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Trump Impeachment Trial Day Two; Impeachment Managers Lay Out Timeline Of Capitol Insurrection. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired February 10, 2021 - 18:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Before their break, House impeachment managers presented an amazing amount of very disturbing new evidence showing videos inside the U.S. Capitol during, during the deadly insurrection, videos that had never been seen publicly until now.

[18:00:12]

Let's get a lot of coverage going on, because we're waiting for this trial to resume.

In the meantime, I want to go to Jim Acosta. He's in West Palm Beach, Florida, getting reaction.

What are you hearing from the Trump folks? What are you hearing from the Pence folks?

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, I mean, one of the things that we're trying to dig into right now is just to get some of the reaction to some of that just awful video that we saw play out as the House impeachment managers presented their case.

And one of the things that I'm hearing from multiple Trump advisers, people who have been speaking with the former president in recent weeks, is that he has not felt or shown any remorse for what took place on January 6.

And one of the terrible aspects of January 6 that he has not shown any remorse for is what happened with Vice President Mike Pence, the former vice president who we saw in that clip earlier this afternoon. That was probably one of the most harrowing scenes that was shown to the jurors in the Senate earlier this afternoon when we saw video of the Secret Service and other security officials essentially hustling the former vice president and his family out of danger as that mob was approaching, as that siege was under way up on Capitol Hill.

I talked to a source familiar with the relationship between former President Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence, who said that this relationship remains damaged, that they have not patched up this relationship since what went down on January 6.

And this source said that, yes, Mike Pence did talk to Donald Trump the day after what happened on January 6, that they essentially talked about everything that happened, according to this source, but at the time they were just focused to getting to January 20, to essentially hand off the White House to the incoming president at the time, Joe Biden, and that, since then, President Trump, former President Trump has not shown any remorse to Pence for putting him and his family in that situation.

And according to this source that I spoke with, that's just not his style.

Now, as for Mike Pence, my colleague Pam Brown and I are both hearing from our sources that we should not expect to see the former vice president get involved in this impeachment trial in any way, that he has been laying low essentially on purpose to sort of stay out of the picture as the impeachment trial unfolds.

But in the meantime, Wolf, the question -- one of the big questions that remains is whether or not Trump and Pence will ever patch up that relationship. It remains to be seen, I think, at this point.

In addition to that, Wolf, I will tell you, talking to Trump advisers just about this video and the case being put on by the House impeachment managers, one Trump adviser I spoke with earlier today said that Donald Trump wanted to see a show of force on January 6, and that's what he got.

In the words of this adviser, Trump likes force and he liked seeing his supporters going up there and putting on that show of force. And so if we're looking for any sign of remorse from the former president, I don't think we're going to see that.

And, as a matter of fact, what we have been seeing all day long in terms of reaction from Trump advisers from the Trump team down here in Florida is that they have been retweeting posts on social media, videos and so on showing House Democrats from time to time saying things like fight like hell, as if that has any equivalence with what Donald Trump did on January 6.

Obviously, it didn't. When Democrats have said fight like hell in the past, there wasn't an insurrection that followed. So, obviously, there's not an equivalence there. But that is the defense that they're starting to mount at this point. They're going to be pointing to other Democrats and saying, aha, see, this congressman said this here, over here about fighting like hell and so on.

But to sum up, Wolf, just getting no sign of remorse whatsoever from the former president about what happened. And that's something that these Senate jurors are going to have to keep in mind as they deliberate, as they think about how they want to proceed and vote to acquit or convict the former president, the former president not showing any remorse for what happened on January 6 -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, he's permanently banned from Twitter, so he can't be tweeting his reaction, only getting it out through other sources.

Stand by.

Jamie Gangel is working her sources for us as well.

Jamie, one of the most powerful moments was when the House impeachment manager Stacey Plaskett made the point that these terrorists wanted to kill, they wanted to assassinate the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, but also they wanted to kill the vice president at that time, Mike Pence, because he did what he constitutionally had to do.

He had to certify the Electoral College results. "The mob was looking for Vice President Pence because of his patriotism," the House impeachment manager Stacey Plaskett said, a very, very dramatic moment in this prosecution today.

[18:05:03]

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Wolf.

And that's exactly what I have been hearing about from the Republican sources I have been talking to up on the Hill reacting to this. They thought that was compelling. They thought the Democratic House managers were communicating.

And they mentioned Stacey Plaskett particularly. And one the things that they said was that they were really moved, shaken by that footage of Vice President Pence leaving the room, that it showed -- we have been hearing that he was in a room close by.

But watching him taken out, watching Senator Mitt Romney turned around by Officer Goodman, those were -- the pictures just hit home over and over again. Also, something else that Stacey Plaskett raised which several people mentioned to me was that she talked about it being 20 years from 9/11, and she was a staffer in the Capitol at that time, and how every day she is thankful for the people who gave their lives on the plane that was heading for the Capitol.

And that really resonated with the Republicans I spoke to. Finally, I just want to say that, all of that said, I am not hearing that anyone thinks it is likely that they're going to get to 17 Republicans.

