there is a lot of pre-trump conservatism that still exists in the trump coalition. that makes sense, that the vast majority of trump voters are people who voted for republican candidates in the past. 68% of the trump voters in 2020 voted for mitt romney in 2012. many of the people who do not fit into either category are people who aged into the electorate in 2012. if you are between 17 and 10, you are eligible to vote in 2020 but were not eligible to vote in 2012. that is a group that is likely to be substantially more republican as opposed to party switching. 74% of the voters say the government does too many things that charities and private businesses could do better. that is kind of the top level antigovernment support that reflects the pro-trump consensus. even many of the obama-trump voters agree with this figure. strong support for the idea that government is too big, strong support for the idea that taxes are too high. 45% of trump voters believe that government should guarantee a minimum standard of living if people work to the best of their ability. that i

that is how the trump justice department, the trump administration, left it. now, the biden era justice department has to contend with what they're going do with the trailing ends of president trump having used the justice department on his own behalf, essentially as his own defense firm, in a case like that. and that's just the start of it. you may remember in december, we were first to report here on the show that federal prosecutors in the southern district of new york intended to seek a search warrant for electronic communications related to rudy giuliani and his business dealings. part of an ongoing criminal investigation into giuliani they wanted a search warrant. in the past few days, cnn, "the new york times," and "the washington post" have all matched that reporting and advanced it, finding that sdny prosecutors as we reported, they had in fact wanted to get that search warrant for mr. giuliani this past summer. trump appointees at the justice department blocked it. prosecutors at sdny reportedly tried again after the election. they again told main ju

[laughter] hundreds of cars, trump, trump. and the american flag. >> the president made a public joke a violence against campaigners and in an american election. he made light of it. this was not a joke. in fact, it was so violent it puts so many people in harm's way that the fbi investigated the incident and the criminal responsibility of those who attacked these campaign workers. w,now, our president, donald trump, could have said okay i didn't realize how bad that was. this was very violent. please stop. but he didn't. he saw the investigation and made a statement in defense of his supporters attack on the bus, quote, in my opinion, these patriots did nothing wrong. engaging in violence for him made them patriots to donald trump. for anyone who says donald trump didn't know the violence he was inciting, i ask you to consider his supporters tried to drive a bus off the highway in the middle of the day to intimidate his opponents campaign workers, and his response was to tweet the video of the incident that had fight music, j

[chanting] fight for trump, fight for trump, fight for trump [chanting] >> thank you. [inaudible] >> yes. [shouting] >> invade the capitol building. >> we also have another perspective from this moment online extremist chatter. at the same time as the people in the crowd shouted take the capitol building, as president trump said show strength, a person posted two-parter saying quote, time to fight, civil war is upon us. another user said, quote, we're going to have the civil war. get ready. an analysis found members of civil war crime quadrupled in partner in the hour after donald trump said show strength. when insurrectionists got to the capitol they continued those rally cries your insurrection is holding confederate flags and brandishing weapons cheered the president's very words. [shouting] [chanting] stop the steal, stop the steal, stop the steal [chanting] >> you heard them chanting stop the steal. and as the crowd chanted at the rally, the crowd at the capitol made clear who they were doing this for. they also chanted fight for trump. [chanting] fight for trump,

trump sent us l and we are listening to trump. the riotsio that day left at let seven people dead, 150 injured. members, senators and our staff all traumatized to this day. damage and pain to the capitol. the damage and pain to americans. damage to the police force and damage to other nations who have always seen us as a bastion of democracy. all of thesese people who've ben arrested and charged, they are being held accountable for their actions. their leader, the man who incited them must be held accountable as well. but, as i said earlier, you don't have to take my word for it that the insurrectionist's active in donald trump's direction. they said so. they were invited here. they were invited by the president of the united states. [shouting] [shouting] representative degettee showed how the insurrectionist'sms understood and believed themselves to be following president trump's marching orders. explained in chilling detail how they were acting in perfect alignment with his political instructions and his explicit strategy to ret

some members even appealed directly to donald trump, these members who had quote been loyal trump supporters and even to vote against the electoral votes were now scared for their lives. minority leader kevin mccarthy reportedly got into a screaming match as the attack was underway demand trump do something, to the mob. imagine if you picked up your phone and tried to reach somebody at the white house to ask for help. this wasn't partisan politics, these were americans from all sides trying to force our commander-in-chief to protect and defend our country. he was required to do that. now, the extent of how many people tried to reach the president to get him to act is not known, but what is clear, what we know without any doubt, that from the very beginning, the people around donald trump lobbied him to take command. what's also clear is what donald trump, our commander-in-chief, did in the initial hours to protect us. nothing. not a thing. he knew it was happening. the attack was on. tv. we all know that president trump has the power to stop these attacks. he was our commander-in-chief. he h

