. you can go ahead and start calling and now. yesterday's hearing clocked in a very good tuesday morning to you. you can go ahead and start calling and, now yesterday's hearing caught in that two hours and five minutes. that was about 13 minutes longer than thursday's primetime hearing. it got off to a bit of an unexpectedly late start after one of the key witnesses we for the campaign manager skipped a hearing. it turned out as the washington post noted it was another witness who turned out to be the star witness of the headline from the washington post. as the

hearings star witness, william barr says trump was obsessed with fraud notions. this is some of the testimony from the former attorney general of the united states. >> it got under my skin but i also felt it was time for me to say something. i had set up a launch with the ap reporter and i told him at lunch and made the statement that today we had not seen fraud on the scale to affect a different outcome in the election. i had a later meeting scheduled at the white house at 3:00 with meadows. this was previously scheduled, i knew this was going to come up and i went over there. i told my secretary i thought i would probably be fired and to go home. not to go back to my office. i said you might have to pack up for me. so when i got over there i met with the

chief of staff. he said the president was angry, he did not really get into the issue of the fraud. and then i went up to pat -- office and we were talking with each other. and they word came down that he wanted us both to go to the oval office. the president was as mad as i have ever seen him, trying to control himself. the president says this was killing me, you did not have to say this. you must have said this because you hate trump, you hate trump. and then he raised the big vote dump as he called it in detroit. and he said people saw boxes coming into the counting station at all hours of the morning and so force. i told him that at that point i knew the exact number of precincts, i think it was 630 something. i said mister president, there are 630 precinct in detroit, and unlike elsewhere in the state they

centralize the counting process, they are not counted in east precinct, they are moved to counting stations and so the normal process would involve boxes coming in at all different hours. there is nothing, i said did anyone point out to you in all of the people complaining about it point out here that you actually did better in detroit than you did last time? there is no indication of fraud in detroit. and i told him to stop his people were shoveling out the public was -- and the claims of fraud was -- he was indignant about that. and, i reiterated that they wasted a whole month on these claims on the dominion voting machines. they were idiotic claims. i specifically raised the dominion voting machines, which i found to be among the most disturbing allegations.

disturbing in the sense that i saw absolutely zero basis for the allegations. they were made in such a sensational way that they obviously were influencing a lot of people, members of the public, that there was the systemic corruption in the system. their votes didn't count, these machines controlled by somebody else were actually determining it. it was complete nonsense. it was being laid out there. i told them that it was crazy stuff. they were wasting their time on that. it was doing a great grave disservice to the country. >> former attorney general during part of his taped testimony that was played at that hearing yesterday. we'll run through some of the other testimony from my hearing. we mostly want to hear from you. this is the second in a series of hearings this month, the third will take place on wednesday of this week. but, getting your reaction to to,

again, phone numbers 202748 8001. that's republicans. democrats is -- independents 2027 for a -- did you watch? what did you think? jill is up first. good morning. >> good morning, well, the media has certainly shown a tale here, they serve the offense even less than the democrats serve defense. they are on record for hating trump 24/7. they do want the democrats to win. what's really, what's trumped it was deserved. he did not lose the election. he was up 600, 000, 700, 000, 800,000. between pennsylvania, wisconsin, michigan, collectively at midnight. and there is no way that that vote would turn around. there is corruption involved. the elite level media now, the same media that is so biased and unfair, that wouldn't even cover the biden story in the last month

of the election before the 2020 election, they wouldn't even cover, it wouldn't touch as a collective force. these same people hate trump 24/7. they want the americans now to believe there is nothing wrong. >> so joe, you're talking about democrats in the liberal media. what did you think of the former attorney general's statement just then? that was about two and a half minutes of his statement in which he called those claims of election fraud bs. >> 600, 700, 000, 800,000 votes at midnight. you tell me. these same people that hate trump want to turn around and say, they didn't cover the biden story, they want to turn around to americans and say, trust us, we're not biased. trust us because we don't, well, we're not anti trump. he didn't, he wasn't ripped off the election.

