01/05/22 01/05/22 [captioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> a year later, the country still living in the shadow of january 6. the trail that began for me in charlottesville has taken another turn. along the way, i have seen up close the peril posed by a resurgent white supremacist movement. armed bushes pledging to execute police and people brought in the

streets. revolutionaries wearing hawaiian shirts and now millions of people convinced the 2020 election was a fraud. amy: thursday marks the first anniversary of the deadly january 6 insurrection, when thousands attacked the u.s. capitol with the goal of overthrowing the 2020 election. many were part of far-right extremist and white supremacist groups. we'll look at the threat they pose today with an investigation by frontline into e "american insurrection." and "is the 'smoking gun' in trump's january 6 attempted coup hiding in plain sight?" we speak with will bunch. all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. chicago has canceled school for today after the chicago teachers

union voted tuesday night for classes to go remote due to the surge in covid-19 cases. in a statement, the union said -- "this decision was made with a heavy heart and a singular focus on student and community safety." this comes as schools across the nation are grappling with how to keep students and teachers safe as the omicron variant rapidly spreads. in suburban chicago, one district had to close five schools tuesday because more than 500 teachers and staff were out sick. in florida, thousands of teachers have called out sick as covid cases skyrocket in the miami area. on tuesday, president biden reiterated his support for keeping schools open during the covid surge. pres. biden: we know our kids can be safe when in school. that is why i believe schools should remain open.

amy: the centers for disease control has decided to largely stick with its new covid isolation guidance, saying people with asymptomatic infections can stop isolating after five days, down om 10 ys. on tueay, the c said fected pple coultake a rapid te before ending isolatn, but the agency is not mandating it. meanwhile, new government data shows 113,000 people are now hospitalized with covid-19 - higher than during the delta surge over the summer. in international news, officials in india have announced a week in curfew in new delhi as covid cases reach a nine-month high. between friday night and monday morning, all non-essential businesses will be closed in india's largest city. meanwhile, hong kong is banning flights from the united states, britain, and six other countries for the next two weeks. the house select committee investigating the january 6 insurrection is asking sean hannity, the fox news host and close confidanto donaltrump,

to vuntaly coopete with its vestigatn. a lette the comttee sd it believehannity d "advan owledge gardinpresiden trump's and his legal team's planning for january 6." on tuesday, the committee released a number of text messages sent by hannity to white house officials before and after the insurrection. on january 5, hannity wrote to white house chief of staff mark meadows saying he was "very worried about the next 48 hours." shortly after the news broke about the text messages,onald trump canceled a news conference he had scheduled for january 6 on the fir anniversary of the insurrection. the january 6ommitt has also indicated it hopes to speak with former vice president mike pence as part of its iestigation meanile, trump is facingwo w federal wsuits foris role in encouraging e deadly riot. one suit was filed by a u.s. capitol police offer, the other by two members of the d.c.

meopolitan police. in other related news, former ump trade visor pete navarro was interviewed msnbc tuesday by ari melr. navarro outlined h support for whate called the "green ba sweep," a plan to overturn the election results in six states. >> had over 100 congressmen and senators on capitol hill ready to implement the sweep. the sweep was that. we were going to challenge the results of the election in six battleground states. michigan, pennsylvania, georgia, wisconsin, nevada. >> do you realize you are describing a coup? >> no. i totally reject any of your premises there. amy: a new investigation by "the washington post" and propublica has found facebook played a key role in spreading false information about the 2020

election in the lead up to the january 6 insurrection. the news outlets report at least 650,000 messages were posted on facebook attacking the legitimacy of joe biden's victory prior to the insurrection, with calling for political violence, including executions. on capitol hill, senate majority leader chuck schumer vowed tuesday to proceed with a vote to change the filibuster rule to prevent republicans from blocking new voting rights legislation. schumer spoke on the floor of the senate. >> there is no better way to heal the damage of january 6 than to act so that our constitutional order is preserved for the future. if we do not act to protect our elections, the horrors of january 6 will risk becoming not the exception, but the norm. the stakes could not be higher.

