so we have that in its entirety. meantime, we want to hear your voices, 202 is the area code for all our numbers, 748-8921 republicans, 748, 89 20 democrats, independent, 748-8922. if you want to send a text, please include your first name and city, 202-748-8903, the number four text messages only. and at all our social media sites, you can tweet, comment on facebook, or continue the conversation. just remember @cspan. president trump put out a statement during this hearing tonight. here is his statement, almost in its entirety. "mike pence told me and

everybody else there was nothing he could do about the electoral vote count, it was etched in stone. but if so, how come the democrats and rinos are working so hard to make sure there is nothing avp can do? everybody ganged up inside mike had no choice, he could not send slates back to the states, which is all i suggested he do, for possible recalculation and correction. this may have proven to be an election changing event. what a difference it would have made if the state legislatures out another rack at looking at all the fraud, abuse and irregular cherries that had been found. our country would have been a different place." that is from former president trump about an hour ago. as we wait to see if they are going to hold a press conference, members of the committee, we are going to hear your voices. we begin with tony, republican in eastern pennsylvania, have you been watching these hearings?

what is your take away? caller: just the last few minutes of the last hearing. i have been waiting to hear from steve bannon. i was wondering why he wasn't. dennis it? was he on? pedro: they played tape from steve bannon from october 30, talking about what he thought would happen on the election. caller: he wasn't questioned tonight? pedro: no, he has a trial going on about contempt. what is your take away about this committee? caller: it is nothing but a fraudulent assessment of everything that happened. i mean, if trump got more votes

that they -- more votes than any other presidential candidate when he was running, and joe biden got more votes than obama, that doesn't make any sense at all. it is unbelievable, what is going on. pedro: you live in pennsylvania, one of the contentious states, do you think there was fraud in pennsylvania? caller: no doubt about it. pedro: that is tony in eastern pennsylvania. this is brendan in michigan. what is your reaction to the january 6 hearings? caller: it is really sad there are so many people in this country that are just willing to deny reality. there is so much proof that is being laid out about how unhinged trump is. you just read the statement that he posted.

he thinks everyone is ganging up on mike pence. and it is just reality. at some point, you have to admit to an objective reality. pedro: thank you. house gop conference sent out a series of tweets. it used to be led by liz cheney, now led by representative elise stefanik of new york. here are some. when showing outtakes from president trump's statement, house republicans say they never show what president trump said, peacefully. he never used the word peacefully. even though that was in his final statement. another tweet -- why don't they have a secret service agent testified? and finally -- all hearsay. those three tweets, by the gop conference. here is jamie raskin live. representative raskin: we solved

the mystery tonight. sherlock holmes had the story with a dog that didn't bark, the key to solving the case. and here was a president who didn't act. and that was the key to solving this case, as much as a security guard in a bank who does nothing to stop a robbery in the bank, and then you learned that he knows all the robbers and helped form them into a group and you know they were armed and he let them in. the whole thing comes together. we had the constitutional indictment and trial of trump in the senate which ended with a 53-47 vote, and i was thinking about it tonight. this is a moral trial of the president where the whole country just at two use common sense and figure out what happened. and there can be no question that donald trump was at the absolute center of the conspiracy to overthrow the election and assault our

democracy. he did that. whether there will be a legal trial is up to the department of justice and other prosecutors. but we are going to complete our investigation. >> [inaudible] representative raskin: we have not gotten there yet. >> >> i appreciated his comments, what was interesting about it was that we have said the same thing for months. it had resonance with the public when -- the public has seen evidence surface, so when you say, no one is above the law, ok. the department of justice is taking him seriously. >> do you believe that -- what will the committee do, he has defied a subpoena --