is expensive trump is rude trump is brash and there's a lot of people that don't like him so he's he's trying to walk that fine line. at the end of day 7 republicans did vote to convict trump were you surprised by any of those that did and what does it tell us about the state of the republican party. well i was surprised to only that a week ago they had or a few days ago they had a vote where shifty flour scuse me 45 members of the republican party said this was an unconstitutional here it was contrary to the constitution of the united states so that 2 senators who didn't think it was constitutional would vote to impeach that was a little surprising but i think in the long term question is what's donald trump future what's the party's future and i move backward sometimes to see what will happen in the future it was only one year ago little over a year ago that donald trump was impeached the 1st time but because of coded and because of the election and because of other news stories going around the world it literally wasn't mentioned once during the election campaign by any major news o

donald trump had other plans. on december 19, president trump tweeted his save the date for january 6. he told his supporters to come to d.c. for a big protest, the day, billing it as wild. days later, women for america first amended their permit to hold their rally on january 6 pursuant to the president's save the date, instead of after the inauguration. this was deliberate. reports confirm that the president himself, president trump became directly involved with the planning of the event, including speaking line-up, even the music to be played, just as he chose the music for his retweet of the caravan driving the biden-harris bus off the road with that fight song. he brought the same people who spoke at the second million maga martinelli as well. the trump campaign advisor, katrina pearson, who said, this is only the beginning, we are the cavalry, also became directly involved in planning the event. they even sent out invitations together. this is amy kremer, one of the founders of women for america first, taggi

to trump and try to remain. you know in the best graces of a. of the base that is prepared to engage in acts of violence against them and remarkable yaml and government giving you know full costing skills that he said in the past if trump is acquitted what do you expect him to do and would it embolden the kind of violence we've seen in the past. well i mean i think that is certainly the danger here and i think that is one of the things that the house managers were also very aggressively trying to argue trying to say that look there is not simply the dangers associated with trauma there's the danger associated with the quibble that the insurrection is themselves so general 6 as a triumph the agency need to think of that as a recruiting tool the presence of violence remains remains real and unless we have some kind of unified response basically 'd you're bolder new people to engage in the type of violent acts that we saw on january 6th so i thought we were like yes are ok but i do worry about possibility of future violence and so when you talk abo

trump flags. i mean they literally tried to pull that off today. for which nobody argues they should be censored. brief digression. do you remember emily litella from "saturday night live"? one of the great recurring "snl" characters. one of the all-time greats. and her doing emily litella. the stick was she was required to come on television to offer an opposing view to something she heard on tv, but the things she was opposing were always things she misheard or misunderstood. >> weekend update recognitions its obligation to present a response to our editorials. >> what's all this fuss i keep hearing about violins on television? why don't parents want their children to see violins on television? >> and she goes on and on, and chen chevy chase cuts in with it's violence on television, not violins. and she goes, oh, never mind. and there's a million of them. she does one about endangered feces and youth in asia. what's so controversial about youth in asia, and all this fuss about saving soviet jewe

but donald trump had other plans. on december 19, president trump tweeted his save the date for january 6. he told his supporters to come to d.c. for a big protest, the day billing it as wild. just days later, women for america first amended their permit to hold their rally january 6 pursuant to the president's save the date instead of after the inauguration. this was deliberate. reports confirm that the president himself, president trump, became directly involved with the planning of the event including the speaking line-up, even the music to be played, just as he chose the music for his retweet of the caravan driving the biden-harris bus off the road with the fight song. he brought the same people that spoke at the second million maga rally as well. and katrina pearson said december 12 that this is the only the beginning. we are the cavalry. also became directly involved in planning the event. they even sent out invitations together, this is amy cremer tweeting the invitation, tagging donald trump and other organize

they had hundreds of cars, trump, trump, trump and the american flag. you see trump and the american flag. you see trump and the american flag. you see trump and the american flag. in american flag. you see trump and the american flag-— american flag. in the first million maga march, — american flag. in the first million maga march, we _ american flag. in the first million maga march, we promise - american flag. in the first million maga march, we promise that i american flag. in the first million. maga march, we promise that the american flag. in the first million - maga march, we promise that the gop will not _ maga march, we promise that the gop will not do _ maga march, we promise that the gop will not do everything in their power— will not do everything in their power to— will not do everything in their power to keep donald trump in office. — power to keep donald trump in office, then we will destroy the gop _ office, then we will destroy the gop and — office, then we will destroy the gop. and as we gather here in washington, dc for a s

