argument of the committee and -- guest: i think that's a core argument of the committee and the focal point of last night's hearing, what did he do when things were getting out of control? the answer is he was pretty slow to react, that he wasn't as forceful in his reaction as even many of his supporters, including his own son, wanted to see him be in that moment. and, you know, i think that that is always going to be a pretty major indictment of trump's activities on that day. host: jim antle, politics editor for washington examiner, you can go to tweet, include the handle @cspanwj. we will get to all of your reaction in a minute but let's begin with the chair of the committee, bennie thompson, democrat from mississippi. he was remote because he tested

positive for covid-19. the focus of the hearing was when did the former president know about the violence at the capital and what did he do during those hours? here is the chair, bennie thompson. [video clip] >> the select committee has heard the story of a president who has done everything in his power to overturn the election. he betrayed his oath and tried to destroy our democratic institutions. he summoned him up to washington. on january 6 -- he summoned a mob to washington and when he knew the mob was a great he commanded the mob to go to the capital and commanded the heavily armed mob to "fight like hell." in the weeks between the november election in january 6,

donald trump was a force to be reckoned with. he threw off the sober advice of his sensible advisors. instead he recklessly blazed the path of lawlessness and corruption, democracy be dammed, and then he stopped. for 187 minutes, this man with unbridled destructive energy could not be moved, not by his aides, not by his allies, not by the chants of riders or the please of those facing down the rioters. or tellingly, donald trump ignored and disregarded the desperate pleas of his own family, including ivanka and don, jr.

even though he was the only person in the world who could call off the mob he sent to the capital, he cannot be moved to rise from his dining room table and walk a few steps down the white house hallway into the press briefing room, where cameras were desperately waiting to carry his message to the armed and violent mob beating and killing law enforcement officers who are entering the capital and hunting down the vice president and various members of congress. he cannot be moved. host: the chair of the january 6 committee, bennie thompson, democrat of mississippi. here is how the hearing is being framed on the front page of some the national newspapers. new york times. witnesses detail trump's refusal to stop the january 6 mob. testimony on hours of inaction and pouring gasoline on the fire.

then you have the wall street journal, panel spells out trump's right inaction. -- trumps riot inaction. the washington post with the headline trump ignored many pleas to act. he broke his oath, the january 6 panel argues, and he refused to say the election is over on january 7 when his staff was urging him to record a video and he refused to say those words. your reaction to all of that this morning. let's go to robert in arkansas. democratic caller. caller: i've been watching all of the hearings. for people who still stand behind trump, something has to be wrong with them. i hear a lot of people talking about his policies. what policy has he done that has benefited ordinary people?

if republicans get back in charge, rick scott told you, the republican party is going after social security and medicare. host: on the hearing, what has stuck out to you so far? what has made the most impact? caller: how the ex-president can stand by and deliberately lied to the american people about the election was stolen and people are stupid enough to believe that. host: danny in farmington, missouri. independent. caller: good morning. it was two hearings ago that the mark meadows staffer testified and what stuck cap to me right off the bat is when did the secret service gain respectability enough to say

anything, to announce anybody else's -- didn't they just have a drunken romp with obama in central america? as far as 45 goes, i think all he was was a very successful primetime game show host. that whole time that show was on , i would hear it on howard stern, i would hear it on entertainment tonight, all i could stand to watch was 15 minutes of the three or four or five years. host: you are saying you do not trust the secret service. what are you referring to about the january 6 attack? caller: what was the high up

staffer? host: she testified recently. caller: two hearings ago. caller: are you talking about -- host: are you talking about the direction the secret service had with the president? caller: she said trump grabbed the wheel and the secret service came back and announced that statement of hers. i do not know when the secret service actually gain respectability to have anything to say. they do not have a very good track record, i don't think. host: you don't trust the denouncing of her testimony? caller: correct. when she explained why she testified, that was totally

credible, the way she explained herself and why she testified, totally believable. host: the vice chair of the committee, liz cheney yesterday posed the question of should people trust former president trump given what they allege if he should win again in 2024. did you vote for president trump? caller: absolutely not. absolutely not. the polls were so full, i cannot vote for either person, ok? i cannot. i did not get in the polls in time. it did not happen for me. i did not have a positive attitude, especially for trump.

