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- [announcer] do you have an invention idea but don't know what to do next? call invent help today. they can help you get started with your idea. call now 800-710-0020. the following is a cnn special report. >> tonight -- >> this is now officially a rye why the! >> what's the bottom line you want the american people to know? >> there was a very sophisticated, multi part plan overseen by donald trump. >> you can't ever accept when they steal and rig and rob -- >> an attempt to stay in power. >> reporter: as the longest, largest investigation into donald trump's attempt to stay president comes to a close, we put it all together.

>> i've got three men walking down the street in fatigues carrying ar-15s. >> reporter: the explosive testimony -- >> i overheard the president say something to theofy people in. >> reporter: new insight from witnesses. n voters, and just throw them out the window this. >> was he asking me to commit a crime? >> it gets back to the criminal intent issue. i don't know what he believed. >> reporter: and what might lie ahead. >> the former president and his allies represent a clear and present danger to american democracy. not because of what they did on january 6th -- >> you better run, cops! >> it's because of what they pledge to do in 2024. >> reporter: a cnn special report, "american coup: the january 6th investigation." >> i'm a very textural artist, i

love a lot of texture. >> reporter: in arizona, the republican speaker of the house, rusty bowers, is an artist by trade. last february, bowers was thrown into a real-life drama. >> the bill number was 2596. >> reporter: 2596, one of more than 100 bills submitted in arizona to tighten access to the ballot box. the measure would have scrapped early voting. all voting would be on election day only. >> 90% of my district votes early. >> reporter: and it would have mandated paper ballots. but most egregious to resty bowers was this. >> with no guidance criteria, the legislature, after the election, could dismiss the election. and i said, "welcome to fascism." >> hb-2596, elections -- >> i said, "i will give this the respect it deserves." i sent it to 12 committees so we would have a long vetting process. >> military affairs --

>> typical is one or two. if it was a controversial bill, you might send it to three. if it goes to four committees, then you're getting a message. >> judiciary. >> i assigned it to 12 committees. >> transportation. >> it was theatrical, and i admit it. >> reporter: it's no overstatement to say that because bowers stood up for democracy, he will no longer be in the state legislature. >> i'm rusty bowers. >> reporter: term limited in the statehouse, he ran in the republican primary for a state senate seat. >> i've stood up to the radicals and kept my conservative campaign promises. >> my opponent was david farnsworth. >> david farnsworth is going to do the job. >> reporter: their positions on the major issues nearly identical, except for one. >> i believe the election was stolen. >> reporter: farnsworth bought into trump's election lies. bowers did not. >> arizona voters have picked david farnsworth over statehouse speaker -- >> i lost big. it is very possible that the

bill that i assigned liberally to my committees will be back. possibility of that getting a governor's signature would just be a disaster. i call it the possibility of going back into the dark ages in arizona. >> reporter: as the u.s. headed into the 2022 midterm elections, there was perhaps more at stake regarding american democracy than ever before. from arizona to pennsylvania to georgia, in all the so-called swing states, the former president, donald trump, backed not only those who supported his lies about election fraud in 2020, but also often those who expressed a willingness to undo any future results that they don't like under the pretense of trumped-up fraud. >> thank you, mr. president. >> reporter: as this was happening, the house select committee investigating january 6th was interviewing witnesses,

holding hearings, and gathering evidence to fully expose what the committee says was a plot designed to keep donald trump as president in 2020. and to try to make sure it can never happen again. what's the bottom line you want the american people to know from these hearings? >> there are several things, but one is that there was a very sophisticated, multi-part plan, overseen by donald trump, to attempt to overturn the election. no president in our history has ever done anything even close to that before. >> reporter: vice chair liz cheney, one of just two republicans on the committee, has spent the last year bucking her party and helping investigate donald trump's sophisticated multi-part plan. the first piece the committee focused on were the lies. >> mail-in ballots is a very dangerous thing for this country because they're cheaters.

>> reporter: donald trump had been talking about the possibility of widespread voter fraud for months. >> voting by mail is wrought with fraud. people steal them out of mailboxes. >> reporter: looking back, it's clear he was laying the groundwork for this. >> this is a fraud on the american public. this is an embarrassment to our country. we were getting ready to win this election, frankly, we did win this election. >> reporter: trump may have been crying widespread fraud, but he had no proof. what the former president did have proof of, based on his own team's assessment of votes, was that he lost. a fact made clear by the january 6th committee, which exposed to the world that so many trump aides, despite toeing the trump line in public -- >> are you expecting the president to concede? >> that word's not even in our vocabulary right now. >> reporter: -- knew trump was going to lose legitimately and that he did lose legitimately,

missions they were forced to make under oath. >> i was in the oval office, and at some point in the conversation matt osk. on wski, the lead data person, was brought on. he delivered to the president in operate blunt terms that he was going to lose. >> reporter: trump campaign attorneys followed up on all of the fraud claims, and they quickly concluded that fraud did not take the election from donald trump, voters did. the news was told to trump's chief of staff at the white house, mark meadows, in mid to late november. >> i remember a call with mr. meadows. i remember sharing with him that we weren't finding anything that would be sufficient to change the results in any of the key states. >> reporter: during a meeting several weeks later, the president got the same message from his white house counsel, pat cipollone, and another white house lawyer, eric herschmann. >> eric and pat told the group,

president included that none of those allegations had been substantiated to the point where they could be the basis for any litigation challenge to the election. >> it is statistically impossible that the person, me, that led the charge lost. >> reporter: but donald trump continued to refuse to publicly accept defeat. >> the evidence of the fraud is monumental, and more is coming out. >> reporter: audacious claims of widespread fraud became a daily occurrence. >> numerous times we found glitches, and every single time the glitch went 100% to biden and no percent to trump. >> the only thing left is to vote. that could have been mickey mouse. that could have been a dead person. >> reporter: standing near giuliani is an attorney named sydney powell, who became the face of one of the most notorious and, frankly, most deranged lies. that dominion voting machines were flipping votes for trump to biden. >> the dominion voting systems

were created in venezuela at the direction of hugo chavez to make sure he never lost an election. >> reporter: after she was sued by dominion, powell's attorney eventually conceded that powell lied, saying that "no reasonable person would conclude that her statements were truly statements of fact." long before that happened, the president's attorney general, bill barr, was investigating all of trump's fraud claims. >> it was a little getting awkward, because obviously he had lost the election. >> reporter: barr said he made it clear to donald trump in a november 23rd meeting that he had lost. >> our role is to investigate fraud. and it's just not meritorious. they're not panning out. >> he was going to win in spite of all the fraud! >> reporter: but spurred on by the most ardent election liars, including many in maga media -- >> clearly the president won this election. >> reporter: -- donald trump would not listen to reason or fact. >> where is the doj and the fbi

in all of this, mr. president? >> missing in action. >> this got under my skin, but i also felt it was time for me to say something. so i set up a lunch with the ap reporter, mike bolsamo. and i told him to date we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have effected a different outcome in the election. >> reporter: a heated trump/barr meeting followed and barr got another opportunity to debunk the lies. among the claims he focused on were the ones about dominion voting machines. >> with the turn of a dial, with the change of a chip, you can press a button for trump and the vote goes to biden. >> i told him the stuff his people were shoveling out to the people was bullshit. i specifically raised the dominion voting machines. i saw zero basis for the allegations, but they were made in such a sensational way that they obviously were influencing a lot of people. >> reporter: before the end of december, barr had quit. his replacement, acting attorney

