. if you listen to his words, he was menacing those who supported impeachment. there was nothing about his remarks that suggested any change of attitude. now, maybe, you know, he's been known to turn on a dime. he did go out and do that sort of forced recantation last thursday after being told by his

lawyers that he should. so maybe the possibility of getting impeached and convicted would be enough, but it's doubtful. >> abby, it is fascinating, as "the times" noted and mitch mcconnell is indicating, if the republican party ever wants try to break away and no longer be the party of trump and beholden to donnie trump jr. and eric trump and lara trump and the trump dynasty from here on in, this is a possible break moment if they're willing to do it. if not, they're going to be, you know, ted cruz and all these people are going to be beholden to the whims of this man for the next, you know, years. >> yeah, that's actually one of the more fascinating parts about this. you know, you can see the wheels turning in mitch mcconnell's head, that he would probably, if he could control everything, he would probably do that. he would probably try to lock donald trump up in a box so he

can move his party forward. but what's interesting is that he's not necessarily being followed by other republicans. i was trying to think about, over the last four or five years, if republicans really have ever tried to really break from trump as a group, to have critical mass, to say, we reject this, we are moving in a different direction. i don't think that's ever really happened. because of that, it's hard for me to see that they would even know what would happen if they tried to repudiate trump because they've never actually done it. >> i can make that clear, there's republicans, there's trump populists in the republican party, and there's crazy militia people who wear horns and attack people. this is easy for republicans. you reject violence, you reject anyone who would take things into their own hands instead of winning a fight at the ballot

box. it's an easy thing for republicans to talk to those trump voters and say, i want to represent you folks who are out of work and looking for a voice in congress and i reject anyone who is violent or thinks that's the way you solve a problem. >> thank you all, appreciate it. up next, the organizer of the january 6 rally says he got help from several gop members of congress. details ahead.

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as you heard shim own prokupecz say earlier, tonight some house republicans are defending their role in the lead-up to the event that led to the assault. a key organizer of the rally that preceded the assault says he had help from some republican house members. drew griffin has the story. >> reporter: the siege started with a protest, like dozens of "stop the steal" rallies across the country since the election. one of the main organizers, extreme right winger ali alexander, who says he was getting help from three members of congress. >> i'm the guy who came up with the idea of january 6, when i was talking with congressman gosar, congressman andy biggs, and congressman mo brooks. >> reporter: you heard that right, alexander says these three members of congress helped plan the rally. >> it was to build momentum and

pressure and then on the day, change hearts and minds of congress peoples who weren't yet decided or saw everyone outside and said i can't be on the other side of that mob. >> reporter: arizona congressman paul gosar has been working with alexander since the election, firing up crowds with lies about the election results. gosar replied to or mentioned ali in dozens of tweets including "i'll be in d.c. with @ali and the rest of america," adding, "we will fight back against the leftists who engaged in sedition. on the morning of the siege he would send followers this image, stating "biden should concede, i want his concession on my desk tomorrow morning, don't make me come over there." he promptly went to congress, stood up, and opposed the certification of the electoral college results.

>> i rise up for myself and 60 of my colleagues to object to the counting of the electoral ballots from arizona. >> reporter: the end of his speech interrupted by the very mob he helped stir up. former republican congressman denver riggleman has been warning of the impact of lies being fed to the public by america's own leaders. >> i think there's a massive issue here with education and facts. these individuals don't have it. disinformation is being pushed by people in positions of power. >> reporter: gosar's arizona colleague andy biggs was near gosar on the house floor january 6, and met with president trump along with others protesting election results, even provided a taped message to be played at one of the arizona rallies. >> we're fighting for the freedoms that made this country great. >> reporter: biggs now strongly denies any involvement in the protest. his staff stating biggs can't even recall meeting with ali alexander. mo brooks is more direct. >> today is the day american

patriots start taking down names and kicking ass! >> reporter: this is the alabama congressman the morning of january 6 in washington, d.c., a few days later he told an alabama news service "i make no apology for doing my absolute best to inspire patriotic americans to not give up on our country and to fight back against anti-christian socialists." former congressman charlie dent says the actions of his former colleagues show it's time for a serious reckoning with the republican party. >> we have to rid ourselves of these radical elements. i would recommend to every one of my republican colleagues, sometimes you have to risk your job in order to save it. well, this is the time. >> that was drew griffin reporting. let's hand it over to chris for "cuomo prime time." >> thank you, anderson. i am chris cuomo. welcome to "prime time." tonight there is reason for hope.

things are very much i