so we are going to move forward. amy: it remains unclear, however, if the democratic leadership has the votes needed. on tuesday, democratic senator joe manchin voiced skepticism about changing the filibuster rules. >> let me just say to being open to a rules change that would create a nuclear option, this is very, very difficult. amy: in other voting rights news, the prominent radio host joe madison is in his 59th day on hunger strike. he has vowed not to eat any solid food until congress paes the freedom to vote act or the john lewis voting rights advancement act. the canadian government has agreed to give over $15 billion to indigenous children harmed by canada's child welfare system, including tens of thousands of children who were taken from their families and put into the system. in addition, canada has pledged to spend another $15 billion to reform the nation's child welfare system.

first nations manitoba regional chief cindy woodhouse praised the unprecedented settlement. >> we have a long way to go to address the poverty in our nations, and on none of money will ever be the right amount, nor will it bring back a childhood lost. today is about acknowledgment, about being seen and heard. amy: u.s. authorities have arrested a retired colombian military commando for his alleged involvement in last year's assassination of haiti's president jovenel moïse. the man, mario antonio palacios, was arrested in panama while traveling to columbia after being deported from jamaica. he was then flown to miami where he appeared in court on tuesday. palacios is accused of being part of a mercenary team hired to carry out the president's execution. it is still unknown who hired the mercenaries to attack moïse's home. a palestinian prisoner has ended a 141-day hunger strike after israel agreed to release him

next month. hisham abu hawash began the hunger strike to protest what's known as administrative detention where israel holds palestinians without charge or trial. his brother imad celebrated the news tuesday. >> can't describe how happy i am. i can't express how happy i am. today we are happy forhisham. today he achieved victory for all of the prisoners, martyrs, all of the palestinians, even for those who are in diaspora. amy: in more news from the region, the israeli human rights group b'tselem reports 2021 was the deadliest year for palestinians since 2014 as israeli forces killed 313 palestinians last year, including 71 minors. in addition, israel demolished nearly 300 residential structures in the occupied west bank and occupied east jerusalem last year, the higst number since 2016. this left nearly 900

palestinians homeless. the demolitions are continuing. on tuesday, israeli forces demolished part of a healthcare center which serves ,000 people in occupied eas jerusalem. in sudan, security forces fired live ammunition, stun grenades and tear gas at protesters on tuesday as demonstrations continue across sudan to demand civilian rule. security forceblocked roads leading to the republican palace in central khartoum. 70 protesters were reportedly injured across the country tuesday. the protest came two days after the prime minister abdallah hamdok resigned. >> today the people confirming the need for sudanese men and women of all parties to move toward despite the repression. there facing off against the state, as you can hear from the sound of the bombs being fired at those on the front lines who are facing this abuse. amy: the president of kazakhstan

has declared a two-week state of emergency in parts of the country and has dismissed his entire cabinet following days of protests over rising fuel prices. earlier today, protesters in the oil-rich nation attempted to -- stormed the mayor's office in almaty, kazakhstan's largest city, and attempted to break into the presidential residence. here in new york, the district attorney of albany county has announced he is a dropping a sex crime charge against former new york governor andrew cuomo. in october, the county sheriff filed a criminal complaint against cuomo, charging him with forcible touching for allegedly groping his former assistant brittany commisso inside the executive mansion. in a statement, albany district attorney david soares said -- "while we found the complainant in this case cooperative and credible, after review of all the available evidence, we have concluded that we cannot meet our burden at trial." democratic congressmember bobby rush of illinois has announced he will retire and won't run for a 16th term. the former black panther was first elected in 1992.

