MSNBC "All In With Chris Hayes" - Transcript: Interview with Jamie Raskin
Interview
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REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): Well, we got to see it through, Chris. You know, it was a terrible attack not just on the Capitol, but on democracy itself. It was an attempt to overthrow the counting of Electoral College votes. And we can never forget that inside that violent insurrection, that was fueled by white supremacists who were descending on Washington was a coup, and it was an attempt to coerce Mike Pence into declaring powers that had never been exercised or claimed before, which was the power of the vice president simply to nullify Electoral College votes from the States.
And all they wanted them to do, they said, was to return and reject those electors coming in from Arizona, Pennsylvania and Georgia. And that would have lowered Joe Biden`s Electoral College vote total below 270, thereby kicking it into a contingent election under the 12th amendment.
And they wanted that because in a contingent election, we don`t vote one member, one vote. We vote one state one vote and the GOP had 27 states in the bag at that point. So, we were not that far from Trump actually succeeding and accomplishing that political coup. And we know that Michael Flynn and his other military advisors were urging him to declare martial law. And that probably would have been the next step had they succeeded in winning in a contingent election, they would have declared martial law to put down the insurrection and the chaos that he had unleashed in the Congress.
HAYES: When you think about what the question -- what the areas of knowns are an unknowns, I, in watching this video have a whole bunch of questions that that occur. There`s things that I feel like I have a pretty good sense of, and things I still don`t really understand. What are -- what are the areas that you feel like you don`t really understand, that you really want to -- this commission to get into?
RASKIN: Well, my focus as an impeachment manager and our team was focused on incitement. And we think that we overwhelmingly and meticulously documented the President`s incitement of a violent insurrection. But to say he incited it leaves open the question of who organized it, who mobilized it, and who financed?
HAYES: Yes.
RASKIN: What were the structures of power that were in place that allowed for it actually to happen? What were the interactions between the White House, the Trump team, Roger Stone, and the Three Percenters, the Oath Keepers, the Proud Boys, and so on? That`s something that never became clear before.
There were reports in the middle of our trial about how there were lots of Trump campaign employees who were moved over from the campaign on to organizing for the rally in the march. We need far more intensive investigation into how that happened. And then, of course, we need an investigation into what we need to do to prevent being overrun in the future by violent white supremacists, domestic violent extremists. HAYES: Liz Cheney, obviously, the only Republican-appointed by the Speaker there, eight of you, and Kevin McCarthy seems unenthused about appointing any others. Is it your expectation that it will be the eight of you?
RASKIN: No. I mean, right now, we`re very hopeful that McCarthy will do his duty under this legislation and appoint his members. It is bipartisan right now, as you say. But we would like him to, you know, to do his job and to appoint members, but they`ve been trying to stand back this from the beginning, of course. I mean, we had literally given them everything they wanted, five Republicans, five Democrats, a 9/11 style outside independent commission with equal subpoena power distributed between the two sides. And they could not take yes for an answer, because there are just far too many things they don`t want America in the world and history to know. And we don`t even know everything they don`t want us to know.
HAYES: Yes, that`s what nags me. I will say the one other question I have watching a video is just why and how there were -- they were so unprepared. And I know, we`ve looked into that a little bit, but I feel like I still don`t have the answer. Having covered protests in Washington D.C., having been around protest before, I`ve never seen anything like the outnumbering of the police that happened there, ever in my life in 20 years of reporting on street actions. It`s really, really striking, particularly after that video. Congressman --
RASKIN: Yes, it`s pretty astonishing --
HAYES: Congressman Jamie Raskin, I hope you guys --
RASKIN: I was just going to say that what`s astonishing is the New York Times video that you described before, it shows how there were literally thousands of rioters up against five or six police officers in some places. So, we want to figure out exactly how that happened, make sure that it never happens again, and make sure that we`re not compromised by Donald Trump in his attempts to inject this kind of racist extremism directly into the government to try to overthrow democratic institutions.
HAYES: Congressman Jamie Raskin who will have his work cut out for him along with the other committee of yours, thanks for joining us this evening.
RASKIN: Thank you so much, Chris.
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