12/20/22 /20/22 aptioning made possible by democracy now!] amy: from new york, this is democracy now! >> we believe the evidence provided by my colleagues today and assembled throughout our hearings warrants a criminal referral of former president donald j. trump, john eastman, for violations of the statute. the whole purpose and obvious

effect to obstruct come influence this official proceeding. the central moment of transfer of power in the united states. amy: the house january 6 select committee has unanimously voted to refer donald trump to the justice department to face criminal charges, including aiding an insurrection as he attempted to overturn the 2020 election. we will get response and's >> no man who would behave that way at that moment in time can ever serve in any position of authority in our nation again. he is unfit for any office. amy: all that and more, coming up. welcome to democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman.

the house select committee investigating the january 6, 2021 attack on the u.s. capitol has wrapped up its 18-month probe by recommending criminal charges against former president donald trump. at the committee's final public hearing monday, maryland democratic congressmember jamie raskin said trump betrayed his oath of office by assisting in an insurrection against the constitutional order. >> the committee believes that more than sufficient evidence exists for criminal referral of former president trump for assisting or aiding and comforting those at the capitol who engaged in a violent attack on the united states. the committee has developed significant evidence that president trump intended to disrupt the peaceful transfer -- transition of power under our constitution. amy: after headlines, we'll air clips from the january 6 committee's final hearing and spend the rest of the hour discussing its findings.

jury selection got underway monday in the trial of the former leader of the far-right proud boys organization and four of his associates. enrique tarrio and the others each face nine counts, including seditious conspiracy against the united states, after they heeded then-president donald trump's call to "fight like hell" on january 6, 2021. all five men have pleaded not guilty. their attorneys have argued their actions were constitutionally protected free speech. in immigration news, supreme court chief justice john roberts monday temporarily blocked the biden administration from ending the contested, trump-era title 42 pandemic policy that was set to end wednesday. roberts gave biden officials until this afternoon to respond to an emergency appeal filed by several republican-led states challenging the policy' termination. title 42 has been enforced since march 2020, used to expel over 2

million migrants from the u.s.-mexico border, blocking them from seeking asylum. thousands have been forced to wait in mexico where they hoped they would be finally allowed to safely enter the u.s. to apply for relief when title 42 was lifted this week. this is emily rivas, an asylum seeker from venezuela, who's been stuck in ciudad juarez, mexico, across the border from el paso, texas. >> please, soften the heart of the president. let all of the people across to the u.s. we have suffered a great deal since we left venezuela. we traveled through the jungle and all those countries we have been through. i ask him from the bottom of my heart that they allow us to crs. amy: human rights groups in the united kingdom have vowed to keep fighting an immigration policy that allows the british government to deport asylum seekers to rwanda. on monday, a court ruled the program is legal under british and international law. the policy was first announced in april.

paul o'connor of the public and commercial services union denounced the ruling. >> i members did not to carry out this policy on a basis they thought it was unlawful, reprehensible, inhumane. the judges have found the decision to be lawful. we will continue to do all we can to fight this policy. amy: in iran, the body of a 23-year-old protester who recently died in police custody showed signs of severe torture according to his family. the body of hamed salahshoor, who was a taxi driver, was exhumed by his family after security forces buried him, claiming he died of a heart attack after he was detained in late november and disappeared for four days. after viewing his remains, salahshoor's family described his face was smashed, his nose, jaw and chin broken, and that he had stitches going from his neck to his navel.

and over his kidneys. this comes as the parents of a young man are pleading for his son's life as he faces execution over his involvement in anti-government protests. the father of mehdi mohammad karami appealed to iranian officials in a video posted on social media. >> i am pleading desperately for the authorities to remove this death sentence from my son's case. amy: amnesty iernational warns that at last 26 people are at risk of being executed for participating in the mass protests in iran that have taken over in the streets since septemr. paleinians in the israeli-occupied west bank hav deared a one-day general strike to mon the death of prisoner nasser abu hamid. the 49-year-old palestinian had been held in an israeli prison since his arrest in 2002 for his involvement in an armed wing of the ruling fatah party. he was diagnosed from prison

