t gun. our spirit is still young. and my fellow americans, the best is yet to come. thank you. god bless you. and god bless america. thank you very much. [music] the following is a cnn special report. uyou want to fight? >> tonight, what's the bottom line you want the american

people to know? >> there was a very sophisticated, multipart plan overseen by donald trump. >> you can't ever accept what they steal and rig and rob. >> to attempt to stay in power. >> as the longest, largest investigation into donald trump's attempt to stay president comes to a close, we put it all together. >> three minute walking down the street, carrying ar-15s. >> the explosive system. >> i overheard the president say something to the effect of i don't effing care that they have weapons, let my people in. >> new insight from witnesses. >> i said, you want me to take my state, 3.2 million voters and just throw them out the window. >> was he asking you to commit a crime? >> it gets back to the criminal intent issue. >> i don't know what he believes. >> and what might lie ahead. >> the former president and 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 pledged to do in 2024. >> a cnn special report, american coup, the january 6th investigation. >> i'm a very textural artist, i do a lot of texture. >> in arizona, the republican speaker of the house, rusty bowers, is an artist by trade, but last february, bowers was thrown into a real life drama. >> the bill number was 2596. >> 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. >> and it would have mandated paper ballots, but most egregious to rusty 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. >> and i said i will give this the respect it deserves. >> education. >> so 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 sent it to 12 committees. >> transportation. >> it was theoretical, and i admit it. >> 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. >> terminated in the state house, he ran in the republican primary for a state senate seat. >> i stood up to the radicals and kept my conservative campaign promises. >> my opponent is david

farnsworth. >> david farnsworth is going to do the job. >> their positions on the major issues nearly identical except for one. >> i believe the election was stolen. >> farnsworth bought into trump's election lies. bowers did not. >> arizona voters, even farnsworth over state house speaker. >> i lost big. it is very possible that the bill that i signed liberally to my committees will be back. the 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. >> as the u.s. helded 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. >> 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 multipart plan overseen by donald trump in an attempt to overturn the election. no president in our history has ever done anything even close to that before. >> 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 multipart plan. the first piece the committee focused on were the lies. >> mail ballots are a very dangerous thing for this country because they're cheaters. >> in the lead-up to the election, 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. >> 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. >> 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 towing the trump line in public. >> are you expecting the president to concede? >> maria, that word is not even in our vocabulary right now. >> knew trump was going to lose legitimately, and that he did lose legitimately. admissions they were forced to make under oath. >> i was in the oval office, and at some point in the conversation, the lead data person was brought on, and i remember he delivered to the president pretty blunt terms that he was going to lose. >> 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, and 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. >> 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, the president included, that none of those allegations had been substantiated to the point that 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. >> but donald trump continued to refuse to publicly accept defeat. >> the evidence of the fraud is monumental and more is coming out. >> 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. >> standing near giuliani is an attorney named sidney powell, who became the face of one of the most notorious and frankly most deranged lies that dominion voting machines were flipping votes from trump to biden. >> the dominion machines were created in venezuela at the direction of hugo chavez to make sure he never lost an election. >> after she was sued by dominion, powell's attorney eventually conceded that powell lied saying that, quote, no reasonable person would conclude that her statements were truly statements of fact, unquote. but long before that happened, the president's attorney general bill barr was investigating all of trump's fraud claims. >> it was getting a little awkward because obviously he had lost the election. >> barr said he made it clear to donald trump at 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. >> but spurred on by the most ardent election liars, including many in maga media. >> clearly the president won this election. >> 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 balsamo, and i told him that to date we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome in the election. >> 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 could press a button for trump and the vote goes to biden.

>> i told him that the stuff that his people was shoveling out to the public was bull shit. i raised the dominion voting machines, i saw zero basis for the allegations. they were made in such a sensati sensational way, they obviously were influencing a lot of people. >> barr had quit, his replacement, jeffrey rosen who came with a blunt but low key acting deputy general, richard donoghue. rosen and donahue thoroughly investigated the claims. donoghue spoke with the president and told him the truth about numerous false claimants, 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 ralte. there was not a 68% error rate.

it was a.006 error rate. >> the vote counting down at the state farm arena in atlanta, michigan. >> i don't run to see if people are walking in with suitcases and putting them under the table with a black robe on them. >> there were allegations of suitcases with ballots being smuggled into the facility, ballots being run through multiple times. the u.s. attorney looked at it, found that none of those allegations were true. >> donoghue's boss jeff rosen forwarded an e-mail from 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. >> i 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 fox trot, what's going on over there. >> the nation's top law enforcement officials were investigating and finding nothing substantiative. 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're on george w. bush's short list for the supreme court. you're not some raging liberal, is that fair? >> totally fair. >> michael ludwig is a highly respected federal court judge. he did not hear any of the trump fraud cases but he and his colleagues did analyze more than 60 of them. >> we arrived each individual claim and decided 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 there thing straightened out fast. to see the possibilities all around you. almost 10. you gonna have a big birthday party? ♪ with capella university's game-changing flexpath format, you can earn your nursing degree without putting life on hold. imagine your future differently with capella university. the subway series is getting an upgrade! the new #19 the pickleball club. who knew the subway series could get even better? me, i knew. maybe you should host a commercial then. sure, okay. subway series just keeps getting better. your best defense against erosion and cavities is strong enamel- nothing beats it.

new pronamel active shield actively shields the enamel to defend against erosion and cavities. i think that this product is a gamechanger for my patients- it really works. - booked our trip to vegas! - in this economy? what are we, rich?! ♪ ♪ are we rich? oh, what a relief. no more secretly renting the attic to that scary lodger that i met at the reservoir. - we're not rich...

