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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Never Before Seen Video Behind The Scenes Of Congressional Leaders With Capitol Under Attack; Pence's Calls With Lawmakers About Securing Capitol; New Footage From Jan. 6 Shows Congressional Leaders Frantically Trying to Quell The Capitol Insurrection; Pence Calls House, Senate Leaders From Capitol Basement About Efforts To Secure Capitol On Jan. 6. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired October 13, 2022 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Tonight, an extraordinary scene of resistance over China's severe crackdown on COVID. Protesters using an overpass to hang two big banners, one reading "Go on strike. Remove dictator and national traitor Xi Jinping." An unbelievable statement.
The other say "No to COVID test. Yes to food. No to lockdown. Yes to freedom." So rare to see anything like this, a protest in China, especially protest directed at Xi, who is about to secure an unprecedented third term in power.
AC 360 starts now.
[20:00:42]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": Good evening.
You are going to see a number of extraordinary things over the course of this next hour. It is very rare that we see history happening in real time. We've all seen the images of what happened outside the Capitol on January 6th of the Capitol being breached, people wandering around, destroying property. That was historic.
But it is even rarer to see what was happening behind closed doors where the people in power were making decisions, and that is what you're about to see tonight.
In this hour ahead, one of the most consequential moments and living memory in a way you've never seen it before. Footage from January 6, 2021 obtained exclusively by CNN as the attack on the Capitol unfolded, showing how congressional leaders Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others were forced to flee the Capitol from their offices and move to a secure location where they frantically coordinated with then Vice President Pence and Trump Cabinet members to quell the insurrection and finish certifying the election. Trying in short, to keep democracy and the rule of law from coming apart at the seams.
Our guests tonight, including the legendary reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, we will be seeing much of this video for the very first time, seeing what is a remarkable historical record of that dark day. Earlier today, the House January 6th Committee, they played a small
portion of it, only a few minutes. We're going to be showing you about an hour's worth of it before making themselves history earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): We are obligated to seek answers directly from the man who set this all in motion and every American is entitled to those answers, so we can act now to protect our Republic.
So this afternoon, I am offering this resolution that the Committee directs the Chairman to issue a subpoena for relevant documents and testimony under oath from Donald John Trump in connection with the January 6th attack on the United States Capitol.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: And they all voted in favor of that, and now the day would be significant alone for that or just for the footage the Committee presented as members made what amounts to their closing argument to their case, but there is far more.
So this video we're going to show you tonight, no one else has seen before. Only a few minutes of it were shown in the Committee hearing today. It was shot by Alexandra Pelosi, who is a respected documentary filmmaker and she is the daughter of House Speaker Pelosi.
She was with her mom and her family documenting what was supposed to be a peaceful transfer of political power on January 6th, the kind of day that distinguishes this country from so many others when things came unglued.
Alexandra Pelosi kept on rolling. This first clip, which runs nearly 17 minutes is part of a documentary that Alexandra Pelosi has been working on for years. It is edited and we should warn you, you will hear no shortage of profanity, but this is the vantage point from Alexandra Pelosi in the Speaker's office on the day of January 6th and following events with her mom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, my God. So many of them.
REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): Today is a sacred day for our democracy as we mark the peaceful transfer of power.
The Constitution gives us a very specific role today. We are there for one purpose and one purpose only, to count the votes. That is our role. That is the beauty of these mahogany boxes that are being brought over from the Senate. They are the repository of the certificates done by the Governors which embody the will of the people.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): You're in the game, this is it, you know, and we have to be ready in a timely fashion and the more quickly we can have the votes, the more quickly we can designate Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, President and Vice President of the United States.
I just want to say this in closing as well.
Today, is a Feast of the Epiphany, January 6th. Visit of the Magi, the rest of the world are seeing the Birth of Christ and that.
[20:05:02]
PELOSI: Let us pray in any way that you do for our country and that today will be an epiphany for the American people, as they see the difference between our respect for the oath we take versus what they're up to, and let us hope that they will see the light as they had their own epiphany on the other side.
ANNOUNCER: Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the 45th President of the United States of America, President Donald J. Trump.
DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Hundreds of thousands of American patriots are committed to the honesty of our elections and the integrity of our glorious Republic. All of us here today do not want to see our election victory stolen by emboldened radical left Democrats, which is what they're doing and stolen by the fake news media, that's what they've done and what they're doing.
We will never give up. We will never concede. It doesn't happen. You don't concede when there is theft involved.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is very dangerous what he is doing. He's getting all these people to show up in protest, stop the steal. He's putting all these crazy ideas in their head.
TRUMP: And after this, we're going to walk down and I'll be there with you. We're going to walk down to the Capitol.
PELOSI: Tell him, if he comes here, we're going to the White House.