general jeffrey rosen, who came with a blunt yet low-key acting deputy attorney general named richard donahue. like barr, rosen and donahue took seriously and thoroughly investigated each of the fraud claims coming from then-president trump. in late december, donahue spoke with the president and told him the truth about numerous false claims, including one involving dominion machines in northern michigan. >> there you had supposedly a cyber expert group issue a report that said there was a 68% error rate. it was not a 68% error rate, in fact, it was i think a .006% error rate. >> reporter: donahue also debunked fraud claims trump made about the vote counting done at the state farm arena in atlanta, georgia. >> i don't run to see if people are walking in with suitcases and putting them under a table with a black robe around it. >> there were allegations were suitcases of fraudulent ballots being smuggled into the facility. >> now they're going to start

pulling the ballots out from under this table. >> ballots being run through multiple times. the u.s. attorney looked at it, found none of those allegations were true. >> reporter: donahue's boss jeff rosen forwarded an email from white house chief of staff mark meadows asking the department of justice to look into the possibility that italian satellites were changing votes from trump to biden. >> they sent these new numbers back up through this military satellite, italian military satellite --py was skeptical to say the least. we very quickly determined that that was not a well-founded allegation, and we told the chief of staff and others as well. >> whiskey tango foxtrot, what's going on over there? >> reporter: the nation's top law enforcement officials were investigating and finding nothing substantive. and in the courts, the usual venue for claims about voting misconduct, the president's team lost over and over again. >> courts again shutting down more desperate attempts to

overturn an election. >> you were on george w. bush's short list for the supreme court. you're not some raging liberal. is that fair? >> totally fair. >> reporter: michael ludig is a highly respected retired federal court judge. ludig did not hear any of the trump frauds cases but he and colleagues analyzed more than 60 of them. >> we reviewed each individual claim and decided that there was nothing that would have changed the result in a single precinct, let alone a single state, let alone nationally. ahead -- >> you're asking me to do something that's against my oath, and i'm not going to do that. >> donald trump puts the squeeze on state house leaders across the country. >> it's going to have a big impact on tuesday if you guys don't get this thing straightened out fast. ♪ if your instinct is to help.

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pedialyte helps you hydrate during recovery. we're in my office. this is the speaker's office. >> reporter: it's not every day a statehouse politician gets a call from a u.s. president. but that's what happened to arizona speaker republican rusty bowers after the 2020 election. >> came home from church. my wife and i were sitting in the driveway. >> reporter: the white house popped up on his screen. >> so i take the call. i sat there in my little prius, had a chat with the president with bad phone reception.

back down in front of the house where i get better reception. >> reporter: rudy giuliani was on the line too. bowers says it was giuliani who began making crazy claims about voter fraud in arizona. >> i can't give you the exact numbers, but i'll throw out numbers -- but they're kind of of the audacious numbers. like 200,000 illegal aliens voted. 6,000 military ballots were stolen and used. >> reporter: bowers says giuliani wanted him to hold an official arizona house hearing to air these claims publicly. >> then i said, "but what's the whole purpose of this? what are you trying to achieve?" and he said, "well, we've heard that there's an arcane law in arizona that if you have sufficient cause, that you can throw out the biden electors and put in trump electors." and i said, "that's a new one to me. i've never, ever heard of that."

and so now you're asking me to do something that's against my oath? and i'm not going to do that. >> reporter: but bowers says he told giuliani he had good lawyers and would be happy to put the former mayor in touch with them. >> i don't do anything of this magnitude without having strong legal counsel and proof. and the president says, "rudy, you got the proof?" "yeah, i got the proof." i said, "i want the proof." i didn't get when it he said he'd do it. he never called my attorneys. >> reporter: but the asks did not stop with giuliani. bowers would later get a call from another trump attorney, john eastman. >> we know there was fraud. >> reporter: whom the january 6th committee sees as a key player in this grand plan to undo the legitimate results of the 2020 presidential election. >> the ask was kind of that we would throw out the electors.

and i said, "has it ever been done?" he said, "uh, no." i said, "you want me to take my state, 3.2 million voters, and just throw them out the window because i want to? and that's responsible on my part?" i said, "okay, thank you, we're not doing that." >> reporter: bowers kept his caucus on the sidelines. but in the arizona senate, republicans there yielded to pressure from team trump and voted to conduct an audit of the results in arizona's largest county. >> when they got the cyber ninjas, i thought, i'll watch. this will be interesting. i don't want to be close to that. >> reporter: you might remember the ninjas, the company was run by a trump supporter. they employed ultraviolet lights which could supposedly identify ballots from china. >> they came out that mr. biden won by a larger margin than

previously, and mr. trump lost a number of votes. bowest and his colleagues in arizona were not the only state officials to feel the heat from trump and or giuliani. material discovered by the january 6th committee showed it happened over and over across the swing states that biden won. >> mr. speaker, this is rudy giuliani and jenna ellis. >> reporter: in pennsylvania, bowers' counterpart, republican house speaker brian cutler, got the calls. >> hello, mr. speaker. this is jenna ellis, and i'm here with mayor giuliani. >> hey, brian, it's rudy. i really have something important to call to your attention that i think really changes things. >> reporter: the january 6th committee says cutler thought the calls were inappropriate and had his lawyers tell giuliani to stop them. >> i understand that you don't want to talk to me now, i just want to bring some facts to your attention. >> reporter: and then there was georgia where the republican secretary of state, brad rathen berger, got an hour-long call

from president trump. >> what are we going to do? we won the election and it's not fair to take it away from us like this. >> trump probably put more pressure on brad rafness berger than anybody else. it was immense. >> all i want to do is this. i just want to find 11,780 votes. >> and i think it's the phone cat that everyone remembers that was later leaked where he in turn berated brad rafness sperger. >> they're diagnose aground playing you and laughing at you behind your back, brad. >> he praised him, he seemed to try to charm him at times. and even indicated that if he did not act, that there could be criminal liability for those actions. >> you're not reporting it, that's -- you know, that's a criminal -- that's a criminal offense. >> reporter: and it was not just pressure. there were threats. usually from trump's supporters who felt empowered or incited by him.

take, for instance, the two men in this hummer with a qanon decal. prosecutors say they drove the vehicle filled with automatic weapons and ammunition from virginia to the philadelphia convention center in early november 2020, where votes were still being counted. at the time, al schmidt was the republican responsible for overseeing the vote count in philadelphia. he received threats aimed at his family. >> tell the truth or your three kids will be fatally shot. included our address, included my children's names, included a picture of our home. >> reporter: and the republican house speaker in that state had protesters show up at his home. >> there were multiple protests, at least three, outside either my district office or my home. my then 15-year-old son was home by himself for the first one. >> we have now counted -- >> reporter: in georgia, brad raffensperger's wife received

threatening messages. >> threatening her, sending sexualized texts, those kind of intimidations. >> reporter: georgia election worker shea moss testified about threats she had received via facebook messenger. >> a lot of threats wishing death upon me. telling me that i'll be in jail with my mother. >> reporter: these threats happened after rudy giuliani spread lies about her and her mother, ruby freeman, who was counting votes with moss at state farm arena in atlanta on election night. >> tape earlier in the day of ruby freeman and shea freeman moss and one other gentleman quite obviously surreptitiously passing around usb ports as if they're vials of heroin or cocaine. i mean, it's -- it's obvious to anyone who's a criminal investigator or prosecutor, they are engaged in surreptitious, illegal activity. >> what was your mom actually

handing you on that video? >> a ginger mint. this turned my life upside down. i don't want anyone knowing my name. i don't want to go anywhere with my mom because she might yell my name out over the grocery aisle or something. i haven't been anywhere at all. i've gained about 60 pounds. it's affected my life in a major way. >> reporter: congressman adam kinzinger of illinois, the only republican on the january 6th committee other than liz cheney, says all the threats are part of trump's plan. >> i don't think you can look at the words and actions of donald trump and think that he wanted anything except the explosion of these threats to people. he could stop that in a second if he wanted to, but he likes it. there are a lot of members of congress that i think voted against impeachment because they were scared for their family and for themselves. what does that mean? it means threats of violence

