mr. meadows. with white house counsel, lawyers, and mr. tony arnoldo, who served as the white house deputy chief of staff. she also worked on a daily basis with members of the secret service posted in the white house. in short, she was in a position to know a great deal about the happenings in the trump white house. she has already set for for videotape interviews with committee investigators and we thank her very much for her cooperation and for her courage. we will cover certain but not all relevant topics within our knowledge today. our future hearings will supply greater detail, putting the testimony today in a broader and more complete context. today you will hear her relate certain first-hand observations of his conduct on january 6. you will also hear new information regarding the actions and statements of mr. trump's senior advisor's that day. including his chief of staff mark meadows and white house counsel. we will begin to examine evidence bearing on what president trump and members of t

mr. meadows, so did you tell mr. meadows that people were getting closer to the capitol, and that capitol police was having difficulty? >> after i had to competition mr. meadows -- at the had a conversation with mr. ornado, i had a discussion with mr. meadows. he wasn't a security vehicle making a call. i went over to the car. i opened the door to let him know and he had immediately shut it. i don't know who he was speaking with, it wasn't something that he regularly did, especially when i would go over to give him information. i was a bit taken aback, but i did not think much of it, thinking i would be able to have the conversation with him a few moments later. >> were you able to have that conversation a few moments later? >> probably about 20 to 35 minutes later. there was another period where he shut the door again and when he finally got out of the vehicle, we had the conversation. but at that point, there was a backlog of information that he should've been made aware of. >> you open the door to a control car and

mr. meadows, and asked me to meet with mr. johnson. and i told him this whole thing about italy had been debunked and that should be the end of that. and i certainly wasn't going to meet with this person. and he initially seemed to accept that and he said why won't you meet with them i? said, because if he has real evidence? , which this video doesn't show, he can walk into an fbi field office anywhere in the united states -- this 55 of them and. andy said, okay. then he called me back a few minutes later and complained and said i, didn't tell you, but this fellow johnson is working with rudy giuliani and mr. giuliani is really offended that you would think they have to go to an fbi field office. that's insulting. so can you just have the fbi or, you meet with these guys? and by then i was somewhat agitated and told him that there was no way on earth that i was going to do that, i wasn't going to beat with johnson, i certainly wasn't going to beat with mr. giuliani, i made that clear repeatedly and said that santa that, don't worry tha

meadows on january 5. ? >> i am under the question that mr. mentos didam under the imprt mr. meadows completed both called to them on the evening of the fifth. rep. cheney: do you know what they talked about that evening? ms. hutchinson: not sure. rep. cheney: -- war room at the willard hotel? ms. hutchinson: i was aware of that. rep. cheney: do you know mr. meadows ever intended to go to the hotel on that night? ms. hutchinson: he had a conversation with me where he wanted to work with the secret service -- with mr. giuliani in the associates in the war room. rep. cheney: what was your view on that on whether mr. meadows should go or not? ms. hutchinson: i made it clear to him that i don't think it was a smart idea for him to go to the hotel. i was unsure on everything that was going on their although i knew enough that -- on everything mr. giuliani and his associates were pushing during this period. i did not think it was appropriate for the white house chief of staff to attend or involved in that. i made that clear to him. he mentioned a few more times going to the hotel th

mr. matt meadows has to go to mattresses on this issue. when you think it's mattresses, what do you mean? >> just a reference for going all in. it's a godfather reference. >> shawn how many agreed and he also turned to mark meadows for hill after the president's second tweet. as you can see, mr. hannity a tweet texted at 3:31 to say trump needed to deliver a statement to the nation, telling the rioters to leave the capitol. mr. meadows responded that he was, quote on it. don jr. and sean hannity were not the only ones to get mr. meadows to speak to the president to speak to the nation and tell the rioters to go home. go home! mr. meadows received text from republican members of congress, from current trump officials, from media personalities, and friends. like president trump's staff, they knew president trump had to speak publicly to get the mob to stop. that's a look at just a few of these text messages. fox news personality laura ingraham set, the president needs to tell the people in the capital to go home. former chief of staff, mick