TRUMP: And Mike Pence is going to have to come through for us and if he doesn't, that will be a sad day for our country.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They're marching up. You can see them marching up.
TRUMP: Our country has had enough we will not take it anymore and that's what this is all about.
TERRY MCCULLOUGH, CHIEF OF STAFF: Secret Service said they have dissuaded him from coming to Capitol Hill. They told him they don't have the resources to protect him here. So, at the moment he is not coming, but that could change.
PELOSI: If he comes, I am going to punch him out. That's what I'm going to do. We're waiting for this. For trespassing on the Capitol grounds. I am going to punch him out and I'm going to go to jail and I'm going to be happy.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Look the protesters outside the Capitol. (CROWD chanting USA.)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You remember when you were a little boy, and all the protesters came to protest the Affordable Care Act.
PAUL, PELOSI'S GRANDSON: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Okay, go get them Mimi.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Those are the boxes. Electoral votes.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God. How did that guy get up there?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Does the Speaker have any open?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What if they try and run the Capitol?
(CROWD chanting USA.)
REP. PAUL GOSAR (R-AZ): Mr. Vice President, I, Paul Gosar from Arizona --
MIKE PENCE, THEN VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: For what purpose does the gentleman from Arizona rise?
GOSAR: I rise up both for myself and 60 of my colleagues to object to the counting of the electoral ballots from Arizona.
PENCE: Is the objection in writing and signed by a senator?
GOSAR: Yes, it is.
PENCE: The two Houses will withdraw from Joint Session. Each house will deliberate separately on the pending objection and report its decision back to the Joint Session. The Senate will now retire to its chamber.
(CROWD chanting USA.)
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): Voters, the Courts, and the States have all spoken. If we overrule them, it would damage our Republic forever.
(CROWD chanting USA.)
[20:10:01]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're our fucking brothers. Reach the fuck out.
(CROWD chanting USA.)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fuck you, police.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is my house.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is our house.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're in lockdown. Lockdown?
(CROWD chanting "Whose house? Our house.")
PELOSI: Are they calling the National Guard?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Yes, ma'am.
PELOSI: Did you reach Mr. McConnell?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We did.
PELOSI: And did he say "yes?"
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
PELOSI: And will they call the National Guard?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's correct.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where is that meeting at?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, where are they counting the fucking votes?
(INAUDIBLE CONVERSATIONS.)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We may get "All Heads Up."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're going to be bleeped.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Okay.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where are they counting?
(INAUDIBLE CONVERSATIONS.)
PELOSI: If they stop the proceedings, they will have succeeded in stopping the validation of the President of the United States.
If they stop the proceedings, we will have totally failed..
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Keep out of my fucking way.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We, the people. We, the People.
PELOSI: We have got to finish the proceedings or else they will have a compete victory.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holy shit.
(CROWD yelling "Nancy.")
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Holy shit.
(INAUDIBLE CONVERSATIONS.)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, look at this, e-mails. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's her laptop.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, hey. Anybody want Nancy's fucking boxing gloves? Hey there, you want Nancy's pink boxing gloves?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am taking (INAUDIBLE) all I want and know I was here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is my house.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fuck Nancy Pelosi.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fuck Nancy Pelosi.
PELOSI: So what's the prospect? We're going to stay here all day for the rest of our lives? Or what? We're here until what? Until the National Guard decides to come and get rid of these people?
(CROWD "Knock, knock. We're here.")
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where the fuck are they?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, let's take a seat, people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you see Nancy Pelosi?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's vote on some shit.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where the fuck is Nancy?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where are the fucking traitors? Drag them out by the fucking hair.
(CROWD answer yes.)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can I speak to Pelosi? Yes, we are coming, bitch. Oh, Mike Pence? We're coming for you, too, fucking traitor.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): My wife just called watching TV. There are people with guns trying to get into the House chamber.
PELOSI: Oh,, one of them is in the President of the Senate seat.
SCHUMER: Let me see. Oh my God. They broke into the Senate Chamber.
There is a picture of someone sitting in this Chair at the Senate. We've all been evacuated. There have been shots fired. We need a full National Guard component now.
We have some senators who were still in their hideaways. They need massive personnel now. Can you get the Maryland National Guard to come to?
RYAN MCCARTHY, SECRETARY OF THE ARMY: Yes, sir.
SCHUMER: Okay. [20:15:20]
PELOSI: Oh, my gosh. They are just breaking windows. It is just horrendous and all at the instigation of the President of the United States.
Okay, thank you, Governor.
SCHUMER: The Virginia Guard has been called in.
PELOSI: Yes, I was just talking to Governor Northam and what he said is, they sent to hundreds State Police and a unit of the National Guard.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR (on TV): ... debating in the House, debating in the Senate, and all of a sudden, John, we're told there's going to --
SCHUMER: Okay, let's get them. Get the Attorney General.