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♪ stop the steal! >> after six weeks of lies and pressure from the president of the united states -- >> take a moment to mark your ballots. >> reporter: on december 14th, 2020, all 50 u.s. states formally certified their results. as their citizens had voted. >> the resolution is unanimously adopted. >> reporter: and that, according to the january 6th committee, is what led to a boisterous white house meeting where the former president considered horrifying action. >> on december 18th, three people, one of them trump's former national security adviser, mike flynn, his lawyer,

sydney powell, and patrick byrne, the founder of overstock.com, were let into the white house by an aide to peter navarro, another trump adviser. trump saw them, called them into the oval office, and they start arguing the case where everyone else is failing trump and that trump can take aggressive actions to keep himself in power and to try to impact the results of an election that he had already lost. they suggested that he use the apparatus of government to seize voting machines. and as this meeting is taking place, another lawyer in the white house, eric herschmann, figures out what's happening, calls in the white house counsel, pat cipollone. mark meadows ends up joining at some point. rudy giuliani gets called in. this goes on for hours. >> how much time did you have alone with the president? i say alone. you had other people with you. but before the crowds came running? >> oh, probably no more than 10 or 15 minutes.

>> was in that -- >> pat cipollone set a new land speed record. >> i opened the door, and i walked in, saw general flynn, i saw sydney powell sitting there. i was not happy to see the people in the oval office -- >> explain why. >> i don't think any of these people were providing the president with good advice. >> reporter: the team had arrived with a draft executive order that, had it been signed by donald trump, would have immediately ordered the secretary of defense to seize, collect, retain, and analyze ballot boxes, and it would have created, quote, a special counsel to oversee the operation and institute all criminal and civil proceedings as appropriate. >> this is a draft of the executive order that would have allowed trump to seize voting machines. what was your reaction when you heard about this? >> i think most americans could never imagine those things would

happen here. and that order and many of the other things that we've learned through our hearings have been really stunning to me. because repeatedly i found myself in a situation thinking, my gosh, how could this happen here? and we really thought it couldn't. but it's just continued to emphasize for all of us that our institutions are fragile. >> reporter: the appointment of the special counsel was not hypothetical. trump wanted sydney powell, a prominent peddler of election lies, in the spot. >> we asked pat cipollone if he had the authority to name me special counsel. and he said yes. and then he asked him if he had the authority to give me whatever security clearance i needed, and pat cipollone said yes. and then the president said, okay, you know, i'm naming her that, and i'm giving her security clearance. and then shortly before we left is when cipollone and or

hirschmann and whoever the other young man was said, you can name her whatever you want to name her and no one's going to pay any attention to it. >> how did he respond, how did the president respond to that? >> something like, you see what i deal with, i deal with this all the time. >> reporter: the meeting was extremely heated. with cipollone arguing against the special counsel idea and against seizure of voting machines. >> that the federal government seize voting machines? it's a terrible idea. that's not how we do things in the united states. there's no legal authority to do that. the three of them were really forcefully attacking me verbally. and we were pushing back, and we were asking one simple question.

as a general matter. where is the evidence? >> what response did you get? >> a variety of responses. "what do you mean, where's the evidence? you should know." >> there was a discussion of, we don't have it now but we will have it, whatever. >> challenged what she was saying and she says, "the judges are corrupt." and i was like, every one? every single case in the country you guys lost, every one is corrupt? even the ones we appointed? and i'm being nice. i was much more harsh to her. >> reporter: the meeting very nearly devolved into a physical fight. >> flynn kept on standing up and turning around and screaming at me. at a certain point, i had it with him. i yelled back. either come over or sit your effing ass back down.

>> i'm going to categorically describe it as, you guys are not tough enough. or maybe i put it another way, you're a bunch of pussies, excuse the expression. but i'm almost certain the word was used. >> i mean, if it had been me sitting in his chair, i would have fired all of them that night and had them escorted out of the building. >> reporter: the january 6th committee discovered text messages sent during and following the meeting by cassidy hutchinson, the assistant to mark meadows who testified live before the committee hearing in june, describing the meeting as unhinged. she also snapped this photograph of mark meadows escorting rudy giuliani from the white house, to make sure he did not get back into the mansion. >> you tweeted, quote, "somehow the committee testimony featured live underplayed how crazy that december 18th meeting was." how was it underplayed?

>> because donald trump faded into the background as this was all being described. one of the ways in which donald trump has escaped a lot of accountability over time is, he gets people fighting with each other, and that's what people focus on. he considered extreme, really unprecedented actions. now, he didn't take them, but he was unwilling to foreclose options until the last possible second no matter how extreme and -- and potentially dangerous they were. >> i remember talking to you after that meeting. and you were shaken. >> i was. and it was, frankly -- it took a little bit to process exactly what had happened. but i remember getting a text from a senior republican senate adviser, asking me if there was going to be an issue in terms of a peaceful transfer of power after this. and i said, "yes, there is a legitimate issue here." and i think that was a real warning sign.

>> it was floated, this idea, by retired general michael flynn in the oval office, that donald trump should seize voting machines and ballot boxes from these states that joe biden won. what was your reaction when you heard that? >> i said to my wife, "this is beyond all comprehension." i never utter a word like this, but -- but that in particular sou sounded banana republic to me. had that happened, we would have been in a situation where literally we're in a constitutional crisis because nothing in our constitution gives you the answer. >> reporter: at the end of the evening, no seizure orders were issued. the president decided to go in a different direction. he would take it in a tweet.

>> what he wanted was to show everyone who is telling him they lost the election and that people agreed with him -- >> reporter: the tweet and the violence that followed ahead. even if you got ppp and it only takes eight minutes to qualify. i went on their website, uploaded everything, and i was blown away by what they could do. getrefunds.com has helped businesses get over a billion dollars and we can help your business too. qualify your business for a big refund in eight minutes. go to getrefunds.com to get started. powered by innovation refunds.