One senior person said to me: "I will be shocked if anyone changed their mind," despite all of this -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes. It's been so, so powerful, so dramatic.

GANGEL: It has.

BLITZER: Everybody is texting me, tweeting to me. They're saying, how could they not vote to convict and disqualify?

GANGEL: Right.

BLITZER: But we will see what happens in the next few days.

Pamela Brown is also working her sources for us. What are you hearing, Pamela?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, just to carry on what Jamie was saying, the people around Trump and Trump himself have been watching this play out very closely. And while they do not believe that there will be the votes to convict,

there is concern about swaying public opinion, what this could mean for Trump politically years down the road if he wanted to run again.

One source I spoke to said, well, they may not get the votes to convict and remove him, so he can't run again in 2024, but what the Democrats seem to be doing here is trying to sway public opinion, so that he wouldn't win if he ran again.

And so what we know is that Trump has been very involved, watching, talking to his legal team. He has been in close touch with them since this trial began. And the legal team, Trump, have been watching the videos, one source told me today, was undeniably platform.

As Jim said earlier, though, Trump has not been watching all this play out and showing remorse, from sources we have been speaking with. That is not something -- he's not watching this wishing he had said something different or handled the situation differently, didn't perpetuate the big lie and so forth.

He is watching this with an eye toward his defense coming up on Friday. And we know that those around Trump have been trying to put together videos. They're trying to find videos of Democrats and the impeachment managers say fight and so forth.

And there's a new sense of urgency in Trump's team as they watch this new security video that has been released just today and how chilling it is and the strong reaction you're seeing from lawmakers in response to it. There is new urgency on Trump's team for their defense coming up.

BLITZER: Certainly is, as there should be.

Kaitlan Collins is also working her stories for us.

Kaitlan, the Trump lawyers yesterday did a pretty pitiful job. They have an enormous challenge ahead of them. They're going to have 16 hours to rebut. I have no idea what the hell they're going to say.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And, Wolf, their audience is not just those senators who are there in the room. It's also their client, the president, who is deeply unhappy after they opened those arguments yesterday, especially with that first attorney who went, Bruce Castor, who was making these arguments that really didn't even seem to have much of a point, even if you speak to the president's allies who were listening in.

And I was told that the president erupted after watching that. He was incredibly furious. He even discussed not having that attorney come back, though I should note the source who told me that said they weren't sure if President Trump was serious.

But the way his allies reassured him is, they said, yes, maybe your attorneys did not have their best day on the Senate floor on that opening day, but you are still headed for acquittal, we believe. You heard what Manu said earlier, that just because GOP senators were

shaken by the new videos that they saw today, it doesn't necessarily mean it's going to change the outcome of this. So, it's important for people to keep that in mind.

And that is what they are telling former President Trump while he's watching all of this unfold from Florida. And so, of course, it is raising the question of, what's it going to look like when his team actually gets on the floor, and how are they going to respond to something like those chilling videos that we saw today of the vice president being rushed out of the room next to his wife and his daughters?

[18:10:15]

And so what I'm hearing is that currently the plan is for them to come out. They're going to argue that Democrats are glorifying violence by showing these videos and recreating that January the 6th riot, Wolf. And they're going to make that argument, while also saying they believe Democrats are taking the president out of context when he spoke on the Ellipse.

Of course, that was when he told them to go to the Capitol. He implied he was going to be going with them, though he didn't. He came back here to the White House, because there was one line where he talked about them going patriotically and peacefully.

But, of course, Wolf, if they only used that line, the president's team would then also be selectively editing him, which is what they are accusing Democrats of doing. So -- but, for right now, as they are about to come back from this break, we should note, the president's team is there on the floor.

The rest of them are in a room next door to the vice president's office outside the chamber. And so they're watching all of this, and they are getting ready to make their time -- their chance to speak again.

And, of course, we know President Trump, former President Trump, is going to be watching closely.

BLITZER: All right, Kaitlan, thank you very much.

John, Kaitlan has an important point. The Trump lawyers supposedly saying what the House impeachment managers are doing by showing all of this video, the violent video, they're, in effect, glorifying violence.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I think they have been very candid in saying they would wish they didn't have to show it and very candid in saying there's going to be some graphic scenes, and if there are children in the room or anybody who would be -- that this is tough, but this is how you make your case.

There was an attack on the Capitol. That's the issue here. Did the president incite the attack on the United States government, against his own government, that could have killed his own vice president, where they were going through the halls chanting, "Where's Nancy?" the speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. So, that's a silly argument.

It's a silly argument. It's tough to watch the video. It's traumatic to watch the video. It's horrible to watch the video. However, it is critical evidence in this trial that is going forward. And, again, so, I -- sometimes, it gets hard. And this is the credibility challenge for the Trump team.

Any defendant deserves a good legal representation. They represent a man who lied to the American people and lied to his own supporters for two months about the election, lied recklessly, lied repeatedly for two months after the election. So, they start with a significant credibility problem to begin with, and now -- because of their client.