i used kayak to compare hundreds of travel sites to get a great deal on our flight, car, and hotel. (loud rustling and clanking from the attic) - who goes to the reservoir?! - kayak. search one and done. new dove men bodywash gives you 24 hours of nourishing micromoisture. that means your skin still feels healthy and smooth now... now... ...and now too. get healthier, smoother feeling skin all day. the first time you connected your godaddy website and your store was also the first time you realized... well, we can do anything. cheesecake cookies? the chookie! manage all your sales from one place with a partner that always puts you first. (we did it) start today at godaddy.com meet the team... behind the team. the coach. the manager. and the snack dad. all using chase to keep up with their finances. the coach helps save goals here, because she saved for soccer camp there. anddd check this out... the manager deposited a check. magic. and the snack dad?

he's getting paid back. orange slicesss. because this team all has chase. smart bankers. convenient tools. one bank with the power of both. chase. make more of what's yours. . we're in my office, this is the speaker's office. >> it's not every day a state house politician gets a call from the u.s. president. 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. >> the white house popped up on his screen. >> so i take the call, donetta steps out and goes into the house. i sat on my prius and had a chat with the president with bad phone reception, and backed to the house where i get better reception. >> rudy giuliani was on the line, too, and bowers says it

was giuliani who began making crazy claims about voter fraud in arizona. >> i can't give you the exact numbers, i'll throw out numbers, but they're kind of of the audacious numbers, like 200,000 illeg illegal aliens voted. 6,000 military ballots were stolen and used. >> bowers says giuliani wanted him to hold an official arizona house hearing to air these claims publicly. >> and then i said, but what's the whole purpose of this, what are you trying to achieve, and they said, well, wie've heard 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 have 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. >> 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 it when he said he'd do it. he never called my attorneys. >> but the asks did not stop with giuliani. bowers would later get a call from another trump attorney, john eastman 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, 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. >> 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. >> 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 number previously and mr. trump lost. >> the colleagues in arizona were not the only state

officials to feel the heat from trump 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. >> in pennsylvania, bowers counter part, republican speaker brian cutler got the calls. >> hello, mr. speaker, this is jenna ellis. i'm here with mayor giuliani. >> hey, brian, it's rudy, i really have something important to call your attention that i think really changes things. >> 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. but i just want to bring some facts to your attention. >> and then there was georgia, where the republican secretary of state brad raffensperger got an hour-long call from president trump. >> brad, 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 raffensperger than anyone 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 call that everyone remembers that was later leaked, where he in turn berated brad raffensperger. >> they're going around 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 a criminal -- that's a criminal offense. >> and it was not just pressure. there were threats, usually from trump 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. >> 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. >> in georgia, brad ra's wife received disturbing messages. >> people started harassing her.

>> georgia election worker shay moss testified about threats she received via facebook messenger. >> a lot of threats, wishing death upon me. telling me that, you know, i'll be in jail with my mother. >> these threats happened after rudy giuliani spread lies about her and her mother ruby freeman who was counting votes at state farm arena on election night. >> tape earlier in the day of ruby freeman and shay freeman moss, and one other gentleman, quite obviously, surreptitiously passing around usb ports as if they're viles of heroin or cocaine. i mean, 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. >> 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. he likes it. there are a lot of members for 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 worked. >> up next. >> they suggested that he use the apparatus of government to

seize voting machines.

♪you said close your eyes don't look down♪ ♪fall into me and i'll catch you darling♪ ♪we'll dance in the street♪ ♪ we're talking about cashbackin. not a game. not a game! we're talking about cashbackin. we're talking about cashbackin. we're not talking about practice? we're talking about cashbackin. we're talking about cashbackin. we're talking about cashbackin. not a game! we've been talking about practice for too long. -word. -no practice. we're talking about cashbackin. we're talking about cashbackin. i mean, we're not talking about a game! cashback like a pro with chase freedom unlimited. how do you cashback? chase. make more of what's yours. i brought in ensure max protein with 30g of protein. those who tried me felt more energy in just two weeks. uh... here i'll take that. -everyone: woo hoo! ensure max protein with 30 grams of protein, one gram of sugar. enter the nourishing moments giveaway for a chance to win $10,000.

- [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.

after six weeks of lies and pressure from the president of the united states. >> take a moment to work your ballots. >> on december 17, 2020, all 50 u.s. states formally certified their results, as the citizens had voted. >> the resolution is unanimously adopted. >> 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 sidney powell, and patrick burn, 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. as this meeting is taking place, another lawyer in the white house, eric herschmann figures out what's happening, calling in the white house counsel, pat cipollone, mark meadows at some point, derek lions, and the staff secretary on his last day at work joins, rudy giuliani gets called in. and this goes on for hours. >> how much time did you have alone with the president, and i say alone, you had other people with you but before the crowd came run something. >> probably no more than ten or fifteen minutes. pat cipollone set a new land speed record. >> i walked in, i saw sidney powell sitting there. i was not happy to see the people in the oval office. i don't think any of these people were providing the president with good advice.

>> 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 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. we really thought it couldn't. it's just continued to emphasize for all of us that our

institutions are fragile. >> the appointment of the special counsel was not hypothetical. trump wanted sidney powell, a prominent peddler of election lies in the spot. >> he asked pat cipollone if he had the authority to name the 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, that's when cipollone and/or herschmann 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 the president respond to that? >> something like you see what i deal with. i deal with this all the time. >> the meeting was extremely heated with cipollone arguing

against the special counsel idea and against seizure of voting machines. >> to have the federal government seize voting machines, it's a terrible idea. that's not how we do things in the united states. we don't have the legal authority to do that. the three of them were sort of forcefully attacking me verbally. eric, derek 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. like what do you mean where's the evidence, you should know. >> there's a discussion of we don't have it now, but we will have it. >> they both challenged what she

was saying, shek said, well, th judges are corrupt. every single case you've done in the country, every single one is corrupt, even the ones we appointed. >> and? >> i'm being nice. i was much more harsh to her. >> the meeting nearly devolved into a physical fight. >> screamed at me that i was a quitter, kept on standing skpup turning around and screaming at me. and at a certain point, i had it with him. i yelled back, 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 pussys, excuse the expression, but i'm almost certain the word was used. >> if it had been me sitting in that chair, i would have fired

them all that night and have them escorted out of the building. >> the january 6th discovered text messages by casino si hutchinson, the assistant to mark meadows who testified live before the committee 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 under played? >> because donald trump faded into the background as this was all being described. one of the ways in which donald trump has es kacaped 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 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 neon warning sign. >> it was floated, this idea, by retir 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 that in particular sounded in a 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. >> 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 whoc was telling him h lost the election that people agreed with him. >> the tweet and the violence that followed, ahead. this thing shows you your fico® score, you can get your credit card recommendations, and it shows you ways to save money. do so much more than get your fico® score. download the experian app now.