he confirmed that donald trump, he told donald trump that mike pence was in danger before donald trump sent out the tweet. and two, cnn released a bombshell report of a phone call between house minority leader kevin mccarthy and trump on as the attack was happening on the capitol. as mccarthy begged trump to call the rioters off, and he is on the phone. and trump responded, well, kevin, i guess these people are more upset about the election than you are. i guess these people are more upset about the election than you are. if that is true, that sociopathic, that's a quote for a movie villain, not the president of the united states. it seems that the senate will decide to convict trump or not tomorrow. the facts, those are not in question. we all saw what happened, we all read the tweets. we all saw what happened in the days interest and weeks leading up to the attack. the senators who vote lived it first hand. patty murray said she was inches away from the mob and her husband was holding a door closed with his foot ask the mob outside shouted kill the infadels. >> the only question tomo

president trump was not on the list. and you know, as a veteran, i find it deeply dishonorable that our commander in chief did not protect us and then later he tries to take credit for something he failed to do. shameful. also in the video, you know what he did not say. absent from that entire video was any actual acceptance of responsibility for his actions. absent from the video was a call to his most fervent supporters to never do this again. and here was his final message and not so called condemnation attack video. here is what he actually said. >> and followed by wonderful supporters, i know you're disappointed, but i also want you to know that our incredible journey is only just beginning. >> president trump not only failed to show remorse or take accountability, he made clear he is just beginning. for days, he did not address the nation after this attack. we needed our commander in chief to lead, to unite a grieving country. to comfort us. but what did president trump do? nothing. silence. we are all aware that a

donald trump had made vice president pence a target. he attacked the vice president at the rallies, in speeches and on twitter. and during president trump's speech that morning of the attack, he ramped it up again, after privately pressuring mike pence. in front of thousands in the crowd, he called mike pence out 11 times, including saying, "mike pence, i hope you're going to stand up for the good of our constitution and for the good of your country. and if you're not, i'm going to be disappointed in you. i will tell you right now." and this was the crowd's response to donald trump's days of relentless attacks on his own vice president. day three — and the prosecution returned again to that link between the president's rhetoric and the motivation of the individuals who stormed the capitol onjanuary 6. impeachment manager diana degette presented testimony of those who've since been charged, who had told investigators they were there at the invitation of the president. now, remember, president trump told them to stand back and stand by

direction. >> let's call trump, yes! dude, dude, let's tell trump what's done. >> he'll be very upset. >> he'll be like -- no, just say we love him. we love you, bro. no, he'll be happy, what do you mean? we're fighting for trump. >> i thought i was following my president. i thought i was following what we were called to do. >> all these people who have been arrested and charged, they are being held accountable for their actions. their leader, the man who incited them, must be held accountable as well. >> reporter: the big lie that the election was rigged and stolen from trump is also on trial. and prosecutors say the senate has the power to stop it from happening again. >> you know, i'm not afraid of donald trump running again in four years. i'm afraid he's going to run again and lose, because he can do this again. >> reporter: one day after horrific sights and harrowing attacks filled the senate chamber -- >> we love the line, we've lost the line. all p.d. stand back, we've lost the line. >> reporter: convicting the pr

trump and his behavior. my guests this morning, the top democratic impeachment manager, jamie raskin, republican governor larry hogan of maryland, and democratic whip, senator dick durbin of illinois. plus, the cdc announces new guidelines on opening schools and the biden administration secures 200 million more vaccine doses. i'll talk to the new director of the cdc, rochelle walensky. joining me for insight and analysis are nbc news capitol hill correspondent kasie hunt, former democratic senator of missouri, claire mccaskill, former republican congressman of florida, carlos curbelo, and audie cornish, host of npr's "all things considered." welcome to sunday. it's "meet the press." >> announcer: from nbc news in washington, the longest running show in television history. this is "meet the press" with chuck todd. >> and a good sunday morning. during the 2016 presidential campaign, donald trump made what may be the most accurate public statement he's ever made. >> i could stand in the middle of fifth avenue a

