joining me now, the former chairperson of the january six committee, the democratic congressman, benny thompson, of mississippi. congressman thompson, this is your nice first chance to have a conversation since the indictment. we talked before, but i do want to start with your sense of the work that you all did in the 800-page document that you came out with an -- the manifestation of that in this indictment? >> well, thank you for having me. let me just be clear of. our committee had the responsibility to look at the facts and circumstances that brought about january 6th. we did owe that 18 month period, that 800 plus-page report was issued. we were not a prosecutorial body. we shared that work with the department of justice. much of that work was clear in terms of the committee's findings. but we could not presented to a grand jury because we were not that kind of forum. i'm convinced the special counsel and his team looked at it, reviewed it, and said it made sense. so, three of the four charges, as you know, specifically come directly from our recommendations. it's clear in the minds of our

joining us the former chairman of the january 6th select committee, congressman bennie thompson.s so much for joining us. how momentous for trump to return to washington, d.c., for this arrest at a courthouse, a federal courthouse, a stone's throw from where the u.s. capitol was attacked on january 6th? >> well, thank you for having me, wolf. it's momentous in the sense that democracy works. it's saying that we're here on another front because donald trump knew that he had lost. he has been told by a number of people that it was over, and that we should move forward, for the peaceful transfer of power, and he chose not to do that. and so when you ignore the law and ultimately get charged for breaking the law, this is what you have today in washington. >> yeah, that's really important. the charges against trump, as you know, they mirror most of the referrals that your select committee made. do these charges, do you believe, do they go far enough and can prosecutors secure a conviction? >> well, three of the charges came directly out of our body of work as a committee. we felt very

we start tonight with congressman benny thompson, democrat of mississippi. the former chairman of the january six commission. congressman, thank you for joining us. it's always good to talk to you. let's talk about trump's lawyer, john moreau. he did it washington and said recall the full ginsburg today. almost a little bit about what he had to say bÈcho and get your response on the other side. take a listen. >> the defense is quite simple, donald trump, president trump believed in his heart of hearts that he had won that election. as an american citizen, he had the right to speak out under the first amendment. he had the right to petition governments around the country, state governments -- this took place after the election. >> your thoughts congressman after hearing his lawyer? >> well thank you so much for having me, the first point i want to make is you can't make the law because you disagree with it. the law has to be prescribed going forward, not in reverse. what he's trying to do is reverse engineer the fact that he lost the election. all the time, t

something that congressman benny thompson predicted when i spoke to him last week. >> i actually sued right after january 6th, and i use the ku klux klan statute that talked about how you could not impede government. i would not be surprised if some of that same statute is applied to this situation, from the department of justice. we can't allow any individual organization to stop the peaceful transfer of power in the greatest democracy in the world. if you do lose, there are some alternatives available to you. you could actually count, you can go to court. there are no [inaudible] you cause an insurrection against that government. we are a better country than that. >> i would legal panel is back with us. george, i want to actually pick up where you left off before the break. you said, we all have a responsibility to democracy to act. you were just doing your job, which i absolutely agree. and you witnessed the fake elector scheme that was laid out in this latest indictment. i am wondering just how important, because we are talking about issues of democracy, the bedrock of free and fa

the leadership of benny thompson, chairman bennie thompson, mississippi, vice chair of the committee, liz cheney of wyoming, they were great leaders of the committee. but every member made his or her contribution with patriotism and excellence. to your point, they weren't there to perform. they were there to be patriotic, to seek and find the troops. it wasn't an easy path to get there. people said to me, you're taking a real risk. and i said no, we know what we're doing. we had really, we were striving to have the outside commission, a bipartisan commission. we had offered equal staffing, equal payroll, equal subpoena power, everything, to the republicans. in the senate, they thought they had the votes, but in fact, unfortunately, mitch mcconnell went around to the senators and said do me a personal favor, don't vote for this. and they thought they had 13 votes and it ended up being six. one person was absent, so maybe would've been seven. but what was interesting about it is people said to mitch at the time, you don't think nancy's gonna let this go away? and why would he saying tha

i do want to bring in congressman bennie thompson, democrat from mississippi and the former chair of the house january 6th special committee. congressman and mr. chairman, thank you so much for being here. i actually asked earlier this afternoon for my team to reprint your opening statement at the very beginning of the january 6th hearings in which you reference the civil war, the sort of last great conflagration and question of whether we would remain a unified democracy. >> i'm very curious to get your reaction as someone who presided over the hearings that gave us so much of the detail that helped us understand what happened on january 26th. your reaction to this indictment? >> well, thank you so much, joy, for having me on. first of all, let me say none of us take any real pleasure in where we are at this point. what i think we all have to understand that as a nation of laws, even a president or former president is not above the law. and so we have to go forward as a nation of laws identifying what those challenges are. what our committee did i think in great detail, we told a st