there are now two dozen house democrats who are not seeking reelection. in california, a republican lawyer and vocal critic of vaccine mandates has died after contracting covid-19. kelly ernby was 46 years old. she worked as a deputy district attorney in orange county. in december, she spoke at rally against vaccine mandates telling protesters, "there's nothing that matters more than our freedoms right now." and today is julian assange's 1000th day locked up in the belmarsh high security prison in london. supporters of the wikileaks founder are expected to rally outside the prison demanding his release and to oppose u.s. plans to extradite him for exposing u.s. war crimes in iraq and afghanistan. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. when we come back, thursday marks the first anniversary of

the deadly january 6 insurrection. we will look at the white supremacist groups that attacked the capitol and the threat they pose today with investigation by frontline into the american insurrection. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "9 to 5" by dolly parton, a favorite country song of the television pioneer, actor, comedian betty white, who died december 31, just a couple weeks shy of her 100th birthday. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman in new york, joined by my co-host juan gonzález in new brunswick, new jersey. hi, juan. juan: hi, amy. welcome to all of our listeners and viewers from around the country and around the world. amy: thursday marks the first anniversary of the deadly january 6 insurrection. thousands of people attacked the u.s. capitol with the goal of overthrowing the 2020 election. many were part of far-right extremist and white supremacist groups. today we lk at where these

movementare now wh an investigation by fntline, opublica, and berkeley journalism's investigative rerting program thabegan in the wake of the deadly 2017 charlottville "unite the right" rally. in their reportingthey found many white supremacist groups started to splinter amid the backlash following charlottesville. but president trump gave them new life. this is an excerpt from "american insurrection," with correspondent a.c. thompson that actually begins before january 6, 2021 on november 14. one week after the presidential election was called for joe biden, trump supporters took to the streets of washington, d.c., stirred up by trump's refusal to concede. they demanded the results be overturned. >> as night falls, proud boys merge with maga marchers and roam the city looking for fights. trump supporters confront journalists, vandalize black

lives matter signs, and fight with activists who try to stop them. a month later, trump supporters take to the streets of washington again. once again, the protests turn violent. and then, he calls his supporterso the capitol. on january 6. pres. trump: we are going to walk down, and i will be there with you, we're going to walk down to the capitol. you will never take back our country with weakness. you have to show strength and you have to be strong. we have come to demand that congress do the right thing, and we fight. we fight like hell.

and if you don't fight like hell, you will have a country anymore. >> he urges them for the capitol building. the proud boys are here, but they are not wearing the trademark yellow and black. the boogaloo boys are here, too. also out of uniform. they both blend into the pro-trump crowd. inside, congress is trying to certify the election. outside, the crowd is bearing down on them. >> usa! usa! >> but the police on the steps are outnumbered and unprepared. >> usa1

>> around 140 police are injured. one officer, brian sicknick, will later die. a proud boy from new york state smashes through a window. the capitol has been breached.

a proud boy broke the window, but what about the crowd behind him? a mob, urged on by the president, willing to embrace an insurrectionary violence that was once confined only to the most extreme elements of the far right. bewildered, some wander through the halls. others moved toward the senate chamber. police struggle to hold them off while congress members flee through back exits. the mob surges through the hallways searching for them. coming within feet of their targets. rioters try to break into a hallway that lawmakers are escaping through.

a protester is shot and killed. three other rioters die in the mayhem. it would be hours before the capitol was cleared. amy: now in an update to the documentary "american insurrection" that came out this week, correspondent a.c. thompson examines how far-right extremist groups have evolved since january 6 and the threat they pose today. >> in washington, d.c., the fences are gone, sore the national guard patrols. the city no longer feels like a war zone. but when i come back to the capitol, almost a year later,

there are many questions that remain unanswered. >> we cannot allow what happened on january 6 to ever happen again. we owe it to the american people and we will not fail, i assure you, in that responsibility. >> the house of representatives has impaneled a committee to investigate january 6 and to recommend changes that will prevent something like that happening again. representative bennie thompson is the committee chair. >> january 6 was a difficult day for me personally because i was in the capitol. i have seen a lot of people come to this capitol, people have the ability, i thought, in waington, d.c., to express themselves regardless of incision. but if i ever imagine that mebody would invade the united states capitol, never in my wildest dreams did i imagine

