request to take back the senate. as of today, they have accomplished that. this with the backdrop of the president's address, across the white house and we will see whether congress comes back tonight. i am bill hemmer live in atlanta, and bret baier with "special report." we will see you tomorrow. >> we will go back into recess. >> to get down under your chairs if necessary so we have folks entering the rotunda and coming down this way. >> security at the united states capitol has failed. [chanting: usa] >> bret: good evening i am bret baier appeared today on

capitol hill many thought they would not see. a mob breaching security makes it on the house and senate floors and into lawmakers offices. after a rally "stop this deal" where president trump spoke. you are looking at live pictures of chaos following what is the most significant reach against american government institution in more than 200 years. hundreds of protesters storming the people's house this afternoon following an emotional rally headlined by president trump to never concede or give up following his defeat in the november elections. vice president mike pence presiding over the joint session before the barrage telling congress he would not be short-circuiting the certification process of the electoral college as president trump wanted him to do. the president criticizing the vice president after mike pence to reject electoral votes for biden and essentially overturning the election. the d.c. national guard mobilizing after request from

the washington, d.c., mayor. the district right now started just now under curfew preparations are underway for more trouble overnight. members of congress to shelter in place today used what are called escape hoods as capitol police fire at a gas at people, teargas inside the capitol dome who entered the building. teargas wafting through the holes there. at least one person was shot today. lawmakers who were considering that challenge for the electoral college certification literally scrambling for their safety at the guidance of capitol police in the midst of all this chaos. president trump taking to twitter, calling for supporters to remain peaceful and support law enforcement. president-elect biden spoke to reporters on camera calling the actions "insurrection" and calling president trump to go on national television to demand embassies. a short time later, the president released a recorded

statement asking his people to go home "mps" but that statement continuing to rail against the election outcome. >> i know your pain. i know you're hurt. we had an election that was stolen from us, but you have to go home now. we have to have peace. go home. we love you. you are very special. i know how you feel. but go home and go home in peace. >> bret: today's extraordinary events, as both democrat takes both senate seats with a 50/50 split and president-elect kamala harris to be the tie-breaking vote achieving effective control of the majority. as of january 20, controlling the house, senate and the white house. rich edson in the thick of the action all afternoon and joins us live on capitol hill. rich, what is the latest? good evening. >> good evening, bret, the

metropolitan police department in washington, d.c., and the capitol hill police department have cleared the bulk of the mob and demonstrators. so there is really not all that much going on on the actual capitol. so we will take over this way. this is where largely pushed to, but earlier today, thousands of protesters to this point and beyond who came to the capitol building as she reported, many who breach the capitol building. and that we have a police line right here. here is the remainder of it. within the last 15-20 minutes there were hundreds if not a few thousand people remaining on the lawn of the capitol. those police officer swept down and move very quickly to finally move people up. there was teargas, flash bangs, much of what we had seen throughout the day trying to push folks back from the capitol. but finally, this is the point in the evening where this has all dispersed. we know thousands of people

slowly leaving after a while, they finally began to disperse and fully leave this area. we are seeing a lot of them dispersed throughout the city. many have left, but there are those who are within washington, d.c. so we are trying to figure out what's going on there. it was a real full day in washington, d.c., that culminated in violence at the capitol. take a listen. >> okay, bret, guess we don't have that but we do have reporting that there was a shooting inside the capitol building. we are hearing from the police that that woman has died as a result of the shooting. we do not know the circumstances surrounding the shooting, but we do have from some of the video posted online know who was involved when people breach the capitol building and went inside the capitol complex. we have police officers throughout the day and in riot gear rushing to the scene trying to reinforce here. so would appear is for the most

part that the scene that we have been seeing over the last hours here, much, much more quiet now as dispersed throughout the city, bret. >> bret: rich, security doubled quickly. you saw a step up in the past hour or so? >> oh, absolutely. i would have to say within the last couple of hours. you began to see the metropolitan police department from a book police department in washington, d.c. remember multiple, milk multiple police departments, capitol hill police are in charge of the complex, d.c. police, the city itself, d.c. police trimming upe in vain, in vehicles, running up the hill in riot gear. so you saw a massive police response from other parts around the city to try to reinforce the capitol hill police department. >> bret: rich edson, live on the hill, let's get the latest on what's happening on the hill. chad pergram has status report

from the capitol. good evening, ciao to. >> good evening, bret. where we stand right now, secure and something the police have been working on making sure no lauder's going through the building. they have been telling that to lawmakers. there was an announcement that went over the loudspeaker at the capitol telling people on the capitol grounds that if you were still out, you were going to be arrested because at this curfew. you have to get out of here and you have to leave the capitol grounds. it is often said that american history plays out under the capitol dome. we certainly saw that today, january 6th, 2021 ignominious day for democracy on an important constitutional day. the certification of electoral college. this was the worst encouragement of institution of american government since the british burned the capitol august 24, 1814 after the battle of bladensburg not far from suburban maryland. we are told that the house and senate may well meet tonight.