>> so joe, another republican voice, mick mulvaney, the former acting chief of staff for president trump, former republican congressman from south carolina. this was his series of tweets yesterday. i'm not sure how today's hearing will establish that trump knew that he lost, indeed all the evidence is that he never accepted that. he said, i do wish that every person who thinks that trump really did win watched what we just saw. he said, i'm not sure what democrats accomplished today. some interesting side notes, but they had nothing to show that trump believed that he lost. in fact, they showed the exact opposite. they made the case that he probably should have known, but he said, that is different. >> well, you know, i'm a teacher, i'll tell you, there is no way anyone can tell me, i have a degree in political silence from ucla. noticing the tell me that he lost the election was up 600, 700, 800,000 votes that midnight, to not win the election, that it

turned around. >> all right, that's joe, in california. this is robert of new york city, a democrat. good morning. >> hey, good morning. thank you for c-span, you do a great job. you know, the caller just talked about how democrats hate trump. i can't talk about the rest of my fellow democrats, i can tell you that i hate when people lie to my face, or lied to me on television. i hate when people don't distort the truth. you know, it's like, if you've ever got out, you've had a girlfriend or spouse who you know is lying to you. you are just unsettled, you don't like it, you don't like people who, you know, give you wrong information. you know, it's a shame, john, that we have to even go through all of this. it's important that they go

through all of this investigation and talking to all these individuals who were involved. the legal teams for trump who are, you know, are finally talking truth. it's a shame that we're spending this money and this time, you know, it reminds me about hearing about trump's failures over the years. the bankruptcy's, atlantic city, and how closing a few major hotels, i'm losing my voice, i'm sorry. you know, really injured atlanta city. all of the shenanigans, the business shenanigans and the costs, and the expenses that this man has caused this country. he had lame brain notions that any idiot, like myself included, could tell you

that we shouldn't have gone to iraq, all of these simpleton ideas that are, of course, you know, i feel strongly about myself. they didn't qualify this man to become president. you know, he was full of one liners. he was full of the headlines from the news. he had no detail, no depth, no information. he has no business being president. >> got your point, rob. helen out of north carolina. helen, did you watch yesterday? >> -- >> helen, did you watch yesterday? >> my name is helen. i watched bits and pieces. my problem is, how come they don't subpoena nancy pelosi, -- trump did not cause this riot at the capitol building. if you know this,

chuck schumer, nancy pelosi, and all of that crowd, they knew what was going ahead. we need to get on with the peoples business. why don't you ever cover something about joe biden, that needs to be exposed. this president that we have in the office today is not, he is not qualified. when i go to my doctor for my yearly checkup, i have to -- because of my age. why isn't this men giving it? he's in with china, nancy pelosi is a disgrace to our country. >> that's helena north carolina. this is irene in california, line for republicans. i mean, did you watch?

>> yes, i'm watching most of, it yes. >> what did you think about yesterday? >> well, the reason i'm calling is that i'm very disappointed, john, in c-span. my husband and i watch c-span every rally on c-span. we watched all the way up to when they went to the capital. all of these older couples arrived at the capitol, and the guard open the gate, we are in shock, he said, he just said we can come in. this is all on c-span. he opened the barrier, they start walking in, up the steps, then another guard opening the door. people were just shocked they were allowed in. >> irene, did you see the videos -- >> the guy with the animal outfit on. he was goofing around in one room. the guard said, come on, knock it off. it

went on and on. they gathered, it was crowded in there. i said to my husband, i have claustrophobia. i said, oh my gosh, these people, there's so jammed in there. >> irene, did you see the videos of people breaking through windows to get in? >> no, that came later. sorry, john. see, i went back on c-span, you cut that all out. all you did was put on breaking windows, that happened later. i'm really disappointed in c-span, c-span's very democrat. they do not show anything that goes on on the other side. you're not even talking about the judge that almost got murdered. you won't talk anything about that, anything about donald trump's innocence

-- that's very disappointing. i love c-span but it is terrible. you guys have gone so hypocritical. >> keep watching. we have covered all of those things, including the arrest that happened last week outside of judge kavanaugh's home. do you hope you keep watching and we will continue to show you things in their entirety. you can also go back and watch at our day online archives at c-span. org. all available for you. charles, liquid washington, democrat, good morning. did you watch yesterday? >> i did. i think my opinion is everything trump has touched has turned to dust, look at what he left, he left them with hostels, with emergency patients. we have had mass graves.

>> charles, bring us to what you saw yesterday and what's you so yesterday the hearing. >> i am pretty sure bill barr nailed it in the head. he told trump there is nobody in the election, his advisers told him there was no clotting in the election, but he has been running a fraud scheme from before the election even started. he was just using it to match up the donations from his followers so he could get close to $250 million. a quarter of 1 million dollars of donations. he hold no accountability for them. he said he was starting a new fraud investigation that he never put any money towards. i hope all of them trump supporters realize that the money they have, that all of those hats and banners is all money and it was just a big scam for him. just like his casinos and everything else. not much else to say about that.

