you better believe! tonight-- >> this is an effectively a riot. >> what is the bottom line you want people to know? >> there was a very sophisticated, multipart plan, overseen by donald trump. >> you can't ever accept when they steal and rig and bright. >> to attempt to stay in power. >> reporter: is the longest, largest investigation into donald trump's attempt to state president comes to a close, we put it altogether. >> i've got three men walking down the street. they are carrying ar 15's. >> the explosive testimony. >> i overheard the president say something to the effect of i don't care that they have weapons, let my people enter. >> reporter: new insight from witnesses. >> i said you are going state- by-state, 3.2 million voters and just throw them out of the

window? >> was he asking you to commit a crime? >> it gets to an attempt issue. >> i don't know what he believed. >> reporter: and what he might lie ahead. >> the form's 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! >> because of what they pledged to do in 2024. >> reporter: a cnn special report, american coup, the january 6th investigation. i am a very textural artist a lot of texture. >> reporter: in arizona, the republican speaker of the house, rusty bowers, is an artist, by trade. but last february, ours was thrown into a real life drama. >> the bill number was 2596. >> 2596, more than 100 in arizona to tighten access to the ballot box.

it 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 rusty bowers was this. >> with no guidance criteria, the legislature, after the election, could dismiss the election. and i said welcome to fascism. >> it is the 2596 elections. >> i said i will give this the respect it deserves. >> education. >> i sent it to 12 committees, so it would have a long vetting process. >> affairs. >> typical is one or two. if it was a controversial bill you might have sent it. then you are getting a message. >> judiciary. >> i decided to 12 committees -- >> transportation. >> it was theatrical, and i admit it. >> reporter: it is no overstatement to say that because bowers stood up for democracy, he will no longer be in the state legislature.

>> and rusty bowers. >> reporter: 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 was 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. >> reporter: farnsworth bought into trump's election lies. bowers did not. >> arizona voters have picked david farnsworth. >> i lost big. it is very possible that the bill that i assigned 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. 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 of the so- called swing states, the former president, donald trump, back 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 invest getting january 6th investigated witnesses, holding hearings, and gathering evidence, to fully expose what the committee says was a product, designed to keep donald trump as president, in 2020, and to try to make sure it can never happen again. >> what is 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 close to that before. >> reporter: vice chair, liz cheney, one of two republicans on the committee, has spent the last year bucking her party, and helping investigate donald trump fc sophisticated multipart plan. the first piece the committee focused on where the lies. >> mail ballots are a very dangerous thing for this country, because they are cheaters. >> reporter: in the lead up to the election, donald trump had been talking about the possibility of widespread voter fraud by months. >> voter mail is fraught with fraud, people steal them out of mailboxes. >> looking back, it is 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. in fact, made clear by the january 6th committee, which exposed to the world that so many trump aids, 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. >> reporter: new trump was going to lose legitimately and 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 data person was brought on, and i remember, he delivered to the president 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 that 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. >> reporter: during a meeting, several weeks later, trump got the same message from his white house counsel and another white house lawyer, eric hirschman. >> eric had told the group, president included that the 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 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 a daily occurrence. >> numerous times we've had glitches, and every single time the glitch went 100% to biden and no percent to trump. >> the only thing left is the 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 one of the most notorious and arranged lies. that dominion voting machines were flipping votes for trump to biden. >> the dominion voting systems were created 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 light, saying quote, no reasonable person would conclude that her statements were truly statements of fact, unquote.

before that happened, the president's attorney general, bill barr, was investigating all of trumped's fraud claims. >> it was getting a little awkward, because obviously he had lost the election. >> reporter: bars and he made it clear to donald trump in a september 23rd meeting that he had lost. >> our role was to investigate fraud, and it is just not meritorious, it is 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 macromedia. >> clearly the president won this election. >> reporter: donald trump would not listen to reason or fact. >> where is the doj and fbi and all of this, mr. president? >> missing in action. >> it 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, and i told him that to date we have not seen fraud on a scale that could have affected a different outcome of the election. >> a heated trump bar meeting,

bar got another opportunity to debunk the lies. among the claims he focused on were dominion voting machines. >> with the turn of a dial, the change of a chip, you could press a button for trump, and the vote goes to biden. >> i told him that the stuff he was shoveling out to the public was bulshit. but the allegations were made in such a sensational way that they obviously were influencing why people. >> reporter: before the end of december, bar 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 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 issuing a report that said there was a 68% error rate. it was not a 68% error rate. in fact, i think it was a .006% error rate. >> donahue also debunked fraud claims trump made about the voting done at the state farm arena in atlanta georgia. >> i don't want to see if people are walking in with suitcases and putting them under a table with a black robe around it. >> there were allegations of suitcases of fraudulent ballots being smuggled into the facility. >> people are pulling these ballots out from under the table. >> ballots being run through multiple times, the attorney looked through it and found that none of those allegations were true. >> reporter: donahue's boss, jeff rosen, then forwarded an email from 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 said these new numbers

