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Justice Dept. Releases New Video From January 6 Attack; GOP Kills Manchin's Bipartisan Election Bill Pitch. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired June 18, 2021 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[12:00:00]

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Hello, everybody. Welcome to "Inside Politics." I'm John King, in Washington. The breaking news is disturbing today. We ask you just simply, believe your eyes.

New video, just in to CNN from The Justice Department, what it gives you is an up close glimpse at the violent hoard as it prepares to invade the U.S. Capitol back on January 6. The video is taken from police body cam footage, show one man taunting and punching U.S. Capitol Police.

We want to warn you as we prepare to show you these videos - they are violent, some of the language is extremely profane, but we believe it is critical that you see them so you can have full transparency. Especially - especially as many Republicans try to make you forget this day even happened, or come up with excuses for who was there and why they were there.

Let's bring in CNN's Jessica Schneider to walk us through this. Jessica, take us through these videos. And again, I just want to warn our viewers, it's very graphic.

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, John. And you know, five and a half months after the Capitol riot, it's the efforts from CNN and other media outlets that are exposing more of these videos.

We are getting them trickling in. We got a little bit yesterday, we're getting even more today. These are on the ground glimpses of what these officers were facing, it really ended up in a lot of hand-to- hand combat with these rioters who got quite violent.

So what we're about to show you is brand new footage from several different perspectives, just being released by the court. In the case of Scott Fairlamb, he's a gym owner from New Jersey. He is still detained in jail because the judge determined that he was still dangerous. He's charged with assaulting police and carrying a dangerous weapon into the Capitol.

So let's show this first video clip. These two clips are taken from a YouTube poster, they were taken off YouTube. Take a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) (YELLING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't touch me, bro. Don't (EXPLETIVE DELETED) touch me.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) out of here!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't touch me, (EXPLETIVE DELETED) -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, they wait for us. (EXPLETIVE DELETED) them.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You guys have no idea what the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) you're doing. Not one single idea (ph) - not one idea.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) America, (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You guys have no idea what the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) you're doing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHNEIDER: So you can see right there, this is the defendant, Scott Fairlamb in that camouflage jacket. He's taunting the police, he's following them, pushing them, shoving them - and then finally punching them.

We also have other video dealing with this same defendant -

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You guys have no idea what the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) you're doing -

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHNEIDER: - let's take a look at that. This is him, up close.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You guys have no idea what the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) you're doing. Not one single -

SCOTT FAIRLAMB: (Inaudible) we (EXPLETIVE DELETED) disarm them, and then we storm the (EXPLETIVE DELETED) capitol. Aye? (EXPLETIVE DELETED) you! We're patriots too. We (EXPLETIVE DELETED) disarm them and then we -

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take it easy, man. Take it easy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHNEIDER: And you see it right there, he's on multiple different cameras, multiple different videos expressing his violent views there. And you know, these videos were central to this court case, and they're only just being released publicly now. Before this, back in April these videos were actually reviewed by the judge in chambers, out of public view.

And what's interesting, because of these videos the judge in this case, Judge Lambert (ph) wrote, "if any crime establishes danger to the community and a disregard for the rule of law, assaulting a riot gear clad police officer does." And then it turned out that this defendant, Scott Fairlamb, he has a history of being violent.

The judge also wrote, "the defendant's history of punching people in the face, suggests that he may punch people in the face again." So Scott Fairlamb, he has been detained throughout this entire process, John. And now these videos coming to light, showing exactly why the judge has decided to keep him detained because of his violence on January 6, and also his history of violence.

But we are getting this steady stream of videos now that CNN and other media outlets have gone to court to get this out into the public view to, once again, John, as you mentioned at the top push back on this false narrative that this was just a peaceful day at the Capitol.

John.

KING: Well, it's critically important that we piece together exactly what happened that day. Who was there, who was responsible, whether there were leaders and whether there was organizations. But walk through just so our viewers understand that we're not gratuitously showing pictures of a violent attack on the Capitol, these are being released in sequence because of these court fights. Explain how these are gathered as evidence, correct? And the news organization was saying, since they're in a public court file - or a court file, they should be made public.

