This is a rush transcript from "Special Report" January 6, 2021. This copy may not be in its final form and may be updated.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The host is going to go back into recess.

Get down under your chairs if necessary, so we have folks entering the
rotunda and coming down this way.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Security here at the United States Capitol has failed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR (on camera): Good evening, I'm Bret Baier.

A day on Capitol Hill that many thought they'd never see. A mob, breeches
security, makes it onto the House and Senate floors and into lawmakers'
offices after a rally to "Stop this deal" where President Trump spoke.

You're looking at live pictures on Capitol Hill which really descended into
chaos a few hours ago, following what is the most significant breach
against an 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, who vowed to never concede
or give up following his defeat in the November election.

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.

President criticizing his vice president for that statement after Pence
refused to reject electoral votes for Biden and essentially overturn the
election.

The D.C. National Guard mobilizing after requests from the Washington D.C.
mayor. The district right now started just now, under a curfew and
preparations are underway for possibly more trouble overnight.

Members of Congress tell -- told to shelter in place today, use what are
called escape hoods as capital heats. Police fired gas at people, tear gas
inside the Capitol dome who had entered the building. Tear gas is still
we're told wafting through the halls there. At least one person was shot
today.

Lawmakers who were considering that challenge to the electoral college
certification were literally scrambling for their safety at the guidance of
Capitol Police in the midst of all this chaos.

President Trump taking the Twitter calling for his supporters to remain
peaceful and to support law enforcement.

President-Elect Biden spoke to reporters on camera calling the actions
insurrection and calling on President Trump to go on national television to
demand an end to the siege.

A short time later, the president released a recorded statement asking his
people to go home "In peace". But also, in that tape statement, continuing
to rail against the election outcome.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: 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. So, go home. We love you. You're very
special. I know how you feel. But go home and go home at peace.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER (on camera): Today's extraordinary events come as Democrats take both
Georgia Senate seats giving them a 50-50 split in the Senate and with Vice
President-Elect Kamala Harris set to be the tie breaking vote achieving
effective control of the majority. As of January 20th, controlling the
House, the Senate and the White House.

Correspondent Rich Edson has been in the thick of the action all afternoon
and this evening. He joins us now live up on Capitol Hill. Rich, what's the
latest? Good evening.

RICH EDSON, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Good evening, Bret.
And over the last 20 minutes or so, the police department's Metropolitan
Police Department here in Washington D.C. and the Capitol Hill Police
Department have cleared the bulk of the mob and demonstrators who have been
here.

So, there's really not all that much going on on the actual Capitol grounds
here. We'll take you over this way. This is the perimeter where everybody
has largely been pushed to.

But earlier today, you had thousands of protesters to this point and beyond
who came to the Capitol Building, as you reported many who breached the
Capitol Building. And now, we've got a police line right in here.

And this is the remainder of it and both -- within the last 15 to 20
minutes, there were hundreds if not a few thousand people remaining on the
lawn of the Capitol Hill.

And those police officers swept down and moved very quickly to finally move
people off. There was tear gas, there was flashbangs. 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 that has all dispersed.
We know that thousands of people who had slowly been leaving after a while,
they finally begin to disperse and fully leave this area.

And we are seeing that a lot of them have dispersed throughout the city,
many have left, but there are those who are within Washington D.C. So,
we're trying to figure out what's going in there. And it was a real full
day here in Washington D.C. that culminated in violence here at the
Capitol, take a listen.

OK, Bret, I guess we don't have that. But we do have reporting now that
there was a shooting inside the Capitol Building. We are hearing from the
police that that woman has died as a result of that shooting. We do not
know the circumstances surround that shooting, but we do from some of the
video that's been posted online, it was involved when people breached the
Capitol Building in inside the Capitol Complex.

We had police officers throughout the day, and riot gear rushing to the
scene trying to reinforce here. So, it appears for the most part that the
scene that we had been seeing over the last several hours here, it is much,
much more quiet now as people have dispersed throughout the city, Bret.

BAIER: You know, Rich, quickly, the presence though -- the security
presence really doubled quickly, didn't it? I mean, you saw a real step up
just in the past hour or so?

EDSON: Oh, absolutely. I'd have to say within the last couple of hours, you
began to see Metropolitan Police Department which is our police department
here in Washington D.C.

And remember, there are multiple multiple police departments, federal and
local police departments. Capitol Hill police are in charge of this
complex. D.C. police, they got the city itself. D.C. police started
streaming up here in vans, 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.

BAIER: Rich Edson live on the Hill. Rich, thanks.

Let's get the latest on what's happening on the Hill. Congressional
Correspondent Chad Pergram has status report from the Capitol. Good
evening, Chad.

