do you believe, jared, that the president has an obligation to ensure at peaceful transfer of power? >> umm, yes. >> and do you think the president has an obligation to defend all three branches of our government? >> uh, i believe so. >> and i assume you also would agree the president has a particular obligation to take care that the laws be faithfully executed? >> that is one of the president's obligations, correct. >> i asked what his duty is.

>> well, i mean, there's constitutional duty. what he has, he's the commander in chief. that was my biggest issue with him, as national security adviser. >> white house advisers to former president trump understood the constitutional oath of the presidency. trump apparently did not. >> mika, as we have gone through the testimonies, as we've talked through this the past several hours, one thing really does keep sticking out to me, and that is the testimony of cipollone, where he was asked who else in the white house agreed with the president that the riot should continue. who in the white house did not want him to stop the riots, did not want him to speak out and tell them to stop. he said nobody. >> nobody. >> he said nobody. nobody inside the white house

wanted the riots to continue. let me put it a different way. everybody in the white house wanted the president to act affirmatively to stop the riots. they told him that. he refused. his family members, his children, told him that he needed to affirmatively act to stop the riots. he refused. fox news hosts who defended him day and night and day and night over four years said they wanted him to stop the riots. he refused. they would all say, don jr. said, you have to do something, you have to do more. ingraham, hannity, all of these people who had been his most loyal supporters said, you have to do more. inside the white house. >> not more. something. >> to do something to stop the riots. and he refused to do it, time and time again.

so he was alone. he was alone inside the white house. he was alone in his family. he was alone even with his most faithful supporters at fox news. he was by himself, isolated. a man who understood who was going on, understood that the united states government was under attack. this was a fascist attack against the united states government. >> and he alone could have put an end to it, full stop, more than anyone else on earth. >> and he alone did not know what his responsibility was or, because he's not a child, he did know and he refused to follow the oath of the presidency. >> jonathan lemire and elise jordan are still with us for the fourth hour of "morning joe." we're going to dive right into the new revelations exposed last night at the public hearing by the january 6th house select committee held in prime time.

the panel carefully went through what former president donald trump did and did not do as violent rioters furiously stormed the capitol. committee members shared several damning new details, including trump's own children begging him to stop the insurrection. secret service officers protecting then vice president mike pence preparing to say goodbye to their families and used lethal options to clear a path to safety. and as the violent and deadly riot raged around trump, he sat cloistered in a private dining room in the white house next to the oval office, watching fox news. he did not call for help. instead, he called up republican senators in an effort to delay the electoral count. he continued with his attempts to steal an election he lost.

the committee highlighted how former president trump did not try to calm down or stop his supporters who weren't listening to him. >> by the way, didn't try to calm down the supporters that he had whipped into a frenzy with his speech, with his tweet when he found out that he couldn't do anything legally, when he said "come on the 6th, it will be wild," or when he said in the presidential debate that the proud boys should stand by. >> with congresswoman elaine luria pointing to this trump tweet from 2:24 p.m. that day, at the exact moment of riot was getting out of hand, trump said then-vice president mike pence, quote, didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country. he's saying he should have stolen the election. trump's former deputy press secretary sarah matthews, one of the live witnesses last night,

pointed out just how damaging this was. >> i'm someone who has worked with him, you know, i worked on the campaign, traveled all around the country, going to countless rallies with him, and i've seen the impact that his words have on his supporters. they truly latch onto every word and every tweet that he says. and so i think that in that moment, for him to tweet out the message about mike pence, it was him pouring gasoline on the fire and making it much worse. >> that's a terrible tweet and i disagreed with the sentiment. i thought it was wrong. >> what was your reaction when you saw that tweet? >> extremely unhelpful. >> why? >> umm, it wasn't the message that we needed at that time.

