The House Select Committee met to
investigate the insurrectionists on
January 6, the Trump supporters who
stormed the Capitol.
Well, they had their first day of
hearings today, and we heard from
Capitol police officers and members
of the DC Metropolitan Police.
Let's start off with the first
video which features Harry Dunn and
[INAUDIBLE] Both of them
are US Capitol police officers.
They were there in the Capitol on
the day that the Trump supporters
had stormed it.
And they wanted to share their
perspective on what they
went through.
Let's watch.
>> The rioters attempting to breach
the Capitol we're shouting,
Trump sent us, pick the right side,
we want Trump.
>> As we came close to
the terrorists our line was divided
and we came under attack.
A man attempted to rip the baton
from my hands and
we wrestled for control.
I retained my weapon after I pushed
him back, he yelled at me.
You're on the wrong team.
>> I too, was being crushed by
the rioters.
I could feel myself losing oxygen
and recall thinking to myself,
this is how I'm going to die.
>> He kicked me in my chest as we
went to the ground.
I was able to retain my baton
again, but I ended up on my hands
and knees and blind.
The medical mask I was wearing at
the time to protect myself from
the Corona virus was pulled up over
my eyes so I couldn't see.
I braced myself against the impact
of their blows and
feared the worst.
>> On January 6, for
the first time, I was more afraid
to work at the Capitol than my
entire deployment to Iraq.
>> One man tried and
failed to build rapport with me
shouting are you my brother?
Another takes a different
tack, shouting,
you will die on your knees.
>> The rioters call me traitor.
A disgrace and shouted that I,
an army [INAUDIBLE] Police officer
should be executed.
>> The sea of people was punctuated
throughout by flags.
Mostly variations of American flags
and Trump flags.
There was gags and flags.
It was clear the terrorists
perceive themselves to be
Christians.
I saw the Christian flag directly
to my front and others read Jesus
is my savior Trump is my president.
To my perpetual confusion,
I saw the thin blue line flag,
a symbol of support for
law enforcement more than once
being carried by the terrorists
as they ignored our commands and
continued to assault us.
>> So we have another video to get
to in just a minute but the
testimony was definitely powerful.
This is, in my opinion, this is
meant to serve more of a political
purpose than anything else.
We can talk about that.
But Jank first, preliminary
thoughts on what you saw.
>> Okay, so first the standard
Republicans don't live in
the same reality we do,
look at what the guy said.
He saw people with thin blue lives
flags or
thin blue line flags I should say
In the crowd as they're viciously
attacking the cops.
Because they're detached from
reality, they're like,
we got to protect the cops,
let's kill the cops.
They hold those two thoughts in
their heads at the same time.
Well, then how are you going to
talk to them?
How are you going to reason
with them?
Obviously, they've let go of logic
completely.
So I guess the only way you could
talk to them is through
emotions, right?
Like you good other people evil.
Now look that way [INAUDIBLE] Okay,
cops, I hate cops I love cops
What are you going to do,
what do They're morons total,
all right, so I'm the bad guy for
calling them what they obviously,
obviously I mean,
I don't know lunatic is more
appropriate or more, anyway.
Look at these cops, so veterans,
police officers,
they did everything that the right
wing asked them to do that society
asked them to do.
And on and on, and
it didn't matter.
They want to, the guy said you will
die on your knees to a cop while
pretending to be in favor of cops.
That right there is the microcosm
of the current day
republican party.
>> I just think this country has
reached a point where everything is
about the individual and
everything is either about survival
or self preservation.
And what I mean by that is our
political system is completely
broken because you have an entire
political party that refuses to
abide by their own purported
principles and values.
And are more than willing to
minimize something serious that
happened in the Capitol in order to
maintain their political careers,
in order to ensure that
they're not harassed by Trump's
base like I think we're
just past the point where we should
expect people to do the right
things >> Yes no way they're never
going to do >> They're not going to
do the right thing.
So what do we do now, right?
Because we've seen the kind of
commentary that's come out
of the Republican Party.
You have Members of Congress GOP
lawmakers saying over and
over again that there was no big
deal that day it was No,
it wasn't an It was it was nothing
actually it was just like a regular
group of tourists just walking
through the Capitol, like any
normal day like we've heard those
kinds of arguments, just these
efforts to minimize what happened.
And then you see people who
are like, we should also minimize I
see people on the left who are like
we should also minimize it because
there wasn't really a threat of
people overthrowing the government.
Okay, I get it, I get it.
They're unorganized, they
don't really have a strategy or
a plan in place to effectively
topple the government.
I agree with that.
But can we at least accept what
their intentions were and
also accept that what we're seeing
in that video
right next to me right now,
that is normal, that ain't normal.
We shouldn't minimize it,
we should think about what it is in
our culture right now that fuels
that kind of behavior.
It makes people think
that they're doing the right thing.
>> Now look, I am constantly
torn on whether to talk about
the fake left or not.
If you think chanting about
the execution of politicians as you
stormed the Capitol is a left wing
position.
You might not understand
anything in the world.
So go ahead and join the right wing
because you've also lost your mind.
>> If this no big deal,
would you be comfortable with
someone doing that in your yard?