they want to show that mob rule will not stand and democracy will prevail. we don't know if it will be a truncated process when they come back into session and whether lawmakers impose certifying electoral votes will vote down from the challenges. the house and senate don't have to meet in the capitol going to finish the process. they don't have to meet at all but we will see. make no mistake, bret this was epic security failure at the capitol which is etched into the history of this building. in the old house chamber, statuary hall, cleo, she looks down on lawmakers recording events in congress on capitol hill. we have yet another black entry to date in cleo's book, bret. >> bret: okay, chad always with a history on capitol hill. amazing images throughout the day and the show. we will show you the still images with guns drawn on the house floor. others as lawmakers tried to escape with the guidance of

capitol police. damages throughout the day have just been stunning and throughout the show will be bringing them to you live. senior correspondent mike tobin is on the ground with the protesters. good evening, mike, what can you tell us? >> i can tell you, bret, quite frankly the same reporting from rich edson but i can show you a different angle. we are towards the center of the capitol and the line of metropolitan police making certain no one gets on this lawn on the west side. behind them, you can see a lot of people what those are are more police officers. they came and secured this lawn, if you would. we saw a lot of them stand on with their riot shields. so they are back close to the p of the west side of the capitol commit is a rather calm situation or a standoff particular where the police and still on first street, still have a lot of people milling around waiting to see what is happening next. this side of the capital after

the east side of the capitol has largely drawn down. people have gone home. the whole time we have been here we have seen people leaving more and more. they were leaving before the president made his announcement telling people to go home. and then around 4:00 or little after 4:00 we started to smell the teargas. and on that side of the building, some damage that we could see particularly at the top of the steps on the southeast entrance of the capital and the southeast side of the capitol, we saw broken windows and saw what looked like bullet scars on the window. we came over to decide. that is where we saw a lot of people, the flash bangs, the teargas being deployed. i guess it would be about 45 minutes ago, we sold that large forest with the metropolitan police, ready to clear out the side of the capital. with very deliberate force. they were knocking guys over. and there were scraps on the

ground as the police moved rather rapidly. they got here through the peace memorial. just holding the line preventing people from getting back onto the capitol grounds, bret. >> bret: mike tobin, thank you. you see the image on the screen with guns drawn on the house floor, one of the stunning images and ducking down taking cover. we heard from the house minority leader, minority leader, kevin mccarthy. look at these images at the house door talking about on the radio how he heard shots fired appear the drum is hard to overstate. what started all of this today, president trump obviously stirring up supporters, but during this noon time rally, devolved once it got to capitol hill. that is where it happened. let's go to chief white house correspondent john roberts, seen a lot in his fears. >> i've seen a lot of things around the world but not as many

as we have seen here. this was a day that was weeks in the making as president trump closed up a constant stream of criticisms and accusations, complaints about november 3rd election, really escalating the passions and the anger of his most about supporters. it all came to a head today when thousands of supporters came to washington to back president trump's final try for a second term. >> it was a massive crowd but this ended on washington to support president trump in his campaign to overturn the results of the november election. the president making clear what he was expecting from the vice president who is presiding over the electoral college certification. >> mike pence, i hope you stand up for the code of our constitution and for the good of our country. and if you are not to come i will be very disappointed in you. i will tell you right now. i'm not hearing good stories. >> president trump repeatedly insisting mike pence have the

authority to unilaterally accept or reject slates of electors that had been certified by states and sent to congress. in a remarkable break with the president, sending a letter to lawmakers in part "it is my considered judgment to support and defend the constitution constrains me from unilateral authority to determine which electoral vote should be counted and which should not." trump supporter's march 2 capitol hill and laid siege to the capitol building, president trump through four years of unswerving loyalty to the vice president under the bus tweeting "mike pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and constitution, giving states a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not their fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certified. usa demands the truth. president trump has labeled republicans who will not support the challenge to the electors as "the surrender caucus."

senator majority leader said to not certify would be the loose thread to begin unraveling democracy. >> this election was overturned by mere allegations from the losing side. her democracy would enter a dust barrel. we would never see the whole nation except an election, again, every four years a scramble for power. >> a relate that was a march to the capitol, a long list of grievances regarding november 3rd election and today adding regardless of what the democratic determines the certification of electors, he will never accept defeat. >> we will never give up and we will never concede. it doesn't happen. >> our country has had enough. we will not take it anymore.