it wasn't going to, umm -- the -- the scenes at the u.s. capitol were only getting worse at that point. this was not going to help that. >> you were concerned it would get worse? >> certainly. >> ms. hutchinson, what was your reaction when you saw this tweet? >> as a staffer that works to always represent the administration to the best of my ability and to showcase the good things that he has done for the country, i remember feeling frustrated, disappointed, and really, it felt personal. it was really sad. as an american, i was disgusted. it was unpatriotic. it was un-american. we were watching the capitol

building get defaced over a lie. >> here is the audio the committee played of secret service agents scrambling to lead then vice president mike pence to safety as the mob close income on january 6th. take a listen. >> as rioters were entering the building, the secret service held vice president pence in his office right off the senate chamber for 13 minutes as they worked to clear a safe path to a secure location. now listen to some of that radio traffic and see what they were seeing as the protesters got just feet away from where the vice president was holding. >> hold, they've entered the building. hold. >> harden the door up. >> if we're moving, we need to move now. >> copy. >> if we lose any more time, we may lose the ability to -- to leave. so if we're going to leave, we

need to do it now. >> they've gained access to the second floor and i've got public about five feet from me down here below. >> okay, copy. they are not second floor moving in now. we may want to consider getting out and leaving now, copy? >> will we encounter any people if we make our way? >> there are six officers and the people are five to ten feet away from me. >> i'm going down to evaluate. >> go ahead. >> we have a clear path if we move quickly. >> we have smoke downstairs, unknown smoke downstairs. >> by the protesters? >> is that route compromised? >> [ bleep ] insecure. however, we will bypass some protesters that are being contained. there is smoke. unknown what kind of smoke it is. copy? >> clear, we're coming out now,

all right, make a way. >> 14 minutes after the former president's tweet on his vice president, trump sent another, telling the mob to, quote, please support our capitol police and law enforcement. they are truly on the side of our country. stay peaceful. it was a tweet that former deputy white house press secretary sarah matthews explained took convincing. >> after president trump's tweet about vice president pence, you told us you spoke to -- immediately you spoke to kayleigh mcineny. >> after the tweet about the vice president, i found kayleigh and told her i thought the president needed to send out a tweet condemning the violence and a call to action to tell these people to leave the capitol and she agreed and walked over to the oval dining

room to find the president. >> we interviewed ms. mcineney and others about them urging the president to put out a statement. she came right back to the press office after meeting with the president about this particular tweet. what did she tell you about what happened in that dining room? >> when she got back, she told me a tweet had been sent out and i told her that i thought the tweet did not go far enough, i thought there needed to be a call to action and he needed to condemn the violence. and we were in a room full of people, but people weren't paying attention, and so she looked directly at me and in a hushed tone, shared with me that the president did not want to include any sort of mention of peace in that tweet and that it took some convincing on their part, those who were in the room, and she said there was a back and forth going over different phrases to find something that he was comfortable with, and it wasn't

until ivanka trump suggested the phrase "stay peaceful" that he finally agreed to include it. >> joining us now, former u.s. attorney and msnbc legal analyst joyce vance and former spokesperson for the house oversight committee, kurt bardella. he is an adviser to the dnc and the dccc. joyce, i'm just going to start with the key question most people are asking, how could any of this not be criminally investigated and found to be criminal, dereliction of duty or intent to committee a crime? >> if it wasn't already clear and i think it abundantly was, after last night the ball is squarely in doj's court to move forward. and the first thing that needs to happen, and we heard this a lot last night, is the former white house counsel, cipollone,

repeatedly invoked privilege to avoid testifying about conversations he had with president trump. those conversations are the key. they're essential to understanding what trump knew, what he appreciated, what his intentions were. so he needs to be put in front of a grand jury and compelled to testify, if he won't do it voluntarily. there are certainly legitimate privilege issues that he can assert that can be litigated by a court. but the bottom line is neither attorney/client privilege nor executive privilege can outrun this notion that these conversations involved criminal activity by the president. cipollone's testimony is the key. >> i think cipollone obviously, we've seen him all along saying, if you want me to testify, give me a subpoena and i'll come testify. he went as of up to the line as he thought he could go last night. i think you're right, if he's compelled by a grand jury, there's nothing in his testimony that suggests he doesn't want to

