JUDY WOODRUFF: President
Trump is projecting
defiance as he faces his
greatest political peril
yet, an unprecedented
second impeachment.
He denied any responsibility
today for the riot that engulfed
the halls of Congress last week.
White House correspondent
Yamiche Alcindor reports.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: The nation
still reeling, and President
Trump with no regrets.
The president emerged in
public for the first time
since extremist supporters
stormed the Capitol.
He rejected all talk of
involuntary removal or
a second impeachment.
DONALD TRUMP, President of the
United States: It's really a
continuation of the greatest
witch-hunt in the history of
politics. It's ridiculous.
It's absolutely ridiculous.
For Nancy Pelosi and
Chuck Schumer to continue
on this path, I think
it's causing tremendous
danger to our country, and
it's causing tremendous
anger. I want no violence.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: At his
rally last Wednesday,
President Trump urged the
crowd to march to the Capitol.
He's since been denounced
for inciting the mob.
But, today, he insisted
his words had been -- quote
-- "totally appropriate."
That brought new condemnation
from the Senate's top Democrat,
incoming Majority
Leader Chuck Schumer.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY):
What Trump did today, blaming
others for what he caused,
is a pathological technique
used by the worst of dictators.
Trump causes the anger,
he causes the divisiveness,
he foments the violence
and blames others for it.
That is despicable. Donald
Trump should not hold
office one day longer.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR:
House Democrats agree.
Tonight, they will vote
on a resolution calling
for Vice President
Pence to invoke the 25th
Amendment and remove the
president from office.
The resolution states: "These
insurrectionary protests were
widely advertised and broadly
encouraged by President Trump."
Today, the House Rules
Committee debated the
measure. On full display,
deep partisanship. Maryland
Congressman Jamie Raskin and
Democrats demanded action.
REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): It's
up to the vice president, and
we're not trying to usurp his
authority in any way. We're
trying to tell him that the time
of the 25th Amendment emergency
has arrived. It has come
to our doorstep. It has
invaded our chamber.
They can help to lead us
out of the nightmare we
have been plunged into by
this sequence of events.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: But
Republicans, including Ohio
Congressman Jim Jordan,
echoed the president's
claims of a witch-hunt.
REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH):
Let's be clear. Democrats
have been wanting
to remove President Trump
from office since he won
the election in 2016.
They failed with the Russia
investigation. They failed
with the Mueller investigation.
And they failed with their
first impeachment investigation.
So, here we are again.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Jordan
also refused to say whether
president-elect Biden
won the election fairly.
For his part, Vice
President Pence has
signaled he is not open to
using the 25th Amendment.
Instead, last night, he
and the president met,
after days of not speaking.
They reportedly agreed
to work together for the
remainder of their term.
Today, President Trump
said -- quote -- "The 25th
amendment is no risk to me."
But, if that's the case, House
Democrats say, tomorrow, they
will vote on impeachment.
At the same time, more details
emerged about President Trump's
real-time response to the
assault on the Capitol.
The Washington Post
reported that the president
ignored pleas for help from
lawmakers. Instead, he chose to
watch the violence unfold on TV.
And a report by Axios said
he blamed anti-fascists, or
Antifa, for the violence.
There is no evidence to
back up that claim. But
defenders of President
Trump keep repeating it.
The hunt for those who
assaulted the Capitol
is also in full swing.
STEVEN D'ANTUONO, Assistant
Director, Fbi Washington
Field Office: I want to
stress that the FBI has a long
memory and a broad reach. So,
even if you have left D.C.,
agents from our local
field offices will be
knocking on your door
if we find out that you
are part of the criminal
activity at the Capitol.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR:
Acting U.S. attorney
for D.C. Michael Sherwin
also said they're forming a
task force to build charges
tied to sedition and conspiracy.
Meanwhile, state capitols
are bracing for new violence.
The FBI indicated that,
in the coming days,
there could nationwide
protests by armed groups.
In Michigan, Attorney General
Dana Nessel says the state
capitol is still not safe.
That comes despite a new
rule banning the open
carry of firearms. Today,
the FBI also met with
other federal agencies
and Pentagon leadership
on inauguration security.
And senators received
a briefing from the Secret
Service and the Departments of
Defense and Homeland Security.
Back at the U.S. Capitol, yet
more fallout. Three lawmakers
have now tested positive for the
coronavirus. They were
part of a group hunkering
down during the Capitol
siege with Republicans who
were not wearing masks.
The video shows some even
refusing masks handed
out during the lockdown.
And the president also faces
fallout of a different kind from
big business. Today, Deutsche
Bank, the biggest lender to
his companies, says it will
have no more dealings with him.
JUDY WOODRUFF:
And Yamiche joins me now
for more, along with our
congressional correspondent,
Lisa Desjardins.