>> a couple of tweets and a video of the president put out on twitter to de-escalate the situation at the capitol building. the president just tweeted again a few minutes ago. and the president saying, today's event, these are the things, events that were happening, landslide victory so unceremoniously and viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been so badly and unfairly treated for so long, bret. >> bret: okay, john roberts live on the north lawn, john, thanks. we invited the president to come onto the show. we would love to talk to him. let's bring in a wyoming representative republican liz cheney who joins us on the phone. the house g.o.p. conference chair. congresswoman, thanks for being here. where are you now? >> we are secure, and i don't want to say specifically where we are but we are secure and look forward on a bipartisan basis to returning to the chamber and continuing the

complete constitutional obligation of electoral votes. >> bret: tell me about your experience today. first, play-by-play if you would but then what you think about it. >> well, look, what is important is to just recognize we just had a violent mob assault the u.s. capitol in an attempt to prevent those from carrying out our constitutional duty. there is no question that the president formed the mob. the president's side of mob, the president addressed the mob. this is what america is not. there has just been absolute intolerable and unacceptable. the mob will not prevail. we all know this is our constitution. it is a note that you carry out the mob rule, it is an oath under god. and we will carry it out.

it will happen today. it can never happen in the united states, and the president needs to take responsibility for it. >> bret: congresswoman, the president did put out a video urging the protesters to go home and to be peaceful. but as john mentioned, the tweet he just sent out "these are the things that happen when sacred landslide victory is so unceremoniously and viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly and unfairly treated for so long. go home with love and peace. remember this day forever." your thoughts about that tweet and the message the president is sending. >> look, the president is abusing the trust of the american people and abusing the trust of the people. who supported him. and 245 years, we've never had a president refused to concede and leave office after they

electoral college has voted appear the electoral college voted december 14th. our job in the capitol is to count the votes. we will count the votes, but there are serious questions about the president's involvement and responsibility for what happen here tonight, here today at the capitol. and it cannot be tolerated. >> bret: congresswoman, do you expect to get back at it tonight as far as action on the house floor? >> i do. i think there is agreement that we must do that. that we will do that appear that we won't be detoured and we take our constitutional path and that will be bipartisan. i look forward to doing that. i think it is important for us to send a message to the nation in the world that america is not moved by mob violence. we have a tremendous history as a peaceful transfer of power. something that we take for granted but ronald reagan said

it was miraculous. what we have seen today demonstrates how fragile it is. and the obligation and experience of everybody in authority to step up and make sure that we are abiding by our oath and make sure that this insurrection is not allowed to proceed. in that we are not going to be moved by this. i want to say that you have law enforcement, capitol police officers that were injured. it is just absolutely unacceptable. and the president's response so far has been completely intolerable. >> bret: congresswoman liz cheney, thank you so much, stay safe and looking live d.c. national guard. some 1800, 1100 rather arriving to the area. they have been mobilized. they are supplementing the police force there. the metropolitan police in d.c.

and the capitol of police. you can see them with their riot gear on as they create a surrounding of the capitol, we are told appear that may take a couple of hours as night has fallen in d.c. you can see the capitol dome in the background quite a distance away. now the job of clearing the capitol inside to make sure there are no other people in there before they can go through, sort through, make sure it is safe. the presumption, we believe, the electoral college certification efforts today. let's bring in matt schlapp chairman of the american conservative union amy walter for the political report, byron york chief political respondent of the "washington examiner" and fox news senior political analyst brit hume. >> you have seen a lot in washington but we have not seen anything like this. but what about the president's reaction and what does this day really mean? >> brit: i don't think there is much doubt, bret the

president's actions and his entire conduct postelection or what led us to this point. he -- if you were a trump believer and you believe the extravagant claims he has made about how this election was stolen, you believe therefore that something true, truly horrible happened that chase was the face of republic. it is utter nonsense but he believed it and he got them to believe it. and believing that they did what they did today. i sense, there is a change in the republican result of this. it has split him off from about half or may be more of his voting base, which is to say this: his floating face has two elements the hard-core trump supporter's to do whatever he wants, believes whatever he says, will never desert him no matter what. the rest of them are everyday republicans who signed on to trump because they like what he was doing. they may not have liked what he said all the time and put off by

his manner, his vulgarity and the rest of it, but they were with him and voted for him. i think those people now and almost certainly have deserted him. and the election, he would lose by far more than a loss last time. i don't think they will be around for any effort by trump to be elected again for years from now. >> bret: matt schlapp you are a believer of the selection was stolen. you have fought for the president. the things that happen on the capitol today, the mob that got in. i called the mob. we saw protesters earlier but that is not accurate for the folks who went inside and did damage inside the capitol. those are extremists. is it fair to say that? and despite the fact there is a large portion of that trump ground out there showing up to be peaceful. the people who stormed the capitol were extremists and dangerous. speed to you know, it was pretty

harsh on the black lives matter protesters when they encroached the white house perimeter. i was there and actually went to the crowd one night. i was right there when they set fire to st. john's church, the president's church. it was pretty critical at that but i consider a violent attack on cops. i feel the same way today. i feel like this is way over the line. those cops are someone sons and someone's daughters, someone's grandkids appear that out to be treated with respect. we need to have a vigorous first amendment that allows for massive amounts of freedom of political speech. that is what rallies are for appear this is well beyond the rally by the people, who i think some section of these people that intended may be all along prepared for it. i think we should condemn it. i think it is a terrible dark day for our country. i'm just still in a little bit of shock. >> bret: what about the president did today and how he has handled it, matt?