th would occur despite what had all occurred, we were called back in the early morning hours to complete the certification. because if we don't certify the election, then donald trump is still president. and he can do a number of things -- are for law -- martial law as a potential post of >> it could've been something looking like a coup. >> absolutely. you get people who i talked to on a daily basis who will actually tell me that what i saw and experiencedon january 6 really did not happen. close people come to you and say, january 6 did not happen? >> look, it was the black lives matter folk, it was 18 five --antifa dressed up as trump

people who did that. in addition to that, of millions of folk who are out there that those individuals who broke into the united states capitol, they were some of the greatest patriots. >> they say these are heroes. they say people like you are the enemy. >> absolutely. that is why i am missing on this committee that is so important. >> they have subpoenaed trump's inner circle and interviewed hundreds of witnesses, including some d.c. and capitol police officers. >> nothing has changed. if a hitman is hired and he kills somebody, not only does the hitman go to jail, but the person who hired them does. there was an attack carried out on january 6 and eight hitman sent them. i want you to get to the bottom of that. >> those windows up there, those were some of the first windows that were smashed. that door, they were able to breach that door.

>> the big one at the steps? >> capitol police officer harry dunn walks me through what happened. >> once i clear this tree line, i was looking out and i could not believe what i saw. there were flashbangs going off, smokgrenades going off. >> from your side or the other? >> both. i have never seen anything like that before. my number one thought was just to survive that day. >> just to survive. >> we were fighting for our lives. fighting for democracy. how is this going to end we were hours and hours and hours -- it has to end somehow. >> did you think it might end with these guys overrunning this place? >> it crossed my mind. >> i was interviewing elected public official who was here and he said, i think maybe it was an antifa event commitment to make

republicans and trump people look bad. what do you think en you hear stuff like that? and he was here. >> rioters tt they entered the building told us that donald trump sent us. i do't know how to make that anymore clear to anybody. now whether donald trump gave what they said were the marching orders, whether he did or not, whatever, that is not my job. i just know what i experienced. i know what i went through. they were there because donald trump sent them according to them donald trump sent us. >> after the attack, we try to get information from the justice department about its investigation and the people who have been arrested. along with other news organizations, we sued for access to get evidence they had been gathering. >> i thought there were going to

be battles. i thought was going to be fighting. >> interrogation who admitted to assaulting a police officer. >> i tased them, yes. i thought it wasn't going to happen like that. i thought trump was going to stay president. >> regis has pleaded not guilty and his lawyers have argued that he was mean to be elated agents. >> we thought they stole this country, that it is gone. america is or. it is destroyed now. >> the arrests after january 6 may have quieted the move for a time, but it would turn out to be short-lived. in rallies across the country, i see momentum building around overturning the 2020 election. the crowds include characters in

groups i have en tracking. i see more more mainstream americans. according to polling data, around two thirds of republicans have come to believe the 2020 elections were stolen. about a third say violence may be necessary to save the country. i go back to talk to mary mccord. what youhink has happened to those organized groups now, the proud boys, the boogaloo bois, the militias? where are they at in terms of strength at this point? >> within days, literally days, they started finger-pointing. some dissolved. some reconstituted themselves. i think the 3%ers said we are no longer and you have these nationally saying, we need to find another group. they also started making up other disinformation like this was all an antifa plot, a law enforcement five.

americans have really short memory. time has passed and we are starting to see at least in the social media and online forums, you know, organizing begin in very dangerous ways. >> so the movement lives on? >> it does live on. in a way, it is harder for law enforcement to deal with when it is so disparate like that, right? a dozen individuals going to a local school board meeting in a rural kind without of a police force, that is harder to protect against any capitol. the capitol will not sfer an insurrection like that again. >> where do you see the threats coming from at this pot and into the future? what keeps you up at nht? >> a lot of the threads i see coming from disinformation getting into our lyrical discourse. in particular as we come into another election year, what i am really seeing is the seeds are

being planted alreadyf fraud, ramp it throughout our election systems. >> there areens of millions of americans that absolutely believe that 2020 election was a fraud. a lot of them have said, "i am willing to use violence to change things." >> it is astounding to see that data. i tell myself sometimes tha there is something wrong about this data collection and some of that is hyperbolic. all of that said, we know gun purchases were up dramatically over 2020. we see more more armed individuals coming out to government proceedings, whether it is accounting of the vote after the elections, whether it is public health meetings, school board meetings. the willingness to be threatening government officials and even threatening them with arms is, you know, something that really needs to be addressed because that could just snowball.