mr. meadows on january 2nd 2021? >> i do. he met with mr. g of january 2nd, 2021. >> and we understand that you walked to mr. giuliani out of the white house that night and he talks to you about january 6th. would you remember him saying? >> i a recall mr. giuliani and i walking towards the vehicles that evening. he looked at me and he said something so the effect of, cassidy, are you excited for the sixth? it's going to be a great day. i remember looking at him and saying, rudy, can you explain what's happening on the sixth? and he responded something to the effect of, we are going to the capitol. it's going to be great. the president is going to be there, he is going to look powerful. >> miss hutchinson, did rudy giuliani ever suggest that he was interested or receiving a presidential pardon related to january 6th? >> he did. >> miss hutchinson, did white house chief of staff, mark meadows, ever indicate that he was interested in receiving a presidential pardon related to january 6th? >> mr. meadows did seek that part of, yes ma'am. >> is i

mr. meadows, and asked me to meet with mr. johnson.y was not going to meet with this person. he initially seemed to accept that. he said, why won't you meet with him. i said, because if he has real evidence, which this video doesn't show, he can walk into an fbi field office anywhere in the united states. there's 55 of them. he said, okay. then, he called me back a few minutes later. but complains, says i didn't tell you, but this fellow johnson is working with rudy giuliani, and mr. giuliani is really offended that you think they have to go to an fbi field office. that's insulting. couldn't you just have the fbi, where you meet with these guys? by then, i was somewhat agitated. i told them that there was no way on earth that i was going to do that. i wasn't going to meet with mr. johnson. i certainly wasn't going to meet with mr. giuliani. i made that clear repeatedly. so, that's the end of that. don't raise this with me again. and so, because mr. donahue and i had been exchanging our views about this, because, yeah, 7:13 on a friday

mr. meadows responded that he was, quote, on it. don junior and sean hannity were not the only ones who implored mr. meadows to get the president to speak to the nation and tell the mob to leave, to go home, go home. throughout the attack, mr. meadows received texts from republican members of congress, from current and former trump administration officials, from media personalities and from friends. like president trump's staff, they knew president trump had to speak publicly to get the mob to stop. let's look at just a few of these text messages. fox news personality laura ingram said, the president needs to tell the people in the capitol to go home. former chief of staff mick mulvaney urged mark, he needs to stop this now. fox news personality brian killmeade said, please get him on tv, destroying everything that you guys have accomplished. when we interviewed white house counsel pat cipallone, he told us that he knew the president's two tweets were not enough. let's listen to what he said. >> the question is did you believe the t

meadows and acting director of communications. you tolld us before president trump in his next tweet mr. williams got up to see mr. meadows and you got up to see kayleigh mcenany. why did you both do that? >> so ben and i were watching the coverage unfold from one of the offices in the west wing, and we both recognized that the situation was escalating and it was escalating quickly and that the president needed to be out there immediately to tell these people to go home and condemn the violence that we were seeing. so i told him that i was going to make that recommendation to kayleigh and he said he would make the same recommendation to the chief of staff, mark meadows. >> thank you. and one of your colleagues jadir told us he also want to see ms. mcenany at the time. let's hear what he said about this critical period of time right as the rioters were getting into the capitol. >> and why did you think it was necessary to say something? >> well, i mean, it appears that individuals are storming the u.s. capitol building. they also appear to be supporters of donald trump who may have been in attendance at the rally we

mr. meadows at 2:53. he wrote, he's got to condemn this shit asap. mr. meadows replied i'm pushing it hard, i agree. don jr. responded, this is one you go to the mattresses on. they will try to fuck his entire legacy on this if it gets worse. here is what don jr. told us he meant by go to the mattresses. >> it's 58 when you say he need, that mr. meadows needs to go to the mattresses on this issue. when you say go to the mattresses what does that mean? >> just a reference for going all in. i think it is a god father reference. >> sean hannity gl agreed and he also turned to mark meadows for help for his second tweet. mr. meadows texted at 3:31, saying mr. trump needed to send a tweet tell rioters to leave the capitol. he was on it. done jr. and sean hannity were not the only ones to get the president to speak to the nation and till the mob to leave, to go home, go home. throughout the attack mr. meadows received text from republican members of congress, from current and former trump officials from media personalities and from friends. like president trump'