with late-stage lung cancer in august 2021. his family says israeli prison authorities igred his medical complain for months, leading him die of medical neglec human rightsroups say dozens other palestinian psoners have died of preventable diseases due to a lack of routine health checks. meanwhile, israel has deported french-palestinian activist and lawyer salah hamouri to france in a move condemned by human rights groups and the french foreign ministry. before his deportation on sunday, hamouri had been held without charge under israel's so-called administrative detention law since his arrest in march. hamouri is a long-time resident of east jerusalem, which israel has occupied since 1967. u.n. human rights spokesperson jeremy laurence said in a statement -- "deporting a protected person from occupied territory is a grave breach of the fourth geneva convention, constituting a war crime."

in sudan, secuty forces fired tear gas and stun grenades monday to disperse thousands of people protesting against military rule. the protest in the capital khartoum came on the fourth anniversary of the start of an uprising that toppled the long-time authoritarian president omar al-bashir. it came two weeks after sudan's ruling military junta and pro-democracy groups signed a deal to gradually prepare sudan for its first election and transition to civilian rule after the october 2021 military coup. protesters who took to the streets monday rejected the agreement, saying it would leave coup leaders in power for at least two more years. >> the revolution will continue and will not stop our basic demand. we will not give up our rights in any way, even if agreements were signed between politicians and soldiers. this is not with the sudanese

people want. amy: russian president vladimir putin visited the capital of belarus monday for talks with his counterpart alexander lukashenko amid growing fears that russia is preparing to launch a new invasion from ukraine's neighbor to the north. lukashenko has allowed the kremlin to use belarus as a staging ground throughout russia's offensive in ukraine. on monday, putin dismissed concerns that russia might annex belarus, a former soviet republic. >> russia is not interested in absorbing anyone. it does not make any sense. amy: in washington d.c., state department spokesperson ned price called putin's statement the height of irony, pointing to russia's unilateral annexation of four territories of ukraine last september. in canada, six people are dead, including the gunman, after a man with a semiautomatic handgun opened fire on the suburban toronto condominium building where he lived. three of the victims were members of the condominium

board. the gunman, a 73-year old with a history of harassing property managers and his neighbors, was shot dead by police. in labor news, thousands of uber drivers in new york city led a 24-hour strike monday after the ride-hailing corporation blocked pay raises the drivers were set -- scheduled to receive this month. this is ibrahim gory, a lyft, and uber driver, and a member of the new york taxi workers alliance. >> you go out there every single day. [indiscernible] the strike is for all drivers. amy: a new york republican newly elected to congress appears to have fabricated key parts of his education and employment

history. that's according to an investigation by "the new york times," which found congressmember-elect george santos lied when he told voters he'd worked for citigroup and goldman sachs. the irs says an animal rescue group santos claims to have led called friends of pets united did not file any records indicating it had tax-exempt status as santos claimed. "the new york times" also found santos faced criminal charges for check fraud in brazil at a time when he'd claimed to be attending classes at baruch college, which has no enrollment records for santos. and santos falsely claimed that his company lost four employees at the pulse nightclub shooting in orlando in june 2016. in november, santos made history as the first openly gay republican to win a house seat as a non-incumbent, representing a district in long island and queens that previously favored democrats. house republican leader kevin mccarthy has yet to comment on "the times'" investigation. many house democrats are calling on mccarthy to block santos from

being seated when the 118th congress is sworn in next month. and in los angeles, harvey weinstein has been convicted on additional three charges of rape and sexual assault. the convictions were related to one survivor, an italian model identified only as jane doe #1 who testified weinstein raped her in a hotel room in 2013. the jury acquitted weinstein of one charge and were deadlocked on three charges involving two other survivors -- jennifer siebel newsom, the first partner of california governor gavin newsom, and lauren young. the district attorney's office will determine whether it'll retry weinstein on those counts. this is gloria allred speaking about her client lauren young after the verdict was announced monday. >> she is very happy there were convictions in this case and she also indicates that if, when the