democrat bennie thompson told house republicans in a letter, the select committee did not archive temporarytee records, the select committee was not obligated to archive all video recordings of transcribed interviews or depositions. that's strange. they spent two years investigating and they just put it in the shredder? up next, kamala's electric school bus scheme is a pump ands dump. because i take like no time for myself. my kids are sports kids. we're always running from one activity to another. i'm still tonya and i got botox® cosmetic... and this is like the first thing i've done for me in a really, really long time. my life is still crazy, it's just as full as it was before... just with less lines. botox® cosmetic is fda approved to temporarily make frown lines, crow's feet, and forehead lines look better. the effects of botox® cosmetic may spread hours to weeks after injection causing serious symptoms. alert your doctor right away, as difficulty swallowing, speaking, breathing, eye problems or muscle weakness may be a sign of a life-threatening condition. do not receive botox® cosmet

like president biden, chairman bennie thompson recently tested positive for covid, so he joined via zoom bedroom is all flags. [laughter] thompson kicked the hearing off with this bombshell: >> as we've made clear throughout these hearings, our investigation goes forward. we continue to receive new information every day. we continue to hear from witnesses. we will reconvene in september to continue laying out our findings to the american people. >> stephen: we're getting a sequel! in september. and a fall hearing is\perfect, because the former president is pumpkin-spice. [applause] delicious. absolutely. i love it. so delicious. >> warm. >> stephen: illinois representative adam kinzinger stated the plain and simple reason the former president sat on his butt during the riot. >> the mob attacking the capitol quickly caused evacuation of both the house and the senate. the count ground to an absolute halt and was ultimately delayed for hours. the mob was accomplishing president trump's purpose, so, of course, he didn't intervene. >> stephen: yeah, when a mob is doing exactly what you want,

and then, of course, under the leadership of benny thompson, and the select committee for january 6th. which really was able to, in the words of donald trump's own supporters, his own administration, they were the witnesses that were brought forward. who raised their hands and said yes. we want to tell the truth, and our democracy is greater than one man. they came forward to the january 6th group to bring outline for us, and much more detail of what had happened. but, it is the power of the special counsel, with subpoena, who has really brought to this criminal indictment against a man who believed that he was above the law, that is now going to be brought to trial, and face the reckoning of his actions. >> now, your impeachment efforts in 2021 passed the house with just ten republican votes, and senate republicans blocked a conviction. that could have barred trump from running from office again. now republicans are once again defending trump. on thursday, speaker mccarthy compared to trump's election fraud claims to those made by hillary clinton and al gore. -- are republicans simpl

here's what happened, mississippi congressman benny thompson says after being briefed there had been clear the passenger didn't make it on the flight. >> thank goo goodness. maria: he found it in the trash and got through. >> we're talking about clear, not tsa. there was a time tsa took a lot of heat because people were slipping through. they figured it out. i don't know why we would allow a competitor, a for profit company, clear, to do the tsa's job. it doesn't make any sense. i'm all for small government. there's certain things that actually you just let the government do. maria: brenda, what do you think? >> i agree with adam. incentives are different for clear in terms of getting more memberships, pushing more people through their system and so i think this shouldn't be any surprise that this hiccup, which needs to be addressed, because our personal safety is at stake, needs to change. maria: it's about personal safety for sure, jonathan. >> absolutely. i've had clear before and i've kind of questioned the security protocols myself. sometimes they have you look into the eye read

house committee >> we are told that she cooperated, that she answered every question but chairman bennie thompsonlso told reporters that she still believes the election was stolen, jake so after everything we know, ginni thomas is still an election denier. >> i would like to thank a great woman named ginni thomas do you know ginni thomas [ cheers and applause she's a great woman. the wife of a great man, justice clarence thomas, for her courage and strength she said that she still believes that 2020 election was stolen. she didn't say, "oh, well, i'd like not to get involved of course it was a wonderful election." it was a rigged and stolen election >> seth: i do like trump's impressions of other people because they're all the same regardless of who he is talking about. doesn't matter if it's joe biden or ginni thomas. i'd love to see his "snl" audition "next i'll be doing my harry styles impression. okay, here we go 'hi, my name is harry styles [ laughter ] i do songs and spit on chris pine.' [ light laughter ] but again, let's step back and process the order of things here clarence thomas' spou

