0:00:00.000,0:00:03.832
Our Democratic law makers investigating[br]the first coup attempt this country

0:00:03.832,0:00:07.025
has ever seen, taking a butter knife to a [br]gun fight?

0:00:07.025,0:00:09.533
Or will they, as they're signaling[br]tonight,

0:00:09.533,0:00:11.178
truly get tough on those who stand

0:00:11.178,0:00:14.830
between them and the truth?[br]Also, did President Biden just wheel a

0:00:14.830,0:00:18.437
Howitzer into the battle?[br]John Berman here, in for Anderson,

0:00:18.437,0:00:20.400
A string of new developments to bring you

0:00:20.400,0:00:22.516
from both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.

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They all touch on this: Whether those who[br]tried to undermine democracy itself will

0:00:27.258,0:00:31.087
be held accountable. Because as one[br]political observer Tweeted today,

0:00:31.087,0:00:36.634
"An unpunished coup is a training[br]exercise." Those are the stakes as the

0:00:36.634,0:00:41.492
committee tries to enforce subpoenas[br]on four ex-Trump aids and allies. As of

0:00:41.492,0:00:45.620
tonight, only two, former White House[br]Chief-of-Staff Mark Meadows and former

0:00:45.620,0:00:50.001
Pentagon official Kash Patel, are even[br]engaging at all in the process after a

0:00:50.001,0:00:52.995
midnight deadline came for producing[br]documents came and went;

0:00:52.995,0:00:55.295
and that's the committee's word,[br]by the way.

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Engaging,[br]which could mean anything, and is a far

0:00:57.978,0:01:03.261
cry from cooperating. Dan Scavino, it's[br]not clear whether he has responded at all,

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or has even been served. However, he has[br]not even mentioned in the joint statement

0:01:07.847,0:01:12.223
from committee chair Benny Thompson and[br]vice chair Liz Cheney. As for Steve

0:01:12.223,0:01:16.797
Bannon, he's flat out defying the[br]committee. His lawyer, citing the former

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president's executive privilege, which is[br]a pretty braising claim to make given

0:01:21.209,0:01:25.559
that Bannon hasn't worked in the White[br]House since 2017. And for the record,

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January 6, 2021 wasn't in 2017. Bannon is[br]acting on the former president's orders.

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A Trump lawyer last night, telling all[br]four not to comply. As you know, the

0:01:38.223,0:01:42.484
former president has made is clear that[br]he no longer even sees January 6 as a

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thing, saying this week, the real[br]insurrection was on election day. And last

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night on Fox he made his contempt plain[br]for those who have tried and failed to

0:01:52.750,0:01:58.882
hold him accountable. "They had fake[br]impeachments, two fake impeachments, where

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the Republicans were great, I have to say,[br]they stuck with us. The whole thing was

0:02:03.390,0:02:08.767
fake, and I had to survive. And to survive[br]you had to be tough. And you had to be out

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there. You didn't have time to be[br]necessarily dainty and nice." 'Dainty and

0:02:14.873,0:02:19.652
nice,' or as it used to be called,[br]following the rules, obeying the law, that

0:02:19.652,0:02:23.990
sort of thing. Faced with that kind of[br]attitude, the Biden White House today

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broke a tradition, saying the president[br]would not invoke executive privilege over

0:02:28.678,0:02:33.030
Trump documents sought from the national[br]archives by the select committee. In other

0:02:33.030,0:02:37.673
words, Biden would allow the release. So[br]there is now a conflict, because we

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learned late today that the former[br]president has sent a letter to the

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archives asserting privilege and threating[br]to, quote "take all necessary and

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appropriate steps to protect the office of[br]the presidency." And President Biden?

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Listen to how his press secretary framed[br]it. "The administration takes the events

0:02:57.470,0:03:01.934
of January 6 incredibly seriously. As the[br]president said on its six month

0:03:01.934,0:03:07.310
anniversary, that day posed an existential[br]crisis and a test of whether our democracy

0:03:07.310,0:03:11.757
could survive." 'Whether our democracy[br]could survive.' That's really something to

0:03:11.757,0:03:15.784
hear from anyone, let alone someone[br]speaking for the president. It's also

0:03:15.784,0:03:18.000
where we are tonight.