trump." former white house chief of staff john kelly also spoke on this as well, and i'd like to play an audio clip of what he said. >> what happened on capitol hill yesterday is a direct result of his poisoning the minds of people with the lies and the frauds. >> what happened on capitol hill is a direct result of trump's poisoning the minds of people with the lies and the fraud. that about nails it. impeachment managers also made it clear it was no accident and say he was sending help and they played a clip of again republicans including trump's sycophants like mccarthy and christie begging trump to call off his mob. >> i could not be sadder or more disappointed with how the country looks at this very moment. people have been hurt. anyone involved in this hear me. this is not the american way. >> mr. president, you have got to stop this. you are the only person who can call this off. call it off. >> very simple. the president caused this protest to occur. he's the only one who can make it s

this was about choosing country over donald trump. and 43 republican members chose trump. they chose trump. >> former president trump's actions proceeded the riot for a disgraceful, disgraceful dereliction of duty. we have no power to convict and disqualify former official who is now a private citizen. >> president biden has responded to the verdict, saying this, quote, sad chapter in our history has reminded us that democracy is fragile, that it must always be defended and we must be ever vigilant that by yalitza extremism has no place in america and that each of us has a duty and responsibility as americans, and especially as leaders to defend the truth and to defeat the lies. republican strategist joining me now. he's also the former white house deputy assistant press secretary under george w. bush. thanks for being with us, pete. what, in your view, is the damage done to this party with this acquittal, which is basically a refusal to do something about the president's role in the insurrection, to hold them accountable? what damage does that do? >> it's a foregone concl

trump voters. again, this is only people who are self-described trump voters. when you see liberal, moderate, conservative, or very conservative, this is not of the general electorate as a whole. this is only trump voters who describe themselves by this. we start with the question on everybody's mind. does donald trump dominate today's republican party? well, among republicans who voted for donald trump, he starts in a very strong but i would not say dominant position. we asked these voters if they are more of a supporter of donald trump or the republican party. two thirds of the people who voted for trump say they are more of a supporter of trump than the party. but that means 34% said they were not. as you can see, the number or -- the number of people or the share of people who say they are more supportive of donald trump than the republican party rises with self perceived ideological conservatism. in other words, the ideological base of the republican party is likelier to say that they are more

trump. it was not mr. trump. it was not anyone in the republican party that spent the six months immediately prior to the capitol assault giving rhetorical aid and comfort to mobs, making excuses for rioters, celebrating radicalism, and explaining that angry, frustrated, and marginalized people were entitled to blow off steam like that. let me be very clear. there can be no excuse for the depraved actions of the rioters here at the capitol or anywhere else across this country. 100% of those guilty of committing crimes deserve lengthy prison sentences for their shameful and depraved conduct. but this trial has raised the question about words, actions, and consequences. as a nation, we must ask ourselves, how did we arrive at this placeid where rioting and pillaging would become common place? i submit to you that it was month after month of political leaders and media personalities, bloodthirsty forpe ratings, glorifying civil unrest and condemning the reasonable law enforcement measures that were required to quell

trump, trump, trump and the american flag the— trump, trump, trump and the american flag the suit— trump, trump, trump and the american flag. the suit you see, trump and the american flag. the flag. the suit you see, trump and the american flag.— the american flag. the president made a public — the american flag. the president made a public joke _ the american flag. the president made a public joke of— the american flag. the president made a public joke of violence i made a publicjoke of violence against campaigners and an american election. he made light of it. this was not a joke. in fact, it was so violent and put so many people in harm's way that the fbi investigated the incident and the criminal responsibility of those who attacked these campaign workers. now, or president donald trump could have said ok, i did not realise how bad that was. this was very violent. please stop. but he did not. he saw the investigation and made a statement in defence of his supporters attack on the bus saying, quote... engaging in violence for him made them patriots to donald trump. for anyone wh

. , , ., trump. yes. there is not quite enou:h trump. yes. there is not quite enough to _ trump. yes. there is not quite enough to get _ trump. yes. there is not quite enough to get him _ trump. yes. there is not quite enough to get him elected - enough to get him elected president the second time around. ~ ., around. we will leave it there. great to have _ around. we will leave it there. great to have you _ around. we will leave it there. great to have you on. - 0ur correspondent nomia iqbal is on capitol hill on an historic day in washington. it really was. i have to say though there was no real cliffhanger with this impeachment trial. we knew how it was going to end. the only drama that happened was earlier this morning, when there with the potential for witnesses to be called, and this is all because of a phone call that emerged, this was overnight, a story emerged, that a phone call emerged between donald trump and a republican called kevin mccarthy, which donald trump said was backing the riote

