Sen. Paul: Capitol riot was ‘not a good day for the country’

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Sen. Paul: Capitol riot was ‘not a good day for the country’

Kentucky Republican joins 'The Story' to react to protests that locked down legislature

This is a rush transcript from "The Story with Martha MacCallum" January 6, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

MARTHA MACCALLUM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: Above that Georgia race this evening,
but this is an extraordinary time, and we are witnessing truly
extraordinary events. Bret, thank you very much. Good to see you tonight,
as always. And we go back to these images. Watch this video. Just watch
this Capitol Hill police officer as he grabs a stick and runs up the
stairs, followed by a column of people who are chasing him and backing him
up this staircase as they march toward the Senate chamber, as law
enforcement tries to keep them back.

When he gets to the top of the stairs, he's joined by other police
officers. Because up until that moment, you're just looking at this saying,
where is the backup? Where is his help for this man as he is overrun by
people coming up the stairs of the Senate offices, guns drawn on the floor
of the United States Congress today, keeping people back who had broken and
shattered the windows.

This rioter defiantly standing at the House podium, yakking it up, having a
great time. How about this one. In Speaker Pelosi's office doing the same
thing. Obviously, these pictures are all quite clear. These individuals
will be found, I would imagine, and law enforcement will take over.

These moments as members of the House chamber got on their knees and
prayed, all of it, bringing the presidential transition process, which was
supposed to be happening today to a screeching halt, although we do
understand there's an effort to get it back underway tonight to continue
the continuity of government, which is obviously so important in the United
States of America.

So, this was a historic breach of our seat of government. We are on the
scene live tonight as these events continue this evening to unfold. House
Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy was on the House floor, of course today
during all of this. He spoke with the president several times throughout
the course of it. And he's going to join us in moments to update us on what
is going on this evening.

Also, tonight on THE STORY, Katie Pavlich, Sarah Palin, Trey Gowdy and
Brian Kilmeade joining us throughout the course of the evening with their
observations about the state of America as we enter this transition period
at a very rocky time. But we begin tonight on the north side of the U.S.
Capitol building with White House Correspondent Kevin Corke with an update
on the ground there. Kevin, good evening to you.

KEVIN CORKE, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Evening, Martha. Just incredible
pictures. I'm so thankful that you were able to share that moment of
history with the audience. This is something none of us will ever forget.
Fortunately, we're here on the north side of the Capitol, as you pointed
out, and we have been here for the better part of five hours now. And this
was a very, very active protest area. Throughout the day, we saw protesters
attempting to gain access on the north side of the building. We heard them
singing songs and chanting.

And for the most part, remaining outside of the building from where we were
standing. But tonight, it is a very, very different circumstance here. As
you know, a curfew went into effect here in the nation's capital at 6 PM
Eastern Time, since then, we have seen this crowd, for the most part
dispersed certainly on this side of the building. I'm going to step off
camera for just a second and allow you to see just what's happening behind
me. You see a fairly decent number of law enforcement officers still camped
right here along the north side and to the east of the Capitol dome.

We have seen traffic coming in and out. You heard Chad Pergram earlier
talking about the idea of maybe, just maybe getting back into this building
and getting back to the business of the people tonight, perhaps as early as
8 o'clock, although very unlikely. But right now, despite the fact that in
the distance I see tons of not dozens of red and blue strobe lights still
moving, not a lot of activity, at least so far. Thankfully, nothing
happening at this very moment. Martha.

MACCALLUM: Yes. Kevin, thank you. Sadly, we know that a woman was shot and
killed in the course of the chaos at the United States Capitol today.
Joining us now, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, who was inside the
Capitol as this unfolded. In fact, we were speaking with Bill Hemmer this
afternoon, and you were relaying this to Bill. And you could hear Leader
McCarthy, the shock and just fear in your voice of what was happening at
that time. Can you tell us more about that tonight?

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): Well, this was the worst we've seen of America
this afternoon. Now, hopefully tonight you'll see the very best of what
democracy in our Constitution tells us when we get back to work. But this
is unacceptable. And I think for the heart of every American, we have to
take a pause and we have to realize what has gone on for the last couple of
years, the anger we've had to one another, if somebody disagrees with one
another.

We are so much better than what transpired today. And I would hope we'd
take this moment to start to heal and unite the nation together. We can
disagree. We can protest, but not what transpired today. A woman lost her
life. People were scaling walls. People were breaking the symbol of
democracy into the Capitol. It was appalling to see. It was the saddest
moment I've ever had as a member of Congress. And we are so much better
than what today displayed to the world.

MACCALLUM: So, we watched the president earlier at the rally and he was
telling everyone that the election had been stolen, that he had won in a
landslide, and that important things were going to happen, that he wanted
Vice President Pence to do the right thing. And then we heard that Vice
President Pence said, I have analyzed this in every way I can, and my job
is to oversee and preside over the certification of these states vote.

And I heard one man who was walking along the street with our Griff Jenkins
and he said, yes, I just heard that Vice President Pence is not going to
overthrow this election. What do you think of what the president said today
to the people there and of what transpired after that and what they were so
upset about?

MCCARTHY: Well, people could be upset about an election, but you don't go
to this direction, this is way too far. We can have a debate where we can
disagree. We can have a debate about election integrity. We can fix the
problems that we have going forward, but not in a display that took place
today.

I want to get back in that chamber tonight to show that that mob cannot
control this government, that we are so much better than what transpired
and will show what democracy looks like to the rest of the world, that we
can have a transfer of power peacefully like we've done every year before.
And we will debate issues, but we will not act this way.

MACCALLUM: So, you spoke with the president several times today. What can
you tell us? How can you characterize what he was thinking and feeling as
he was watching all of this? We saw the video. He again came out and talked
about his landslide win, and he said that he loved the people that were out
there, and he wanted them to go home. And then he tweeted, everyone
remembers this day with an exclamation point. What do you think about all
of that?

MCCARTHY: I remember the day for a different point, I remember the day as a
low point, I hope this day changes the course of history. I hope this day
unites one another. I mean, if we all think for one moment, we all have a
responsibility as Americans, we may disagree with somebody. But think about
what do you say on social media? Think about what you talk about one
another. Did you lose a friend because somebody else won an election?