>> kevin mccarthy was a key witness to these events. he was where all of the action was. he was desperately trying to get the president to act in that conversation, it was a normatively revealing. he said these are our people mr. president. and his response was, maybe they care more about the election then you do. in other words, mr. trump knew exactly what was going on with the mob and he supported them. that was dramatically important to have him here in that way. yeah. we have been emphatic when people comply, but we will not go on wild goose chases because we are keeping our eyes on the prize. we are assembling a body of evidence that will make this

story real and factual for people. >> have the senators come to an agreement -- what are your thoughts on the potential to reform and electoral college? >> my feeling is that reforming the electoral compact is necessary but not efficient. the vice president of the united states has no unilateral power to turn the election over, no serious person believed that, only president trump was pushing that. there is a lot to do in the onslaught of democracy, not just against the january 6 joint

session of congress, but we see it on the state level. we see attacks on voter rights. we see it in the overthrow -- the decisions on election floors. and the -- of election floors. there is a lot going on. we need to be serious about this attacks on democracy. >> -- is that something that the committee is a learning any information about? are you leaving that to law enforcement? >> as far as i understand it, it is not something that i specifically work on, those are crimes and we do not have information about them. any information that we get we will consider it to be part of our investigation. i am not aware of any that i

know that -- >> we have heard that there is more than an hour long of outtakes from the january 7 video. why did you specifically choose that section? >> i think that question should go to mr. cassidy and her and desk -- mr. casimir -- kessinger . it is very difficult, i had eight or nine hours of things that i wanted to do. >> the president was not willing to say that the election was over with, he had an unwillingness to stay peaceful. >> if the newspapers today are

to be believed, the president is still saying in wisconsin that the election is not over. to this day, he does not accept the outcome of the election. he is trying to make it a litmus test for participation in the republican party. he wants everyone to accept the big lie. i hope that this once and for all demolishes the big lie. and we see that he is trying to operate a political party like a religious cult. >> what do you infer -- that secret service could have been involved in covering up what happened here? what is your -- >> i'm not sure what it means,

i'm not coming to any conclusion aside from saying it is an unusual sequence of events. it is very strange, we want to get to the bottom of it. >> you mentioned about trump's call to senators during the capitol riots, will you hear any testimony from senate? >> i do not know the answer that question. you are raising a difficult question about bicameralism and the relationship between the two chambers within congress. obviously, we have encouraged everyone to come forward. >> has the legality of that been

discussed, or requesting violent terry testimony -- or requesting voluntary testimony -- >> what do you believe will come from the september hearings? >> we have not announced september hearings, yet. we have not announced any new hearings yet. we are continuing on our investigative path. part of our mandate is house resolution 503. i believe that there will be other hearings in the future but we do not know when, or exactly when that -- where they are, we have a lot of work to do. >> has it been like -- and lightning and anyway --

enlightening in any wya? >> i can't say that i remember it. there was a lot of texting going on it defies belief that there is one text -- not one text that took place in the secret service. we will get to the autumn of it -- to the bottom of it. tell me when we have to go. two minutes. >> in your view, should the committee move forward with the -- >> this speech and debate, the members of congress are doing their work, it can't be held to legal account outside of congress itself if it's a

question of what people's work is, and what is covered within the -- of the speech and debate clause? if there are to be any remedies in a situation like this, we hope it will be a once in 240 years event, in a situation like this, i hope that remedies would be found within congress. we haven't made a decision -- but i am giving you my opinion. i don't know that congress can take any member of congress to court under the speech and debate clause. obviously, we have not been in the situation before. our point is not to come up with

legality and theories, art point is to present what happened to us -- our point is to present what happened to us. as a cassidy hutchinson did, as the vast majority of people did, come forward and tell us what they know. it is a wonderful statement about democracy, that people have citizenship, and commitment to the common mission of society. some people do not, they will need to deal with that in their own way. >> what is your opinion of relatively young staffers coming to testify, old hands have not come to testify in front of the committee? >> we need more young people in politics and government.