And now the managers are making a very strong case. But to the point Jamie was just making and Kaitlan was just making about, does this sway Republicans, that's the question we have to watch as this goes out. We entered the trial knowing the jury was weighted against conviction. OK.

The managers are making an incredibly powerful case. I think it's incumbent on all of us, especially our reporters up there, to keep asking Republicans when they say, well, I don't want to vote to convict, why, why, and press them.

We do know one of the reasons why is power. It's a 50-50 Senate. In the 2022 midterms, the Republicans believe they can take back the House and take back the Senate, and they believe a constant fight with Donald Trump is a problem, because they have primary challenges, because of voter turnout, that they just want to, as I said earlier, put their head in the sand and hope this goes away and that they can get power in 2022 and they hope he somehow disappears.

Jim Lankford, Oklahoma, right, someone who you might think, calls himself a principled conservative, on the ballot in 2022. Roy Blunt, former House member, now a senator, member of the leadership, an institution guy, I'm sure he's horrified by what he's seeing in that video, on the ballot in Missouri in 2022. You want to pick a fight with Donald Trump?

John Thune, again, member of the leadership from South Dakota, an institutionalist, on the ballot in a big Trump state in 2022. Does he want to pick a fight with the president? Marco Rubio, we talked about yesterday. Todd Young from Mike Pence's state of Indiana, after listening to this today, anybody -- you would think anybody loyal to Mike Pence would be willing to stand up here and say, wait a minute here.

But, again, do you want to pick that fight with Donald Trump? That is the power calculation they're having. They're having -- this is about their own personal power and position in the Senate much more than it is about the facts. So they are hoping that the emotion of today and the power of the presentation of today fades as they get closer to '22 and they just simply think a fight with Donald Trump is not good for their political future. That's what they think today. We will watch the trial.

BLITZER: We will see what happens in the next day or two or three. Let's see how long this goes.

Jeff Zeleny is up on Capitol Hill.

I understand that the Trump legal team is speaking to CNN? What are they saying?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Wolf, they are, indeed.

And, of course, the president's lawyers, not surprisingly, are dismissing the very emotional testimony that really has been playing out throughout the afternoon.

Bruce Castor, one of the president's lawyers, he just said, look, I did not learn anything that I did not already know. He said we know that a mob attacked the Capitol on January 6. What the prosecutors, he says, did not do is show that the president ordered them to be there.

But he also said this: "There are two sides to every coin and we have not played our side yet."

But, of course, the defense attorney is going to say that. This is very much like any criminal trial that we have covered over the course of the years in this respect. The defense attorney is going to say, look, wait for the other case to follow.

[18:15:06]

But this is different in many respects, the fact that these jurors, the senators, are seeing what they witnessed in real time. We're also hearing now for the first time from Senator Mitt Romney. He said he found this very disturbing and emotional and troubling as he was leaving the Senate hallway on the 6th.

And that police officer, so heroic, that we saw so many times throughout the presentation, officer Eugene Goodman, he sent Senator Romney back the other direction.

So, Senator Romney said he wants to thank him for that. You can see the video right here now. This is just in the hallway of the Capitol. Senator Romney was heading directly toward that mob of people there on the second floor of the Capitol. That's the Ohio hallway there, usually where press conferences are held.

He turned him back around into the Senate chamber. So, Senator Romney said he plans to thank the officer for helping him in that time of need, so, certainly dramatic video. And now we're hearing from Senator Romney, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes, we certainly are.

All right, stand by. Jake, I keep saying this, but people in more than 200 countries and

territories around the world are watching all of this unfold, and they must be saying to themselves, asking themselves, how is this possible in the United States of America?

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Right.

And we have heard from world leaders who say that they look down, they think less of the United States because of what happened on January 6. And as the House impeachment managers make their case, we're seeing more about the interactivity of what President Trump, then President Trump, was doing and what was going on Capitol Hill.

I just want to show you the video, again, of then Vice President Pence being quickly whisked out of the Capitol by Secret Service. This is video we saw for the first time today. That's Vice President Pence. You will see him in a second -- there he is with the white hair -- looking behind him, and his family, the Secret Service whisking him out to protect him from a mob that had been yelling: "Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence."

If you look at the time stamp, that's 2:26, 2:26 p.m. on January 6, the day of the terrorist attack on the Capitol. Literally, at 2:24 p.m., two minutes before that happened, Donald Trump, then the president, tweeted: "Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our Constitution, giving states a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. USA demands the truth."

"Mike Pence did not have the courage to do what should have been done."

That is what Trump was tweeting literally two minutes before the vice president and his family, his family, were whisked out of the Capitol, for fear that the crowd would kill them, literally would kill them.

Former Congressman Paul Mitchell, Republican of Michigan, although he is now an independent because he's so disgusted with what's happened since January 6, Paul Mitchell just tweeted: "I cannot believe that Vice President Pence was able to look Trump in the eye or meet with him, " again, after this event.

"To be honest, if not in the Oval, and I had been V.P., I would have punched him in the face and resigned."

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Yes.

TAPPER: That's a former Republican congressman.