Can't we respect to differences of opinion? I mean, that's the uniqueness
of who we are. That is why we are the beacon of freedom for the rest of the
world. Today was not that day. But we can be and should be and we'll have
debates. But in this election, we do our very best. We know there's
challenges in the election. We know there's challenges about the integrity.

We fix that. We fix that through the process that we all respect through a
constitution, not through arms, not through breaking in, not through
intimidating where a person ended up dying today, where the Capitol Police,
there are broken bones, there are injuries with others defending the
nation's Capital from Americans. That's what's wrong. And that's what has
to change.

MACCALLUM: I was just told that Twitter has suspended the president's
account for 12 hours and they marked with violating the course of history.
You've had a lot to say about Twitter and Facebook, and they have wielded
their power in a number of ways. What do you say to that move this evening,
violating civil integrity, excuse me? That was the phrase.

MCCARTHY: I think that builds up to everything else. I mean, that's why
everybody has responsibility in here. Do you deny a person a voice? You
judge them based upon their opinion? You know who we created a nation
because we believe in the First Amendment. It's the very First Amendment.
We don't believe in mob. But this idea that now we're going to deny people
based upon what they believe, it adds to this.

What we watched happened in the streets through the summer thinking someone
can break into a person's store because they have a right to take it. We
have gone too far this year as a nation that we should take and I've hope
in 2021, it was going to be so much different. This is our moment of a time
to change course. This is our moment of time that everybody should stand
together, unite, and find what is the very best about us, because this
country is exceptional. But the moment today was not, and we should not let
it stand. We should not be silent about it, but we should change course.
Let me make sure we do come together.

MACCALLUM: I think everybody agrees with you on that. Let me ask you about
the some of the housekeeping, so to speak. It's pretty messy inside all of
those buildings right now. Do you think that you will get back in there and
that you will get on with the business of this certification tonight? And
do you believe that all of the efforts to question the certification and we
had heard anywhere from three to six states, are Republicans still
committed to doing that for six states, which would take hours and hours
and hours? Is that still going to happen?

MCCARTHY: I believe we'll get in there tonight. I've talked to those on the
ground in security. It's taken us some time to clean the chambers. I know
all leaders are committed to making sure we get this done to show the
country we can do our work, we can follow the democracy, we can follow the
constitution. There's nothing wrong with having questions about the
election. There's nothing wrong with questioning because this is the only
time.

Remember, this is the people's house. This is where debate should take
place. This isn't where mobs should take place, but debate. It's healthy to
have debate. I believe we'll finish Arizona. Not sure what we'll continue
on, but we have to finish the rolls. We have work to be done and we should
finish it.

MACCALLUM: But I'm told that Cathy McMorris Rodgers has sort of pulled back
from the full dispute over three to six states given what has happened
today. Do you recommend that? Do you would you say to your party that it's
that they should move on from that, or do you want them to continue down
that path?

MCCARTHY: I would like us to finish Arizona, we've got another hour of
debate, but I think in light of what has transpired now, everybody has a
right that gets elected to Congress or the Senate. And this isn't the first
time that this has been challenged. The Democrats have used this every
single time a Republican has been elected in modern history since 88.

But I think what has transpired today may hopefully bring people together
in a different light, finish it, but also think about the challenges that
are out there that has transpired when it comes to the integrity of our
election. Let's solve that. So, the frustration that we watched today does
not continue into the next election, let's not be silent about it. Let's
solve it.

MACCALLUM: Senator Tim Scott had an Election Integrity Commission that he
wants to begin. And I think that work will be done in the future and
absolutely needs to happen given all of the disgruntlement over the
election.

One last question before I let you go. And I have Senator Rand Paul coming
up next. I just want to let everyone know, but we're told that by our
reporter at the Pentagon that it has been Vice President Pence who has been
dealing with the Pentagon on the questions of the National Guard and
deploying them to help around the Capitol. Why is it Vice President Pence
rather than the president who has been handling that?

MCCARTHY: Well, I know the vice president has been in constant contact with
us and also along with the security inside the Capitol. I communicated with
the vice president early on in regard to getting the National Guard there.
He said, I'll call right now.

I had conversations with the president staff as well about calling in. I
know the president when I talked to him about getting out to the American
public to make a statement, but also to make sure the security of the
Capitol is intact. I know it was his concern to make that happen too, but I
know the vice president jumped from the very beginning to make it happen.

MACCALLUM: Interesting. OK, thank you., Minority Leader McCarthy. Very good
to have you. I'm glad you're OK. It's been a horrible day for everyone on
the Hill. And we do hope that you all can get back to the business that you
started today to show that continuity of government, I think it would be a
very important symbol to everybody who's watching this from the outside.
Thank you, sir. Good to see you tonight.

MCCARTHY: Thank you.

MACCALLUM: So, joining me now by phone is Republican Senator Rand Paul of
Kentucky, who says that he does not think there is going to be another
objection tonight. Senator Paul, thank you for being here.

First of all, it's been quite a day, a horrible day for the country to
watch all of this. Your big picture thoughts about what we've witnessed at
the Capitol today.

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): It wasn't a good day for our country, people here
are rattled, brought back bad memories of being shot at the ballpark two
years ago when we had congressional baseball practice. Fortunately, it
didn't end that way. But someone did die tonight. Having a mob break into
the Capitol is a terrible thing. And I just don't understand it, exactly
what's going on. But with the question at hand, conservatives should know
that the Electoral College is something we support because it supports
states' rights to run the elections.

When there's a problem, it's going to have to be fixed at the states. The
fix isn't up here for people to be led to believe that the Electoral
College can be changed after the vote and the people can come in Washington
and have Congress overturn the election is an absurdity. It's really a
mistake for people to believe that. It's never happened before. It was
never intended to happen. And if it did, it would be overturning everything
that we cherish about states' rights, that these powers are something that
are left to the states and the people and they don't belong to the federal
government.

But can you imagine what would happen to this country if every four years
we have Congress overturning an election? It would be chaos. And that's
what we saw today, chaos and anarchy. And we have to stop it. People need
to know this is not the way you try to preserve your country or make your
country better. I have a lot of the same complaint. I want the elections to
be better, but I'll spend the next two years lobbying state legislatures to
try to fix the election law, so this doesn't happen again.