>> described by democratic congresswoman who led for a large portion of the hearings time yesterday the questioning. and the revelations about what the committee has found. he described that election defense fraud as not adjust part of a big lie about part of the big rip off that president trump and his campaign asked supporters to donate to in the weeks after the election. raising some 100 million dollars in just the first week after the election of 2020. question for our viewers this morning, did you watch yesterday and what did you think? that is the same question that reporters posed to attorney general merrick garland yesterday at a briefing at the justice department. wondering what might be next when it comes to his area of

government and possible charges for the future. this is what merrick garland had to say. >> i wanted to ask you whether you have had a chance to look at or watch the hearings on capitol hill on the january 6th and the january six committee. and if you have learned anything that could be useful to the justice department's work? >> i am watching, i will be watching all of the hearings, although i may not be able to watch all of it live. i will be sure we'll be watching all of it, i can assure you that the january six prosecutors are watching all of the hearings as well. this, which i will now count as your third question, i am not going to be able to give a response on how my own personal responses to this with that kind of evidence that is coming out, i want to just explain a little bit more although i did start explaining a little bit more the last time

we were all together two weeks ago or so. at the press conference. they justice department's long-standing position is that we do not comment on ongoing investigations, we do that both for the viability of our investigations and because it is the right thing to do with respect to the civil liberties of people under investigation. in slightly more expansive, we have three raisins that are all equal one is that our investigations generally proceed quietly and in secret so that we do not tell witnesses where we are. we do not want them to know, we want truthful answers as we approach. we want to be able to do our subpoenas and search warrants without any risk. eventually that information comes out, it comes out in the form of affidavits and our pleadings. our investigations need to proceed in an efficient way and we have learned over many years this is the way our investigation should go.

secondly, this is what protects the civil liberties of people who have not been charged. we do not impugn people until we actually charge them. this is part of the rule of law in america. third, there are the people who we have charged, as you all know we have charged well over 800 people in connection with the january 6th. some are planned and others are facing proceedings, for asked to comment about evidence, some of which regards them and some of which regards others. it could affect their cases, it could affect our ability to proceed in an effective way. that is the reason, it is the reason this has been the long-standing position of the justice department. >> attorney general merrick garland yesterday, members of congress certainly watching and commenting on twitter. here is a feels them over the course of

the day yesterday. roger marshall the republican senators saying. today gas is $5 nationally inflations that a 40 year high, baby formula is impossible to find, 401ks are plummeting, and the democrats are wasting more time this week on their sham january six committee. from andy biggs, the republican congressman from arizona, the january six committee a sham committee run by partisan hypocrites. and this from republicans on the house administration committee, once again, they write on twitter, it is all about politics for the 16 committee. today's hearing is focused solely on attacking president trump instead of the catastrophic security failure on that day. democrat reuben guy a go and say arizona saying lying about voter fraud lying about political donations, lying about winning the election. trump was willing to tell any life meant keeping power. he was willing to overthrow our democracy, trump must be held accountable. congressman raja krishnamoorthi, the democrat saying trump used the big lie to mislead millions of supporters to donate to the official election defense fund. no such fund existed, the money

went into trump's pac and other allies instead. the former president lied to his own supporters and then ripped them off. one more, tom carper, democrat senator from delaware. today's hearing made it clear donald trump's closest advisers told him there was no evidence of fraud in the 20 election. but instead of telling the truth, he chose to endorse conspiracies to mislead the public, fund-raise off of falsehoods, and, ultimately try to cling to power. so the reaction from the folks who work in the building behind me, getting your reaction on frontlines as usual from democrats, republicans and independents in this washington journal. this is maybe us, fort lauderdale florida, independent good morning. >> good morning, i watch the hearings, to watch this hearing and to hear the republican folks and i do not understand how this is the democrats or the republicans. this is a lifeline of the country. no man should be allowed to do what

mr. trump has been allowed to do, democracy is failing. this man is out of order he was never fit for office, and the amount of lies that he has told since he has been in office. and these folks will defend and defend, and defend every lie they were trying to cover-up. everyone. it is crazy. and then when we go back to mr. trump, he did so well for the country that is one thing. the man put democracy on trial. >> that is made us, this is kelly and clements, north carolina. republican, good morning. >> good morning, hi everyone. i was just wondering if you had seen the articles about what is