BASH: Which is a very human response.

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: You might not know him that well. Not really known for threatening to punch President Trump in the nose before. But this is the kind of emotion that people are feeling: Oh, my God,

how dare you?

BASH: Exactly.

And let's just also talk about what happened after that, when it became even more clear to those who weren't inside the Capitol, even just watching outside the Capitol, the then vice president was in an undisclosed location.

And guess how many phone calls he got from the president about his well-being?

TAPPER: That day and the next day and the next day and the next day.

BASH: Nothing.

TAPPER: None.

BASH: Nothing.

TAPPER: It took like a week, right?

BASH: Absolutely nothing, which is not surprising given everything that we have just seen and heard today.

But, look, yes, that was all very, very difficult to watch. That was the point. That was the whole point. The prosecutors/House managers, they don't want this to be easy. They want this to be real. And it's hard to watch because it was hard to live.

It was hard to be a part of for all of these members of Congress, the press, everybody who works in that building. And the fact that it wasn't a full-on massacre is a true miracle.

TAPPER: And a testament to the Capitol and Metropolitan Police Department officers...

BASH: Absolutely. Absolutely.

TAPPER: ... who risked their lives and in one case sacrificed his life.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: The other thing I find so fascinating about that tweet and a lot of the comments from then President Trump after the insurrection started was just how much time elapsed.

[18:20:08]

If you were to just limit this whole impeachment thing just to, did the president of the United States at that time do everything within his power to protect the United States from enemies, foreign and domestic, the answer would be a clear no, OK?

An hour -- at least an hour passed before he sent a tweet attacking his own vice president while he was being hunted down by rioters in the Capitol. And then more time passed, and he issued a video that called them patriots and said, "We love you" and "Go home in peace."

Those...

TAPPER: "You're very special," he said.

PHILLIP: "You're very special."

Those things alone would be violations of his oath of office to protect this country and to protect its institutions. It could have been so much worse. But people were maimed and gravely injured and died.

And so it was already bad enough. I mean, I'm old enough to remember when Republicans for months and months and months held as many hearings as they could over Benghazi, the Benghazi attacks.

TAPPER: Right.

PHILLIP: And now so many of them want to push this down the memory hole.

You just mentioned a Republican responding to your tweet. Another Republican who voted for impeachment in the House, Peter Meijer, just tweeted: "I will never cease to be amazed, aggravated and infuriated by the dismissal, deflection and minimization of what occurred on January 6."

That is exactly what is happening here.

TAPPER: Another Michigan Republican.

The other thing -- I just remembered this, because we're thinking about, what's the difference between the terrorists in Benghazi and the terrorists that did this? And, obviously, there's a whole bunch of differences.

But I remember, early on, maybe 2017, Kellyanne Conway, then the White House counselor, was on this -- was on my show. And I asked her why it was that Trump condemned Muslim violence, Islamist violence, but would never say a word when there was a far right-wing attacker. I think somebody in Canada had just committed -- had just killed a bunch of Muslims, an innocent...

BASH: Yes.

TAPPER: A right-winger, white guy, had just killed a bunch of innocent Muslims. And I said, what's the difference? They're just as dead, innocent people just as dead.

And I don't recall her really particularly having an answer. But the truth of the matter is, we see here the minimization, as Congressman -- Republican Congressman Meijer knows. And he's a veteran. He knows from terrorism. He was in Iraq and Afghanistan. The minimization of this terrorism, because that's what we just

witnessed in these videos, because the bad guys are white Trump supporters, almost entirely white Trump supporters.

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: Dana, hold that thought, because I want to bring in Manu Raju on Capitol Hill, who's talking to some of the leaders up there.

And, Manu, you were on the hill that day. Oh, my God. And I remember you being whisked away, and we were all very worried about you. So I can't imagine what it's like for you to watch this.

But tell us what you're hearing up there.

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's actually a split emerging among the Republican leaders about how they are receiving what they just saw.

One Republican leader, Roy Blunt, who is up for reelection next year, said that -- I asked him if what he saw changes his view about the fact that he's likely to acquit Donald Trump. He instead compared what happened in the Capitol riot to what happened in the protests that we saw over the summer in Seattle and in Portland. And he said he expects the Trump team to bring that up. He said, we will wait for what they have to say.

And Senator John Thune, who's the number two Senate Republican, was -- seemed to be moved by what he saw. He praised the House impeachment managers' arguments. He said that he found it compelling and he thought it was -- he said he's going to listen to both sides of the argument.

Thune has also dismissed this, voted against the constitutionality of this trial. He thinks it's unconstitutional. But he has been alarmed increasingly throughout the process, as Donald Trump tried to subvert the will of voters.

So, you're seeing that split emerge. Overall, the sentiment from Republican senators that I have been talking to, they are praising the House impeachment managers' presentation, which is much different than the 2020 impeachment trial, which broke down along party lines, a lot of Republican criticism against the Democrats at that point.

This time, overwhelmingly, they are calling this riveting, several of them saying they were shaken by what they have seen, even people like Senator Ron Johnson, who is a close Trump ally, saying he was shaken by what he saw.