do what he thinks he needs to do. what i was fascinated by, though, joyce, was something that cipollone was asked -- i'll be able to say his name by the time he's in front of a grand jury -- that was, is there anybody else inside the white house that did not want donald trump to do something affirmatively to stop the mob, to stop the attack? we've heard all of trump's lawyers, all of trump's staff, all of trump's family members, all of trump's allies on fox news, all saying the same thing in those three hours. mr. president, we have to do more. don jr. saying, we have to do more. ivanka telling him, we have to do more. hannity saying, we have to do more. ingraham saying, we have to do more. all of them saying you're destroying everything that you

have built or that they thought that they had built. and what's so remarkable, and i'm curious what the legal consequences of this would be, joyce, i guess my main takeaway from last night, and really over the course of all of these hearings, is how donald trump stood alone inside of the oval office. he was the only sociopath that was energized in the white house, in the white house staff, that was energized by mob members beating the hell out of cops within inches of their lives and trying to overthrow the u.s. government. what are the legal consequences of the fact that everybody was advising him to stop, his legal staff was advising him to stop, his family, his political allies, his media friends, all saying the same exact thing? >> this is incredibly powerful evidence, when you put it into

the right context. and joe, i know you remember from the first year of law school that most crimes require a defendant engage in some kind of action. usually inaction doesn't ring the bell unless it's sort of an obscure regulatory offense. so what we're looking at in this period of time where everybody in the white house knows that the president needs to do something and he refuses to do it nonetheless, that's not necessarily the crime. what it is is the best evidence of intent that we have to this point. donald trump liked the violence. the violence was furthering his objective of interfering with congress' certification of the vote. and it is no defense that he came out and gave that talk in the rose garden, that brief taped speech about i love you but go home, because we now know from the committee's skillful display of the timeline that trump doesn't go to the rose garden and tell the mob to go home until it's clear that the coup has failed. and that's the singular piece of

evidence. trump alone holds out, loves the violence, is enthralled by the violence, watches it on tv. he is the only one who can end it. he refuses to do that until it's clear that the gig is up. >> jonathan lemire, your reaction to everything you saw last night, and a question for kurt bardella after. >> yeah, joe, it was such compelling testimony last night including some things we didn't know before. i was really struck by the secret service agents assigned to protect mike pence at the u.s. capitol, who we knew that pence had a close call with the rioters, we knew they had gotten within a couple of dozen feet of him. we did not know that the secret service agents with him were so worried that they were calling back to their colleagues offsite and asking them to pass on loved ones -- messages to their loved ones who they were afraid they would never see again. just one of the remarkable moments that so exhibit donald trump's callousness. he was aware his vice president

was in danger. he did nothing about it. kurt bardella, the committee has deemed that last night was the end of season 1, if you will, but we know now we'll hear from them at least one or two times in september or even beyond. give us your assessment of last night but also, what story do they still need to tell, what advice would you give to them for those final hearings? >> last night, jonathan, what stood out to me in totality, we've seen this throughout the hearings, the cowardice that's been demonstrated by republicans right after that moment. i mean, that very night, 147 of them went back into that chamber and voted against certifying the election. they went back and tried to achieve the means of these violent domestic terrorist extremists. all the things we heard, mccarthy, republicans huddling, their real terror, their real fear, they would go back on that and reverse course days, weeks

later. you know, it's shocking to me to see that 180 that's been done by the republican party after those fearful moments. the president of the united states put a hit out on his vice president. what type of political party stands by a guy like that after something like that happens? you know, and going forward, i think that one of the things that's been key, and the committee talked about this after the very first hearing, was that they expected, after putting on this presentation, that the floodgates would open, that more people would come forward and want to unburden themselves of the knowledge that they have and give the testimony testimony. and that's exactly what's happened ever since. there's a lot more information that the committee has gotten that we haven't had the chance to get into from a hearing standpoint. at the end of the last hearing they talked about the witness tampering even during this entire process. that's something they'll talk about in the fall.