back up through this 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, foxtrot, what is going on over there? >> the nation's top law enforcement officials were investigating and finding nothing substantive, and in the courts, the usual venue for claims of voting misconduct, the president's team lost, over and over again. >> the courts, again shutting down more desperate attempts to overturn an election. >> you are on george w. bush's short list. you are not some raging liberal, is that fair? >> not totally fair. >> reporter: michael ludwig is a high respected conservative retired federal court judge. looted did not hear any of the trump cases, but he and his colleagues analyzed more than 60 of them. >> we reviewed each individual

claim, and decided that there was nothing that would change the result in a single precinct, let alone a single state. let alone nationally. ahead? >> you are asking me to do something that is against my oath and i'm not going to do that. donald trump puts the squeeze on statehouse leaders across the country. >> going to have a big impact on tuesday if you don't get this thing straightened out. with up to 13 camera views. and the z71 off-road package. ♪ you ok? yeah. any truck can help you make a living. this one helps you build a life. chevy silverado.

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wife goes into the house. i sat there in my little previous and had a chat with the president, we had phone reception, and backed out to where i get better reception. >> reporter: rudy giuliani was on the line too, and bowers says it was giuliani whose began making crazy claims about voter fraud in arizona. >> i can't give you the exact numbers, i will throughout numbers, but they were kind of of the audacious numbers. like 200,000 illegal aliens voted, 6000 military ballots were stolen and used. >> reporter: bowers says giuliani wanted him to hold an official arizona house hearing to air these claims, publicly. >> and then i said, but what is the whole purpose of this, what are you trying to achieve? and he said, well, we have heard that there is 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 is a new one to

me. i have never ever heard of the of that. and so now you are asking me to do something that is against my oath, and i am not going to do that. >> but bowers says he told giuliani that he had good lawyer and would be happy to put the former mayor in touch with them. >> i don't do anything to do without having strong, legal counsel, and proof, and the president says you got the proof i said, i want the proof. i didn't get it when he said he would do it, he never called my attorneys. >> reporter: but the asks did not stop was giuliani. bowers would later get a call from another trump attorney, john eastman. >> we know there was fraud. >> reporter: the january 6th committee sees him 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 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 is responsible? on my part? i said, thank you, we are 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 sideburn in jazz, i thought i will watch, this will be interesting, i want to be close to that. >> reporter: you might remember the ninjas, the company was run by a trump lawyer, they

supplied ultraviolet lights, which could supposedly identify ballots from china. >> it came out that mr. biden won by a larger margin than deviously believed. mr. trump lost a number of votes. >> bowers 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 state that biden won. >> mr. speaker this is rudy giuliani and janet ellis. >> reporter: in pennsylvania, bowers encountered brian cutler got the calls. >> mr. speaker, this is janet yellin, and i'm here with mayor, giuliani. >> hey, brian, it is rudy, i have really something important to call to your attention. >> reporter: the january 6th committee thought the calls were inappropriate and had his lawyers told giuliani to stop them. >> we 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 roethlisberger got an hour call from president trump. >> brad, what are we going to do, we won the election and it is not fear to take it away from us like this. >> trump probably put more pressure on brad roethlisberger 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 is the phone call that everyone remembers because it was leaked. where he, in turn, berated brad lessons burger. >> they are going around laughing 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 his actions. >> you are not reporting it, you know, that is a criminal, that is a criminal offense. >> and it was not just pressure,

threats, usually from trump supporters, who felt empowered, or incited by him. take, for instance, the two men in the summer with a q1 on 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 spot overseeing the vote count in philadelphia. he received threats, and that his family. >> tell the truth, or your three kids will be fatally shot. included my address, included my children's names, included our home. >> of the republican house speaker in that state had protesters show up at his home. >> there were multiple protests, at least three outside of my district office or my home. my 15-year-old son was home by himself for the first while.

>> we have now, counted. >> reporter: in georgia, brad roethlisberger's wife received disturbing messages. >> people started threatening her, sending her sexualized texts, those kinds of intimidations. >> georgia election worker, shea moss, testified before the house select committee about threats she received, via facebook messenger. >> a lot of threats. wishing death upon me. telling me that, you know, i will be in jail with my mother. >> these threats happened after we rudy giuliani spread lies about her and her mother, counting votes with moss at state farm arena election night. >> her and one other gentleman, quite obviously, surreptitiously passing around usb ports of vials of heroin or cocaine. i mean, it is obvious to anyone who is a criminal investigator

or prosecutor, they are engaged in surreptitious illegal activity. >> what was your mom actually handing you? >> a ginger mint. just 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 go down the grocery aisle or something. i haven't been anywhere at all. i've gained about 60 pounds, it has affected my life in a major way. >> congressman, of illinois, the only one of the january 6th committee, other than liz cheney, say all of the threats are part of trump's plan. >> i don't think you could look at the words and actions of donald trump and think that he wanted anything except the explosion of these threats. he could stop that in a second if you want to do.

