Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Special Reports
CNN Special Report, "The Trump Insurrection: 24 Hours That Shook America." Aired 10-11p ET
Aired January 10, 2021 - 22:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[22:00:33]
ANNOUNCER: The following is a CNN Special Report.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RIOTERS: Fight for Trump! Fight for Trump!
UNKNOWN: We have been told by Capitol police that the Capitol is in lockdown.
UNKNOWN: They broke the glass. Everybody stay down, get down!
UNKNOWN: Gunshots ring out. The rioters actually start trying to ram the doors down.
UNKNOWN: We are watching an attempt at sedition. We are watching an attempt at a bloodless coup in the United States.
UNKNOWN: This is a bonfire of the insanities that we're watching in the nation's capital right now, and it all flows from Trump.
UNKNOWN: His initial reaction was not horror, which was almost everybody else's reaction. His initial reaction was to watch the show.
UNKNOWN: I heard multiple conversations loudly and publicly find the vice president, hang the vice president.
RIOTERS: Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence!
UNKNOWN: There is a very real possibility that we will see aggrieved members of his base at the inauguration conducting protests. What we don't know is whether those will turn violent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Tonight, a first draft of history in the making. A revealing look inside the Trump insurrection. Thousands of angry true believers triggered by lies and calls to battle --
RIOTERS: This is our Capitol!
BLITZER: -- attempt a coup that left five people dead so far. A mob that came armed with conspiracy, hate, and weapons overwhelming undermanned police and shocking a nation, even though the president and his followers have long made it clear they would not believe they were losers in the election.
And now a CNN special report, "The Trump Insurrection: 24 Hours That Shook America."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They say I have the most loyal people. Did you ever see that? Where I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, and I wouldn't lose any voters, OK? It's like incredible.
RIOTERS: We want Trump! We want Trump!
TRUMP: And I'm afraid the election is going to be rigged. I have to be honest.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, this started back in the 2016 campaign when we would be at the rallies and he would refer to the press as the disgusting news media, the dishonest news media, liars, scum and so on. He rolled that into the Oval Office.
TRUMP: Stick with us. Don't believe the crap you see from these people, the fake news.
What you're seeing and what you're reading is not what's happening.
ACOSTA: And the coronavirus pandemic, I think, is a perfect example of how Trump's corrosive effect on the truth, on what we consume in the news media, what that can do to the country.
TRUMP: It looks like by April, you know in theory when it gets a little warmer, it miraculously goes away. I hope that's true.
UNKNOWN: COVID's just a made-up government thing, you know?
UNKNOWN: I've read the facts. I don't listen to the news.
UNKNOWN: I'm not worried about the pandemic at all.
TRUMP: I wanted to always play it down. I still like playing it down.
Voting by mail is wrought with fraud and abuse.
They're going to try and steal the election. Look at this crowd.
MAGGIE HABERMAN, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, THE NEW YORK TIMES: He talked about the lack of security around by mail voting. It created a real sense of unease for voters with their own system in the country.
TRUMP: The only way we're going to lose this election is if the election is rigged. Remember that. It's the only way we're going to lose this election.
UNKNOWN: Take a look at the top-line vote there has been record turnout throughout the country.
BLITZER: After four long tense days, CNN projects Joseph R. Biden Jr. is elected the 46th President of the United States.
ACOSTA: Talking to my sources, the president understood in the days after the election that he had lost, but he was willfully misleading, lying to the American people, telling them, telling his supporters that he had in fact won the election, that it was a rigged election.
BLITZER: No evidence of fraud has emerged. The election was not rigged.
HABERMAN: His allies, his supporters, some formally in (ph) the campaign, some outside of it filed a number of legal challenges to try to overturn the results.
ELLEN L. WEINTAUB, FEDERAL ELECTION COMMISSOIN: There have been 60 lawsuits brought by the president and his allies to try and challenge the election results throughout the country.
[22:05:00]
And in 59 out of 60 of them they lost.
UNKNOWN: So one thing that they started talking about after the lawsuits started seeing trouble was can we get pro-Trump electors in various states and have those certified instead and sent to the Electoral College. Those efforts also failed.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: On December 19th, President Trump tweeted, quote, Peter Navarro released his 36-page report alleging election fraud, more than sufficient to swing victory to Trump. A great report by Peter. Statistically impossible to have lost the 2020 election. Big protest in D.C. on January 6th. Be there. Will be wild.