(comic vo) have you noticed everything that follows "no offense” is offensive. [canned laughter] like. no offense... but you're overpaying for your wireless plan. [pause] see, offensive. [canned laughter] (vo) switch and save for a free phone on select no contract unlimited plans from straight talk all on a 5g network. straight talk, available at walmart. i think this is it guys? when the martins booked their vrbo vacation home, they really weren't looking for much: a patch of grass for bruno, a pool for first-timers, don't worry, i've got you. and time with each other. and when they needed support, someone was right there. i got you. because what's unique about a vrbo is you can reach a real person in about a minute. ♪ (♪) this electric feels different... because it's powered by the most potent source of energy there is ... you.

this is the lexus variety of electrification ... inspired by, created for and powered by you. ♪ the chase ink business premier card is made for people like sam who make...? ...everyday products... ...designed smarter. like a smart coffee grinder - that orders fresh beans for you. oh, genius! for more breakthroughs like that... ...i need a breakthrough card... like ours! with 2.5% cash back on purchases of $5,000 or more... plus unlimited 2% cash back on all other purchases! and with greater spending potential, sam can keep making smart ideas... ...a brilliant reality! the ink business premier card from chase for business. make more of what's yours. i see irritated gums and weak enamel. sensodyne sensitivity gum & enamel relieves sensitivity, helps restore gum health, and rehardens enamel. i'm a big advocate of recommending things that i know work.

the insurance company enwasn't fair.ity y ca i didn't know what my case was worth, so i called the barnes firm. llll theararnes rmrm now the best result possible. ♪ call one eight hundred, eight million ♪ hours before sunrise on december 19, 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 was telling him he lost the election, he wanted to show them that people agreed with him and people backed his lies about the election. >> 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 had previously applied for a 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.

>> the next day, ali alexander, a trump supporter and leader of the group stop the steal created a web site to share and promote logistics about the rally. >> it included event times, places, speakers, and details on transportation to washington, d.c. >> 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. >> as word spread, it became clear the truth 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, there's going to be a red wedding going down january 6th. >> the term red wedding comes from the "game of thrones" tv series. it means a massacre. >> january 6th, kick that bleep bleep d look down the street, there are going to be a million geeked up americans. >> 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. >> he told us 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. >> 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. >> 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 h handcuffs and wait near the tunnels. a commenter replied suggesting zip ties, instead. one post encouraged others to come with body armour, 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. >> according to the committee, the proud boys, a far right militia, was active during this time, preparing for january 6th. >> the 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. >> even more alarming, some of the people making plans in the proud boys and in the 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 burn, another trump ally, guarded by

indicted oath keeper roberto minuta. another view of the scene shows oath keepers leader stewart rhodes in the picture as well. >> both minuta and rhodes were charged with seditious conspiracy, conspireing to use force against the federal government. they pleaded not guilty. but late last year. >> the jury has reached a verdict in the seditious conspiracy. >> rhodes and another oath keeper were found guilty of seditious conspiracy, three others they were tried with were convicted on lesser charges. minuta's trial is underway. more than a dozen oath keepers and proud boys have been charged with seditious conspiracy. according to the committee, long time trump ally roger stone had ties to these groups. >> in the same time frame, stone com communicated with both the proud boys and the oath keepers regularly. the committee obtained encrypted

c content from a group chat called friends of stone, which included, stone, tarrio, and ali alexander. >> enrique tarrio, 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 the committee say roger stone's connection to the proud boys goes back years. and showed him taking the oath required for the first level of initiation into the group. >> hi, i'm roger stone. i refuse to apologize.

>> there are some missing pieces 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. >> the night before january 6th, president trump instructed his chief of staff mark meadows to contact both roger stone and michael flynn regarding what would play out the next day. ms. hutchinson, is it your understanding that mr. meadows called mr. stone on the 5th? >> i'm under the impression that mr. meadows did complete the call to mr. stone and john the evening of the 5th. >> do you know what they talked

about that evening, ms. hutchinson? >> i'm not sure. >> i feel like we don't know the full story on the proud boys and oath keepers. >> i think the committee is trying to get to the bottom of what white house officials >> up next, donald trump puts the squeeze on justice. >> him telling us we should say publicly it was corrupt, that concerned me. series is taking your favorites to the next level. hold on, chuck! you can't beat the italian bmt. uh you can with double cheese and mvp vinaigrette. double cheese?!? yes and yes! man, you crazy. try the refreshed favorites at subway today. ♪ hit it ♪ ♪ it takes two to make a thing go right ♪ ♪ it takes two to make it outta sight ♪ ♪ one, two, get loose now ♪ ♪ it takes two to make a... ♪ stay two nights and get a $ 50 best western gift card. book now at bestwestern.com. meet the future. a chef. a designer. and, ooh, an engineer.

all learning to save and spend their money with chase. the chef's cooking up firsts with her new debit card. hungry? -uhuh. the designer's eyeing sequins. uh no plaid. while mom is eyeing his spending. nice. and the engineer? she's taking control with her own account for college. three futures, all with chase. freedom for kids. control for parents. one bank for both. chase. make more of what's yours.

