bennie thompson and liz cheney saying -- and i am quoting again -- it is unfortunate mr. meadows has chosen to join a very small group of witnesses who believe that they are above the law, and are defying a select committee subpoena, outright. mr. meadows, mr. bannon, and others who go down this path won't prevail in stopping the select committee's efforts -- effort getting answers for the american people about january 6th. but in that same statement, there's this intriguing quote. indeed, mr. meadows has failed to answer even the most basic questions, including whether he was using a private cell phone to communicate on january 6th, and where his text messages from that day are. i am going to talk to our experts tonight about what investigators may be focusing on there. and it comes on the same day that we have stunning new audio of the former president defending the january-6th rioters who chanted hang mike pence. defending rioters who wanted to hang his vice president. john carl from abc. >> are you worried about him during that siege? were you worried about his safety

the committee chairman bennie thompson and also liz cheney, right, the chair, as well, they say that they're going to consider pursuing contempt charges against them. there is a good chance bannon is relishing in this but what about mark meadows and others? does this change the calculous for them? >> you know, the psychology of individuals varies from person to person in prior conversations that you and i and others have had on the question of whether or not someone will flip it depends on what their tolerance is for defending themselves, paying the money it costs to defend yourself and possibly having a prison interm in your future. some people are built a certain way like steve bannon may like the idea of being a martyr and the idea of the attention and the idea of the battle. other people may natural accomplish it so much. unclear where mark meadows is on that but probably the rest of the group is not as excited about being charged, prosecuted and potentially sent to jail for a minimum of a month as steve bannon. >> yeah. i want to read this. this is from thompson and cheney's sta

the chairman of that committee bennie thompson signing a letter tonight recapping the committee's demands and sending a message to the former president's chief of staff, we're giving you one more chance is basically what the letter says. but busy indicted on contempt of congress charges hasn't made steve bannon any more cooperative. he won't talk to the committee. but he sure has a lotto say, and he is saying it on his podcast reported not incidentally at the willard hotel in washington. you know the hotel where team trump set up their so-called war room before the insurrection at the capitol. >> they don't know how to handle when maga is punching back, and maga is punching back. okay, we're not going to sit here and take it anymore at the months and months and months and months and months of the rhetoric and trying to weaponize the law and weaponize doj. we're not going to take it, okay? we're going on offense. >> going on offense? wow. by defying a subpoena? as if he is above the law. by refusing to tell the committee what he knows about the brutal attack on our nation's capitol? look,

. >> look, the timing to have the committee chair on, bennie thompson of the january 6 committee was impeccable. it happened as chris was interviewing him. i want to play part of what he said and get your response. >> we have a lot of information we requested. we're now based on a judge's decision that donald trump brought the lawsuit. we fought him in court. we have the law on our side, and you know, we are a nation of laws. so if you take your issue to court and lose, then you need to man up and deal with it and not be a spoiled brat. >> so listen, i think you answered this in your last, but to clarify here, to be clear, the bottom line is the january 6 committee will probably ultimately get these documents. >> yeah, and i think they're going to get the first round of them by friday. now remember, they're being produced on a rolling basis. so there are future groups of documents. more in the future that are going to be produced on varying dates. so even if the court of appeals doesn't act between now and friday, it could act later. but i think it's the case that everyone understand

. >> laura interviewed benny thompson. watch this and then we'll talk. >> if former president trump thinks he can get away with what happened january 6th by being cute with his press releases, then he has another thing coming. our committee, the bipartisan committee takes our work very seriously. and we will pursue it. >> now, thompson went onto say that no one is off-limits when it comes to a subpoena including trump. do you expect that he's going to be subpoenaed? >> i think he will be subpoenaed. but remember we're talking about whether or not somebody has the ability to not respond to questions that are actually asked. that's important here because the idea of fighting a subpoena would be something that would be a universal kind of swiping and saying, look, i'm not going to be even able to appear when in reality that's about appearing and you have the ability to assert privileges with respect to particular questions. you don't get to just not show up because you were the former president of the united states. you have