ARIEH KOVLER, POLITICAL ANALYST: His supporters understood that as the call to action that they had been waiting for since Election Day. Who genuinely believe not only that he won the election, but that he would remain president by proving that the election was fixed or maybe there was other ways to stay in power.
BLITZER: Political consultant Arieh Kovler, who's based in Israel, says he was following Trump's supporters message boards and tweeted this warning on December 21st, quote, on January 6th, armed Trumpist militias will be rallying in D.C. at Trump's orders. It's highly likely that they'll try to storm the Capitol after it certifies Joe Biden's win. I don't think this has sunk in yet.
KOVLER: There were groups of people who were absolutely making plans, some of them quite detailed. Things I saw included a map of the District around the Capitol, including all the congressional buildings and how they're connected by the underground tunnels and discussion about whether or not given how many people there are, they can set up a blockade around the congressional district to stop congressmen from fleeing.
JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: If average citizens looking at the Internet could see this, that raises the question why didn't law enforcement catch this? DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's taken a momentous --
BLITZER: A number of Republican politicians spread their own lies and disinformation to support and abet President Trump's efforts to overturn the election results and incite supporters.
REP. LOUIE GOHMERT, (R-TX): Bottom line is the court is saying we're not going to touch this. You have no remedy. Basically, in effect, the ruling would be that you got to go to the streets and be as violent as Antifa and BLM.
UNKNOWN: We will not go quietly into the night. We will defend liberty into the future. And we are going to win.
CAMPBELL: It is very clear in looking at the record that not only President Trump, but other elected officials, his allies were out there trying to whip up anger, trying to get people to believe that an election had been stolen.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump, he's speaking in front of thousands of supporters who have gathered in Washington for a so- called March to Save America rally, protesting the legal results of the November election.
UNKNOWN: Anderson, it is very difficult to secure a crowd of this size. It is enormous, and more people are continuing to show. They are angry. There is an animosity in the air in this crowd.
REP. MO BROOKS, (R-AL): Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass!
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN REPORTER: Do you believe -- do you accept that Joe Biden won the election?
UNKNOWN: No.
UNKNOWN: No.
O'SULLIVAN: What do you think happened?
UNKNOWN: Fraud.
O'SULLIVAN: All these Trump events I've been going to, I just hear the same thing over and over again.
Why did you come here?
UNKNOWN: All this fraud. And I can see it all over the line -- online. And it's not made up.
O'SULLIVAN: People were amped up. They were raring to go. I was standing on the mall with them, and I said here in two week's time, Biden is going to be inaugurated. They said no way, it's not happening. BLITZER: As the crowd got amped up for the president's appearance, he
and his adult children were all backstage, giddy with excitement. Ivanka at her focused father's side. Eric celebrating his birthday.
UNKNOWN: Happy birthday, Eric.
BLITZER: And this seemingly lighthearted namesake.
DONALD TRUMP JR., SON OF DONALD TRUMP: (Inaudible). An actual fighter. One of the few.
BLITZER: Turning to anger on stage.
TRUMP JR.: If you're going to be the zero and not the hero, we're coming for you, and we're going to have a good time doing it.
TRUMP: All of us here today do not want to see our election victory stolen by emboldened radical left Democrats. We will never concede. It doesn't happen. You don't concede when there is theft involved.
Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore, and that's what this is all about. You'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong.
I know that everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard.
CAMPBELL: The day started with President Donald Trump, his lawyer Rudy Giuliani, his son Donald Trump Jr. at a rally whipping up people into anger, whipping up people into fear.
[22:10:05]
RUDY GIULIANI, DONALD TRUMP'S PERSONAL LAWYER: If we're wrong, we will be made fools of. But if we're right, a lot of them will go to jail. So let's have trial by combat.
UNKNOWN: He just said trial by combat. I'm ready!
CAMPBELL: The day ended with this violent mob attacking the United States Capitol.
RIOTERS: USA, USA!
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
RIOTERS: USA! USA! USA!
TRUMP: Let's walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. I want to --
DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: He basically had a match and a can of kerosene, and he lit it.
RIOTERS: Fight for Trump! Fight for Trump!
AXELROD: And the manifestation of that were these folks streaming down Pennsylvania Avenue, headed toward the Capitol.