but he likes it. there's a lot of members of congress that i think voted against him, because they were scared for their families and themselves. what does that mean? it means threats of violence. up next. >> they suggested that he use the apparatus of government to seize voting machines. and got a real offer in seconds. then, they just picked up the car and paid me right on the spot. sell your car at carvana dot com today. lowe's knows that fall's shorter days call for bigger deals. get the most out of your projects by getting the most out of our fall savings now. shop labor day deals under $90 now, in store or online. let innovation refunds help with your erc tax refund so you can improve your business however you see fit. rosie used part of her refund to build an outdoor patio. clink! dr. marshall used part of his refund to give his practice a facelift. emily used part of her refund to buy...

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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. after six weeks of lies and pressure from the president of the united states-- >> take a moment to mark the ballot. >> on december 14th, 2020, all 50 u.s. states, formally certified their results. as their citizens had voted. >> the resolution is unanimously adopted. >> that, according to the january 6th committee, is what led to a boisterous white house meeting with the former president, considered horrifying action.

>> on december 18th, three people, one of them former trump's national security advisor, mike flynn, sydney powell, and patrick byrne, the founder of overstock.com, were let into the white house, by an aide to peter navarro, a former trump advisor. 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 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 hirschman, figure out what is happening, calls in the white house counsel, mark meadows ends up joining at some point, derek lyons, the staff secretary on his last day at work joins. rudy giuliani gets called in. this goes on for hours. >> how much time did you have alone with the president, i say

alone, with you, before the crowd came running? >> probably no more than 10 or 15 minutes. >> was, in that-- >> pat set a new land speed record. >> i walked in, saw general flynn, i saw sydney 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 drafted 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 for overseeing the operation, and institute all criminal and civil proceedings as a program. >> 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 learned through our hearings have been really stunning to me, because, repeatedly i have found myself in situations, thinking, my gosh, how could this happen here? and we really thought it couldn't, but it is just continued to emphasize for all of us that our institutions are fragile. >> the appointment of the special counsel was not hypothetical. trump wanted sydney powell, a prominent peddler of election lies, in the spot. >> if he had the authority, he would name a special counsel, and he said yes. and then i asked him if he had the authority to give me whatever security clearance and pat cipollone said yes. and the president said okay, i am naming her that, and i'm

giving her security clearance, and then shortly before we left, some baloney and or hirschman, or the other young man was you can name or whatever you want to name her, no one will pay any attention to her >> 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 pat cipollone arguing against the special counsel idea and the seizure of voting machines. >> can the federal government seize voting machines? it is a terrible idea. that's not how we do things in the united states. the three of them were really forcefully attacking me verbally. eric and we were pushing back

and asking one simple question, as a general matter. where's the evidence? >> what response did you get? a variety of responses. like what you mean where is the evidence, you should know. >> he said well, we don't have it now, but we will have it, whatever. >> she says, well, the judges are corrupt. and i said everyone? every single case that you've done in the country has lost every one of them is corrupt? and i'm being nice. i was much more harsh to her. >> the meeting very nearly devolved into a physical fight. >> she was standing up and turning around and screaming at me. and a certain point i had it with him. you know? i yelled back i had to come

over. >> i'm going to categorically describe it as, you guys are not tough enough. or maybe if i put it another way, you are a bunch of excuse the expression, but i'm almost certain that is the word that was used. >> if i was sitting in this chair i would've fired them all that night. >> 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, discrediting the meeting is unhinged. she also snapped this photograph of mark meadows escorting really rudy giuliani from the white house, to make sure he did not get back into the mansion. >> ut tweeted, quote, somehow the committee testimony featured life 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 the accountability over time is he gets people fighting with each other, and that is 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 after that meeting and you are extremely shaken. >> i was, and it was, frankly it took a little bit to process what exactly had happened, but i remember getting a text from a senior republican senate advisor asking me if there was going to be an issue in terms of a peaceful transition of power after this. and i said, yes there is an

alleged legitimate issue here, and i think that was a young one. >> it was floated, this idea, by retired general, michael flynn in the overall 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 banana republic to me. had that happened we would have been in a situation, where, literally we are at 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 who was telling him he lost the election that people agreed with him. >> the tweets, and the violence that followed ahead.

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hours before sunrise 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 protests in dc, on january 6th, it read. be there, it will be wild.