the chairman bennie thompson with a warning for anyone else who just might try to defy the committee. >> maybe he's willing to be a martyr to a disgraceful cause of whitewashing what happened on january 6 by demonstrating his complete loyalty to the former president. so i want our witnesses to understand something very plainly. if you're thinking of following the path mr. bannon has gone down, you are on notice that this is what you'll face. >> the vice chair liz cheney who lost her position in the gop for taking a stand against the former president is saying the privilege argument suggests that trump was personally involved in planning what happened at the capitol. >> mr. bannon's and mr. trump's privilege arguments do, however, appear to reveal one thing. they suggest that president trump was personally involved in the planning and execution of january 6, and this committee will get to the bottom of that. >> let me just say this about liz cheney. you may not agree with her politics and whatever it is, but what she's doing i think is pretty heroic. even i was watching, i've been watc

. >> i want to talk about chairman benny thompson saying subpoenas are coming soon, laura, this is right up your ally here. liz cheney said they should be issued quickly and the justice department is saying former d.o.j. officials can testify, the department will not assert executive privilege. which top officials will be among the first called? could it be the president should be called or will be called? >> i think -- >> the former president. >> i think he should be called and jeffrey are rosen. what the dorj .o.j. would have assert, is why it's a significant thing, remember, you are saying, in order to have transparency and a full investigation, i have to premove the hurdles and people saying i don't care what uyou want to hear, i don't have to tell you. that hurdle is being over come, saying you can speak freely about what it is that you know about the es. if you know the who, what, when, where, why, the paper trail, if you know something different than what your oath of office should have been or otherwise, lets us know. it's a level of transparency that we need here. >> give me a b

i have to give credit to individuals like congressman papco who's with chairman benny thompson who worked out a bipartisan committee, bipartisan agreement as to what this commission should look like. i am hopeful that there are other individuals within the party, republican party who want to get to the truth and steadier heads will rule the day over those spending most of their time in mar-a-lago on getting their marching orders from former president trump. >> i am sure you have heard about this or maybe you have witnessed some of this stuff. republicans are spreading this big lie, marjorie taylor greene is confronting lawmakers in the capitol. matt gaetz is being investigated for alleged sex crime. how is congress supposed to get anything done with these kinds of antics and distractions? >> thankfully there are a greater majority of individuals who are working for the people that elected them than some of these clowns that are representing i don't know who in washington in the form of matt gaetz and marjorie taylor greene. even those individuals on the republican side who really want to

we're learning from the committee chairman bennie thompson mark meadows provided about 6,000 emails through his lawyer. that seems significant. what do you think? that's a lot of emails. >> it is a lot, don and a good start. i'm more interested until the quality than quantity. there could be a lot of junk in the 6,000 emails. the real question look, this is a deal and is often the case, both sides get something and had something to lose here. mark meadows avoids going down the steve bannon path and getting indicted and the committee gets at least some information out of mark meadows. mark meadows is a central question but what happens when the committee asks tough questions. those 6 thousa,000 emails, that sure bet. what happens when they say what did trump do when the crowd stormed the capitol? what was his reaction? did he call the crowd off? what took so long? if meadows isn't willing and able to answer the questions, it's not much of a deal. >> the committee has shown a lot of interest whether meadows used a personal cell phone at the time of the insurrection and any text messages he mi

. >> yeah, let's talk about benny thompson the chairman. he is warning that no one, no one he says is off limits when it comes to who could be subpoenas that including the former guy. is this a race against time given the level of stone walling that they're getting? >> yeah, look, if they're going to subpoena the president they would be wise to do it soon because it's going to end up in the courts. don, two things can be true at the same time. number one, the president does have a history of running the clock out on things and sort of frivolous litigation but as a former president of the united states has privilege claims that will end up in court. this will be litigated for a long time and if they want a prayer of getting the former president's testimony, they better get in court soon. yeah, the other thing don is the moment they attempt to, this whole thing becomes a side show because you brought donald trump into and we've been there before. >> yes and then he gets to create some sort of narrative that he wants. usually the opposite of w

