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Transcript/Script((PLAYBOOK SLUG: US CONGRESS – January 6th Investigation (TV)
HEADLINE: Congressional Investigators Say Trump Plotted ‘Coup’ in First Public Hearing
TEASER: Four more public hearings will make the case Trump conspired to overturn 2020 election
PUBLISHED AT: Friday, 6/10/22 at 1:53 am
BYLINE: Katherine Gypson
PRODUCERS: Katherine Gypson
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
VIDEOGRAPHER: VOA Kurdish Service
SCRIPT EDITORS: Steve Hirsch, wpm, DJ balance edit
VIDEO SOURCE (S): AP, ABC, VOA
PLATFORMS (mark with X): WEB __ TV _X_ RADIO _X_
TRT:
VID APPROVED BY: wpm
TYPE:
UPDATE: ))
[[TV/web intro: After more than a year of investigation, the January 6 Committee held its first public hearing Thursday night, making the case before the American people that former U.S. President Donald Trump directed his followers to storm the U.S. Capitol as part of a conspiracy to hold on to the presidency. VOA’s Congressional Correspondent Katherine Gypson has more.]]
((Narrator))
With intense and previously unseen video ...
((Open for nats Capitol Riot in new video))
((Narrator))
… and in testimony from a documentary filmmaker and a U.S. Capitol Police Officer who suffered a traumatic brain injury ...
((Open for nat of Edwards saying “I saw friends with blood all over their faces. I was slipping in people's blood.”))
((Narrator))
… six Democratic and two Republican lawmakers made public for the first time their yearlong investigation into the January 6, 2021, breach of the U.S. Capitol.
((Rep. Bennie Thompson, Democrat))
“It was domestic enemies of the Constitution who stormed the Capitol and occupied the Capitol, who sought to thwart the will of the people to stop the transfer of power. And they did so at the encouragement of the president of the United States, the president of the United States trying to stop the transfer of power, a precedent that had stood for 220 years.”
((Narrator))
Trump was impeached in January 2021 for inciting that riot, just one week before leaving the White House. Lawmakers leading this congressional investigation, encompassing hundreds of interviews and thousands of documents, said they will go further, making the case Trump planned and executed a violent coup to hold onto the presidency.
((Rep. Liz Cheney, Republican))
“President Trump summoned the mob, assembled the mob, and lit the flame of this attack. You will also hear about plots to commit seditious conspiracy on January 6, a crime defined in our laws as conspiring to overthrow, put down or destroy by force the government of the United States.”
((Narrator))
This first hearing focused on the Proud Boys and the Oathkeepers, extremist groups with individuals who have been charged with seditious conspiracy in connection with the January 6 attack. Filmmaker Nick Quested testified about filming those groups that day.
((Nick Quested, Documentary Filmmaker))
“I documented the crowd turn from protesters to rioters to insurrectionists. I was surprised at the size of the group, the anger and the profanity.”
((Narrator))
All but a handful of congressional Republicans have already claimed the investigation’s results are illegitimate.
((Rep. Kevin McCarthy, House Minority Leader))
“It is the most political and least legitimate committee in American history. It has used congressional subpoenas to attack Republicans, violate due process, and infringe on the political speech of private citizens.”
((Narrator))
But in four more hearings throughout this month, committee investigators said they would prove Trump made a coordinated, multistep effort to overthrow the results of the election. With upcoming midterm elections deciding control of Congress, the stakes for making that case are high.
((US President Joe Biden))
“It was a clear, flagrant violation of the Constitution. I think that these guys and women broke the law, tried to turn around the result of an election.”
((Narrator))
The January 6 committee does not hold any legal power but can recommend prosecutions to the Justice Department. To date, more than 725 individuals have been arrested for their actions that day.
((Katherine Gypson, VOA News, Washington))
NewsML Media TopicsArts, Culture, Entertainment and Media
NetworkVOA
Embargo DateJune 10, 2022 02:03 EDT
Brand / Language ServiceVoice of America - English
