Jan. 6 committee chair and vice chair on what comes next for the Capitol riot investigation
From CNN's Leinz Vales and Ryan Nobles
Rep. Bennie Thompson, chairman of the Jan. 6 House select committee, said the committee is investigating individuals who tried to change the 2020 election outcome and that the panel still needs to talk to "quite a few people."
"I can tell you that we arelearning that individual's conspired tochange the outcome of theelection. And that is very concerning, that they used assets of thefederal government to try andpromote the big lie.That they intimidated stateofficials toward the big lie," Thompson said during a CNN special with Anderson Cooper and Jake Tapper.
Thompson made it clear the committee is very interested in the attempts to use the power of the federal government to attempt to prevent the peaceful transfer of power.
“We have to tellthat story.We'll be able to document it.And I am concerned that even thereplacement of certain people,to accomplish the big lie, wasunder consideration,” Thompson said."So, the vice chair and I have joined together to make sure democracy stands in this country."
Thompson and Rep. Liz Cheney, vice chair of the Jan. 6select committee, said they still believe there is a chance they will be able to conclude that the actions of former President Trump and some of his associates constitute a crime.
“He (Trump) watched the attack happenedon television.We know that he did not walk inthe very few steps to the WhiteHouse briefing room, get oncamera immediately, and tellthe people to stop and go home,”Cheney said. “The Presidentof theUnited States,is responsible for ensuring the laws arefaithfully executed, he’s responsible for the security of the branches.So,for the president to either through his action, or inaction forexample, attempt to impede orobstruct the counting ofelectoralvotes, which is an official function of congress, the committee is looking atthat, whether what he didconstitutes that kind of acrime.But certainly, it’s derelictionof duty.”
When asked directly by Tapper if he believed that officials in the inner circle of the Trump White House conspired to undermine the election results, Thompson replied: “No question.”
When Tapper asked if Trump himself was to blame, Thompson responded,“Look —Donald Trump is an open book.Everyone watching this show, they have an opinion of it.He is not known to tell thetruth, he is known to promotelies.But, in this instance heinvited people to Washington,on January 6th.And, and at the end of his invitation he said it was ‘going to be wild.’Little did we know, it would beas wild as it was.”
Thompson said the committee is working on a report to document their findings.
The panel is aiming to release an interim report in the summer and a final report in the fall. The committee is also preparing for a series of public hearings intended to address Trump's continuedfalse claimsthat the election was somehow fraudulent.
Read more about the Jan. 6 committee's investigation here.
Officers at Jan. 6 attack recount harrowing moments from Capitol steps: "We had a job to do"
From CNN's Leinz Vales
DC Metropolitan Police commander Ramey Kyle and DC Metropolitan Police officer Mike Fanone, who helped defend the Capitol on Jan. 6, relived the harrowing moments of the insurrection on the building's steps and near the tunnel where clashes unfolded.
"I heard a radio transmissioncome out for a distress callfrom the Lower West Terrace tunnel," Fanone told CNN's Don Lemon.
"That's where we encounteredcommander Kyle.Who was orchestrating thedefense of the Capitol from theLower West Terrace.And he was commanding about 40or 50 MPD officers, and about ahalf dozen US Capitol policeofficers who were standingshoulder to shoulder, bodyagainst body, fighting backthousands of violent rioters," he told CNN.
Kyle told Lemon that he's known officer Fanone his entire career, but did not know that he was standing next to him.
"Icould barely breathe," Kyle said."We had a job to do and we're notin the business of failing.We're going to hold this door atall costs no matter what.This is the Capitol.We are not losing the Capitol.Not this day, not ever."
Kyle went on to describe the moment he approached the West Front of the Capitol.
“You could hear all the screaming and you could smell the pepper spray,” Kyle continued, “It was like I was walking into a war-zone.”
Kyle told Lemon there "wasn't time to be scared" as the chaos unfolded.
“I kind of helped start shoring up some of our defenses here to the south of this terrace. The bicycle racks, they were really kinda a force multiplier for us. We fought all the way up these stairs, all the way up," he continued.
Lemon asked Kyle about objects that were thrown at the officers and whether they were armed.
"At one point in the tunnel, Ilooked down and there wasnothing but baseball bats andhammers and wrenches and anykind of hard object you couldthink of that had been thrown atus or used against us," Kyle said.
"They were armed," Kyle said when Don noted that some people have said the rioters were not armed that day."I had one of their pistols in mypocket."
The commander went on to say that he was proud of fellow officers that day, but felt disgust about the events that took place.
"I'm just disgusted that so manypeople lost their lives," Kyle said "People were injured.Property was damaged.The Capitol was breached."
