Summary
Federal officials said that the goal of the rioters was to capture and assassinate officials in the Capitol. Officer Mike Fanone, an injured capitol police officer, says that rioters chanting "kill him with his own gun." James Comey pressed on controversial call to shield President Donald Trump from accountability and discourages criminal probe. GOP Congress is under fire for enabling President Trump and election lie. Senate trial may use Trump's violent rhetoric as evidence for his impeachment, as GOP backed Trump as he fomented violence and overthrowing the election.
Transcript
ARI MELBER, MSNBC HOST: I'm Ari Melber. Welcome to a special edition of The Beat tonight. We have one of the top law enforcement experts in the nation and a vital special report on justice over unity.
Plus, breaking news right now on the new evidence, the Feds are using against D.C. rioters including the infamous QAnon Shaman who was in court today, Feds alleged the rioters intended to capture and assassinate elected officials, as other government officials question some of the evidence for that. The Feds also warning these rioters believed quote, the insurrection is still in progress, which is why D.C. is in a total lockdown tonight.
A Baghdad style Green Zone guarded by over 20,000 troops amidst reports that a rehearsal for the actual inaugurations already been delayed over security concerns. Authorities in the nation learning even more about this insurrection. New video evidence of rioters plotting in a frenzy moments before that heroic Capitol Hill police officer led them up partially up the stairs to divert them from where they might do more harm in a Senate chamber under evacuation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, hey. Where are they counting the votes? Where are they counting the votes?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put it down.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where they counting? Where they counting? Where they counting?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hands up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: These people, these people have no weapons.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back up, back up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go, go. He's one person, we're thousands.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: New video on the harrowing beating of an officer that we've been reporting on as some tried to lead him away from the attack.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come here get him back up there. Come on. Come on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Lift him up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We let you go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Come on. Come on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: It's a harrowing scene. And I can tell you tonight we're actually hearing from that officer for the first time out of the hospital recounting how his side, the police force, was so outnumbered a gunfight would certainly be a bloodbath. He also offers firsthand evidence of how MAGA fans were chanting a literal plan to seize his gun and kill him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OFFICER MIKE FANONE, D.C. POLICE: I remember guys chanting like kill him with his own gun. I thought about killing people. I probably shoot a couple and then they're going to take the gun away from me and kill me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: Our coverage begins now with James Comey, who of course served as FBI Director under President's Obama and Trump before a firing that helped spark the Mueller probe. Mr. Comey is an experienced federal prosecutor having led the famed Southern District of New York as U.S. Attorney. His new book is "Saving Justice, Truth, Transparency, and Trust." Mr. Comey, thanks for being here.
JAMES COMEY, FMR FBI DIRECTOR: Thanks for having me, Ari.
MELBER: Starting with the security concerns, given your knowledge of the FBI when it states that there are, quote, credible threats going into this weekend, and the prosecutors say they see a quote, insurrection in progress, what does that mean?
COMEY: Well, it means that the threat that you see on your television screens and the disturbing images you just showed there are part of an enormous effort of radicalized people to do harm to our democracy. It is a thousands of people across this country, maybe even millions who have been radicalized by a torrent of lies, just the way Islamic fundamentalists were radicalized by Al-Qaeda in the Islamic State, and they pose a threat.
MELBER: Let me read some of what "The Washington Post" is reporting as you make that comparison, law enforcement saying extremists might use quote, firearms and explosives. They're monitoring these online calls to rally in cities nationwide, beginning Sunday. When do you think the Feds will be at a level where they can actually prevent and protect this as opposed to what we all witnessed at the Capitol?
COMEY: Well, I think and hope that we're at that level right now. We have the resources to protect our sites, to protect the Capitol, to protect state Capitols. We have the resources to gather information about their plans and intentions. I just for the life of me can't understand why those resources weren't deployed to protect on January the 6th.
MELBER: Let's look together at some of the new video, the mounting evidence. I know it's hard for any American yourself included. But I think it's necessary when you talk about why they didn't. The Trump administration and federal law enforcement didn't have it under control. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CROWD: Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a gun. There's a gun. There's a gun.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: Should law enforcement approach this chiefly as alleged crimes by those people on site or also look at the speakers at Wednesday's rally in your view?
COMEY: They should look all around this attack. It's not just about those who physically made their way to the Capitol attack, those officers who are attack at the space. They have to be brought to justice. But you have to investigate in a circle all around them, who equipped them, who trained them, who incited them, who gave them reconnaissance tips, if there were any, who helped them make this attack as successful as it was, it has to be looked into 360.