mr. matt meadows has to go to mattresses on this issue.ce for going all in. it's a godfather reference. >> shawn how many agreed and he also turned to mark meadows for hill after the president's second tweet. as you can see, mr. hannity a tweet texted at 3:31 to say trump needed to deliver a statement to the nation, telling the rioters to leave the capitol. mr. meadows responded that he was, quote on it. don jr. and sean hannity were not the only ones to get mr. meadows to speak to the president to speak to the nation and tell the rioters to go home. go home! mr. meadows received text from republican members of congress, from current trump officials, from media personnel, and friends. like president trump's staff, they knew president trump had to speak publicly to get the mob to stop. that's a look at just a few of these text messages. fox news personality laura ingraham set, the president needs to tell the people in the capital to go home. former chief of staff, mick mulvaney, urged, mark, he needs to stop this, now. fox news personality,

mr. meadows responded that he was, quote on it. sean hannity was not the only -- to tell them up to leave to go home. throughout this attack mr. meadows received texts from republican members of congress, current and former trump administration officials, from media personalities and friends. like president trump's staff, they knew president trump had to speak publicly in order to get them out -- to get the mob to start. -- to stop. fox news personality laura ingraham said, the president needs to tell the people in the capital to go home. mick mulvaney urged, mark, he needs to stop this now. fox news personality brian kyl mead said, please get him on tv, destroying everything that you guys have accomplished. wembley -- when we interviewed pat cipollone he, he said he knew that the presidents to tweets were not enough. let's listen to what he said. >> what did you think about not using your advice to the president. >> i believed more needed to be done. i believed it -- i believed a public statement needed to be made. >> when you tal

mr. meadows. what she said about that conversation. >> so what specifically did you tell him, though, about other events? >> just that there were a bunch of entities coming in, some were respect, but they are going to be on other stages, some on other days, very, very brief overview of what was actually happening and why i raised the red flag. >> when you told him that people were respect, what -- did you tell him what you meant by that, or what did you convey to him about what the problems with the folks? >> i think i even texted him some of my concerns but i did briefly go over some of the concerns i had raised to everybody with alex jones or ali alexander and some rhetoric they were doing. probably mentioned to him they had already caused trouble at other capitols, or the previous event, the previous march they did for protesting, and i just had a concern about it. >> miss pearson was especially concerned about ali alexander and alex jones because in november 2020, both men and some of their su

mr. meadows directly. she wrote, good afternoon, would you mind giving me a call regarding this january 6th event? thanks of gotten crazy and i desperately need some direction, please. according to phone records obtained by the committee, miss pierson received a phone call from mr. meadows eight minutes later. here is what miss pierson said about that conversation. >> >> with did you tell him about other events? >> there were a bunch of people coming in, some were very suspect. they are going to be on other stages, someone other days. a very, very brief overview of what was actually happening and why i raise the red flag. >> when you told him that people were very suspect, did you tell him what you meant by that? would you convey to him about what the problems were with these folks? >> i think i even texted him some of my concerns. i briefly went over concerns i had raised to everybody with alex jones, or ali alexander, and some of the rhetoric they were doing. i probably mentioned to him that they already

mr. meadows replied, i'm pushing hard, i agree. don jr. you go to the mattresses on, they will try to -- his entire legacy if this -- gets worse. here's what don junior told cnn by go to the mattresses. >> it is 58 when you say that he mr. meadows needs to go to the mattresses, on this issue, when you say go to the mattresses, what does that mean? >> just a reference or going all in. it is a godfather reference. >> but this election is now congress has certified the results. i do know is that the election is over, i just want to say congress has certified the results. so the election is over. okay? >> but congress -- >> yeah. right. let me see. >> what does it say when you watch that? but what does it also say that no one could get through to him? >> well, i think to scott's point, he is not reachable on purpose, because he has one play left, and it is to see if his plan works, if you can get the stopped, then he has a chance, otherwise he's done. then i think what the committee did, hear and on effectively throughout these hearings is rea

you say that mr meadows — mattresses. you say that mr meadows needs _ mattresses.t the only ones to employ mr meadows to get the president to speak to the nation until the mob to go home. throughout the attack, mr meadows received texts from republican members of congress, from current and former trump administration officials, from media personalities and from friends. let president trump 's staff, they knew that president trump had to speak publicly to get the mob to stop. let's look at just a few of these text messages. fox news personality laura ingram said that the president needs to tell the people and the capitol —— in the capitol to go home. mick mulvaney urged that mark, he needs to stop this now. fox news personality brian said please get him on tv. destroying everything that you guys have accomplished. when we interviewed white house counsel pat cipollone he said that he knew the president's two tweets were not enough. let's listen to what he said. did were not enough. let's listen to what he said.— to what he said. did you believe _ to what he said. did