Like- >> People just people
storming your house talking
about executing you.
I'm not suggesting anyone do that,
but I'm just trying to,
I think I think it's real easy to
sit at a desk and minimize anything
because you're trying to appeal to
a niche audience, okay?
But just think about if the shoe
were on the other foot if you had
to deal with what people at
the Capitol had to deal with that
day, whether it's politicians or
members of the Capitol Police or
members of the DC Metro Police,
that is not a small thing.
And to minimize it is
to essentially give it a pass.
>> Yeah. So I want to say one
more thing about that.
Look the bigger issue here is so
the violence is a massive issue,
then chatting about executions
looking for not just Mike Pence,
but Nancy Pelosi and AOC.
It's easy for you to say, well,
I mean, they weren't
trying to execute me.
So I don't think it's
a big deal, right?
They didn't beat me over the head
and threatened to murder me as they
were dragging me down the stairs.
So I don't think it's a big deal.
So that's a very right wing
position, right?
But the more important issue here
is the underlying one which is they
didn't like that they lost
the election.
They were lied to by the right wing
and sometimes aided and [INAUDIBLE]
By the fake left, right or
rather go on Tucker Carlson and
kiss his ass.
[INAUDIBLE] Yeah, I mean,
maybe maybe, maybe these
are American heroes who wanted to
murder the politicians, right.
So that is an I don't look it's
only a thought exercise in terms of
like can you have any kind of
empathy for
the people on the other side?
Can you ever think what if the Shoe
was on the other foot?
God forbid,
see if it was on other foot for
you guys, we would feel terrible.
And say no no, no, don't do that,
don't do that.
because violence is a porn,
anything physical is a porn.
But now that these guys go around
and go, well, if you didn't win
an election, obviously you trying
to go murder the other side.
No, that's not obvious.
That's not America at all.
You guys are all traitors to the
concept of America and democracy.
But again, like this is all nuanced
because they're
brainwashed by their own media.
So they really think like, my god,
that election was stolen.
We gotta murder someone to make
sure that we can undo it because we
heard violence was the answer,
we forgot the question right?
And by the way, it also requires
a nuance on democratic side, just
because we think that was horrible
what they did not to the police,
potentially the politicians, but
most importantly,
in my opinion to our democracy.
That doesn't mean we should agree
to massive security in Washington
with fences around the Capitol, so
no Americans
could ever approach it, etc, right?
You can say that was terrible and
disagree on the solution.
Please, let's use our minds.
>> Yeah, that's exactly right.
In fact, one of the concerns I had
in regard to the formation of
a commission to investigate
this was that we were going to get
similar recommendations that we did
after the 911 tragedy, right.
There was a similar commission
that was created and
their recommendations were, let's
bulk up our intelligence community,
our intelligence agencies, they
created the office of the Director
of National Intelligence.
So and for me,
obviously, additional security
agencies or intelligence agencies
are not going to do the trick.
There's a deeper problem here and
I don't want more surveillance into
Americans and their personal lives.
I want to get to the second
video though.
The first video as I mentioned
featured US Capitol Police.
The next one features two cops
from the DC Metropolitan Police.
Let's watch.
>> One woman in a pink
magga shirt yelled.
You hear that guys?
Voted for Joe Biden.
Then the crowd, perhaps around 20
people joined in screaming, boo.
>> I was grabbed, beaten,
tased all while be called a traitor
to my country.
I was at risk of being stripped of
and killed with my own firearm.
As I heard chance to kill
him with his own gun.
>> No one had ever,
ever called me, while wearing
the uniform of a Capitol Police
officer.
>> What makes the struggle harder
and more painful is to know so many
of my fellow citizens including so
many of the people I put my life at
risk to defend are downplaying or
outright denying what happened.
>> One officer told me he had never
in his entire 40 years of life been
To his face.
And that streak ended on January
6th >> I feel like I went to hell
and back to protect them and
the people in this room.
But too many are now telling me
that hell doesn't exist, or
that hell actually wasn't that bad.
The indifference shown to my
colleagues is disgraceful.
>> Yet another black officer later
told me he had been confronted by
insurrectionists in the Capitol who
told him, put your gun down and
we'll so you kind of,
[INAUDIBLE] You really are.
>> Nothing, truly nothing
has prepared me to address those
elected members of our government
who continue to deny the events of
that day and in doing so,
betray their oath of office.
>> Now, I want you to think about
that testimony and then consider
the kind of commentary coming from
the likes of Dinesh D’Souza.
After Tucker Carlson was calmly
confronted by a man at a fly
fishing store in Montana, okay?
When a man told Tucker Carlson
that he's one of the worst people,
the worst person in the planet,
something along those lines.
Dinesh D'souza called for
his arrest.
>> Yeah. >> For calmly speaking his
mind to Tucker Carlson,
what we're talking about here, and
what those cops are talking about
in these videos,
is the violence that they had to
withstand at the hands of these
Capitol Hill rioters, and the right
wing just wants to dismiss it and
minimize it as if it's not a big
deal, or it didn't happen at all,
or there's some other nefarious
figure behind it, and not
Donald Trump who literally provoked
the group right before they stormed
the Capitol >> So look, I've never
really agreed with it it's not my
place agree or disagree with but
the policy of bleeping out the N
word, because when you hear it live
it is super ugly.