the committee has found the right formula, they've found the right presentation. kevin mccarthy's strategic blunder of not seating members of his choosing has allowed the committee to tell the story in unobstructed way, without the nonsense, without the obstructions, without the conspiracy theories that republicans like to inject. they have a clear shot at clearly and definitively telling the story and they'll continue advancing that story into the fall. i'll remind you, back in the benghazi republican days, they did not hesitate to hold hearings well into the fall of election time, having former secretary of state hillary clinton testify for more than 11 hours. there's a lot of things this committee can keep doing, and they're getting a lot of information. >> joyce, elise jordan here. i'm one of those americans who lives in fear of getting a speeding ticket. i feel like most americans are like that. so watching donald trump just flagrantly flout the law in plain sight, and seemingly with

no repercussions, and we don't even know, av all of this evidence has been, you know, out in front of the american public, if there will actually be consequences for donald trump and his flouting the rule of law. what do you hope that the department of justice is doing? >> well, elise, i think you identify the tension that we all live with. we've all seen donald trump skate under the radar screen of the criminal justice scene, not just here but repeatedly over the course of his personal and his professional life. and that really diminishes our confidence in the rule of law. and the reality is that the rule of law, there are not armies that go out and enforce it. we only are a rule of law country because americans have confidence that our system works and that no man is above the law. so, you know, not to put too fine of a point on it but this is that moment. and on merrick garland's

shoulders rests this slender thread of whether the rule of law survives. that's very difficult, because he faces challenges. and i know folks get tired of hearing prosecutors say, and i will confess to being a little tired myself, that there are technical legal issues here that doj has to resolve before they engage in prosecution. but ultimately liz cheney said something last night that resonates, and i hope it resonates at doj. i guess if you're asking what i hope for, this is it. she said that if we abandon the truth, we can't survive as a country. doj needs to take that to heart. if we abandon the rule of law, we cannot survive as a country. >> all right. former u.s. attorney joyce vance. >> happy birthday. >> by the way, happy birthday. >> thank you. >> thank you so much for is sharing this special day with us. and joyce mentioned donald trump's twitter message to rioters that finally came, late into the insurrection. we'll show you, coming up, never

before seen looks behind those scenes and behind the video they played last night. and later, we'll talk to a former press secretary about how easy it would have been for trump to get to the briefing room during the attack to speak to a frightened nation. plus why did the two secret service agents closest to president trump now retain lawyers of their own? we'll be right back. p now retain lawyers of their own we'll be right back.

about two years ago i realized that jade was overweight. i wish i would have introduced the fresh food a lot sooner. after farmer's dog she's a much healthier weight. she's a lot more active. and she's able to join us on our adventures. get started at longlivedogs.com

27 past the hour. last night we saw for the first time what went on behind the scenes when former president trump taped his video message to the rioters. >> president trump finally gave in and went out to the rose garden at 4:03. his staff prepared a script for him to read. but he refused to use it. as you can see on the screen, you can see the script is

stamped "president has seen." the script said, quote, "i am asking you to leave the capitol region now and go home in a peaceful way." the president was urged to stick to the script. but he spoke off-the-cuff. eric herschmann and nick luna went with the president to film the message in the rose garden. let's see what they had to say and see the never-before-seen raw footage of the president recording his video message. >> ultimately these remarks that we're looking at here in exhibit 25 were not the remarks that the president delivered in the rose garden. do you know why the president decided not to ice these? use these? >> i don't know, sir. i do not know why. >> did the president use any written remarks, to your knowledge? or did he just go off-the-cuff? >> to my knowledge, it was off-the-cuff, sir. >> when you're ready, sir.

>> you tell me when. >> when you're ready, sir. >> who's behind me? >> he's gone. he's gone around. we're all clear now. >> i know your pain. i know your hurt. we had an election -- i know your pain. i know your hurt. we had an election that was stolen from us. it was a landslide election and everyone knows it, especially the other side. but you have to go home now. we have to have peace. we have to have law and order. we have to respect our great people in law and order. we don't want anybody hurt.