mr. meadows, we have seen some footage, we've seen your texts in realtime. is there anything you want to say about those 187 minutes and that day? >> obviously, i'm not commenting on anything on january 6th. >> so, he's not commenting. that's what i picked up from that, not to reporters at least. however, attorney general garland, is, and that is perhaps the most significant puzzle piece so far, because whatever happens next would be his call. he is now on the record saying he will prosecute anyone up to and including the former president, even if he is the presidential candidate again. >> we intend to hold everyone, anyone, who has criminally responsible for that then surrounding january 6th, for any attempt to interfere with the lawful transfer of power from one administration to another accountable. that's what we do. we don't pay any attention to other issues with respect to that. >> so if donald trump were to become a candidate for president, that would not change your schedule or how you move forward or don't move forward? >> i'll say again that we wil

mr. meadows, making such aspirations? >> are you saying is part of that meeting or several? in that meeting, i am not sure, but i would say that is a statement that i heard from mark meadows. >> and, again, do you know if it was on november 23rd at some point? >> again, i think it was probably, you know, around that time. it was probably subsequent to that time. it was not a onetime statement. >> mr. meadows has refused to testify and the committee is in litigation with him. many other white house officials share the view that once the litigation ended and the electoral college math, the election was over. here is president trump's former press secretary. >> i wanted to clarify, miss mcenany, back to my previous question, it was your view, or was it your view that the efforts to overturn the election should be stopped once the litigation was complete? >> in my view, upon the confusion of the litigation i was thinking about life after the administration. >> this is what ivanka trump told us. >> december 14th was a day in which the electoral college math, when these electors ar

mr. williamson went up to see esther meadows. why did you both to that -- mr. meadows. why did you both do that? >> we both recognized that the situation was escalating quickly and that the president needed to be out there immediately to tell these people to go home and condemned the violence that we are seeing. i told him that i was going to make that recommendation and he said he was going to make the same recommendation to the chief of staff, mark meadows. >> one of your colleagues also want to see -- went to see kayleigh mcenany at that time. let's hear what they said. >> it appears that individuals are storming the u.s. capitol building. they also appear to be supporters of donald who may have been in attendance at the rally. we are going to need to say something. >> do you have a view of what is going on at the white house? >> if i recall, i told kaylee that i thought we needed to encourage individuals to stop, to respect law enforcement and to go home. >> although president trump was aware of the ongoing riot, he did not take any immediate action to address the l

mr. clark's name was also mentioned in the white house in late december and early january as described as a top aide to mark meadows, cassidy hutchinson. >> was it your understanding that representative is pushing for a specific person of the department justice. >> he wanted mr. clark, mr. jeff clark to take over the department of justice. >> mr. rosen, after a call with president trump on december 24th, you spoke with mr. clark on december 26th about his contact with the president. can you tell us about that conversation? >> yes, because i have been quizzical about why his name had come up i called him. i tried to explore if he would share if there is something i ought to know. after some back and forth he acknowledged that shortly before christmas he had gone to a meeting in the oval office with the president. that, of course, surprised me. i asked him, how did that happen? he was defensive. he said, it had been unplanned. he had been talking to someone he referred to as general perry, but i believe is congressman perry. unbeknownst to him he was asked to go to a meeting, he didn't know it. he found himself at th

mr. meadows because it's my understanding that mr. cipollone thought that mr. meadows was indeed pushing this along with the president. >> and we understand that you also spoke to mr. cipollone on the morning of the sixth as you were about to go to the rally. mr. cipollone said something to you like, make sure the movement to the capitol does not happen. is that correct? >> that's correct. i saw mr. cipollone right before i walked out on to west executive that morning and mr. cipollone said something to the fact that, please make sure we don't go to the capitol cassidy, keep in touch with me. we are gonna get charged with every crime imaginable if that happens. >> and do you remember which crimes mr. cipollone was concerned with? >> in the days leading up to the sixth, we had conversations about potentially obstructing justice or defrauding the electoral count. >> so, this friday the january six investigation will get to ask pat cipollone about those conversations. did they happen the way cassidy hutchison says they did? and when we refer to being charged with e