MELBER: FBI Director Wray, who ultimately succeeded you as the permanent director, has been totally MIA. It seems to be a scandal unfolding in plain sight. Has his response since Wednesday in your view, then lackluster or not?
COMEY: Well, I assume because I know him. He's smart, hardworking, and a person of integrity that he's working very hard in his office in the building in his dealings behind the scenes. It's harder to explain why there's no physical presence in front of the American people. One of the obligations of a leader of a justice institution is not just to work hard. It's to show that work to reassure the American people to educate them and to tell them that our justice agencies are on it.
Now, that said, these are unusual times. And I could imagine that he's in a position where he worries that an unstable President, if he sees him out there saying what I just said, which is that you have to investigate those who might have incited this, might fire him and decapitate the FBI during a national crisis. I could imagine him deciding --
MELBER: Is that -- but is that -- Mr. Comey, is that a good enough reason, given the national security issues? Shouldn't he do what's necessary? And if that means, brief the public I mean, you and I know about these probes, I've seen more robust and faster public briefings with Q&A over tax probes and insider trading investigations than this. And if he's afraid Trump will fire him. So be it. Joe Biden may or may not rehire him. Doesn't he have to do the job now?
COMEY: Well, I doubt he's worried about the job itself. I think knowing him he's a person worried about the institution. And I could imagine him deciding that in this crisis to have the FBI leader fired in the last five days of the President's term, while there's a crisis ongoing of this magnitude would be a bad thing for the country. So I could imagine him making that judgment, not for his personal interest, but to try to protect the institution.
MELBER: I want to read from one of the so called Comey memos of something that may have gotten less attention, but showed how immediately Donald Trump was pursuing attempts to bend criminal law for autocratic ends, which as we understand it as part of why you documented it in real time. Jailing reporters, quote, the President said, we need to go after the reporters and refer to the fact that 10 or 15 years ago, quote, we put them in jail. He replied telling me, talk to Sessions. See what we could do about being more aggressive. Is that important for people to understand? Do you view these attempts to bend American law by Donald Trump who have started as early as then?
COMEY: Oh, sure. It was just a small piece, Donald Trump started trying to bend the American institutions of law and intelligence, the moment we met with him before he took office trying to shape what we were telling him about Russian interference in the election to his benefit, and it never stopped. And it's continued until now. He took a blowtorch to anything that threatened him, law enforcement, the intelligence community. And then she said, of course, the media which he tried to turn into an enemy of the American people, which is why we also saw appalling violence against the media that also better be investigated.
MELBER: Important. And so if you saw that then and wrote it down then, why keep working for him? Was there ever a time that you would have left if not fired?
COMEY: I was going to try to stay to protect the FBI, as long as I possibly could. And I knew it was going to be very, very unpleasant to deal with a lawless, really bad person as President, but that to me increase the need to stay and to protect this vital institution. Inevitably it would -- there was going to be a collision between the two of us just given the way we were raised, but I was determined to try to last as long as I could.
MELBER: When you see this now in the mounting evidence, number one, does it appear that Donald Trump has broken any laws? And number two, should he be held accountable for that?
COMEY: I'll start with the accountability first. There's no doubt he should be held accountable for his actions. He radicalizing a huge part of the American public and then directing them by his words to move towards the Capitol, engage of acts of violence. Whether that amounts to criminal incitement or seditious conspiracy is a closer question when I can't answer without knowing more facts that aren't available to us outside an investigation. But he's morally culpable at a minimum, which is why the House had to impeach him and the Senate has to convict him and barred him from serving anymore.
MELBER: But under the rule of law, if he's an ex-president, and it's found that he did break laws, he should be prosecuted like anyone else, correct?
COMEY: He should if I were still a prosecutor I'd love to prosecute him myself. But that doesn't answer a harder question, which is, is it in the national interest to have him on stage every day in our Nation's Capitol as part of the United States versus Donald Trump during the three or four years that Joe Biden is trying to heal this country both spiritually and physically?
And so that's a closed question, and it's one that the Biden administration is going to have to answer because it isn't about Donald Trump. He tries to make the entire world about him. It's about what's best for the country, and it may be best for the country to let local prosecutors prosecute him in D.C. and lock him up and to ban him from government service and send them away to Mar-a-Lago but it's a very hard call.