BLITZER: ... all of these senators, including the Vice President of the United States has been evacuated --
PELOSI: Personal safety just transcends everything, but the fact is, on any given day, they're breaking the law in many different ways. And, quite frankly, much of it at the instigation of the President of the United States.
SCHUMER: Yes, why don't you get the President to tell them to leave the Capitol, Mr. Attorney General in your law enforcement responsibility. A public statement, they should all leave.
JEFFREY ROSEN, ACTING US ATTORNEY GENERAL (via phone): We are doing something.
SCHUMER: Will you get the President to make a statement to ask them to leave the Capitol?
ROSEN: So, we might -- yes, we are (INAUDIBLE) this quickly as --
SCHUMER: No, no, please answer my question. Answer my question.
(INAUDIBLE CONVERSATIONS.)
MCCONNELL: We are in one hell of a hurry, understand.
CHRISTOPHER MILLER, ACTING US SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Got you loud and clearly --
SCHUMER: This cannot be just we're waiting for so and so. We need them there now, whoever you've got.
PELOSI: Just pretend for a moment it was The Pentagon or the White House or some other entity that was under siege. You can logically get people there as you make the plan. And you have some leadership of the National Guard there. They have not been given the authority to activate.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We have him on the phone.
PELOSI: Hi, Mr. Vice President. Hi, yes, we're okay. We're here with Mr. Schumer, Mr. McConnell, the leadership, House and Senate. And how are you?
Oh, my goodness, where are you? God bless you. But are you in a very safe -- well, we are still not safe enough for us to go back. We're being told it could take days to clear the Capitol and that we should be moving everyone here to get the job done. We're at [bleep] which has facilities for the House and the Senate to meet.
We'd rather go to the Capitol and do it there, but it doesn't seem to be safe. We've gotten a very bad report about the conditions of the House floor with defecation and all that kind of thing.
Okay, and then call us back. Okay. I worry about you being in that Capitol though. Don't let anybody know where you are.
TRUMP: This was a fraudulent election, but we can't play into the hands of these people. We have to have peace. So go home. We love you. You're very special.
SCHUMER: We shouldn't let him off the hook, Nancy. We issued a statement saying he's got to make a statement. He comes up with this BS.
PELOSI: Insurrection.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, yes.
PELOSI: That's a crime and he is guilty of it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fuck them all.
SCHUMER: Do you think we could get to the Capitol by nine or ten tonight and finish this?
MCCARTHY: Senator, I can't give an estimate how long it's going to clear. I don't know how many people are in the Capitol -- inside. So, there's a very complex operation we're going to have to conduct inside and out.
SCHUMER: The sooner you can get us -- we have to make a decision whether to go back to the Capitol if it's safe, which we prefer or do it here if it's not going to be safe for a couple of days.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fuck CNN. Fuck CNN.
(CROWD chanting "Fuck CNN.")
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Finish it. Finish it. Finish it.
[20:20:05] PENCE: Madam Speaker, I am in the Capitol Building. I am literally
standing with the troop of the US Capitol Police. He just informed me, it is their best information is that they believe that the House and the Senate will be able to be reconvene in roughly an hour.
SCHUMER: Good news.
PAUL IRVING, HOUSE SERGEANT-AT-ARMS (via phone): We have to keep some areas around the tape are off limits because it is basically a crime scene. If you look at outside, you know, the lobby on one side by the security.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: They had finally back to the Capitol.
A picture of a day unlike any other in American history. We're going to be playing more exclusive footage throughout this hour, but first we are going to talk about what we have just seen so far, that 17 minutes, which starts off in Speaker Pelosi's office, her grandson watching and others watching the mob approach the Capitol.
You see her and others being evacuated, going -- ending up at Fort McNair, where they are Nancy Pelosi -- Speaker Pelosi, even as she is being evacuated, she is urgently telling anybody who will listen that if they stop this, they will have succeeded. We will have totally failed.
She is working the phones even as she is being evacuated to insist that this process of certifying the election results must continue no matter what happens, and then they work the phones for hours with Chuck Schumer and others going -- blasting Jeffrey Rosen, the acting Attorney General demanding that he get the President to make some sort of a statement demanding that they start arresting protesters before they are able to get away.
Joining us right now is Bob Woodward, CNN political analyst, Carl Bernstein. Together they broke some of the biggest stories, the Watergate scandal. Separately, they remain prolific authors, investigative reporters. In Bob's case, one of the leading chroniclers of the moments you've just seen.
Bob, well, you just watched this for the first time. As you reflect, what sticks out to you?