>> a year later, the country still living under the shadow of january 6. the trail that began for me in charlottesville has taken another turn. along the way, i have seen up close the peril posed by resurgent white supremacist movement, armed glitches pledging to execute police and elected officials, ultranationalist brawling under the streets. would-be revolutionaries wearing hawaiian shirts and now this, millions of people convinced the 2020 election was a fraud. some of them angry enough to turn to violence. charlottesville and january 6 seem like bookends to an era, but today it is clear movements have been changing, evolving, but they are not going away. amy: that's an excerpt from the updated version of "american

insurrection because what documentary with correspondent a. thompson. it was released this week. you can watch the full report at pbs.org/frontline and on youtube. for more, we are joined by the director and writer of this documentary, rick rowley. he is also the director of their emmy-winning series "documenting hate." rick, welcome back to democracy now! so you now have this updated version of "american insurrection" where you look at these white supremacist and extremist militias, if you will come and where they are today. what you think is most important to understand about what we have learned in this last year? it is great to be with you. mary mccord is a good job of summing up where the movement has landed at this particular moment. there was a real backlash

against the perpetrators of january 6 in the immediate weeks afterwards, just as there was after charlottesville stop some of the big aboveground national groups splintered, but that backlash was short-lived. over the course is of the next month, they reconstituted themselves. proud boys chapters showing up as gober meetings around the country. the locuss of the organizing had shifted to a local one, which makes it more difficult to track and increases the potential for local or regional violence -- which was already trajectory we are saying with the plot to kidn gretchen whitmer, the governor of michigan last year. so that is really where the kind of threat is now, i think, for right-wing violence. i think it is also important to remember, think of these things

as a far right social movement. so you have groups inside it, small committed militia groups like lifelong white supremacist organizations or militias committed to catalyzing a civil. yet those groups at are pushing the envelope. they are swimming in a sea of a much larger group of people. millions of people to in the words of the national security analysts are vulnerable to radicalization. acf people who are on the edge and could be recruited into violence by these groups. that pool of people radicalizing vulnerable people is growing bigger and bigger and bigger. more people today believe that the election was stolen and believed it on the morning of january 6. more people today believe violence might be necessary to defend america and believed it

on the morning of january 6. that is broader kind of milieu this violence has generated. juan: you to get a chance to interview compass member bennie thompson, who is chairing the house investigation generally sixth insurrection, his committee. all of the attention has been focused in the media in recent months on will trump and his circle be able to draw out the demands -- subpoenas for investigation into the next election season? what was your sense of how thompson's resolve and what his committee has already found and is seeking to prove? >> well, representative thompson

said january is going to be a big month for them. they are going to start to make much of the work that the committee has been doing in private, he will become public. -- it will become public. we will see what is going on. i think -- i mean, a danger that i fear is -- trump obviously play a key role, and has over the entireourse of this rise of the far rig violence from before charlottesville through today, a key player in that and a catalyst for these organizations ha been tmp, s candidacy first, and then his presidency. onhe morning of jaary 6, he pointeto the capitol and said, "you have got to fight." his role is absolutely key, but i think it is important for us to remember it doesn't have to be a smoke-filled room with three people who, like, planned

or sophisticated operation. what you have is a deeper political sicknesses inside america and faultlines and fissures that are being tapped into, cynically at times, five political players who make moments like this kind of happened. there are many things that make this a moment that is a right for -- exec created this, the rampant economic inequality of our moment, via the disastrous wars in iraq and afghastan, those were both major elements in creating a lar chunkf the population that has lost faith or beliefs institutions of this country have failed them in some ways. and lots of those grievances are