Watch the interview here.
Pelosi staffer recalls fearing for her life as rioters approached: "Was I going to makeit out that day?"
From CNN's Jason Kurtz
Leah Han is a staff assistant for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. One year ago today she was rushing through the halls of the Capitol, hoping to stay safe as rioters invaded.
"I hid underthe table, and I just waitedfor what felt like ages," Han told CNN's Jake Tapper. "We started to hear chanting.And that chanting was comingfrom the rotunda, meaning they were in thebuilding."
Noting that the chanting sounded "full of rage," Han recalls recognizing that the rioters had moved even closer.
"As it got louder andlouder, I realized that theyhad come into our office," she added.
Han says she can't remember specifically what was being yelled, but she is clear on how the voices made her feel.
"My heart dropped," she said. "Do theyhave these weapons on them?What were they gonna do if theyfound us?...Was I going to makeit out that day?"
Han revealed to Tapper that she feared for her life in that moment of uncertainty, saying she "absolutely" thought she would die that day.
"My mind did wander," she said, adding "I thought of all the worstthings that can happen: torture, hostage, rape,everything."
Han waited until she was safe before connecting with her parents.
"They were very angry, ofcourse, that I had to gothrough all of that.And like any parent would.Their child just went throughsuch a traumatic day, they didn't even know if I was going to come home either," Han explained, adding that her parents remain supportive as she continues to work at the Capitol despite the violence of the insurrection.
"They see that I have beenbrave.I am still willing to go towork despite all of this.They're proud of me," she said.
Sen. Klobuchar gives live tour of path senators took through desecrated US Capitol building on Jan. 6
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, gave a live tour to CNN's Jake Tapper of the path she took with her Senate colleagues after rioters desecrated parts of the US Capitol building on the day of the insurrection.
"Right now, it looks all cleanedup, Jake, but that day it was mayhem," Klobuchar said.
Klobuchar showed the mahogany boxes, which historically since 1877 ceremonially hold the electoral college ballots from all 50 states, that were saved by staffers who grabbed the boxes before rioters entered the Senate chamber.
"When we were in the Senatechamber, and we were rushed outof there because of the breachof security, one really smartstaff person yells out, worksfor the parliamentarian, says, 'Get the boxes, get the boxes.'It is very clear now as theyinvaded the Senate chamber, they would have taken them out, most likely burned them andgotten rid of the electoralballots.So that presence of mind at thatmoment meant they were saved,and that allowed us at 4:00 inthe morning to finish our work," Klobuchar said.
At the end of the tour, Klobuchar added, "I think it is important wenever forget.That's why I thought it wasimportant to take you down thishallway."
Watch:
US Capitol employee remembers seeing officers with "head wounds, cutsand scrapes on their arms" on Jan. 6
Bobby Johnson, the Capitol Service Center manager, was just 30 feet from an area that was breached on Jan. 6, 2021, by rioters in what would become a day he would never forget.
Johnson recalled seeing sergeantof arms personnel walk by his office with guns drawn and then "other policeofficers in riot gear came by,and then more and more and more," Johnson told CNN.
"I guess about 10 minuteslater, we started seeing theinjured," Johnson said. "And these guys came in and askedif we had water and we had maybea case of bottled water to rinsetheir eyes.We ran out of water.We had ice buckets.So we started a bucket brigade.I thought I would get thebuckets back but we went throughabout five or six buckets andI'm standing there.The buckets are not coming back.And I'm like, what do we do?And there were still injuredofficers.They took them down a littlefurther to rinse their eyes.But at that point, you hadpeople that were bleeding and wehad officers [with] head wounds, cutsand scrapes on their arms."
Johnson said he remembered two men asking if he had any first-aid kits but they had run out and all they had "was paper towels andduct tape" which they used.
"They started wrapping eachother's fists and we werehelping to wipe the blood off.And it was something," Johnson said.
Daughter of Rep. Raskin recounts the fear she felt on Jan. 6 while hiding under Rep. Hoyer's desk
Tabitha Raskin, the daughter of Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland, recounted the events of Jan. 6, 2021, while she was at the US Capitol during the riot.
Raskin said she was separated from her father at the time in Rep. Steny Hoyer's office. When she heard the rioters break into the building, she and her husband Hank Kronick sought refuge under Hoyer's desk.
"As soonas we heard them close, weimmediately looked for someplaceto hide.It was really the only goodhiding spot," Tabitha Raskin told CNN. "So the two of us, we hid underhis desk.We were under there for a while.I remember there was a hole inthe desk for cords, and I wasscared. I just imagined peoplecoming in and like seeing usthrough the hole and then Iremember trying to cover thehole."