>> what he wanted was to joe 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., as evidence piece together by the january 6th committee shows, they heard that call and began planning immediately. >> women for america first, a pro trump group 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 s trump supporter and leader of the group, stop the steel created a website to share and promote logistics about the rally. >> it included events times, places, speakers, and details on transportation to

washington, d.c. >> all 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 once 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. >>'s word spread it became clear that trump is 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 offense or a wall. >> you had better understand something, son. you better understand something. red wave, this will 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, take that door open, look down the street, there will be 1 million+ americans. >> some of trump's twitter followers did consider his tweets to be orders. that is according to a former twitter employee, his identity was hit into the committee. >> i was told there was a mob being organized and they were gathering together and their logic and their reasoning behind why they were prepared to fight. >> members of the committee say they were flying being similar types of chatter across social media platforms. >> quote, calling all patriots, in january 6th. this wasn't organized bay group, dj t has organized us, and it will be wild. some of the online rhetoric turned openly homicidal and

white nationalist, such as why don't we kill them? every last democrat, down to the last man woman and child? and it is time for the day of the road, revolution was the only solution. >> donald.win, an openly anti- semitic site began to exchange ideas. >> on that site many shared plans and violent threats. bring handcuffs, and weight near the tunnels, when user, a comment replied suggesting zip ties instead. one suggested body armor, knuckles, shields, bats, pack pepper spray, whatever it takes. all of those were used on the sixth. the post concluded, join your local proud boys chapter as well. >> 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, lot called the ministry of self defense. it contained hundreds of these messages, which showed strategic and tactical planning about january the sixth, 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 those 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 advisor. this photo, from december 12th, shows flynn and patrick byrne, another trump ally, guarded by indicted oath keeper, roberto minitab. another view of the scene shows both keepers leader, stuart rhodes, in the picture as well. >> both minnesota and roads were charged with seditious

conspiracy. they pleaded not guilty. but late last year-- >> the jury has reached a verdict for the oath keepers. >> roads, 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, longtime trump ally had ties to these oath keepers. >> in the same timeframe, stone communicated with both the proud boys and oath keepers regularly. the committee obtained encrypted content from a group chat, called friends of stone. f.o.s., which included stones, roads, and oratorio. >> and rico kothari oh, leader of the proud boys. >> it focused on 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's stone's connection 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 refused 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 no about the organizing by the far right militia's.

>> 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. miss hutchinson, is it your understanding that mr. meadows called mr. stone on the fifth? >> i am under the impression that mr. meadows did complete, both a call to mr. stone, and general flynn, the evening of the fifth. >> and you know what they talk about that evening?? >> i'm not sure. >> i think what is important is that he was going through the process of saying that the election was stolen and then convincing folks that, look, if you believe that an election was stolen from you, violence is the only answer, quite honestly. i mean, that is kind of the american tradition. if you the squeeze on justice.

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you are obviously well

aware of what donald trump was doing in terms of his election fraud claims. did you have any apprehension or becoming deputy attorney general? >> no invited concerned about that. i have great confidence in the team. how long do you want to be part of the team? do you want to be there when it matters? >> you can't ever accept when they steal, , and rob appear you can accept it. >> after attorney general bill barr resigned, richard donoghue was appointed number two in the department of justice. the deputy to jeffrey rosen, the new acting attorney general. he inherited desperate 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 felt the justice department was an arm of his presidency in 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 iyer, rosen o'donoghue

fielded nearly daily complaints of donald trump. between december 23rd in genera 23rd, the president either called me or met with me virtually every day. the common element of all of this 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 the december 27th phone call with rosen and donoghue, trump said the department had an obligation to, quote, tell people this was corrupt illegal election, despite no evidence of widespread fraud. trump also pressed into 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 that he wanted to pursue with the congress. but by him telling us that we should say publicly that it was corrupt, that concerned me. >> what he intended was for the department of justice to say, we have indications that there was corruption because from there, you can take that seed of doubt, and donald trump and republican members of congress can water it, grow that doubt. and then, through there, you can do things like get people to vote against certification on january 6th. >> as long as rosen and donoghue 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 they pick him up on december 27th on the phone call with the president. he brought it up and said, look, people tell me i should change the leadership.

telling me you two are not doing your job. i hear jeff clark is great. people tell me can get in there and do something. 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 really heard of jeffrey clark. >> but donald trump had. unbeknownst to rosen and donoghue, pennsylvania republican congressman scott. had brought clark to the oval office to be with president trump on december 27th. 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 do not member the exact quote, but something about it i know jeff clark or 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 to be case between the justice department and the white house. white house lawyers pat cipollone and -- also intervened and warned clark not to interview intervene with the white house. clark agreed, but just two days later, as going to 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 and they all were. in the afternoon, we got the email, 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, signed by the three of us, the acting attorney general, myself, and jeff clark, to georgia. but also, the other stored states, the other swing states as well. suggesting essentially that they set aside the electors

desperate to support president- elect biden and hold hearings. and basically had the state legislatures pick a new slate of electors. >> the letter claimed that u.s. department of justice's investigation had, quote, identified significant concerns that have impacted the output outcome of the election in multiple states including the state of georgia. end quote. is that true? >> no. >> while the letter was sent solely by jeff clark, it was written with the help of a new justice department employee, named ken -- who according to the committee was also working with john eastman, the architect of the multistep plan to overturn the election. the letter mirrored of eastman's unconstitutional theories. >> critic chaos in the state. it would've been disastrous for our country and our constitution. >> wasn't at the point of it? the letter? to create that chaos? >> i think so.