president trump's interpretation doesn't square with history originalism textualism in fact even chuck cooper the famous conservative lawyer i mentioned earlier with clients like the house minority leader he has concluded that this provision of the constitution that president trump relies on cuts against his position his words and that's because as cooper says article 2 section 4 means just what it says in the 1st half describes one official must do to be impeached namely commit high crimes and misdemeanors and the 2nd half describes what happens when civil officers of the united states including the sitting president are convicted removal from office that's it in cooper's words it simply establishes what is known in criminal law as a mandatory minimum punishment it says nothing about former officials nothing at all given all of that it is not surprising. that in president trump's legal trial brief 75 page brief they struggled to find any professors to support their position they did cite one professor though. professor kalt was an expert in this field who they claimed agreed with them

trump. tonight senate jurors asking a single question, whether it's constitutional to put a former president on trial. >> these powers must apply even if the president commits his offenses in his final weeks in office. in fact, that's precisely when we need them the most, because that's when elections get attacked. >> reporter: the lead impeachment manager, jamie raskin, a maryland congressman, argued that it clearly was. all senate democrats and six republicans agreed. on a 56-44 vote advancing the proceedings to a full-blown trial. several republicans blasting the presentation from trump's legal team. >> the house managers made a compelling, cogent case and the president's team did not. >> reporter: republican senator bill cassidy of louisiana, who voted against the majority of his party, called it a disorganized, unconvincing case on constitutionality. the president's legal team opened with a rambling defense. >> and, you know, senators of the united states, they're not ordinary people. t

the trump defense team liked that. they thought and said publicly as this was happening over the last two hours that was just hammering or pummelling the point home that they wanted to make. i think if you're donald trump you also liked to see his attorneys, two of them at least, use some of these buzz words we often hear from conservative circles. for example, you heard one of the former president's attorneys call this constitutional cancel culture, basically seizing on this line that's been used in various other instances not at all related to impeachment in conservative circles in the last year or so, six months or so. you also heard one of the attorneys say this is not what aboutism. it is in fact the definition of what aboutism and it is looking to equivocate the actions and the language of former president trump to things that democrats have said in an entirely different context and one that was not shown there. so here's what's not been addressed. you talked about the questions of what is still sort of out there

i with mr trump's lawyers defence?— with mr trump's lawyers defence? ~ ~ , with mr trump's lawyers defence? ~' ~ , ., , defence? i think mr trump was not happy _ defence? i think mr trump was not happy with _ defence? i think mr trump was not happy with his _ defence? i think mr trump was not happy with his lawyers - not happy with his lawyers defence according to one report. he was frustrated by their sort of rambling and certainly the first one. it was very hard to follow what he was trying to say, and in fact he evenin trying to say, and in fact he even in the midst of his comments admitted that mr trump had lost the election, which would not have gone over very well with the president it was glenda malan that he won the election. one of a visitor who was interviewed afterwards said that he had not been impressed with the argument and the democrats had a much more cogent and compelling argument. so they did not do so well up out of the starting gate but the same time there is not an indication that they are going to lose the case for mr trump given

fight for trump! fight for trump! fight for trump! fight for trump! fight for trump! fight for trump! >> thank you. >> invade the capitol building. >> we also have another perspective from this moment online extremist chatter. at the same time as the people in the crowd shouted "take the capitol building," as president trump said, "show strength," a person posted to parler saying, quote, time to fight, civil war is upon us. another user said, quote, we are going to have a civil war. get ready. an analysis found that members quadrupled on parler in the hour after the president said "show strength." >> while impeachment managers were presenting that evidence in the senate the d.o.j. was presenting evidence in court that an oath-keeper's leader waited for direction from the then-president before the capitol attack. the maga mob was waiting for their orders. that's exactly what they got. and we all know it didn't start on january 6th. the ex-president was inciting violence right out in the open. it happen aed at another capitol just last year, talking abo

trump broke him. they confronted each other in 2015 and trump found a kind of inner weakness and cracked and it that soul has never been put back together again. >> rubio said today, i don't think the facts are largely in question. he happens to be right. but then how do you vote to acquit? >> there's something i think people need to consider as they watch programs like yours and maybe get upset, which is, you know, we talk about this as if the senate is the jury. but that's -- that's technically true, but it's not fundamentally true. the democratic managers are talking past the republicans to you, and what they are doing is every day putting up evidence not with the view of convincing republicans. they know they're locked in. there was the moment first two or three days after the attack that mcconnell thought about doing something. but republican bolted their faith to trump. when you run for election in '22 or '24 that shows that general mattis thought trump committed insurrection. john bolton though