But like Ron Johnson and like many other senators, that doesn't mean they're going to change their vote. Johnson himself said he doesn't blame Trump for what happened. He blames Trump supporters, those rioters for coming on their own accord. He does not see a link, despite what we are seeing in the video evidence laid out today.

So, Jake, even though there are concerns by Republicans, whether it changes the votes, another question -- Jake.

TAPPER: Let's listen to Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana.

[18:25:02]

SEN. BILL CASSIDY (R-LA): No, absolutely.

QUESTION: Is there anything you have seen so far that was especially jarring?

CASSIDY: There is so much. There's no one thing. There are many things.

QUESTION: Is there something that you think that needs to be taken away today?

CASSIDY: One more time?

QUESTION: Is there something you think that needs to be taken away from today's proceedings?

CASSIDY: Again, there's so much to say that should be taken away.

How does one narrow it? But you realize that there were people, insurrectionists, who attempted to affect the peaceful transfer of power. And that should give anyone who loves our republic great pause here.

TAPPER: That's Louisiana Republican Senator Bill Cassidy. He was the only person to change their vote to vote in favor of proceeding with the trial from the original vote a week or so ago.

And we should point out a couple things about Senator Cassidy. One, he was just reelected, so he doesn't have to worry about reelection for another six years. And, two, he -- the Republican Party of Louisiana issued a statement condemning him for that vote, because the GOP institutionally is all about protecting Donald Trump, even though he's no longer president, and not about a search for truth or facts.

But, Dana, I want to get your feedback about the whataboutism we heard from Senator Roy Blunt, who started talking about the violence that all of us condemn from Antifa and other groups that we have seen in Portland and Seattle, and saying -- I don't even know the relevance of that in particular. He could bring up the Basque separatists, for all I know, but the idea that that is something that he wants to talk about.

BASH: He's on the ballot in two years.

And the split that Manu was just talking about and that we just heard live from Bill Cassidy, who, as you aptly pointed out, just won reelection, unfortunately is falling on those lines. Who is going to face voters sooner than others?

When -- I know that this is going to sign Pollyanna, but -- and it shouldn't. I shouldn't think like this because I have covered politics for a long time. But the fact that these elected officials are still thinking about their own political future, and not as jurors and as human beings, after listening to that, and obviously experiencing what they did on January 6, just blows my mind, especially when you think about the fact that their fealty is -- continues to be not to, never mind America, but to -- and never mind the Republican Party.

TAPPER: Or conservative principles.

BASH: Or conservative principles, but to one man. And it's becoming a cult, as opposed to a political party.

And I just want to add one thing to that, to sort of, I think, help paint the picture to just how far afield and far adrift the Republicans have gone.

Imagine if, in those hallways, it wasn't never mind a Confederate Flag or a Trump flag that those people were holding, but an ISIS flag. It could have been possible. And that's to your point earlier about the fact that there has been widespread condemnation, rightly so, for attacks on Benghazi, for 9/11, for others.

But when it comes to domestic attacks in the name of a person, it's largely silence.

PHILLIP: And...

TAPPER: We're going to come back to the hearing, to the trial. Let's listen in.

REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): Distinguished members of the Senate, managers Cicilline and Castro will now remind us of what President Trump was doing during the attack.

They will show how he continued to stoke the insurrection and refused to speak out against the violence or do anything to stop it.

Mr. Cicilline.

REP. DAVID CICILLINE (D-RI): Mr. President, distinguished senators, you just heard from my colleagues about the harrowing events that happened here at the Capitol on January 6, and saw that very disturbing video.

I'd now like to turn your attention to what was happening on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue at the White House. And the truth is, the facts are that, on January 6, Donald Trump did not once condemn this attack.

He did not once condemn the attackers. In fact, on January 6, the only person he condemned was his own vice president, Mike Pence, who was hiding in this building with his family and fear for his life.

[18:30:12]

In the first crucial hours of this violent attack, he did nothing to stop it, nothing to help us. By all accounts from the people that were around him he was delighted.

And here was the last thing Donald Trump said that day. And you might remember this from my motions presentation earlier in the week. At 6:00 P.M. on January 6th, after all the destruction that you just saw, the Capitol police and the National Guard fighting to secure this building, here is what Donald Trump tweeted. These are the things and events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously and viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly and unfairly treated for so long. Go home with love and in peace. Remember this day forever.

He got what he incited. And according to Donald Trump, we got what we deserved. Donald Trump's incitement of this insurrection including his dereliction of his duty as commander-in-chief to defend the capitol and the people in it, his complete refusal to condemn the attack while it was going on and his continued incitement of the violence during the attack require impeachment.

Now, let's turn to then President Trump's conduct that day. I want to start at the beginning when he addressed his thousands of great patriots, as he called them that morning.

Around noon, Donald Trump began speaking at his rally just down Pennsylvania Avenue. Even before Donald Trump finished speaking, his supporters began to walk down toward the Capitol, and they were already starting to chant, Stop the Steal, storm the Capitol, invade the Capitol, fight for Trump. And by 12:53 P.M., they had violently forced their way through the barricades here at the Capitol.