you're obviously well aware of what donald trump was doing in terms of his election fraud claims. did you have any apprehension of becoming deputy attorney general? >> no, i didn't have concerns about that. i had a great deal of confidence in the team. i wanted to be part of the team. you want to be there when it matters. >> you can't ever accept when they steal and rig and rob. can't accept. >> after attorney general bill barr resigned, richard donohue was appointed to the number two position in the department of justice, the deputy to jeffrey rosen, the new acting attorney general. the two men inherited a department under constant and public attack by the sitting president of the united states. fighting to hold on to 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 trump's ire, rosen and donohue fielded near daily complaints from donald trump. >> between december 23rd and january 3rd, the president either called me or met with me virtually ever day. the common element of all of this was the president expressing his dissatisfaction that the justice department in his view had not done enough to investigate election fraud. >> but they were investigating. the department of justice had been debunking trump's wild election fraud lies one by one. but president trump chose to not listen. on a december 27th phone call with rosen and donohue, president trump said the department had an obligation to

quote tell people that this was an illegal corrupt election despite no evidence of widespread fraud. trump also pressed them to publicly, quote, just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and the republican congressman. >> that was an exact quote from the president. it indicated that he had some political avenue he wanted to pursue with the congress, but by him telling us that we should say publicly it was corrupt, that concerned me. >> what he intended was for the department of justice to say we have indications there was corruption because from there you can take that seed of doubt and donald trump and republican members of congress can water it. they can grow that doubt and then through there, you could do things like get people to vote against certification on january 6th. >> as long as rosen and donohue were in charge, they told the president they would not

publicly back his false election fraud claims. so trump had to find someone who would help him do what he wanted to steal the election. >> jeff clark's name had come up on december 27th on a phone call with the president. he brought it up, and he said, look, people tell me i should change leadership. people are telling me you two are not doing your job. i heard jeff clark is great, 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, you know, very few people had really heard of jeffrey clark. >> but donald trump had. unbeknownst to rosen and donohue, pennsylvania republican scott perry, had brought clark to the oval office to 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 the 2020 election. trump also mentioned jeff clark on a separate call with rosen.

>> he made what i regarded as a peculiar reference. i don't remember the exact quote but something about did i know jeff clark or did i know who he was or something like that. i was quizzical as to how does the president even know mr. clark? >> rosen confronted clark who admitted he had broken the long-standing policy governing communication between the justice department and the white house. white house lawyers pat cipollone and pat fillben also intervened and warned clark not to communicate with the white house. clark agreed. but just two days later escalated the situation with an email that set off a series of events that would rock the justice department. >> we came in on monday, december 28th, hectic day as they all were, and then in the afternoon we got that e-mail, which i had to sit down and read more than once to make sure i understood what he was proposing. >> what was he proposing? >> he was proposing sending out

a letter sign by the three of us, the acting attorney general, myself, and jeff clark to georgia but also the other states, the other swing states as well suggesting, essentially, that they set aside the electors assigned to support president-elect biden and hold hearings and basically have the state legislature pick a new slate of electors. >> a letter claimed the u.s. department of justice's investigations have, quote, identified significant concerns that may have impacted the outcome of the election in multiple states including the state of georgia, unquote. was that true? >> no. >> while the letter was sent solely by jeff clark, it was written the help of a new justice department employee named ken cukousky, who according to the committee was working with john eastman, the architect of the multistep plan

to overturn the election. the letter mirrored some of eastman's unconstitutional theories. >> would create chaos in the states. that would be disastrous for our country and constitution. >> wasn't that the point of the letter to create the cast? >> i think so, yes. >> disturbed by the letter, donohue wrote quote, this would be a grave step 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 him there was no world in which i and certainly the a.g. were going to sign a letter like that. >> rosen and donohue met with clark later that evening. >> i do remember the very end saying to him, what you are proposing is nothing less than having the united states justice department meddle in the outcome of an american presidential election. >> but again, jeffrey clark ignored the direction of justice department leadership. he continued to claim falsely

that there was widespread election fraud. he pushed to send out the letter again and on january 3rd, he told rosen president trump had offered him the role of attorney general and he had accepted. >> that led to a series of discussions and meetings that day. at this point, it had gone so far that we had to bring the other leaders in and explain 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. >> what did they say they would do? >> they uniformly said they would resign. >> white house call logs obtained by the committee show by 4:19 p.m. that day, the white house had already begun referring to clark as the acting attorney general. that evening, rosen and donohue went to the white house to argue against trump installing clark as attorney general. the three-hour meeting took place in the oval office and by all accounts, joined the long list of wild white house meetings.

>> the president turned to me and he said well, one thing we know is you rosen, you aren't 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 clark advocating for the leadership change and everyone else advocating against it. it was a very blunt contentious conversation. hirschman and i were on the same level of being the street fighters of the meeting. >> when he finished discussing what he planned on doing, i said good f-ing, excuse me me, a-hole. congratulations you actually admitted the first step would be committing a rule. you're clearly the right candidate for this job. >> white house counsel pat cipollone was vehemently against the plan as well. >> he referred to the letter jeff clark wrote as a murder suicide pact that no one should have anything to do with it. i basically made the point to the president jeff clark was not

qualified to be the attorney general. he's promising you he'll conductthies very complex nationwide investigations in record time, and this is coming from a guy who's never conducted a real investigation. mr. clark responded by saying he's been involved in very significant environmental law briefing before various courts, and that reminded me, yes, in fact, primarily you're an environmental lawyer. how about you go back to your office and i'll call you when there's an oil spill. >> donohue also told president trump justice department leaders would resign en masse. >> the president turned to me and said, steve, you wouldn't leave, would you? i said, mr. president, i've been with you through four attorneys general including acting attorney general but i couldn't be part of this. >> finally persuaded, trump decided against the idea. when clark was subpoenaed by the january 6th committee earlier this year he refused to answer questions pleading the fifth

more than 125 times. >> did you discuss this draft letter to georgia officials to the president of the united states? >> fifth. >> coming up -- inside the plot to pressure the vice president. >> anyone would have immediately plunged the country into paralyzing constitutional crisis. we're talking about cashbackin. we're not talking about practice? we're talking about cashbackin. we're talking about cashbackin. we're talking about cashbackin. not a game! we've been talking about practice for too long. -word. -no practice. we're talking about cashbackin. we're talking about cashbackin. i mean, we're not talking about a game! cashback like a pro with chase freedom unlimited. how do you cashback? chase. make more of what's yours. when migraine strikes. are the tradeoffs of treating worth it? ubrelvy is another option. it quickly stops migraine in its tracks. do not take with strong cyp3a4 inhibitors. allergic reactions to ubrelvy can happen. most common side effects were nausea and sleepiness. ask about ubrelvy. i have moderate to severe ulcerative colitis.