CHAD PERGRAM, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (on camera):
Good evening, Bret. Well, where we stand right now is that the Capitol
itself appears to be secure. That's something that Capitol police have been
working on all afternoon, making sure there are no marauders so going
through the building, they've been telling that to lawmakers.

There was just an announcement that went out over the loudspeaker here at
the Capitol. Telling people on the Capitol grounds that if you are still
out, you're going to be arrested because of this curfew, you have to get
out of here. You have to leave the Capitol grounds.

Now, it is often said that American history plays out under the Capitol
dome and we certainly saw that today January 6th, 2021. An ignominious day
for democracy especially on an important constitutional day, the
certification of the electoral college.

And this was the worst incursion of an institution of American government
since the British burned the Capitol on August 24th, 1814 after the Battle
of Bladensburg not far from here in suburban Maryland.

Now, we're 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 who oppose certifying electoral votes will
back down from their challenges.

Now, the House and Senate they don't have to meet in the Capitol to finish
this process. They don't have to meet here at all, whatsoever. We'll see.

But make no mistake, Bret, this was an epic security failure at the
Capitol, which is now etched into the history of this building.

You know, in the Old House chamber Statuary Hall, there's a statue of Clio,
the Muse of History. She looks down on lawmakers recording events in
Congress and here on Capitol Hill. We have yet another black entry today in
Clio's book, Bret.

BAIER: OK, Chad, always with the history of there on Capitol Hill, some
amazing images throughout the day and throughout the show. We'll show you
these still images, some of them with guns drawn on the House floor, others
as lawmakers are trying to escape at the guidance of Capitol Police. The
images throughout the day have just been stunning. And throughout this
show, we'll be bringing them to you live.

Senior Correspondent Mike Tobin is actually on the ground with some of the
protesters. Good evening, Mike what can you tell us?

MIKE TOBIN, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Well, I can tell
you, Bret, frankly, a lot of the same information you heard reported from
Rich Edson, but I can show you a different angle. We're now towards the
center of the Capitol and you can see the line of Metropolitan Police who
are making certain that no one gets on this lawn on the west side.

Behind them, you can see a lot of people and what those are, are more
police officers. They came and they secured this lawn if you would. And we
saw a lot of them stand down with the riot shields. So, they are back there
very close to the Capitol.

Now on the west side of the Capitol, we can say it's a rather calm
situation or a standoff, particularly where you have the police. And you
still out here on First Street, still have a lot of people milling around,
waiting to see what's happening next.

Now, we came over to this side of the Capitol after the -- after the east
side of the Capitol had largely drawn down, people had gone home. From the
whole time we've been here, we've 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, a little after 4:00, that's when we started to smell
the tear gas. And on that side of the building, but for some damage that we
could see particularly at the top of the steps on the south east entrance
of the Capitol -- on the southeast side of the Capitol, I saw some broken
windows and saw what looked like bullet scars on one of the doors over
there.

We came over to this side and that's where we saw a lot of people, we saw
the flashbangs and the tear gas being deployed.

And I guess it would be about 45 minutes ago, we saw that large force with
the Metropolitan Police truncheons at the ready clear out this side of the
Capitol with very deliberate force. They had the truncheons at the ready.
They were knocking guys over. There were scraps on the ground as the police
moved rather rapidly. And they got here to the -- to the Peace Memorial and
they're just holding the line now preventing people from getting back onto
the Capitol grounds, Bret.

BAIER: By Mike Tobin, thank you. You can see this image on the screen with
the guns drawn on the House floor. I mean, just one of the stunning images
and lawmakers ducking down taking cover.

And we heard from the House Minority Leader -- Minority Leader earlier,
Kevin McCarthy, look at these images at that House door, talking about how
he heard on the radio shots fired.

The drama today is hard to overstate. Let's look at what started all of
this today. President Trump obviously stirring up supporters but during
this noon time rally, but it devolved once it got to Capitol Hill and
that's where it happened.

Let's go to Chief White House Correspondent John Roberts. Seen a lot in his
years in Washington, nothing like this, I'm sure. John, good evening.

JOHN ROBERTS, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (on camera):
I've seen a lot of things around the world, Bret but not many that compared
to what we've seen here. But this was a day that was really weeks in the
making as President Trump kept up a constant stream of criticisms and
accusations, complaints about the November 3rd election, really escalating
the passions and anger of his most devout supporters. It all came to a head
today, when thousands of those supporters came to Washington to back
President Trump's final try for a second term.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS (voice over): It was a massive crowd that descended 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 was presiding over the electoral college
certification.