But this isn't constructive. And it started out with a bad premise and by
some people who I think are confused in the Senate and the House who think,
oh, Congress is allowed to overturn elections, that was never appropriate.
It's not a conservative tradition. And it was a big mistake to do this.

MACCALLUM: I think there's two elements to what you're talking about. And,
when you do look at the constitutional issues that arose in places like
Pennsylvania, where you have a legislature that was overruled by the
Supreme Court in Pennsylvania, that is a real constitutional issue. I don't
understand why the Supreme Court didn't take that up. It is a clear
question about how the Constitution should dominate in that issue. So,
there are real issues that people have been fired up about, and I think
rightfully so.

On the other hand, you're also saying that people should never have thought
that this could be overturned once each state because the states have the
power to certify their own electoral college. But they were told that by
President Trump and they were told that Vice President Pence was going to
defend him in that and do something different than what he ended up saying
he was going to do, which was to allow these states to have their peace.
What do you say to the president about all of that transpiring before this
happened?

PAUL: The message I have really is for everyone. The Electoral College is
the friend of those who believe in states' rights and it destroys the
Electoral College to think that Congress would overturn them. The state
certifies the elections. Not one state sent other electors. Not one state
disputed the election. Now, you're right. I disagree with changing the
electoral laws, having secretary of states in Pennsylvania changed the
laws.

But what happened is in there and also in Michigan is the law was actually
silent on whether or not you could solicit votes, whether or not secretary
of state could send out solicitations, applications, and ballots. And so,
what the courts ruled was, well, the law doesn't say you can't do it. So,
you must be allowed to do it.

Disagree with the ruling. But the way we fix this is next year in
Pennsylvania, we control the Pennsylvania state legislature. We should pass
a law that says you're not allowed to - the taxpayer dollars aren't allowed
to be used to solicit votes and that absentee voters have to - votes have
to be counted according to the law and that secretaries of state can't
change the law passed by the legislature.

But we don't do it by destroying the Electoral College. If we destroy the
Electoral College, all the calls now are going to be from the Left to get
rid of the Electoral College. Conservatives will never win again in this
country, so we shouldn't be trashing the very institution that has been the
way we win the presidency. And the only way we've been winning the
presidency recently is through the Electoral College.

MACCALLUM: That's absolutely true. With regard to your party, on the whole,
the Republican Party, we heard from Mitch McConnell today. He talked about
a shared commitment to truth and ground rules. He said he was worried about
a death spiral for democracy. And this is before any of this happened.

He said that he had respect for people's decisions and would defend our
system of government for the future. Now, that put him in stark opposition
to Ted Cruz and to Senator Hawley, who wanted to use the process to contest
these states, which they have a right to do. But where does this leave the
Republican Party when you've got this very deep cleave over how all of this
has been handled?

PAUL: Well, there's a certain degree of disingenuousness from those who are
objecting. They're saying, oh, we will want to overturn the election. We
just want to protest. Well, hey, baby, I've been protesting since the very
beginning with the most - with the best of them. I'm all for protest.
Protest is a rally where you protest, and you speak your mind. But protest
isn't trying to overturn the Electoral College. The vote we will take and
we're going to take it in about an hour. And I think the vote has been
condensed to one vote. I don't think they'll appeal all of the states, I
think the events of the day have chastened them somewhat.

But they aren't protesting. They are voting to overturn the election. And
as much as I don't like the outcome, as much as I think the states could
have done a better job and we should fix the election laws in the states, I
can't vote to overturn the election. But they keep telling us, oh, we're
not voting to overturn the election. We're voting to protest the election.
That's not what the vote is. They're characterizing the vote as a protest,
but it's not a protest. The vote is not to seat these electors.

The result is Donald Trump would win the presidency. That's what they're
asking us to do. It's an extraordinarily radical idea that would overturn
everything we've ever done in this country with regard to the Electoral
College. And I can't believe people have been thinking, oh, yes, this will
just be normal. And I think that this heightened tension that everything
has been stolen just has led to this feeling that nobody believes there's
any integrity anymore.

And so, they're just going to riot. And the thing is, is that we can fix
this problem, it's not a problem that can't be fixed, we fix it by going to
all the state legislatures and that's what I'm going to spend the next year
doing, going to every state legislature, and trying to pass election reform
law so they can't do this again. But rioting and anarchy is not the answer.

MACCALLUM: So, you think even though Republicans will not have a majority
in the Senate, that these things, these vote fixes can be pushed through
Republican state legislatures and will make a difference by the time the
2022 elections roll around?

PAUL: It's the only thing, it's the only constructive thing being offered
is what I am offering. Fix it at the state level. At the federal level. We
don't control the House, we don't control the Senate, and we won't control
the presidency. But the other thing is, is as a conservative and someone
who believes that elections should be done at the state level, it's what we
believe in. We don't believe in a federal fix to this. So, what happens is
people jump to the easy solution. They say, oh, there's this problem. We
got ripped off in the election, so Congress should fix it.

But the problem is it's against our philosophy to say, Congress fix it. Our
philosophy says, it should remain with the state and really state capitals
should be important place to state reps, state senators should be
incredibly important. I will lobby mine. I've already started lobbying my
state reps and state senators to say, we need to pass election law reforms
in Kentucky, but it's not the business of Washington to do it and then
setting up this false expectation that will overturn the Electoral College
and everybody is going to be happy with that. No, it would have led to
chaos and war coming from the other side had the election been overturned.

MACCALLUM: Senator Rand Paul, thank you. Good to have you here tonight on a
very rough day for the country. Good to speak with you, sir.

PAUL: Thanks, Martha.

MACCALLUM: So, my next guest organized a March to Save America rally in
D.C., which took place earlier today at the beginning of all of this. Kylie
Jane Kremer is executive director of Women for America First. Kylie, thank
you very much for being here today.

Tell me what your experience was today and what you think about all of what
happened. Kylie, are you hearing me?

KYLIE JANE KREMER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WOMEN FOR AMERICA FIRST: Can you
hear me, Martha?

MACCALLUM: There we go. Hi, Kylie. I don't know if you heard my question.
Thank you for being here. My question is you were one of the organizers of
the rally. Everything sort of started out on a very positive note. I want
to know what you think about what happened today in the end.