Now, about 1:00 that day, with this chaos just starting, Speaker Pelosi, as the Constitution requires, formally commenced the process by which this chamber certifies the election results. Within ten minutes, at 1:11 P.M., as if almost on cue, Donald Trump concluded his speech with his final reminder to the thousands gathered there that it was time to go to the Capitol. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT: And we're going to the capitol. And we're going to try and give -- but we're going to try and give our Republicans -- the weak ones, because the strong ones don't need any of our help, we're going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.

So let's walk down Pennsylvania Avenue. I want to thank you all. God bless you and God bless America. Thank you all for being here. This is incredible. Thank you very much.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CICILLINE: Now, you've seen what happened when these supporters, following his orders, arrived here at the Capitol. But I want to look at what happened next. Now, you'll recall during the speech President Trump said, we're going to the Capitol, sort of suggesting that he was going to go with this crowd, of course, that was not true, but let's -- here is what he said. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Now it is up to Congress to confront this egregious assault on our democracy. And after this, we're going to walk down, and I'll be there with you, we're going to walk down, we're going to walk down anyone you want but I think right here, we're going to walk down to the Capitol.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CICILLINE: This of course was not true. He did not go with them to the Capitol. He left and went back to the White House. And while he was en route to the White House, violence really began to grow here at the Capitol.

And within minutes of Donald Trump's speech ending, there were significant reports of escalating violence that began to surface. Buildings around the Capitol were starting to be evacuated. And by 1:15, an explosive device had been found at the DNC.

[18:35:01]

A pipe bomb had been found at the RNC about 15 minutes earlier. The House sergeant at arms had called for immediate assistance. At 1:34 P.M. the mayor of Washington, D.C. called for additional National Guard troops.

I won't go through all of the details of the violence that unfolded here. You just saw that. But as we walk through what our commander-in- chief did that day, I want to be very clear about exactly what was happening here at the same time.

For 40 minutes, while buildings were being cleared, pipe bombs were being found, his supporters were literally breaching the perimeter of the Capitol and overwhelming law enforcement, and you saw the violence that was occurring, we heard nothing from the president of the United States. We didn't hear anything from Donald Trump until 1:49 P.M.

While all of this is unfolding, President Trump sent out a tweet. This was the first thing he did when he learned the United States Capitol with all the members of Congress, his own vice president, was under violent attack. And what was that tweet? Nearly an hour after the rioters breached the Capitol perimeter at 1:49, Donald Trump released a propaganda reel of his save America speech that he'd given an hour before.

I want to be clear. The events I just described, the rioters are breaching the Capitol, attacking law enforcement, the violence is being broadcast all over the television for the whole world to see, including the president of the United States. And I want to show you, this is what is happening right before Donald Trump sends that video out again and as he does it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Our country has had enough. We will not take it anymore. And that's what this is all about. And to use a favorite term that all of you people really came up with, we will stop the steal, because you'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CICILLINE: Even if President Trump claims he didn't know the extent of the violence that would follow his speech, it was now happening in plain view, broadcast on television. His supporters were attacking law enforcement. The mayor and the police chief were calling for help. Members of Congress and the vice president were inside, scared for their lives.

And he doesn't send help, doesn't try to stop it, doesn't even acknowledge the attack. Instead, our commander-in-chief tweeted the video of the speech that he'd given before that included language like, our country has had enough, we will not take it anymore, and that's what this is all about, you have to be strong.

Those around Donald Trump, as was later reported, were disgusted. His close aides, his advisers, those working for him, former officials, even his family were begging him to do something. Kellyanne Conway, the president's close adviser, called to, quote, add her name to the chorus of aides urging Donald Trump to take action.

Ivanka Trump, the president's own daughter, went to the Oval Office as soon as the rioting escalated and was, as confirmed by Senator Graham, quote, trying to get Trump to speak out to tell everyone to leave, end quote. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy called Jared Kushner, pleading with him to persuade Trump to issue a statement or to do something. And Kushner too went down to the White House after that call.

And it wasn't just the people at the White House. Members of Congress from both parties who were trapped here were calling the White House to ask for help. Some members even appealed directly to Donald Trump, these members who had, quote, been loyal Trump supporters and were even willing to vote against the Electoral College results, were now scared for their lives. Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy repeatedly even got into a screaming match as the attack was under way, demanding that Trump do something, issue a statement denouncing the mob.

[18:40:00]

I imagine many of you sitting here today picked up your phone and tried to reach somebody at the White House to ask for help. This wasn't partisan politics. These were Americans from all sides trying to force our commander-in-chief to protect and defend our country. He was required to do that.

Now, the extent of how many people tried to reach the president to get him to act is not known. But what is clear, what we know without any doubt, is that from the very beginning, the people around Donald Trump lobbied him to take command.