but the focus benny thompson has spoken about is not the same timeline above this congressional committee. it's really about to prevent this from happening again but also to understand the root causes, to refortify the security force at the capitol, to enjoy the integrity of our elections going forward and in general. the timeline is actually a little bit longer, but i do agree that the process by which you have to secure their testimony is likely to be pro tra protracted, but remember, the position is held by the executive branch. he might have a weak argument if he tries to assert some basis for privilege being able to say he is the one to hold it at this jun juncture knowing he is no longer the president of the united states. >> laura, jeffrey, thank you both. i appreciate it. i want to bring on jon avlon. he is out with a new series called "reality check by with j avlon." here's what he says about evidence by scavino, bannon and patel. >> some were in communication with him on january 5 and january 6. they are reportedly in communication about how to overturn the results of the electi

they voted in a bipartisan bill between bennie thompson from mississippi, a democrat and a moderate republican from new york. this shows momentum going to the united states senate. i disagree with some of your analysts. i'm a midwesterner, and i'm optimistic about the country. i believe that the senate can work with this and i believe we will come up with ten votes to get this created. >> that was my next question. why do you think that? just because of everything you said or you want the go deeper? >> well, i have talked to some of the staffs, and the senators, and talked to a ton of house members and republicans. thing is a conscience there, don, that people are worried about our government being attacked. this reminds a lot of people of the terrorist attack on 9/11. we didn't have foreign terrorists this time. these were americans killing americans, attacking our law enforcement, threatening the vice president, threatening the speaker, chasing custodians and staffers around the capitol with flags and sharp objects and threatening to spray and kill them. this is a serious attack on our gover

january 6th committee chairman bennie thompson and the vice chair liz cheney are res responresponding tonight saying it's nothing more than destructing the problem. precedent and law are on our side. is trump's lawsuit a delay tactic or do you think it can work? >> i don't think it can work. i think it is a delay tactic. keep in mind that the house is currently controlled by the democrats who formed this select committee to investigate the going, the doings of january 6th. they're only going to be in office for another year and a couple of months if the house changes hands. and as we've seen in other litigations including with the respect to the former white house counsel, if you get into litigation and get this stuff into the courts, it takes time and even if you get ruled against as trump almost certainly will be. you can appeal and you can appeal again and you can ask for rehearings. so it can take some time. i think that in this matter, the law is so clear and the understanding that the information being sought is so important and the time is of the essence, you know, given what w

but the committee chair benny thompson -- cnn is reporting the committee plans to subpoena him at some point. what can you tell me about this new batch of tsubpoenas, sir? >> what i can tell su the chairman and vice chair liz cheney will break any news related to future activities, be that hearings or investigative activities, but we're making significant progress. that's what i can tell you. over 150 s and discussions we have had with team as we try to build the case document here and gather more information as to what happened on january 5th and 6th and the rallies and the brutal insurrection. we want to make sure we do this right and we cothat by following every lead. i want to thank the committee staff for their work and chairman thompson for his leadership to make sure we lift up every rock and look everywhere we can to find the material that's necessary to give a comprehensive review and tell the story of january 6th. >> cnn is learning your committee is expected to interview former trump doj official jeffrey clark tomorrow. he tried to help trump overturn the 2020 election. what

your colleague bennie thompson says that evidence is necessary to produce a report. how are you going to figure out what was said on that call? >> as chairman thompson said, everything is on the table. we really have to dig in deep into all of the events that happened that day. and, you know, i can't say every witness or everything that we will move forward with in the investigation, but we will examine all of the facts and where those facts take us, we will draw from that to come to the conclusions for the committee. >> okay. speaking of witnesses, are you willing to subpoena the former president or people close to him to get answers? >> don, like i said, and like chairman thompson has said, and going into this, everything is on the table. the committee is just now coming together, coming up with a plan, waiting for our additional members. i think we're all here because we took an oath as members of congress, i did, the first time when i was 17, and spent two decades in uniform. we truly think that that oath to protect the constitution against all enemies foreign an