GOP Rep. Cheney: "Critically important" Trump never gets close to the Oval Office again
From CNN's Jason Kurtz
Republican lawmaker Liz Cheney says her party should not allow former President Trump to gain the GOP presidential nomination in 2024.
"Look, what we saw him doafter the election, what we sawhim do on the 6th, areabsolutely disqualifying," Cheney told CNN's Jake Tapper.
As Tapper noted that Trump would be a Republican frontrunner should he choose to run, Cheney further detailed why she feels the former president isn't fit to again become America's commander-in-chief.
"When you havesomebody who has demonstrated hislack of fidelity to theConstitution, someone who is atwar with the rule of law, youcannot entrust that person withthe power of the presidency everagain," she said.
Almost a full year since Trump left office, Cheney says it's vital he doesn't earn a second term.
"I think it's criticallyimportant for the republic thathe not be anywhere close to theOval Office ever again," she said.
Cheney also talked about the state of the Republican party.“We’re certainly in a very dangerous place as a party. I think that right now we have a cult of personality. We have too many people in the party who have decided to embrace the former president.”
“Right now my party is not embracing truth, is not embracing substance and seriousness,” she said.
CNN's Ryan Nobles contributed reporting to this post.
Rep. Raskin on decision to go to the Capitol the day of riot, despite losing his son the week earlier
Rep. Jamie Raskin, a Democrat from Maryland, walked into the US Capitol building on Jan. 6, 2021 with the purpose of certifying the 2020 election results despite losing his son a week earlier.
Raskin told CNN's Anderson Cooper during tonight's special that his sense of duty is what gave him the strength to come into the Capitol building for the election certification.
"It was surreal, there'sno doubt about that.I felt Tommy very much in myheart, in my chest.And like I told Tabitha and herbig sister Hannah and Hank, thewhole family, I just said, 'It's a constitutional duty, theConstitution says we have to bethere that first Wednesday inJanuary in order to count theelectoral college votes.' And as you know, it was a surlypolitical environment, and we had a very narrowmajority at that point. And Covid-19 was runningrampant...and people whowere getting sick.And I just said, 'Hey, we livecloser to the Capitol than anyother member of Congress otherthan Eleanor Holmes Norton whois a nonvoting delegate,' I said, 'I got to be down there'," Raskin said.
Raskin's daughter, Tabitha, and son-in-law, Hank Kronick, accompanied him to the Capitol to offer support and then the unthinkable happened, a mob of rioters breached the building and set off hours of chaos.
Raskin's daughter and son-in-law took refuge in Rep. Steny Hoyer's Capitol office. Raskin was separated from them for about an hour while he evacuated with his colleagues to the House side.
"It was about an hour laterwhen finally the officers saidthat it was secure enough tocome in to try to get them outof Steny's Capitol office.And so they came back, and youcan imagine the sense of reliefI felt.And it was very emotional, whenthey came back, " Raskin said."And then I was working to getthem home because we wereplanning on being here most ofthe night, as we were, becauseall of us were adamant that wewere going to see the electoralcollege vote certified.We were not going to leave untilthat happened.And so when we finally figured away for them to get back home, Iwas giving them hugs and kissesand saying goodbye, and I saidto Tabitha, 'I promise it willnever be like this again whenyou come back to the Capitol.' And she just looked at me, I'llnever forget it, and she said,'Dad, I don't want to come backto the Capitol,'" Raskin recounted.
More context: Asked about how he managed to keep his composure and continue to fight for the election to be certified, Raskin told CNN's Jake Tapper on Jan. 17, 2021: "I'm not going to lose my son at the end of 2020 and lose my country and my republic in 2021."
Raskin went on to become the lead impeachment manager weeks after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and is now a member of the House Jan. 6 select committee investigating the riot.
Cheney on fellow Republicans downplaying the Capitol riot: "That’s how democracies die"
Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, who is the vice chair of the House Jan. 6 select committee, said that her fellow GOP colleagues who are downplaying the gravity of the Capitol riot are "failing to live up to their oath of office."
When asked by CNN's Jake Tapper what she would say to them, Cheney told him:
"I say that's how democraciesdie.That if you have members of politicalparties who ignore an attack,we've never before been in asituation where the Presidenthimself provoked a violentassault on this Capitolbuilding.And when you sit here in Statuary Hall night,you realize how sacred thisplace is.Any American who would enable orlook the other way or dismisswhat happened or refuse to dotheir duty to get to the bottomof it, I think is failing to liveup to their oath of office andto their duties as a citizen ofthis great nation."