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

>> when you say day over, there were still people in the capitol at that point, weren't there? >> there were people in the capitol but i believe at this stage, law enforcement -- i would have to go back and look but i believe law enforcement was either there or moving in or going to take charge. i'd just say people were emotionally drained by the time that videotape was done. >> it was still pretty much under way. jonathan lemire, i mean, i can understand the drama in the white house with herschmann and these guys trying to hold the line. but when that was being recorded, there was still a lot going on at the capitol. >> let's be clear, there were hundreds of rioters in the capitol at that moment. it would be hours still before congress was able to resume the certification process. so yes, perhaps the tide had turned, but it certainly wasn't

over. and yes, for those in the building, they probably felt a sense of some accomplishment that they finally got trump to do something but it also encapsulates just what that white house had become after election day. let's remember and flash back to november and december and early january of 2020. the pandemic was raging. and people were dying, thousands of people dying a day. and the president of the united states, instead of showing any sort of leadership on that, disappeared. the white house press corps, we only saw them a handful of times over months because in those meetings with giuliani and powell and flynn and others, trying to scheme his way to stay into power, trying to push to steal the election, to claim that it had been fraudulent taken from him. and then of course on this day itself when we finally did see him for the rally at the ellipse, then he retreated to the white house, not in the oval office, not where aides could easily find him, not under the watchful eye of the white house photographer who was banned from taking pictures, he retreated to

that private dining room where he spent so much of his presidency watching television. that's what he did that day, gleeful, gleeful at the violent images unfolding on the screens before him. >> oy. a department of homeland security watchdog has launched a criminal investigation into the disappearance of those secret service text messages related to the january 6th attack and during it. according to a letter detailed to nbc news, the dhs inspector general informed the secret service of the development on wednesday and ordered the agency to halt all internal investigations on the matter. this comes after the ig revealed to members of congress last week that the secret service was unable to turn over internal text messages from january 5th and 6th of 2021, claiming they had been erased while the agency was replacing electronic devices. this alleged deletion happened even after multiple notices that

secret service employees were required to preserve their communications and despite only informing congress about the missing messages last week. "the washington post" reports the dhs inspector general has known about the deleted texts since february. kurt bardella, it is appalling. i mean, just even secret service -- members of the secret service themselves, knowing what they faced on those days, know well enough to preserve their text messages. >> yeah, i mean, the fact that there were secret service agents who were, you know, ready to talk to their family to say goodbye, who felt very threatened that their lives were in danger, that they would in any way play a role in effectively covering up evidence about that day and what was going on, is a crime against this country, in my opinion, and

certainly against everybody who put themselves in harm's way to try to keep lawmakers and the vice president safe that day. i mean, this is pretty straightforward. when you get a congressional subpoena to preserve and then turn over documents, you adhere to it. it is unthinkable that weeks after that subpoena comes in, that very evidence turns up missing, turns up destroyed, irretrievable, that seems like a very deliberate act. furthermore, it's really chilling to think that secret service agents would participate in an effort to cover up and destroy evidence about something -- these are people we trust to protect our president, to keep our country safe in a very particularly way. if anybody involved in the secret service is in on the effort to try to cover up what happened on january 6th, they are a threat to this country and to this president. >> and kurt, let me ask you this. you certainly know better than most what the republicans did with hillary clinton's emails.

and the absolute show that they put on regarding those emails, constantly. what in the world -- let's just do a little thought experiment here. what in the world would republicans do if barack obama had been investigated, been in the middle of an investigation for crimes against this country, and his secret service members destroyed their text messages and destroyed other evidence so no one could figure out what obama was doing at the time of this alleged crime? >> yeah, i mean, if a domestic terrorist attack was happening at that moment, the president and his closest bodyguards destroyed evidence about that, they would impeach him, joe. they wouldn't blink about initiating impeachment proceedings. and just like we heard the refrain of hillary's emails,

we're already hearing from republicans the refrain about hunter's laptop. listen, the secret service here is engaged in something that could be potentially criminal, that could have massive implications, that warrants the highest degree of scrutiny. it is terrifying that this has happened to people that are, again, entrusted with the protection of the president of the united states. >> kurt bardella, thank you so much, greatly appreciate it as always. coming up next, we're going to have an update on president biden's condition after he tested positive yesterday for covid. n afte through. just like we will. join the fight at alz.org/walk tested positive yesterday for tested positive yesterday for covid. breyers. 100% grade a milk and cream, and loaded with delicious cookie pieces.