going on in arizona. and wisconsin, and michigan and pennsylvania, and georgia at this moment. all of that money that is supposedly been wasted has gone too many investigations, and at this moment they have arrested quite a few people in arizona for voter fraud. you will not see it on mainstream media, mind you, but if you look at their local papers and local media around those places. like an arizona, they have found that the -- they were stuffing the ballots the ballot boxes that were out there. >> so, kelly do you trust the election systems in this country? how do you feel about the midterm elections coming up? we are just a few months away

from a midterm election. do you think your vote is gonna count? it depends. it depends on whether we can keep them from cheating again this time. as a matter of fact, what has happened down in --, they have also been the sheriff there has been going around to the ngos that were passing out the ballots for biden, to these people who stuff them. they have gone with some of the ngos. it's all coming out. in wisconsin, they have had a sheriff that went to all the folks homes. they have found out that there were enough to turn the states of people who went into the old folks homes. they got people to vote who

were not able to vote. >> kelly, on the issue of election fraud claims. there were plenty from president trump following the 2020 election. yesterday's hearing included state officials who were brought in to testify what they thought about those claims and some of the key states that former president trump focused on. one of those officials, former philadelphia city commissioner, was asked about claims of voter fraud in pennsylvania. here is the exchange with congresswoman, so lofgren. >> mr. schmidt, at the time of the 2020 presidential election, you were serving as the only republican member of philadelphia's three member city commission, which is responsible for overseeing elections throughout the city. is that correct? >> that is correct, congress person. >> so, president trump made numerous claims regarding fraudulent voting practices in philadelphia. including the claim that dead people were

voting. in fact, mr. giuliani told pennsylvania state legislators that 8000 dead people voted in pennsylvania. you investigated those claims of voter fraud. can you tell us what you found? >> not only was there not evidence of 8000 dead voters voting in pennsylvania. there wasn't evidence of eight. we took seriously every case that was referred to us, no matter how fantastical, no matter how absurd, we took every one of those seriously, including these. >> as it turns out, even mr. trump's campaign lawyers knew that the dead voter claims weren't valid. >> i guess the crooks in philadelphia are disappointed in this. they only submitted 8021 votes from dead people, mail in ballots from dead people. probably easier for dead people to submit mail in ballots than it is to vote in

person. >> rudy was at this stage of his life, the same ability to manage things at this level or not. and obviously, -- he publicly said it, they never proved the allegations that they were making. >> mr. smith, on november 11th, 2020, president trump tweeted about you. saying, here is a quote, a guy named al schmidt, a philadelphia commissioner, and so-called republican, is being used big-time by the fake news media to explain how honest things work, with respect to the election in philadelphia. he refuses to look at a mountain of corruption dishonesty. we win. as a result of that tweet, and the cnn interview you gave where you stated the dead voter claims in pennsylvania were false, you and your staff were subjected to disturbing

threats. can you tell us about that? >> the threats prior to that we, on some level, it feels almost silly to talk about a tweet. we can really see the impact that they have. prior to that, the threats were pretty general in nature. corrupt election officials and philadelphia are gonna get what's coming to them. your what's the second amendment is for. you're walking into the lions den. all sorts of things like that. after the president tweeted at me by name, calling me out the way that he did, the threats became much more specific. they became much more graphic. and they included not just me by name, but included members of my family, my name, their ages, our address, pictures of our home. every bit of detail that you can imagine. that was which hinged with that tweet.

>> some of the exchange that took place yesterday during that second in that series of hearings. again, it continues tomorrow. the focus tomorrow on the role of senior justice department officials and white house advisers, we were told, sort of the preview that got laid out in that first hearing back on thursday that one of the issues that will be explored in this third hearing that is gonna take place tomorrow is the effort by former president trump to outs his attorney general, so the justice department would help when it came to stolen election claims. the fourth hearing is set for thursday. the focus there will be on efforts to pressure former vice president mike pence to refuse to count electoral votes on january 6th. the committee has said that the

fifth hearing will focus on pressure that the former president applied to slate legislators and state election officials with a focus specifically on the state of georgia. and then, the final hearings set to focus on president trump's actions that day. a look at the day of january 6th, sort of, minute by minute, or hour by hour, by half dozen officials who worked inside the trump white house. so that sort of the road ahead. that is what we're expecting here over the coming hearings. were two hearings into this, getting your reaction, again, split usual by political party. michael isn't beacon, new york, a democrat. michael, did you watch yesterday? >> of course i watched. of course i watched, you can't miss -- you know, a couple of things i would like to say please. first of all, it's fox and the right-wing media which tell the truth and expose the truth from these investigations. this world, this country, would be in a better place. you know, they talk about the investigation, but they don't talk about the content of the investigation.

