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JUDY WOODRUFF: For more 
takeaways from last 
night's hearing, we 
turned to a member of

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the January 6 Select Committee, 
who also served as the 
lead impeachment manager

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in former President Trump's 
second impeachment trial.

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He is Maryland Democratic 
Representative Jamie Raskin.

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Congressman Raskin, thank 
you very much for joining us.

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What do you think the 
committee accomplished 
with last night's hearing?

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REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): Well, 
we showed not only that the 
whole plot against the 2020

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presidential election was based 
on a big lie, but that Donald 
Trump knew it was a big lie,

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that all of his closest 
legal advisers, including 
Attorney General William Barr,

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the White House counsel, 
all of them told him 
that this was nonsense, 
there was nothing there.

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And yet he proceeded 
anyway. And he engaged 
in the seven-part plan

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to try to strip Joe Biden 
of his lawful majority in 
the Electoral College vote.

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He tried to usurp the will 
of the American people 
and replace the will of 
a sitting president who

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wanted to seize the 
presidency and essentially 
become an autocrat, a 
tyrant over the people.

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And we are also showing -- and 
you saw a good piece of this 
last night -- the way in which

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mob violence was 
recruited to the cause,

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and there were domestic violent 
extremist groups that came 
together to overthrow the

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election and to engage in 
insurrectionary violence against 
the constitutional order.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: And, 
Congressman, given that, what 
do you say to Republicans 
who are out there, like

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Congressman Jim Banks, 
who spoke today with my 
colleague Lisa Desjardins, 
who are saying that the

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committee used selectively 
edited videos, that it 
was mainly theatrical, 
and that you really didn't

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do -- prove anything with regard 
to President Trump directing 
what happened at the Capitol?

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REP. JAMIE RASKIN: Well, they 
have obviously been over our 
hearing with a fine-tooth comb.

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In other words, they come 
back, and they cannot 
challenge a single fact. 
They cannot challenge a

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single piece of evidence, 
but they have to call 
the whole thing a sham, 
which is meaningless.

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They have tried that in 
court too, and all of the 
courts that have looked 
at it have rejected their

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claims that somehow we're 
unlawfully composed. 
No, they say we are a 
perfectly lawfully composed,

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bipartisan entity, unlike our 
critics, who are all of one 
particular political party.

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And we are engaged in the 
essential legislative work 
of trying to investigate 
an assault on the

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constitutional order 
itself. And the first rule 
of thumb for a democratic 
government is survival

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and self-preservation against 
those who would tear it down.

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And it's sad, because, as 
we have been able to show 
already, a lot of them

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were very upset about what 
had happened. They were 
begging the president to act.

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They were very tough on the 
president for the first few 
days later. Then, essentially,

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Donald Trump brought 
them all back into line. 
It's a sad thing to say.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: Congressman, one 
other point that Republicans 
continue to make is that

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House Speaker Nancy 
Pelosi and others in the 
Democratic leadership 
prevented, in effect, the

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National Guard from being 
there to bolster what 
security, the Capitol 
Police were able to provide.

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What's the response to that?

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REP. JAMIE RASKIN: Well, that's 
utterly false and baseless. 
There's nothing to support that.

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And we will explain, 
best we can, how

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the National Guard's response 
was so slow. But it's the 
president of the United States

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who oversees the Army, which 
oversees the National Guard 
of the District of Columbia,

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which has no governor for 
itself. So that's a bizarre 
argument for them to make.

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But they're throwing up a lot 
of ridiculous stuff because 
they don't want to focus on

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the essence of this 
investigation, which is that we 
have a disappointed president

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who was defeated by more than 
seven million votes, 306 to 
232 in the Electoral College,

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who refused to accept his 
defeat, and decided to 
disseminate propaganda 
about this big lie,

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and then work in a whole 
bunch of different ways 
to try to illegitimately

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undermine and destroy his 
opponent's victory in the 
presidential election.

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And that is not going to work 
for us as a constitutional 
democracy in this century.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: And, 
Congressman, given how divided 
the country is politically,

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how do you expect to change 
the minds of the millions 
of Americans who today

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believe former President Trump 
that the election was stolen?

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REP. JAMIE RASKIN: Well, 
it's divided because of this. 
It's divided because there

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has been a big lie. It's 
divided because there's been 
this onslaught against fair

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elections across the country 
administered by Republicans, 
Democrats, independents.

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I think it's a responsibility 
that's not just on 
the shoulders of the

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nine of us on this committee or 
everybody in Congress. It's the 
responsibility of everybody,

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and the parents to talk to 
their kids and teachers to 
talk to their students and to

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explain how a constitutional 
democracy works, 
and that there's a 
difference between fact

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and fiction, there's a 
difference between truth and 
lies and conspiracy theories.

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And the struggle to 
defend democratic 
institutions is interwoven

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with the struggle to arrive 
at the truth and to tell 
the truth to the people.

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JUDY WOODRUFF: Representative 
Jamie Raskin of Maryland, 
a member of the House

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January 6 Select Committee, 
thank you so much.

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REP. JAMIE RASKIN: It's always 
a pleasure to be with you.