so i'm taking zeposia, a once-daily pill. because i won't let uc stop me...from being me. zeposia can help people with uc achieve and maintain remission. and has been shown to reduce symptoms in as early as 2 weeks. zeposia is the first and only s1p receptor modulator approved for uc. don't take zeposia if you had a heart attack, chest pain, stroke or mini-stroke, heart failure in the last 6 months, irregular or abnormal heartbeat, if you have untreated sleep apnea, or take maois. zeposia may cause serious side effects including infections that can be life threatening and cause death, slow heart rate, liver or breathing problems, increased blood pressure, macular edema, swelling and narrowing of the brain's blood vessels, and increased risk of pml-- a rare brain infection that usually leads to death or severe disability. tell your doctor if you are pregnant or plan to be. don't let uc stop you from doing you. if you're living with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis, ask your doctor about once-daily zeposia. ♪you said close your eyes don't look down♪

♪fall into me and i'll catch you darling♪ ♪we'll dance in the street♪ ♪

was also the first time your profits left you speechless. at the counter or on the go, save 20% with the lowest transaction fees and keep more of what you make. start saving today at godaddy.com

on december 14th, 2020 -- >> unanimously cast 16 votes for joseph r. biden. >> -- when the electors in 16 states gathered -- >> all 16 electors cast their ballots for joseph r. biden. >> so did fraudulent electors in six swing states that biden won such as arizona. >> donald j. trump of the state of florida, number of votes 11. >> an ultimate slate of electors in contested states are going to vote, and we're going to send those results up to congress. >> this desperate scheme to overthrow the election results had been conceived weeks earlier. >> who here remembers being

involved in those early discussions around thanksgiving time regarding having alternate electors meet? >> mr. giuliani, several of mr. giuliani's associates, mr. meadows. >> one of the biggest supporters of this outrageous attempt to subvert american democracy was law professor and trump attorney june eastman. >> the entire executive branch is headed by one guy. >> trump saw him on fox news and shortly after that, he was in the oval office. >> fraudulent electors was step one in eastman's plan which he outlined in these memos and justified with false claims of, quote, illegal actions of state and local election officials. step two in his plan would have to be executed by vice president mike pence on january 6th while presiding over the opening and counting of electoral ballots. >> what you can do is you can say due to these disputes in

these seven states we're going to send these back to the states, and the states would then be able to help donald trump win the election. >> it was a lie. in fact, on december 19, 2020, just four days before dr. eastman sent this memo, dr. eastman himself admitted in an e-mail the fake electors had no legal weight. referring to the fake electors as, quote, dead on arrival in congress, end quote. >> trump campaign aides and outside lawyers shared their concerns about the scheme in e-mails reported on by "the new york times" maggie haberman and luke broadwater. and did they think what they were doing was legal? >> in one e-mail a lawyer working in arizona literally describes them as quote-unquote fake electors. what we would be doing is sending these fake electors here in quotes to go cast ballots. in another e-mail there was a

discussion about fear from some official. this would be seen as quote-unquote treasonous. >> what might have happened had pence tried to go through with this idea that he could reject electoral votes and send them back to the states biden won such as arizona, pennsylvania, wisconsin, georgia? >> he would have immediately plungeed the country into what i categorized would be tantamount to a revolution within a paralyzing constitutional crisis. >> there's just no way that the framers of the constitution who divided power and authority, who separated it out, who had broken away from george iii and declared him to be a tyrant -- there was no way 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 as the man who could keep him in the white house for four more years. >> on december 23rd, president trump retweeted a memo from an individual named ivan rightland entitled operation pence yard. they called on the vice president to refuse the electoral college votes from certain states that had certified joe biden as the winner. >> he'd been pressuring him behind the scenes, so now he's going public. he's trying to get public pressure on mike pence. >> the january 6th committee's interviews with white house attorneys made it clear that pat cipollone, eric hershman, and many others were appalled. >> the way it was communicated to me was that pat cipollone thought the idea was -- was nutty and had at one point confronted eastman basically

with the same sentiment. >> what were your prior interactions with eastman? >> he described for me what he thought the ambiguity was in the statute, and he was walking through it at that time. and i said hold on a second, i want to understand what you're saying. you're saying you believe the vice president acting as president of the senate can be the sole decision-maker under your theory to who becomes the next president of the united states? and he said, yes. and i said are you out of your f-ing mind. >> the vice president decided he could not buy into eastman's theories. >> was it your impression mr. vice president correctly conveyed these issues to president? >> many times. >> and he'd been consistent in conveying his position to the president? >> very consistent. >> he basically cannot overstate

the pressure trump was putting on pence in the lead up to january 6th. >> i hope that our great vice president -- our great vice president comes through for us. he's a great guy. of course if he doesn't come through, i won't like him quite as much. >> that night pence's outside lawyer, richard cohen, phoned retired judge michael luding, an esteemed republican judge for advice. >> he said do you know john eastman, i said yes. he said, well, john is advising the president and vice president that the vice president does not have to accept the electoral college votes as they've been cast. i said, well, richard, you can tell the vice president i said he has no such authority whatsoever. >> why did you take to twitter? >> well, the next morning richard calls and i said, look,

we to get your voice out in the country immediately within the next hour or two. >> judge luding with the help of his son sent his first ever twitter thread. >> my son sent me twitter instructions on how to tweet a thread of individual tweets that were under 140 -- i had no earthy idea what any of this was about. i just told my son send it to me right now or i'll cut you out of the will. >> he read me some of that thread. >> the only responsibility and 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 either 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 certify biden's electoral college victory trump continued to apply maximum pressure. in this tweet, quote, the vice president has the power to reject fraudulently chosen electors. and when they met at the white house on january 5th. >> in the book "peril" journalists bob woodward and robert costa write that the president said, quote, if these people say you have the power, wouldn't you want to? the vice president says, quote, i wouldn't want any one person to have that 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 6th he tweeted, quote, if vice president mike pence comes through for us we will win the presidency. mike can send it back. and then there was the morning

