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tv   Nightline  ABC  January 7, 2021 12:37am-1:06am PST

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welcome back. stunning images from the capitol today. breached for the first time in more than 200 years. earlier this evening i spoke with a group of folks who witnessed the pandemonium up close. all caught in the melee when the capitol went under lockdown. >> we thought it was going to be a sleepy day. this was largely a ceremonial tradition that happens every
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four years. we thought it would go until midnight, but nothing like this. >> reporter: election certification day. a largely symbolic day that usually passes quietly. >> i'm going to start with this tweet that you sent out this morning. what was going through your mind in that photo, and how quickly did that descend into mayhem? >> i was thinking about the oath i took to the constitution and to make sure that we follow through in ratifying the electoral college, which is a reflection of the will of the people. and how privileged i was and honored i was to participate in this very historic moment. little known to me was -- were the events that were about to happen. you know, we -- i had thought that the rhetoric would potentially lead to violence, not just in the capitol, but throughout our country. but it really never hits home until it really hits home. >> reporter: congressman raul
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ruiz of california, senator bill cassidy from louisiana, both inside the capitol. >> sitting in the senate chamber, listening to a speech. all of a sudden i heard someone say the capitol had been breached. and you look around, and i look up, and pence is no longer there. and all this happening just like that. people stood up as if we were to evacuate. i'm standing there and the sergeant at arms goes to the dais and he says, stop, everybody stay in place, there are those who have breached the capitol. >> finally they shut the doors, locked them, interrupted, and said, prepare to take cover and get under your seats. and take out the gas masks, this is an abc news special report. >> hello from abc news. i'm mona kosar abdi. we're interrupting programming to bring you the breaking news from washington. >> we've just learned that the
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u.s. congress has certified the election of joe biden. certifying the votes of the electoral college has until this year been mostly a ceremonial affair, but this contentious year is becoming a flashpoint with the president falsely claiming voter fraud even after losing dozens of cases in the courts. >> everything came to an end moments ago as vice president mike pence in his role as president of the senate made the announcement that joe biden's win has been certified. let's take a listen. >> 38, within that whole number, a majority is 270. the votes for president of the united states are as follows. joseph r. biden jr. of the state of delaware has received 306 votes. donald j. trump of the state of florida has received 232 votes. the whole number of electors appointed to vote for vice president of the united states
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is 5 38. within that whole number, a majority is 270. votes for vice president of the united states are as followed. kamala d. harris of the state of california has received 306 votes. michael r. pence of the state of indiana has received 232 votes. the announcement of the state of the vote by the president of the senate shall be deemed a sufficient declaration of the persons elected president and vice president of the united states. each for the term beginning on the 20th day of january 2021. and shall be entered together with the list of the votes on the journals of the senate and the house of representatives. >> 13 senators had vowed to challenge the electoral college votes, but in the wake of that deadly riot at the u.s. capitol, several of those senators withdrew their objections wednesday night. tonight's action now moves the spotlight to president-elect
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biden's inauguration on january 20th which will take place on the same capitol steps, awhere e saw historic violence on wednesday. when the melee were over, four were dead, three from medical emergencies. one woman was shot. the d.c. police chief said she was shot by capitol police. authorities found two pipe bombs in the area, as well as a cooler with a long gun and molotov cocktails. congress certifying the votes of the electoral college which certifies joe biden's election victory. >> our coverage continues here on this abc station and streaming service "abc news live."'m mona kosar abdi. >> i'm alex presha. >> thank you for being with us. >> this has been a special report from abc news. >> clearly, the president
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stirred up the crowd. and people came here thinking that they could change the result of the election through the electoral college process. that is wrong. that is a misunderstanding of the process. anyone who contributed to that misunderstanding duped these poor people. >> i understand that you tweeted, both as you were leaving the capitol, also later, at president trump, urging him to condemn the violence and tell people to disband. >> no one speaks to this crowd like president trump does. and leadership should have to look at a situation where we see that it's not going the way it should and speak, as only he can, that without qualification, without justification, with no equivocation, that this has to stop. it is wrong. there is no excuse for it. it's a crime. and it will be prosecuted. >> how will today be remembered in history? >> not well. absolutely not well. it was one of the darkest days
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in modern american history. it's a tragic moment. >> history will remember this day with rebuke and scorn. they will look back and see how fragile our democracy can be. but at the same time how -- if we focus on the higher good of our democracy and the will of the people and follow the rules set forth in our constitution, that we are strong. >> witnesses to an unprecedented day that senator chuck schumer says will be remembered as a day of infamy. when we come back, what sparked the chaos in the capitol today? our political powerhouse team breaking it down. in the capitol today? our political powerhouse team breaking it down.
