witnesses and we share concerns
for their safety, security and
reputations, Jake.
>> Thank you so much.
Appreciate it.
>>> Joining us to discuss,
former white house
communications director under
trump and CNN political analyst,
Alyssa griffin.
Thanks for joining us.
Before we get into your
interview with the committee, I
want to get your reaction to
what Sara Murray just said, the
committee telling the white
house that they're worried that
when Republicans take control of
the house white house personnel,
these are career employees, not
political appointees presumably,
witnesses whose identities were
protected, could be revealed by
house Republicans.
Do you think that's a legitimate
fear?
>> It's a very legitimate fear
and it's astonishing and it's
something that any Republicans
in congress who, you know, care
about the credibility of
oversight going forward need to
oppose.
This would be people like
valets, secret service agents,
people who worked within the
residence of the white house
that may have provided details
that were important to the
investigation of the committee.
And they were simply just
complying, whether voluntarily
or with subpoenas, and as we've
talked about many times, Jake,
those of us who testified to the
committee, we faced harassment,
we faced threats, and it's
opening these private citizens
up to that, which they never
signed up for.
>> You told the committee in
your testimony this about former
white house press secretary
kalee mcnan knee.
You said she's a liar and an
tunist.
She's a smart woman, this is not
an idiot.
She knew we lost the election
but made a calculation that she
wanted to have a certain life
post-trump that required staying
in his good graces and that was
more important than telling the
truth to the American public.
Would you put a majority of your
fellow white house staffers and
officials in that category or
was Kayleigh Mcnaney a stand
out?
>> It was hard, but it was the
truth.
Silence is one thing, people in
the white house not speaking up
against election lies, that's
shameful, it's not a good thing,
but it is far worse to amplify
the lies that led to January
6th, and that have taken hold in
this country in such a dangerous
way.
So I hold those who pushed those
lies, especially who I believe
knew better, in a different
category than those who merely
remained silent.
And something I keep going back
to and just kind of reflecting
two years after the fact of
January 6th is if doing the
right thing was easy, more
people would do it.
But so many people sat on the
sidelines and just decided
someone else might speak out and
do the right thing, someone else
might step in and stop this
violence in real time.
Kayleigh and others had massive
platforms that they could have
used to help stop the violence.
But in the months and years that
followed to stop this insidious
lie that's consumed the
Republican party that the 2020
election was stolen, when in
fact it, of course, was not.
>> She has a huge platform on a
different channel and she, as
far as I can tell, doesn't use
it to correct the record.
Texts between hope hicks,
another white house aide, and
former ivanka chief of staff,
how upset they were with trump's
actions that day.
This is private communication.
Hicks texted ratford, quote, we
all look like domestic
terrorists.
This made us all unemployable.
Not being dramatic, but we're
all effed.
Alyssa looks like a genius.
That text was referencing, my
guess is, your resignation about
a month before the insurrection.
What went through your mind when
you saw that?
>> Listen, when I stepped down
in December, of course I was
thinking about my future
prospects, but it was first and
foremost because I was
uncomfortable tying my name and
my integrity to this lie that
was being spread by the campaign
and some white house officials.
I think there was a lot of self
preservation going on by folks
in the trump orbit.
I would also note, especially
hope, she knows trump very well.
She knows that if you cross him,
it comes with.
Again, threats, harassment and
being maligned, so I think
there's an intimidation factor
that has contributed to more
people not speaking out and
telling the truth about what
they know about him.
I want to note what's been so
masterful about the January 6th
committee, is they've gotten all
these people in their own voices
on camera talking about how they
really felt about him.
And I thought it was very
notable that hope called it what
it was, domestic terrorism.
That's important.
I'm glad she said that.
>> The chairman of the joints
chief of staff, general mark
Milley testified about
unflattering opinion articles
written about trump by former
flag officers, generals and
admirals.
In referral to one of those
former officials, Milley said
they said to bring him back to
active duty, court martial them.
I advised them not to do that.
That's just deranged.
That is the behavior of a
tyrant.
Does it surprise you?
>> No, and I worked with
chairman Milley at the
department of defense and I'm
grateful that he was constantly
this block, roadblock against
these terrible instincts by the
former president.
But it just goes to show, Donald
Trump does not even understand
the U.S. Military that he
oversaw, which is right now the
most diverse force it's ever
been in history, ideologically,
racially.
This idea that somebody who is
in the military shouldn't be
able to criticize him is absurd.
That's something you would
expect to see in the Kremlin,
not the United States.
It's just another dot to
remember in the long list of
things that make him so
unqualified to ever hold office
again.
>> You told the committee that
the CIA director at the time had
a suicide pact with the entire
intelligence community if trump
actually fired her.
You don't mean that literally,
but career-wise, that if he
fired her that others would
resign.
You say trump tried to fire her,
but he backed out almost
immediately and allegedly for
about 14 minutes Kash Patel was
the CIA director.
There's no record of that, but
that is absolutely terrifying.
Kash Patel was the acting CIA
director for about 14 minutes?
>> This was anecdotal but I
heard it from senior officials I
trust that this took place, and
because so many officials within
the ic and national security
community knew what Donald Trump
was capable of and how he just
fundamentally didn't understand
his role and their role, they
had these pacts and alliances in
place to make sure that the
incredible important work that
they do couldn't be stopped on
his political whims.
So in the final days, it was a
very scary time in the Intel
community, as well as the
department of defense.
We obviously saw he installed a
loyalist at dod, he installed
Kash at dod, and even within the
CIA, and it was someone like
Gina Haskell that was able to
stop that and other officials
within Dia and other places,
that my understanding stopped it
from happening, which could have
been crippling to our
intelligence gathering all over
the world.
>> Milley testified about a
rescue operation that Kash and
some others said, oh, yeah, we
got approval from the other
country for a flyover and they
hadn't.
There was a clear pattern about
trump's chief of staff, mark
meadows.
Quote, sometimes meadows would
be an ally but then other times
he would either be nonexistent,
injecting bleach, for example,
I've got this, I've got this,
and then it ended up going
forward.
I never saw evidence that he
really pushed back on the
president.
You also told the committee you
tried to get trump to walk back
that he said when the looting
starts, the shooting starts,
which is a tweet he sent a few
days after George Floyd was
killed by police and he refused.
Was there anyone that trump
listened to?
Was there anyone that could say
to him, Mr. President, this is a
horrible idea, if you do this,
you're damaging the country,
damaging national security, do
not do this?
Anyone like that that he
listened to?
>> Honestly, in reviewing my
testimony and when I gave it,
not that comes to mind.
There were people -- I mentioned
Robert o'brien as someone I
found to give him sound counsel.
Many folks at agencies did.
But nobody could truly change
his mind.
That was exemplified, obviously,
on the events leading up to
January 6th.
I tried to in my testimony give
as many concrete examples to
sort of show what I meant, and
the injecting bleach story,
which has become infamous now
goes to show that even the white
house chief of staff couldn't
stop a briefing like that going
forward and leading to this
horrifying moment that will go
down as one of the worst white
house press briefings.
Much worse was the days leading
up to January 6th where we were
told we won't let this person