better starts with breyers. i know there's conflicting information about dupuytren's contracture. i thought i couldn't get treatment yet? well, people may think that their contracture has to be severe to be treated, but it doesn't. if you can't lay your hand flat on the table, talk to a hand specialist. but what if i don't want surgery? well, then you should find a hand specialist certified to offer nonsurgical treatments. what's the next step? visit findahandspecialist.com today to get started.

seen this ad? it's not paid for by california tribes. it's paid for by the out of state gambling corporations that wrote prop 27. it doesn't tell you 90% of the profits go to the out of state corporations. a tiny share goes

to the homeless, and even less to tribes. and a big loophole says, costs to promote betting reduce money for the tribes, so they get less. hidden agendas. fine print. loopholes. prop 27. they didn't write it for the tribes or the homeless. they wrote it for themselves. thinkorswim® by td ameritrade is more than a trading platform. it's an entire trading experience. with innovation that lets you customize interfaces, charts and orders to your style of trading.

personalized education to expand your perspective. and a dedicated trade desk of expert-level support. that will push you to be even better. and just might change how you trade—forever. because once you experience thinkorswim® by td ameritrade ♪♪♪ there's no going back. now to the latest from the white house. after president biden tested positive for covid, the president's physician now says he's experiencing mild symptoms and continuing to work. but the white house is still trying to contact trace people that have been around him. nbc news chief white house correspondent peter alexander has more on that. >> reporter: president biden this morning isolated inside the white house residence. the president, who is fully vaccinated and double boosted, earlier sharing this video just hours after the white house revealed his diagnosis, saying his symptoms are mild.

>> but i'm doing well, getting a lot of work done. thanks for your concern, and keep the faith. it's going to be okay. >> reporter: the president's physician writing that mr. biden began experiencing a runny nose, fatigue, and an occasional dry cough wednesday evening, and that he's now being treated with the antiviral drug paxlovid. >> given his immunity from vaccines, given that he was started on treatments right away, all of those things very dramatically reduce his risk of serious illness. >> reporter: the vice president and first lady both identified as close contacts, each testing negative yesterday. >> i am going to keep my schedule. i am, according to cdc guidelines, keeping masked. >> reporter: it comes a week after his return from the middle east, in the days since, attending church, meeting ukraine's first lady, and traveling to and from an event in the northeast. still, the white house says it doesn't know when the president was exposed to the virus.

the covid crisis has changed dramatically since 2020 when former trump had to be rushed to walter reed following his bout with the disease a month before the election. at that point no vaccines were available although mr. trump received then-experimental monoclonal antibodies before returning to the white house and publicly ripping off his mask. at 79, president biden is the oldest ever to serve as commander in chief and his white house has taken extraordinary steps to protect him from the virus including requiring those who meet with him to test negative first. >> we all knew there would come a time when by being out there and doing his job as president, that sooner or later, like a lot of other americans, he would get covid. >> that's nbc's peter alexander reporting. up next, it takes less than 60 seconds to go from the oval office dining room to the press briefing room. we'll explain why that was an important fact pointed out in last night's january 6th hearing. and we'll bring in someone who knows that walk quite well.

former obama press secretary robert gibbs joins us after the break. >> we have his theme song going, too. this is big. his uh carl, are there different planning options in here? options? plans we can build on our own, or with help from a financial consultant? like schwab does. too. too. this is big. do you offer a complimentary retirement plan for him? as in free? just like schwab. schwab! look forward to planning with schwab.

so we need something super disctintive. dad's work, meet daughter's playtime. wait 'till you hear this— thankfully, meta portal helps reduce background noise. zero lace model. adjusts to low light. and pans and zooms to keep you in frame. take a look at this.