except president trump. he directed all of that raged that he incited january 6 the last chance could end again this was his last chance. this was certifying the election results. he needed to whip up that mob, and i'm up enough to get out there and try to stop the election results. the certification of the election. and they took over the senate chamber to do that. they almost took over the house chamber. there were 50 or so were more house members that were literally scared for their lives up in the gallery. a woman who bought into that big lie died because she believed the president's big lie. this resulted in one of his supporters lives. a capitol police officer died that day. other president trump supporters two capitol police officers ended up taking their own lives. defense counsel, their defense is basically everything president trump did is okay and he can do it again. is that what we believe? that there is no problem with that? that is perfectly fine if he does the same thing all over again? this i

and that's president trump. donald trump. and he is the person who foresee this the most because he had the reports. he had access to the information. he, as well, had, we all know how he is an avid cable news watcher. he knew what was going to happen. he cultivated these individuals. these are the undisputed facts. the national guard was not deployed until over two hours after the attack. i heard reference to mayor bowser in defense's presentation. mayor bowser does not have authority over the capitol or federal buildings. she could not deploy national guards to the capitol. that is outside of the jurisdiction of the mayor of the district of columbia. at no point in that entire day did the president of the united states, our commander in chief, tell anyone, law enforcement struggling for their lives, insurgents who felt empowered by the sheer quantity of them, any of us in this building or the american people that he was sending help. he did not defend the capitol. the president of the united states did not defend the capito

not just in the impeachment trial but throughout trump's presidency that president trump repositioned racism as a partisan issue. we saw vice president pence in the debate reject that systemic racism even exists, so as the republican parties wraps their heads around and embraces one-third of the country that are either racist or okay of the racism of the former president, they are also sending a message to young people they are on the wrong side of racism, that has emerged as one of the most important issues of young voters. >> charlotte, when i watched what was happening this weekend and in addition to all of the context that terrance just gave, there are two different questions, one was what is this going to mean for young people already overly progressive, not as youth but generational, and then what is it going to mean when it comes to their faith in government and their faith in government's ability to get things done? >> well, first of all, i totally agree with what terrance said about the racial element of this and i think a really important thing to remember is that these two

fight for trump! fight for trump! fight for trump! fight for trump! fight for trump! >> thank you. >> invade the capitol building! >> we also have another perspective from this moment, online extremist chatter. at the same time as the people in the crowd shouted "take the capitol building," as president trump said, "show strength," a person posted to parler saying, quote, time to fight, civil war is upon us. another user said, quote, we are going to have a civil war. get ready. an analysis found that members quadrupled on parler in the hour after the president said "show strength." when insurrectionists got to the capitol, they continued those rally cries. insurrectionists holding confederate flags and brandishing weapons cheered the president's very words. >> stop the steal! stop the steal! stop the steal! stop the steal! stop the steal! stop the steal! stop the steal! >> you heard them chanting "stop the steal." and as the crowd chanted at the rally, the crowd at the capitol made clear who they were doing this for. they also chanted "fight for trump

to say namely she will testify to the conversation that she heard between kevin mccarthy and donald trump if kevin mccarthy then takes the stand and denies it that will be an extremely difficult situation for the senate to be placed in so i think that kevin mccarthy will be in a difficult position he almost has to take the stand now and in fact defend the defense team almost has to call him to rebut what congresswoman herrera will say there should then be other witnesses and in fact one witness will probably lead to another one of the big questions in my mind is whether or not any of the insurrectionists who said that they were inspired by donald trump and were awaiting his instructions because such as jessica walk ins or edward mcconnell both of whom have been charged with conspiracy and the question is how broad does that conspiracy go who is included in that conspiracy will any of the republican senators who have been supportive of rejecting the certification of votes and who seem to have had contact with donald trump on that day will any of them be called to testify before the senate