prosecution decides to prosecute mr. weinstein again, she is willing to testify again in a third criminal trial against mr. weinstein. amy: harvey weinstein is already serving a 23 year prison sentence for right and criminal sexual assault in new york, though he is appealing those convictions. and those are some of the headlines. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. when we come back from break, the house january 6 committee has unanimously voted to refer president donald trump to the justice department to face criminal charges, including aiding an insurrection for his attempt to overturn the 2020 election. stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: "happy phantom" by tori amos. this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. the house select committee to investigate the january 6 attack

on the u.s. capitol voted unanimously to refer donald monday trump to the justice department for potential prosecution for attempting to overturn the 2020 election. this marks the first time in u.s. history a congressional committee has recommended criminal charges against a former president. the committee advised that trump should face four charges including obstructing an official proceeding, conspiring to defraud the u.s., inciting an aiding an insurrection. the committee has also recommended charges against attorney john eastman, who advised trump on an illegal scheme to overturn the election. in addition, the committee also accused four republican members of the house, including house minority leader kevin mccarthy of violating congressional ethics rules by defined subpoenas from the house committee. the other three republicans are

scott perry, jim jordan, and andy biggs. the january 6 committee is expected to release its final report wednesday. the committee also plans to release additional transcripts and documents from its 18 month investigation. during his opening statement, the chair of the january 6 committee congressman bennie thompson said trump need to be held accountable. >> this committee is ending this nearing the end of its work. are in uncharted waters. we have never had a resident of the united states stir up violent attempt to block the transfer of power. i believe nearly two years later , this is still a time of reflection and reckoning. if we are to survive as a nation of laws and democracy, this can never happen again.

how do we stop it? this committee will lay out a number of recommendations in its final report, but beyond any specific details and recommendations we present, there is one factor i believe is most important at preventing another january 6 -- accountability. so today, beyond our findings, we will also show that evidence we have gathered points to further action beyond the power of this committee or the congress to help ensure accountability of the law. accountability that can only be found in the criminal justice system. amy: republican congress number liz cheney, the vice chair of the january 6 committee, voted with fellow republican committee member adam kinzinger to refer him to justice department for potential prosecution. she condemned trump's actions january 6. >> no man who would behave that

way at that moment in time can ever serve in any position of 40 in our nation again. he is unfit for any office. amy: later, the program, we will be joined to guess to talk about the committee's referral, the first, excerpts from the hearing. their final hearing. this is demrat zoe lofgren of california. >> x president trump was told repeatedly by his campaign advisers, government officials, and others there was no evidence to support his claims of election fraud. even since our last hearing, the select committee has obtained testimony from new witnesses who have come forward to tell us about the conversations with ex- president trump on this topic. here is one of his senior

advisers. >> the only thing that matters is winning. >> the cha recognizes the geleman from illinois, mr. kinzinger, for opening statement. >> certainly one of the many important components of our federal government, the department of justice, the body

that is responsible for enforcing our laws and investigating criminal wrongdoing. for this reason, it is of the utmost importance that our department of justice operates as a fair and neutral body that enforces our federal laws without fear or without favor. it is this critical function that president trump sought to corrupt. he sought to use the department of justice to investigate and prosecute purported election fraud and to help him convince the public that the election was stolen. the select committee has made the following findings with respect to the department of justice. in the weeks of neatly following the 2020 election, attorney general bill barr advised president trump the department of justice had not seen any evidence to suppt trump's theory the ection was stolen by fraud. no evidence.

over the course of the three meetings and this postelection period, attorney general barr assured president trump the justice department was properly investigating claims of election fraud. he debunked numerous election fraud claims. many of which the president would then go on to repeat publicly. he made clear president trump was doing "a great, great disservice to the country are pursuing that." after attorney general barr's resignation, president trump requested the acting leaderip of the department, jeffrey rosen and chard donogh, "just say the election was corrupt and leave the rest to me and republican congressman." in other words, just tell a small like to put the façade of legitimacy on this lie and the republican congressmen and i can distort and destroy and create doubt all ourselves. between december 23 and january