legitimate. so in that milieu, give old legacy what's premises groups pushing the envelope and trump and others were then able to mobilize, crystallize, unite and exploit those energies that existed already and point them in a direction. that i think is why you see this is not an argument that can be won with fact and evidence. the whole narrative around the 2020 election being stolen, time and again, it faces what appeared to be on the surface to be crippling defeat. the arizona recount. audit. every single one of the cases brought by giuliani and company being thrown out of court. those don't actually matter. the narrative that is feeding the social movement underneath it all survives and continues

and reconstitutes itself and will continue, i think, until the underlying problems and sicknesses that feed this kind of movement are addressed in a more systemic way. juan: speaking about those lies and narratives, this narrative that the right-wing media especially pushed still climbing -- claiming antifa was involved in the insurrection. can you talk about that and the importance of that to the narrative? >> it is kind of amazing. one of the things that is characteristic of author terry narratives and politics in general is their ability to have completely contradictory ideas simultaneously held inside the same movement. on the one hand, yet people who say it was all fake, it was a false flag operation, antifa and

black lives matter dressed up as trump supporters and organize this whole operation. in inside the same movement, shoulder to shoulder, you'll have even is on the same person, also have the belief that the january 6 rioters are patriots and are being crucified in these trials that are just beginning to happen. those two contradictory ideas are being held together but the creation of this monkey man on the left and antifa and black lives matter are turning them from what they are, like, broad social movements tactics turning them into this communist conspiracy that is going to take over america, undermine from the inside, and destroy it. that has been key to the reformulation of far-right groups since charlottesville.

in fact, one of the things we explore early in the film is the way charlottesville launches this new kind of political cake for these movements. one of the guys we talked to, we interview in "america insurrection" is brian mes, lifelong hard-core leader in white supremacist groups. the klan, early militia movement where you met timothy mcveigh, skinhead gangs. that after trump rode down the golden escalator and started the campaign, he said he realized that the more effective political move was to jettison the most explicitly racist politics and rebrand himself, take off the swastika armband, wrap himself in the american flag, and become a trump supporter. so he joined the proud boys. he is a regional leader of the proud was in indiana. as he said, using -- rather than

nailing a racial enemy, say we are against blacks or mexican immigrants or whatever, naming a political enemy, weird is the communists who want to destroy everything you love about this country, is the way they retargeted their political message though they could reach the mainstream. it was effective. range eggs said throughout his career, he always had 20 guys in minneapolis, maybe 40 state why. now he has 200. we saw with our own eyes, him in washington, d.c., with a crew of former skinhead gang members with racist tattoos on their faces who were dressed in yellow and black, proud boys, and were embraced by a throng of mainstream trump supporters. you are right, juan, the creation of this leftist kind of communist threat to mobilize is

central to the work that the extreme far right is doing to penetrate the mainstream. amy: rick, thank you for being with us, rick rowley, director of the pbs frontline prep you look up documentary "american insurrection" now updated and available on the website in collaboration with correspondent a.c. thompson. next, is "is the 'smoking gun' in trump's january 6 attempted coup hiding in plain sight?" we will speak with journalist will bunch. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "lunatic fringe" by red rider. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman with juan gonzalez. thursday marks one year since a violent mob of thousands of trump supporters descended on

the u.s. capitol, disrupting congress from certifying the results of the 2020 presidential election. many have referred to the attack as an attempted coup. five people died and hundreds were injured. at least four police officers who responded to the capitol on january 6 died of suicide in the days and months after. the fbi has called the insurrection an act of domestic terrorism. some 700 rioters have been criminally charged. meanwhile, the house select committee investigating the january 6 attack has interviewed over 300 witnesses and subpoenaed several key figures in trump's inner circle. last week, it learned of a document that could be crucial evidence in proving trump's intentions to tamper with the 2020 election and in inciting the deadly capitol insurrection. the document is called the "the draft letter from potus to