KOVLER: The people that came to this melee were not the run of the mill Trump supporter. They were the hardest of the hard-core, extremely radicalized, extremely arrogant.
Do you accept Biden won the election?
UNKNOWN: Absolutely not.
KOVLER: So the gap between that and the people having a rally and listening simply (ph) to the president speak --
RIOTERS: Stop the traitors!
KOVLER: -- and turning into a mobile march (inaudible) which was already very small.
[22:15:09]
We walked from the White House with the Trump supporters who were marching to the Capitol; just as we got to the West Side of the Capitol there was a very small line of police and just sort of one set of barriers. And all of the sudden we heard a bit of commotion and next thing we saw were these Trump supporters streaming through the barriers and onto the lawn of the U.S. Capitol and I just got the sense that this was about to get out of control.
(CROWDS)
MANU RAJU: I was inside the Capitol as these protestors were gathering and we were getting reports about how much more unrest there was outside. The extent to which members of Congress, aides, people in Capitol Hill could be in danger was certainly did not even come close to the radar of virtually anybody in Congress.
(NANCY PELOSI AT PODIUM)
MARGIE HABERMAN: Before all the chaos erupted during the joint session of Congress to certify the Electoral College vote, Mike Pence was preparing to preside over the proceedings.
(SHOT OF SENATORS)
RAJU: The Republican movement to essentially throw out the electoral votes was essentially all fed by President Trump's disinformation, his conspiracies and frankly the lies that he told the American public about the election --
(BEGIN VIDEO)
TED CRUZ: What does it say to the nearly half the country that believes this election was rigged --
(END VIDEO)
RAJU: Despite the objections, President Trump was not going to be President Trump anymore come January 20th --
UNKNOWN: Mitch McConnell, despite being a pretty loyal Republican through all of this was just saying no, he was not going to have it.
(BEGIN VIDEO)
MITCH MCCONNELL: If this election were overturned by mere allegations from the losing side, our democracy would enter a death spiral.
(END VIDEO)
(PICTURE OF MIKE PENCE)
HABERMAN: Mike Pence had made clear to President Trump he was not going to do what President Trump wanted, which was overturn the results somehow. The president refused to accept that.
JIM ACOSTA: It just goes to show you how detached from reality the president had become. He thought that his vice president could march up to Capitol Hill and carry out some kind of coup.
UNKNOWN: Mike Pence was essentially telling the rest of the world, I'm not in on this; it's over for Donald Trump. That of course, set the president off, set him into this tirade and that is part of the reason why you saw the president down on the ellipse, charging up the crowd.
(BEGIN VIDEO)
TRUMP: We're not going to let it happen.
(CROWD CHEERS)
(END VIDEO)
UNKNOWN: Although President Trump told that rally, that crowd that he was prepared to join them in marching to the Capitol; that never happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO)
(INAUDIBLE)
(CROWD GETTING OUT OF CONTROL)
(END VIDEO)
RAJU: We have been told by Capitol Police that the Capitol is in lockdown and that people cannot leave the building.
UNKNOWN: When I got to the Capitol --
(BEGIN VIDEO)
(CROWD CHANTING)
CROWD: You won't have to tell us where to spend our money! (END VIDEO)
ALEX MARQUARDT: You could tell that there were different factions and energies within the crowd.
NEWSMAN: Alexander Marquardt is there right in the middle of all of this --
ALEX MARQUARDT: There are some people who just wanted to be there and wave flags. There were other people who were much more aggressive and those were the people who were really at the front.
ELLE REEVE: Just a mob. Like logic was out the window. Mob mentality doesn't even begin to cover what it feels like. There's just this energy and no sense of personal responsibility. So you see people who look like your parents, look like a suburban soccer mom, like scrambling over a wall.
(BEGIN VIDEO)
AGITATOR: Pull them this way!
(END VIDEO)
ALEX MARQUARDT: The protestors were able to rush through, rush up the stairs, rush up into the upper area and suddenly I was looking up and they were just everywhere, they had swarmed the Capitol Building.
(BEGIN VIDEO)
AGITATORS: USA!
(END VIDEO)
ELIZABETH NEUMANN: I was on the phone with a reporter on a different issue and somebody said like they breached the perimeter and I was like, what? You know, how, how does that even happen?
(RIOT VIDEO)
DARYL JOHNSON: I was shocked because the police were overrun so easily and quickly --
RIOTER: You'd better run, cops!