3, president trump called or met with him nearly evy day. he was told repeatedly the depament investigation showed no factual support for trump's fraud allegation. mr. rosen and mr. donohue told him the fraud claims were simply untrue. mr. rosen and mr. donahue continue to resist, president trump then tried to install a loyalist named jeffrey clark to lead the department as acting. on severalccasions, clark met withhe president come apparently come along with representatives scott perry, without authorization, promising to take the actions that barred rosen and donahue had refused to take. in particular, mr. clark intended to send a letter that he had drafted with the help of a political appointee the the white house installed a doj with just weeks left in the administration. mr. clark intended to send the letter to officials in numerous

states, informing them falsely of coursthat the department had identified significant concerns about the election results in their state and encouraging their state legislatures to come in the special session to consider appointing trump rather than biden electors. this is donahue describing his reaction to the proposed letter. >> drafting letters without the knowledge of what the department had actually done terms of investigation, that he was being reckless. i recall toward the end saying what you're proposing is nothing less than the justice department meddling in the outcome of the presidential election. >> knowing the leadership would not support his false election claims, president trump offered mr. clark the job of acting attorney general in a dramatic genworth or meeting at the oval office, rosen, donahue, white

house counsel pat cipollone, white house lawyer eric herschmann, strongly objected to the appointment of jeffrey clark as acting attorney general. mr. clark pleaded his case and ofred to send a letter he had drafted, what house consul called the clark letter "a murder-suicide pact. numerous white house in department of justice lawrs all threatened to resign if mr. clk was appointed. donald trump would be leading a graveyard. it was only after the threat of mass resignations that president trump rescinded his offer to mr. clark. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from california mr. aguilar on opening statement. >> john eastman admitted in advance of the 2020 election that mike pence could not lawfully refuse to count official electoral votes. but he nevertheless devised a meritless proposal that deployed a combination of bogus election fraud claims and vague electoral ballots to say mike pence

presiding over the joint session could reject legitimate electoral votes for president-elect biden. but still president trump accepted and repeated this theory and used it to pressure vice president to take unlawful action. in multiple heated elections, mr. trump pressured vice president pence to adopt the easement theory and either reject the electors or send them back to the state legislatures. the vice president consistently resisted and repeatedly told the president that he did not possess the authority to do what president trump directed. this culminated in an angry phone call on the morning of january 6 between president trump and vice president pence during which the former president repeatedly rated mr. pence by cursing and leveling threats. the white house staffer nick nuno was one of the many witnesses who heard the call as

it happened. take a listen at his testimony. >> did you hear any part of the phone call, even if it was just the end the president was speaking from? >> yes. >> what did you hear? >> i remember hearing the word went. he called him a web. when is the word i remember. -- wimp is the word i remember. >> in the face of the vice president's resistance, the former president and others exerted both private and public pressure to change his mind. in his speech on the ellipse on the afternoon of january 6, former president trump told the crowd that vice president pence needed the courage to do what he has to do. once the riot began, president

trump deliberately chose to issue an tweet attacking mr. pence, knowing the crowd had already grown violent. almost immediate leave thereafter, the crowd around the capitol surged and between 2:30 and 2:35 p.m., the metropolitan police lines on the west front of the capitol broke. this was the first time in mpd history that a line like this have broken. rioters at the capitol were changing "hang mike pence" to the afternoon. as a result of this unrest, vice president pence was forced to flee to a secure location where he actively coordinated with law enforcement and other governmental officials to address the ongoing violence. >> the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from florida for an opening statement. >> the department of justice mike pence, and many others stood up for the rule of law and resisted the president's wishes. in that way, our american

institution held after the 2020 election, but that did not stop president trump. instead, he turned to supporters, those who believed his lies about a stolen election. he summoned a crowd to the nation's capitol on january 6, hoping they would pressure congress to do what he could not don his own. the select committee has made the foowing findings on this issue. two years ago today in the early morning hours of december 19, donald trump sent a tweet urgg his supporters to travel to washington for a protest on january 6. "be there. will be wild" he tweet a poster between december 19 and january 6, the president heatedly occurred supporters to come to washington. the president's december 19 tweet galvanized domestic extremists, including members of the oath keepers, the proud boys, andrganized militia groups. these individuals began