colleagues filed against -- you are said to become a league person in this case after congressman benny thompson drop out of it when he was named chair of the select panel. tasked with investigating the attack according to a court filing. now, trump has since been indicted by a federal grand jury on charges pertaining to his efforts to stay in power after he lost the 2020 presidential election. and another indictment could be on the way in georgia. how does this latest federal indictment help your case, if at all. and one other next steps on your lawsuit? >> reverend, all first, we are in this court of appeals, the district court of appeals. and ours is a civil suit. so this has nothing to do with the indictments and criminal lawsuits that are moving forward. we have done, this was in february, the naacp filed a lawsuit on behalf of myself and about nine other plaintiffs who are members of congress. who were affected by january 6th. and what took place, and the basic premise of the lawsuit is that no one is above the law and that donald trump is not immune for what took place on january 6th. and

and i just want to commend the january 6th committee, the house committee, benny thompson and liz cheney and all the members of the committee and the staff and the work they did. they made a foundation of facts, about facts and the law, and made a criminal referral to the justice department. that was in december, the end of last year, 2022. we didn't know what we couldn't know. it wasn't our role to know what the justice department would do, if anything. so when it became clear that there would be criminal charges made, it's interesting to see how similar they are to some of the charges recommended by the january 6th committee. and i commend, again, the committee. i'm so proud of them, their courage, their bravery, and the courage really of all of those who are making the case now. of course, the former president is innocent until proven guilty. no one is above the law, and the assault that they are making on the rule of law in the country is really a sad thing. i'm sure it would bring tears to the eyes of our founders. >> the current speaker of the house, your successor, republican cong

humans were, you know, the way that the speaker pelosi set that up was just an amazing, amazing bennie thompsonduct it really laid out much of what we see here today. so it's been all out there. so i think there could be i don't know if they're going to a strategy to advance this one. 0st push mar-a-lago back. hold off on the state cases and you could have done before the election of 2024, ok, be fascinating. like you said, we'll have you back when georgia expected to announce indictment to happens in >> a week or 2. michael, thank, you know, seeing a little today and the kron 4 will have complete coverage, including michael. as we follow the arraignment that happens today. >> and our catherine heenan, we'll there as well. walking us through the questions and what this indictment all means and the charges. and this is all happening live on kron 4 starting at 12. we'll be right starting at 12. we'll be right back. with wendy's bogo dollar deal, your dollar never tasted so good. so everyone's gonna get... [all talking at once] i was gonna say a frosty and a frosty. you can do that? i don't know,

democrat bennie thompson told house republicans in a letter, quote, the select committee did noct commit archive temporary ce records. the select committee was not d to archive all video recordings of transcribed interviews or depositions. that that's strange. 'sthey spent two years investigating and then they just put it in the shredder. huh? up next, connell is electric school bus scheme is a pump pum and dump. >> so i went to experience. they actually helped lower my monthly bills. phone internet experience of the work. also subscriptions. i forgot about experian. >> cancel them for me. help me take control of my money. see, all can do with experian .com slash save. >> now, back in my day we don't have all of these types of fancy chicken for sure. you have buffalo wings and fried chicken. well, we didn't have garlic farm or sweet bourbon barbecue and he had to make uphill both ways. >> and it's not every time. yeah, right. graham, hi. >> you're from my it looks like you've been sleeping well. >> megan, he's back. the mypillow guy, and you're looking good. >> still feeling good. well,

liz cheney had a very important role in the january 6th select committee working with chairman bennie thompson. she hasn't been out there attacking the republican election integrity laws. there are 48 states that have passed voter suppression laws based on the lie that she held up there and used as a cudgel against trump and her own party for many months, very effectively. but she hasn't extended that to the voter suppression laws that have passed in 48 states. >> right now, it is just after ten pm on the east coast. and all eyes remain on fulton county, georgia. any minute now we could see the actual indictments that we know have been handed up tonight by a grand jury in the election interference investigation there into donald trump and his allies. we know that fulton county district attorney fani willis asked the grand jury to vote on ten indictments. we know the grand jury approved all ten of those indictments. we have no idea what's in those ten indictments. we do not know who was indicted, how many people were indicted, on what charges, or how many counts? about one hour ago, we saw thos