BOB WOODWARD, AUTHOR: What it tells us about Donald Trump first. I mean, the idea that he was watching this -- a case has been made that has is provable that he is behind this. So where's the common decency?
And then, as you noted, the Republican leaders, Kevin McCarthy from the House, Mitch McConnell from the Senate are in on this. They are meeting with Pelosi and Schumer. They're trying to get out of it and what are the relations that no one had Donald Trump's cell phone number, or knew how to get a hold of him in a way?
And then I guess, the third thing, which is so important, there is a moral authority dimension to the presidency. The President has to, as we know, somebody will get detained illegally in Russia, China, Iran, the President will be on the case. Where was the President? The President was sitting this out and responsible. It's another chapter in the January 6th horror.
COOPER: Carl, I mean, it's extraordinary to me to see Speaker Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Steny Hoyer there talking to the Acting Secretary of Defense saying pretend this is The Pentagon, pretend this is the White House, stop giving us the runaround, essentially, and get people there. They need people on the ground, and nobody is calling. It's not as if Donald Trump is involved in any of this. This is being led. I mean, Nancy Pelosi is in charge in this one. Chuck Schumer is in charge. Steny Hoyer and some of these others.
CARL BERNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: They know that they have to save American democracy. It's really moving. You see the leaders of the Democratic Party, the Republican Party, and the Vice President of the United States, knowing that they have a deadline to finish this job. And you hear Pelosi say, and you hear the others say, if we can't get this job done by tonight, God knows what the consequences are.
And then you think about what happened afterwards when McConnell -- when McCarthy who had been so instrumental in this, turn around and for the next year-and-a-half enabled Trump keeps saying they stole the election, and McConnell is silent, and McCarthy is saying this investigation by the Committee is a partisan witch hunt.
COOPER: And by the way, Bob, you know you have Republicans with revisionist history saying, oh well you know, it wasn't so bad. They were just tourists walking through the corridors in the Capitol.
[20:25:11]
COOPER: Well, you have McCarthy there hiding in Fort McNair, just like everybody else, sensibly being brought their for their own security. McConnell, you have Steve Scalise there as well.
Any talk of, oh, these were just, you know, regular tourists. It certainly didn't seem like the Republicans believe that -- there is McCarthy right there staring at the camera. He didn't seem to believe that on that day.
WOODWARD: Well, of course, and McConnell and McCarthy initially came out and denounced Trump for this, and as Carl rightly points out, then they shifted their position to safe territory for Republicans in the Trump era.
I mean, the whole thing is so absurd that it defies -- our grandchildren are going to be looking at footage like this and accounts of what happened and they are going to say, "What the hell was going on in America?"
And Liz Cheney is right, all roads lead to Trump on this. And, again, what all of this shows, has he fallen into himself so completely that he didn't realize, he didn't care about other people at all? I mean, it is absolutely astounding behavior. And, as we know from reporting, a lot of people around Trump during
this period felt he was in mental decline. This is another example, I believe, of that.
COOPER: Carl, for all the criticism that gets leveled at Nancy Pelosi for her age, or some of these other people, she is in full control here. From the moment she is being evacuated, she has the big picture in mind. She knows democracy is at stake. She's not crying on the phone, screaming, saying, "Oh, my God, this is crazy."
She is saying, this cannot be allowed to succeed and she is in the car say what? This is ridiculous. How long are we going to be in these cars? We've got to get this process back on track.
BERNSTEIN: Even before she is evacuated. You see that shot of the window, and she is aware already. She sees that mob out there and she knows that the President of the United States is a mad ruler. That's also through this whole thing. The people in that room know that the President of the United States is a madman, most of them do.
McConnell knows, McCarthy knows. That's underlying all of this.
COOPER: These are the most powerful people in Washington, other than the President who are forced to just be working their flip phones trying to rally local, you know, the Mayor of Washington and the Governor of Virginia and others to get the National Guard there.
BERNSTEIN: Doing what the apparatus of the executive branch run by the President of the United States, we ought to be doing.
Cooper: We've got a lot more footage to show you. Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, thank you.
More exclusive video next of congressional leaders trying to get anyone from the administration to act and send troops to take back the Capitol. These remarkable never before seen behind the scenes images, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:31:48]
COOPER: Bringing you never before seen video tonight of this country's top lawmakers under siege during the insurrection. Now this next portion is different than the clip you saw before the break. This is raw video. We've added a timestamp to it and it shows the House and Senate leadership Democrats and Republicans at a secure location about two miles or so from the Capitol demanding action to secure the Capitol during the attack.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): They have -- OK. Well D.C. has requested the National Guard and it's been denied by DOD. I'd like to know a good goddamn reason why it's been denied, apologize for being so (INAUDUIBLE). UNDENTIFIED MALE: No, don't talk.