absolutely not. he is a tv personality and i think being on the tv and having all of them ratings, that is how we learn to manipulate and figure out how to run his campaign through that television show. host: understood. i will hear from vicki in orlando, florida. give us your thoughts on the hearing. caller: ok. i do not believe nothing they say. they are up there lying. the election was stolen and they do not want nobody to find out. you have all of these politicians up there, each one of them has said something about running us out of the restaurants, not letting us go to gas stations.

where is anybody on there saying president trump asked for the national guard when they knew this crowd was coming in? you do not see nancy pelosi up there. he did not seem real bowser up there -- you do not see mayor bowser up there. if you are blind you will see they are so scared of trump, you would think he was a devil. that is the only reason this trial is going on like it is. they are not trying to get to what really happened. if they were there would be more talk -- host: can you react to this from the new york times. on thursday the committee detailed how the entire apparatus of government, the top white house lawyer and other senior west wing advisors, low-level aids, pentagon

officials, republicans in congress, and even his own daughter mobilized to respond to the deadliest attack on the capital in two centuries as it unfolded and implored the president to do the same but he willfully declined. here is a quote. "you are the commander in chief, you have an assault going on at the capital and there is nothing?" mark milley told the panel no call, no nothing, zero. he says there was no call by the president. caller: the president -- it should not have, to what it come to, i am trying to say. where is nancy pelosi? why weren't the national guard put up there? you can go back, that cassidy girl, she is the richest

26-year-old girl in washington. host: pam in dixson, tennessee, democratic caller. caller: good morning. i watched every minute of every hearing and it was pretty much eye-opening, pretty riveting. his action or inaction on the night of the attack was a perfect definition of passive aggressive, that was absolutely clear. this is a deep-rooted movement. it looks like it is still going on. there's a lot going on that is a danger to our country. i do not know why they keep looking for a smoking gun as evidence that will hold up in court when it is cleared none of this would've happened without him, without 45, it is all on his behalf, it is all members of his cult we have -- members of

his cult he has formed. i would call it cult 45 for short. it is made up of innocent people who have followed him and trust him and believe him despite all evidence, there are the heat groups -- the hate groups and they are trying to come out from their local state militias they formed to band behind him, and the worst of all is the craven elected officials who only want to get the votes of the cult and they will say and do anything. i think all of the people are traitors and some do not realize it. we need to recognize the end game is to be a dictator. we are beyond fascism.

gas companies make billions every three months. that is passage of -- that is fascism. we are in a war against a dictatorship that is clearly 45's end game. host: i will show our viewers the closing statement by liz cheney of wyoming. she touched on the supporters of the former president. here is what she had to say. [video clip] >>. the worst part. -- here is the worst part. donald trump knows millions of americans who supported him would stand up and defend our nation if it was threatened, they would put their lives in three to met state to protect her. he is praying on their patriotism. he is praying on their sense of justice. on january 6, donald trump turned their love of country into a weapon against our

capital and our constitution. he has purposely created the false impression that america is threatened by a foreign force controlling voting machines or that a wave of tens of millions of false ballots were secretly injected into our election system or that ballot workers have secret bum drives and are stealing elections with them, all complete nonsense. we must remember we cannot abandon the truth and remain a free nation. host: liz cheney, closing statement yesterday. we are getting your reaction to what you heard from the primetime hearing's on capitol hill yesterday. the former president put out a statement on truth social, his platform, that reads "this was a major event because everybody ganged up and said mike pence had no choice. he cannot send the slates back to the states, which is all i

suggested he do for possible re-tabulation and correction based on large-scale voter fraud and delay garrity's. -- and delay clarity. -- and illegularity. this may prove to be an election changing event so we would have no war, have left afghanistan with dignity, and we would have kept the airbase, not had dead soldiers, taken out all american hostages." your reaction to last night's hearing. vicki in new jersey, independent. caller: good morning. how are you? host: find, go ahead, share your thoughts with us. caller: i think this undertaking is humongous and they are doing a wonderful job, but i would like to reiterate that the main