MELBER: You just phrased the question as lawyers do, because, again, former FBI Director but also a steam prosecutor. Is it in the national interest if those crimes were provable to put Donald Trump on trial? I have a follow up for you on that if you want to stick around, Sir, and we'll be right back after a quick break?
COMEY: Well, of course, of course, Ari.
MELBER: Yes, Sir. Mr. James Comey stays with us. The Beat continues. We have a lot of news tonight. We'll be back right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MELBER: Welcome back to The Beat. We're continuing our discussion with former FBI Director James Comey. Before the break, you were outlining your reservations about any potential federal prosecution of Donald Trump. And I wanted to press you on that because it's even more pressing for the country and relevant since Wednesday. It seems like you're saying and you've said and written, quote, you don't think it's in the best thing for the country to have Donald Trump on our television screens every day for four years in a federal case, end quote.
It seems like you are, again, weighing in on the idea that something other than the rule of law should dictate this, that you're making a kind of out of court prediction about whether this would ultimately play well or not. And so the question I have to ask you is, isn't that itself a departure from DOJ rules and the kind of mistake that has gotten prosecutors, including yourself as FBI director in trouble before? Isn't it more prudent for legal leaders of the nation where you obviously have this input and this experience, to remind everyone that prosecutors have to find facts and leave it at that period whether we are correct in our predictions of whether people like it or not?
COMEY: No, I disagree. In applying the rule of law in deciding whether to prosecute, it's always important to consider collateral consequences, because your client is justice. And so you often won't prosecute mother and father, if that's going to make children legal orphans. You often don't prosecute a company, because you don't want to put thousands of people out of work. You have to consider the consequences of a prosecution if they're going to be collateral consequences.
It's just the way a responsible prosecutor operates. It's entirely consistent with Department of Justice policies and traditions. In fact, if some way charged people without considering those consequences, they'd be acting inappropriately.
MELBER: What Sir, in your view, are the collateral consequences of a potential prosecution of Donald Trump if warranted by the facts that would outweigh the normal course of prosecuting people if the facts provide for?
COMEY: Making it much harder for a new president to heal a nation by having a sideshow, a circus of Donald Trump's design, because he'll be a free man able to hold press conferences in front of that courthouse every single day, for month upon month upon month, just down the street from where our new president is trying to turn the country around.
It's the same reason that Gerald Ford made that very, very difficult and at the time hated decision not to pursue Richard Nixon, because he said to the Congress, I need to think about a suffering and rising nation. And I think it's more important to move past a corrupt and fallen leader. I don't know what the right decision is here. But my instinct is that it's going to be very important to consider the national interest and rise above my urge to lock the guy up and prosecute him and think about the collateral consequences for a nation of 330 million with a new president.
MELBER: Yes, I'll give you a rebuttal as the final word. You said under oath that you released those memos I quoted from earlier in the hopes of starting a criminal investigation that became the Mueller probe, to hold Trump accountable. Why would you support that then, while he was President? And then now say, wait, there shouldn't be any criminal consequences. Do you see that potential contradiction? And I give you, Mr. Comey, I appreciate you taking all the questions. I give you the final word.
COMEY: I don't. As a private citizen trying to prompt an investigation, I think that is very different than the Attorney General having to make a decision about whether to charge the President. There's no doubt that the facts should be gathered. So that can be a full understanding of the President's legal exposure. But that's very different from a judgment about what's in the national interest in terms of charging this individual.
MELBER: Mr. James Comey, former prosecutor, former FBI Director with extensive experience in some of the issues we face, I appreciate you coming on The Beat for the first time. I hope you come back, Sir.
COMEY: Thanks for having me, Ari.
MELBER: Thank you. And the book again, out now is quote, Saving Justice.
I want to thank everyone for spending this time with us. It has been a long week. It's Friday night. I want to tell you we've been working on a very special report about how we got here, and why new calls from some of Donald Trump's enablers for political unity are not only wrong, but dangerous. That report is next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MELBER: Now we turn to our special report on how we got here, an accountability going forward because the rule of law requires justice, not demands for political unity in place of justice. Our nation just watched an insurrection in real time. Americans killed. Law enforcement brutally attacked for hours as Trump fans hunted our elected officials from the Speaker of the House to the Vice President inside the seat of our democracy, a place that was considered safe and sacrosanct, attacked by a mob of Trump supporters whom he told to go to the Capitol and fight whom he routed on his special during the attack.