>> disturbed by the letter, donoghue aba league responded to trump saying, quote, this would be a great step for the department to take and it would have constitutional, political, and social applications for the country. >> i do make clear to him that there was no world in which i am thoroughly the ag were going to sign a letter like that. >> rosen and donoghue met with clark later that evening. >> i do remember at the very end saying to him, what you're proposing is nothing less than having the united states justice department metal in the outcome of an american presidential election. >> 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 it. >> that led to a series of discussions and meetings that

day. at this point, it had gone so far that we had to bring in the leaders and ask lane to them. so they were prepared in case it happened. but also to get their take on what they would do if it did happen. >> what did they say they would do? >> they uniformly said they would resign. >> white house call logs obtained by the committee show that 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 donoghue 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, 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 might at least 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 beings or the street fighters of the meeting. >> when he finished discussing what he planned on doing, i said, -- congratulations, you just committed a first step or two attorney general be committing a felony or bilingual 60. cleary are not the right candidate for this job. >> white house counsel pat cipollone was vehemently against the plan as well. >> he referred that with jeff clark admitted as a murder suicide pact, that no one had should have anything to do with it. i basically made the point that jeff clark was either qualified to be the attorney general. he is promising you a good complexity very nationwide investigations in a record time, and is coming from a guy had never conducted a real investigation. esther clark responded by saying that he had been involved in very significant

environmental law briefing before various courts. and that reminded me, yes, primarily you are an environmental lawyer. how about you go back to your office and we will call you when there is a oil spill. >> upon clark's deployment, justice department leaders would resign en masse. >> the president turned me and said with steve, you would not leave, would you? i said, mr. president, i have been with you through four attorney general, including two acting attorney general, but i cannot 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 rotate did you discuss this draft letter to georgia officials with the president of the united states? >> fifth. >> coming up, inside the plot to present pressure the vice president rotate he would've immediately plunged the country into a paralyzing constitutional crisis.

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congress. >> ♪ >> this desperate scheme to overthrow the election results have been conceived weeks earlier. >> who do you remember being involved in those early discussions around the 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 with law professor and trump attorney john 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 were just step one in eastman's plan, which he outlined in these memos and justified with false claims of, quote, illegal actions by state and local election officials. step two in his plan would have

to be executed by vice president mike pence on january 6, while presiding over the opening and counting of electoral balance. >> what you can do is you can say, due to these disputes in the seven states, we are going to send us 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 19th, 2020, just four days before dr. eastman sent this memo, dr. eastman himself admitted in an email that the fake electors had no legal weight. referring to the fake electors as, quote, dead on arrival in congress, and quote. >> trump campaign aides and outside lawyers share their concerns about the scheme in emails reported on by the new york times, maggie haberman and luke broadwater. >> today but they were doing was legal?

>> in one email, a lawyer working in arizona describes them as, quote, unquote, fake lawyers. what we would be doing is any fake electors, fake", to go cast ballots. in another email, there was a discussion about fear from some officials. this would be seen as treasonous. >> what might have happened had pentz tried to go through with this idea that he could reject electoral votes and send them back to the states, such as arizona, pennsylvania, wisconsin, georgia? >> he would've immediately plunged the country into what i characterized would be tantamount to a revolution within a paralyzing constitutional crisis. >> there is 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 it 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 raichlen, entitled, operation pence card. they called the vice president to refuse electoral college votes from certain states that it certified joe biden as the winner what he had been pressuring him behind the scenes. so now, he is going public. he is trying to get public pressure on mike pence. >> the january 6 committee interviews with white house attorneys made it clear that pat cipollone, eric herschmann, and many others were appalled.

