Since we're talking about January six,
I do want to take you back to that day.
Take a look at the video over here.
That, of course, was the news
hanging outside
the Capitol
that day
and rioters
were calling for your execution,
chanting Hang Mike Pence
almost two years later.
Is it still tough to hear
some of the video of the hang Mike Pence
two years later?
Is it still tough to see that
and hear that
Jake, it saddens me
but that day it angered me
I must tell you, when
when the Secret Service took us down
to the loading dock,
accompanied by my wife,
my daughter
Charlotte, and our Secret Service detail
I was determined to stay at my post.
I told the Secret Service that I
was not leaving the Capitol.
I didn't want to give those people
the sight of a six
car motorcade
speeding away from the Capitol that day.
But frankly, when I saw those images
and when when I read
a tweet that President Trump issued
saying that I lack courage
in that moment.
Well,
it angered me greatly.
But to be honest with you,
I didn't have time for it.
President had decided in that moment
to be a part of the problem.
I decided
and was determined
to be part of the solution.
And so we essentially set that aside.
I collected the Republican
and Democrat
leadership of the House
and Senate on a conference call,
and we began to work the problem.
They tasked me to reach out
to leadership at the Pentagon,
the leadership of the Justice Department
to surge additional resources there.
And thanks to the courage of those
amazing Capitol Hill police officers
and federal law enforcement,
we would quell the violence.
We reconvened
the Congress the very same day.
And I'll always believe that
because of their courage and valor,
a day of tragedy became
a triumph of freedom.
We demonstrated to the American people
and the world the strength
of our institutions,
the resilience of our democracy.
But those memories
those images will always be with me.
So you just said that the president
in that moment decided
to be part of the problem.
And I have to say, as somebody
that had been reporting on it
for the months leading up to January six,
I don't think anything happened
in that moment.
That was part of the problem.
President Trump had been
campaigning
in favor
of the overturning of the election
for months and months and months.
It wasn't in that moment
and he wasn't part of the problem.
He was the problem.
Well, look, the
the people
who rioted at the Capitol
are responsible for what they did.
And as I said that day,
and I believe every day since.
Well, those people should be prosecuted
to the fullest extent of the law.
When I saw the images of people
smashing windows ransacking offices
and creating the mayhem
that ultimately cost lives.
I was filled with a simmering indignation
that served in the Congress for 12 years.
I dreamed
from the time
I was a little boy,
as I wrote in my book about someday
representing my hometown in Congress
and to see what was happening there
The first time since 1814
at our Capitol building, I,
I just found myself thinking not this,
not here, not in America.
And I hear you loud and clear.
Look there.
In the weeks
after the election, I had,
I told the President
that after all the legal challenges
would play out,
which the campaign
had every right to bring. Sure.
I mean, there were,
Jake, voting
irregularity is in a number of states
where election laws
had been changed by either
executive action or by the courts.
There was never evidence
of widespread fraud.
I don't believe
fraud changed
the outcome of the election.
But
the president and the campaign
had every right
to have those examined in court.
But I told the president
that once
those legal challenges played out,
he should simply accept
the outcome of the election and move on.
But he was hearing different voices
and frankly, there were
there were some legal experts that
that were allowed on the
White House grounds that
there should have never
been let through the gate
And you're talking about Sidney Powell.
Rudy Giuliani.
I want to come back to that in a second.
But I do want to show this moment
because it was so important
and so heartbreaking.
This is inside the Capitol.
This is video of the Secret Service
trying to get you and your wife, Karen,
and your daughter, Charlotte, to safety
as rioters came within 40 feet of you.
We found out later
your family's lives were at risk,
not just yours,
although that would be tragic,
but your wife's and your daughters.
And I was worried for you that day, sir.
Covering this.
I was worried for your wife.
I was worried for your daughter
and relieved that nobody was harmed
you.
If I were you, I would
still be livid with Donald Trump.
I would be so furious.
And I know you're a measured man.
But are you still angry
Well, I must tell you, the president's
words and tweet that day were reckless.
They endangered my family and
and all the people at the Capitol.
And I was angry.
But, you know, my Christian faith
tells me to be quick to listen,
slow to speak and slow to become angry.
And in the Christian faith,
forgiveness is not optional.
We literally pray in the Lord's Prayer
to forgive those who trespass against us.
And in the days that followed,
when the president asked to meet with me
after he made the right
statements to the country
committed to a peaceful
transfer of power, he'd
condemn the people that rioted
at the Capitol
We met, we sat down and I prayed.
I prayed for God's
grace to meet that moment in that spirit.
And it wasn't easy.
And
I and to be honest with you, I'm
I'm as human as the next guy.
And I,
I still pray for the president,
and I pray for the grace
to forgive him and all those responsible
for that tragic day.
But, well,
I truly do believe that we live in a time
when the American people ought
to be searching our hearts
and having more grace toward one another.
And it seems like
our country is more divided
now than ever before.
Even broadcast networks seem to be
perceived to be divided along
partizan lines,
which is why I'm grateful
for the opportunity to be on CNN today.
I just think if
if all of us can be more forgiving
to one another, will
we'll have unity in this country
more than we've had in recent years.
And and with that, unity will meet
the challenges that America faces
in the balance of this new century.