seize evidence in the interest of national security for the 2020 elections. it is included on a list of records that former new york police commissioner bernard kerik, a close trump ally, is refusing to turn over. for more, we're joined in philadelphia by will bunch, pulitzer-prize winning journalist and national columnist at "the philadelphia inquirer." he writes about this in his column: "is the 'smoking gun' in trump's january 6 attempted coup hiding in plain sight?" welcome back to democracy now! plain what this is. cloak as you mentioned, bernrd kerik, very close associate of rudy giuliani d kind of a trump insider, convicted of criminal activity and trump had pardoned him, he was definitely part of this new inner circle that gathered around trump between electn loss to joe

biden and january 6, who was givi him advice. i think the most interesting and maybe the most alarming thing that has been coming out some of these ns reports and leaks out of the house january 6 committee in the last few weeks is the focus of this working group on the idea that somehow declare a national emergency, which as y know, thats basically a code name for a up. part of his national emergency he might even seize paper eltion ballots wervoting machines, which wouljust be a mess. we he had a couple of things. wead an emailrom mark meadows, trump's chief f staff, abt the national guard, how th expectethe nation guard would be there january two "support pro-trump

denstrators." we had this powerint presenation that circulated on capitol hl from trump's advisers that talked about this national emergency idea. and now bernard kerik's lawyer, dogmas in his possession when she claimed were privileged and should not be allowed to see, when claiming privilege is when you just mentioned and when i think could be smoking gun, which is a draft letter from trump that was basically declaring this emergencand allow for the seizure of evidence. it is a very complicated, but very quickly, i think the trump team expected on january 6 there would be something that did not happen, which they expected there to be left-wing counter protesters like the december 12 episode that was in the documentary you just played.

th expectea repeat of that. i think that fully believed they could call out the national guard. remember, trump has called a lot of close allies in the pentagon just in the weeks right before january 6. e pentagon has authorization over the national guard. i think there was this theory that if there had been more violence that involved antifa, which was the enemy of the trump people as you just discussed in the last segment, that antifa could have been a pretext for them to call out the national guard on their side to close down the capitol and if the capitol had been closed down, he would not have the guy she would not have the certification abide in's -- biden's election. it is interesting that members of congre and even ke pence himself were very adamant about not leang the capol and i think they were afraid if they left the capital, they would

ner get back. juan: you wrote in a column a couple of weeks ago "the central role of the leftist clashes that never happened in the thwarted mission of the national guard in trump fernley law enforcement for the final hail mary pass in trump's slow-motion coup to undo biden's victory reveals how close a rogue president came to ending democracy earlier this year." could you talk about, one, you also say you believe the left did not go for the base of coming out there in washington, and how that ended up gumming up e plans of ople fro what you can tell? >> that is one of the most amazing little-known stories about nuary 6 is in the maybe two week run up before january 6 when a lot of people, although probably not the fbi for some

reasonbut a lot of normal people knew this was going to be a potentially viont day and you that buffaloes of people were descending on the capital, and the word goout on the lt that they want to provoke violence. they want to provoke clashes between left-wing counter protesters, whether they were "anitfa" or normal resistant folks. so on social media, saw the hashtag #donttakethebait. you had the mayor of d.c. and other officials went public telling people who were not trump supporters, "you don't want to be anywhere near the capitol on january 6. please stay away." some cap their workers home. there was a real effort to just let the truck people do their

thing in the city and not confront them, not provoke them. that was kind of like in the famous sherlock holmes line, that was like the dog that did not bark on january 6 because you did not have the clashes. it expends a lot. people are baffled by the inaction of the national guard. we now know, and security did great reporting, we know mark milley come the chairman of the joint chiefs and other top people in the defense department, horrified at the idea the trump allies within the pentagon could use the national guard anservice oa cp, sically. in servi of tru. as a resu, i meanthat was -- c. officialwere bafed becse ey wanteto use t guard t fight agast the trump inrreconists.

in the pentan, the wry was if the gua got iolved an took over the catol, tt wod look more ke a cou so that exains whyhe nationaluard didot get inlved for three ofour hours until the incident was basically over at that point. juan: i want to go back for second to this draft national security letter that bernard kerik's lawyer claiming attorney-client privilege. of course bernard kerik stanley convicted on tax evasion charges, but has the dubious distinction of being one of the only people perhaps in american history who spent time in the very jail that was named after him, the bernard kerik correctional facility. of course, he is not a lawyer. could you talk about this claim and how it could stand up you went to court -- obviously, it might take months for court decision on it?