This truth matters. And while many may try to lie about these facts, the people at the insurrection they knew exactly why they were there. They told us.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were invited here. We were invited. Hey we were invited here. We were invited by the President of the United States.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: That is true. An insurrection built on so many lies about the election, about race, about America was accurate about that one thing. Trump told them to go there just like he told him to fight. And just like he spent years telling everyone his goals lead an authoritarian state where he would direct the violence, crush the free press, jail his opponents, ban Muslims, denigrate minorities, cheat in elections, take foreign help and admitted, and corner any check on his power as inherently one more fraud. You know these things may look worse right now but he did admit his entire authoritarian plan the whole time.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Let's all hate these people because maybe hate is what we need.
Get him out of here. Throw him out.
A total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States.
Crooked Hillary Clinton.
Lock her up is right.
Russia if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 e-mails.
China just started investigation into the Biden.
They grab one guy. I'm a reporter. I'm a reporter. Get out of here.
These thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, I said please don't be too nice.
This election was a fraud. This, it was a rigged election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: This is America. Over 62 million people voted for that in 2016. Over 74 million people voted for it again in November. Now both times more Americans did choose the alternative to Trump. This is still obviously a huge part of America though. So minimizing that or continuing any denial about it now in the days ahead, is an extension of the myopic and sometimes smug attitude that first greeted Trump's candidacy in 2015, when his claims were not taken seriously enough by serious people. And many comfy elites viewed his rise as a literal punch line.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He might be leading Republican ticket.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Next. I know you don't believe that, but I want to go on to regular case.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Which Republican candidate has the best chance of winning the general election?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Of the declared ones right now, Donald Trump?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Does anybody seriously think that Donald Trump is serious about running for President? Donald Trump will never ever be President.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: People who wrongly tell you a possible danger will never occur. They're not helping. That was true, then. It's also true right now tonight, as some are still minimizing how we got here or blindly asserting the worst is over or that Trumpism is automatically withering or the violence will be contained or he could never win office again. This is not a personal observation, of course. We know it from history and art.
Sinclair Lewis's 1935 dystopian novel about a dictator taking over the U.S. was called, "It Can't Happen Here" for a reason. He was mocking people who naively talk like that. There were others who did see Trump clearly who thought sounding the alarm was far more important than worrying about sounding alarmist. They took it seriously all along from 2016 before Donald Trump's authoritarian attacks, morphed into attacks on a government he led all the way through this very election as some officials warned Trump was inspiring his people to commit violence, which would lead to people committing violence and killing people.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Dozens of senior Republican, national security officials are warning about the dangers they see in a potential Trump presidency.
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think it's important for us to take seriously the statements he's made in the past.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Immigrants documented and otherwise right now are in fear, what it means that our country just endorsed him after what he threatened.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shame on you. Shame on you. Shame on you. Shame on you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop inspiring people to commit potential acts of violence, someone's going to get hurt, someone's going to get shot, someone's going to get killed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: And the record is clear, there was not much actual genuine disagreement about what Trump was across the leaders in both parties. Initially, the genre here is tragedy, not mystery. Before Donald Trump got power, plenty of Republican officials called out his direct repeated appeals to violence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That we have a front runner in my party who has fed into language that basically justifies physically assaulting people who disagree with you.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A toxic environment is allowed his supporters and those who sometimes see confrontation to come together in violence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When the person you're supporting for President is going around saying things like go ahead and slap him around. I'll pay your legal fees. What do you think's going to happen next?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: What do you think is going to happen next? This is very important right now. The Republicans in power who enabled Trump the most in federal government, McConnell, Graham, Cruz, they made virtually the same warnings about him in those months leading up to the 2016 election. There may be no more lethal, ethical attack on them now than their own words then, which reveal they were knowingly complicit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): This man is a pathological liar.
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I don't think he's a kook. I think he's crazy. I think he's unfit for office.
We should have basically kicked him out of the party. I'm going to stand with President Trump.
CRUZ: I believe President Trump still has a path to victory.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The decent thing to do is let the President himself take the time he wants to absorb this. You have to allow that to happen.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): President Trump is 100 percent within his rights.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: The Republican elites knew better, just as they knew he lost the 2020 election as they knew Biden would be inaugurated in January, now next week. But its Trump lied to his 74 million supporters as he demanded Georgia officials and Pence break the law for him. These Republicans, they didn't even see that as a breaking point. They joined that effort to overthrow democracy.