phone call in which the president bullied and belittled the vice president for refusing to go along with this potential coup. >> i remember if he said you are a wimp, you mean be one. >> it's also to the effect he said you don't have the heart to make the right decision. >> i remember something like that, yeah. >> soon after the call ended, trump would repeat his dangerous lies and put a target on vice president pence. >> 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. >> as that speech neared its end inside the capitol -- >> the senate and house of representatives are meeting in joint session to verify the certificates and count the votes of the electors. >> but outside headed their way -- >> i've got three men walking

down the street and seen carrying an ar-15. so, i got this app from experian. it's got everything i need to help my finances. got my fico® score, raised it instantly, i even found new ways to save. all right here. free. and fast. see all you can do with the free experian app. download it now. our heritage is ingrained in our skin. and even when we metamorphosize into our new evolved form, we carry that spirit with us. because you can take alfa romeo out of italy. but you best believe, you can't take the italy out of an alfa romeo.

the chase ink business premier card is made for people like sam who make...? ...everyday products... ...designed smarter. like a smart coffee grinder - that orders fresh beans for you. oh, genius! for more breakthroughs like that... ...i need a breakthrough card... like ours! with 2.5% cash back on purchases of $5,000 or more... plus unlimited 2% cash back on all other purchases! and with greater spending potential, sam can keep making smart ideas... ...a brilliant reality! the ink business premier card from chase for business. make more of what's yours. if you're turning 65 soon or over 65 and planning to retire... now's the time to learn more about an aarp medicare supplement insurance plan from unitedhealthcare and get help protecting yourself from the out-of-pocket costs medicare doesn't pay. because the time to prepare is before you go on medicare. don't wait. get started today. call unitedhealthcare for your free decision guide.

i see irritated gums and weak enamel. sensodyne sensitivity gum & enamel relieves sensitivity, helps restore gum health, and rehardens enamel. i'm a big advocate of recommending things that i know work. so, you've got the power of xfinity at home. now take it outside with xfinity mobile. like speed? it's the fastest mobile service around. with the best price for two lines of unlimited. only 30 bucks a line per month.

that's hundreds in savings a year when you wave bye to the other guys. no wonder xfinity mobile is one of the fastest growing mobile services. you really shouldn't walk out the front door without it. switch today at xfinitymobile.com.

there are thousands of people here already. this line wraps around. >> as mr. giuliani and i were walking to our vehicles that evening he looked at me and said something to the effect of, cass, are you excited for the 6th? we're going to the capitol, going to be great. the president's 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 on the 6th. >> now we're on as they say the point of attack. >> listen to what mr. bannon said that day after the first call he had with the president. >> all hell is going to break loose tomorrow.

all i can say is strap in. >> they thought they could steal this elaekz -- >> and then you heard donald trump talk again, and we don't know what the contents of those calls were because, of course, donald trump has not provided that information and steve bannon has not provided that information. >> fight for america! fight for america! >> the night of january 5th you're among those summoned to the oval office. >> yeah, so i was brought into the oval office that evening and the entire press team was assembled in there. the president had the door to 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 was really excited for the next day. >> the president was making notes that talking then about we can go up to the capitol, what's the best route to go to the capitol. >> the january 6th committee's

presentation of testimony and documentation left no doubt that trump had every intention of joining his supporters' march to the capitol. >> did the president tell you this, that he wanted to speak at the capitol? >> correct, yes. >> we have the power in numbers. we came here to protect -- >> the morning of january 6th 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're taking this country back. >> -- had white house lawyers such as pat cipollone very worried. >> mr. cipollone said something to the effect of, please make sure we don't go up to the

capitol, cassidy, keep in touch with me. we're going to get charged with every crime imaginable if we make that movement happen. >> but nobody could change trump's mind. and as he, family, and aides arrived at the rally, his chief of staff mark meadows was keeping the president's hopes alive. >> prior to mr. trump taking the stage that morning he was under the impression via 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 announce area tent behind the stage, he was very concerned about the shot. >> for the pictures that were shared he wanted to make sure that the rally space was full,

and so he's being told it's not that people are waiting to get through these mags, through these metal detecters, people don't want to go through them because they have weapons with them. >> during the hearings the select committee showed a secret service report that, quote, some members of the crowd are wearing ballistic helmets, body armor, and carrying radio equipment and military grade backpacks. >> let's listen. >> the committee also played police radio transmissions from that day. >> the individual entry. he's got blue jeans and a blue jean jacket, and underneath the blue jean jacket stocked with ar-15. and a group of individuals about eight other individuals. two of the individuals in that group they had glauc-style pistols in their waistbounds. >> i've got three men walking down the street in fatigues.

>> yet trump wanted the metal detecters or mags removed. >> we're in the offstage tent i was in the vicinity of the conversation where i overheard the president say something to the effect of i don't care they have weapons, they're not here to hurt me, take the f-ing mags away, let the people in, take the f-ing mags away. >> please welcome the 45th president of the united states of america! president donald j. trump! >> let's reflect on that for a moment. president trump was aware that a number of the individuals in the crowd had weapons and were wearing body armor, and here's what president trump instructed the crowd to do. >> we're going to walk down and i'll be there with you -- we're going to walk down anyone you

want, but i think right here. we're going to walk down to the capitol to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard. >> how would you characterize donald trump's speech at the ellipse on january 6 sngt. >> inciting. it's hard not to see that that was fomenting and telling people he had been harmed and they should be angry on his behalf. >> you'll never take back our country with weakness. you have to show strength, and you have to be strong. >> trump's national security advisers believed the president, code name mogul, was going to join the procession. >> mogul, the president, was, quote, going to the capitol. and, quote, they are finding the best route now. >> the chat log continues,