KREMER: Thank you so much for having me, Martha. And yes, absolutely. The
day started out, tremendous. We had a huge crowd, hundreds of thousands of
people showing up at the Ellipse where the president came and spoke to, We
the People. Unfortunately, the day that was so great this morning has been
overshadowed by what took place at the Capitol this afternoon.

And a few bad actors have completely spoiled it, not just for the people
that were there and the president and all the other dignified people that
were on our stage. But also, I mean, for the millions of Americans that are
at home. And unfortunately, I think that the intolerance from the Left and
Democrats of advocating that violence is OK with BLM and ANTIFA has helped
contribute to get us here to the situation today.

MACCALLUM: When you look at, it's very interesting because we've seen this
argument and this discussion on the other side, as you point out as well,
we've seen people with ANTIFA and more prominently, I guess, with Black
Lives Matter who say, look, I'm here because I'm upset about police
brutality. I don't want to be any part of any violence.

And today you're seeing that this is being sort of lumped together. We all
watched this morning; we saw people waving their flags. There's nothing
wrong with the gathering that happened on the Ellipse. But this will make
it very difficult for the causes that you support, because these people -
because these people are criminals, they're rioters and they broke into the
United States Capitol.

KREMER: Absolutely. And we do not tolerate any sort of violence. We've held
two successful events prior to today here in D.C. where we did not have
this issue. And again, there was no issue at the event, at the Ellipse this
morning. It was when people marched to the Capitol and they decided to take
things into a different direction than we had been advocating for that
millions of other conservative Americans have been advocating for. And I
just really want to implore that those few bad apples, although today was
completely horrific, should not overshadow what we have been working
towards as a movement that we want election integrity.

It is so unfortunate. And just as Senator Paul talked about, the baseball
shooting, of course, that brings up terrible memories. But conservatives as
a whole have not been the ones that have been advocating for violence. And
I think that not feeling heard making that their ballots that were legal
ballots that were cast, that were disenfranchised by illegal ballots that
were cast is certainly causing a situation that people feel very angry and
they feel that we are moving in a direction that we no longer have free and
fair elections.

MACCALLUM: I hear that a lot. And I understand that feeling when you look
at what has happened. But did you - today when you came to Washington, did
you believe that the election might be overturned by the vice president in
the Senate chamber?

KREMER: I thought that there's certainly a possibility for the American
people to see the evidence on the floor when each state was brought up and
that we could really see firsthand from the senators and House members
mouths exactly what evidence that the mainstream media has helped cover up
the 200,000 plus ballots more in Pennsylvania, the trucks that were brought
from New York to Pennsylvania that have never been investigated.

I mean, there are a lot of different things that we've been hearing about.
We want to see the direct evidence. And I thought that we would have the
opportunity for that. I understand that they're still working towards
meeting again this evening and starting to vote again.

MACCALLUM: Yes. In fact, there's Senator Josh Hawley. What we're seeing
right now are the senators leaving their hunkered down positions and the
Capitol has been deemed safe. And I believe this is probably the beginning
of the process of going back over to do this joint session and to get
things back underway, which I think would be probably a good way to end the
day to get everybody back where they should be and to mend the capital and
begin the process of putting things back together. Kylie, thank you very
much. Good to have you here tonight.

KREMER: Thank you so much for having me.

MACCALLUM: So, moments ago, Senator Joe Manchin of West Virginia saying of
President Trump on Twitter, 12 hours is not sufficient. He is a danger to
our democracy and should be banned from Twitter for the next 14 days. That
would be heading all the way into the inauguration. Trey Gowdy, former
House Oversight Committee Chairman, and Jonathan Turley, Constitutional
Attorney, both are Fox News contributors. Join me now. Good to have both of
you with us, gentlemen.

Trey Gowdy, let me go to you first. As you watch these senators leaving
their positions where they have spent much of the last several hours
hunkered down, what's going through your mind as you look at today?

TREY GOWDY, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR: Just what a terrible day it is for
America. I never, never thought I would see Americans scaling the wall to
attack the people's House, the Capitol. So, if you're thinking about moving
to a narco state or a banana republic and you wonder what it's like today
was a good idea of what it would be like. That is not America. That is not
this idea of America. We're a nation of laws. We're not a nation of people
who attack law enforcement officers trying to accomplish a goal that was
never going to be accomplished in the first place, Martha, this was always
a fool's errand.

So, why people are surprised that Mike Pence did exactly what the
constitution calls him to do. I'm surprised that they're surprised.

MACCALLUM: Let me stay with you for just a moment, Trey. I spoke with
Minority Leader McCarthy at the top of the hour, and I asked him about the
fact that our reporting at the Pentagon is that the vice president has been
overseeing the security effort here to coordinating with the National Guard
and all of that. And Leader McCarthy confirmed that, yes, he had been in
touch with him and he seemed to be the person who was overseeing that. What
do you read into that, if anything, tonight?

GOWDY: Well, I don't read anything into it because, I mean, the way I
understood Kevin was that because Pence was there on Capitol grounds, he
shared his concerns with the vice president and whether or not the vice
president talked to President Trump or not, I don't know. I didn't read a
lot into Kevin's response.

MACCALLUM: And what did you think about the president's tweets today and
the video that he made at the White House?

GOWDY: Tepid at best. I watched his entire speech this morning. There are
38 allegations. he has factual legal allegations related to election
integrity, not a single one of which is going to be solved by scaling the
walls of the Capitol. You got to go to the courtroom or go to the state
legislatures. None of what he was complaining about this morning is going
to be solved by the rioting and assaulting the Capitol.

MACCALLUM: It's a great point. Jonathan Turley, your thoughts as an
observer of history and a lawyer who - an attorney who writes a lot about
politics. What did you think about today?

JONATHAN TURLEY, CONSTITUTIONAL ATTORNEY: It was a devastating day. I have
a great deal of attachment to the House floor because I first entered it as
a young 14-year-old page. And it's a beautiful room and it represents
something that people have gone to war to protect. And so that's why I'm
not sure this is an insurrection, but it certainly is a desecration. That
is what these people were doing really bordered on a desecration of the
most sacred moment of our constitutional system.

And the terrible thing is that we just had two of the most redeeming
moments. When Vice President Pence defied President Trump and said I'm
going to stand with the Constitution, not convenient, it was an amazing
moment to behold. For all of us. It reminded us that we are all in this
together.