so the whole team stays on track. okay, let's get you some feedback. i'm impressed. great, loving your work. meta portal. the smart video calling device that makes work from home, work for you. ♪♪ i got into debt in college and, no matter how much i paid, it followed me everywhere. so i consolidated it into a low-rate personal loan from sofi. get a personal loan with no fees, low fixed rates, and borrow up to $100k. sofi. get your money right. when moderate to severe ulcerative colitis persists... put it in check with rinvoq,

a once-daily pill. when uc got unpredictable,... i got rapid symptom relief with rinvoq. check. when uc held me back... i got lasting, steroid-free remission with rinvoq. check. and when uc got the upper hand... rinvoq helped visibly repair the colon lining. check. rapid symptom relief. lasting, steroid-free remission. and a chance to visibly repair the colon lining. check. check. and check. rinvoq can lower your ability to fight infections, including tb. serious infections and blood clots, some fatal; cancers, including lymphoma and skin cancer; death, heart attack, stroke, and tears in the stomach or intestines occurred. people 50 and older... with at least 1 heart disease risk factor have higher risks. don't take if allergic to rinvoq... as serious reactions can occur. tell your doctor if you are or may become pregnant. put uc in check and keep it there, with rinvoq. ask your gastroenterologist about rinvoq. and learn how abbvie could help you save.

we've seen bravery and honor in these hearings. and ms. matthews and mr. pottinger, both of you will be remembered for that, as will cassidy hutchinson. she sat here alone, took the oath, and testified before millions of americans. she knew all along that she would be attacked by president trump. and by the 50, 60, and 70-year-old men who hide themselves hide executive privilege. but like our witnesses today, she has courage and she did it anyway. cassidy, sarah, and our other witnesses, including officer caroline edwards, shea moss, her mother ruby freeman, are an inspiration to american women and to american girls. we owe a debt to all of those who have and will appear here.

>> last night the committee highlighted how former president trump was in the white house dining room, adjacent to the oval office, for much of the 187 minutes of the capitol insurrection. that room is near the white house briefing room. former white house press aide sarah matthews testified how quickly it would have been for trump to get to the briefing room, to make a public statement, if he had wanted to. >> ms. matthews, how quickly could the president have gotten on camera in the press briefing room to deliver a statement to the nation? >> so as you outlined, it would take probably less than 60 seconds from the oval office dining room over to the press briefing room and for folks that might not know, the briefing room is the room that you see the white house press secretary do briefings from with the podium and the blue backdrop. and there is a camera that is on

in there at all times. and so if the president had wanted to make a statement and address the american people, he could have been on camera almost instantly. and conversely, the white house press corps has offices that are located directly behind the briefing room. briefing room. and so if he had wanted to make an address from the oval office, we could have assembled the white house press covfefe corps probably in a matter of minutes. >> joining us now, robert gibbs. great to see you. what a horrific thought, that this president could have in a matter of seconds done something to turn things around. they would have listened to him. >> yeah, the video last night showed that when that message came out, they did listen to him. they did decide it was time to start going home. and you know, when they were asking sarah matthews that

question, i was watching the hearing and i blurt out the answer that she essentially gave, i said a minute out loud when they asked her. i mean, it is -- just to be clear, you guys know this walk, it is a minute if you walk really, really slowly. i mean, it is not that far at all. the white house is very compact. the reporters are all there. i think that what she said is important, it is not just a nice room with a podium and blue backdrop, but there is a working press corps there, the world could have heard from him instantly if that is what he chose to do. >> yeah, so, robert, also how bizarre is it that trump completely scrubbed those three hours. no phone logs, no calls on the phone logs present in the records the white house released. of course no meetings during that time.

photographer tried to come in, and he was pushed away. the president was completely isolated for three hours during the most significant three hours i would say since september 11th. how bizarre is that. since you worked inside the white house and you know very well how the routine goes. >> yeah, highly unusual. somebody records the movement of the president. when does the president leave the oval office, when does the president come into the oval office, how long do they meet with a person, what calls do they get. so highly unusual that somehow there is three hours just simply missing from that log. and also highly unusual that nobody would have gone in there or that the president would have picked up the phone and does a lot of calls or what not. so again, highly unusual. the whole day obviously highly

unusual. but really bizarre that somehow that is all missing along with what appears to be a lot of texts as well. >> and i can attest to the fact thaty desk is just a few steps beyond the briefing room. and so it is one thing to walk there and say something to the nation, but another thing to have him face reporters' questions and they didn't want him do that because they didn't trust what his answer would be and he would go over whatever little script they had given him. but i wanted to ask you about what you saw from last night about the outtakes. yes, on january 6, but more importantly the next day where he was very clear on january 7 that he didn't want to condemn really his supporters who xhirted violence in his name at the capitol but also he didn't want to say the election was over. >> yeah, i think very telling. and if you add that together,

