The rioters breached the
capitol at 2:13 P.M.
[Yelling]
>> Go, go, go.
[Background noise]
Rep. Aguilar: Let's take a look
at what was going on at the
white house at this time.
We received testimony the chief
of staff, mark meadows, was
notified of the violence at the
capitol by 2:00 P.M., likely
earlier.
Testimony further establishes
that he quickly informed the
president and did so before the
president issued his 2:24 P.M.
Tweet, criticizing Mike pence
for not having "The courage to
do what needed to be done."
Here is what the president wrote
in his 2:24 P.M. Tweet, while
the violence at the capital was
going on.
"And here is what the rioters
thought."
>> He deserve to burn with the
rest of them.
>> It all escalated after pence
-- what happened?
He did not do what we wanted.
>> He voted against trump.
>> That is when it started?
>> That is when we marched on
the capitol.
We have a shot with rubber
bullets, tear gas.
>> We just heard that Mike pence
will not reject any fraudulent
votes.
Boo.
>> Boo!
>> You are a traitor!
>> That is right, you heard it
here first.
Mike pence has betrayed the
United States of America!
>> Boo!
>> Mike pence has betrayed this
president and he has betrayed
the people of the United States.
And we will never ever forget!
>> Yeah!
>> It's real simple, pence
betrayed us.
Which apparently everybody knew
he was going to.
And the president mentioned it
like five times when he talked.
You can go back and watch the
president's video.
>> Be respectful.
There are 4 million people
coming in, so --
>> We love the cops.
>> It is only a matter of time.
Justice is coming.
Rep. Aguilar: Although the
president's chief of staff has
refused to testify before the
committee, his aide, Ben
Williamson, and the white house
press secretary, Sarah Matthews,
testified that Mr. Meadows went
to the dining room to tell the
president about the violence at
the capitol, before his 2:24
P.M. Tweet.
In future hearings, you will
hear more about exactly what was
happening in the white house at
that time, but here is what some
white house staff told the
select committee.
>> Do you know where he went?
>> Yes, I followed him down the
hallway.
And I followed him into that
outer oval core door, which is
the hallway between the oval
office hallway and the outer
global section of the oval
office.
I followed him into that
hallway.
And I saw him walk into outer
oval.
I maybe took a step into outer
oval, then left.
I do not know where he went
after that but it looked like he
was heading in the direction of
the oval office.
>> We had talked about at that
point how it was bad and the
situation was getting out of
hand.
And, I know that Ben Williamson
and I were conferring, and we
thought the president needed to
tweet something, tweet something
immediately.
And I think that when Kaylee
gave us that order of did not
say anything to the media, I
told her I thought the president
needed to tweet something.
And then, I remember getting a
notification on my phone.
And I was sitting in a room with
Ben.
And we all got a notification.
So, we knew it was a tweet from
the president.
And we looked down and it was,
it was a tweet about Mike pence.
>> I believe I had sent him a
text saying we may want to put
out a statement because the
situation was getting Harry over
-- hairy over at the capitol.
It was, that I would see him in
person after I texted him.
>> You went down to speak with
mark meadows, what was that
conversation?
>> Very brief.
I told him the same thing I
texted, that I can recall, and I
do not remember anything that
was said between us other than I
told him that to my recollection
-- and he immediately got up and
left his office.
Rep. Aguilar: Our investigation
found immediately after the 2:24
P.M. Tweet, the crowds outside
of the capitol and inside the
capitol surged.
The crowds inside the capital
were able to overtur law
enforcement and the vice
president was affected to.
-- The vice president was taken
to a secure location within the
complex.
[Shouting]
>> By 2:24 P.M., the secret
service had moved to vice
president pence from the senate
chamber to his office across the
hall.
>> The noise became audible.
You could recognize that they
had gotten into the building.
>> Then president trump tweeted,
"Mike pence did not have the
courage to do what should have
been done to protect our country
and constitution, give me
states a chance to certify a
corrected set of facts, not the
fraudulent ones which they were
asked to previously certify.
Usa demands the truth."
>> It was clear that it was
escalating and escalating
quickly.
>> Hang Mike pence!
>> So in that tweet was sent
out, I remember us saying that
that was the last thing that
needed to be tweeted.
The situation was already bad.
So it felt like he was pouring
gasoline on the fire.
>> 30 seconds later, rioters
already in the capital, opened
the east rotunda door just down
the hall.
And 30 seconds after that, the
rioters breached the cryp
T.
Then service Russia vice
president pence down the stairs.
>> They have been trying to
figure out if they had clear
ground to get wherever it was
they wanted to move us to.
>> We went through tunnels to a
secure location.
Upon arriving there there was
discussion on whether or not we
would be leaving or staying
where we were.
>> Vice president pence and his
team ultimately were led to a
secure location, where they
stayed for the next four and a
half hours.
Barely missing the rioters a few
feet away.
Rep. Aguilar: Approximately 40