organizing to come to the capitol in large numbers with the specific intent to use violence to disrupt certification of the election during the joint session. prior to january 6, the fbi, secret service, u.s. capitol police, d.c. government, and other law enforcement agencies gathered substantial evidence suggesting the risk of violence at the capitol during the joint session. prior to -- these inuded rnings like the following. their plan is to literally kill people. plea, please take this tip seriously and investigate further. president trump supporters had proposed a movement to occupy capitol help. alert regarding the vp being a dead man walking if he does not do the right thing. i saw several other alerts saying they will storm the capitol if he does not do the right thing. in the days leading up to the january 6, president trump's advisers explicitly told him that he should encourage his

supporters to be peaceful that dave but he refused. one witness, hope hicks provided the committee with her text messages. i know when exchange wit another staffer, he texted, hey, i know you're saying this, that he, referring to president trump, should tweet something about being nonviolent. i am not there, hicks replied. i suggested it several times monday and tuesday and he refused. when ms. hicks came in to provide testimony for the committee, we asked her about this exchange. her explanation is that key in this -- "he" was eric herschmann. take a listen.

>> the chair recognizes the gentlewoman from virginia for an opening statement. >> use of the threat about president trump's dereliction of duty. from the outset of the violence and for several hours that followed, people at the capitol,

people inside president trump's admistration, elected officials of both parties, members of president's own family, and even fox news commentators were sympattic to presidentrump, try to contact the white house to urge him to do one singular thing, that one thing that all of these people immediately understood was required, instruct his supporters to leave the capitol. the president repeatedly refused as he watched the violence at the capitol on television. during the day the president never spoke with national guard, the department of defense, the department of justice, or any law enforcement agency. at no point during the day or any other did he issue any order to deploy any law enforcement agency to assist stop multiple witnesses, including president trump's white house counsel, testified to these facts. white house employees speaking directly with president trump state he did not want anything

done. the president was making phone calls that afternoon but they were not to law enforcement officials. president trump continued to call his lawyer rudy giuliani post but president and mr. giuliani spoke with congressional leaders. even afterhe violence had begun, to encourage them to continue delaying the sessi. approximately three hours after ing informed of the violence at the capitol, hours during which as our evidence has shown, donald trump sat in his dining room and watched the violence on television, the president released a video statement in which he again repeated the election was stolen, told his supporters at the capitol tha he loved them and ultimately suggesd they dispersed. the statementad anmmediate impact on elements of the crowd. many of whom who have testified that it led them to depart the capitol. at 6:01 p.m., president trump

sent his last tweet of the day. he did not condemn the violence. instead, he attempted to justify it. these are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory so unceremoniously viciously stripped away, he wrote post of remember this day forever. there is no doubt president trump thought the actions of the rioters wereustified. in the ds after january 6, he spoke to several different advisors. in those conversations, he minimized the seriousness of the attack. here's the testimony from another one of president trump's senior advisers kellyanne conway. >> you said you talked to the president and the next day. tell us about that conversation. >> i don't think it was very long. i just said it was a terrible day. i s working on a statement. >> what did he say? >> know, people are upset.

very upset. >> in the days following the attack, president also expressed a desire to pardon those involved in the attack. since then, he suggested he will do so if he returns to the oval office. >> the chair recognizes the gentleman from maryland, mr. raskin, for opening statement. >> the first committal statute we invoke for referral, therefore, title 18 section 1512c which makes it unlawful for anyone to corruptly obstruct , influence, or impede any official proceedingsf the united states government we believe the evidence described by my colleagues today and assembled throughout our hearings warrants a criminal referral of former presint donald j.rump, john eastman, and others for violations of this statute. the whole purpose and obvious

effectf trump's scheme were to obstruct, influence, and impede thisfficial proceeding, the central moment with a lawful transfer of power in the united states. cond, we believe there is more than sufficient evidence to refer former president donald j. trump, john eastman, and others for violating title 18 section 371. this statute makes it a crime to conspire to defraud the unid states. in other words, to make an agreement to impair, obstruct, or defeat the lawfulunctions of the unid statesovernment by deceitful or dishonest mns. former president trump did not engage in a plan to defraud the united states acting alone. he entered into agreements, formal and informal, wh several otr individuals who