the peril of him going into that room probably would have been this that he may vel have exacerbated what was going on at the capitol rather than quelled it. to your point, he would have gotten questions from the press corps. and we saw him even putting out a video where he begins to tell people after long -- after a long windup to finally begin to go home, it takes several different cuts to get that right. pure telling that even the next moem when you've had time to step back a bit from the horror of the moment, still unable to condemn it, still unable to say that the election was over, when it was -- it had long been over and the electoral college had been certified and yet still can't bring himself to say it. >> robert, just to be crass and

political, do you think that this has damaged trump politically. >> i do think he has. i think that he continues to be strong in a lot of quarters of the republican party, but i think one of the things that these hearings have done is layout for republicans that they don't want this circus coming back to town anytime soon. and the chaos that goes with it. and not knowing what will happen day in and day out, whether it is an unusual at a capitol or just a regular policy meeting. and so my hunch is that lot of republicans that voted in the 2020 election that either stayed home or switched from trump in '16 to biden in '20 are coming home to the republican party but not wanting to be a trump voter. if you can get a conservative politician in the mold of a

normal republican without all that days on, he will pick that before you want to go all of this drama all over again. >> no doubt about it. and there is a reason why republicans are getting wiped out in fundraising in the pennsylvania senate race, in the ohio senate race, and in other senate races across the country because they don't find those main street republicans. robert gibbs, really great having you on. we appreciate it, hope you'll come back. thank you, robert. >> and next week jonathan lemire, you are releasing, what, an album, cookbook, what are you release something. >> no one wants to hear me sink. but my book, the big lie, that is out on tuesday. and it of course this the news right now with january 6, it strass the origins of trump's big lie, how he hijacked the republican party and the conservative media. but also tells the aftermath of

january 6 and how his lies challenged the biden white house, fueled republican efforts to restrict access to the ballot and shapes our politics of today. it is out tuesday. we'll talk more about it next week but feel free to pre-order it now. >> the timing is quite something. congratulations. we're proud of you. that does it for us this morning. up next -- >> proud of you too, elyse. >> we love elyse. and we'll continue to break down last night's hearing, three hours of special coverage is next. ast night's hearing, three hours of special coverage is hours of special coverage is next

♪ i'm the latest hashtag challenge. and everyone on social media is trying me. i'm trending so hard that “hashtag common sense” can't keep up. this is going to get tens and tens of views. ♪ but if you don't have the right auto insurance coverage, you could be left to pay for this... yourself. get allstate and be better protected from mayhem for a whole lot less. flowers are fighters. get allstate and be better protthat's why thehem alzheimer's association walk to end alzheimer's is full of them. because flowers find a way to break through. just like we will. join the fight at alz.org/walk there's a reason comcast business powers more businesses than any other provider. actually, there's a few. comcast business offers the fastest, reliable network... the protection of security edge... and the most reliable 5g network.

want me to keep going? i can... whether your small business is starting or growing, you need comcast business. technology solutions that put you ahead. get a great offer on internet and security, now with more speed and more bandwidth. plus find out how to get up to a $650 prepaid card with a qualifying bundle. this is xfinity rewards. our way of showing our appreciation. with rewards of all shapes and sizes. [ cheers ] are we actually going? yes!! and once in a lifetime moments. two tickets to nascar! yes! find rewards like these and so many more in the xfinity app. ["only wanna be with you" by hootie & the blowfish] discover is accepted at 99% of places in the u.s. ["only wanna be with you" by hootie & the blowfish]

good morning. i'm andrea mitchell in washington. joined by katy tur in new york. for our special coverage over the next three hours, breaking down the most comprehensive accounting yet of former president trump's refusal to go on camera to call off the rioters as the mob ripped through the capitol on january 6. instead, the president spent more than 90 minutes holed up in his oval office dining room. telling aides that he approved of the assault on the capitol and egging on the invaders with an inflammatory tweet denouncing