the chairman benny thompson who says the committee will issue subpoenas soon without resorting to writing letters asking for voluntary information says we cannot let the liars and cheaters win. >> we did not ask for this, for the house of representatives did its job to give this country its first peaceful transfer of power. and we'll do our job now to make sure the peaceful transfer of power remains a pillar of our democracy. we cannot allow ourselves to be undone by liars and cheaters. >> liz cheney one of two republicans on the committee says that we need to know the truth about every meeting, every conversation, every phone call leading up to and during the attack. >> we must know what happened here at the capitol. we must also know what happened every minute of that day in the white house. every phone call, every conversation, every meeting leading up to, during and after the attack. honorable men and women have an obligation to step forward. >> you will hear more from liz cheney a little bit later on in this show as well as from other republicans on the committee or the other republi

chairman bennie thompson is saying records from several hundred people. will this committee get everything they want, do you think? i'm sure they'll fight it, but they're asking for a lot. will they be able to get all of this? >> don, i do think they'll be able to get much of the information they have requested from the various departments and agencies. that's true. to the extent -- i'm sure that donald trump will try to fight some of the testimony that's going to be solicited from his former staff. mark meadows, his family, and others. i'm sure they're going to try to fight that legally, any request they think would be privileged. so i would watch that. but this document dump is going to inform the entire investigation. i'll tell you what, i would be very nervous if i were some of the congressional -- or at least house republicans who may have had conversations with the president. they're going to want to know what happened prior to january 6 and what happened shortly thereafter. i mean, even the georgia issue could -- you know, the georgia election inte

but the focus that bennie thompson has spoken about is not the same sword of damocles timeline above this congressional committee. it's really about to prevent this from happening again but also to understand the root causes, to refortify the security force at the capitol, to enjoy the integrity of our elections going forward in general. so the timeline is actually a little bit longer. but i do agree that the process by which you have to secure their testimony is likely to be protracted. but remember the executive privilege is held by the executive branch. this is a former president of the united states at this point, so he might have a weaker argument being able to, if he tries to assert some basis for privilege, being able to say that he is the one who should hold at this juncture right now, knowing he is no longer the president of the united states. >> laura, jeffrey, thank you both. i really appreciate it. >>> i want to bring in now cnn's senior political analyst john avlon. he is now with a new weekly video series on cnn digital that will examine the rise of extremist groups her

. >> we learned bennie thompson the chair of the committee was talking to "the washington post" this evening and telling them the committee's focused on trump's hours of silence during the attack and he says, quote, that dereliction of duty causes us real concern. one of those concerns is that whether or not it was intentional and whether or not the lack of attention for that longer period of time would warrant a referral. cnn is reporting a criminal referral would be a long way off but historic if they did refer trump to the doj. what actions from the former president would warrant an open criminal investigation in your mind? is it that lapse of time before he ordered some coordinated effort to help it stop? >> it could well be the time during the riot that he clearly could have taken action and sat on his hands and his aides knew that and one decided to come forward and say, yeah. he decided to sit on his hands for whatever reason. it could also well be the build up. there were well laid plans for this. we don't know how deep they went into the white house. some people are talking

. >> the january 6th committee chair bennie thompson responded to a ruling saying, and i quote here qurkts the select committee appreciates the court's swift and decisive ruling on the former president's lawsuit which i consider little more than an attempt to delay and obstruct our investigation. the presidential records we requested from the national archives are critical for understanding the terrible events of january 6th." what do you think it means for getting to the bottom of what happened on january 6th? >> it's critical because those documents are real-time witnesses. it will be interesting to see why they chose to try to block those particular 700 pages. it's why these subpoenas are so key because some of these individuals were in the room when it happened. and there are still real questions about what trump was doing, what he knew, when he knew it, and the actions of his chief of staff mark meadows. these subpoenas and these documents will close that loop. and that in turn will inform not only the accurate history of what occurred but what remedies can be applied. and that's i th