military aid has confirmed he wants to walk. they are begging him to reconsider. current route will be 15th to "f," "f" to 6th, 6th to penn, penn to the capitol. what was he going to do up there? >> i think just lead his people, lead his base, be with his base. i don't think it was something he had thought out too well other than he was acting like somebody who didn't think he had anything to lose. >> 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 hell 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. >> he got off the stage and everybody was making a move back

to the motorcade. i overheard mr. meadows say to him he was still getting an off-the-record movement to the capitol. >> what happened next as trump and secret service agent robert bobby engel got into the presidential limousine known as "the beast" was relayed to hutchinson by trump's deputy chief of staff. >> when i returned to the white house tony proceeded to tell me that once the president had gotten into the vehicle with bobby, he thought they were going up to the capitol. and when bobby had relayed to him we're not, you don't have the assets to do it, it's not secure, we're going back to the west wing, the president had very strong, very angry response to that. tony described him as being irate. the president says something to the effect of i'm the f-ing president, take me up to the

capitol now. to come bobby responded, sir, we have to go back to the west wing. the president reached up towards 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 wheel. we're going back to the west wing. we're not going to the capitol. >> it's a shocking story. and we've now heard from at least the washington, d.c. detective something very similar. >> trump would return to the white house and watch his supporters heed his call to fight like hell. because it's powered by the most potent source of energy there is ... you. this is the lexus variety of electrification ...

inspired by, created for and powered by you. ♪ the first time you connected your godaddy website and your store was also the first time you realized... well, we can do anything. cheesecake cookies? the chookie! manage all your sales from one place with a partner that always puts you first. (we did it) start today at godaddy.com everything looks so good. right?! i'm hearing the new google pixel is really great. and it comes with at&t best deals on all of them. this one looks nice. that's a house favorite and it's served with your choice of plans. thank you. there's gotta be a catch. no catch and no trade-in required either.

ooh. oh. how do you know all of this? i come here a lot. love the service. at at&t, new and existing customers can choose any google pixel, with our choice of plans, and always get our best deal. ♪ meet the team... behind the team. the coach. the manager. and the snack dad. all using chase to keep up with their finances. the coach helps save goals here, because she saved for soccer camp there. anddd check this out... the manager deposited a check. magic.

and the snack dad? he's getting paid back. orange slicesss. because this team all has chase. smart bankers. convenient tools. one bank with the power of both. chase. make more of what's yours.

the morning of january 6th, what were your expectations for the day in. >> i think i woke up thinking that it was going to be a normal day. i just thought that he was going to go out there, give a speech, and that that would be it.

>> sarah matthews is donald trump's former deputy white house press secretary and was in the white house on january 6th. >> it was kind of quiet, to be honest, in the west wing that morning at least. >> that quiet would not last long. after the speeches at the ellipse, the president returned to the white house and the rioters made their way to the capitol. >> they broke through. it's on! >> already aware of the increasing violence, trump went into the private dining room just off the oval office at 1:25 p.m. and remained there until 4:00 p.m. >> when donald trump is upset about what he is seeing, he reacts. he is not reacting here. >> for more than three hours the president of the united states refused to call off the violent rioters who stormed the u.s. capitol. >> he's watching television and admiring what he saw.

you know, he was happy the certification was delayed. there were myriad efforts to get him to issue some kind of a statement. those did not work. he didn't make a single phone call to any member of his government. >> at 1:49 p.m. when d.c. police officially declared this a riot trump tweeted out his speech on the ellipse, the very one that had helped incite that riot. realizing the severity of the situation white house counsel pat cipollone rushed to mark meadows, the white house chief of staff. >> i remember pat saying to him something to the effect of the rioters got to the capitol mark, we need to go down and see the president now. and mark looked up at him and said he doesn't want to do anything, pat. >> it's over! you better run, cops!

>> right as the violence surged trump tweeted, "mike pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our constitution." >> it was the last thing that was really needed in that moment. it pretty much painted a target on the vice president's back by tweeting that out. >> hang mike pence! hang mike pence! >> i remember pat saying something to the effect of, mark, we need to do something more. they're literally calling for the vice president to be f-ing hung. and mark had responded something to the effect of, you heard it, pat, he thinks mike deserves it. >> working in communications for president trump i was very aware of just the impact that his words have on his supporters. that tweet suggested to them that what they were doing at the capitol was okay and that they were justified in their violence and that it was vice president pence who was allowing an election to be stolen.

>> mike pence has betrayed this president, and he has betrayed the people of the united states! >> inside the capitol, the vice president was rushed from the senate floor. secret service held pence along with his family and aides in his senate office as they worked to clear a path to safety. >> if we lose anymore time we may have -- we may lose the ability to leave. >> a white house security official who chose to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation explained exactly how dire the situation was for pence and his secret service detail. >> when were they starting to fear for their own lives? if they're running out of options and they're getting notice, it's not like we should have to use legal options or worse. >> when the secret service made the call to move the vice president again, rioters came within 40 feet of him.

as he was held in an undisclosed location it was the vice president who directed a response to the riot. >> it was pence who was on the phone with these lawmakers, pence who was on the phone with people in the pentagon about what was happening with the national guard. >> at 2:38 p.m. trump tweeted, quote, please support our capitol police and law enforcement, they are truly on the side of our country. stay peaceful. at this point rioters were in both chambers. >> this is our house. >> and the capitol rotunda was filled with tear gas. >> at the end of the tweet he used the phrase "stay peaceful." she shared with me he did not want to include that and it took a lot of convincing on their part. that was extremely alarming to

me. >> the rioters were getting trump's messages in realtime. as heard on walkie-talkie communications between rioters. >> trump just tweeted, "please support our capitol police, they are on our side. do not harm them." >> he didn't say not to do anything to the congressmen. >> i think what the committee showed about trump's tweets is that they do take them literally. his messages were received by the people who were there at the capitol very loudly. >> at any moment during the siege on the capitol the president could have addressed the country live from the white house. >> there's a camera on in the white house briefing room at all times. he could have walked over there, could have been on camera almost instantaneously and blasted out a message to the american people. he had every opportunity and he

chose to not do that. >> when the president finally relented and released a video telling the rioters to go home, it was 4:17 p.m., 3 hours and 7 minutes since the riot began. >> it became very clear that the feds basically the taken the capitol back over, that they were not going to succeed in stopping the counting. and only then did he come out with that statement. >> we had an election that was stolen from us. it was a landslide election, and everyone knows it. >> seeing him on camera start the video by talking about a stolen election, i just immediately knew that he wasn't going to meet the moment and say what was needed in that time. >> so go home. we love you. you're very special. >> yet again many rioters took the president's words as instructions. >> i'm here delivering the president's message.