(CROWD RIOTS)
JOHNSON: And just the sheer number of people --
RIOTER: Fuck (INAUDIBLE).
JOHNSON: -- in this mob of insurrection was easily able to breach the Capitol. It was just mayhem; it was total chaos. And I kept looking around for law enforcement, thinking how on earth is this possible?
JOSH CAMPBELL: There should have been a larger police presence there; there should have been more fencing. There should have been all the things that law enforcement typically does whenever you have a large crowd gathered inside the United States Capitol.
[22:20:06]
WOLF BLITZER: The now former United States Capitol Police chief said the police responded, quote, "valiantly."
UNKNOWN: Get out of here, motherfucker.
UNKNOWN: Let's go.
UNKNOWN (voice over): There was a moment that the crowd clocked onto us, and it became hostile very, very quickly.
UNKNOWN: Hey, this guy's with the media! This guy's with the media!
(CROWD BOOING)
UNKNOWN: Just to watch the crowd turn on us...
UNKNOWN: CNN sucks! CNN sucks! CNN sucks! Get out of here!
UNKNOWN: ... was really, really unsettling. And luckily, we got out of there unscathed.
All of us -- and we're all quite experienced -- were -- were pretty rattled by it.
I've been in a lot of riots and protests, and this was the most hostile crowd that I think I've -- I've ever been in.
UNKNOWN: There have been many descriptions of what took place at the United States Capitol, some calling it violence, some calling it lawlessness. This was terrorism. The definition of terrorism is violence in pursuit of a political goal.
UNKNOWN: The Supreme Court's not helping us. No one's helping us. Only us can help us. Only we can do it.
UNKNOWN: What we saw take place in an unprecedented way was domestic terrorism.
UNKNOWN: What are you going to do?
UNKNOWN: Whatever we have to do. What do you think 1776 was?
UNKNOWN: I never thought that the protesters would actually get through the door. And it was scary.
UNKNOWN: USA!
UNKNOWN: And it wasn't clear how it was going to end.
UNKNOWN: Would the United States Capitol Police be prepared to hold back an angry crowd from entering the United States Capitol? Of course, we know in hindsight the answer was no.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:25:55]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CROWD: USA! USA! USA!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOSH CAMPBELL, FORMER FBI SPECIAL AGENT: Once the crowd makes their way inside, past law enforcement into the building. It's total chaos. What you see is this mob storming the building. Going floor by floor.
UNKNOWN: (Inaudible)
CAMPBELL: They encounter law enforcement. In certain instances, they push forward past them. Some officers step aside and allow them by but what you see is just this constant building and building, more people coming. More people coming.
UNKNOWN: (Inaudible)
CAMPBELL: So the way they got into the Capitol was rioters, looters, the mob walked up the steps, the west front steps of the Capitol. Broke the windows on the first floor of the Senate side, opened the door and floods of these rioters walked into the first floor of the Capitol. At that point, many of them walked toward the Senate side of the Capitol and they were immediately confronted by one police officer.
IGOR BOBIC, REPORTER FOR HUFFINGTON POST: I heard a commotion and some yelling and I ran downstairs where I encountered this lone police officer courageously making a stand against a mob of 20 or so Trump supporters. You could see him trying to but ultimately failing to prevent them from moving in. A shocking moment because at that point nobody really knew that there had been an intrusion into the Capitol itself.
UNKNOWN: (Inaudible)
UNKNOWN: It is hard to say what the police presence is out here. I -- I cannot see any sort of law enforcement right now.
BOBIC: I'm just thinking. Where's -- where's law enforcement? Where are the reinforcements for the Capitol police inside? Why hasn't MPD, the D.C. police shown up? Why hasn't the National Guard shown up?
UNKNOWN: The Vice-President and the United States Senate.
REPRESENTATIVE JASON CROW: The one thing I did notice was that the security seemed lighter than it did earlier in -- in the -- the session actually last year when the BLM protests were going on.
UNKNOWN: The House will be in order.
WOLF BLITZER: House members were meeting in a joint session to consider the electoral votes.
CROW: There was about an hour of debate before we realized that the mob and the riot was fighting with police outside and that they had broken through.
UNKNOWN: We are watching an attempt at sedition. We are watching an attempt at a bloodless coup in the United States. Trump supporters stomping the Constitutional process. The counting of electors.