what would you say about all of that? >> matt: look at them i've spent five years with everyone trying to say what the president should say or shouldn't say. all i can tell you my view of what happened today does not represent the trump reporters that i have gotten to know, love, thousands and millions of them who i spent a lot of time with the last four years in intensely over the course of the last six months. i think the president was right to tell people to be peaceful, to keep the protest peaceful into stop. anything that wasn't peaceful. he ought to do what he always does, keep talking to this because i think there is a lot of americans out there rattled by what they saw. i understand 16-year-old young woman who was shot. maybe she was doing terrible things and deserve to be shot. but when people breached these lines and they go after cops, we are the part of that talks about law and order and respecting cops. we should not be taking them on in challenging them. i worked in the capitol and i worked at the white house.

these are secret places. i want people to be able to aggressively disagree with politicians from the other party. there's got to be the roles of the roads and boundaries. these people crossed it today. >> bret: that woman we reported has died from the country on capitol hill. byron come i want to read the statement and release part from george w. bush "laura and i are watching the scenes unfolding at the nation's government in belief and dismay. it is sickening and heartbreaking site. this is how disputes are dissolved into banana cream public. i'm appalled by the behavior of political leaders for institutions and traditions and the law enforcement. the violent assault on the capitol and the constitutional mandated meeting with congress was undertaken by people whose passions have been inflamed by falsehoods and false hopes. insurrection could do great

damage to our nation and reputation and the united states of america is the fundamental responsibility of every patriotic citizen to support the rule of law appeared to those who are disappointed in the results of the election from our country is more important than the politics at the moment. let the officials elected by the people fulfill their duties and represent our voices in peace and safety. may god continue to bless the united states of america." a statement by former president george w. bush. byron, your thoughts. >> bryon: hard who disagree with anything the former president said there. a really stunning and terrible day. it is amazing to think the first and second in line in the presidential line of succession. the vice president and the speaker of the house together in the same room where the mob is trying to break into the capitol. it is really quite stunning. and there is an irony here in the sense that over the last several months, lot of downtown

washington where businesses were boarded up. a number of trump supporter's would say to each other, you know, they are not afraid of violence by trump supporters. they are afraid of the left in case donald trump is reelected. they are afraid of antifa and the left and now look what has happened. as far as the president's most passionate supporters are concerned, there is no doubt he has whipped them up about this. he has whipped them up long past when his lead auctions were exhausted appear to think that was on december 14th when the supreme court declined to hear the texas case and the electoral college voted so there is no doubt that they were in washington appear at the crowd was in washington because the president wanted them to be there to protest the electoral college certification and congress. now, this has happened and it will be with the president when he is a former president and long beyond. >> bret: joining us now dan

crenshaw from texas former navy seal, congressman, thank you for joining us. your thoughts on this day, this moment and how we got here. >> it is atrocious. we are watching our fellow american stormed the capital. and what disturbs me most about seeing this, the american flags being carried in it. as if this was some patriotic duty. i recall hearing in patriotic flag on my shoulder as i store my enemy and the enemies of our nation. that is what the flag is for. to defend this country against our enemies. the people on the scaffold are not your enemy, right? this is our fellow americans. this is not what you do and call yourself a patriot. there is nothing to be proud of year, this is not okay. that should be condemned in the fullest extent. and i'm just saddened. i think more than anything, disappointed by what i have seen. it is unacceptable.