purpose was to investigate and make recommendations so that this does not occur again. yet i know people do not like to hear this, but i think the media also takes advantage of this for their purposes. people have to remember the main purpose is to investigate and to make recommendations. the offshoot is to seek culpability, but that is not their main focus. i think as americans we have to focus on that, what we can do to repair this and our relations with each other, and that begins with reducing the name-calling, opening up your mind and your heart, and just listening. you can hardly disagree with someone but open your mind and try to understand where they are

coming from. i think that would help a lot if we become more dependent on our thinking and less dependent on what the television news throws at us or the media because they have an agenda also. i think our agenda is to reunite america, and you can totally disagree with somebody but still try to understand where they are coming from and realize every human being thinks and does what they are taught is right and what they teach themselves is right. host: to give you an update, senator susan collins of maine and joe manchin of west virginia have come together with bipartisan legislation that would fix the election law act, the process by which congress

certifies the election. google that and look it up if you are talking about not being able to exploit that law that is what this legislation would do. as many of you know, president biden tested positive for covid-19 yesterday. he canceled his travels. he did give the americans an update on how he is feeling in a video he sent out via twitter yesterday. take a look. [video clip] host: all right, no audio there. we will try to fix that and shave that again in just a minute. pete in new jersey, republican. caller: hi. i thought liz cheney's summation

was fantastic last night. the woman, pam, pre-much said what i would have said. host: which is what? caller: that was our fascist moment, or maybe our nazi moment, four years of it. at the risk of name-calling, i think we are in real trouble if he ever gets anywhere near any elected position again. host: take two, president biden with an update on his health. [video clip] >> i guess you heard this morning i tested positive for covid. i have been double vaccinated and double boosted. symptoms are mild.

we are getting a lot of work done. we will continue to get it done. thanks for your concern and keep the faith. we will be ok. host: president biden in a twitter video yesterday updating us on his health after a covid-19 diagnosis. anne in new york, democratic caller. did you watch last night and have you watched all of the hearings? caller: yes i did. i think trump needs to be in jail with an orange jumpsuit. the man is a total crook. this is ridiculous what this country has allowed him to do, and i do not know if he is going to be able to get away with it, but he really needs to be in jail and all of the people around him who covered up this stuff with him, they all need to be in jail with him.

he is a crook. he is an awful human being. host: in our next hour at 8:00 we will talk with a legal scholar about what sort of laws were allegedly broken in any sort of prosecution coming out of this january 6 committee on capitol hill, also what is the justice department looking at this point? karen in pennsylvania, democratic caller. caller: i just wanted to make a comment. let me start with my city. my city is just outside of philadelphia. we have been seeing trump and his lemmings for a very long time between new york and atlantic city. nothing he has done is a surprise. however, i do believe the public is having a misconception of

what is going on in these hearings. these hearings are equivalent to a grand jury. when they figure out what the charges should be they turn it over to the justice department. they prosecute and then there will be a defense allowed. there is no defense in a grand jury. the defense team is not allowed in the grand jury. this is all going to work itself out. host: if republicans had agreed to sit on the committee and if speaker pelosi had agreed to let the republicans that the party wanted to sit on the committee, you think this would be different, these hearings? caller: i don't know. it is very hard to think that because the stuff they come up with is pretty indisputable. i know because i've been watching for a long time. he is larger-than-life.

i've been looking at him since atlantic city allowed casinos to be built. he is a liar, a cheat, and a thief. we have been watching it for too many years. host: karen's opinion. carol in illinois. independent. caller: good morning. i am from illinois so our little rep on that panel is adam kinzinger. isn't it a wonder why he is not running again, and i hope he is never elected for office in any part of our land. this whole trial has been a joke. they are just preventing the one side that fits their agenda. january 6 always will be a day where they are supposed to look at every individual state and see if there was any voter fraud where they can verify those votes on that day for each

state. leading up to this, if they just taken one moment to look and see is there any voter fraud or any situation problem going on, but no. we had to dismiss all of the facts. host: did you hear the testimony before the committee by the former attorney general bill barr who said the justice department looked to see if there was any evidence of voter fraud or irregularities and he said there was nothing there, if there was small amounts of it it was not enough to overturn the election? caller: they recount the votes they have presented to them. host: they did a recount in georgia. caller: they are recounting votes that they have, which some of them could have been underage