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welcome back. today's unprecedented scene at the capitol, as a result of
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long-simmering tensions finally boiling over. earlier i spoke to abc news contributor l.z. granderson, former u.s. senator heidi heitkamp, and abc news contributor tara setmyer. l.z., today's violence was years in the making. how would you describe today? protest, insurrection, attempted coup? how did we get here? >> it was an attempted coup. and we got here through a lot of different routes. i know it's fashionable to blame everything on president trump. he's an easy target, he's a loud target. the truth is he's not the only target. in this current administration, he's had a lot of people complicit, a lot of people supporting him, a lot of people who knew better but didn't do better. but again, this isn't something that started with his administration. this is an essential part of the american condition. and i don't mean that lightly, and i don't mean that to be cynical. but you can go through decade
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after decade after decade, since the pilgrims landed this country, on this land, and fiend find examples in which you will see uprisings of white people being handled differently than the uprisings of minorities. and those of us who have covered these sort of stories for a number of years, i have, i know you have, many people have -- we have now recognized that there is a very comfortable hypocrisy, to be quite frank, when it comes to how you handle citizens who are protesting, and when those protests become violent, what happens. so while i am saddened by today's events, i am not shocked by today's events. i'm actually more shocked by the members of congress who are feigning shock over what transpired more than anything that happened in the capitol today. >> to that point, how much blame do you place on president trump for today's events?
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since he lost, he's been disseminating disinformation and conspiracy theories. tara, you can go first. >> well, i would say that donald trump has been telegraphing his intent here to leave office with scorched earth behind him for quite some time. to l.z.'s point, we shouldn't be shocked. it's unfortunate, but he has been aided and abetted by a lot of people. including the seditious senators in congress who poured gasoline on the fire that donald trump lit. and it's shameful and unamerican the way in which some of these elected officials have behaved, perpetuating these conspiracy theories and unfounded accusations of widespread election talked, further sowing discord and distrust with the american people about the free and fair elections that just took place. that is what's led to this. donald trump did not do this by himself, he bears a lot of
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responsibility. there was bloodshed today in the capitol, which is shameful, and there are a lot of people that have blood on their hands that led up to this. and i think there needs to be a considerable reckoning within the republican party about the role that they've played collaborating in this seditious act today. >> heidi, you served in that great hall. many of the men and women and the senate and congress, those are your colleagues, your friends. your take on today, and what responsibility do you lay at the feet of president trump? >> listen, i think president trump is a symptom of a huge problem that we have in this country. a huge division, much of it based on race. he started out tapping into that very early on in his presidential run. the call and response, lock them up, build the wall, send them back. we heard it over and over again.