assisted him with his criminal objectives. our report describes in detail the actions of numerous co-conspirators who agreed with and participated in trump's plan to impair, obstruct, and defeat the certification of president biden's electoral victory. that said, the subcommittee does not atmpt to determine all of the potential participants in this conspiracy as our understanding of the role of many individuals may be incomple even today because they refuse to answer our questions. we tsted affirmative justice will be able to form a far more complete picture through its own investigation. third, we make a referral based on title 18 section 1001, which makes it unlawful to knowingly and willfully make material false statements to the federal government. the evidence clearly suggests

that president trump with others to submit a fake electors to congress and the national archives. we believe this evidence we set forth in our report is more than sufficient for a criminal referral a former president donald j. trump and others in connection with this offense. we don't try to determine all of the participants in this conspiracy, many of whom refuse to ansr our questions while under oath. we trust the department of justice will be able to form a more complete picture through its own investigation. the fourth and final statute we invoke for referral is title 18 section 2383. the statute applies to anyone who incites, cysts, or engages in insurrection against the united states of america and anyone who gives aid or comfort to an insurrection. an insurrection is a rebellion against the authority of the

united states. it is a grave federal offense, anchored in the constution itself which repeatedly opposes insurrection's and domestic violence, indeed,'s's in insurrection by officeholders as automatic grounds for disqualification from ever holding public office again at the federal or state level. anyone who incites others to engage in prevailing, assists them in doing so, or gives aid and comfort to those engaged in insurrection, guiltof a deral cre. the committeeelieves that more than sufficient evidence exists for criminal referral of former president trump for assisting or aiding and comforting those at the capitol who engaged in a violent attack on the united states. the committee has developed significant evidence that president trump intended to disrupt the peaceful transfer --

transition of power under our constitution. the president has an affirmative and primary constitutional duty to act to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. thing could be a greater betrayal of this duty then to asst in insurrection against the constitutional order. the complete factual basis or this referral as set forth in detail throughout our report. these are not the only statute that are potentially relevant to president trump's conduct related to the 2020 election. depending on evidence developed by the department of justice, the president's actions certainly could trigger other criminal violations. nor are president trump and his immediate team only people identified for referrals in our report as part of our investation, we asked multiple members of congress to speak with us about issues critical to our understanding of this attack on the 2020 election and our

system of constitutional democracy. none agreed to provide that essential information. as a result, we took the significant step of issuing them subpoenas based on the volume of information particular members possessed about one or more parts of president trump's plan to overturn the election. none of the subpoenaed members complied. we are now referring four members of congress for appropriate sanction by the house ethics committee for failure to comply with lawful subpoenas. mr. chairman, we understand the gravity of each and every referral we are making today, just as we understand the magnitude of the crime against democracy that we descrid in our report. but we haveone where the facts in the long lead us, and inescapably, they lead us here. >> i now recognize the gentlewoman from virginia for a motion. >> mr. chairman, i noticed the

committee favorably report to the house the select committee's final repor which includes the committee's legislative recommendation and criminal referral of donald j. ump and others, for such a section 4a of house resolution 503. >> the question is on the motion to favorably report to the house those in favor say aye. >> aye. those opposes, no. the ayes have it. amy: that was the january 6 select committee voting unanimously. when we come back, robert weissman come head of public citizen, and nyu historian ruth ben-ghiat, the author of "strongmen: mussolini to the present." stay with us. ♪♪ [music break]

amy: this is democracy now!, democracynow.org, the war and peace report. i'm amy goodman. with continued look at the january 6 house committee vote to refer trump for criminal

charges for attending to overturn the 2020 election. during its final hearing monday, the committee aired what could be called an insurrection mixed tape of excerpts from previous hearings that includes footage of the attack on the capitol, mainly republican voices, trump lawyers come assistance, and family members. this excerpt begins with lice officer caroline edwards. >> there were officers on the ground. they were bleeding. they were throwing up. i saw friends with blood all over their faces. i was slipping in people's blood. >> as i was swarmed by violent mob, they ripped off my badge. they grabbed and stripped to be a member radio. they seized a munition that was secured to my body. they began to beat me with their fists and with what felt like hard metal objects.