they talk about the process, the trump supporters, like i listen this morning, nobody is talking about what trump has done. which is single-handedly poise in the democratic system in america. also, he has stolen 200 and $50 million out of their pockets, nobody seems to understand that on the trump side that he -- to this country. one other thing, please, the resignation later, which came on december 14th, yesterday, watching him with his testimony, all the stuff that he has said and expose yesterday, what he told trump, was not cause of the resignation letter. which mentioned that he was going to support trump, and that some has been a great president. these people are terrible for this country. >> michael, since he watched, i wonder what you think of this headline from the washington

post editorial board this morning? now they tell us, why didn't team normal speak up more in 2020 to counter mr. trump's lies? is that a sentiment you share? >> yes, of course. these people had a duty to their oath and this country to protect our country. they didn't, everybody, from trump, two -- to every single person that is guilty, to jim jordan, andy biggs, all these people. they all belong in jail and out of the government of the united states of america. >> elaine's next out of south glastonbury, connecticut. a republican. good morning. >> hi, i think the whole thing was very unfair. they have all democrats. you know, why don't they have some republicans on. there is so much, whatever they say about trump, people are not

gonna change their minds. we sat here and are living room and watched all of those trucks, mail trucks go in. boxes brought in, boxes brought out. to begin with, pelosi and schumer, they knew that something bad was gonna happen. they did not want the national guards in. and when trump made his first speech, she ripped up his speech. that was disgusting. nobody gave her anything. and then another one is that maxine waters, nobody does anything about her. she is not accountable. she tells people to fight, fight, fight, don't let republicans in. the whole thing is so unfair. and since, when trump was in, and

then when biden got in, everything went down. he was a disaster, and he still is. >> you say, why didn't they let republicans in? it was two panels of republicans that we heard from and tape testimony from former trump administration officials, republicans as well. >> i, know i saw barr. i think barr lied too. i don't think that that's fair at all. they have ripped trump apart since the minute he got in there. you know, i'm 86 years old, it stinks. you know, you can't buy groceries, you can't drive your car. that's all on account of biden. nobody blames him. they don't investigate him and his son with the drugs and everything else. getting money from china, you know. everything is okay with biden.

biden had big money behind him. >> that's elaiane in connecticut. big name when it comes to election law in republican circles is benjamin ginsburg, dating back to gore v. bush in 2000. and mr. ginsburg testified yesterday at that second hearing of the january 6th committee. here is some of what he had to say about the former presidents election fraud claims. >> you served as the co-chair of the presidential commission on election administration. i think it's fair to say you are the most prominent republican lawyer who has litigated in the election field. now, you've analyzed the trump campaign's litigation pretty carefully. what's the normal process for postelection litigation? how is the trump campaign's different than the kinds of postelection litigation you've been involved in and know about?

>> in the normal course of things, any campaign, on the night of the election in the days after, we'll do a couple of different things. one is that they'll analyze precinct results to look for abnormalities in the results. and they'll send people to those precincts to ask more questions. secondly, all campaigns will have poll watchers and poll workers and observers in the polling place. and so, campaigns will talk to those people if they saw any irregularities that could cause problems in the election. the trump campaign talked preelection about having 50,000 poll workers. so presumably, they did have eyes on the ground in all of these places. so, in the normal course of things, the campaign will analyze the reports that come in. trump campaign had a couple of basic problems, however. number one, the 2020 election was not close. in 2000, that

was 537, and close. in this election, the most narrow margin was 10,000 and something in arizona, and you just don't make up those sorts of numbers in recounts. when the claims of fraud and irregularities were made -- you've heard very compelling testimony from mr. stepien, from matt morgan, from alex cannon, about those claims and how they didn't believe it. so that put the trump campaign on sort of a process of bringing cases without the actual evidence that you have to have in which the process is designed to bring out. >> so, are you aware of any instance in which a court found the trump campaign's fraud claims to be credible? >> no, there was never that

instance. in all the cases that were brought, and i have looked at more than 60 that include more than 180 counts, and no, the simple fact is that the trump campaign did not make its case. >> benjamin ginsburg yesterday testifying before the select committee. hearing from you this morning about that testimony and about day two of those hearings, also looking for your comments on social media as well. here's a few of your comments already this morning. this is lawrence, saying, if the former president is as innocent as he claims to be, let him appear before the joint session of congress and answer the questions that are being discussed and testify about in these hearings, let both sides of the aisle a father's going to be a lot of good questions but the reason for this hearing is to take a look at the budget for fy 2023.