>> bret: congressman, what do you say to the people who point to the rally that happened today? what was said at the rally? and say that it was igniting what had already been stirred up but really, really stirring it up to produce what happened? there are all kinds of things online for people in the capitol were not part of the trump rally in all of that. we are going to find out who those people are eventually. but they clearly were part of this rally and they moved to the capitol together. your thoughts about that and whether that rally and the president himself stirred up this and kind of led to this? >> yeah, so many hyped up this day of the day of reckoning of this big win that would happen. so many people said this would be the last stand, the last bite, the last effort to win the republic. of 1776. when you use that language, you

should not be surprised people believe it. a lot of people thought this was a gang. and after that, all performing for politics. but to others who were misled and deliberately angered, this is real. and it became very real. it is not okay. you know, i want to say something else here. this is exactly what we can expect every four years if we were to deem this process constitutional. this process is not constitutional. the founders envisioned this. they knew that if you put the power within a single body, then that power, that body would receive all sorts of pressure to do what people wanted it to do. this is why we diffuse power to the state, choose electoral's and elect a president. this is exactly what we can expect every single time if we decide that this process is constitutional, this objection process, and we decide congress can simply overturn electors.

we are seeing it play out right before our very eyes. and many of us have said all along, this is why you can't do this. why you cannot accept this president and we did. we have to stop it. this is a deep constitutional process. i want to president trump to win, but i as a member of congress cannot overturn an election. this is not what this is fundamentally about. people are angry about election irregularities and the bad processes we see in many states and valid concerns. and must address them the right way. change because of the state level. there needs to be a year 2,000 florida awakening for each state. we clean it up and we give people certitude that their vote really counts. there is nothing more important than democracy but there could not be a worse way to solve it then what happened today day. >> bret: we have two weeks until inauguration. and it's going to be a long two weeks if you listen to the

president and what his message was. he did say let's be peaceful and support the law enforcement, go home. but he also said, essentially, continue the fight and this election is not over. let's continue to try to overturn it. what should he be saying tonight? >> i wanted everybody who is objecting, the president and everybody else front of the president storming the capitol to be there and say stop. but that is the only acceptable outcome. but you've got to man up and go down there and say enough is enough. this isn't okay. i wanted them to say that someone misled them. i think that is what happened here. and that message has to be far more forceful than it has been. >> bret: congressman dan crenshaw, thanks for the time and we will follow it if you get back on the house floor and continue your job. a lot of things are developing in the defense department walking this tight rope wanting to avoid law enforcement on the lawn capitol with soldiers in

uniform preferring to use, obviously, the national guard in a backup role. and for griffin at the pentagon right now following all of this. kind of a late development. a story about what vice president's role is in all of this, jennifer. >> bret come a lot of confusion about the d.c. national guard. remember, a request for the national guard has to come from the mayor's office so mayor muriel bowser requested some d.c. guards on monday. those were agreed to by the pentagon. the army secretary ryan mccarthy put in charge of the troops. there were 345 trips approved on monday. now we have learned a series of phone calls at about between 2:00 and 3:00 today, that is when vice president mike pence from the white house was on a series of short phone calls with the acting defense secretary chris miller, army secretary ryan mccarthy, and general mark milley, the joint

chiefs authorizing and allowing the pentagon to authorize the mobilization of 1100, the entire d.c. national guard. that is what we have learned happened. we also heard that president trump was not involved in that decision. that it was mike pence on those phone calls. remember, he just came back from the capitol being escorted out by the secret service when the mob broke into the capitol. so a little bit unusual because those technically, president trump would be in the chain of command and the white house is pushing back on that saying that the president authorized the troops. but i'm told it was mike pence, the vice president, who was on those goals with the pentagon to. >> bret: that is a big development. do we -- we will press the white house for answers on that about president trump's role. do they have a sense how long they will be deployed here or what this deployment looks like? >> it is an open-ended deployment at this point in time. what is significant and this is

true as of monday when the acting defensive secretary agreed to mobilize the national guard, and that was that these would be unarmed troops that would be used. they would not be wearing camo, black jackets. they would be used basically for traffic patrol and for helping with moving crowds, but they were not going to be used as law enforcement. that was at mayor bowser's request and the pentagon. that is the agreement for the 1100 troops being mobilized. we are told company to d.c. national guard gone out and going to meet's have him at the d.c. armory in d.c. >> bret: okay, again forcing curfew now, jennifer griffin live at the pentagon, jennifer, thank you. new information from house speaker nancy pelosi. let's get the latest what is happening on the hill and go back to chad pergram there, chad. >> the house speaker just put out a statement indicating that the house of representatives is going to come back into session later tonight once i get the

capitol fully secured. she tells members i look forward to seeing you later tonight. she says we know today would be a part of history in a positive way. but we are a part of history now. a shameful picture of our country was put out to the world instigated at the highest level. she also says in consultation with the leader in the pentagon, we should proceed tonight at the capitol once it is cleared for use. she called what happened to dear today when daughters came into the building a shameful assault on democracy. it was anointed at the highest level of government. and also this is something to watch in the coming hours if the house in the senate do come back into session later tonight to actually certify the electoral college. will those members who were willing to go to the map template for arizona and pennsylvania and so on, will they be willing to do that with the same level of vitriol?