>> right out-of-the-box on election night, the president claimed there was major fraud underway. this happens compass five as i can tell, both -- this happens, as far as i can tell, before there was any evidence. >> generally discussed on that topic was whether the fraud, abuse, or irregularity, if aggregated -- with that be outcome-determinant. i think everyone in the room, at least amongst the staff, was that not position to be outcome-determinative.

>> i told him i do believe, yes, once those legal processes were run, if fraud had not been established -- the outcome >> what were the chances of president trump winning the election? >> after that point? >> yes. >> none. >> what are we going to do here, folks? i only need 11,000 votes. i need 11,000 votes, give me a break. >> the numbers are the numbers and the numbers don't lie. we have investigated every single allegation. hosted one make a comment that they did not have evidence but they had a lot of theories? >> that was -- john >> what did he say? cooksey said we have lots of theories, we just don't have the evidence. >> you're asking me to do something that has never been done in the history of the

united states and i'm going to put my state through that without sufficient proof? amy: part of a 10 minute insurrection mixed tape that the house select committee on the attack on the capitol played at the beginning of their final hearing on monday. we're are joined now by two guests. ruth ben-ghiat, author of "strongmen: mussolini to the present" and also publishes lucid, a newsletter on threats to democracy. joining us from washington, d.c., robert weissman, president of public citizen. before we go to the technical aspects of what this means for the committee to refer criminal charges, first time ever come against a former president, professor ruth ben-ghiat, i want to talk about the significance of that moment and what this means for today. what you took from what happened

yesterday, before wednesday, they release the report. but yesterday, the referral of criminal charges against a president? >> first of all, i felt profoundly grateful that we still live in a democracy where this investigation and this committee could even exist. and the second that i felt how important it is to assert accountability, to assert the rule of law, and to say that no one is above the law because trump, like other authoritarians, said lot of effort creating personality -- devoted s of followers who think he is untouchable and also admire him because he transgresses. authoritarianism is getting away with it.

this criminal referral says no, you are more like everyone else and you can be held accountable. amy: robert weissman, head of public citizen, if you can talk about these four criminal charges -- obstruction of an official proceeding, conspiracy to defraud the united states, falls statement to the federal government, and inciting or assisting in insurrection step these are the criminal charges that the house select committee is referring to the justice department. >> i think what is important about them is they do to things. one, for those who are watching january 6 and a real time, it sort of seemed as a rally that sort of spun out of control. what the january 6 committee has shown beyond any doubt, now referenced in the referral to

the justice department, the insurrection was planned and intentional. in fact, we have reason to believe trump hoped to be at the capitol leading the physical insurrection. so it was not an accident or spur of the moment thing, it was part of an overall scheme. that is the first one. the second thing the committee has shown, again, reflected in the referral come is the insurrection itself was part of a broader scheme to overthrow the election. in real time, i think a lot of us saying what happened after the election november 2020. this was child's play and trump working out his own psychodrama, there was fraud and a lie when -- there never had been. what we now know is there was any actual orchestrated, significant scheme that could have succeeded to overthrow the election. the four charges together

reflect both those things, the intentionality behind the insurrection and the multifaceted overall scheme that trump led, masterminded, orchestrated come and nearly succeeded in carrying out. amy: talk about technically what this means, this house select committee is referring criminal charges to the justice department. the justice department is investigating separately. they don't need this to indict the president, so what does it mean? >> that's right. the justice department is going to make its own determination. they are free to ignore if they choose what the house committee has now referred to them. but i think they are not going to ignore it. are one thing, the committee has generated a lot of evidence that will now be made available to the justice department and that should inform the decision the justice department takes. i think what is when to be really important for the reasons chairman thompson laid out in the beginning and as ruth said, the justice department proceed