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hours before sunrise on december 19th, 2020, after a long, loud, disturbing white house meeting about seizing voting machines, president trump sent a tweet that would change history. big protest in d.c. on january 6th, it read, be there, will be wild. >> what he wanted was to show these lawmakers, not just in washington but everyone who is telling him he lost the election, he wanted to show them that people agreed with him and people backed his lies about the election. >> reporter: donald trump was

summoning his true believers to washington, d.c. and evidence pieced together by the january 6th committee shows they heard that call and began planning immediately. >> women for america first, a pro-trump organizing group, previously applied for rally permit for january 22nd and 23rd in washington, d.c. but in the hours after the tweet, they moved their permit to january 6th. >> reporter: the next day, ali alexander, a trump supporter and leader of the group stop the steal, created a website to share and promote logistics about the rally. >> it included event times, places, speakers, and details on transportation in washington, d.c. >> reporter: far-right personalities such as conspiracy theorist alex jones almost immediately began spreading the word on their platforms. >> one of the most historic events in american history has just taken place. president trump wants the american people to march on

washington, d.c. on january 6th, 2021. the time for games is over. the time for action is now. >> reporter: as word spread, it became clear the trump faithful who planned to attend were also planning for the possibility of violence. >> we know the rules of engagement. if you have enough people, you can push down any kind of a fence or a wall. >> you better understand something, son. you better understand something. red wave, bitch. red wave. there's going to be a red wedding going down january 6th. >> reporter: the term "red wedding" comes from the "game of thrones" tv series. it means a massacre. >> january 6th! kick that fucking door open, look down the street, there going to be a million-plus geeked-up armed americans. >> reporter: some of trump's twitter followers did consider his tweets to be orders. that's according to a former twitter employee whose identity

was hidden while testifying to the committee. >> it felt as if a mob was being organized. and they were gathering together their weaponry and their logic and their reasoning behind why they were prepared to fight. >> reporter: members of the committee say they were finding similar types of chatter across social media platforms. >> quote, calling all patriots, be in washington, d.c. january the 6th. this wasn't organized by any group, djt has invited us and it's going to be wild. some of the online rhetoric turned openly homicidal and white nationalist. such as, "why don't we just kill them, every last democrat, down to the last man, woman, and child?" and "it's time for the day of the rope. white revolution is the only solution." >> reporter: the donald.win, an

openly racist and anti-semitic site, became a venue for those considering violence to exchange ideas. >> on that site, many shared plans and violent threats. "bring handcuffs and wait near the tunnels." a commenter replied suggesting zip ties instead. one poster encouraged others to come with body armor, knuckles, shields, bats, pepper spray, whatever it takes. all of those were used on the 6th. the post concluded, "join your local proud boys chapter as well." ♪ we are the proud boys ♪ >> reporter: according to the committee, the proud boys, a far-right militia, was active during this time, preparing for january 6th. >> proud boys launched an encrypted chat called the ministry of self-defense. the committee obtained hundreds of these messages which show strategic and tactical planning about january the 6th, including maps of washington, d.c. that pinpoint the location of police.

>> reporter: even more alarming, some of the people making plans in the proud boys and oath keepers, another right-wing militia, had direct ties to people close to donald trump. >> one such ally was lieutenant general michael flynn, trump's former national security adviser. this photo from december 12th shows flynn and patrick byrne, another trump ally, guarded by indicted oath keeper roberto minuta. another view shows oath keeper leader stewart rods in the picture as well. >> reporter: minuta and rods were charged with seditious conspiracy, conspiring to use force against the federal government. they pleaded not guilty. but late last year -- >> jury has reached a verdict in the trial for the far-right oath keepers -- >> reporter: rhodes and others found guilty for seditious

conspiracy. minuta's trial is under way. more than a dozen oath keepers and proud boys have been charged with seditious conspiracy. according to the committee, longtime trump ally roger stone had ties to these groups. >> in the same time frame, stone communicated with both the proud boys and the oath keepers regularly. the committee obtained encrypted content from a group chat called friends of stone, n ocfos. >> reporter: tario is enrique tario, leader of the proud boys. >> the chat focused on various pro-trump events in november and december of 2020 as well as january 6th. on january 6th, stone was guarded by two oath keepers who have since been criminally indicted for seditious conspiracy. one of them later pleaded guilty, and according to the department of justice, admitted that the oath keepers were ready to use, quote, lethal force if

necessary against anyone who tried to remove president trump from the white house, including the national guard.members of t say roger stone in connection t the proud boys goes back years and showed him taking the oath required for the first level initiation into the group. >> there are some missing piece in the public record such as what, if anything, did donald trump, or anyone inside the white house, know about the organizing by the far right militias? before january 6th presiden trump instructed his chief of staff mark meadows to contact both roger stone and michael flynn regarding will play out the next day. ms. hutchinson, is that your understanding that mr. meadows

called mr. stone on the fifth? i'm under the impression that mr. meadows did complete both calls to mr. stone and jimbo flynn the evening of the fifth piece and do you know wha they talked about that evening, ms. hutchinson? i'm not sure. >> i think what's important is that he was going through the process of selling that the election was stolen and then convincing folks that, look if you believe that an election wa stolen from you, violence is th only answer, quite honestly. i mean, at the american tradition. if you truly believe that the constitution is being disobeyed every american would actually b on the capitol. >> up next, donald trump put th squeeze on justice. >> him telling us that we shoul say publicly that it was cor corrupt. that concerned me.

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>> you were obviously well awar what donald trump was doing in terms of his election fraud claims to be did you have any apprehension coming attorney general deputy? no, i had a great deal of confidence in the team. i wanted to be part of the team wanted to be there when it matters. >> can't ever accept when they steal and rig and rob. can't accept it pays after attorney general bill barr resigned, richard donahue was

appointed to the number two position in the department of justice, the deputy jeffrey rosen, the new acting attorney general ppt two men inherited a department under constant and public attack, by the sitting president of the united states, fighting to hold onto an election he falsely claimed had been stolen. >> trump thought the justice department was an arm of his presidency and a way for him to tell them what to do, and they should do his bidding and what he wanted. >> as the new targets of tom steyer, rosen and donahue. that fielded neil daily complaints from donald trump. >> between december 23rd and january 3rd, the president either called me or met with me virtually every day. of the common element of all of this was the president expressing his dissatisfaction that the justice department man in his view, had not done enoug to investigate election fraud.

>> but they were investigating. the department of justice had been debunking trump's wild election fraud lies one by one. the president chose to not listen. on december 27 phone call with rosen and donahue, president trump said the department had a obligation to, "tell people tha this was an illegal corrupt election, despite the evidence of widespread fraud." trump also pressed them to publicly, "just say the electio was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the republican congressmen." >> there was an exact output from the president indicated that he had some political and that he wanted to pursue with congress. but by him telling us that we should say publicly that it was corrupt that concerned me. >> what his intent was for the department of justice to say we have indication that there was corruption, because from there you can take that seed of doubt and contraband republican members of congress can water

it, they can grow that doubt, and through their you can do things like get people to vote against certification on januar. >> as long as rosen and donahue were in charge they told the president they would not publicly back is false election fraud claims. so trump had to find someone wh would help him do what he wante to steal the election. >> jeff clarke's name had come up on december 27th from a phon call with the president. he brought it up and say look, people tell me i should change the leadership*. people are telling me that you two are not doing your job. i hear jeff clarke is great. people tell me he can get in there and do something. and it was surprising to me. >> surprising because the president would have no reason to even know who jeffrey clark was. >> even within the department very few people had even heard of jeffrey clark. >> but donald trump had. unbeknownst to rosen and donahu pennsylvanian rebooking congressman scott perry had brought clark the oval office t

meet with president trump on december 22nd, the day after perry had been amongst republican members of congress who joined trump at the white house to discuss overturning th 2020 election. trump also mentioned jeff clark on a separate call with rosen. >> made what i regarded as a peculiar reference, i don't remember the exact output but i was about something like that i know jeff clarke or that i know who he was, or something like that. i was critical as to how does the president even though mr mr. clark. >> rosen confronted clark, who admitted he had broken the long-standing policy governing communication between the justice department and the whit house. white house lawyers at cipollon and patrick philbin also intervened and warned clark to not communicate with the white house. clark agreed. but just meant two days later escalated the situation with an

e-mail from that set up a serie of events that would rock the justice department. >> we came in on monday, december 28th, a hectic day as the work, and then in the afternoon we got that e-mail which i had to sit down and rea more than once to make sure i understood what he was prop proposing. >> what was he proposing? he was proposing sending a letter signed by the three of u were the acting attorney gen general, myself and attorney clark, to georgia, but also the other states, the other swing states as well, suggesting essentially that they set aside the elect doors signed to support president-elect biden, and hold hearings, and basicall have the state legislators. a new slate of electors. >> the letter claimed the west that the justice's investigations have, "identifie significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of th election in multiple states including the state of georgia." was that true? no.