UNKNOWN: The chamber went into lockdown. Mike Pence was ushered out of the Senate chamber. Most of the Senate was still in the chamber waiting for their instructions.
BLITZER: But look at this, these protestors are inside Statuary Hall. This is a legendary place. It's hard to believe what we're seeing.
[22:30:02]
UNKNOWN: I've never been in this house how about you? (inaudible). That's right. We own it. We own you.
UNKNOWN: At one point you have a crowd of rioters approaching a doorway where they're blocked by Capitol police. It appears as though the officers are going to keep them back but then an inexplicably the officers suddenly step aside. The mob begins using objects to crash through the door. We didn't see what those officers have done is leave in jeopardy their colleagues behind the doors which were essentially the last line of defense. They try to grab everything they can. Chairs, desks, furniture, to try to block the way.
UNKNOWN: This is the bonfire of the insanities that we're watching in the nation's capital right now and it all flows from Trump.
JIM ACOSTA: I could not imagine that in my wildest dreams. To see Trump supporters carrying the Confederate flag through the halls of the U.S. Capitol. It's -- it's traitorous.
UNKNOWN: President Trump could stop this with one tweet but instead he's on Twitter attacking Vice-President Pence for refusing to go along with his attempt at a coup.
UNKNOWN: It was just a constant. Hundreds of people at the top of the east front steps of the Capitol chanting that for quite some time. I heard multiple conversations, loudly and publicly, not anything people were trying to hide discussing what are we going to do with the vice- president? We should go in and find the vice-president. You know, we should hang the vice-president.
UNKNOWN: Donald Trump put a price on the head of his own vice- president. For the message was very clear that somehow Pence could overturn the results of the election and hand it to Trump. They believed it. And so it's not surprising that some would go hunting for Pence when they went over the Capitol after he announced that he wasn't going to play that role.
UNKNOWN: The president has broken his silence. The president tweeting just a few moments ago, he is not telling these protestors to leave the Capitol.
UNKNOWN: It's odd that he said stay peaceful given the fact that this crowd is not peaceful.
MAGGIE HABERMAN, CORRESPONDENT FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES: There had been efforts imploring him to send out something to calm down his supporters over the course, at that point, an hour and a half that it had been going on. What that tweet was, was something that said stay peaceful but did not acknowledge that things had absolutely spiraled out of control and was not the condemnation that folks were hoping for.
UNKNOWN: As these rioters have approached the House floor there was a deadly incident. They were warned to step away.
BLITZER: A warning that this video contains some disturbing content.
UNKNOWN: Pro-Trump supporter later identified as Ashley Babbett (ph) tries to make her way through a window. There was a shot. That person immediately after she was shot was given medical assistance, was taken to a nearby hospital and died. This was a terrifying tragic scene that was unfolding steps away from the Halls of Freedom on Capitol Hill.
UNKNOWN: I was right there. Because we are her.
UNKNOWN: CNN spoke to her mother who said that she was the type of person who would be willing to die for her beliefs.
BLITZER: Ashley Babbett (ph) social media feed was flooded with posts supporting President Trump and cuing on conspiracy theories.
UNKNOWN: One thing is clear, this was not a protest. This was not a demonstration. This was a violent mob intent on causing destruction. This was a violent insurgence. This was not a protest.
BLITZER: Ahead, more violence.
UNKNOWN: They broke the glass.
BLITZER: Lawmakers under siege.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:35:26]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BLITZER (voice-over): Around 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday afternoon, January 6...
UNKNOWN: Everybody, stay down. Get down.
BLITZER: ... this shaky video tells the story of shaken nerves.
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The House members who were on the first floor of the House had been evacuated already, but there were members in the upstairs gallery part of the chamber, and those members were particularly scared about what would happen.
REP. JASON CROW (D-CO): I saw the Capitol Police locking the doors and starting to stack furniture and barricade us in the chamber. And it was at that point that I realized that we were trapped, and that we were going to try to protect ourselves within the chamber.
REP. ANNIE KUSTER (D-NH): We had a shelter-in-place order. They told us to use the gas masks that are under the seats.
UNKNOWN: Being asked to put on masks. Checking the door to make sure it's locked.
UNKNOWN: They broke the glass?
CROW: I heard the sound of breaking glass and gunshots ring out. And then the rioters actually start trying to ram the doors down.
