Witnesses: Trump knew plan to overturn election was illegal

Laura Coates Live

CNN

News

3.9 • 2.5K Ratings

🗓️ 17 June 2022

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The third January 6 public hearing focuses on Trump's campaign, with the help of lawyer John Eastman, to relentlessly pressure Mike Pence into overturning the 2020 election. Witnesses testify that Trump knew the plan was illegal but tried to have it carried out anyway and an email reveals Eastman sought a presidential pardon a few days after the insurrection. Will there be any criminal referrals and if so, who is the most likely candidate? Two former attorney generals join CNN Tonight to discuss.Also at the hearing: Trump slammed Pence as a "wimp," during a heated call just before the Capitol insurrection, a video shows testimony of rioters saying they invaded the Capitol at Trump’s direction, and the Committee presents new photographs of Pence hiding from the mob as the violence escalated and they put up gallows while calling for his head. To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	I am Laura Coates and this is CNN Tonight.
0:04.0	Look, it seems that everyone told then President Trump that the emperor had no clothes on,
0:09.4	even if only behind closed doors.
0:11.7	Talking about the President's Council, the Vice President's Council, the Vice President,
0:16.5	they all told him that the plan that to have Vice President Pence not certified the election,
0:22.0	well, in the words of Vice President Pence, was un-American, and in the words of a prosecutor,
0:27.7	illegal.
0:28.7	Even the nation's top prosecutor, the Attorney General Bill Barr,
0:31.9	found no evidence to support a play to stay in office.
0:36.0	At tonight, we have not won, but two former attorneys general here,
0:40.8	both were nominated by a Republican President, and both are going to give us their take
0:44.2	on whether the emperor's wardrobe might be traded for prison garb.
0:48.9	The current Attorney General Merrick Garland has said that he is watching very closely,
0:52.6	but I'm wondering about what his predecessors think, and what might they have done differently,
0:57.5	even now.
0:59.0	Day three has had quite a core theme.
1:01.8	It's called pressure, persistent, relentless, unyielding pressure, all targeting Vice President
1:08.7	Mike Pence.
1:09.7	Now, the brow beating all began behind the scenes, but when that didn't work, the bully
1:14.3	pulpit was the new soapbox, and Pence is failure to succumb to it, put him in danger.
1:21.0	The VP's former Chief of Staff was apparently so worried that Trump was putting his boss's
1:25.0	life at risk that he alerted the Secret Service on the eve of January 6th.
	...

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