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The Playbook Podcast

February 23, 2021: The first insurrection hearing

The Playbook Podcast

POLITICO

Daily News, Politics, Government, News

4.2614 Ratings

🗓️ 23 February 2021

⏱️ 8 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today, Congress finally gets its first chance for answers about the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection. Plus: Playbook has the scoop on an anti-Big Tech crusader poised to join the Biden administration.

Transcript

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0:00.0

Presented by Google. Good Tuesday morning, I'm Adrienne Hurst and welcome to your Politico Playbook

0:06.9

audio briefing. Today, Congress finally gets its first chance for answers about the January 6th Capitol

0:12.8

Insurrection. At a rare joint oversight hearing at 10 this morning, senators will hear from security

0:18.2

officials who were on duty when a mob of Trump supporters ransacked the

0:21.9

building and sent them running for their lives. They'll hear from four officials, the acting chief of D.C.'s

0:27.8

Police Department, the former chief of the U.S. Capitol Police, and the former Senate and House sergeants at

0:33.3

arms. And lawmakers have a few big questions on their minds. Number one, why did politics appear to

0:39.2

have delayed approval to bring a National Guard backup to an overwhelmed police force, more than

0:44.2

100 of whom were injured during the attack? Number two, what was the cause of Capitol Police Officer

0:50.2

Brian Sicknick's death? Remember, initial reports that he was struck and killed by a fire

0:55.3

extinguisher have still yet to be verified, but his death rocked the capital community. And number

1:01.0

three, what roles did Speaker Pelosi and then-majority Leader McConnell have in the security

1:06.1

response? Some details have started to spill out, suggesting both leaders were baffled by the failure of their chamber sergeants at arms to immediately seek National Guard help once the riot became a clear threat to lawmakers' safety, not to mention the failure to have guardsmen at the ready in advance of the siege.

1:23.1

The insurrection also loomed yesterday over Merrick Garland's confirmation hearing. If confirmed as

1:27.9

attorney general, he said, he'll make investigating the Capitol storming his top priority.

1:32.4

If confirmed, I will supervise the prosecution of white supremacists and others who stormed

1:39.6

the Capitol on January 6th, a heinous attack that sought to disrupt a cornerstone of our democracy.

1:47.5

We've got a flurry of movement ahead on Biden's other cabinet nominees. The Senate will meet today

1:52.3

on Linda Thomas Greenfield for Ambassador to the UN, Tom Vilsack for Agriculture Secretary,

1:57.8

and Javier Becerra for Health and Human Services Chief. At Bacera's hearing,

2:01.9

you can expect his push to extend federal health benefits to undocumented immigrants to be a lightning

2:07.1

rod issue. In other nom news, to loosely quote the wise words of Taylor Swift here, would Nira Tandon

...

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