one example of member starting to flip on this, cassie mcmorris rodgers the house chair of the conference, republican from washington state, she was for fighting and arguing about the certification of some of these electoral votes. she has now changed her position. so watch for that night as members might start to recalibrate their thinking, bret. >> bret: chad, do we have a timing when they will be cleared out and back on the floor? >> absolutely not. first of all, the house and senate chambers they have to make sure are okay. as i said before, they don't have to meet there necessarily. but you have members and staff shelter in place in undisclosed locations at the capitol complex. i mean, that is part of the problem. we are several hours away from this. again, if some of those members want to contest the electoral votes back off of original positions, this will take about 40 minutes. >> bret: yeah, that will take

a long time. they were only on arizona when this all happened. chad, thank you and we will head back with details. let's get more onto the streets of d.c., kevin corke out there tonight good evening, kevin. >> good evening, bret. i'm on the north side of the capitol which has been an active protesting throughout the afternoon. we arrived here a little bit after 1:30 this afternoon. it was very active and wrinkly had been that way right up until 6:00 p.m. eastern time. that is when the official d.c. curfew went into effect. i'm going to step off camera for a second and allow you to see behind me. we see a long line of law enforcement officials here. as you know, we are talking about multiagency approach to clearing out the crowd here post curfew metropolitan police, capitol police, national guard on the other side of the capitol. in the distance on my walk over here from the bureau, i noticed about a doesn't fire,

ambulances and law enforcement vehicles up and down this particular avenue, we are talking about constitution. i see the red and blue strobes in the distance. but for now, it is relatively quiet on the north side of the capitol in stark contrast to what we saw earlier today, bret. >> bret: okay, panel, thank you, kevin, thank you very much. i will bring back the panel amy walter, you have been listening to the interviews and developments. your thoughts. >> amy: pretty remarkable moment we are income up bret and the point -- what congress does now, you heard from the ranking members and congresswoman liz cheney saying that this was a terrible moment and instigated by the president of the united states. i think this vote needs to happen on the electoral college and should be finished with. other state should be agreed to pier the idea that we are going

to go through multiple ballots here and continue what is a farcical attempt to overturn an election. and i just want to read something that the senate majority leader said today earlier before the writers got intrioters got into the capitol. he said that he would come out against the electoral college going against the boats of the electoral college. he said "i will not pretend it will be a harmless protest gesture but relying on others to do the right thing. and little did he realize that harmless protest gesture truly turn into what we saw today with the united states capitol. this election. the president apparently will not concede but that does not mean that those around him cannot argue that this is over and that while the president may not do it to say to his

supporters and anyone else listening, the race is over. in 14 days there will be a new president. a peaceful transfer of power. it needs to happen now. this is not a joke. there is a woman who is dead. >> bret: 100%. i have a full screen from the prime minister from great britain, u.k. boris johnson. it says "disgraceful scenes in u.s. congress. the united states stands for democracy around the world, and it is now vital that there should be a peaceful and orderly transfer of power." that came from the u.k. boris johnson. there are a number of lawmakers waking in but do you think today's events change the dynamic for how this vote goes forward and anybody who was supporting the challenge or how it develops? >> brit: i must say, bret,

this was never going to succeed this challenge to the elect twirls. the votes were never even close to being there for that. but politically, some of these house members in particular and senate as well who are backing this and supporting it obviously are doing so because they felt the level of support for trump and they were base made it necessary for them to do so politically. this day and these events and the reaction to it may change that calculus. i suspect they will all go through the motions, but i bet a bunch of them are wishing that they were not supporting this. they are already committed to it, i guess but a lot of them probably regret it now and they regret it even more later. because this is an event that will turn off the american people in a big way. you saw leaders of the republican party. i can't think of one dimension who is really backing this. liz cheney, mitch mcconnell,

mike pence, in fact. the list goes on. something has changed in the republican party, in my judgment, make no mistake about it. >> bret: you mention mike pence. the statement he released before the proceedings started, literally at about 1:00 p.m. eastern time. he said "it is my considered judgment that to support and defend the constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine which electoral vote should be counted and which should not." and that made the president very angry. he sent out another tweet, matt. is it time 14 days from inauguration for the president to come out and do something on camera where he concedes? is that even possible with this president? >> let me get to when you started off the panel in the show, you talk about these

claims of voter irregularities. i would like us to take a minute on that. because that is what this is all about. i'm 53 years old. i spend my whole adult life and politics. when i was asked to go to las vegas to ascertain what happened in nevada, nobody really knew. it was a little bit of a black box. i was shocked, quite honestly i was shocked to find tens of thousands of votes that we could prove should not have legally been able to counsel and in the end 100,000 votes. all those exhibits were sent to the judges each step in the legal process. the judges have no desire to look at the evidence because they viewed it as a political question. >> bret: mapped from i just want to interrupt you. i got it and i hear you. >> matt: don't i have a right to talk about that because that's what this is all about. >> bret: but there are 60 court cases and you could not find one judge, trump judge from in a judge to get you a hearing