>> the way was committed to be with that pat cipollone thought the idea was nutty . and at one point, confronted eastman basically with the same sentiment. >> what were your prior interactions with eastman? >> he describe for me what he thought and begin he was in the statute. he was walking through it at that time. and i said, hold on a second, i want to understand what you're saying. you are saying that you believe the vice president, acting as president of the senate can be the sole decision-maker as to, under your theory, who becomes the next president of the united states? and he said, yes. i said are you out of your mind ? >> the vice president decided he could not buy into eastman's theories. >> mr. short, was it your impression that the vice

president have 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. >> you basically cannot overstate the pressure that trump was putting on pence and the lead up to january 6th . >> i hope that our great vice president, our great vice president comes through for us. he is a great guy. if he does not come through, i won't like him quite as much. >> that night, pence outside lawyer, richard cohen, phone retired judge michael luttig. an esteemed republican for help and advice. >> he said, judge, do you know john eastman, and i said, yes. john was a clerk of mine, about 20 or 25 years ago. and he said, well, john is advising the president and the vice president that the vice

president does not have to accept the electoral college votes as they had been cast. i said, well, richard, you could tell the vice president that i said he has no such authority whatsoever. >> why did you take to twitter? >> the next morning, richard calls. and he said, look, we have to get your voice out to the country immediately. within the next hour or two. >> judge michael luttig, 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 earthly idea what this is about. i just told my son, send it to me right now or i will cut you out of the will. >> he read me some of that red. >> 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. we see 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 continue 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, parallel journalist bob woodward and robert costa right that the president said, quote, if these people say that you have the power, wouldn't you want to? the vice president says, quote, i would not want any one person to have that authority. the president says, no, no, no, you do not understand, mike. you can do this. i do not want to be your friend anymore if you do not 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 he said, you are a wimp. you will be a wimp. wimp is the word i remember. >> it is also reported that the president said to the vice president something to the effect that you do not have the courage to make a hard decision? >> i do not remember exactly. it was something like that, yes. >> 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 --

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as mr. giuliani and i were walking to his vehicle that evening, he looked at me and said something to the effect of, kassidy, are you excited for the sixth? we are going to the capitol. it is going to be great. the president is going to be there, he is going to look powerful. >> on january 3rd, the capitol police issued a special event assessment. congress itself is the target

on 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 drop in . >> and then he and donald trump talk again. we do not know what the content of those calls were, because of course, donald trump has not provided that information. steve bannon has not provided the information. >> fight for america! >> the night of january 5th, you are among those summoned to the oval office? >> yes, i was brought into the oval office that evening, and the entire press team was assembled and there would take the gates open just a few minutes ago. >> the president had the door to the rose garden open, and you could hear the crowd on their lips, already assembled. and you could tell he was feeding off of that energy and that he was really excited for

the next day. >> the president was making notes, talking that about, we should go up to the capitol. what is the best route to go to the capitol? >> the january 6 committee's presentation of testimony and documentation left no doubt that trump had every intention of joining his supporters march to the capitol. >> fight for trump! >> did the president tell you this? that he wanted to speak at the capitol? >> correct, yes. >> stopped the steal! >> we have the power and numbers. we came here to protect our republic. >> the morning of january 6 -- >> usa! >> supporters began gathering for the rally. >> provided did not win this election. >> what you think happened? >> trump. it is not made up.

>> meanwhile, the president's insistence on joining their march to the capitol -- >> we are taking this country back. >> and white house lawyers such as pat cipollone were very worried. >> mr. pat cipollone said something to the effect of, please make sure we do not go up to the capitol, cassidy. please keep in touch with me. we are going to get charged with every crime imaginable if we make that movement happen. >> fight for trump! >> but nobody could change trump's mine. and as he, family, and aides arrived at the rally, his chief of staff mark meadows with keeping the president hopes alive. >> prior to mr. trump taking the stage that morning, he was under 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 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 is being told it is not that people are waiting to get through these mags, through these metal detectors. people do not want to go through them because they have weapons with them. >> during the hearing, the select committee showed a secret service report that showed, 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 really police radio transmissions from that day. >> and the individual is answering. he has got blue jeans and a blue jean jacket. and underneath the blue jean jacket, [ indiscernible ] ar- 15. he is going to be with a group

of individuals, about five to eight other individuals. two of the individuals in that group had glock-style pistols in their waistband. >> i got three men walking down the street in fatigue carrying ar-15s. copy at 14th and independence. >> yet, trump wanted the metal the characters detectors, or mags, removed. >> when we were in the offstage amount tent, i was in the vicinity of a conversation where i overheard the president say something to the effect of, i do not care that they have weapons. they are not here to hurt me. take

than an hour on stage the president wrapped up his speech this way. >> fight like but if you do not fight like hell, you are not going to have a country anymore. 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 -- >> let's go! >> everybody was making the movement back to the motorcade. i had overheard mr. meadows say to him 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 engel got to the presidential limousine known as the beast, was relayed to hutchinson by trump office deputy chief of staff tony ornato. >> when i return to the white house, tony proceeded to tell me that was the president got into the vehicle with bobby, he thought that they were going up to the capitol. and when bobby had relayed to him, we are not, we do not have the assets to do it, it is not secure, we are going back to the west wing, the president

had a very strong, very angry response to that. tony described him as being irate. the president said something to the effect of i'm the -- president. take me up to the capitol now. to which bobby responded, sir, we have to go back to the west wing. the president reached up toward the front of the vehicle to grab at the steering wheel. mr. engel grabbed his arm. he said, sir, you need to take your hand off the steering wheel. we're going back to the west wing. we are not going to the capitol . >> it is a shocking story. and we have 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 to fight like hell . >> let's go!