What's also clear is what Donald Trump, our commander-in-chief, did in those initial hours to protect us. Nothing. Not a thing. He knew it was happening. The attack was on T.V. We all know that President Trump had the power to stop these attacks. He was our commander-in-chief. He had the power to assess the security situation, send backup, send help. He also had incited this violent attack. They were listening to him. He could have commanded them to leave. But he didn't.

The first critical hour and a half of this bloody attack, Donald Trump tweeted his rally speech and did nothing else. And we know why. We know his state of mind that prompted his utter, complete refusal to defend us. It was reported by those around him. The president, as reported by sources, at the time was delighted. As he watched the violence unfold on television, President Trump was reportedly, and I quote, borderline enthusiastic because it meant the certification was being derailed, end quote.

Senator Ben Sasse related a conversation with senior White House officials that President Trump was, quote, walking around the White House, confused about why other people on his team weren't as excited as he was, end quote.

Trump's reaction to this attack reportedly, genuinely freaked people out. I understand why. We just suffered a very serious attack, attack on our country and we saw it and the people around him knew it. But when Donald Trump saw it, he was delighted.

Now, what President Trump did next confirms why he was so delighted, why he wanted this, because it shows that his singular focus that day, the day we were attacked, was not protecting us, was not protecting you, was not protecting the Capitol, it was stopping the certification of the election results. The evidence is clear.

Shortly after 2:00 P.M., as the siege was fully under way, then- President Trump made a call. This is the first call that we are aware he made to anyone inside the Capitol during the attack. Didn't call the vice president to ask how he could help defend the Capitol, didn't call the next two in line to succession to the presidency to check on their safety or well-being, instead he attempted to call Senator Tuberville.

He dialed Senator Lee by accident. Senator Lee describes it, he had just ended a prayer with his colleagues here in the Senate chamber and the phone rang. It was Donald Trump. And how Senator Lee explains it is that the phone call goes something like this. Hey, Tommy, Trump asks, and Senator Lee says, this isn't Tommy. And he hands the phone to Senator Tuberville.

Senator Lee then confirmed that he stood by as Senator Tuberville and President Trump spoke on the phone, and on that call, Donald Trump reportedly asked Senator Tuberville to make additional objections to the certification process. That's why he called.

And let's be clear. At roughly 2:00 P.M. when Donald Trump was walking around the White House watching the TV delighted and spent five to ten minutes talking to Senator Tuberville urging him to delay the election results, this is what was happening in the Capitol.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. JAMES LANKFORD (R-OK): We'll pause, thank you.

[18:45:00]

(YELLING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CICILLINE: You saw Senator Lankford stop speaking and leave the floor quickly in that clip, because the insurgents had broken through the barricades and had entered the building. And as these armed insurrectionists banged on the doors members of Congress were told to put on their gas masks, to put bags over their heads for safety and prepare to evacuate.

And Donald Trump was calling to ask a senator to delay the certification process. Let that sink in. Donald Trump didn't get to finish that call, was cut off because the senators had to move to another location for your security. And thank God they did because as the call was occurring, the rioters got closer to the Senate chambers. And as we all know now, but for the heroism of Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman and other law enforcement officers who took them in a different direction to the police line, they very likely would have gotten here.

Think about that -- armed insurrectionists, guns, weapons, zip ties, brass knuckles. They were coming for us. They were inside the United States Capitol, trying to stop the certification process. The police were outnumbered. And but for the grace of God they would have gotten us -- all of us.

And our commander-in-chief makes a call about an hour after the siege began, not to preserve, protect and defend you and our country and the capitol but to join forces with the mob and pressure a senator to stop certification.

We just can't get numb to this kind of behavior. There can be no doubt as to the purpose of Donald Trump's call. That he was not calling to assess the security threats or to check on the well-being of you or anyone else.

Indeed, later on that evening while all of the destruction and damage still continued, dozens of officers were being treated for serious injuries, deaths were confirmed, about 7:00 p.m., the president's personal lawyer, Rudy Giuliani, made a call. And just in case you don't think there was some coordination, he also called Senator Lee's phone trying to reach Senator Tuberville.

We don't have to guess as to what Rudy Giuliani said in that voicemail because we have it recorded. So let's listen to what the president's personal lawyer said on the night of this attack.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

RUDY GIULIANI, TRUMP'S PERSONAL LAWYER: Senator Tuberville, or I should say coach Tuberville, this is Rudy Giuliani, the president's lawyer. 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.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

CICILLINE: This was the singular focus of Donald Trump during this violent bloody attack on the capitol, stopping the certification.

Look, as I mentioned, I was a trial lawyer for 16 years. Sometimes you have to ask a jury to use reasonable inferences to piece together a defendant's state of mind. We don't have to do this here.

While our country was violently attacked by an armed mob, President Trump not only refused to stop the attack or even address the attack at all, he made clear his focus was the same goal of the attackers he had incited, to stop the certification process and prevent the peaceful transition of power.

The only action we know that he took an hour into this attack was to call Senator Tuberville to ask him to delay the certification. This is as clear evidence as I have ever seen of what Donald Trump really cared about that day.