And then when Senator Mitch McConnell stood up and called on his colleague
to stand down, this is a man known for brass knuckle politics, telling his
colleagues to put politics aside, it was perhaps his greatest speech of his
career. And that was a high point for us as a nation.

And then this, this happened. And it's chilling for all of us, because it
shows a crisis of faith. You know, that's what the Constitution is, its a
leap of faith that we take together. The people that scale the walls had
broke into those bodies, they have lost their faith. And the question is
how much of America is now faithless? And that's a serious problem.

And in order to trigger that any one person or any one party, it's a
problem for all of us to deal with because the Constitution is valueless if
people don't believe in it. And there is clearly a crisis of faith.

MARTHA MACCALLUM, FOX NEWS ANCHOR (on camera):  I am told that Vice
President Pence is back in the Senate. So, I think this is an encouraging
sign. I think that it's a positive way, Trey, to end this day. I think it's
going to be reassuring to people to see that the building has been secured.
And that the rioters have been vanished from the building. And that this
process is going to get back underway.

Your thoughts on that and on the fact that it sounds like they are going to
do a truncated version of the objections tonight.

TREY GOWDY, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR:  Yes, I agree with you, Martha, the law
wins. We're a nation of laws, and kudos to the senators and the House
members for getting back to business and not letting this insurrection stop
them. It was always going to be a fool's errand. Whoever believes that Mike
Pence was going to declare Donald Trump the president or that Josh Hawley
or anyone else was going to work some magic, it was always a fool's errand.

I don't want elections with mistakes, whether they are fraudulent,
negligent, I want good elections. The place to fix that is state
legislatures or the courtroom. You go to court. I heard 38 allegations this
morning, Martha, from President Trump. Thirty-eight, all of which can and
should have been litigated in court. Not by scaling the walls of Congress,
and not by attacking the people's house, which is what, which is what
happened.

MACCALLUM:  Jonathan Turley, before I let both of you go, what's the impact
on the Trump presidency of today as you look at it?

TURLEY:  I think this has truly left any legacy that existed in tatters.
The president was incredibly reckless today. His rhetoric has been the
subject of criticism for four years, but today was a particularly low
point. There was a presidential moment, but it was a vice presidential
moment. It was the moment that Pence had when he sent that letter and defy
President Trump.

I don't think that there has ever been a lower moment for the presidency of
the United States. And that's going to take a long time to repair for the
office. I don't think that we will ever be able to repair for President
Trump.

MACCALLUM:  Thank you both very much for being here tonight. I just want to
put that image backup on the screen of what we are watching right now. We
just lost to the live shot, I'm told, but police are pushing people back as
the vice president is being brought back into the chamber. It's a stunning
scene that we are witnessing on Capitol Hill tonight, as we have watched
just an unbelievable event that has unfolded on Capitol Hill.

Trey Gowdy, thank you. Jonathan Turley, thank you. It's dark, but you can
see a little bit of what's going on there. Everybody at home, they are
continuing to push people back away from the capital to secure it for the
re-entrance of the Vice President Mike Pence to preside over the
certification of the Electoral College for the states and the country for
the presidential election of 2020.

So if you are just joining us, and if you perhaps missed what happened
today, here are just some of the shocking scenes when people broke into the
windows and pushed back the capitol police up the staircases and plowed
their way in to protest and riot inside the United States Capitol building.
It was just an absolutely astonishing site that we saw today.

And you know, we talked to Kylie Kremer before, she was at the early rally
this morning and, you know, had her own reasons for being there and wanting
to protest the election. But what we saw was something wholly different
from any of those motivations.

So, moments ago, those are the mahogany boxes that contained the sealed
certificates of the electoral votes making their way back to the capital
through the Senate tunnels. And we were told earlier that some of the aides
made sure that they protected those boxes and got them out of the way as
those walls were breached and the doors were broken to the United States
Senate chamber.

Congressional correspondent Chad Pergram has been reporting live throughout
the day on Capitol Hill. Chad, I know that you have seen a lot in your
years on Capitol Hill, but today was something that none of us will ever
forget.

CHAD PERGRAM, FOX NEWS CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT:  This is one that will
go down in infamy without question. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicated
that, quote, "today was a shameful assault made on democracy. It was
anointed at the highest level of government." She said however, this cannot
deter us from our responsibility to validate the election of Joe Biden.

And that's what we are going to have a little bit later today. Senators
were off in another part of the capitol here where they have been
sheltering in place for several hours being escorted back to the Senate
chamber here where they will pick back up, at some point, we're told, maybe
sometime after 8 o'clock tonight in both the House and Senate, they have to
make sure that the capital is secure.

The fact that they were bringing the senators back and Mike Pence, the vice
president was coming back is significant. Keep in mind, this is where they
were. They were in the middle of the debate of the -- on the Arizona slates
of electoral ballots. So, what happens in both the House and Senate, they
come back individually into session in the House and the Senate, and at
some point, you have to have a vote on this so that they can do it one of
three ways.

They can have a good old-fashioned roll call vote, they can do this by
unanimous consent, or they could actually have a voice vote where everybody
yells yea or nay and the loudest side wins. That's the fastest way. But
then they have to come back to the joint session in the House chamber, this
is where Mike Pence, the Vice President presides under the 12th Amendment
to the Constitution.

And I'm told that the House and Senate chambers are just littered with
debris and trash and glass is broken and windows. You know, I was asked
earlier today, people are saying, you know, why did the capital police
officers and some of the chamber security people have firearms have their
arms drawn.

Well, they were concerned about what was going on outside the chamber, they
were trying to keep people outside, but you mention what is in those
mahogany boxes. Those are the actual pieces of parchment, the actual
electoral votes themselves, and if something were to happen in them, we are
in a constitutional crisis on top of the mayhem that has happened today,
because you don't actually have the pieces of paper.

Now granted, things are sent to the archivist of the United States and the
secretary of states, so they have multiple copies, but that is critical as
you point out to try to protect those electoral ballots here which are
actually being adjudicated under the 12th Amendment and the Electoral Count
Act of 1887.