voters that were registered or dead people. no person on this earth can definitively say there was not any voter fraud. if there is voter fraud it is illegal election. host: what evidence do you have that there was voter fraud and enough to overturn the election? caller: there could be one vote. that is all it takes. and there's more security that goes to follow joe biden around to delaware than there was that day on capitol hill. host: here is lamar in a text to us. "they are still kicking a dead dog. how many times have they tried accusing trump of something and came up empty-handed?' " here is bill in pennsylvania. "how's that possible people of not been locked up for rigging the presidential election or for

conspiring to overturn a valid election?" here is the chair bennie thompson talking yesterday about holding former president trump accountable. [video clip] >> as we made clear throughout these hearings, our investigation goes forward. we continue to receive new information every day, we continue to hear from witnesses. we will reconvene in september to continue laying out our findings to the american people. as that work goes forward, number of facts are clear. there can be no doubt there was a coordinated, multistep effort to overturn an election overseen and directed by donald trump. there can be no doubt he commanded a mob, a mob he knew was heavily armed, violent, and angry to march on the capital to try to stop the peaceful transfer of power.

he made targets out of his own vice president and the lawmakers gathered to do the people's work. these facts have gone undisputed and so there needs to be accountability. accountability under the law. accountability to the american people. accountability at every level, from the local precincts in many states where donald trump's and his allies attacked election workers for just doing their jobs, all the weight up to the oval office, where donald trump embraced the legal advice of insurrectionists that a federal judge has already said was a coup in searchable legal theory. our democracy withstood the attack on january 6. if there is no accountability for january 6 for every part of this team, i feel we will not

overcome the ongoing threat to our democracy. host: chair bennie thompson of the january 6 committee. they held their last and a summer series of hearings last night. the chair said they will continue their investigation over august and they will return in september for more hearings. we are getting your reaction to what you heard last night, what you heard so far in these hearings this morning. if you missed any of last night's hearing, you can catch up by going to c-span.org, and there you can see gold stars that highlight the key moments from over the two hours of hearing last night. you can quickly go through that and see what took place. sonja is reacting on twitter, saying "45 betrayed the constitution and attempted to assassinate his week vp.

he is a traitor to our country and must be prosecuted." harry mcgee says indict or drop. there is no new evidence. we all know they are stretching this out until november. tim in rock hills, south carolina. what do you say? caller: i hope and pray republicans take back the congress in november into january when they get in office i hope they have a big enough set to put the other side of the story out there. i am concerned about the integrity of the congress and the government because we ain't even got the swamp trained yet and all the money is controlling it. this is been going on for decades. this is nothing new. host: mary in martinsville,

virginia. what do you have to say. caller: i am not a democrat. i called in on the republican line. i am a republican. there are several things that have not been shown and told throughout this process. usually in his rallies they check for guns and i understood they did confiscate guns, but they did not give them back when they marched to the capital. .2, i live in virginia. -- point 2, i live in virginia. host: some people who had weapons did not go into the rally because they would've had to give up those weapons. what is the point you are driving at? caller: technically they did not show that. my big point is two days before all of this happened, just ask pelosi, who has natural caught

-- national guard there, they have not brought that up again. they mentioned at different times. he did ask for help. i do not think he wanted violence. i also need to say i do live in virginia. we got ballots that were not legitimate and i put them in my woodstove. i wish i'd kept them for evidence. i have family in pennsylvania that got as many as 10 ballots in the mail to be used. that is wrong. i am a christian and i believe in one ballot for a presidential election or any election. i work at the polls. i know what honesty is and i know that mr. trump has done a lot of good for this country that joe biden has undone. host: let me go to this claim you made and another caller about the role of the national guard that day and the speaker

of the house. this is from the associated press. the claim how nancy pelosi blocked the national guard from coming to the capital during the january 6 insurrection. speaker pelosi did not direct the national guard further, she and the majority leader called for military assistance including the national guard. on tuesday a false claim about the right resurfaced suggesting nancy pelosi blocked the national guard coming to lawmakers defense. you are saying this was before january 6? caller: yes. trump did ask her to have national guard there for his rally because he felt like they have always had protection for the people, and we the people need our protection. that is what the national guard is for.