>> working in communications for him i knew that i would be tasked with defending that, and we had just witnessed all this violence at the capitol and these 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 of the riot as blood and broken glass littered the halls of congress, according to the january 6th committee, there were those who were still trying to overturn the election. that evening rudy giuliani called a number of republican senators and urged them to continue and try and delay the certification. >> i'm calling you because i want to discuss with you how they're trying to rush this hearing. >> the next day john eastman called white house counsel john hershman to discuss an appeal in georgia. >> i said to him are you out of your f-ing mind? now, i'm going to give you the

best free legal advice you're ever getting in your life. get a great f-ing criminal defense lawyer, you're going to need it, and then i hung up on him. >> and the president released a second video condemning the violence more forcefully on january 7th. >> like all americans i am outraged by the violence, lawlessness, and mayhem. >> but according to white house aides cassidy hutchinson, it was only the threat of his cabinet invoking the 25th amendment that convinced him to make this video. advisers warned trump that talk of removing him from office was gaining traction. >> think about what might happen in the final 15 days of your presidency if we don't do this. there's already talks of invoking the 25th amendment, you need this as cover. >> and even then he still refused to admit the election was over. >> this election is now over. congress has certified the results. i don't want to say the election is over. i just want to say congress has

certified the results without saying the election is over, okay? >> that video just showed you that even after every single constitutional process had been completed, and after over 60 courts had heard his challenges and rejected them, he still refused. it was fundamentally a rejection of the rule of law. and again, america can't sustain itself if we have a commander in chief who is at war with the rule of law. >> coming up -- >> i want the american people to look at these hearings and understand how close we came that day to losing that self-governance. >> the battle to prevent another january 6th. n my chase freedom unlimited card. and i'm gonna cashback on a few other things too. starting with the sound system... curry from deep. [autotune] that's caaaaaaaaash.

i prefer the old intro! this is much better! i don't think so! steph, one more thing... the team owner gets five minutes a game. cash bros? wooooo, i like it! i'll break it to klay. cashback like a pro with chase freedom unlimited. how do you cashback? chase, make more of what's yours. i have moderate to severe ulcerative colitis. so i'm taking zeposia, a once-daily pill. because i won't let uc stop me...from being me. zeposia can help people with uc achieve and maintain remission. and has been shown to reduce symptoms in as early as 2 weeks. zeposia is the first and only s1p receptor modulator approved for uc. don't take zeposia if you had a heart attack, chest pain, stroke or mini-stroke, heart failure in the last 6 months, irregular or abnormal heartbeat, if you have untreated sleep apnea, or take maois. zeposia may cause serious side effects including infections that can be life threatening and cause death, slow heart rate, liver or breathing problems, increased blood pressure, macular edema,

swelling and narrowing of the brain's blood vessels, and increased risk of pml-- a rare brain infection that usually leads to death or severe disability. tell your doctor if you are pregnant or plan to be. don't let uc stop you from doing you. if you're living with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis, ask your doctor about once-daily zeposia. ♪you said close your eyes don't look down♪ ♪fall into me and i'll catch you darling♪ ♪we'll dance in the street♪ ♪ like ours is spoiling their dogs. good, real food is simple. it looks like food, it smells like food, it's what dogs are supposed to be eating. ♪

through the transcript. >> arguably the most damming quote he says as president, i could have declassified, now i can't. this is a really key piece of evidence in this ongoing investigation. >> what was the former president's reaction when you

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 east

the at least the air of federal complicity to election results. he knew when he was sitting in the office during the attack on january 6th, 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 self-governance. freedom isn't free. you have to defend this, and not just overseas, but sometimes here at home. >> do you miss me yet? >> do you miss me? >> in the after math of january 6th and his election loss. >> anthony gonzalez, that's another beauty. >> donald trump made it his mission to replace republican opponents with supporters. he had mixed success. in arizona and 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 reelection, such as adam kinzinger or lost their republican primary reelection battles 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. >> 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. >> 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 -- >> 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. >> 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, assist them in doing so or gives aid and comfort to those engaged in an insurrection is guilty of a federal crime. >> 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 blind. should he have known? yes, but if he did not, i don't know that that's a crime. >> 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. >> 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. >> 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 ninforme he's a target in a georgia investigation. >> we will not talk about this

until it's over. >> and appeared in front of a grand jury in august. >> at the moment, the most perilous investigation of donald trump has nothing to do with the attack on the capitol. >> former president donald trump's home in mar-a-lago 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. >> 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 j. trump. >> 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. >> 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. >> also in those pages, claims from hutchinson that pmeadows told the president he lost the 2020 election, despite what he was saying publicly. does the president really think he lost, hutchinson asks meadows on one occasion. he says, you know, a lot of times he'll tell me he lost but he wants to keep fighting it. how much the committee's 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 it got through to voters, and i think it's partly because it was trump's own appointees, republican appointees who they used to testify against him. whether that lingers in voters' minds i think is a real open question. >> i don't think that they have wounded him in a sense that they have 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 that biden is not legitimately elected president.

>> is any of this new revelations from these transcripts enough to loosen donald trump's grip on the republican party, do 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 have been shouting from the roof tops, this is not just about 2020. you're worried about 2024. >> i am. and right now the former president, his allies and supporters, including in congress and 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 pledged to do in 2024. >> do you think that republicans are hearing what you're saying? >> i hope they are. >> 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.