>> why the letter was sent solely by jeff clarke it was written with the help of a new justice department employee named kim pilkocsky who according to the committee was also working with john eastman, the architect of the multistep-plan to overturn the election. the letter mirrored some of easton's unconstitutional theories. >> it would have created chaos in the states. i think that would have been disastrous for the country and constitution. >> wasn't that the point of the letter to mark to create that chaos? i think so, yes. >> disturbed by the letter donahue immediately started to clark riding oakleys will be a great start for the department to take and it could have tremendous constitutional, political, and social ramifications for the country. >> i had to make it clear to hi that there was no world in whic i and certainly the ag were going to sign a letter like t that. >> rosen and donahue reflect later that evening. i do remember at the very end say to him, "what you are

proposing is nothing less than having the us justice departmen meddled in the outcome of the american presidential election." >> but again jeffrey clark ignored the direction of justin march leadership*. he continued to claim, falsely, that there was widespread election fraud. he pushed to send out the le letter, again. and on january 3rd he told ro rosen, president trump and offered him the role of attorne general, and he had accepted pieces that led to a series of discussions and meetings that day. at this point he had gone so fa that we had to bring the other leaders in anything to them so they were prepared, in case it happened, but also to get their take on what they would do if that did happen please and what did they say they would do? they uniformly said they would resign. >> white house call logs obtained by the committee showe that by 4:19:00 p.m. that day i the right is i am again referring to clark as the actin attorney general.

that evening rosen and donahue went to the white house to argu against trump is going clark is attorney general. the three-hour meeting took place in the oval office, and b all accounts joined the long list of wild white house meetings. >> the president turned to me and he said, "well, one thing w know is you, rosen, you are going to do anything. you don't even agree with the claims of election fraud." and this other guy at least might do something. >> it was basically jeff clarke advocating for the leadership* change and everyone else advocating against it. it was a very blunt, contentiou conversation. hertz i wear the same level of being served the street part of the meeting. >> when he discussed his planne on doing, i said good ( bleep )ing -- suv -- ( bleep ) holcom you just take your first step i attorney general beer found in buyer rating -- this violating

role six of p-uppercase-letter easy pat cipollone was vehemently against the plan as well. >> he referred to the letter that jeff clarke had submitted as a murder suicide pact one should have anything to do with it. i had basically made the output to the president jeff clarke wa not even qualified to be the attorney general. he's harassing you he's going t conduct these very complex nationwide investigations in record time, and this is coming from a guy who has never conducted a real investigation. mr. clark respond by saying tha he been involved in very significant environmental law briefing before various courts. and that reminded me that my guess primarily you're an environmental lawyer. how about you go back to your office and we call you when there is an oil spill. donahue also informed president trump that upon clark's appointment justice department leaders would resign en masse.

>> the president turned to me and said, "steve, usually, woul you?" i said, "mr. president, i've been through you four attorney general, including two acting attorney general, but i couldn' be part of this." >> finally persuaded, trump decided against the idea when trump was subpoenaed before january 6th committee earlier this year, he refused to answer questions were pleading the fifth more than 125 times 2 to discuss the luther jones officials with the president of the united states? fifth. >> coming up, inside the plot the pressure vice president. >> anyone of them would have immediately pushed the country into paralyzing constitutional h crisis. 100 days to change your mind. it's simple. anything else i can help you with? like what? visionworks. see the difference.

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♪ hey dad, i'm almost out. i got you. any questions, chris? all good, thanks maura! there you go, one new inhaler! nice did you get my refill too? maybe [door bell] here you go, sir. you're a lifesaver. have a nice day. healthier is managing all your family's prescriptions in one app. cvs pharmacy. healthier happens together >> on december 14th, 2020: >> unanimously cast tsattine votes for joseph r biden. [applause] >> when the elect doors in each state gathered: >> all city electors cast their

ballots for joseph r biden. >> so did fraudulent elect do doors, in seven swing states that biden had win, such as arizona. donald j trump of the state of florida, number of votes 11 is an alternate save electors in the contested states is going t vote and we are going to send those results up to congress. >> this desperate scheme to overthrow the election results had been conceived weeks ear earlier. >> who the remember being involved in those early discussions around the thanksgiving time regarding having alternate electors meet? rudy giuliani, several of which giuliani's correspondence mr. meadows. one of the biggest supporters o this outrageous attempts to subvert american democracy was law professor and trip attorney john eastman. >> the entire executive branch is headed by one guy. >> trump saw him on fox news an

shortly after that he was in th oval office. >> fraudulent elect doors were just that one in eastman's plan for which he outlined in these memos, and justified with false claims of, "illegal actions by state and local election officials." step two of his plan would have to be executed by vice presiden mike pence on january 6th, whil visiting over the opening and counting out electoral ballots. >> what you can do is you can say, "due to these disputes in the seven states we are going t send this back to the states, and the states would then be able to help donald trump wins the election." >> it was a lie. in fact, december 19th, 2020, just four days before dr dr. eastman set this memo, dr dr. eastman himself admitted, i an e-mail, that the fake electors had no legal weight. referring to the fake electors as, "dead on arrival in con

congress." >> trump campaign aides and outside lawyers share their concerns about the scheme and e-mails reported on by the new york times maggie haberman and luke brought water please and did they think what they were doing was legal? in one e-mail to literally describe him as, ." elect doors." it said we will be sending the fake electors and has fake enclosed to go cast ballots in. in another e-mail there was a discussion about fear from some officials. this should be seen as, quote-unquote, "treasonous." >> what might have happened had paige tried to go through with this idea that he could reject electoral votes and send them back to the states biden on suc as arizona, pennsylvania, wisconsin and georgia? anyone -- it would have immediately closed the country into what i characterize would be tantamount to a revolution

within a paralyzing constitutional crisis. >> there's just no way that the framers of the constitution we divided power and authority, wh separated it out, who had broke away from george iii and declared him to be a tyrant, there is know a that they would have put in the hands of one person the authority to determine who was going to be president of the united states. >> but president trump now saw vice president pence prame as a man who could keep him in the white house for four more years. >> on december 23rd, president trump retreated a memo from a individual named everett raichlen entitled operation pence card. they called and the vice president to refuse electoral college votes on certain states and certified joe biden as the winner.