with prosecution. they're going to be a lot of reforms proposed. the house republicans are not likely to move forward with them. one significant reform will be achieved and legislation in the next couple of days to do with the mechanism of counting electoral votes. but at the end of the day, the most important thing to prevent this kind of crew from ever taking place again is accountability with the people at the top. most importantly for the single person who masterminded it, donald trump. was it a justice department proceeds with it, that is been kicked over, at least in the first instan, away from the actual leadership of the justice department to a special prosecutor jack smith. hopefully, he will make the decision soon to proceed with the investigation and have the attorney general merrick garland agree that should take place. the longer they wait, the harder it will be politically to proceed with the prosecution. amy: jack smith is an interesting guy. he served as head of the public

integrity unit in 2010. he served in the hague prosecuting war crimes. he was also involved in new york city in the prosecution of a group of new york city police officers involved in the 1997 attack on the haitian immigrant who was raped, sodomized, and attacked by new york city police. can you talk about jack smith and more significantly also what that history means from police corruption and violence to the hague? >> sent -- the activities [indiscernible] summary like trump who has such a broad range of criminality. there is no one else in america

who is criminal in so many ways trump. the fact jack smith has prosecuted a sitting politician, died corruption cases because of course he heard that one of the charges is that trump was ting to defudhe was govnment anfraud is what he does, right? let's remember when trump ran for office in 2016, he was under investigation for fraud. of course the prosecuting in the hague is extremely important because this has never happened before, but donald trump is somebody who is different than any president we he had -- republican or democrat -- because he is an autocratic individual. the people he admires our autocrats. he has no regard for human life whatsoever. so he would commit war crimes if he could. we heard from john kelly and peter baker that he wanted -- he

was disappointed that his generals were not acting like hitler's generals. jack smith seems to be the perfect person that we have been sent at this moment in time. amy: professor, it is not only president trumpho has got these criminal charges referred against him, also his lawyer john eastman. can you talk about the significance of this? >> yeah, there's a little sub seen in authoritarian history as the lawyers of authoritarians, and many of them go to jail. but it is very important -- they chose not to investigate the role of institutions. fbi, dilution of duty. it is important to have broadened the scope because this

was not just a violent insurrection, but in a elite -- elites are important at pulling off coups and eastman was one of the minds of the coup and connected to the tremont institute. when you look back in history, need this kind of buy-in on the elite to haveeep areas and come up with plans that then get plummeted by the chief instigator. pleased to see the name eastman. amy: weissman, also referring to the ethics committee, those congressmembers, this bipartisan committees colleagues, who refuse to participate in what so many others -- republican advisors, lawyers, even family members -- did in terms of cooperating with the committee. and this includes the man who is running to be house speaker kevin mccarthy. >> kevin mccarthy is

fascinating. i think the information that mccarthy did not want to share is that he actually was very upset, felt personally, physically threatened the date of january 6 to attempt insurrection and called the president, called the chief of staff and made that clear. he did not to be on the record because he knew what that might mean for his efforts now to become speaker of the house. the other three, especially two of them, seem to be pretty actively involved in carrying out the conspiracy. that is information we don't quite know. exactly what their individual roles were. we may learn quite a bit more to final report coming up from the committee tomorrow. amy: and we will talk more about that in the coming days on democracy now! finally, ruth ben-ghiat, again, president trump has not been charged. the house will now switch to the

republican-led, but the justice department does not change. can you explain what happens next? >> i am not a legal expert, but one thing that came out yesterday that was so important for democracy prevention is the only reason that jeffrey clark was not appointed -- and this is what autocrats do, they put loyalists in there, was there was mass resignations threatened by doj employees. in this distortion of professional ethics is itself a form of democracy-prevention. so civil service -- some people think, oh, it is boring service. but it is essential because these are the people whose individual's actions add up to, in this case, added up to a block on an autocratic news. the culture of the doj is very important and so we will see

what they do. amy: ruth ben-ghiat, thank you for been with us, pestering, professor of history at new york university. of "strongmen: mussolini to the authorof "strongmen: mussolini to the present." robert weissman, president of public citizen. [captioning made possible by