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and it worked for him. it gave him power. unfortunately, all the people in congress who have enabled this have created the conditions that led to today. you know, it's interesting. mitch mcconnell said, i want everybody to understand that what you're doing today in voting to not approve the electoral college is not a harmless protest gesture. guess what, it was not a harmless protest gesture, and all of those people who changed their mind, the constitution did not change today. the law did not change. the facts did not change. but they realized that what they were doing was harming our democracy. it's unfortunate that they realized this 14 days before he leaves office. >> my friends, we have about a minute left. l.z., today we saw images of protesters infiltrating the rotunda flying confederate flags. on the georgia state capital, after it elected its first black senator, we saw a confederate flag waving. what does it say about our
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country? >> it says in a lot of ways, we haven't changed. it is unfortunate, because there's a lot of good that has happened over the decades. particularly over the course of this summer, this summer of racial reconciliation, if you will. a lot of corporations and sports leagues and sports teams have used their platforms and resources to try to make this world a better place. with that being said, until we can agree on the basic facts, we're always going to have this division. you call it the confederate flag, i think that is the flag of treason. someone else says, it's my heritage. if we can't even agree on the facts, we're going to have a very hard time getting past these issues that have really handcuffed us since the founding. >> heidi, one word for you to describe today? >> sad. i think that our democracy has been in peril for the last four years, and probably longer before that. and it came to a head today. and i am hopeful that we've learned something from it. so, sad but hopeful. >> indeed. thank you all. coming up, the other big headline today. the democrats taking control of
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♪ as the capitol was erupting in chaos today, there was another historic moment. >> the shift in power in washington, democrats projected to win the high-stakes runoffs
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in georgia and take control of the u.s. senate. as the unimaginable images from d.c. roiled on, it was easy to bypass the history that rose out of the deep south. >> i am going to the senate to work for all of georgia. >> i'll be for you in the u.s. senate. i will serve all the people of the state. >> reporter: jon ossoff and reverend raphael warnock clinching the senate for the democrats with their projected wins in georgia. the first-time politicians overcoming difficult odds to defeat incumbent senator kelly loeffler and david perdue, neither conceded yet. >> we have a path to victory and we're staying on it. >> reporter: the victory a moment of resurrection for documentary filmmaker ossoff, who ran for congress in 2017 and lost. but warnock's projected win makes him georgia's first black u.s. senator, and only the 11th black person ever elected to the senate. for the pastor of ebenezer baptist church, one of the most
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historic churches in america, this win so much bigger than one man. >> a mother who as a teenager growing up in wake cross, georgia, used to pick somebody else's cotton. but the other day, because this is a america, the 82-year-old hands that used to pick somebody else's cotton went to the polls and picked her youngest son to be a united states senator. >> reporter: warnock's win immediately inspiring younger generations of black men like 24-year-old julius thomas. >> we proved that black voters are no longer sitting on the sidelines. we are in the game. this completely, completely, completely planted a seed of belief, hope, and faith all together to let us know that we are part of this country and part of this nation. >> reporter: the upsets now make democrats the majority, giving them control of the senate, the house, and the white house. a major boon for the incoming biden/harris administration. and as the president continues
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to falsely claim georgia was stolen from him, julius thomas thinks it's important that the country finally move forward. >> the beauty of the united states of america is the diversity. not just in race but in thought as well. so i think it's very important that democrats and republicans continue to listen to each other, respect each other's values, and see if there is a way to move forward. >> reporter: like many of our american ideals, unity can be elusive. perhaps more essential now than ever before. a new chapter in american history. juju, we have a jewish man and a black man, two u.s. senators, in what was the old south. >> absolutely. as a jewish-american and african-american, we have a lot of history to reflect on. and who better to reflect on history than you, my friend byron? you asked l.z. about his reaction to the confederate flag being waved by the agitator in the capitol. i'm curious what your thoughts were. >> it was sad.
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congressman elijah cummings from baltimore said a couple of years ago, we are better than this. america gave its verdict on the confederate flag. just last year, a poll came out and said most americans consider that a symbol of racism. you and i are both the cup is half full people. i want to believe potentially today might have been our generation's edmund pettus moment, that the racial political divide, today may have been a bridge over that for people. >> absolutely. >> how do you see it? >> i had a moment where one of my sons called me and said, what do you think, mom? and i said, this is not okay, this is not america, and hopefully democracy will prevail. but i have to say, that is "nightline" for tonight. stay with "abc news live" for continuing coverage. we'll see you right back here tomorrow, same time. i'm juju chang. >> good to be with you, my friend. i'm byron pitts. thanks for the company, america. good night.
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