>> he had been pressuring him behind the scenes, so now he is going public. he is trying to get public pressure on mike pence. >> january 6th committee's interviews with white house attorneys made it clear that pa cipollone equipment eric hirschman and many others were appalled. >> what was communicated to me was that pat cipollone got the idea -- thought the idea was 90 and had at one point confronted eastman basically with the same sentiment. >> what were your prior actions will eastman? he described for me what he thought the ambiguity was in th statute, and he was walking through it at that time. and i said, "hold on a second, want to understand what you're saying. you're saying that you believe the vice president, acting as president of the senate, can be the sole decision-maker as to who becomes an experience of th united states?"

and he said, "yes." i said, "are you out of your essang mind -- >> to present decided he cannot buy into eastman's theories. >> for the ear impression that the vice president had directly conveyed his position on these issues to the president? many times. >> and had been consistent in conveying his position to the president? very consistent. >> he basically cannot overstat the pressure that trump was putting a pence in the lead up to january 6th. >> i hope that our great vice president, our great vice president will come through for us. he's a great guy. of course, if he doesn't come through almost like him quite a much. >> that night as an outside lawyer, richard coldwell phoned retired judge michael dulake, a esteemed conservative repu republican, for help and advice.

>> he said, judge, they know john eastman?" i said, "years, john was a quic one about 20-25 years ago. and he said, "microjet is advising the president and vice president at the vice president does not have to accept the electoral college votes as they have been cast." i said, well, richard you can tell the vice president that i said he has no such authority whatsoever." >> what did you take to twitter? the next morning richard called and he said, "look, we have to get your voice out to the country immediately, within the next hour or two. >> judge colluding, with the help of his son, since his firs ever twitter thread. >> my son sent me to the instructions on how to treat a thread of individual tweets tha were under 140 -- i have no earthly idea what any of this was about. i just told my son, send it to me right now or i'll cut you ou of the will.

>> he read me some of that thread. >> the only response ability an power of the vice president under the constitution is to faithfully count the electoral college votes as they have been cast. the constitution does not empower the vice president to alter in any way the votes that have been cast in by rejecting certain of them or otherwise. >> that twitter thread spread and garnered attention around the world. but with just one day before congress was set to certified b the electoral college victory, trump continued to apply maximu pressure. in this week, "the vice president has the power to reject fraudulently chosen elec doors." and, "(bleep) (bleep) and when they met in january. >> the right that the president said, "if these people say you have the power, wouldn't you

want to? vice president says, "i wouldn' want any one person to have tha authority." the president says, "no, no, no you don't understand, mike, you can do this. i don't want to be your friend anymore if you don't do this." >> trump would not relent. at 1:00 a.m. on january 6 he tweeted, "if vice president mik pence goes through for us we will win the presidency. mike you can send it back." and then there was mornin phone call in which the president bullied and belittled the vice president, for refusin to go along with this potential coup piece and i remember he said, "you are a wimp, you will be a wimp. with is there were november. it has also been reported that the president said to the vice president some to the effect that, "you don't have the courage to make a hard deci decision." is i don't remember exactly, bu something like that, yeah. >> soon after the call ended:

[chanting usa] >> trump would repeat his dangerous lies and put a target on vice president pence prame. >> i hope mike is going to do the right thing. i hope so. and mike pence is going to have to come through for us. and that speech near its end, inside the capitol. >> the senate and house of representatives are meeting a joint session to verify the certificates and count the vote of the elect doors. >> but outside, headed their w way: >> i've got three men walking o the street on the scene carryino ar-15s. i used to think about when i couldn't sleep. hey, linds. i need you to sign this business contract. all 114 pages. lindsey, lindsey!! hey, lindsey! it's workout time. hey, big man, we're in the middle of something here. yeah, it's called physical fitness.

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>> with giuliani and i were walking through vehicles this evening. he looked at me and said something to the effect of, "cost, are you excited for the six? we're going to the capitol. it's going to be great. president after going to be there. he's going to look powerful." >> on january 3rd the capitol police issued a special event assessment. congress itself is the target o the sixth. >> now we are on, as i say, the point of attack.

>> listen to what mr. bennett said that they after the first call he had with the president: >> all hell is going to break loose tomorrow. all i can say is strap in. >> and then he and donald trump talk again. and we don't know what the contents of those calls were because, of course, donald trum has not provided that information is steve bannon has not provided that information. [chanting fight for america] >> the night of january 5th wer among those summoned to the ova office? yes, so is brought to the oval office that evening, and the entire first team was assembled in their. >> again opened just a few minutes ago. >> the president had the door t the rose garden open, and you could hear the crowd on the ellipse already assembled, and you could tell he was feeding off that energy, and that he wa really excited for the next day. >> the president was making notes that talking then about w should go up to the capitol, what's the best route to go to

the capitol. >> the january 6 to money and augmentation left no doubt that trump had every intention of joining his supporters' march t the capitol. [chanting fight for trump." >> the division tell you that h wanted to speak at the capitol you change correct, yes. [chanting stop the steal] >> we have the power in maq numbers. we came here to protect our republic. >> the morning of january 6. [chanting usa] >> supporters began gathering for the rally. >> biden did not win this election. >> it's not made up. >> meanwhile the president's insistence on joining their march to the capitol: >> we are taking this country back. >> had white house lawyers suc as pat cipollone very worried.

>> which is a lonely said something to the effect of, "please make sure we don't go u to the capitol, cassidy, keep i touch with me." we're going to get charges of every color imaginable if you make that movement happen." [chanting fight for trump] >> but nobody could change tr trump's mind. and has his family and aides arrived at the rally, his chief of staff mark meadows, was keeping the president's hopes alive. >> why was mr. trump taking the stage that morning, he was unde the impression by mr. meadows that it was still possible. >> at the rally the president had a more immediate familiar concern:crowd size. >> when we were in the offstage announced area change behind th stage, he was very concerned about the shots. >> or the pictures that were

shared to he wanted to make sur that the rally space was fall. and so he's being told it's not that people are waiting to get through these mags, through these metal detectors. people don't want to go through them, because they have weapons with them. >> during the hearings the select committee should a secre service report that "some members of the crowd are wearin ballistic helmets, body armor, and carrying radio equipment an military grade backpacks." let's listen to the committee also played police radio transmissions from that day. >> nine individual entry, he go bluejeans and a blue jean ja jacket, and underneath the blue jean jacket saw stock of an ar-15. and he is with a group of individuals, about 5 to 8 individuals. two of the individuals in that group, they had block-style pistols in their waists. >> i've got three men walking o

the street or scene carrying ar-15, copy fourth street and independence. >> yet trump was the metal detectors, metal detectors, magnetometers or mags, removed. >> i was in the vicinity of a conversation where i overheard the president said something to the effect of, "you know, i don't think care that they have weapons, let my people until they can march the capitol from here. let the people in. take the thing mags away -- tak the effing mags away. >> let's reflect on that for a moment. president trump was aware that number of the individuals in th crowd had weapons and were wearing body armor, and here's what president trump instructed the crowd to do: >> we are going to walk down, and i'll be there with you.