we need people who are not jaded. we need people who believe in the value of the country, the constitution, and the rule of law. >> do you have any -- about the potential of a subpoena? >> none yet. >> that was congressman jamie raskin, democrat of maryland, one of nine members of the committee, one of seven democrats. back to your phone calls reacting to the january 6 hearing. matt, on the independent line, what did you think of these hearings? >> can you hear me? >> we are listening. >> awesome. i am driving through new mexico. i'm looking at the desert, it is so beautiful juxtaposed to what we are talking about.

a country so beautiful can suffer from something so quite frankly, disgusting. like the former caller said, this is a press conference about reality. this is what happens when you live in a country where you don't need to know your next-door neighbor. you can feel closer to someone online been somewhat across the street from you. the only way out of this is to walk across the street and be your neighbor. the more that we connect with each other in person, and spread to the community, hopefully we can avoid likes -- hopefully we can avoid something like this in the future. i don't know how confident i am of that. >> in inglewood, colorado, democrat, you are on the air. >> good evening, everyone. i believe this evening's hearing

laid out the truth. i was raised to believe that you have to stand for something or you will fall for anything. in this case i believe we need to stand for the truth and stop falling for the lies. this guy, has allied constantly -- has allied constantly, a narcissist, not even acknowledging the individuals that died that day. unbelievable. my brother who just called from mexico, -- from new mexico, i agree with what he said. we don't know our neighbors, it is crazy how divisive we are. it reminds me of the machiavellian principal, controlled by fear. all of this surrounds that principal, if we could keep

people in small communities, bound together, scared, and make them think constantly about what someone else is doing to them, keep people divided, this is what happens. i am an american and i am proud to be american, but it is disgusting what this guy did to this country. there are people hating each other based on this narrative. >> have you been watching all of the hearings? there are eight so far? >> i've watched everyone of them, they are embarrassing. >> as a democrat, do you think it is fair to only hear one side, the prosecution, and not the defense. >> i know there is two sides to a story, i am ready to hear it all. i watched it, i don't know what

other television everyone else is looking at, if you saw something different, seriously? what happened to this country that we are picking and choosing our own narrative? >> thank you for your time this eveningm carolyn, we appreciate it. you were on c-span, what is your reaction? >> i wanted to say that, it is amazing to me, when people die in a situation like this -- a insurrection to our nations capital -- capitol. he is not facing a consequence of any kind, he is getting away with something no one else would be able to get away with.

it is insane that he is able to walk freely, not even recognizing that he caused harm to our republic. >> hector, you are an independent did you vote for trump in 16 or 20? >> no sir. i voted for biden. >> if you want to participate you can send a text message. that number is 202 748 8903. please include your first name and your -- city and state. mike, california republican. mike, what is your reaction to these hearings? >> i have to say, i think it is a sham and everyone on the committee is a professional impeach or -- impeacher.

they impeach, impeach, impeach. they may have some seriousness if they allowed the dashed to choose the members who would sit in this meeting. nancy pelosi refused it, and ruined the legitimacy of this meeting. i have never liked president trump, since the 1980's. since day one, they never respected the office, anything about it, regardless. they fought against it from day one, and they are fighting against it now. they don't want him to run again. i get that. trying to make all of this happen, it's like what you said before. there has not been another side. just one side. they are calling it hearings,

but it is eight trial on television. i've heard your calls. >> the structure of this is different from a normal congressional hearing, what do you think of this different structure? >> i think it is a hollywood scam. as opposed to the underground basement hearings with adam schiff, here we are in prime time. they know they don't get attention during the day, they need to lay it out when people are eating dinner or sitting around the fireplace -- it's summer but you know what i mean. they are doing it to catch the audience. >> they won't get anyone at 12 noon,, maybe me. i think it's a scam, done on purpose for the show. >> in alexandria, virginia, dale

on the independent line. >> i would like to give praise and high credit to the select committee to investigate the january 6 attack, as well as the members of that committee, representative cousins are, representative cheney -- representative kessinger, representative cheney, and those that have signed these hearings. law enforcement personnel, and those dedicated to our nation. these hearings are good for our democracy and our nation. thank you for what you are doing. >> the events of january 6 2021, if you would like to go back and review that trial. go to c-span.org/january 6. everything is at that site.