SCHUMER: Please. If the whole Capitol is rampage, there's a picture of someone sitting in this chair or the Senate --
UNDENTIFIED MALE: Shots fired.
SCHUMER: -- you've all been evacuated, there's been shots fired. We need a full National Guard component now. Is it denying it the first? OK, then I won't take you get the -- we need them fast. We've all had that. Never seen anything like this. We're like a third world country here. We have to run in evacuate the Capitol, 400 congressmen, 200 senators and all the staff. OK, we need help right away. Thank you, Secretary. Bye, bye.
There's they -- have nothing (INAUDIBLE).
(CROSSTALK)
SCHUMER: I spoke to the Secretary of the Army. He's feeling a fool OK to give the National Guard, he said it was denied. I'm going to call up the effing Secretary of DOD.
(CROSSTALK)
REP. STENY HOYER (D) MAJORITY LEADER: One of our staff locked up and barricaded in their offices. So, there's a critical situation and risk of loss of life.
SCHUMER: We have some senators who are still in their hideaways, they need massive personnel now. Can you get the Maryland National Guard to come to?
RYAN MCCARTHY, SECRETARY OF THE ARMY: (INAUDIBLE) sir, I'll call, I'll call. (INAUDIBLE) when they're going to get up there.
(CROSSTALK)
HOYER: Obviously Prince George's County, I will call Andrew (INAUDIBLE) of Brooke, the county executive. I'm sure she'll deploy whatever we need deploy, Montgomery County as well. Fairfax and Arlington all have very significant horses.
MCCARTHY: Yes sir. I, I, I.
SCHUMER: We won't take any.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D) SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: I have something to say, Mr. Secretary. Well, I'm going to call the mayor of Washington D.C. right now and see what other outreach she has, other police departments as leader Hoyer has mentioned. And also, that we can deliver the good news that you are now going to instead of blocking the National Guard that you will (INAUDIBLE) --
(CROSSTALK) MCCARTHY: (INAUDIBLE) Speaker, I never said, no, I just had to get permission. I did not, it's not my personal (INAUDIBLE). I told the mayor, I had to talk to my boss (INAUDIBLE).
PELOSI: And then did you talk to your boss so we --
MCCARTHY: I did ma'am. We have the green light. We're moving. I just (INAUDIBLE) didn't have the authority. And I don't know how that word got out, but I never said that.
(CROSSTALK)
SCHUMER: Thank you. Keep working. We need all the personnel we can get before someone gets hurt.
MCCARTHY: Yes, sir.
SCHUMER: OK.
(CROSSTALK)
SCHUMER: Mr. Attorney General, it's Senator Schumer and Speaker Pelosi I'm putting you on speakerphone. Are -- is federal law enforcement is the full arm of the judicial branch of the, of the Department of Justice doing everything they're supposed to be doing here? Have they started making some arrests?
[20:35:18]
JEFFREY ROSEN, ACTING ATTORNEY GENERAL: (INAUDIBLE) I don't have an update for you. What I can tell you is we've been rushing people from all available resources, Park Police, Protective Services, U.S. Marshals, Uniformed Secret Service, and assistance from the Metro Police Department to get as many people as quickly as we can to the Capitol to assist the, Capitol Police.
SCHUMER: OK. And I want to ask you this, you know, the Capitol has been totally overrun. And, you know, there are certain senators and congressmen still in their offices there.
ROSEN: I, I head that.
SCHUMER: OK. We need, I mean, I've talked to, we've talked to the DOD secretary in army, and they're sending military, but are you sending every federal arm available? And how about dealing with the State -- Steny Hoyer is here. He says the Prince George's County police, other police are available. Are they being called on to use?
ROSEN: (INAUDIBLE) the specific answer on the, Prince George's, but I do know that we are, coordinating with the Capitol Police to get as many resources as possible as quickly as possible, and then --
SCHUMER: And are you making -- are you having, are you asking arrests be made?
ROSEN: I have (INAUDIBLE) defer to law enforcement on that (INAUDIBLE).
SCHUMER: I would strongly recommend that you make arrests starting now.
PELOSI: They're breaking windows, and that's one of the ways that they're generalists method. Get -- they're breaking windows and going in. Obviously, ransacking our offices and all the rest of that. That's nothing. The concern we have about personal --
SCHUMER: Safety.
PELOSI: -- personal safety is just transcends everything. But the fact is on any given day, they're breaking the law in many different ways. And quite frankly, much of it at the instigation of the President of the United States. And now, if he could, could at least have someone.
SCHUMER: Yes, why don't you get the President to tell them to leave the Capitol, Mr. Attorney General, and your law enforcement responsibility. A public statement they should all leave. He is saying his tweet said, we are for peace. We're --
PELOSI: We're not going away.