we are going to walk down -- an when you walk, but right here, we're going to walk down to the capitol. [applause ] to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard. [chanting usa ] how would you characterize donald trump's speech at the ellipse on january 6th? in the siding. he said peacefully and patriotically, but he was telling people go up there. and it's hard not to see that that was fomenting, and killing people that he had been [indiscernible] >> we will never take back our country with weak is to be you have to show strength and you have to be strong. >> trump's national security advisers believed the president code-named mogul, who is going to join the procession. >> mogul, the president, was quote hopeful going to the capitol," and, " they are findin

the best route now." >> the catalog continues. military aid has confirmed that he wants to walk. they are begging him to reconsider. current route will be 15 to f and f to 6, 6 to 10, penn to th capitol. so this happened. >> what was he going to do up there? i think you are just going to lead his people, be with his base to lead his base. i don't think this was somethin that he had thought out too w well, other than he was acting like somebody we didn't think h had anything to lose is all vic president mike pence had to d do -- >> after more than an hour on stage the president wrapped up his speech this way: >> fight like hell. and if you don't fight like hel you're not going to have a country anymore. so let's walk down pennsylvania avenue. i want to thank you all. god bless you, and god bless america. >> when he got off the stage an

everybody was making the move back to the motorcade, i overheard mr. meadows say to hi that he was still working on getting an off the record movement to the capitol. >> what happened next, as trump and secret service agent robert bobby angle get into the residual missing, known as the beast -- presidential limousine niceties was relayed by the deputies to chaff -- deputies t chaff tony ornato piece when i returned to the white house 20 proceeded to tell me that was the president had gotten into the vehicle with bobby, he thought that they were going up to the capitol. and when bobby had related to him, we are not, yet handy authorized to do, is not secure we are going back to the west wing, the president had very strong from very angry response to that. tony described him as being irate. the president said something to the effect of, "i'm the effing

president. take me up to the capitol now." to which bobby responded, "sir, you have to go back to the west wing, pickles the president reached up toward the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel. mr. engel grabbed his arm and said, "sir, you need to take your hand off the steering whee we are going back to the west wing. we are not going back to the capitol." >> it's a shocking story, and we've now heard from at least a washington, d.c. detective something very similar. >> trump would return to the white house, and watch his supporters heed his call, the fight like hell. >> the day that you get your

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>> the morning of january 6, what were your expectations for the day? i think i woke up thinking that it was going to be a norma

day. i just thought he was going to go out there, give a speech, an that that will be it. >> st. matthews is donald tr trump's former deputy white house press secretary, and was in the white house january 6th. >> it was kind of quiet, to be honest, in the west wing that morning, at least. >> that quiet would not last that long. after the speeches that the ellipse, the president returned to the white house and rioters made their way to the capitol. already aware of the increasing violence while trump went into the private dining room just of the oval office at 1:25 p.m. an remained there until 4:00 p.m. when donald trump is excited about what he's seeing, he reacts. he was not reacting here. >> for more than three hours, the president of the united states refused to call off the mylett rioters who stormed the rest capitol.

>> he was watching television and admiring what he saw. and was happy that the certification was delayed. they were near efforts to get them to issue some kind of statement. those did not work. he didn't make a single phone call to any member of his government. >> at 1:49 when bc place officially declared a riot, trump tweeted out to a speech o the ellipse, the very one that helped incite that riot. realizing the severity of the situation white house counsel pat cipollone rushed to mark meadows the president's chief o staff peace and member pat saying to him something to the effect of, "the rioters have gotten to the capitol, mark. we need to go into the presiden now." and mark looked up at him and said, "he doesn't want to do anything, pat."

[screaming is over! you better run, cops! >> supper. >> trump tweeted, "mike pitts didn't do what was needed to do to protect our country and our constitution. >> it was the last thing that was really needed in that mo moment. it pretty much painted a target on the vice presidents backbite tweeting that out. [chanting paying mike pence] >> i remember pat saying something to the effect of the, "market we need to do something more. they are literally calling for the vice president to be effing hunger. kolbicka and market responded something to the effect of, "yo heard him, pat, he think mike deserves it." is a working communications for president trump, i was very aware just the impact that his words have on his supporters. that we should listen to them that what they were doing at th capitol was okay, and that they

were justified in their vio violence, and that it was vice president pence who was allowin an election to be stolen. [mike pence and the -- betrayed the people of the united states p inside the capitol the vice president was rushed from the senate floor. secret serpents -- secret servants helped clear path to safety. >> if we lose any more time to we may lose the ability to le leave. >> and white house security official who chose to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation explain exactly how dire the situation was for pe pence, and his secret service detail. >> hours of the team were slow to fear for our own lives. they were running out of option that were getting nervous. it sounds like we came very close to either [indiscernible]

>> when secret service made the call to move the vice president again rioters came within 4 40 feet of him. as he was held in an undisclose location, it was the vice president was erected a respons to the riot. [chanting stop the steal] >> it was pence who was on the phone with these lawmakers, prince was on the phone with th people in the pentagon about what was happening with the national guard. >> and 2:38 computer, "we support our capitol police and law enforcement, they are truly on the side of our country. stay peaceful." by this point rioters were in both chambers. and the capitol rotunda was filled with tear gas. >> at the end of the tweet he used the phrase, "stay peac peaceful." kayleigh mcenany shared with me

that he did not want to include that, and that it took a lot of convincing on their part. that was extremely alarming to me. >> the rioters glenn troast messages in real time. and heard on walkie-talkie communications between rioters. >> trump just tweeted, "please support our capitol police because they are on our side. do not harm them. >> he didn't say not to do anything to the congressman, ha ha, ha. >> i think what the committee showed about trump's tweets is that they do take them lite literally. his messages were received by the people over there at the capitol, very loudly. >> at any moment during the siege on the capitol, the president would have addressed the country live from the white house. >> there's a camera on in the white house briefing home -- briefing room at all times. he could have walked over there could have been on camera almos

instantaneously, and bless another message to the american people. he had every opportunity and he chose not to do that. >> when the president finally relented and released a video telling the rioters to go home, it was 4:17 p.m. from three hours and seven minutes since the riot began. >> it became very clear that th fence basically had taken the capitol back over, that they were not going to succeed in stopping accounting. and only then did he come out with that statement. >> we had an election that was stolen from us. it was a landslide election, an everyone knows it. >> seeing him on camera sent th video talking about a stone election, i just immediately knew that he wasn't going to meet the moment and say what wa needed and that time. >> so go home. we love you. your very special. >> yet again many rioters in th president's words as instructions.

>> i am here delivering the president's message. he wants us to go home. >> working in communications fo him, i knew that i would be tasked with defending them. and we had just witnessed all this violence at the capitol, and is folks attacking police officers, chanting horrible things. and i knew that i couldn't defend that because it was indefensible. i resigned that evening. >> in the immediate aftermath o the riot, is blend glass littered the halls of congress, according to the january 6, mid to there were those who were still trying to overturn the election. that evening rudy giuliani called the number of republican senators and urge them to continue to try and delay the certification. >> i'm calling you because i wanted to discuss with you how they are trying to rush this hearing. >> the next day jason called white house counsel eric hirschman discussing appeal in georgia. >> i said to him, are you out o

your effing mind? now i am going to give you the best free legal advice you ever getting in your life:get a grea effing criminal defense lawyer, you are going to need it. and i hung up on him. >> and the president released a second video, condemning the violence more forcefully, on january 7th. >> like all americans, i outraged by the violence, lawlessness, and mayhem. >> but according to white house aide cassie hutchinson going it was only the threat of his cabinet invoking the 25th amendment that convinced him to make this video. advisors warned trump that talk of removing him from office was gaining traction. >> think about what might happe in the final 15 years of your presidency if we don't do this. there is already talk of the 25th amendment being involved. you need bases covered. >> and even then he refused to admit the election was over.

this election is the overcrowed congress has certified the results. i don't want to say the electio is over, i just want to say congress has certified the results without saying the election is over, okay? >> that video showed you that, even after every single constitutional process has been completed, and after over 60 courts had heard his challenges and rejected them, he still refused. it was fundamentally bri jackso of the rule of law. and again, america can't sustai itself if we have a commander-in-chief who was at war with the rule of law. >> coming up: >> i want the american people t look at these hearings and understand how close we came that day to losing that self-governance. >> the battle to prevent another january 6th.