Now, that's not a statement of rhetoric or dramatic license. I am reporting to you that a majority of House Republicans voted with Trump's plan to toss states that backed Biden, certified final results in order to try to steal the race he lost on the House floor. Just as Senator Cruz returned to what had become that crime scene in the Capitol and still voted for that same goal after the insurrection. He cast that vote on the Senate floor a few feet away from where Mitch McConnell declared what happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCONNELL: They tried to disrupt our democracy. They failed. We assembled this afternoon to count our citizens votes. Now we're going to finish exactly what we started. This failed insurrection only underscores how crucial the task before us is for our Republic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: They failed to change the votes. But McConnell spent weeks allowing Trump's election lie to fester before finally noting that Biden did win while Senator Cruz and most of those House Republicans backed the election scheme to the very end. Evidence shows the insurrection was fueled by those two months where so many Republicans joined and amplified Trump's big lie.
Historian Tim Snyder writes about this, quote, the responsibility for Trump's push to overturn an election must be shared by a very large number of Republican members of Congress. He notes, how the majority of the House GOP caucus, quote, voted for the lie that had forced them to flee their chambers, voting for the lie powering the attack.
That is a fact so disturbing, elected officials siding with the goals of the insurrectionists who attacked the police on their way to try to kill them, those officials, members of Congress, Republican and Democrat alike. You can see why psychologically there are those who are weak minded and would rather just deny it and face it.
But we do remember where denial goddess before, don't we? The same historian I quoted argues there are actually two groups here, first, Republicans who wanted to politically benefit from that position for another election. And second, others who literally want to break democracy to stay in power. This problem may be with us for some time as Trump is evicted as these violent threats loom. This is all part of what we're going into this weekend and into inauguration and beyond.
The rioter as recline hit a similar point after Wednesday's riot noting that many highly educated GOP lawmakers were cynical about Trump. They knew this was crap. They knew Biden would be president. And they still, quote, brought this upon themselves and all of us. That's right. And many journalists have made this point as an independent observation, the same journalists who Donald Trump spent years trying to discredit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some Republicans are acting like Trump's behaviors a big joke, quote, what is the downside for humoring him for this little bit of time?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The villains here as much as him and maybe in some ways more than him, because they were the ones who are more duplicitous, where the Kevin McCarthy's of the world, the Ted Cruz's of the world, the Hawley's of the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: These people are still in government as they lose control of the Senate. Some of them, they may still run for president in the future. So assuming America will automatically be passed this on January 20th, was like assuming that 2021 was going to be so much better than 2020 because the ball dropped because the calendar changed. We're 15 days into 2021. How's that assumption working out?
The instruction was not some spectacularly random event that spontaneously got out of hand. I want you to understand this as a fact. It was the direct consequence of Trumpism and its enablers. There's more and more evidence that got as bad as it did because Trump was in charge of the federal law enforcement that would typically be more prepared for this kind of threat.
And to state the obvious, it was an explosion of violence on behalf of Trump's authoritarian plot, coming on the exact day of the demand that Congress and the Vice President followed Trump's demands to overthrow an election, to break the law, to keep Trump in power, and to yes, literally end democracy in this country. Who could have seen it coming? Anyone who has a passing familiarity with Donald Trump's authoritarian attacks on the U.S., our institutions and any checks on his power?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We have bad laws.
The entire thing has been a witch hunt.
I called the fake news, the enemy of the people and they are. They are the enemy of the people.
This was an Obama judge. It's not going to happen like this anymore.
An attempted coup, this was an attempted takedown of a president.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: An attempted coup. Donald Trump accusing others of a coup for the same reason he accuses others of unfairly bullying him. The conspiracy theory always works to vindicate him, the Dear Leader and his fans. They cannot be wrong under this thinking. They cannot lose. So anything that suggests otherwise is part of the conspiracy. It is either an unfair conspiracy against them, or a fraud.
Appeasing that kind of propaganda from a man who admits to being an authoritarian is dangerous. None of this came out of the blue. This point was captured even by some gallows humor online after Wednesday's attack, when one observer posted this simple reaction. Well, that escalated steadily for four years. It sure did. It escalated incrementally in plain sight this whole time. Just as Trump fans resorted to mob violence all the way back at a Chicago rally in 2016. Police were injured amidst clashes that were so out of control. Trump canceled it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Political rally had to be canceled tonight as tensions gave way to violence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is becoming violent. This is -- there is pushing and shoving going on inside this arena. People are throwing objects.