TRUMP: Mike Pence, I hope you're going to stand up for the good of our
Constitution and for the good of our country. And if you're not, I'm going
to be very disappointed in you. I will tell you right now. I'm not hearing
good stories.

ROBERTS: President Trump repeatedly insisting that Mike Pence had 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, Pence sending a letter to
lawmakers saying in part: It is my considered judgment that my oath to
support and defend the Constitution constrains me from unilateral authority
to determine which electoral votes should be counted and which should not.

As Trump supporters marched to Capitol Hill and laid seeds to the Capitol
Building, President Trump through four years of unswerving loyalty from his
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 our
Constitution, giving states a chance to certify a corrected set of facts,
not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones, which they were asked to previously
certify. USA demands the truth.

President Trump has labeled Republicans who will not support the challenge
to the electors as "The surrender caucus".

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell saying: to not certify the electoral
college vote would be the loose thread to begin unraveling democracy.

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): This election were overturned by mere
allegations from the losing side are democracy would enter a death spiral.
We'd never see the whole nation except an election again. Every four years
would be a scramble for power.

ROBERTS: At a rally that preceded the march to the Capitol, President Trump
again reciting a long list of grievances regarding the November 3rd
election and today adding regardless of what the democratic process
determines with the certification of electors, he will never accept defeat.

TRUMP: We will never give up. We will never concede, it doesn't happen. You
don't concede when theft is involved. Our country has had enough. We will
not take it anymore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERTS (on camera): Couple of tweets at a video that the president put out
on Twitter to try to de-escalate the situation at the Capitol Building.

The president just tweeted again a few minutes ago, make it this what you
will, the president saying of today's events, "These are the things and
events that happen when a sacred landslide election victory is so
unceremoniously and viciously stripped away from great patriots who have
been so badly and unfairly treated for so long." Bret?

BAIER: OK. John Roberts, live on the North Lawn. John, thanks. We've
invited the president to come on to call on to the show. We'd love to talk
to him.

Let's bring in Wyoming representative Republican Liz Cheney, joins us now
on the phone. She's the House GOP Conference chair.

Congresswoman thanks for being here. Where are you now?

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY) (via telephone): Well, we're secure, Bret. I don't
want to say specifically where we are. But, we're secure, we look forward
on a bipartisan basis to returning to the chamber to continue and complete
our constitutional obligation of counting the electoral votes.

BAIER (voice over): Well, tell me about your experience today. First, you
know, the play-by-play, if you would, but then, what you think about it?

CHENEY: Well, I mean, look, I think what's the important is to just
recognize -- we just had a violent mob assault the U.S. Capitol in an
attempt to prevent us from carrying out our constitutional duty. And
there's no question that the president formed the mob, the president
invited the mob, the president addressed the mob, he lit the plane. And
this is -- this is what America is mock.

There's just been, you know, absolutely intolerable and unacceptable. And
the mob will not prevail. You know, we all have taken an oath to the
Constitution. It's an oath that we carry out, it doesn't bend, you know, to
mob rule, it doesn't bend the political threats.

It's an oath under God and we'll carry it out. And what happened today can
never happen again in the United States and the president needs to take
responsibility for it.

BAIER: Congresswoman, he did -- the president did put out a video urging
the protesters to go home and to be peaceful. But as John just mentioned,
the tweet he just sent out, "These are the things and events that happen
when a sacred landslide election 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, in peace. Remember this
day forever."

Your thoughts about that tweet and the message the president is sending?

CHENEY: Look, you know, the president is abusing the trust of the American
people. He's abusing the trust of the people who supported him. The -- you
know, that the -- we've never in our 245-year history had a president
refused to concede and leave office after the Electoral College had voted.
And the Electoral College voted on December 14th.

And our job here 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 happened here tonight, here today at the
Capitol, and it cannot be tolerated.

BAIER: Congressman, do you expect to get back at it tonight as far as
action on the House floor?

CHENEY: I do. I think that there's agreement that we must do that,
agreement that we will do that, that we won't be deterred in completing
this constitutional task. And that agreement is bipartisan.

So, I look forward doing that. I think it's really important for us to do
that. It's important for us to send a message to the nation and to the
world that America is not ruled by mob violence. We have, you know, this
tremendous history of the peaceful transfer of power. Something that we
take for granted, but Ronald Reagan said it was miraculous.

And I think what we've seen today demonstrates how fragile it is and the
obligation and the responsibility of everybody in the position of authority
to step up, to make sure that we're abiding by our oath, and to make sure
that this insurrection is not allowed to proceed, and that, you know, we're
not going to be ruled by the violence.