- [announcer] do you have an invention idea but don't know what to do next? call invent help today. they can help you get started with your idea. call now 800-710-0020. ♪ what we showed in every one of those hearings and every one of those pieces is he knew what he was doing. donald trump knew he was pressuring the vice president. donald trump knew that he was pressuring state officials. he knew he was lying. he was trying to basically

change out the doj to be people sympathetic to him, to give at least the air of federal complicity in challenging election results. and he knew when he was sitting in the office during the attack on january 6th that there was a chance it would succeed. >> what do you want americans to take away from the hearings? >> i want the american people to look at these hearings and understand how close we came that day to losing that self-governance. freedom isn't free, you have to defend this. and not just overseas, but sometimes here at home. >> usa, usa, usa, usa! >> do you miss me yet? do you miss me? [ cheers and applause ] >> reporter: in the aftermath of january 6th and his election loss -- >> anthony gonzalez, that's another beauty -- >> reporter: donald trump made it his mission to replace republican opponents with supporters. he had mixed success. in arizona, in pennsylvania, he backed gubernatorial candidates

kari lake and doug mastriano, and senate candidates blake masters and mehmet oz. all of them lost. of the ten republicans in the house of representatives who voted to impeach trump because of january 6th, only two returned to congress in 2023. the others either declined to run for re-election, such as adam kinzinger, or lost their republican primary re-election battled to more trump-supporting candidates, such as liz cheney. >> this mission that you've taken on has cost you your job. do you have any regrets? >> our obligation, my obligation, very much is above politics. i can't imagine having done anything differently at any stage of this process since january 6th. it saddens me that so many of my republican colleagues have not met the moment. >> reporter: kinzinger and cheney were the only two

republicans on the house select committee to investigate the attack on january 6th. they've become pariahs in a party where they were once seen as its future. >> we cannot survive as a party existing on the personality of one man. >> reporter: the select committee to investigate the january 6th attack had a herculean task set before it. its members and staff conducted more than 1,000 interviews, filmed hundreds of taped depositions, and collected more than 140,000 documents. and finally, the week of december 19th, the committee showed us its full hand. >> leading this hour, the january 6th committee referring donald trump to the justice department for criminal prosecution. >> the first criminal statute we invoke for referral, therefore -- >> reporter: at its last hearing, the committee recommended donald trump be prosecuted for four different crimes. including obstruction of an official proceeding. on january 6th, 2021. >> the whole purpose and obvious

effect of trump's scheme were to obstruct, influence, and impede this official proceeding. >> reporter: conspiracy to defraud the united states. conspiracy to make false statements. and perhaps the most grave referral, the one for aiding or assisting an insurrection. >> anyone who incites others to engage in rebelling, assists them in doing so, or gives aid and comfort to those engaged in insurrection, is guilty of a federal crime. >> reporter: it's a charge that may be particularly difficult to prove. >> you have to have criminal intent. here you have the problem of proving what was in the president's mind. i've heard people say, well, he was willfully mind. should he have known? yes. but if he did not, i don't know that that's a crime. >> i said that -- >> reporter: not everyone shares that view. >> willful ignorance of fact or law by the president of the united states would not be

either a legal defense or a political defense to the president. that's about as clear as a former judge could say it. >> reporter: ultimately, the justice department will decide whether to bring any charges against former president trump or john eastman, who the committee also referred for criminal prosecution, or anyone else. in november, attorney general merrick garland appointed a former war crimes prosecutor named jack smith as special counsel in charge of these ongoing investigations. >> we know the justice department has been investigating jeffrey clark. we also know that john eastman is someone who's been touched by this investigation. >> i'd like to see the warrant before you take my property. >> reporter: both jeffrey clark and john eastman have had their phones seized by federal investigators. clark dismissed the investigation as politically motivated and eastman fought the doj's search warrant in court. but there are state-level investigations as well. rudy giuliani has been informed he's a target in a georgia

investigation. >> we'll not talk about this until it's over. >> reporter: and appeared before a grand jury in august. at the moment, perhaps the most perilous investigation for donald trump has nothing to do with the attack on the capitol. >> former president donald trump's mar-a-lago home in florida has been searched by the fbi. >> the investigation that at the moment seems most directly threatening to donald trump is the one into his handling of classified documents and taking documents to mar-a-lago with him when he left office. >> reporter: the government has recovered more than 320 classified documents from trump's home in florida. the redacted search warrant identified three federal crimes that the department of justice lists as the foundation of its investigation. obstruction of justice, criminal handling of government records, and violations of the espionage act. justice department investigations of donald trump are certain to be helped by the 845-page committee report and

the hundreds of documents and transcripts released by the january 6th committee. as the congress came to a close in 2022. among the recommendations in the report -- >> the committee believes that those who took an oath to protect and defend the constitution on january 6th should be barred, disqualified and barred, from holding government office. >> president donald! >> reporter: that's aimed at trump, who has already announced he's running for president in 2024, something the committee has said should not be allowed. >> i'm thrilled to be back. >> no man who would behave that way at that moment in time can ever serve in any position of authority in our nation again. he is unfit for any office. >> reporter: among the thousands of pages of transcripts released by the committee were new bits of information, including cassidy hutchinson's claim that she saw trump's chief of staff, mark meadows, burn documents in

his white house fireplace about a dozen times during the transition. >> even richard nixon didn't burn the tapes. there was a gap but he didn't burn the tapes. >> reporter: also in those pages, claims from hutchinson that meadows told her the president knew he lost the 2020 election, despite what he was saying publicly. does the president really think that he lost, hutchinson asked meadows on one occasion? he said, you know, a lot of times he'll tell me that he lost but he wants to keep fighting it. how much the committee hearings and findings have impacted the country's view of trump remains unclear. >> i think the january 6th hearings actually presented a pretty concise case, and i do think that it got through to voters, and i think it was partly because it was trump's own appointees, republican appointees, who were the ones they used to testify against him. whether that lingers in voters' minds i think is a real open committee. >> i don't think that they've wounded him in the sense of they've changed a lot of minds. his supporters either don't care

or still believe what he says, which is that the election was stolen and biden is not a legitimately elected president. >> is any of this, new revelations from this transcripts, enough to loose trump's grip on the republican party, you think? >> i doubt it. not his base. his base is going to stay where they are. they don't care about the facts. >> donald trump and his supporters are a clear and present danger to american democracy. >> you've been shouting from the rooftops, this is not just about 2020. you're worried about 2024? >> i am, and right now the former president and his allies and supporters, including in congress, including in the states, represent a clear and present danger to american democracy. that's not because of what they did on january 6th. it's because of what they pledge to do in 2024. >> do you think that republicans are hearing what you're saying? >> i hope they are.

>> reporter: our democracy in the united states relies upon good people in positions of power to do the lawful and right thing. from the president all the way down to local officials. we're having these discussions because there were enough people, enough republicans, who did the right thing in 2020. perhaps next time, there won't be. january 6th has taught us anything, it's that nothing is guaranteed. this is the american experiment, not the american proven theorem. for our republic to survive, we need our elected officials loyal not to one man but to the united states of america. welcome to our viewers joining us from the