So we begin with that prime time hearing
from the House committee investigating
the January 6th insurrection.
We learned a lot.
We heard new accounts of what
happened that day and saw new
video we've never seen before.
The truth matters here because
our democracy was at risk.
We have live team coverage
with reaction and perspective.
You will only see here on W
USA 9 Natalie Brand starts us
off from the Capitol to walk
us through the information.
We just learned tonight.
In a rare
prime time hearing, the select House
committee investigating the January
6th capital attack began laying
out what it has learned so far.
Donald Trump oversaw
and coordinated a sophisticated 7 part
plan to overturn the presidential
election and prevent the transfer
of presidential power. The committee
revealed video never
before seen by the public.
I am not allowed to say what's
going to happen today. Everyone's
just going to have to watch as
it played. Tears flowed for officer
Harry Dunn, who helped defend
the capital and Sandra Garza,
the girlfriend of Officer Brian Sitnik,
who died the day after the attack.
What I saw was just a war scene.
The panel also heard testimony from
US Capitol Police officer Caroline
Edwards, who suffered a traumatic
brain injury that day.
I mean, I saw friends with
blood all over their faces.
I was slipping in people's blood.
I just remember that moment of
stepping behind the line and just
seeing the absolute war zone
that the West Front had become.
The committee
has interviewed around 1000 witnesses,
including some of former President
Trump's family, but several of
his allies have fought subpoenas,
including House GOP leader Kevin McCarthy.
And let's be honest, it is a smokescreen.
For Democrats to push their
radical agenda last
May, Senate Republicans blocked
the creation of a nonpartisan
committee that would have given
both parties subpoena power and
delivered a report by the end of 2021.
Instead, the House select
Committee's next hearing is Monday,
with several more this month.
Natalie Brandt, CBS News,
Capitol Hill. It's
been 17 months since the
insurrection and our team has
closely followed every development.
Jordan Fisher is a big part
of our team who covers.
The story he was there for
tonight's hearing and he joins
us outside of the Capitol,
Jordan. I listen, I want to get your
perspective on this January 6th attack
and you were inside for this hearing
with a view that none of us had.
And I gotta ask you about the officers
who lived through the insurrection and
we saw some family members there too,
but I want to know what were they doing?
How were they reacting to all
of this new testing?
Yeah, Leslie, four of the officers who
testified last summer about being assaulted
on January 6th were in the audience today.
That includes officer Mike Pennone,
who was dragged into the crowd and and so
badly beaten that he suffered a heart attack.
It was particularly emotional for them.
You could tell tears coming from their faces,
reliving that moment and
for Officer Harry Dunn,
who had to listen to a woman he
described as his rookie officer.
Carolyn Edwards, who testified today
about being knocked unconscious about
suffering a TBI as a result of January 6th.
After the hearing,
he told us he was so proud of her
to see what she had done there.
I joke with Sergeant Cannell right
before and I said alright man no
crying OK and he looked up and said
what I thought you said no crying.
But it was, you know, it was rough.
It was just an emotional.
Like I said, seeing my coworkers
in those predicaments and.
Officer Edwards I trained her.
She's like she's my working.
I trained her and just so proud of her.
You know, it's one thing to
watch it. It's quite another to
relive the moments where you were
there when all of this was happening.
Jordan, I know you've covered the Justice
Department's investigation into January 6th.
This is really the first time we're hearing
the case from the Congressional committee.
But out of everything we've learned
tonight and I'm asking you this because
you have followed every tiny detail,
what do you think is the newest
and most significant piece of
information that we learned?
We saw that the committee is really
focused in on the extremist groups like
the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers,
which we've seen a lot from
the Justice Department.
But the newest thing we saw tonight
is video depositions from people
incredibly close to former President
Donald Trump that includes a former
campaign spokesman Senior Advisors,
a former attorney and two of his children,
Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner,
who have both testified before
the committee Ivanka Trump,
saying that she believed that the
former Attorney General, Bill Barr,
when he told her father and then
that there was no no evidence at all.