to the evidence that you are laying out? the president spent all this time talking about and we now have certification in all 50 states. now you are saying there is not one judge? >> matt: if i can just finish. in the state of michigan, it has been said several times that the president exhausted all of his legal steps. the state of michigan, excuse me, the state of georgia just gave a judge, designated judge yesterday here that case has not even gone to court. so people can dismiss it and say that is not a real thing. all i can tell you i've been briefed on what happen in georgia and the illegal votes cast that are in this account would be enough to switch the results. i know that to be the case in nevada. so i think this. i would like to see this country heal. it only heals if the vast 50% of the country that believes this illegal voting has been systemic and widespread has the chance to

run its full course. everyone in this process who tried to short circuit that including judges that won't even look at the evidence, they are causing us to be more divided up. now, this will all be over and we will have one president. >> bret: i hear you, matt, but listen. let me play a sound bite from today. >> matt: i am listening. >> bret: this is rudy giuliani and don jr., take a listen. >> let's have trial by combat. i'm willing to stake my reputation, the president is willing to stake his reputation on the fact that we are going to find criminality there. >> these guys better fight for trump, because if not, guess what, i will be in your backyard and a couple of months if you are going to be the zero and not the hero, we are coming for you. we will have a good time doing it. >> bret: you are talking about

unity. you are talking about coming together. you are talking about letting court cases go. that is not what they are talking about. >> matt: i said first you have to adjudicate the wrongdoing. remember, the type of wrongdoing i saw in nevada and just in georgia, these are felonies, bret. these are serious problems. widespread voting in more than one state. people who did not live in nevada voting. you can't do that in a democracy. usually, there is always some of this and it's minimal. what the democratic party and their allies have done very well is because of this universal mail-in ballot system, they were able to do some on a very widescale. in many states. >> bret: that is a fair point. state legislatures but the supreme court did not pick it up either. so brit hume come away in and i want to get an update from chad pergram but your thoughts on what he just talked about. >> brit: the question all

along is not with her this is a perfect election or whether there was significant irregularities. there were a lot of things prior to election day that were manifested unfair, and that i think are the main reasons that trump might have a claim to say that the election was unfair. but unfair and illegal and reversal are different matters entirely. i have read through a number of the opinions written by judges in this case. it is not true in those cases that i have read, at least, they didn't look at the evidence. they did. they have opinions and pretty strong against the evidence. so i understand matt has to agree with, and we have to do something about the kind of mail-in voting situation that we have where it's being done in states that never really tried it before and help the other side. that doesn't make the election stolen. it doesn't. trump was saying wild things

today including his claim, for example mike pence have the authority to reject electors, to reject certification. he does not! his job is purely ministerial. what he said come he couldn't do that. he was right, he can't do that with the constitution. so that is where we are. >> bret: that is where we are. what happened or they cannot happen. let's get the latest from correspondent chad program with a status report, chad. >> we are told in the past few minutes there is a goal and one senior source told me for the house and senate to come back around 8:00 but they were very skeptical that that would happen. they do intend at this stage to finish the certification of the electoral college. but the problem is bo chambers, house chamber, senate chamber are trashed. they are the escape all over the place. there are broken out glass. the roads are slippery and keep in mind during a pandemic. they cannot throw those protocols out the window. so they thought that goal of

8:00 was a little ambitious. but we do expect them to come back at some point tonight and try to finish but may be as early as 8:00, bret. >> bret: again, this is a process that will take time. we went to alabama, alaska, arizona. speed to keep in mind that the house and senate meeting separately. so even go through and contest arizona you have roll call because that is a live question and the house and senate and then to come back into session and the joint session and see whether or not they will continue with any of these other electoral challenges may be to pennsylvania or georgia or maybe republicans might pack it in. if they do pack it in after the roll call votes to certify arizona or not or do it by unanimous consent, that could make it pretty quick frankly. you come back into session and you can be wrapped up 30, 40 minutes. >> bret: chad, thank you

mike emanuel cheap correspondent, quite a day on the hill. what do you know? >> i've been talking to the key players challenging the certification of the election and trying to figure out what the next play is obviously pure they are upset about the 2028 election but they recognize optics problem here they have seen this unfolding on their tv sets as we have and talking about it. and they recognize a lot of people on their side are totally aggravated and some are starting to flip on them. so they are really looking ahead to try to figure out how much of a fight to put up as this goes forward presumably later tonight. but i'm told no final decisions have been made, but there are serious conversations underway how they will play it. because they recognize their bases still aggravated about the election, but the reaction today really hurt the cause going forward, bret. >> bret: do we know anything from capitol police about the people? for example, the woman who was