CROWD: We want Trump. We want Trump.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: That was 2016. During this 2020 campaign, the man who called for his second amendment people to target Hillary Clinton also directly encouraged a dangerous attack by a MAGA caravan on a Biden campaign bus trying to run it off the road, which of course could injure or kill Biden staff. That was heinous and allegedly criminal at the time. Now it may become evidence against Trump at his Senate trial, hard evidence of the long standing support he does provide for violent crime against those who peacefully oppose his ideas.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Campaign staff were driving down the highway when they were surrounded by trucks and other vehicles supporting President Trump.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Tried to slow down one of its buses and run it off the road.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Trump and the President himself intensifying voter intimidation efforts and praising potentially criminal conduct by his supporters over the weekend.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He believes the, quote, patriots did nothing wrong.
TRUMP: They're crazy bus driving down the highway. They're surrounded by like hundreds of cars and they're all Trump flags all over them. What a good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: Trump's violent rhetoric and calls to liberate his own political fans from states run by Democratic officials led to those armed and medicine gatherings in May of this year. An authoritarian blueprint and action back in October, a Michigan militia was indicted for a full blown plot to storm their Capitol and kidnap the Democratic governor.
After the election, far right protesters tried to force their way into Oregon's Capitol Building this was in December, amidst the election lies some with guns drawn. Others attacked with bear spray. It was wrong then. It was out in the open. We were reporting on it. But now it looks a lot more like an eerie test run for the national insurrection just as so much of Trump's direct demands for violence and open musings about a military dictatorship. We're just that, a demand for autocratic powers.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Knock the crap out of it, would you, seriously.
I will pay for the legal fees I promise.
I'd like to punch him in the face. I'll tell you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He wants a massive parade to highlight the country's military strength.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Often associated with the former Soviet Union's Red Square celebrations.
TRUMP: I get along with President Putin.
The tougher and meaner they are, the better I get along with them, maybe it's not a bad thing.
Xi is a great gentleman. He's now president for life. I think it's great. Maybe we'll have to give that a shot someday.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: So that's him. That's the leader. That's the autocrat. Now I don't have time right now to play all the cynical craven lying defenses of what you heard there from Donald Trump, but you watch the news. You live through this with us. You probably remember them. I want to give you just a brief sampling.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Clearly, the President was making a joke.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I doubt if the China comment was serious to tell you the truth.
CHRIS CHRISTIE, FORMER GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY: I heard it differently last night.
MCCONNELL: A few legal inquiries from the President do not exactly spell the end of the Republic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: That was November 2020. Donald Trump never claimed to honor elections. He never pledged to transfer power peacefully.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: This election was a fraud. This -- it was a rigged election.
There's no way we lost Joe to this, no way. That was a rigged election.
So what are we going to do here, folks? I only need 11,000 votes. Fellas, I need 11,000 votes Give me a break.
The secretary of state who is really, he's an enemy of the people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Someone's going to get killed.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: So when Trump summoned his fans to Washington after all that, after the direct threats against election officials, after the attempted violence at state houses, after Donald Trump promised them he'd walked with them to the Capitol. They believed him. They did what they thought he wanted them to do and people did get killed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Because you'll never take back our country with weakness. We're going to walk down to the Capitol.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The Capitol steps are now jammed with people. They have now taken hold of those checks.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, they're going in. They're going in.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go, go, go, go, go, go.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: See you later.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's go. Let's go.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There are now protesters inside the Capitol building itself.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of the way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They evacuated the leadership. And then they started an evacuation of House members.
CROWD: Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We were surrounded by rioters who are trying to ram and break down the doors and break through the glass.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A woman who was shot inside the U.S. Capitol today has died.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
MELBER: That escalated steadily. The most pressing challenge is now facing all of this reality for actual justice. We will do that in the conclusion of this special report after a brief break. I'll be back with you in just 30 seconds.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MELBER: Welcome back to our special report tonight on the facts of how we got here and the pursuit of justice ahead.
A nation with the rule of law must apply it fairly. It's no accident that in the Trump era, we've seen an explosion of debates about law and order, about racism and favoritism, about the use of force and state killings. These are long standing American problems, but they're certainly worse when the state is led by a man bluntly pressing autocratic plots and bigoted schemes. It is also no accident that even before Trump has left the building and lost government power. We're already hearing these calls from his allies for unity and understanding and putting divisive tasks aside.