REP. SUSAN WILD (D-PA): I thought I really should call the kids. And I was on with them, telling them what was going on and that we were waiting to get out, that I was OK.
At one point, my son said: "What do you mean you're OK? I can hear gunshots."
KUSTER: I was frightened that it would be a mass-casualty incident, that, if they had automatic weapons, they could have killed hundreds of members of Congress.
[22:40:05]
CROW: I was preparing myself to make a stand and to eventually have to fight our way out.
WILD: My heart was pounding out of my chest.
I was really getting very, very upset. And, at that point, Jason Crow reached out and took my hand, saying: "You're going to be OK. Everything's going to be OK."
CROW: It's all right. It's OK. Come on. It's all right.
(SHOUTING)
CROW: It's OK.
WILD: He was like the perfect person to be in the foxhole with. He is a former Army Ranger.
UNIDENTIFIED RIOTER: You want a fight, you better believe you got one!
BLITZER: Outside the House floor, nearby, lawmakers were hunkered down, hiding.
REP. GRACE MENG (D-NY): Within about 10 or 15 minutes, the room that I was in, I started hearing a lot of stomping and chanting right outside.
(SHOUTING)
MENG: And I realized that they were literally right outside my door. And so I was really frightened. I moved a lot of furniture that I was physically able to and tried to barricade the door.
BLITZER: Across the Capitol, protesters were entering offices.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: People climbing the walls, breaking windows, breaking into doors in the parliamentarian's office.
RAJU: This is a breach of national security, because the Senate parliamentarian's office is a critical office. That is what ensures the Senate can function, where all of the papers are kept.
BLITZER: A video posted online shows rioters looking for the House speaker.
UNIDENTIFIED RIOTER: Tell Pelosi we're coming for that (EXPLETIVE DELETED)! Tell (EXPLETIVE DELETED) Pelosi we're coming for her!
UNKNOWN: No, I'm not...
UNIDENTIFIED RIOTER: (EXPLETIVE DELETED) traitor (EXPLETIVE DELETED)! We're coming for her!
RAJU: Nancy Pelosi's office is one of the most heavily guarded offices on Capitol Hill. You cannot just walk into Nancy Pelosi's office.
But that's exactly what some of these demonstrators did. There is a photo of one rioter sitting there with his feet up.
RICHARD BARNETT, TRUMP SUPPORTER: I sat down here at my desk. I'm a taxpayer. I'm a patriot. It ain't her desk. We loaned her that desk. And she ain't appreciating the desk, so I thought I would sit down and appreciate the desk.
UNKNOWN: There you go. Here you go, brother.
RAJU: The rioters even took away the name plate that is on top of her suite.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Lots of other pictures of these rioters sitting at desks they should never be sitting at on the House floor, on the Senate floor.
RAJU: This is something that is not done. You don't walk into the Senate floor. And that is a place where the senators gather, where their aides gather. But these rioters had gotten into the Senate chamber and, in a
stunning image, were sitting where the presiding officer sits, where Mike Pence, as the president of the Senate, sits while presiding over the chamber.
BLITZER: While chaos reigned, authorities made sure those members in the House gallery got out safely.
WILD: While we were all crouched down in that -- those final minutes, Jason Crow told us all to take our pins off, so that, when we got out to the hallway, if there were perpetrators there, they wouldn't know we were members of Congress.
This identifies me as a member of the 117th Congress.
CROW: When we went out through that door, there was a line of SWAT officers with their guns drawn that were holding back protesters.
They took us to the underground tunnels, to Longworth, and then had kind of fortified Longworth with police and additional security.
The speaker came in at one point and gave some short remarks just to reinforce our resolve and, most importantly, make a commitment that we were going return that night.
BLITZER: As both House members and senators stayed locked down in the Capitol, fearing for their lives and vowing to return to finish verifying the votes, the president and his personal lawyer were trying to stop that from happening.
MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: President Trump and his lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, both tried reaching out to newly elected Senator Tommy Tuberville to try to convince him to delay the certification in some way.
This was all as this violence was taking place. The concern was not about whether Tuberville was safe.
RUDY GIULIANI, ATTORNEY FOR PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I'm calling you because I want to discuss with you how they're trying to rush this hearing, and how we need you, our Republican friends, to try to just slow it down, so we can get these legislatures to get more information to you.