SCHUMER: Law and order. Why don't you get him to make that statement? Would you do that?
ROSEN: We're, we're treating this with the greatest (INAUDIBLE).
SCHUMER: Will you asked the President to make a statement to ask them to leave the Capitol.
ROSEN: So, so, as you might guess we're coordinating as quickly, and as --
SCHUMER: No, no, please answer my question. Answer my question.
ROSEN: Senator, I'm going to do everything I can to do.
SCHUMER: Does that include asking the President to get these people who are followers of ours to leave the Capitol?
ROSEN: And, and so.
(OFF-MIC)
ROSEN: I'm trying to get at this at greatest urgency as fast as possible (INAUDIBLE).
PELOSI: Sorry, too late for that.
ROSEN: (INAUDIBLE). So could I just ask a little forbearance as to let me get --
SCHUMER: I would like you, I'm going to give you a phone number. I'd like you to get back to me when you've asked the President to make a statement that they should leave. OK. ROSEN: And, I'm happy to take your number.
SCHUMER: Here's the phone number.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): -- by getting there and one hell of a hurry. You understand?
CHRISTOPHER MILLER, ACTING SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: (INAUDIBLE) I got you loud and clearly, Leader.
SCHUMER: This cannot be just we're waiting for so and so. We need them there now. Whoever you got you. OK?
HOYER: You also have troops -- this is Steny Hoyer.
UNDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. We still have time to make that (INAUDIBLE) --
HOYER: Troops at Fort McNair, Andrews Air Force Base, other military bases.
UNDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.
HOYER: We need active duty, National Guard, all the people who are sworn to protect and defend the Constitution.
(CROSSTALK)
MILLER: It's been an hour and 30 minutes since (INAUDIBLE) or about two hours since we started.
(CROSSTALK)
SCHUMER: How soon in the future can you have the place evacuated (INAUDIBLE)?
MILLER: I don't want to speak for the leadership that's going to be, that's responsible for executing the operation. So I'm not going to say that because they're being on the ground and they're the experts (INAUDIBLE).
(CROSSTALK)
PELOSI: Well just pretend, just pretend for a moment it was the Pentagon, or the White House, or some other entity that was under siege. And let me say you can logistically get people there as you make the plan. It's just that we need numbers and personhood, manhood, whatever you're calling it. We need people there and you can't, you can't wait around until you develop a plan then you figure out where they are, so that they can get there. Just get them there and make (INAUDIBLE).
[20:40:16]
SCHUMER: There an emergency is the bottom line. It's an emergency where life and limb are at stake. PELOSI: And you have your -- some leadership of the National Guard there. They have not been given the authority to activate and activated.
MILLER: They've been activated, they've been activated, Speaker.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: So remarkable never before seen images, behind the scenes at Fort McNair where they've been evacuated. Life and limb are stake he said near the end.
Joining us now one of the lawmakers who nearly came face to face with that danger. This Colorado Democratic congressman and retired Army Ranger Jason Crow, comforting Congresswoman Susan Wild in the House gallery with the mob outside trying to break down the doors.
Congressman Crow, I appreciate you being with us. You just saw the video for the first time. Given all you went through in that day, I wonder what are your thoughts right now seeing what was going on over it for sure.
REP. JASON CROW (D-CO): Well, Anderson, I have a lot of thoughts right now. It certainly brings back a lot of memories about how serious and dire that night was. How depraved the former president is that Donald Trump, how dangerous he is, how much he lied to people and weaponize people who were misinformed who were angry, and then appointed that weapon at the U.S. Capitol to try to overturn election how little he cares about our democracy, but also shows leadership. You know that that day, we saw some of the worst of America but we also saw some of the best of America.
And one of the things was videos don't show us how amazing the Capitol Police were and the first responders who were brutally beaten, some of whom were killed, and some of whom have lifetime injuries and mental health issues as a result of this who held back that mob that insurrection long enough for me and others to escape and get out. Truly a lot of heroism that day. And how much that stands in contrast to the depravity to that mob, and President Trump in trying to overturn an election.
COOPER: It does sort of shocked me looking at this video, how on a day like this, where democracy is hanging in the balance. It is up to the people in this room over at Fort McNair Nancy Pelosi, Speaker Pelosi and Chuck Schumer and the others on their flip phones just trying to reach out to anybody who can get National Guard troops. It just seems like there's got to be a better system. I mean that it comes down to just people working the phones, you know, who happened to have the right phone numbers to call. It -- that's I obviously in the ideal world, you would have a president and a White House that was on top of things. And that was had an orderly process to call a National Guard. But this is what happens when the White House is out of the picture.