SCHNEIDER: That's exactly what the fight has been through these last several weeks and several months. These videos that we're seeing, they were either shown in court, or in the case of a few these videos from Scott Fairlamb, they were shown privately to a judge in chambers.

The media - the news media organizations are saying because these are being part of a public proceeding - a court proceeding using taxpayer dollars

[12:05:00]

They should be released to the public. So that's exactly what's happening now. CNN in effect, winning this court fight and getting these videos released to the public. That's what you're seeing now.

John.

KING: Jessica standby. We appreciate the hustle on this breaking news. Let's bring another conversation now, the former FBI Deputy Director Andy McCabe who is a CNN Senior Law Enforcement Analyst.

Now, Andy, when you watch this - number one, just as a - as an investigator, the value of this direct on camera video evidence of the one defendant in this case, but also obviously others in the scenes as well. ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Priceless. In a

word, priceless, John. I mean, as you try to build a case against someone you have to not only prove what they did, but what they were thinking when they did it to prove that element of criminal intent.

And these videos, you know, a picture speaks a thousand words - these videos speak a million words. You see the fury - the blind rage that this man is in as he's taunting, and harassing, and following the Capitol Police Officers. There's no way an attorney or an agent can stand in front of a jury and accurately convey that as well as these videos can. They are incredibly powerful evidence.

KING: They're incredibly powerful in a court of law, as you say. I hope they're also incredibly powerful in the court of public opinion as we live through this period where over the last five months, but even in recent days. First some say they were tourists, some say it was no an insurrection, some say most of them were peaceful.

In recent days, Andy, a part of the equation has been first on the internet, then parroted on Fox News, and now being spoken by Republican members of Congress that there was - this was somehow an inside job by the deep state, and that the FBI and the Department of Justice - how many? Name them.

When you see these videos and you hear the lunacy of that, what goes through your mind?

MCCABE: It's just so maddeningly familiar now, right? Any time they can't live with the truth - and I say they, I mean everyone from the conspiracy theorists online, to Fox News, to our Republican members on the Hill. They conjure up some ridiculous, absurd theory to put law enforcement, and specifically the FBI at the center of some sort of conspiracy.

It's just so, so stupid and contrary to the facts. But unfortunately we've seen this a lot in the last couple years. The FBI has emerged as one of their favorite kind of excuses and whipping boys, and that's really having a detrimental affect on the organization, on its morale and on its ability to establish a relationship of trust with the Americans it protects.

So it's incredibly damaging, but like I said, this isn't the first time we've seen that.

KING: This is one case, these videos coming out because CNN and other media organizations went to court knowing this evidence is in the file, asking that it be made public. There are hundreds of these cases now, Andy McCabe. Take us back to your FBI days in terms of field offices around the country deciding right after January 6 - understandably so, this was the priority. Gather, collect, and then bring into the court of law. How does that process work?

MCCABE: Sure, so that charge was led here in Washington, by mostly the Washington field office which is the main kind of what we call in the bureau, the office of origin for all these cases. And they made it very clear they wanted to collect this information from the public. I think Director Wray has told us in recent days that they've

collected over 100,00 pieces of digital evidence - of videos, and digital photographs that people have submitted. Every single one of those 500 cases is built, to some extent, upon evidence just like what you've seen here today. Individual pieces of video and photographs that support the charge against the person who is named in that particular case.

So John, that's just one way of saying this is the tip of the iceberg. We have maybe 450, 500 cases to go if the media continues to be as successful in getting this stuff released, which is an unbelievably essential function they're performing right now, we're going to see - buckle in, because we're going to see a lot more of this really awful video.

KING: Andy McCabe, grateful for your insights. We'll continue this conversation, may bring you back in as we go through the hour.

With me in studio to share their reporting and their insights, CNN's Abby Phillip, CNN's Jeremy Diamond, Jackie Kucinich of "The Daily Beast," and Julie Hirschfeld Davis of "The New York Times."