>> juan, you let me remember watergate and remember the famous terms of watergate stonewalling, rump and his team are the masters of stonewalling 2.0. the basic philosophy, which trump phoned in his years as a developer in new york, when there is a probl, throw everything up against the wall, delay. what we're seeing is unprecedented in terms of people clearly have no reason to not testify or defy subpoenas claiming to have the right to define subpoenas. you see charges now against mark meadows. i think for the next 12 months, you're going to see this web of obstction come these privilege claims that are going to have to be fought out in crt. whether it is executive

privilege something more munde. the ultimate reason behind this i think is because the republicans are very confident they're going to retake the house based on history and other trends. when they do that, they know they will be able to -- yet the democrats with this one you to get to the truth, basically. i think the january 6 committee has been doing a fantastic job. going to be very dratic. you could have tt hanging over their heads. they have a one year race against this massive wall of extraction -- instruction. amy: it will be interesting when the how the public hearings and the comparison to the watergate hearings that summit he watched at the time. i wanted to ask you, will bunch, about what former trump trade advisor peter navarro said on

msnbc yesterday when he was interviewed by gary melber. he allen to support faster when you called the green bay suite, a plan to overturn the election results in six states. >> the plan was this, we had over 100 congressmen and senators on capitol hill ready to implement the suite. the sweep was simply that. we were going to challenge the results of the election in six battleground states. they were michigan, pennsylvania , georgia, wisconsin, nevada. >> do you realize you're describing a coup? >> no. i totally reject many of your premises there. amy: so there you have it, well. i am wondering iyou could respond to this. jamie raskin, one of the key members of the select committee, has responded, the congressman from maryland, and said you have this very unusual situation where maybe the trump supporters outside and or violence with his

insurrection subverted what they wanted to accomplish, their allies wanted to accomplish, trump wanted to come push inside , what peter navarro just laid out. >> you look back, there soany ways as opposed to whatappen. i ink the bottom line, there's no other word for what they're talking about here other than a coup. the idea was if you could block the cerfication in an f states, and i guess those six states would have done it, then you would've taken -- any claim would be, you're throwing the election to the house under the constitutional procedure most of the way the houseboats goes, which is not by individual members but by state delegation, republicans still controlled the majority of the delegaon. republicans could have imposed that mechanism to impose a trump

presidency. e thin is, i don't think that plan could have worked without the cooperation of mike pence. there were three or four incredible hinge points about january 6, the failure to convince pence that been such a complit vice president for four years to go along is one of those. i think mark milley and the pentagon utilizing the threat -- don't forget that january 3 letter from every former -- every living former defense secretary from dick cheney to the democratic ones warning about the military getting involved on january 6. they knew something was afoot. they were terrified of the possibilities. i think to talk about the green bay sweep shows a high level of planning going on here. let's not forget, it is a felony to disrupt the operations of congress.

i think that is something the january 6 committee is honing in on. was there criminal conspiracy to prevent congress from doing its job on january 6? if so, who was involved in that? obviously,rump advisors were involved. was the president himself involved? for the umpteenth time come going back to watergate, what in the president know and when did he know it? i think there could be some real drama behind these hearings when they go public. they may be in prime time i am here now, which uld be quite a political event in 2022. amy: we want to thank you so much for being with us. will bunch, pulitzer-prize winning journalist and national columnist at "the philadelphia inquirer." we will link to his pieces at democracynow.org. happy birthday to clara ibarra and a belated happy birthday to dennis mccormick! democracy now! is looking for feedback from people who appreciate the closed captioning. e-mail your comments to outreach@democracynow.org or mail them to democracy now! p.o. box 693 new york, new york 10013.

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