CROW: Well, it's crazy. It's astonishing as they see what was actually happening and the fact that we weren't prepared. We didn't have systems in place. That you know, we had an incredible leader ship out of Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi that night trying to pull things together understanding what was going on in the magnitude of it. And how important was that we reconvened? We finished the work that night. And then we not let the will of the voters and the people be derailed.
But we certainly weren't ready and nobody in a million years ever thought we would be in that position. But that's the story of Donald Trump's presidency, the story of our country realizing how vulnerable we really are. Our country realizing that when you talk about democracy, this is not systems, these are not documents, these are not processes that protect us. What democracy actually is, is people deciding to uphold it day in and day out. And if they stop deciding to uphold it, it starts to unravel. And the other really important point of all of this, is that this is not over. This is not a history lesson. This is not a exercise in reviewing historical facts about our country. This is going on. Donald Trump is still doing this. He's telling the big lie. He is inciting extremism, the extremism that we saw on that day has been deepening in America. It's dangerous.
And the question before the American people in the next month, frankly, is whether or not we're going to send members of that mob insurrectionists to the United States Congress, into city council chambers, into state legislatures around the country because they are on the ballot, literally in the next 30 days.
COOPER: Yes.
CROW: This is a dangerous thing, and it's time for us to wake up and to make sure it doesn't happen.
COOPER: Well, congressional leaders were at Fort McNair working the phones trying to do whatever they could to keep democracy running and certify the vote. The President was at the White House watching this all on TV in his dining room not doing anything and Mark Meadows was listening to testimony of Cassidy Hutchinson rocking back and forth just streaming on his phone in a you know, going into a special place in his head having a meltdown of sorts. It's just extraordinary to see these images.
[20:45:19]
Congressman Crow, I appreciate your time tonight.
Still to come more of this never-before-seen footage from January 6. This time, showing Vice President Pence's leadership that days he communicated with top lawmakers about securing the Capitol.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MIKE PENCE (R) FMR VICE PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES: -- roughly an hour. They also confirmed to me they have thousands of law enforcement. They're confident that they can secure --
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COOPER: We have one more selection in this new never before seen footage from January 6 that we want to show you tonight. It's a small portion but earlier in the documentary clip and then January 6 committee played a small portion of it today. But this is a larger piece and involves the role played on January 6 by Vice President Pence. The Vice President was basically doing the job of the President that day because the sitting President hadn't in essence gone AWOL. Not just from a decision making standpoint. As Bob Woodward put it earlier, the presidency has a moral component and that went missing too.
Now this video is a phone call that occurred about 6pm The day of the attack.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PENCE: (INAUDIBLE) I'm at the Capitol building, I'm literally standing with the chief of police of the U.S. Capitol Police, Steven Sund. He just informed me what you will hear through official channels Paul Irving, your Sergeant-at-Arms, will inform you that their best information is that they believe that the House and the Senate will be able to reconvene in roughly an hour. They also confirm to me they have thousands of law enforcement. They're confident that they can secure the campus, and that Paul Irving, Madame Speaker is going to communicate to you, because he's your, he's your point of contact on security in the House.
[20:50:05]
SCHUMER: Is your Sergeant-at-Arm?
PENCE: That he'll explain to you the process of for reentering, but Steven has told me that the chief of police, U.S. Capitol Police believe (INAUDIBLE) will be in a position, the members will be in a position to reconvene the House in roughly an hour.
(CROSSTALK)
PENCE: Yes, I just communicated, I'm going to give Senator Schumer a call unless --
SCHUMER: Where it's it?
(CROSSTALK)
SCHUMER: I'm here, I'm here Mr. Vice President.
(CROSSTALK)
PENCE: Leader, just consider this you, you, I'm just giving you a heads up. The Sergeant-at-Arms will give you the officials but, I, you know, I was very pleased to hear from the chief. He came over, and he joined me here in the basement of the Capitol to inform me they think you'll be able to reconvene the Senate, and Madame Speaker, you'll be able to reconvene the House in roughly an hour.
SCHUMER: Good news.
PENCE: (INAUDIBLE) the Sergeant-at-Arms will be in touch about, about the process for getting members back in the building (inaudible).
(CROSSTALK)
SCHUMER: Great. OK, thank you.
PELOSI: I said, why are we here? Thank you very much Mr. Vice President.
(CROSSTALK)
PENCE: -- they have thousands of law enforcement on the campus, and they're confident they could secure the campus for reconvening. So.
PELOSI: Thank you very much, Mr. Vice President.
PENCE: I hope that's helpful.
PELOSI: That's very helpful.
PENCE: I'll let you talk through regular channels (INAUDIBLE).
PELOSI: Thank you (INAUDIBLE). Thank you. Bye, bye.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Joining me now to discuss what we just watched, CNN senior political commentator, David Axelrod, who served as Senior Advisor President Obama and CNN correspondent, Audie Cornish.