Again, to our viewers, if you're watching the top of the hour, those words are offensive - many of the profanities, we get that. We get that. But we also believe A, it's important that you see this - see everything in full context of what happened. B, especially so now that you do have attempts - largely led by Republicans to just rewrite the history of this day because they don't want to be accountable for it.

Julie Davis, you've worked on the Hill, you're now the editor for The Hill, and I just want to show and ask the control room, use your best judgment, as we replay some of these videos in places now.

[12:10:00]

If the profanity comes up, if we can turn it down or take it out in some cases, please do. When you watch this, especially in the context, this is a case against one of the defendants, but it comes at a time - and again, right there, you see Trump flags, you see Tea Party flags.

There are members of the Republican Party now trying to say, number one, this was tourist - these were tourists, number two, it was mostly peaceful, number three, most recklessly recently that this was the deep state involved in this. What goes through your mind?

JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I mean, first - the first thing that goes through my mind is it's chilling.

KING: Right.

DAVIS: I mean, this - this is - it's incredibly frightening to see, sort of, the reality of what it was like up close and personal with some of those rioters, the people who got into the Capitol and how angry they were and what their motivations were for doing that.

You know, you would hope that it drives home the reality of what happened, that this was not like a tour group making its way through the Capitol, that these were not mostly peaceful people. I mean, there are people standing around there, but there were some pretty violent people who had a real plan.

I mean, you hear him say, we're going to - we want to disarm them, we want to get into the Capitol, and they had a real intention to do that. And so the more of this that comes out, the more it drives home the reality of what happened and how dangerous it was.

The other thing that you can see that really strikes me from that footage is you see the police kind of backing off and just walking around and clearly not having the resources or a plan of action to really confront this group of - of what turned into a mob that invaded the Capitol.

And it's just sort of heartbreaking to watch because they have their riot helmets on, these people do, many of the officers we know - now know couldn't access them, they didn't have access to that kind of equipment, and there were all of these warnings in the days leading up to this riot, that this was going to be violent and you were going to have people like that who wanted -- who had a plan and an intention to get into the Capitol and harm people.

And those officers were left without a plan of action, without the necessary preparations to really counter that, and that is something that, you know, if - were there to be a commission, which obviously -

KING: Right.

DAVIS: - the Republicans are blocking right now, I think we would - we would - a lot more information would come out about how that was possible.

KING: And - and the commission would be to get at a key question after any horrific incident like this, which is accountability.

DAVIS: Right.

KING: And there will be individual accountability for those who are charged, and they can -- they have every right and - you know, to contest the charges in court and to mount a vigorous defense. The videos are particularly damning in this case.

But again, in the context of what we have heard in recent months but especially louder in recent days, people trying to just recreate - create - no, recreate is the wrong word, to create a new history -

DAVIS: Right.

KING: - of that day. These videos are just a damning don't you dare.

JACKIE KUCINICH, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: It really rings in sharp relief, the cynicism that is at play among these Republican members of Congress who are trying to whitewash this. And not only - you know where my head goes, as someone who worked on the Hill for a while, and of the Capitol Police, that was - those were Metropolitan police in that video.

But when you walk into the Capitol, you walk by the same faces every day. They are there to protect the people who work at the Capitol, particularly members of Congress. They know them. They look into their eyes every single day.

And still, still, because of politics, this is all political, it's all because -- this is all about their political viability and that of former President Trump, that's why they are doing this to human beings, human beings that I think has kept, it's one point or another, everyone at this table safe.

KING: Right, and I think part of it is I think we too often say they're doing this to somehow protect Trump or rewrite the history of Trump. It's not just that, it's that so many of them even after that, even after what you see in those videos, voted to try to continue - continue to try to contest the election.

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and what these - this drip, drip of these videos is a reminder of is the whitewashing that most of the Republican Party is currently actively engaged in as it relates to January 6th. Every time you see one of these damning videos that shows how graphic, how violent this insurrection at the Capitol was, it reminds you of those efforts, the Republican Party's decision to use, in the Senate, their first filibuster, being to block the January 6th commission.