mr. meadows directly., good afternoon, would you mind giving me a call regarding this january 6th event? things have gotten crazy and i desperately need some direction. please. according to phone records obtained by the committee, miss pearson received a phone call from mr. meadows eight minutes later. here's wet miss pierson said about that conversation. >> it specifically did you tell him about other events? >> but there were a bunch of entreaties coming in, very suspect, but they were going to be another stages. some on other days. a very, very brief overview of what was actually happening, and why i raced the red flag. >> and when you told him that people were very suspect, why did you tell him what you meant by that? why did you convey to him about the problems with these folks? >> i think i even texted him some of my concerns, so i did briefly go over some concerns that had raised with everybody, to ali alexander and some of the rhetoric that they were doing. i probably mentioned to him that they had

mr. meadows, mr. giuliani and a few of mr. giuliani's associates. >> the select committee interviewed several of the fake electors as well as trump staff that helped organize the effort. >> we were kind of useful idiots at that point. a strong part of me really feels it's kind of as the road continued butlers failure, failure, failure. that got formulated, as and what do we have on the table? let's just do it. >> after what we've told you today about the select committee's investigation about the conclusion of the professional -- lawyers on the campaign staff, about their unwillingness to participate in the convening of these electors, how does that contribute to your understanding of these issues? >> i'm angry, because i think in a sense no one really cared if people were potentially putting themselves in jeopardy. >> would you have not wanted to participate in this any further as well? >> i absolutely would not have, if i knew the three main lawyers for the campaign that i had spoken to in the past and leading up we're not o

mr. meadows in his office on the couch. he was scrolling through his phone.r leaning against the doorway and saying, "i just had an interesting conversation with rudy, mark. it sounds like we're going to go to the capitol." he didn't look up from his phone and said something to the effect of, "there's a lot going on, cass. but, i don't know. things might get real, real bad on january 6th." >> stephen: so, the president's chief of staff knew there could be terrible consequences, and went ahead with it anyway? "huh, what? yeah, oh, yeah, i think this rash might be an s.t.d., but... i don't know, let's put on some marvin gaye and just see where the evening takes us." ( laughter ) the president really wanted to accompany his mob up to the capitol, but white house lawyer pat cipollone really did not want that to happen, for a damn good reason. >> i saw mr. cipollone right before i walked out onto west exec that morning. and mr. cipollone said something to the effect of, "please make sure we don't go up to the capitol, cassidy. keep in touch with me. we're going to

mr. meadows, that i did not believe it was a smart idea for him to go to the willard hotel that night. throughout the afternoon, he mentioned a few more times, going up to the willard hotel that evening, and then eventually dropped the suspect subject and said he would dial in, instead. the question is, did cipollone talk about this in his data, was there a more senior person, i am not criticizing her work at all, but was there a more senior person who understood this? >> listen, it is remarkable that mark meadows is being discouraged to go to this meeting by this young woman, we are going to see more of the testimony tomorrow and there were also be focus on this december 18th meeting where sidney powell was, michael flynn was, it is after this meeting that donald trump sends out the tweet and says listen, come, there is going to be a rally, it is going to be wild. so, what does that mean, right? what are the discussions in that meeting where there is this idea that it will be popular and you hear bannon essentially echoing the same thing echoing to listeners on the podcast? >> the jan

mr. meadows thought that that would stay secret. but he ends up marking this plots birthday if crimes have birthdays. a judge later finding that alyssa glow of the puck was fully formed by december 7th, which is the date that the coup i mention eastman was also still circulating. this is the workings of this coup conspiracy. that would be wrong and, according to many experts, completely illegal, even if there never was an insurrection on the sixth. we checked the records, and some of the unlawful details have leaked out at the time. but, again, this is what is important tonight. they might have seemed a little bit more like delusional pr at the time than what they look like, now which is in and died -able criminal conspiracy. tonight, we can report, this was a very real attempt to launder and normalize, and, public what i'm about to show, you and public at the time, what they we now know they were conspiring about in private. elector fraud, and states just stealing the vote. >> today, an ultimate state often electors in the contesta

mr. meadows, and you got up to go see kayleigh mcenany. why did you both do that? >> ben and i were watching the coverage unfold from one of the offices in the west wing, and we both recognize that the situation was escalating and escalating quickly. that the president needed to be out there immediately to tell these people to go home and condemn the violence that we were saying. i told him that i was going to make that recommendation to kaylee, and he said that he was going to make the same recommendation to the chief of staff, mark meadows. >> thank you. one of your colleagues in the press office told us that he also went to go see miss mcenany at that time. let's hear what he has to say about this period of time. >> it appears that individuals are storming the u.s. capitol building. they also appear to be supporters of donald trump, who may have been in attendance at the rally. we are going to need to say something. >> you have a view as to what we we should be saying about the white house? >> if i recall, i told kaylee that i thought we needed to encourage indi