Hello to both of you.
So much happening today.
Lisa, I'm going
to start with you.
New developments now, as
the House moves closer
to that second impeachment
process. Tell us
what you're learning.
LISA DESJARDINS: Some
extraordinary developments
in just the past hour, Judy.
The number three
Republican in the House,
Liz Cheney, has announced she
will vote for impeachment.
Reading from her statement,
she wrote: "The president
of the United States
summoned this mob, assembled
this mob, could have
intervened, but did not."
Also, another House
Republican, John Katko of
New York, is also voting
for impeachment. He wrote:
"It cannot be ignored that
President Trump encouraged
this insurrection."
At the same time, The New
York Times is reporting
another powerful Republican,
Mitch McConnell, the Senate
Republican leader, is on
board the idea of impeachment,
and does not want to speak
to President Trump any
more. That is major news.
And I can tell you, Mitch
McConnell and those around
him are some of the most
disciplined people in
Washington. For that news
to leak out is significant.
Finally, I have to say the
mood at the Capitol, as
you saw in Yamiche's piece,
is very tense. Those supporting
the president are ramping up
their arguments, as you heard.
But it does seem this crack in
the Republican Party is opening
up into a chasm over this issue.
And some of the president's
allies, including House
leader, Republican
Leader Kevin McCarthy,
are now giving permission
to members to vote their
conscience on this issue.
That's a very big deal.
One more thing, Judy.
This vote could move along
quickly. I'm told that
House Republicans do not
have any plans to throw
procedural hurdles in
the way tomorrow on the
road to impeachment.
JUDY WOODRUFF: These are
gigantic political developments,
Lisa. Thank you very much.
And, as we have said, we're
going to be covering this all
from starting tomorrow morning
here live, and you will
be at the Capitol for us.
So, separately to you,
Yamiche, the FBI did
hold that briefing today.
Tell us more about what
they are saying about
what happened last week.
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Well, today,
the FBI and federal authorities
made it very clear that
they are planning to track down
and charge anyone connected
to the siege on the Capitol.
They say that they are treating
this like an international
counterterrorism effort.
That is pretty remarkable,
considering, of course,
these are Americans on
domestic soil. But they say
that they are looking at
so many different people. They
say that they are expecting that
this is going to be hundreds
of cases. Right now,
they have about 170 cases
opened. They have charged
about 70 people so far.
They say that the
charges range from felony
murder all the way up
to simple -- or all the way down
to simple trespassing. They also
say they're looking at theft
of national security. They're
look at theft of mail.
They say that this could go
from city to city. They say that
they have already been in Dallas
and Jacksonville and Cleveland,
rounding people up for this.
They made it very clear that,
if people were involved
in this, that you could
and will be charged.
Another thing to note,
though, that, even
though it's been about
almost a week since this siege
on the Capitol, the people
that were briefing today,
they weren't the FBI director or
the head of Homeland Security.
So, there's really a big
question of whether or not the
top, top federal officials,
whether they're at some
point going to come before
the public to speak out.
JUDY WOODRUFF:
Fascinating, all of it.
And we know, Yamiche,
you're also following what
is going on at the White
House. You were reporting
the president denying any
responsibility for what
happened. But you have
been talking to people.
What is he saying
privately? What is he
known to believe privately
about how much responsibility
he has for all this?
YAMICHE ALCINDOR: Despite
a bipartisan push now to
impeach President Trump,
he's saying he has no regrets.
He's also spreading
disinformation and still
saying things that are
simply false in public
and in private. The
president today said that
he believes that everything
that he said on Wednesday
before these people came and
attacked our U.S. Capitol
was totally appropriate.
But let's remind people
that he said the word fight
or fighting in that speech
more than 20 times. And he told
people to march on the Capitol,
and then went back to
the security of the White
House and watched all the
violence play out on TV.
He's also spreading the
disinformation that this was
really not his supporters,
but that it was Antifa,
anti-fascists, a group
that he's called out and
really made all sorts
of information up about.
And the FBI is saying
there's no evidence of,
that this was not Antifa.
In fact, this was Trump -- this
was the Trump supporters who
were at the Capitol. They were
wearing his name. They
were wearing his logos.
So, what you see here is
President Trump trying to
deflect and deny the fact that
he has any connection to this.
Another thing to note is
that the president today
was on the Southern border,
and he said the 25th Amendment,
he doesn't have any risk
of being hurt by that,
or -- so he feels as though the
only way that he's going to be
at least punished by this is
through impeachment, not through
Vice President Pence taking
any sort of action against him.
JUDY WOODRUFF:
All right, so much to
follow on this Tuesday.
We thank both of you for
more excellent reporting.
Yamiche, Lisa, thank you both.