she told him no. they would not be available. host: where did you learn that. caller: i learned it on c-span, i learned it on cnn, i learned it on fox news, msnbc also put this information out. host: here is political fact. donald trump authorized up to 20,000 national guard troops to protect the capital before january 6 but was rejected by nancy pelosi and chuck schumer. this is from political fact. there is no evidence nancy pelosi rejected trump's authorization. there is no record of president trump authorizing 20,000 national guard troops ahead of the capital before the january 6 attack. there is no evidence nancy pelosi denied such an authorization. she does not have the authority to do so in the first place. vanity fair reports trump made a passing remark to his defense

secretary about potentially needing 10,000 national guard troops, not 20,000, but there's no evidence the comment was treated as formal authorization. it would've had to been written down. caller: i understand what you are saying. i know what you have read. i appreciate what c-span is doing. i know when blows he met with trump and chuck schumer two days before he asked for help and it was refused. i do not understand when we the people are out here and we ask for help, if the president is there representing us, because he was representing the public and there was a lot of fraud. there was some in pennsylvania, there was some in virginia. i know this did happen. being a poll worker you see a lot of things and you hear a lot of things. if you listen to certain

programs on tv, there's nobody ever saying anything happened when we know it did. host: wendy in roseville, michigan. independent. caller: how are you? host: good morning. caller: i watched last night and to see our president turn a deaf ear and not do anything -- when is he going to be called to testify? that will be must-see tv to find out what he did. i cannot believe -- i admire liz cheney, bennie thompson. they have done a beautiful job and have done their work wonderfully. for trump to ignore his family, his aides, his cronies, he has

to be called for it. he has to be put in jail. the day he is put on that stand and has to testify to what he did and why he did it will be riveting television. host: we heard your point. you're breaking up a little bit so i will let you go. i want to show you another moment from the hearing. this is from the committee member from virginia, representative elaine luria. she led the hearing discussing president trump's rose garden message where he call for peace. take a look. [video clip] >> it is no coincidence president trump finally gave in and went down to the rose garden at 4:03. his staff prepared a script for him to read but he refused to use it. as you can see on the screen, you can see the script stamped

president. the script said "i am asking you to leave the capital region now and go home in a peaceful way." the president was urged to stick to the script but he spoke off-the-cuff. eric hirschman and nick luna went with the president to film the message. let's hear what they had to say and see the never before seen raw footage of the president recording this video message. >> ultimately these remarks we are looking at were not the remarks the president delivered in the rose garden. >> you know why the president decided not to use these? >> i don't know. i do not know why. >> did the president use any written remarks or did he just go off-the-cuff? >> to my knowledge it was off-the-cuff. >> when you are ready. >> when you are ready.

>> tell me when? >> when you are ready. >> who is behind me? >> we are all clear now. >> i know your pain, i know you're hurt. we had an election -- let me say. i know your pain, i know you're hurt. we had an election stolen from us. it was a landslide election and everyone knows it, especially the other side. you have to go home. we have to have peace. we have to have law and order. we have to respect our people in law and order. we do not want anybody hurt. it is a tough period of time.

there is never been a time where such a thing happened, where they can take it away from all of us, from me, from you, from our country. this was a fraudulent election but we cannot play into the hands of these people. we have to have peace. go home. we love you. you are very special. you see what happens. you see the way others are treated that are so bad and so people. i know how you feel. go home and go home in peace. >> when i got there the president had just finished filming the video. i think he was basically retiring for the day. >> was or any discussion about the president releasing a second video that day? >> not that i recall. >> when he finished his video i think everyone was like -- the day is over. people are pretty drained.

>> when we say day over, there were still people in the capital that point, weren't there? >> there were people at the capital, but i believe by this stage law enforcement was there or moving in are going to take charge. i say people were emotionally drained. host: from last night's hearing. you can watch the entire hearing or the points of interest, the key moments if you go to our website, c-span.org. diane in jacksonville, florida, a republican. good morning. caller: good morning. i am calling because i am so impressed with liz cheney and bennie thompson, especially liz cheney. here she is, a female, going against her party