we are now learning from the committee chairman, bennie thompson, that mark meadows has provided about 6,000 emails through his lawyer. that seems significant. what do you think? that's a lot of emails. >> it is a lot, don, and it's certainly a good start. i'm more interested in the quality than the quantity. i mean there could be a lot of junk in those 6,000 emails. the real question, this is a deal, and is often the case with a deal, both sides get something. both sides had something to lose here. mark meadows avoids going down the steve bannon path, and the committee gets at least some information out of mark meadows. mark meadows is a central witness here, but my big question is going to be what happens when the committee starts asking tough questions? those 6,000 emails, we have a pretty sure bet none of them are with donald trump. he didn't email. so what happens when the committee says to mark meadows, what did trump do when that crowd stormed the capitol, what was his reaction, did anyone tell him to call that crowd off? did he do it? why did he wait so long? if meadows is not

of course, don, this also dovetails after the chairman of the select committee, bennie thompson, saying that the committee has had no contact with the department of justice for that same exact reason. they want these decisions to be made independently. still it gives us some insight into the president's thinking about this process and also coincides with the fact that he has allowed the fact that so many of these documents he's allowed to go through and not be protected by executive privilege despite the fact that the former president would like them to do so. >> so the select committee is weighing in, ryan? >> reporter: that's right. jamie raskin, who is a member of the select committee, talked about the president's remarks earlier today, and this is what he said. >> the first thing he said was that the committee should aggressively enforce our right to get people's testimony and to get the documents we've subpoenaed, and there's no problem with that. i also don't have a problem with him, as a citizen like me, saying he hopes the department of justice will aggressively enforce the law

. >> i want to read something from -- this is part of a statement from chairman bennie thompson and also the vice chair, liz cheney. they wrote after meadows failed to comply with the select committee's subpoena. indeed, mr. meadows has failed to answer even the most basic questions, including whether he was using a private cell phone to communicate on january 6th and where his text messages from that day are. the language here is deliberate. what's the committee trying to accomplish by putting it out there like that? >> is that john dean or john harwood? >> that's john dean. sorry about that. two johns here. john dean. >> i think what they're saying is they believe that there is information that he has in his -- as we all do today, carry a lot of data with us, and that would be valuable to the committee. whether that would fall within executive privilege is a good question. a lot of personal use is made of those phones. a lot of the activities that the january 6th is looking at should not fall within what's normally an executive privilege area. when you're up to no good and misconduct,

benny thompson, the committee's chair confirming to cnn he wants tell lacombe companies to preserve phone records to members of congress and kevin mccarthy, jim jordan spoke with trump on january 6th. whose records do you want to see? >> well, i'm going to leave it as you might imagine to the chairman to make those disclosures public or in a formal announcement. i can tell you this, we intend to be thorough. we want to know exactly what took place before january 6th that led to that tragic day and the violence of that day. anyone involved and anyone who had knowledge who would be assembling on that mall or the violence to come, anyone that funded it, what the white house was doing, people in the administration, what they were aware of and when, why we weren't reinforced in the capitol, why it took so many hours to send the national guard. so we want answers to all these questions and we're not afraid to ask them of anyone including members of congress, former members of the administration, current people that are serving within administration, anyone who has relevant information. >> yeah.

chairman of the select committee bennie thompson is telling cnn jim acosta the so-called war room at the willard hotel on january 5th and 6th is part of the investigation, key part. this means any possible calls by then president trump to the command center. i mean, what does that tell you where the investigation is heading right now? >> it's absolutely clear to me, laura, they are focussing on the krus crucial days, the final week or so leading up to the rally and looking at the nodes of the organization. when you want to understand what an enterprise is up to before an event, you have to look at leadership decisions. you have to see where these key people were gathering, who they were talking to, how they were spending money and how decisions and orders were being made. clearly, the war room is one of those nodes of leadership and organization and that's what the committee is focused in on. >> one year ago today then president trump tweeted this. see you in washington d.c. on january 6th. don't miss it. information to follow. a few days before he tweeted statistically impossible to