And so it is a clear reminder of not only what happened on that day, but what the Republican Party has since done, and clearly it is in their interests. Accountability is not in their interest because of the position that Donald Trump still holds of leadership in that party.

KING: Is that it? Is that it? I asked this question -- I've asked this question for five months, why? Why? I understand it's hard for your party. You know, I understand it's hard, but it happened. It's the Capitol building. It's the country. It's the constitution.

It was on that day when they were certifying -- you know, it's on an almost magical day of the American democracy, and to this day Republicans still don't want to have accountability. Is it about Trump? Is it about them? Is it because they think they need those people to vote for them?

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: It's that last part, they need those people to vote for them.

[12:15:00]

What's striking about those videos is watching that man assaulting the police officer, but also watching everyone around him just watching it happen, observing, not doing anything, not -- it just - it was - it was like a ripple in a pond, and it made no difference whatsoever.

And that's the dynamic within the Republican Party. There are some really bad actors who are mixed in, you know, into the larger Republican Party, and Republican leadership has decided we don't want to sort out the good from the bad. We don't want to weed out, you know, the folks who we don't want in our party because we feel like we need them all and that there's broad sympathy, actually, based on the polling numbers.

About 70 percent of Republicans believe the election was stolen. So there is broad sympathy for the views that brought those people to the Capitol, and Republicans in Washington have decided we need those people in order to win elections, that is why they don't even want to go there.

They don't want to look at these videos, they don't want to investigate what happened, they don't want to antagonize the people who were responsible for it and the people who are sympathetic to what happened on January 6th.

KING: All right. It makes you sick to your stomach every time you see a video released. And you make an important part, it also requires on all of us to say thank you to the law enforcement officers, outnumbered on that day, outnumbered ridiculously on that day, but thank you every day for their service, not just here in Washington but around the country as well.

A quick break for us. When we come back next, back to some other politics here in Washington. Joe Manchin floats a voting rights compromise, gets a very quick no from the Senate's top Republican.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:20:00]

KING: Senator Manchin loves being the man in the middle, and was in a bit of a "I told you so" mood when key progressives embraced his compromise plan on voting rights. But the goal of the compromise was to win over Republicans, and Senator no, is still no.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): I think all of you surely know how all Republicans feel about this proposal. It's a solution in search of a problem.

Debate among Democrats over a revised version - all Republicans, I think, would oppose that as well.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Panel is back with me, when does it become clear to Democrats, whether you're Joe Manchin in the middle or whether you're a progressive, I think they already get it, that especially on voting rights but on almost anything, McConnell's answer is no.

Maybe on infrastructure, maybe, on anything else, no, because we're going into a mid-term election year and we want to be able to say Biden didn't get anything done. DAVIS: Yes. I mean, I think that's clear and it's been clear for several weeks. Mitch McConnell said something several weeks ago in Kentucky about how his - his object was 100% to stop President Biden's agenda and that's been pretty clear to most Democrats.

I think it was probably clear to Joe Manchin before he put out this proposal. I don't he held out much hope that Mitch McConnell was going to sign on, but he had to kind of go through this exercise because he is very much opposed to the underlying, the big broad bill.

His proposal is actually quite board in and of itself in terms of voting rights changes and other changes. But in order to get to the point where they're going to have a vote and they are going to get there next week, they need to be in a place where they're unified.

And so - and Manchin was not in a place where he was going to be willing to vote with Democrats if he thought there was any chance of a bipartisan bill that he could support that was viable and now we know that there isn't.

And so that does accomplish something for the Democrats that allows them to go into the vote next week, unified and presumably with 50 of them saying, "we want a voting rights overhaul", and the rest of - and the Republicans saying no.

KING: What's stun me still, all the time I've been in Washington, stuns me still that sometimes say things that you think it's their inner voice but they say it with their outer voice.

This is Roy Blunt, who's retiring Republican Senator from Missouri, Joe Manchin floats this compromise. Stacey Abrams, one of the most active Democrats on the issue of voting rights, says, "I'm willing to go along with this." Even though it has some things she doesn't like, like a stronger Federal rules for voter ID laws.