all eight hearings in their entirety. january 6 event itself, and every press conference or statement made since then. it is a great resource for those of you interested. from illinois, good evening to you steve. >> i want to say it's a sham. it's too bad that we have third-rate politicians like this trying to destroy someone. there is one question they need to ask, your chairman tried this in 2016. if they do indict from -- if they do indict trump, they are in for a war and they will need to give him due process. nancy pelosi will need to take this stand. it will take -- it will come out

about the ballots. all of it will come out. general -- says that trump authorize the national guard and nancy pelosi turned it down. i believe it is more on her head than anything. >> steve, at the end of closing statement, representative kessin ger, the republican from illinois, talked about how in his view, conspiracy theorists and militants are still out there. do you agree with that? >> what about antifa and the people that burned down the city? they had people in portland the other night. are you going to blaine trump for that? i didn't -- everyone made a big

mistake getting him into office. >> thank you for calling in. let's hear from another republican in virginia, eric, your two cents. >> i think it is a sham. i think what is going on currently is way worse than anything that happened on january 6. our country is going to help -- hell. >> why do you think that these hearings are worse than january 6? >> not necessarily the hearings, what is happening outside of the hearings. trump was a super villain, but he was getting things done.

i'm not necessarily a republican or democrat, but i appreciate a man who will get something done for americans. i don't see anything wrong with making american group -- america great again. what's wrong with that? >> let's hear from germantown, tennessee, democrats line, janice, go ahead. >> i have watched all eight of them, i have been listening to the calls, and i agreed with may be a couple but i disagree with a lot. first of all, there is racism and trump is a pure racist. some of the republicans, -- they

are ok. i don't agree with that. i am proud of mike pence. he did his due diligence. he did what he was supposed to. i respect him for that. i am not against republicans, i am not a republican, i have always been democrat, i never voted for trump, but how can you say it is a scam when they show him at the podium -- the powerful wards. -- words. sometimes we don't think of the words that we say and we say them anyway. i don't care for trump, i think he should be charged with criminal charges. he is not good, he will tear this country down and not build it up.

we need this country to get better. >> thank you, very much. a couple of tweets, leanne in myrtle beach, south carolina. they will never quit attacking trump. january 6 was bad, but no worse than this summer riots on the mall in d.c.. that is not it sweet that the text. here is another, adam kessinger's closing speech tonight hit the nail on the head of all closing statements so far. i truly fear for my country if these charges failed to bring justice, i fear for the loss of our democracy. >> president trump out a statement during tonight's

hearing about an hour and a half into the hearing. we want to read this in part to you again. heat mentions mike pence. -- he mentions mike pence. mike pence told me that there was nothing he could do about the electoral vote. it was etched in stone. why are the democrats and republicans in name only working so hard to make sure that there is nothing that avp can do. he cannot send this back to the states, which is all that i suggested that he do for possible re-tabulation and correction. this may have proven to be a election changing event. what a difference this would have made if the state legislatures had another chance to look at the fraud, the abuse it, and irregularities that have been found. our country would be a different place. back to your calls. the, cedar park texas, -- lowell

, cedar park, texas. >> while this is not a trial, is set up to look and sound like a trial. you can't have a one-sided trial, every side of this will be anti-trump. i'm not surprised. i'm not necessarily a fan of donald trump, he made a lot of mistakes that shouldn't have been made. i told my wife about -- after the event and his speech, he didn't help and he hurt i the end of his speech -- by the end of his speech on january 6. anyway, we need better representation. i hope this is the last one-sided hearing that we have. >> as a republican, do you think that the committee made compelling arguments? >> they have made compelling

arguments, that is true but we don't know the other compelling arguments from the other side. >> thank you for calling in, carlos is calling in from memphis. >> thanks for calling -- thanks for having me on, i have three words, lock him up. i think that america should have a multiparty democracy like new zealand. this would give everyone the chance to have equitable representation no matter who you are. nobody likes republicans and no one likes democrats. i think we need to have a serious look at our electoral system. this would prevent people like trump from getting into office, but it would trickle down to state and local jurisdictions where we could have better representation. >> a more parliamentary system in your vote -- in your view?