and trump's truly astounding reaction confirm that trump was doing nothing to help the people in this room or this building it's now clear beyond doubt that trump supported the actions of the mob and so he must be convicted it's that simple when he took the stage and generally 6 he knew exactly how combustible the situation was he knew there were many people in the crowd who were ready to jump into action to engage in violence at any signal that he needed them to fight like hell to stop the steel and that's exactly what he told them to do then he aimed them straight here right down pennsylvania the capitol where he told them to steal was occurring that is the counting the work for college votes and we all know what happened next they attacked this building they disrupted the peaceful transfer of power they injured and killed people convinced that they were acting on his instructions and with his approval and protection and while that happened he further incited them while failing to defend us if that's not grounds for conviction if that's not a high crime and misdemeanor against the r

to donald trump. wolf, i mean even inside trump world there are people who know this president's character, know who he is. and to have a longtime trump adviser say something like that, i think, you know, establishes that even inside his own circle of advisers, allies and associates, there are some major questions about this man's character, wolf. >> there certainly it is. . he also in the statement he once again said this is another phase of the greatest witch hunt in the history of our country. kaitlan, i understand you are hearing that despite the acquittal, the former president is still very much worried about his legal future. >> he is, wolf. and privately he has expressed concern that ebbed be charged related to the january 6th rally. that's what -- or riot i should say. that's what he told multiple people. that's in part why he has been so quiet every since he left the white house. we hardly heard from the president only in written statements. he does not have access to his twitter account. and

they had hundreds of cars, trump, trump, trump and the american flag. you see trump and the american flag. >> the president made a public joke of violence against campaigners in an american election and he made light of it. this was not a joke. in fact, it was so violent it put so many people in harm's way that the fbi investigated the incident in the criminal responsibility of those who attacked these campaign workers. now, our president donald trump could have said okay, i didn't realize how bad that was in this was very violent. please, stop. but he didn't. he saw the investigation and made a statement in defense of his supporters attack on the bus writing quote, in my opinion these patriots did nothing wrong and engaging in violence for him made them patriots to donald trump. for anyone who said donald trump did not know the violence he was inciting, i ask you to consider his supporters who try to drive a bus off the highway in the middle of the day to intimidate his opponents campaign workers and his response was to tweet the video of the incident

trump. and as you will see, this was just the preview for fentes, who, like the proud boys and the trump caravan organizers, would later heed the president's call and come to washington and be there on january 6. later in the rally, a former trump campaign spokeswoman, katrina pearson, also spoke. during her speech, she stated, "this isn't over. this is just beginning," referring to the fight to stop the steal. and then she added, "we knew both republican and democrats were against we people, we the people. we are the cavalry. no one's coming for us." it's clear that trump and some of his supporrs war, a fight against anyone who was unwilling to do whatever it took to keep donald trump in power. "we are the cavalry." and president trump continued to reinforce his support of these messages throughout the day. at 1:48 p.m., after both speeches, he retweeted his deputy chief of staff's tweet, showing the crowd that he had flown over on marine one, and we tweeted, "thank you, patriots." these pe

d trump. so at this point, i can tell you that the trump legal team is very confident that the numbers do not add up to 17. the ones who already voted to say that they had questions about the constitutionality of the process, that smaller five to six numbers, they thought those people would already vote to convict, so they weren't as worried about them. it's these other outstanding ones that could add up to a higher number, but we already know the former president is happy to launch a primary challenge or really campaign for any opponents who run against any of these republicans who may ultimately vote to convict him. that's something that he has his eyes laser focused on ahead of 2022, kasie. >> all right. nbc news white house correspondent monica alba, thank you very much for being up early with us to share this reporting ahead of an important day. >>> and now there's this. when then president donald trump was diagnosed with covid-19 back in october, he was far sicker than publicly acknowled

president trump. be sure to join the discussion with your phone calls, facebook comments, texts, and tweets. >> it is ordered that donald john trump is hereby acquitted of the charge in said article. ♪ host: with that vote former president donald trump acquitted of the one article of impeachment. the 50-43 vote the most bipartisan in history since the 1868 impeachment of andrew johnson, but just shy of the two thirds needed to convict. it is sunday, february 14, 2021. happy valentine's day. we will spend the morning hearing from you about yesterday's vote. if you are republican, the line is (202)-748-8001. democrats is (202)-748-8000. independents and others, (202)-748-8002. if you would like to send a text, (202)-748-8003 and make sure you include your name and where you are texting from. on twitter we are @c-spanwj and facebook at facebook/c-span. the final vote on the floor interrupted by consideration early of whether they would hear witnesses. we will get into that a bit more shortly. we heard