democrats are saying -- bennie thompson said, look, they're simply trying to muddy the waters. this is not going to be a committee that is going to independently look at this. it's going to be another washington sort of drag-out fight. being out here in the country, one thing is clear. people are not interested in another food fight in washington regardless of what side you're on. but that is what sounds like is coming down the way. >> quite frankly it's a desperate attempt because it's hard to change the narrative when we have so many images coming out. >> and arrests. >> and none of them mention nancy pelosi except that they don't like her and they stuck their feet up on top of her desk. thank you very much. >>> i want to turn now to "washington post" investigative reporter carol leonnig. so happy to have her here. she's the co-author of the explosive new book "i alone can fix it: donald j. trump's catastrophic final year." again, so good to see you again. thank you so much, carol. listen, there are so many details from your book that we need to discuss. but i want to start w

bennie thompson, the chair of the committee, has worked with republicans as chair of the homeland security committee. he told me he will work hard to enforce the rules and make sure this committee sticks to their intended goals and that is finding answers as to what happened on january 6. they'll go wherever they need, that could ultimately mean calling someone who is on the committee to come forward as a witness, including jim jordan, kevin mccarthy, or even donald trump. >> and there we go. thank you very much, ryan nobles, i appreciate that. kirstin powers and former republican congressman denver riggleman, good evening to both of you. denver, what do you think of mccarthy's picks for this select committee, are you surprised he actually chose two people who voted to certify the election results? >> i was pleasantly surprised. i think there's a good faith effort with kelly and rodney, i know them very well, they're very good people. i have a feeling kelly's background is legal, recordny has -- rodney has been there a long time. i wasn't surprised about jim jordan being chosen either. it

the committee chairman, bennie thompson, the vice chair liz cheney both read somewhat lengthy opening statements kind of outlining the case as to why they believed that this was a necessary step to refer steve bannon for criminal contempt. they talked about how defiant bannon had been in terms of his lack of cooperation with the committee. they also really took aim at his legal arguments that he somehow was protected by executive privilege because of the efforts of the former-president donald trump, and saying it just was not enough for him to be so uncooperative with the committee. and then, liz cheney who is of course the vice chair and a republican and a big critic of the former president talked specifically about how both

bennie thompson, excuse me. she talked, today, about how, in her view, this is bigger than politics. >> um, and a really important opportunity to remind everybody about the necessity of accountability. for what happened. for making sure that it never happens, again. >> accountability. accountability. accountability. that's what all this is supposed to be about. yet, kevin mccarthy, who just days after the attack on -- on the capitol, said that the then-president bore responsibility. now, he is calling liz cheney and adam kinzinger pelosi republicans. kinzinger called that childish. pointed out it was republicans, actually, who killed the independent commission in the senate. listen. >> we had an opportunity for a 5-5 commission that didn't even include members of congress. then, at every junction, it kept getting blocked, despite that we negotiated the 5-5. and so, it's become obvious that there are some that just, simply, don't want answers. and that, to me, is unacceptable. >> people don't want the truth. ther

. >> you know, one of the things that's happening, we learned tonight that congressman bennie thompson, who is the chair of the committee, was talking to "the washington post" this evening and telling them that the committee is focused on trump's hours of silence during the attack. and he says, quote, that dereliction of duty causes us real concern. and one of those concerns is that whether or not it was intentional and whether or not that lack of attention for that longer period of time would warrant a referral. now, cnn's reporting a criminal referral would be a long way off, but this would be historic if they did refer trump to the doj. i mean what actions of the former president would warrant opening a criminal investigation in your mind? is it that lapse of time before he ordered some coordinated effort to help it stop? >> it could well be the time during which the riot was taking place and he clearly could have taken action, that he sat on his hands and his aides knew that, and there's one of them who's willing to come forward and say, yeah, he decided to sit on his hands for wha