Many of those claims are best understood as criminal defenses and diversions, not a legitimate civic debate because the insurrection is a legal and constitutional challenge for the nation to address with justice. It is not a debate between legitimate sides. There's no talk of unity and a murder trial because it's irrelevant to pursuing justice. I mean that literally, a comment about unity would be ruled out of order a trial because the jury must determine what happened. Was it a crime or not whether a finding of guilt or innocence would impact unity outside the courtroom?
And I say justice, not vengeance because this is the rule of law. And the months and years ahead, the insurrection and riot will be put on trial. There'll be several trials actually, a second Senate trial for the President, who was acquitted last time with the support of Republican senators. Remember that trial was also for charges that Donald Trump autocratically and illegally tried to cheat in the same 2020 race facing the same opponent, now President-elect Biden. And there will be trials for the people who stormed the Capitol and attacked police and plotted to kidnap and kill elected officials, all to keep their autocrat in power.
Justice requires they are legally presumed innocent until proven guilty, and each entitled to due process and an individual assessment of the case. We do not try them in the press. We do not presume their guilt. We must follow the rule of law and justice affording them a very process and dignity they would deny others. And that justice must come first and be independent from whatever else the nation wants to do in public debate or policy reform or any future elections.
We did just have an election and the people chose to end Trump's presidency to transfer the Senate out of Republican control. And when the historically Republican state of Georgia witnessed Donald Trump's actions over these months, these last two months and much of what I just reported to you, when it saw its Republican senators rush to back him at every single turn it booted both of them for new leaders, knowing that action would also demote Trump enabler Mitch McConnell, in favor of a Democratic Senate.
Trumpism escalated steadily over these years. But so did a firm rebuttal and rejection of it. And when justice is done, the nation may also want to keep in mind the truth that is the backdrop for everything we just showed you factually tonight. Who stood where, who bears some responsibility as people in the future decide whom to choose as these politicians seek more power from you in the future. Choose wisely. Your life may depend on it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Clearly, the President was making a joke.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He loves to bait the press.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think he did it to get you guys.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: American patriot start taking down names and kicking ass.
CROWD: Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's have trial by combat.
TRUMP: We're going to have to fight much harder.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now remember guys chanting like kill him with his own gun.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
MELBER: Welcome back to The Beat. We're joined by former prosecutor John Flannery. Your thoughts on justice in America at this juncture.
JOHN FLANNERY, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: My thought is that the Senate, every senator should have a copy of your presentation tonight start with as a primmer, for what we've all seen publicly.
In terms of justice, we have to hold accountable, our highest and most important, elite elected and otherwise. Otherwise, the farce that we've been perpetuating in recent years that no man is above the law is proven to be false. We have a President who has at every turn, going back to the campaign, but especially the first month he took office, he started these Hitler like rallies. And we saw the combination of ways that he approached them.
He would tell them the big lie. He would get them curious. And then he would encourage them to violence, even in the early days as your piece showed. So it is no surprise that we ended up here but there's something very interesting about Trump as coward. Even as he was saying what's found in the impeachment resolution. If you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore. He said he would walk with them to the Capitol. A coward wouldn't do it.
Bone spurred, Trump would never do that. So inciting people to riot, bringing them to the Capitol, perhaps having conversations with the leadership encouraging this fight that he knew was illegal, because again, it was the big lie to overturn an election for which the people had very clearly designated Biden as their president. They did it. They had 60 cases in court. They counted and recount of the ballots. We had the Electoral College. We had a Vice President from his party, his associate, who refused to violate the law. And so what did they do? They tried to bring down the Capitol.
Those are basic crimes against the Republic. And all those people who flew here on the watch list and who mapped out the Congress and talked about killing and everything else like that, those are felony murder accusations. Anybody who is in that Capitol might be subject to that and the President himself inciting this offense.
MELBER: Right.
FLANNERY: And then we have both state and federal laws.
MELBER: And I've got to -- I have to hand it. I have to hand it to Joy Reid, and people can debate historical comparisons with John Flannery. As you mentioned, the law has to look at the facts of what was done and who fomented violence. I want to thank you. And we end the week with our Councilor Flannery. I want to thank you --
FLANNERY: Thank you.
MELBER: -- for watching The Beat with Ari Melber. These are harrowing times but as we emphasize tonight, keep your eye on the truth and be wary of those that want you to ignore it or move on. The ReidOut with Joy Reid, starts now.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.END
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