>> absolutely. 50% of voters are electing 100% of city councils, that doesn't make sense. it doesn't stop at city council, it goes to school boards and all the way to state legislatures. the whole thing is screwed up. we need to start from the ground up, create new roles, -- new rules to have a more representative america. >> craig, what is your reaction to these january 6 hearings? >> first, i want to give things to you guys, c-span. it is a wonderful public service and to have the phone lines open for republicans, democrats, and independence.

you are great at giving everyone a voice. i like hearing what some of my republican friends have been saying on the phone to you guys, it made me think. i know that it appears as if a lot of republicans on this line are saying that these hearings are a sham. but it is important for them to remember, the people that we have been hearing from in these hearings, who have been testifying, have been doing so under oh -- oath. what they say is not a sham, it is not hearsay, they can say what they want and get away with it. the people that we have heard from at these hearings cannot say whatever they want to say,

they are under oath. it is deeply gratifying to hear so many republicans state that trump lied about the election. it was deeply gratifying to see liz cheney and adam kessinger, and the republicans, mitch mcconnell. i may be missing a few people. >> it sounds like you watched closely. what was your reaction to the structure of this congressional select committee as opposed to the normal congressional committee? >> the structure, i need to admit that i'm not knowledgeable about. it appeared to me as if there was an attempt to have both republicans and democrats represented in these hearings. so far, it seems as if everyone

who has come forward was republican. there are the ones saying that trump lied, he is responsible. i find it deeply gratifying that they are not painting party allegiance, they are representing their allegiance to the united states. when we are in school as children and you put your hand on your heart and pledge of allegiance, you don't do it to donald trump, you do it to the united states. i am glad to see republicans come forward and put their hearts -- put their hands on their hearts and go after people like trump who are violated their oath and hurt people. >> kelvin, independent, what is your view? >> first off, i want to say,

whether it is the government or the citizens, i pretty much want to say. the government is throwing each other under the bus. that is not what the government is about. when something goes mayhem with the government, there is something wrong with that. do you know what i mean? we already go through turmoil, we can't be educated on everything. the government does play a part in what's going on. >> thank you for calling in and watching tonight. let's hear from josh in louisville, kentucky.

. republican. >> thank you, for taking my call. it's obvious that this hearing is a total sham. they are doing these in prime time. there is a reason they are doing that. they are totally against, not just republicans, but specifically against trump. carlos, who called earlier, sort of saying that maybe we could get to a point of -- it's pretty clear, this whole hearing has been complete hearsay. cassidy, everybody. nobody has seen anything, actually.

it's actually kind of embarrassing. anyone who knows liz cheney knows that she is a joke. >> josh, your senator, mitch mcconnell was featured tonight making if used statements on the floor of the senate and also during a meeting during the january 6 event. what is your take on senator mcconnell? >> i think mitch mcconnell is a good politician, to be honest with you. he had roughs with president trump. he chose to go that route. i agree with a lot of what he does, i disagree with that specific approach.

but, you are absolutely correct. i think president trump is the best thing for the republican party. it is what it is. we will see in 24 when he gets reelected. >> that's josh in louisville, kentucky. that concludes our live programming for tonight. and just a moment we will re-air the entire hearing. but a reminder that all of c-span is brought to you by these companies, including cox, xfinity, spectrum. we took your calls tonight and we will take them a gun -- again

tomorrow morning. washington journal is on every morning at 7:00 a.m. it is news and your views beginning at 7:00 a.m. eastern time. and now here is the january 6 hearing read air. -- re-air.