Now, look, the certification process, as we all know, includes debate and objections. Some of us disagreed. But we came here on January 6th to formally administer the certification process pursuant to our constitutional duties. And at the end of it, Congress certified the results to ensure that we continue to be a country with leaders who are elected by the people for the people.

Donald Trump's objection to the certification are not on trial.

[18:50:01]

But what is on trial is while we were under armed attack and being evacuated, while our law enforcement officers were fighting for their lives, our commander-in-chief was calling not to determine how to best secure the building and the people in it, but to continue to pressure senators and stop the certification process and the peaceful transfer of power, just as he incited the mob to do earlier in the day. This was a breath-taking dereliction of his duty and his violation of his oath as our commander in chief.

Senators, before I hand this over to manager Castro to walk through the rest of the day, please let me make one final point -- these attackers stood right where you are. They went on that rostrum. They rifled through your desks and they desecrated this place. And, literally, the president sat delighted, doing nothing to help us, calling one of you, to pressure you to stop the certification.

It can't be that the commander-in-chief can incite a lawless, bloody insurrection and then utterly fail in his duty as commander in chief to defend us from the attack, to defend our law enforcements from that attack and just get away with it. Donald Trump abdicated his duty to us all.

We have to make this right, and you can make it right.

(INAUDIBLE)

REP. JOAQUIN CASTRO (D-TX): My fellow manager, David Cicilline, showed you what Donald Trump did and did not do in those first critical hours of the attack.

He sent a tweet at 1:49 p.m. where he re-posted a video of the speech that incited the attack. And he called a senator, to ask him to delay the certification as a senator was being evacuated for his own safety.

We left off around 2:15 pm. At this point, insurgents were inside the Senate and the House, and the Senate have been evacuated for everyone's safety. And as you saw, Vice President Mike Pence and his family even had to be evacuated for their safety.

Now, you will recall, Donald Trump had made Vice President Pence a target. He attacked the vice president at the rallies, in speeches and on Twitter. And during Trump -- during President Trump's speech, that morning of the attack, he ramped it up again.

After privately pressuring Mike Pence, in front of thousands in the crowd, he called Mike Pence out 11 times, including saying, quote: Mike Pence, I hope you're going to stand up for the good of our Constitution and for the good of your country. And if you're not, I'm going to be disappointed in you. I will tell you right now.

And this was the crowd's response to Donald Trump's days of relentless attacks, on his own vice president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CROWD: Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASTRO: By 2:15 p.m., the crowd was chanting in unison "hang Mike Pence", outside the very building he had been evacuated from with his family.

Now, even if President Trump didn't know that his inflammatory remarks about his vice president, would result in chants of "hang Mike Pence", by 2:15 p.m., he surely knew. The attack was all over television, they were doing this out in the open.

This was a vice president whose life, whose family's life, was being threatened by people whom the president had summoned to the capitol.

[18:55:09]

And what did President Trump do in response? Did he stop? Did he tell his base, no, don't attack my vice president?

Even when president Trump knew, what his words were causing, he didn't do any of those things to stop the crowd. In fact, he did the opposite. He fueled the fire.

At 2:24 p.m., he tweeted, quote: Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our Constitution. USA demands the truth.

Over an hour and a half into the attack and this is what he tweeted. And he still, even at this point, did not acknowledge the attack on the capitol, let alone condemn it. Instead, he further incites the mob against his own vice president whose life was being threatened.

Some of you may say, well, who was paying attention anyway? Well, that mob is paying attention.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFED MALE: Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our Constitution, giving the states a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. U.S. demands the truth!

UNIDENTIFED MALE: Mike Pence is traitor.

(CROWD CHANTING)

UNIDENTIFED MALE: Can I speak to Pelosi? Yeah. We're coming, bitch. Mike Pence, we're coming for you, too, fucking traitor.

(INAUDIBLE)

UNIDENTIFED MALE: Donald J. Trump tweeted out saying that Mike Pence let us down. Mike Pence let us down, people. If you want to get something done, you're going to have to do it yourself.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASTRO: The insurgents amplified President Trump's tweet, attacking the vice president with a bull horn. They were paying attention. And they also followed instructions. In fact, the insurgents were at one point, as you saw 60 feet away, from the vice president, and the vice presidents family.

Some of these insurgents were heard, saying quote, that they hope to find Vice President Mike Pence and execute him, by hanging him from a Capitol Hill tree as a traitor. And then, they erected a gallows with a noose.

This is what Donald Trump incited. Please, take a close look at that picture. It harkens back to our nation's worst history of lynching. A president's words have the power to move people to action. These were the results.

And why did the president incite such rage against the vice president? He was fulfilling his constitutional duty, as we all were, that day. Vice presidents in this country have been carrying out this constitutional duty, overseeing the certification of the election results, without incident, without contest, without a word, for the entirety of our nation.

It's part of our peaceful transition of power in the United States. The vice president said he reviewed the Constitution and he could not block certification as President Trump wanted him and was pressuring him to do.

He told the president, in a letter that morning, a few hours before President Trump's tweet, quote: I will approach this moment with a sense of duty and an open mind.