trump prefused as trump pressured him privately and publicly. >> i hope trump's going to do the right thing. i hope so. if mike pence does the right thing, we win the election. >> reporter: it all culminated in this. thousands of riots storm the capitol building, tries to stop certifying the election result. five people died including a cap capitol police officer. on january 20th, 2020, the nonp peaceful transfer of power was complete. >> why do they still doubt election work? >> i remind people that president trump's hardest core supporters are not only real america. there are others who are interested in getting facting and getting -- they don't believe the conspiracy theorists. how do you get through people down the rob bit holes? i don't have answers. >> can you now say the election wasn't stolen? it wasn't a fraudulent election? >> yeah, i think i will say the election was not fraudulent. the constitution laugh horse to be able to push back as much as we could, andy that, so now i would say that joseph r. biden is our president. >> to be clear, voter fraud does occur in elections

here is what trump writes. this has been another faith of the greatest witch hunt of the history of our country. no presidents have ever gone through anything like it and it continues because our opponents can forget the 75 million people, the highest number ever for a sitting president who voted for just a few short months ago. a historic patriotic and beautiful movement to make america great again had only just begun. in the months ahead, i have much to share with you and i look forward to continue our incredible journey together to achieve american greatness for all of our people. there has never been anything like it. >> pointing out the 75 million votes he got for president that's consistent threat from trump and his allies and his legal team to fellow republicans who considered crossing trump as for what he has to share for his supporters, he's going to campaign and fund raise against those republicans. people like liz cheney voted to impeach and convict him. >> boris sanchez, thank you. >>> with us now s

at his instructions and to fulfill his wishes donald trump had sent them there. they truly believed that the whole intrusion was at the president's orders and we know that because they said so many of them actually posed for pictures bragging about it on social media and they tagged mr trump in tweets folks this was not a hidden crime the president told them to be there and so they actually believed they would face no punishment the defense argued in their briefs and they argued again here on tuesday that the insurrectionists were acting on their own that they were not incited by president trump or acting at his direction this is in their brief quote they did so of their own accord and for their own reasons and are being criminally prosecuted but that's just not the case it's not what the insurrectionists actually sat they sad they came here because the president instructed them to do so leading up to the attack the in-service action and said they were coming to d.c. for president tribe he invited them with clear instructions for a specific time and place and wit

to have donald trump as a witness. so we'll never know, probably, on the development of the evidence exactly what he knew about that statement of his going to the capitol. he knew he was lying when he said he was going with them. did he know he was specifically violating the law of that permit when he was making that declaration? >> i mean, if past is prologue, the notion that donald trump would have an understanding of that level of detail is very far fetched. i don't think he would know that. i understand your point. certainly it would be, you know, a nice little piece of evidence in a courtroom trial but we need to disassociate this notion that what we're going to start to see tomorrow in the senate chamber is akin to a courtroom trial. it's not. it's very far from a courtroom trial. there's nobody who is making any evident area ruling. there's nobody making any rulings as to what arguments are okay. what arguments are not. what law is okay and what law is not. what facts, you know, you can rely on, what you can't r

initially trump would not agree to do it. trump, also under pressure from top aides to act, finally relented and said he would send a tweet. that wasn't good enough for mccarthy who wanted more t. trump later issued a tepid statement that criticized the protesters while still saying he won the election. that video didn't criticize the protesters. all of that was reported just two days after the invasion of the capitol. and today -- today -- we have very important additional reporting quoting what donald trump actually said on that phone call. well, kevin, i guess these people are more upset about the election than you are. trump said, according to lawmakers who were briefed on the call afterward by mccarthy. a furious mccarthy told the president the rioters were breaking into his office through the windows and asked trump, who the f do you think you are talking to? according to a republican lawmaker familiar with the call. some of the republicans in the house of representatives who voted to impeach donald trump have let it be

trump didn't. trump wasn't shy about using his channels, he did, but he did it hour after hour after hour. in the end, i think some viewers were baffled by this, but i think it's rather telling, because as a lawyer, what you don't fight about is as important as what you do. i have two points that i have to make in any argument. what we saw in the end is senator lee raise a procedural objection and say, look, i never said something they're saying i said, so i want it stricken. then senator leahy was very hard to follow, and it looked like senator lee was going to set up a partisan almost 50-50 vote on whether or not his rights were being violated. then you had jamie raskin jump in, the lead house manager, say, we don't need this. we'll withdraw that testimony. we don't need it at all. such a smart, strategic move to keep everyone's eye on the ball, that what happened was a side show. raskin gets it. >> raskin was so impressive. he had a move along those lines yesterday when he literally yielded back