Now it might take a while for the House and Senate to get back into session
tonight. Now Nancy Pelosi, I'm going to read to you from her statement
today, she said, quote, "we always knew that it would be our responsibility
to take us into the night. It might be a long night ahead, but we are
hopeful for a shorter agenda," she said, "but our purpose will be
accomplished."

And Rand Paul, the Republican senator from Kentucky says I don't think
there is going to be another objection tonight, I think it's over. Martha?

MACCALLUM:  Yes. We spoke with him earlier on the program, and he
reiterated that. Chat, thank you so much. Great coverage today --

PERGRAM:  Thank you.

MACCALLUM:  -- on a day that as we all say is going to be burned into all
of our memories for a long time.

Joining me now, Marc Thiessen, American Enterprise Institute scholar and
Fox News contributor. Marc, very good to have you with us today.

MARC THIESSEN, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR:  Good to be with you, Martha.

MACCALLUM:  Your thoughts on everything from the White House to the capitol
--

THIESSEN:  Yes.

MACCALLUM:  -- and how all of this played out.

THIESSEN:  So today was one of the darkest days in the history of Capitol
Hill, but also, it's going to be considered one of the greatest. And here's
why. First of all the darkest, the President of the United States invited a
crowd to Washington incited them with lies about the election of being
stolen, he -- and then he sent them and named members of Congress as being
weak and complicit in the steal, and then sent them to walk down
Pennsylvania Avenue to the capital where they stormed the capitol, attacked
both chambers of Congress, and a woman was killed.

And Donald Trump is responsible for what happened today. But at the same
time, we are also seeing the resilience of our democracy. We saw Vice
President Mike Pence in his role as president of the Senate push back and
choose the Constitution over as president.

We saw Mitch McConnell deliver an impassioned speech talking about how he
would not allow our democracy to going to decline by overturning the
election, and now we are seeing, we just saw the images of the senators and
members of Congress going back after the capitol has been cleared to do
their constitutional duties.

So, this is a dark day. And the images of what had happened, but it is also
a great day because it shows the resilience of our democracy, because
Congress has not been deterred from doing its job and meeting its
constitutional responsibilities despite the rioters and the president who
sent them.

MACCALLUM:  What do you say to the people who are big supporters of the
president and who believe that the courts let them down and believe that
the law changes that happened before the election, because a lot of this
was legally changed, and ended up being detrimental to Republicans cause in
the election, what do you say to them tonight?

The frustration that they feel separate from these people who breached the
walls, the frustration that they feel them wanting to sort of, you know,
throw over the apple cart and get a system that they think is more fair,
what would you say to them this evening?

THIESSEN:  Well first of all, if you think back to the race riots we had
this summer when people were, you know, they burn down, they tried to burn
down St. John's Church in Lafayette Park and actually burned down a
building in Lafayette Park, they burned down businesses, they killed
business owners, and individuals, a lot more death and destruction caused
by that, and the Democrats were appalled when Republicans pointed out that
pointed to the violence. And they said most of them are peaceful supporter.

Well the same is true for Trump supporters. Most of them are peaceful
protesters. There were a lot of people there today, it wasn't a few
hundred, it wasn't dozens, it was thousands of people causing mayhem, but
most of the people out in the country people who go to Trump rallies are
peaceful protesters that support the president.

And the fact is they have been lied to by the President in the United
States. He has telling them lies. They believe that their democracy has
been stolen so they are angry and upset.

And here's the problem. You know, on one hand the Congress as an
institution has to stood up and do its job, but another institution has
failed us, which is the media. Because whose job is it to debunk the lies?
It's the media's job to debunk the lies. But the problem is from Trump
supporters' perspective, these are the same people who spread for two years
the Russia collusion conspiracy theory that Donald Trump had colluded with
Vladimir Putin to steal the election.

They push the Steele dossier. They attacked the president nonstop and
distorted his record. Wouldn't give him credit for the things he did right,
attack him and distorted the things they felt he did wrong, and so there is
no trust. They don't trust the media, and so we've lost the only arbiter of
truth that we have which is the independent free press.

And so, as a result, the truth lies in tatters and we can't even agree with
what the truth is. And in a sense, if you feel the election was stolen from
you, despite the fact that there is no evidence that it was stolen, that
feeling is enough, because the president says it and the media isn't
credible enough to rebut it.

MACCALLUM:  Marc, thank you. Always good to have you with us especially on
a night like this.

THIESSEN:  Thank you, Martha.

MACCALLUM:  Marc Thiessen joining us. So, my next guest says that she is
outraged over the, quote, "insincere fake D.C. patriots who showed up
today."

Former Alaska governor and former GOP vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin
joins me now. Governor Palin, good to have you with us tonight. What do you
mean by that when you call these people fake patriots?

FMR. GOV. SARAH PALIN (R-AK):  Because anybody who would storm the capitol
and create this at least the perception of condoned violence is not a true
patriot. It's not one who is supporting law and order, which is a
foundation that conservatives stand upon.

So, you know, what Marc was just saying, though, Martha, is so spot on
about how dangerous it is in our time, in society, to not be able to trust
the media. And I've been saying this for years and years, when we can't
trust on either side, really, what the information is being fed to us, then
yes, things like this will be a result, because there are a lot -- there is
so much frustration out there that some misguided -- very, very wrongheaded
yahoos are out there causing this mayhem, and we don't -- and a lot of it
is the media's fault.

But Martha, keep in mind, we don't know who all were the instigators in
this of these horrible things that happened today. I think a lot of it is
the antifa folks. I've been sent pictures of the same characters who were
captured on images today storming the capitol as had been protests on the
other side of politics earlier in the summer.

So, I don't know, there is a lot of questions out there, and I wish we
could trust the media to do its job to go research and report who all these
people are.

MACCALLUM:  Yes. One of the things that I'm looking for is whether or not
we see arrests for the individuals who broke into the capitol today. Their
images are very clear. You can see their faces, they are smiling. It ought
to be fairly easy to identify these people.

Just as we called for that over the course of the summer when we saw
business owners who were beaten, whose businesses were set on fire, we
called for arrests as well. I think too often these things happen and we
don't have that follow-through to make it perfectly clear to people that
the line between protesting and illegal destructive behavior which is not
allowed in this country.

You know, I think there is a lot of when people look at you and they
remember, you know, sort of the tea party, they remember the beginnings of
the movement that sort of questioned whether or not the government had
become too big. Whether it had infringed on your life too much.