. >> i want to talk about chairman bennie thompson saying that subpoenas are coming soon, laura. this is right up your alley here. liz cheney said they should be issued quickly. the justice department is saying former doj officials can testify. the department won't assert executive privilege. so which top officials are likely to be among the first called? you think the president should be called or will be called? the former president? >> i think he should be called. i think jeffrey rosen. i think others. remember, the executive privilege in terms of what the doj members would have to assert or be able to no longer have to assert -- so the notion here and why this is such a significant thing is, remember, you're saying in order to have transparency, in order to have a full, holistic investigation, i have to remove the hurdles of people saying, i don't care what you want to hear. i don't have to tell you anything. that does not bode well on the integrity of the department if there's no real basis for it. but also it's a hurdle that now is being overcome by the decision to say, you

bennie thompson, who is the chairman from mississippi, is a serious individual. he's worked with republicans and democrats for a long time in his capacity as chair of the homeland security committee. he told me today that he is going to work hard to enforce the rules and make sure that this committee sticks to their intended goals, and that is finding answers as to what happened on january 6th. and they're going to go wherever they need to find those answers. that could ultimately even mean calling someone who's on the committee, jim jordan, to come forward as a witness. that's a real possibility, including the possibility of kevin mccarthy and maybe even donald trump being called in front of this committee. >> thank you very much, ryan nobles. i appreciate that. joining me now, cnn senior political analyst kirsten powers and former republican congressman denver riggleman. good evening to both of you. so, denver, what do you think of mccarthy's picks for this select committee? are you surprised that he actually chose two people who voted to certify the election r

chairman bennie thompson is saying they'll vote monday on holding mark meadows in contempt. setting up a full house vote tuesday evening. the vice chair is liz cheney. she's saying the committee has already met with nearly 300 witnesses, tweeting they've got what she calls exceptionally interesting and important documents from witnesses including meadows and going onto say the investigation is firing on all cylinders, and the truth will come out. a source telling cnn that meadows voluntarily handed over texts and e-mails from his personal accounts that relate to what the then-president, quote, was doing and not doing during the riot. and those messages could tell us a whole lot about what was in the white house on one of the darkest days in american history while the capitol was under attack, and while rioters who were chanting about hanging the vice president. [ chanting hang mike pence ] >> so that source going onto tell cnn some of those nearly 300 witnesses are, quote, names we will recognize. in just a moment i'm going to speak with a member of the committee, congressma

negotiates a fair deal with benny thompson on the commission. only to have his legs taken out from under him by his own leadership. that sends a terrible signal, to members, that, you know, the leadership, you know, wants you to empower you to go out there and do your job. only -- and they are expecting a predetermined outcome, at the same time. you can't have both. and i think -- i think it has a chilling effect on a lot of these members, who are trying to work, in good faith, to have their leaders work against them. so they are not focused on policy, sadly, at the moment. they are focused on all these other things. and, you know, loyalty to a president -- a former president who may be indicted. and then what, don? what do they do if donald trump gets indicted? they still going to continue with this trump love and trump loyalty? i mean, at some point, you have to -- you have to cut bait. >> well, i'm sure he'll use it as a badge of honor. dana. where is the lie? >> uh-huh. yeah. i mean, i have -- you know, i mean, how many different ways can he

thompson, who heads up the homeland security committee. who have worked out a bipartisan committee -- a bipartisan agreement, as to what this commission should look like. and i am hopeful that there are other individuals, within the party, the republican party, who want to get to the truth. and, you know, steadier heads will -- will rule the day, over those who spend most of their time in mar-a-lago. getting their marching orders from former-president trump. >> well, let's talk about -- i'm sure you have heard about this. maybe, you've even witnessed some of this stuff. republicans are spreading this big lie. marjorie taylor greene is running amuck. that's why i said you may have witnessed some of it. confronting lawmakers, right, in the capitol. matt gaetz is being investigated for alleged-sex crimes. how is congress supposed to get anything done with these kinds of antics? these distractions? >> well, thankfully, there are a greater majority of individuals who are actually working for the people that have elected them. than some of these