HABERMAN: In Giuliani's case, he left a voice-mail on the wrong person's phone. In the president's case, he called Senator Mike Lee, thinking that he was calling Tommy Tuberville.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Inside sources tell CNN that, during that deadly insurrection, the president was -- quote -- "borderline enthusiastic about the attempted coup."
HABERMAN: His initial reaction was not horror, which was almost everybody's reaction.
[22:45:03] His initial reaction was to watch the show.
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT: I call on President Trump to go on national television now to fulfill his oath and defend the Constitution and demand an end to this siege.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I know your pain. I know you're hurt. We had an election that was stolen from us, but you have to go home now.
We love you. You're very special. I know how you feel, but go home and go home in peace.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: When you're telling your violent supporters that you love them, what kind of message does that send? I mean, it sends a message of approval.
ALEXA MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We learned later in the afternoon that the mayor of D.C. had imposed a curfew starting at 6:00 p.m.
So I thought, okay, at least we know at 6:00 p.m., the cavalry is probably going to show up and get all these rioters out of here. And sure enough, as dusk started falling, we did see a huge number of Washington, D.C. police show up, National Guard showed up, and then we saw also a contingent of FBI.
REPORTER: You're up there?
UNKNOWN: Yes. I was up on the left side at the very top before they threw out a flash-bang and started spraying tear gas.
REPORTER: Why -- why did you decide to come here today?
UNKNOWN: To represent my country. To fight for what I believe in and what I know to be true.
REPORTER: Which is?
UNKNOWN: Which is that Trump won and that there are people in high places trying to take advantage of everybody in lower places.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST (voice-over): Their beliefs, their uprising came with a heavy price.
JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: A one point, you see an officer trapped in the door as he is penned in, screeching for help.
(POLICE OFFICER SCREAMING)
CAMPBELL: That's one of the many officers that were injured on that day. We know, of course, another Capitol police officer would later die from injuries.
BLITZER: Dozens of officers were injured in mob violence like this, sticks and poles. Even American flags raining down on police, who were trying to keep the rioters from entering the Capitol.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[22:51:21]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The Senate will come to order.
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Eight p.m. Eastern on Wednesday night, they came in, and they kicked off a pretty somber moment.
PENCE: For even in the wake of unprecedented violence and vandalism at this Capitol, the elected representatives of the people of the United States have assembled again on the very same day to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: We will not be kept out of this chamber by thugs, mobs or threats.
DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: There's no question that when the Congress returned after this siege to their vandalized chambers to finish the work that they started, there was a different atmosphere.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), SENATE MINORITY LEADER: I have never lived through or even imagined the experience like the one we have just witnessed in this capitol.
SEN. MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): Today was heartbreaking.
AXELROD: It was a cold shower for a lot of people. And it changed the tenor of the debate. It didn't change everyone's mind.
SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): We do need an investigation into irregularities, fraud. We do need a way forward together.
RAJU: Some politicians decided to back off the objections in the aftermath of the violence that we saw. Josh Hawley of Missouri still went forward with his objection. His critics said he was helping incite the passions that led to the violence.
ROMNEY: Those who choose to continue to support this dangerous gambit by objecting to the results of a legitimate democratic election will forever be seen as being complicit in an unprecedented attack against our democracy.
AXELROD: I don't think that the 147 who voted to overturn the results of the election ever believed that they were going to be successful.
PENCE: Joseph R. Biden Jr. of the state of Delaware has received 306 votes. AXELROD: They were doing it to posture for the president but more
importantly for their base. There is abject fear of the Trump base among some Republicans.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will never give up. We will never concede. It doesn't happen. You don't concede when there's theft involved.
UNKNOWN: Donald Trump has posted a new video on Twitter.
TRUMP: I'd like to begin by addressing the heinous attack on the United States Capitol. Like all Americans, I am outraged by the violence.
MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It took a while for the president's advisers to get him to agree to shoot this video message.
TRUMP: A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20th. My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power.
HABERMAN: Among the things that his advisers did to get him to do that was Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel, told the president he had legal exposure, potential legal exposure anyway over what had happened in terms of him speaking to this rally of people before they became a mob, urging them to fight and whipping up the crowd. Others told him that he faced mass resignations of his cabinet members.
So he agreed to do this video. Then, as we have seen over and over with the president, he regretted it within 16 hours, 12 hours, 14 hours. He told some of his aides that he wished he hadn't done it.