I saw a lot of people in the crowd today with don't tread on me flags and,
you know, some of the symbols that we saw become so prominent during the
tea party. What do you think about the motivations for all that movement
and where it has gone at this point in our history?

PALIN:  The motivation for the movement that ushered in the Trump
presidency, really, --

MACCALLUM:  Yes.

PALIN:  -- because we saw so passionately changed in the typical political
arena that, you know, we have been used to and was not serving Americans
well, the motivation is right. The motivation is simple. You know, remember
the tea party, even the acronym t-e-a was taxed enough already. It started
from that. Some real basic principles that just go to, you know, the heart
of who America, what America really is, and that is independence, freedom,
liberty, one nation united under God.

Just trying to get government back on our side and get it off our back. And
stand firm again, politicians, bureaucrats, on that foundation of which we
were created. So, the motivation is right. There has been a lot of weak
knees, though, in the movement itself, because a lot of people fear what
the media can do to you. And the media can clobber you. The media can
destroy your reputation, your record. They can destroy your family if you
are not strong enough to be able to handle what the media can do.

So, a lot of people have backed off, and kind of pointing fingers expecting
somebody else to get out of there and do it for them. The passion is still
there though --

MACCALLUM:  Yes.

PALIN:  -- within patriots to have smaller, smarter governments, to allow
our charters of liberty to be adhered to again. The motivation is right.
It's just a matter of not having a lot of leadership in the movement.

MACCALLUM:  Well let me ask you about that, before I let you go, Governor.
You know, the future of the party today you see a divide between President
Trump and Vice President Pence, which we never thought we would see. And
you see the divide between, you know, the Ted Cruz's who want to not
certify the election, and Tom Cotton on the other side who a lot of people
look to as potentially a future leader. What is the future of the
Republican Party given the divide that exists right now?

PALIN:  Well, right now the Republican Party, the machinery is a mess.
President Trump tried to win over too many anti-Trumpers whom he hired. And
that was a source of frustration for him and I don't blame him at all. I
mean, you live and learn in politics in your years of service. You realize
you can't win over those who are adamant into being disloyal to you.

You need loyalists around you, but that is kind of water under the bridge
at this point, because yes, too many anti-Trumpers, never-Trumpers got in
there and created their own sorts of mayhem. I've always said though,
obsessive partisanship when you get all involved in the inside baseball
power plays in the Democrat or Republican Party is going to get you in
trouble, because you start losing sight of what the planks and the platform
really are.

And in the Republicans case, they are the right planks and the right
platform for this country. But you get all wrapped up in those power plays
within the party, and, yes, that causes the division. We may be looking at
a time for a third party that is strong, free, adamant, and has learned
enough lessons by being a part of Democrat or Republican machinery. And we
didn't like it, because it doesn't work. It's not fair to Americans. And
perhaps it's time that there is another kind of healthy and sane and
peaceful uprising via a third party.

MACCALLUM:  Interesting. Sarah Palin, thank you very much. Good to have you
with us tonight.

PALIN:  Thank you.

MACCALLUM:  So, we can confirm now that Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
will speak in about 15 minutes or so on what happened today when the Senate
returns to session expected about 11 minutes from now.

Joining me now is Katie Pavlich, Townhall.com news editor and Fox News
contributor. Katie, great to have you with us tonight. Thank you for being
here.

KATIE PAVLICH, FOX NEWS CONTRIBUTOR:  Good to see you.

MACCALLUM:  It has been a long day. And as you have reflected on what
happened today, this extraordinary violence that we saw at the United
States Capitol, a woman lost her life in the middle of it, your thoughts
tonight?

PAVLICH:  Yes, Martha, looking back on the events of today I think it's
very important to point out that we can't look at this in a vacuum and we
can't just look it as a culmination of events today. I think the country
has been on edge for a very, very long time. Both sides have very serious
problems with the other when it comes to policy issues and fairness.

I think Marc Thiessen was spot on when he talked about the lack of trust in
institutions. What we saw today was a complete breakdown in the electoral
process and people having faith in their electors to carry out the process.
There is no excuse for what happened today. And even if you went into today
believing that the objectors in the Senate and the House had any kind of
ability to overturn the election, there is no reason -- there is no excuse
for what happened even if that was your belief.

And so, moving forward, I think in terms of understanding how this played
out, you know, I think that the people who are most disappointed are the
people who are at the ellipse earlier who did not engage in the violence at
the capitol. The people who have spent a long time defending the president,
his policies, who believed in his America-first agenda, believed that he
brought so much good to this country both domestically and on the foreign
policy front, and to watch his presidency ending like this is just
horrific.

And to see the fallout between Vice President Mike Pence who has been so
loyal to the president, and to hear that he is the one who has been in
charge of the National Guard, and to have Vice President Joe Biden who is
now the president-elect and within a matter of hours that will be set in
stone to come out with a formal statement about what happened before the
president did is a lack of leadership.

And I think it's really an unfortunate end to what he has been able to
bring to the country over the last four years and all of his
accomplishments.

MACCALLUM:  Katie, thank you. Good to have you here tonight.

PAVLICH:  Thanks.

MACCALLUM:  So, we are now more than an hour into the mandatory curfew in
Washington, D.C. The National Guard, approximately 1,800 troops are
deployed around the capitol perimeter to prevent any more violence of what
we saw this afternoon.

Senior correspondent Mike Tobin is out on the grounds tonight. Good
evening, Mike.

MIKE TOBIN, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT:  Yes, Martha. What we are looking at
really seems to be the tail end of this effort to clear out the capitol
grounds. You can see some of the metro police that are behind me right now
with their riot gear. As you look past them, it's hard to see right now,
but some of them national guardsmen are back there supplementing the ranks.
It looks that they are in a rest position right now with their shields on
the ground.

But what we saw starting a little more than an hour, it's actually more
than two hours ago is they started all the way up at the capitol building
there to the northwest side, and with a very deliberate force started
pushing those crowd, the crowds off of those grounds. They cleared the
entire line when they did that.

And as they pushed, they weren't gentle about it. They were knocking guys
down, they had the truncheons at the ready, and there was a lot of pushing
and shoving and scuffling going back and forth as they did that. But they
moved everybody out here. We have seen them do it. We're now to the west of
the capitol on Pennsylvania Avenue. And we saw at times they changed up
their tactics.