David, you certainly know a lot about security protocols having worked in the Obama administration, what went through your mind as you watch this footage, seeing and hearing congressional leadership trying to manage this crisis?
DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, you know, yes, I've had experienced, no one's had experienced like this. We've never seen anything like it before. What was striking, was them working as one, there were there seemed to be everybody instantly understood that we got to get back in there and finish this, we can't get run off by the mob. And that was Republicans and Democrats. That was the first thing that struck me.
But the other thing was having worked on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue. You know, I'm thinking about the President of the United States sitting there, it would have been unthinkable. You know, Nancy Pelosi said, what I was thinking, if this were the Pentagon or the White House, there would be instantly, there would be the manpower necessary to restore where we saw what happened. Now, it was a different kind of thing. But when the President wanted to do a photo op at the church, they cleared the Lafayette Park pretty, pretty quickly.
So, you know, I, it's stunning. It's really, really stunning to see the orange chapter,
COOPER: Yes, Audie, Nancy Pelosi have to say to the Acting Secretary of Defense, well, imagine this where the Pentagon or imagine this was the White House and how quickly you would get troops there, and you would get protection there. She's talking about the cap on Capitol Hill.
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, what's very evident in that video is shock, frustration. The idea that you could be calling cabinet member after a law enforcement figure and get this sort of bureaucratic response instead of a call to action, which seems very obvious. And it underscores something that Liz Cheney said in her opening statement about how at so many points, there were just a few people who said no, or slow walked or declined some requests from the White House and that the takeaway lesson could be for a Donald Trump or the next, the next person who attempts this, that you just need to install the right person in the right seat who will say yes, right, who won't just not take the phone call or stumble on the phone call, but will actively disregard.
And I think that's really significant thing to think about, because it means it doesn't matter. This kind of overwhelming of the Capitol, police, et cetera. The next time around, it could just be a cakewalk through the actual process.
AXELROD: Well, that's actually the story of this whole saga.
CORNISH: Yes.
AXELROD: Is we learned just how important people of goodwill in these positions means to avoiding catastrophe and preserving the institutions of --
CORNISH: Yes. And I love goodwill. But I mean, a stress test is a stress test. And this showed that the system has some very serious problems. Never mind the fact that this was just sheer chaos. Right. And I have to say the thing that shocked me is seeing the number of Republicans who were in that room, people who later on were only too happy to, you know, not vote for impeachment or who to speak out against even this House Select Committee process.
[20:55:02]
COOPER: And David to hear Vice President Pence at that point --
AXELROD: Yes.
COOPER: -- certainly rise to the occasion and be calm and stay on scene and help.
AXELROD: Well, and we've heard these, yes. And he of course understood that he was the principal target along with Pelosi of this of this mob. And so yes, he's collected, and he too apparently had that same determination that -- we're not going to let, we're not going to be run off by this.
But you know, the other thing, Anderson, when you see the sort of aggregation of all this footage, it really underscores again, how close we came to a complete tragedy to having leader you know, the leadership of this country decapitated at the instigation. Certainly, as the President United States stood by and watched on television.
COOPER: Yes, I mean, the personal nature of the attacks against Speaker Pelosi or against Vice President Pence. I mean, there's no doubt what the mob would have done to either of them had they been able to catch.
CORNISH: I think that's why the lawmakers were so focused on getting back to the work of doing the peaceful transfer of power, because there was no doubt on that day, what the delay was supposed to be. No one said, oh, that rally really got out of hand. For months and weeks, we had been hearing the President ramp up his rhetoric. So, on that day, even I think, you know, Pelosi started filming. It speaks to the idea that lots of people were worried about what would happen on January 6.
AXELROD: But watching Pence and Pelosi in their determination in the face of those threats was impressive.
COOPER: Yes.
AXELROD: They were focused on their responsibilities and that was encouraged.
COOPER: From the moment they're being evacuated. They're talking about getting back in they're not freaking out. They're not, you know, calling their friends. They're saying we got to we can't let this stand.
AXELROD: Yes.
COOPER: David Axelrod, Audie Cornish, thank you so much.
A note on additional video you haven't seen yet when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[21:00:02]
COOPER: Before we go, I want to thank Alexandra Pelosi and the entire team at our sister network HBO for providing us with this extraordinary video that you saw tonight. If you didn't see all of it or you want to see it again, you can find it at cnn.com. There is yet more exclusive video which will bring you tomorrow night on the program including a second phone call between Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Vice President Mike Pence. Also, a serious discussion among the congressional leadership about moving the entire election certification process, hundreds of lawmakers and all to the secure location where the leaders were hunkering down.
Again, that'll be tomorrow night on "360."
Right now, "CNN TONIGHT," with Jake Tapper.