So Stacey Abrams says, "let's try to make this work." This is Roy Blunt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ROY BLUNT (R-MO): I actually think when Stacey Abrams immediately endorsed Senator Manchin's proposal, it became the Stacey Abrams substitute, not the Joe Manchin substitute.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: So - so a White guy with grey hair for it, we'll think about it, but once a Black woman says it's okay, it's no good?

PHILLIP: Yes, it was -- I mean - the - it was really just like, takes the cover off. Like, you see exactly what's inside which is that there is no serious interest among Republicans to deal with anything involving, you know, what you might call voting rights.

And it was so interesting to hear McConnell saying this was a solution in search of a problem, which is literally what Republicans across the country are doing by passing voter laws in search of fraud, they are searching for fraud where there is none.

They are not interested in going down this road, and yes, actually Stacey Abrams saying let's talk about it, basically poisons the well for Republicans because she is a politically polarizing figure for Republicans.

Opposing her is the only currency they need in order to get cache among Republican voters. And so, you know, it was almost like a - like handing them a gift.

Saying, OK, well, Stacey Abrams is for this, we can be opposed to it. And in some ways maybe it made it easier for Republicans to say heck no to anything that was put on the table when it comes to voting.

KING: And so Democrats say it's - we need to do something about this, and if Joe Manchin won't fully just get rid of the filibuster, will he be with us on maybe changing it from, instead of needing 60 votes, we can go to 55 votes.

Chris Murphy among the Democrats who says we got to figure this out.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): Republicans are just not going to come to the table on any voting reforms. I think we're coming to the conclusion, I hope, as a body that there is no path to 60 votes on any reforms to our very broken democratic system.

And that's a conversation that we have to have internally in the Senate.

[12:25:00]

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: There are three or four, Joe Manchin gets most of the attention but Senator Sinema of Arizona gets the next amount, but there were a couple others too. Are they going to have this conversation?

Are they all going to get together and say, "Let's just forget our agenda because we can't get 60 votes." or are they going to say, "Sorry, we need to do this with all Democrats and you need to come around."

KUCINICH: Well, I mean, I think every time you see McConnell comes out and he says there's like - the sound you hear is a bunch of progressive's heads hitting their desks because they've been saying this over and over again, that McConnell's going to block everything.

I don't think the filibuster conversation is ever going to go away, even if Joe Manchin or some of the other folks you mentioned say they're not going to do it, they're going to still try to keep the pressure on because they believe these issues are important and worth keeping the pressure on.

Right now, it's not going anywhere, it's just not going to happen. But we'll see - what's going to be the thing? Is there going to be a thing that's going to push them over the edge?

I don't know that we're there yet.

KING: Is there a thing? I just - quickly, if you look at this polling. The President's - your view of the President's plan on infrastructure, 68% of adults in America support it.

That's off the chart numbers, that means a fair amount of Republicans. What about his so-called Care Economy Plan?

This is the more - not physical infrastructure but otherwise to help people out, 61%. Any chance the President maybe hit the road, try to change some Republican minds?

I'm not saying it would work.

DIAMOND: I mean, on infrastructure or on voting rights are you talking about?

KING: On anything, just to get out there and say people like what I want to do, let's get things done.

DIAMOND: Yes. I think clearly -- the thing to think about on voting rights is that ultimately it's not just about whether or not they can pass legislation. This is becoming their galvanizing issue heading into the 2022 mid-terms.

And so, on infrastructure I think the President genuinely wants a bipartisan deal more than he wants almost anything else. As it relates to voting rights, I don't think he needs to pass legislation to be able to use that as something to galvanize and get voters fired up ahead of the mid-terms.

It's going to be such an important issue and that's part of Vice President Harris was willing to take on that portfolio. No easy wins, but perhaps something to motivate the base.

KING: That'll be the test when we're having this conversation a year from now. A year from - who's motivated to vote, we will see.

Up next for us, the new Coronavirus case count is way down, but a stalling vaccine rollout and a nasty COVID variant have experts worried about regional spikes.

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