Of any fraud that would have
overturned the election.
So as we go forward,
and we have more hearings to come,
I think that's what going to be looking at.
These depositions from people that were
in the room with President Trump on
January 6th and the days that followed.
This was the 1st of a
significant prime time event.
We know there are more to
come starting next week.
Beginning on Monday.
Jordan, thank you.
You know a lot of our neighbors
tuned in for tonight's hearing.
Dozens watched it live from a big
screen outside the Capitol, January 6th.
These personal for so many of us,
because the attack happened
here right in our backyard.
John Henry continues our coverage
from the Capitol and John.
You caught up with some people
who watched this hearing.
What do they tell you? Well,
there is a wide variety of opinions
regarding the hearing we went to.
Actually several locations tonight to
see how people were feeling about it
over at the Taft Memorial Carillon about
a block away from the Capitol building.
But 100 people gathered to watch
it on a big screen while at Shaw's
Tavern in Northwest DC.
A few people gathered for a
watch party there as well.
Some people told us the evidence
they saw this first night.
They believe further tied former
President Donald Trump to being
directly involved in the events
of January 6th and that showing.
And also by showing those depositions
with people like his daughter Ivanka
Trump and former Attorney General,
Bill Barr could help sway more
Americans to side with the committee.
Didn't seem that he was fairly
involved with the attempt on the
capital and he made several threats
to Mike Pence and other Congress.
Or you know Congress members.
I think it's really important that
they that they tell the American
public what these politicians said.
In in the moment,
which is very very different from
what they're saying after the fact.
But we also noticed something at
Shaw's Tavern only about one in
every 10 people at the bar were
actively watching that hearing.
There was one woman who we talked to
said she was concerned about how things
were going when it came to viewership,
and that she felt that first hour
of the hearing up through the video
of the initial siege dragged on.
I don't think either of us has
been have been surprised yet.
We were a little disappointed
in the entertainment value of
the opening statements.
Concerned that people who would
be convinced by the message
or not getting that message.
And that's big, because the entire
point of these hearings are to
persuade people who may not be into
politics or who may support President
or former President Donald Trump.
But once again, this is only the
first night of these hearings.
We'll have to see what are the
ultimate public opinion is at
the end of them. Leslie,
yeah, it was the opening night,
and there is still more building to do.
John, thank you.
These hearings are vital not just to
ensure the health of our democracy,
but to better protect the thousands of
people who live and work on Capitol Hill.
Adam Longo spoke to a congressional
staffer who is paying very close attention.
Sharon Nichols you were on Capitol
Hill in your office on January 6th,
locked in the office you told us before
how frightened you were that day.
I wonder in the more than a
year that's passed since then,
do you think about January 6th?
A lot? And insuring what a monumental
day it was for our country.
And the fact that I go into work.
You know not every day because
of the pandemic,
but I go in often so I'm reminded
the reminders are everywhere.
I think about it often.
Does this committee and its hearing
the fact it's even happening,
does it bring comfort to you and
your fellow staffers and other
colleagues on on Capitol Hill about.
The things that could come out of it,
not in the sense that it can undo
the damage that was done that day,
or that it could 100% prevent
it from happening again,
but it helps us feel seen,
I wonder,
are you optimistic that the committees
work will help make you and the
hundreds of other DC residents
who work on Capitol Hill safer?
I don't think anything's going
to eliminate the risk,
because nothing can there's risk
and waking up every morning.
There's risk every time we walk out the door.
It will help us review what
happened that day.
Review what we did right, but we did wrong.
Our vulnerabilities,
how we can prevent it from happening again.
And USA Nines Award-winning,
30 minute documentary called Democracy.
Divided features, first-hand.
Accounts from people like Sharon Nichols
and former DC police officer Mike Fannon.
You'll see the police body camera video
obtained through legal challenges.
It's all available right now on demand.
And after this newscast, all the W
USA 9 Plus app for Roku and Fire TV.