And so there's that officer saying
you're calling cops left and right,
the N word, F and N word and, and
talking about how,
if they put the gun down,
they'll treat them like an N word.
Right? So I gotta say it and
that's what folks want and stuff,
but the actual word is so
damn ugly.
And, and
seeing the officer say that,
without the bleeps it's haunting,
right.
And so, that's what happened.
And we're in a situation
I never expected in America,
where some very significant
percentage of the population has
just lack of reality and so we're
we're just hunting each other now.
They won't listen.
>> No, I know and I don't and
what the solution is.
I don't think not to be
too pessimistic.
I don't think anything will come
from this select committee.
I think that the Democrats are also
partially doing this for political
purposes because the midterms
are coming up, but the question is,
are Democrats going to actually
make the most of it if they are
using it for political purposes?
Meaning, look, they did hearings on
Donald Trump, there was, yes, the
Muller investigation, but there was
also the investigation into Trump's
quid pro quo with Ukraine and they
use none of that in their campaign.
Totally forgot about it, right?
So are they going to put people
through this right now without
actually accomplishing anything,
without actually using it too and
I believe that they should do this
politically hurt the republican
party because they've enabled this.
They've given a green light
to this,
they're going to continue doing it,
>> If you give them a pass now,
it's just going to get worse.
Every election cycle the republican
party has consistently gotten
worse, more vicious, more violent,
more willing to lie to and
gaslight, the American people.
And the thing that's incredibly
frustrating is that on the other
side you have Democrats who will
refer to them as a threat.
Who will fearmonger about them?
I think in many cases justifiably,
but then as soon as they're in a
position of power, they talk about
playing patty cakes with them.
>> Yeah. >> We need
my partisanship, look at me,
I can reach across the aisle and
work with them.
Yeah, but these are the people that
are enabling the kind of brutality
and violence that we saw on
the Capitol that day, and
they're going to continue doing it.
So make up your minds.
Are they the enemy?
And are you going to hold them
accountable?
Are you going to play patty
cakes because you actually want to
do right by your corporate donors.
That's the frustrating thing about
this story, because we can see with
our own two eyes what actually
happened in the Capitol that day,.
But democrats are incredibly weak
and meek once their corporate
donors, tell them sit down, work
with the Republican party to ensure
that you protect our incentives and
our profit structure.
>> So unfortunately politics is all
about marketing.
And so here are police officers
saying Trump supporters said that
they wanted to execute me and
that I was a trader etcetera.
And yet what is the marketing?
The marketing is Democrats
are against the police.
Republicans say I don't want you to
investigate how
the police were attacked,
brutalized, and some killed.
I don't want you, I don't care.
I don't care what
happened with the cops.
And by the way the Democrats
yes the cops.
It doesn't make any sense it
doesn't have to make sense, right?
And the one thing I want to find
out is what did Trump do on that
day >> Right.
>> Did he call, that's the only
thing I care about only th call in
the national guard or did he not?
And if he didn't, why didn't he
call the national garden, why
didn't he call any security in, at?
When did he know that their lives
were actually threatened and then
did he do anything from a security
standpoint once he knew that other
politicians might be murdered.
Did he do anything at all?
Now, I know it's
going to affect Trump supporters.
First off they won't believe it,
it doesn't matter.
You can give them overwhelming
evidence, you could
have cops says it.
They won't believe it,
they won't believe anything right?
But it's important for
the record to note,
is this guy an actual tyrant that
doesn't mind people being killed in
his name?
>> Yeah.
>> And so that we know the answer.
I think we know the answer.
But I'd like to
know the evidence, right?
I'd like to see the evidence.
And so if they can unearth
that evidence,
I don't care what kind of marketing
either side is trying to do.
That would be yellow.
You know what lastingness because
there's another election coming up,
so that has two ramifications.
Now all across the country.
If republicans don't like who won,
they just say the same thing Trump
said it was a lie.
We think we won we don't care what
the reality is.
We don't care what they
vote counter say we don't care what
anybody says.
Let's go kill somebody.
Let's just go storm the Capitol.
Remember they tried to kidnap and
murder the governor of Michigan,
we're all like
whistling past the graveyard here.
The violence is coming on a mass
scale, especially if there's no
accountability for this violence
and let alone when Trump runs in
2024 then it is going to be,
I mean, the Wild Wild West is going
to look like the day the picnic if
Trump runs again, and urges his
vigilantes to commit more violence,
>> No, don't don't underestimate
the Republicans party.
Republican Party's ability to find
even more unhinged people to run
for president,
because I remember thinking it
can't get worse than George W Bush.
And to be sure,
George W Bush in many ways,
especially with what he's done with
foreign policy is worse, right?
But in terms of
unhinged personalities,
Donald Trump takes the cake.
Who knows what's next?
I thought Sarah Palin was
pretty bad.
Sarah Palin looks good compared to
the unhinged stuff
coming out of GOP
lawmakers in Congress right now.
It's unbelievable.