At one point they enveloped the remaining protesters, spooked them a bit,
and then created an opening where they could walk out and the protesters
who were here still took their -- or their -- that advantage -- took
advantage of that opportunity and got out of here, instead of getting
arrested for violating the curfew.

So, as we continue to take a look around, you've got more metro police over
there. And just really a handful of protesters to the west of them who
remain. So, there is effort to clear the capitol grounds was rather
efficient. As we are looking at it now, Martha, it appears to have been
rather effective.

One thing I would note is how similar this has been to so many other
demonstrations that given -- disregard the fact that it was at the U.S.
Capitol, but how similar the tactics of the demonstrators came to the Black
Lives Matter demonstrators and people say in Ferguson, that they still
resent.

They did the same things, these bike racks that are used to curb, control
the crowds. They took these and use those as barricades against the
advancing law enforcement officers. They heckled the law enforcement
officers. Berating them throughout this process, really villainizing. A lot
of these people are the ones who say that they support law and order.

So, it was a really dramatic and sad scene that we've seen out here. But it
appears as far as the large number of people who have been out here to the
west side of the capitol, that is drawn to a close, Martha.

MACCALLUM:  Yes. It's been a very tough year for members of law enforcement
across this country. And today was just another example of the enormous
pressure on them. And we thank them for what they do. Mike, thank you very
much.

So, I'm getting word from Chad Pergram who is watching the situation as
it's going to unfold tonight. He says that the House and Senate recess in
the middle of the debate on Arizona. So, they're going to come back
separately as House and Senate they'll resume that debate which is part of
finishing the result on Arizona.

And then they will take a vote on Arizona, and then ostensibly they will
proceed through all of the states approving them leading to the final
announcement by the vice president of the vote totals of the Electoral
College for the former Vice President Joe Biden, and for President Trump.
And then the vice president will announce the candidate with the most
votes, quote, "shall be president."

That from Chad this evening as the lights are back on, they were never off.
But it's good to see them on tonight at the United States Capitol building.
And we'll watch as they finish that process this evening.

Joining us now, Brian Kilmeade, co-host of Fox & Friends who has just
spoken to White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany who was on the job
today. Sort of speaking for the president and talking about what was going
on at the White House during all of this.

Brian, great to see you tonight. Your thoughts on this historic difficult
day for America?

BRIAN KILMEADE, FOX NEWS HOST:  Absolutely. I have a lot of thoughts. But
first, just to move the story forward and to pick up on what Katie was
saying, she said she was disappointed that Joe Biden made the remarks live
before the president. Kayleigh told me the president was been recording his
remarks be wow Joe Biden, and right before Joe Biden even took to the
stand, and asked the president to speak out.

Number two, as well, he is horrified obviously by the chaos on the capitol,
those are my words. But that's how she characterized it. He did note too,
that it's amazing that Joe Biden suddenly about law and order, they've in
law and order all along. Where was he for the year as he said he's burned
to the ground and alluded people died and lost their lives, David Dorn is
an example of that.

Also, she brought up the fact that other people have said that, another
source of the White House on the relationship between the vice president
and president, essentially they do not know if they have spoken, but what
disappointed the president is that in the written remarks from the vice
president before saying he have to approve the Electoral College.

But the vice president didn't list any of the fraudulent problems that took
place in this election according to the president and many in the Trump
team that the president was protesting spoke about, and has written about,
and has tweeted about, and actually mentioned to me two weeks ago at the
army-navy game that there was no mention of that and that disappointed the
president.

So those two of the things just moving the story forward. About how I feel
about the whole thing? I just thought the tone, the attitude of defiance
played out in the capitol. The lack of security stunned me. I do not know
Trump supporters that have ever demonstrated violence that I know of in a
big situation.

The violence that I have seen taken place is whether it was after the RNC
is confrontation while there was a demonstration. That's why I personally
was relieved to find out that the mayor of D.C., who suddenly became the
law and order mayor was going to put out the National Guard first. Where
was that National Guard?

Now that group that took over the capitol, I don't think I'll ever see that
in my lifetime again. You know, back to 1814, the last time we saw the
capitol breached like that. I think this is a culmination. This is a
culmination of four years of them denying the president won the election,
claiming that Russians flip votes, this is four years of investigation, and
there was four years now of a very frustrated electorate, 75 million that
voted. They feel that they haven't had their day in court, let alone lost
in court.

And that's what happened. My thought is overall, Martha, that they say in
rehab, and I know so many people have gone through it. Things have to hit
rock bottom before you get better. We have hit rock bottom. I hope. And now
may be people say, enough of the rhetoric, and trying to score points, and
now it's time to dial it back, Republicans and Democrats, and do this thing
called cooperation, make deals, and get something done.

MACCALLUM:  Just a minute left, Brian, what do you think about the future
of the Republican Party? We have talked about it a lot, but you know, you
see this division and even, you know, between the president and the vice
president as you pointed out some of the reasons for that today.

KILMEADE:  I will take a word that Bret have been using, dismount. The
president has had a horrible, in my view, dismount from November 3rd. And
how he leaves will decide, how he comes back and how much momentum he has.
When you leave Senator Lee on the sideline, Senator Lindsey Graham on the
sideline, Senator Tom Cotton on the sideline and put them on the bad list
and now you have your vice president there, that is a problem.

And I think these people that have been there from day one, you don't want
to alienate them. The president has got a couple of weeks to bring them
back together and decide if he wants to lead. For the Republicans, they
pretty much agree on almost every policy issue, it's a personality issue
that divide it. The president is still the leader. The last two weeks will
decide how long that will last.

MACCALLUM:  Brian, thank you very much. Good to see you here tonight. We'll
watch you obviously on Fox & Friends in the morning. Thank you very much.

KILMEADE:  Thank you, Martha.

MACCALLUM:  What a day. So that is THE STORY of Wednesday, January the 6th,
2021. So much has changed since we woke up this morning. And as always, THE
STORY continues. So, we will see you back here tomorrow night at 7 p.m.
Take care, everybody. Watch throughout the evening as this vote gets back
underway and they secure the perimeter of the capitol. Good night.


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