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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 normal day. i just thought he was going to go out there, give a speech, and that would be it. >> sarah matthews is donald trump's former deputy white house press secretary and within 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 lips, the president returned to the white house and the riders made their way to the capital. >> they broke through. it is on. >> already aware of the increasing violence, trumpeted the trump went into the private dining room just off the oval office at 2:00 p.m. and remained there till 4:00 p.m.. >> when donald trump is upset about what he was saying, he reacts. he was 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 was watching television and admiring what he saw. >> he was happy that the certification was delayed. there were a myriad of efforts to get him to issue some kind of a statement. those did not work. he did not make a single phone call to any member of his government. >> this is now a clear riot. >> at 9:00 hours, declaring a riot. >>? d.c. police officially declared as a riot, trump tweeted out a leak to his speech on the ellipse , the very one that helped insight that riot. realizing the severity of the situation, white house counsel pat cipollone rush to mark meadows, the president's chief of staff. >> i remember pat say to him

something to the effect of the riders had got to the capitol, mark. we need to go down to the president now. and mark looked up at him and said, he does not want to do anything, pat. >> it is over! you better run, cops! >> right as the violence surged, trump tweeted, mike pence did not have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our constitution. mize 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 say something to the effect of, mark, we need to do something more. they are literally calling for the vice president to be -- hung . and mark had responded something to the effect of, you heard him, 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 sweet 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. >> he has betrayed this president and betray 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 dave in his senate office as they worked to clear a path to safety. >> if we lose any more time, we may lose the ability to leave . >> a white house security official who chose to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation explain exactly how dire the situation was for pence and his secret service detail. >> the members of the vp detail at this time were starting to fear for their own lives. they are running out of options and getting nervous, it sounds like we came very close to

either service having to use lethal 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. >> stopped the steal! >> 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. by 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. kayleigh mcenany shared with me that he did not want to include that it took a lot of convincing on their part. that was extremely alarming to me. >> the rioters were getting trump's messages in real time, 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 did not say not to do anything to the congressman. [ laughter ] >> 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 is 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., three hours and seven minutes since the riot began. >> it became very clear that the feds basically had 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 by stolen election, i just immediately knew that he was not going to meet the moment and say what was needed in that time. >> go home.

we love you. you are very special. >> yet again, many rioters took the president's words as instructions. >> i am here delivering the president's message. he's telling everybody to go home. >> 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 could not defend that because it was indefensible. i resigned that evening. these are 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 are still trying to overturn the election. that evening, rudy giuliani called a number of republican senators and urge them to continue to try and delay the certification. >> i am calling you because i want to discuss with you how

they're trying to rush this hearing will take the next day, john eastman called white house counsel eric herschmann to discuss an appeal in georgia . >> i said to him, are you out of your mind? now i'm going to give you the best free legal advice you are ever getting in your life. get a great -- criminal defense lawyer. you are 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 aide 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 with gaining traction. >> think about what might happen in the final 15 days of your presidency if we don't do this. there is already talked about

invoking the 25th amendment. you need this as cover. >> even then, he still refused to admit the election was over. >> this election is now over. congress has certified the results. i do not want to say the elections are 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 quarts had heard his challenges and rejected them, he still refused. it it was fundamentally a rejection of the rule of law. america cannot sustain itself if we have in 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

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those hearings donald trump knew what he was doing. you especially the vice president. into he was pressuring state officials. he knew he was lying. he was trying to basically change out the doj to get people sympathetic to him to get at least the air of federal complicity in challenging election results. anti-new that there was a chance it would succeed. quick will you want american to take away from the hearings? >> what the american hearings to understand how close we were to losing that self-governance. freedom is not free you have to defend this and not just overseas but sometimes her at home. >> do you miss me yet? >> in the aftermath of january 6th and his loss. >> anthony gonzalez. >> donald trump made it his agent to replace republican

opponents with supporters. he had mixed success. in arizona pennsylvania he backed gubernatorial candidates kari lake and doug mastriano, and senate candidates blake masters and mehmet oz. all of them lost. of the 10 republicans in the house of representatives who voted to impeach trump because of january 6, only two returned to congress in 2023. >> kinzinger: they claim that -- >> jake tapper: the others either declined to run for re-election, such as adam kinzinger, or lost the republican primary re-election battles to more trump supporting candidates, such as liz cheney. >> this mission that you have taken on has cost you your job. do you have any regrets? >> our obligation, my application very much is about politics. i imagine having done anything terribly at this stage of this process. since january 6th, it saddens me that so many of my republican