[22:55:02]
AXELROD: Well, I thought the message was as persuasive and as sincere as a hostage tape.
CROWD: USA! UNKNOWN: USA! USA!
TRUMP: And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore.
AXELROD: This was a manmade disaster. And while he had a lot of people abetting him in this project, the man was the president of the United States.
UNKNOWN: These people who were at the Capitol were really radicalized by Donald Trump.
UNKNOWN: The government did this to us. We were normal, good, law- abiding citizens, and you guys did this to us.
UNKNOWN: What's really called for here is, yes, the 25th amendment ought to be invoked.
DAVID GERGEN, FORMER WHITE HOUSE STAFF ASSISTANT: If you incite a mob to violence and they then commit violence and people are killed, you're guilty. You're guilty of a crime.
JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Do you think President Trump has blood on his hands?
JOHN BOLTON, FORMER NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: I think he does.
HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI (D) CALIF.: If the vice president and Cabinet do not act, the Congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: With less than two weeks left in this presidency, how on earth could you invoke the 25th amendment and get that done before the end of this term?
How on earth could you have an impeachment process that results in a Senate conviction with less than two weeks to go?
UNKNOWN: The president is not happy about another impeachment call. The president didn't like being impeached the first time. He could be the first president to be impeached twice. And he is well aware of that.
But he has been more consumed with the fact that his Twitter feed was taken away.
ACOSTA: They were worried about plans for a future armed protest that have already begun proliferating on and off Twitter, regarding some sort of planning for potentially a secondary attack on the U.S. Capitol on January 17th of this year, right before the inauguration.
ELIZABETH NEUMANN, FORMER DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF, DHS: We have a man who has proven that he's willing to do just about anything. And if he gets back to that place where he just wants to burn it all down, he will look for opportunities to cause damage to the United States.
UNKNOWN: Today he's announcing that he will not attend Joe Biden's inauguration, one of the country's most symbolic acts for a peaceful transfer of power.
JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: I think it's still unclear what we are going to see on Inauguration Day.
UNKNOWN: Stop the steal! Stop the steal! Stop the steal! Fight for Trump!
CAMPBELL: So there is a very real possibility that we will see aggrieved members of his base at the inauguration conducting protests. What we don't know is whether those will turn violent.
UNKNOWN: What did all of this achieve today?
UNKNOWN: We'll see. I think the people have spoken.
UNKNOWN: The day isn't over yet and the week isn't over yet. And the time isn't over yet. There's still much more evidence that will come out. TRUMP: To all of my wonderful supporters, I know you are disappointed,
but I also want you to know that our incredible journey is only just beginning.
AXELROD: It was striking how easily these insurrectionists, these terrorists, were able to penetrate the Capitol. And you have to ask yourself the question, how did that happen? How could that possibly be?
And then you contrast it with what we saw last summer when there was a Black Lives Matter march in Washington.
CAMPBELL: You saw mass arrests as these crowd members engaged and encountered police officers. You saw a president using law enforcement to clear a street in order to hold a photo-op in front of a church.
Compare all of that with what we saw on January 6th at the United States Capitol. We didn't see mass arrests after the fact. What we saw were law enforcement officers opening the door, letting these criminals leave the building.
UNKNOWN: These cops are very cool. They're like, "Hey, guys, have a good night." Well, some of them. It's just crazy. It's really weird. You can see that some of them are on our side.
PRESIDENT-ELECT JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR.: No one can tell me, that if it had been a group of Black Lives Matter protesting yesterday, they would have been treated very, very differently than the mob of thugs that stormed the Capitol.
AXELROD: I sat on the set on Wednesday night, and I watched these scenes from our Capitol, and I cried. I love this country. I -- I believe in this country. I believe in our democracy, with all its imperfections.
UNKNOWN: Everybody stay down. Get down.
AXELROD: What happened in the United States of America was devastating. And I hope that feeling is pervasive. And I hope that it causes all of us to do some thinking about where we go from here and how we prevent such a thing from ever happening again.
BLITZER: More than 100 arrests have been made in the days following the domestic terror attack on the United States Capitol, which resulted in multiple deaths including a Capitol Hill police officer who died from injuries he sustained fending off the insurrectionists. The president has been banned permanently from his preferred mode of communication, Twitter, which cited the risk of further incitement of violence. Perhaps the president will find another way to temper his followers and prevent any further tragedy in the days ahead.