mr. meadows making such a representation? you saying -- without getting into that meeting, i will say that that is a statement and a sentiment that i heard from mark meadows. >> that is a statement and a sentiment that i heard from mark meadows, that the president should agree to a graceful exit. welcome back to our primetime recap of the january six hearing today. we heard for the first time from the white house counsel pat cipollone, who revealed to himself that he was known that the election was not stolen, that he believed former president trump should've conceded the election since he lost it. the committee also revealed that lots of senior people in the white house presidents orbit, including the presidents own daughter ivanka and members of the president's cabinet, all also knew that it was over. that it was over after the electors counted the votes on december 14th. >> so i put a call into the president, unlike all on the 13th, we spoke on the 14th and which i conveyed to him that i thought that it was time for him to

mr. meadows but a friend of mr. meadows. she is simply telling you what took place.nd with regard to the generally six panel, let's not forget i think president trump has indicated he is disappointed that kevin mccarthy the republican leader in the house and did not choose to participate. it was kevin mccarthy's choice once nancy pelosi said no to two very provocative high energy trump ends. she had a choice and then he had a choice to say let me put other people on the panel. he has said he withdrew that was his choice. the fact that kassidy hutchinson giving important testimony but there is no cross-examination of her from somebody with the different point of view. most records look at that said that is unfair and illegitimate pride that is the problem may have thought the speakers dropped due to the republicans are going to be on the committee. the other problem i have is this is all captivating to always in the washington bubble, the democrats are sending a message this is the most important issue facing the country. a lot of americans are having to choose betwee

as you can see, don juniors for don junior 1st texted mr. meadows at $253.00. he wrote, he's got to condemn this shit, a s a p, a capital police tweet is not enough. mister meadows replied, i am pushing it hard. i agree, don junior responded, this is one you go to the mattresses on, they will try to fuck his entire legacy. if this on this, if it gets worse. here's what don junior told us. he meant by go to the mattresses . it's 58 when you say that he need them. mr. meadows needs to go to mattresses on this issue. when you say, go to the mattresses, what does that mean? just a reference for going all in and it's a godfather reference sean hannity agreed and he also turned to mark meadows for help. after the president's 2nd tweet. as you can see mister handled, he texted at 331 to say tromp needed to deliver a statement to the nation, telling the rioters to leave the capital. mister meadows responded that he was quote on it. don junior and sean hannity were not the only ones who implored mister meadows to get the president to speak to the nation and tell the mob

mr. meadows and the president at all during that brief encounter that you were in the dining room? >> i think everybody was watching the tv. >> do you know whether he was watching tv in the dining room when you talked to him on january 6th? >> it's my understanding he was watching television. >> when you were in the dining room in these discussions, was the violence physical on the screen on the television >> yes >> well, the committee says it will detail mr. trump's indifference to the danger that lawmakers and his own vp were in the committee has scheduled live testimony from two trump white house staffers who resigned on january 6th, these two, the deputy press secretary, sarah matthews, and the deputy national security advisor, matthew pottinger. in his previous deposition, pottinger testified that he reached a breaking point when president trump tweeted this shortly after the first rioters had breached the capitol mike pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done. >> i read that tweet and made a decision at that moment to resign that's where i knew that i was

mr. meadows that i didn't believe it was a smart idea for him to go to the willard hotel that night.rnoon, he mentioned a few more times going up to the willard hotel that evening and then eventually dropped the subject the night of the 5th and said that he would dial in instead. >> steve bullock, scott jennings, miles taylor are back with me now. the committee has been extraordinarily careful to delineate what the proud boys, the oath keepers, these organized extremist groups were doing. they've been separating them out from trump supporters who were there who did not plan in advance to do the things these groups tried to do. if this connection is made directly or as a matter of perception, what does that mean for republican leadership? what does mitch mcconnell need to be saying and doing about this right now? >> if they can prove this link, it's incredibly damaging to the whole idea. there's this pervasive idea on the right that these people were invited in. the police let them in. it was just wandering tourists. >> i was there. they were not invited in. >> you see these people wi