colleagues have not met the moment. >> jake tapper: kinzinger and cheney were the only two republicans on the house select committee to investigate the attack on january 6. they've become pariahs in a party where they were once seen as its future. >> kinzinger: we cannot survive as a party existing on the personality of one man. >> jake tapper: the select committee to investigate the january 6 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 19, the committee showed us its full hand. >> jake tapper: leading this hour, the january 6 committee referring donald trump to the justice department for criminal prosecution. >> the last hearing for four crimes including obstruction of

an official proceeding on january 26, 2021. >> people purpose and obvious effect of trump's scheme were to obstruct, influence and impede this official proceeding. >> jake tapper: conspiracy to defraud the united states. conspiracy to make false statement. abruptly most grape referral, the one for updating or assisting an insurrection. >> anyone who cites others to engage in prevailing, assist them in doing so, refuse eight and comfort for those engage in the insurrection, is guilty of a federal crime. >> jake tapper: it's a charge that may be particularly difficult to prove. >> richard donoghue: 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. >> jake tapper: not everyone shares that view. >> a fact or law that the president of the united states would not be either a legal defense or a political defense to the president. that is about as clear as a former judge could say. >> jake tapper: >> merrick garland accounted for crime prosecutor named jack smith a special counsel in charge of these ongoing investigations. >> window the justice department has been investigating investigating jeffrey clark. we also know that john eastman is someone who has been touched by this investigation. >> i would like to see the warrant before you take my property. >> jake tapper: both jeffrey clark and jon eastman have the policies by federal

investigators. click dismiss the investigation is politically motivated, and eastman bought the doj search warrant in court. but, there are state level investigations as well. rudy giuliani has been informed he is a target in a georgia investigation. >> we will not talk about this until it is over. >> jake tapper: -- 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 cap capitol.>> unidentified female: former president donald trump's mar-a-lago home in florida has been searched by the fbi. haberman: the investigation at the moment seems most directly threatening to donald trump. it is the one to do with his handling of classified documents and taking documents to mar-a-lago with him when he left office. >> jake tapper: the government has recovered more than 320 classified documents. in tromso in florida. the redacted search warrant identified three federal crimes of the department of justice list is the foundation of his 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 held by the 845 page committee report, and the hundreds of documents and transcripts released by the january 6th committee. as 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 6 should be barred, disqualified and barred from holding government office. >> pres. donald -. >> jake tapper: that's aimed at trump was already nancy is running for president in 2024, something the committee is that should not be allowed. >> donald trump: i am thrilled to be back. >> no man who would behave that way that moment in time can ever serve in any position of authority in our nation again. he is unfit for any office. >> jake tapper: 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 arc meadows burned documents in his white house fireplace about a dozen times during the transition. >> even richard nixon did not burned the tapes. there was a gap, but he did not print the tapes. >> jake tapper: also in these pages, claims from hutchinson that meadows told her the president new he lost the 2020 election despite what he was a publicly. does the president really think he lost, hutchinson as meadows, on one occasion? he said, you know, a lot of times the tommy that he lost but he wants to keep writing it. how much the committee hearings and binding have affected the country's views on trump remain unclear. >> i think the january 6th hearings actually presented a pretty concise case, and i do think that i got through to

voters, and i think it was partly because was from some appointees, republican appointees, who are the ones that were used to display against him. whether that lingers in voters minds, i think, is a real open question. >> i don't think that they wanted him in a sense of, the change a lot of minds. his supporters either don't care or so believe what he says, which is that the election was stolen and that biden is not a legitimately elected president. >> is any of this new revelations from these transcript enough to loosen donald trump scrimp on the republican party, you think? >> i doubt it, not his base. his peace will stay where they are they don't care about the facts. >> donald trump and his supporters are clear and present danger to american democracy. >> jake tapper: you've been shouting from the rooftops. this is not just about 2020. you're worried about 2024. >> john luttig: i am. and right now, the former president and 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 6. it's because of what they pledged to do in 2024. >> jake tapper: do you think

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

>> welcome to the whole story i am anderson cooper pres. trump for allegedly trying to overturn the election in 2020. this is no his fourth indictment. the paulding county district attorney chart 18 codefendants along with the former president including former white house chief of staff mark meadows, trump attorney rudy giuliani, cindy powell, jon eastman and others. trump is accused of being the head of a criminal enterprise and racketeering is one of the 13 charges against him. tonight we take a close look at exactly what mr. trump and his allies did in georgia in the weeks after the election. cnn sara murray brings out details about the investigation of the former president of the most serious charges he is facing now. >> breaking news into cnn this our prosecutors in georgia have opened a criminal investigation. >>