shot at the house, the door of the house chamber? do we know anything yet about specifics? >> so far we have not heard specifics and obviously an active scene. we are in lock down at the office building. basically told children play so they have a very active scene going on. i think they are still trying to assess who they have arrested, who they are dealing with on the front lines of this dispute tonight. but the bottom line we have not heard anything about the woman who lost her life earlier today. >> and is it gone from the capitol? >> it's is dissipating. it is bad earlier but definitely clearing out. and anticipate with cleaning and cleanup of the mess left behind. they may be able to get back in session in the next hour and a half or so >> any details for the panel, byron, the question a lot of people have is about security and about the capitol

police. why didn't they know this was a possibility and tons and tons of protest all the time. but a siege come a lot of people all at once can overwhelm security quickly. and we just don't have a sense of what the situation was. >> believe me, there will be a commission to investigate the events of this day. i feel absolutely certain to expand a little bit about what mike was reporting. this effort, republican effort to challenge electoral college votes of the events today and a lot of people in the house want to overturn the results. change the result of this election while a number of people in the senate said they were trying to study things. ted cruz and ten senators he's

gotten to go along on the challenge proposing a commission, a quickie commission of the election results and weren't really coming out in favor of actually overturning the results. but for both of them. this has absolutely blown up in their face, and pointed out, they just got to arizona. the idea of doing it with multiple states taking hours and hours and hours, that is probably completely out the window as of now. >> let's head to the white house, the north lawn, john. a couple of things, bret come with a tweet i read you earlier in the program deleted by the president along with the video that he tweeted out to diffuse the situation on capitol hill and why those two things were deleted although they did fall under criticism for being insensitive.

and a written tweet, it is possible he got a little bit of blow back. the other thing, who called out the national guard. "the new york times" reporting of his vice president pence, not the president who called out the guard appeared i was told a few minutes ago by chris miller, the acting defense secretary of staff that in fact, authorized the deployment of national guard. and driving for a couple of days about contingency plans for the march making sure that buildings in the federal building here in washington, d.c., as well as citizens were protected. mayor muriel bowser a couple of days ago as per 340 national guards and they were authorized and deployed but it wasn't until after the siege began at the capitol building that she put out the call for the national guard, the rest contingent to be brought in a pier was immediately authorized for the chief of staff mark meadows.

so potentially that goes to clearing that up. bret. >> bret: the national security advisor robert o'brien spoke with vice president pence and a decent man come encourage today as he did at the capitol on 9/11. i'm proud to start with him, backing up pence's moves today? >> i have to tell you today unswerving loyalty to the president of the past four years and even difficult circumstances it was a remarkable break between the vice president and the president. 16 more days in office, potentially looking beyond that. he did say his office did say that he would conduct the proceedings on the capital, at the capital with the fidelity to the law and the constitution. and maybe he just saw what the president was saying about what authority of the vice president did and didn't have as a bridge

too far. and the vice president said, look, i'm going to clear this up and send that letter to members of congress to say, i do not have the authority to act unilaterally here. despite what the president says, but that's basically what in effect it was. after this long of being in lockstep with the president to see that break today, really was quite extraordinary and something we have not seen before. >> bret: last thing here. there a lot of people who say that the president has a lot of supporters. after today, you have people who are always his critics saying that he is leading in insurrection. that the vice president should lead the 25th amendment and take it out the two weeks before the inauguration. is there any sense of a worry about today yet about his future because of today affecting this president and how he dismounts from his office? >> yeah, you know, and i think

we saw that with the vice president with what mitch mcconnell said as well. it is quite possible that president trump would find the white house a fairly lonely place to be politically for the next 16 days. >> bret: all right, thank you very much. finally tonight, we will take a look back at the sights and sounds of the historic day in washington. [crowd chanting "stop the steel"] [crowd chanting "usa." "] [sirens] >> without objection, the house is going to go back into recess.

[indistinguishable] >> go, go, go! >> security at the united states capital has failed. [crowd chanting "usa] >> sit down. >> they broke the glass? >> everybody get down! get down! >> take that house. take it now. take it down. >> bret: we are a strong country, resilient country, we can get through this, thank you for inviting us into your home

tonight, that is it for "special report," fair, balanced, and still unafraid. "the story" hosted by martha maccallum starts right now. we did not talk about the south carolina races and the turnover of the senate, this has been a historic day. >> martha: about that georgia race this evening, but this is an extraordinary time and we are witnessing truly extraordinary events. bret, thank you very much. we go back to these images. watch this video. watch this capitol hill police officer as he runs up the stairs followed by a column of people who are chasing him and backing him up the staircase as they marched towards the senate chambers. as law enforcement tries to keep it back. when he gets to the top of stairs he is joined by other police officers, because until that moment you are 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