0:15

Pushkin. Hello

0:20

Pushkin listeners. I'm Pret Barrara,

0:23

former US attorney and host of the podcast

0:25

Stay Tuned. The January sixth

0:27

hearings provided some of the most stunning

0:29

moments in American history. When

0:31

Pushkin came to me with the idea of an audio book

0:34

capturing all twenty hours, I was

0:36

honored to write the foreward. You're

0:38

about to hear an excerpt of that forward now. The

0:41

January six Tapes is the only audio

0:43

book that captures the actual recordings

0:46

of all nine hearings, from the

0:48

opening gavel to the subpoena

0:50

vote. It's critical that the testimony

0:52

be heard and preserved. Nothing

0:55

less than the future of our democracy is

0:58

at stake. You can buy

1:00

the January six Tapes now at Pushkin,

1:02

dot Fm, Slash audio Books, Audible,

1:05

Spotify, or wherever audio

1:07

books are sold, and you can listen

1:09

to Stay Tuned, part of the Voxmedia

1:11

podcast network, wherever you get your

1:13

podcasts. On

1:17

January six, twenty twenty one, the

1:19

date on which the election of Joseph

1:22

Robin at Biden was to be certified

1:24

by the US Congress, a mob

1:26

of angry Americans marched

1:28

to the US capital and rioted.

1:33

They breached the barriers, they overcame

1:35

the Capitol police. They broke into

1:37

the House and Senate chambers. They destroyed

1:40

property, They attacked officers,

1:43

and they looked for the congressional leadership

1:46

inside. They wanted Nancy

1:48

Pelosi.

1:53

Outside, they erected a gallows

1:55

and chanted hang Mike Pence,

2:01

and they managed to stop for

2:03

a time, at least the certification

2:06

of the election for Joe Biden. Though

2:11

the mob was violent, some said

2:13

later it was nothing more than a tourist

2:15

visit. Though the mob was

2:17

violent, Donald Trump, who

2:20

for hours did nothing to turn them back, despite

2:22

the please of his family and staff, later

2:25

said he loved them. The

2:30

violence of that day, like some

2:32

other events in our history, has come

2:34

to be known simply by the happenstance of

2:37

the date January sixth.

2:40

But the story of January sixth

2:42

is not confined to that single and

2:45

singular day. Where

2:47

were the seeds of insurrection sown? What

2:50

happened over the weeks and months prior

2:53

that prompted such an unprecedented attack

2:56

on the seat of our government. Apart

2:59

from the rioters at the scene, hundreds

3:01

of whom faced criminal charges, who

3:03

else is responsible and should

3:05

be held responsible? For the attack.

3:10

History demands, and our democracy

3:13

requires answers to

3:15

these and many other questions. In

3:18

a different time and in different circumstances,

3:21

we may have established an independent bipartisan

3:23

commission to investigate the facts, to

3:26

lay bear the truth, to make recommendations,

3:29

and to assign blame. More appropriate, that

3:32

happened after nine to eleven, But it

3:34

did not happen here. A bipartisan

3:37

January sixth Commission lacked Republican

3:39

support. Instead,

3:44

the House formed, on a party line vote, the

3:47

US House Select Committee to investigate

3:49

the January sixth attack on the

3:51

United States Capitol. When

3:54

the hearing started, it quickly became

3:56

clear that these were arguably

3:58

the best produced hearings ever and

4:01

take their place in the pantheon of famous

4:03

hearings. The

4:06

January sixth Committee will release a summary

4:09

of the hearings, and that's fine and worthy.

4:11

But the hearings themselves are filled

4:13

with riveting testimony and emotional

4:16

moments that need to be heard. That's

4:18

part of why this unabridged version is so

4:20

important. We hear Trump Attorney

4:23

General Bill Barr give his view about

4:25

claims of election fraud. I did not agree

4:27

with the idea of saying the

4:29

election was stolen and putting out this stuff,

4:32

which I told the President was bullshit as

4:34

rioters were just forty feet from Vice

4:36

President Mike Pence. This is what

4:38

his lawyer Greg Jacob said in his testimony.

4:41

The Vice President had

4:43

refused to get into the

4:46

car. The Vice President did not want

4:48

to take any chance that

4:52

the world would see the vice

4:54

president of the United States fleeing

4:57

the United States Capital. Arizona

4:59

House speaker Rusty Bowers says that

5:01

Rudy Giuliani admitted he

5:04

had no evidence of fraud my recollection.

5:06

He said, We've got lots of theories,

5:09

just don't have the evidence. And I don't

5:11

know if that was a gaff or maybe he

5:13

didn't think through what he said, but

5:15

we kind of laughed about it. In the last

5:17

minute emergency hearing that required

5:20

the committee to come back to Washington during recess,

5:22

we hear from White House aid Cassidy

5:25

Hutchinson, the President said something to

5:27

the effect of I'm the FFing

5:29

president taking me up to the capital. And

5:31

now the President reached

5:34

up towards the front of the vehicle to grab at

5:36

the steering wheel. Mister Trump

5:38

then used his free hand to lunge towards

5:40

Bobby Angle and motion towards

5:43

his clavicles. And at the final

5:45

hearing put on by the January sixth Committee, we

5:47

are treated to never before seen footage

5:50

a Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and

5:52

Speaker Nancy Pelosi pleading

5:54

with officials during the insurrection

5:57

to send help. There has to be somewhere

6:00

we can maintain confidence

6:04

that government can function and that

6:06

we can't e left. The President of the United

6:08

States again, why don't you get the President to

6:10

tell them to leave the Capitol amidst their attorney

6:12

general in your law enforcement responsibility

6:15

a public statement they should all leave. There

6:18

are many many dramatic

6:20

and unnerving and revelatory moments

6:23

like these during the hearings. They

6:25

are worth remembering and revisiting.

6:31

You can buy the January six tapes now at

6:33

Pushkin, dot Fm, Slash Audiobooks,

6:36

Audible, Spotify, or

6:38

wherever audiobooks are sold.