I also want to say, you've got scores of law enforcement -- the Capitol
police officers who were injured. It is just absolutely unacceptable. And
the president's response so far has been completely intolerable and
insufficient.

BAIER: Congresswoman Liz Cheney, thank you very much. Stay safe. We are
looking live at D.C. National Guard. Some 1,800 -- 1,100 rather arriving to
the area. They've been mobilized. They are supplementing the police force
there, both the Metropolitan police in D.C. and also the Capitol police.

You can see them with their riot gear on there as they create a surrounding
of the Capitol, we're told. And that may take another couple of hours as
night has fallen in D.C. You can see the Capitol dome in the background
quite a distance away.

And 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, and make
sure it is safe for the resumption, we believe, of the Electoral College
certification efforts today.

Let's bring in our panel, Matt Schlapp, chairman of the American
Conservative Union. Amy Walter, national editor for the Cook Political
Report. Byron York, chief political correspondent of the Washington
Examiner, and Fox News senior political analyst Brit Hume.

Brit, I want to start with you. You've seen a lot in Washington. We haven't
seen anything like this. What about the president's reaction and what this
day really means?

BRIT HUME, FOX NEWS CHANNEL SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST (voice over): Well, I
don't think there's much doubt, Bret, that the president's actions and his
entire conduct post the election are 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 truly horrible had happened that changes the face of our
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, Bret, that
there's a sea change now in the Republican Party as a result of this.

Trump's post-election conduct, I think, has split him off from about half,
maybe more than that of his voting base. Which is to say this, his voting
base has two elements. One, are the hardcore Trump supporters who will do
whatever he wants, believe whatever he says, will never desert him no
matter what.

The rest of them are everyday Republicans who sort of signed on to Trump
because they liked what he was doing. They may not have liked what he said
all the time, they may have been put off by his manner, by his vulgarity
and the rest of it, but they were with him, and they voted for him.

I think those people now and almost certainly have deserted him with -- and
if the election were held tonight, he'd lose by far more than he lost the
last time, and I don't think they'll be around for any effort by Trump to
be elected again four years from now.

BAIER: Matt Schlapp, you're a believer that this election was stolen. You
have fought for the president. The things that happened on the Capitol
today, the mob that got in. I call them the mob, we said protesters
earlier, but that's 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 that there is a lot large portion of that Trump crowd
out there that may have just been showing up to be peaceful, the people who
stormed the Capitol were extremists and dangerous.

MATT SCHLAPP, CHAIRMAN, AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE UNION: You know, I was pretty
harsh on the Black Lives Matter protesters. And when they encroached the
White House perimeter, I was there. I actually went into the crowd one
night and said, I was right there when they -- right before they set fire
to the Saint John's Church, which is the president's church. I was pretty
critical of that.

What I considered violent attacks on cops; I feel the same way today. I
feel like this is way over the line. You know that those cops are someone's
sons and someone's daughter, someone's grandkids, and that will be treated
with respect.

And we need to have a big vigorous First Amendment that allows for massive
amounts of freedom of political speech. And that's what rallies are for.
This was well beyond just a rally by these people who, I think, there is
some section of these people that intended this maybe all along.

They seemed very prepared for it and I think we should condemn it. I think
it was wrong, I think it's a terrible dark day for our country, and I'm
just still in a little bit of shock overall.

BAIER: Well, what about what the president did today and how he's handled
it, Matt? I mean, what would you say about all of that?

SCHLAPP: Look, I've spent five years with everyone trying to say what the
president should say or shouldn't say. All I can tell you is my view is
what happened today does not represent the Trump supporters who I've gotten
to know and love, the thousands and millions of them who I spent a lot of
time with over the course of the last four years, and really 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. To stop anything that wasn't peaceful. But I think you
ought to do what he always does. He ought to keep talking to this. Because
I think there's a lot of Americans out there who are rattled by what they
saw.

You know, I understand there's a 16-year-old young woman who was shot. Now,
you know, maybe she was doing terrible things and deserve to be shot. But
as we -- when people breach these lines, and they go after cops, you know,
where are the -- where are the party that talks about law and order and
respecting cops? We shouldn't be taking them on and challenging them.

And, you know, I worked in the Capitol and I worked at the White House. I
think these are very sacred places. I want people to be able to
aggressively disagree with politicians from the other party, but there's
got to be some rules of the road and some boundaries, and these people
crossed it today.

BAIER: That woman we reported has died from that gunshot up on Capitol
Hill.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right.

BAIER: Byron York, I want to -- I want to read this statement or at least
part of it from President George W. Bush. "Laura and I are watching the
scenes of mayhem unfolding at the seat of our nation's government in
disbelief and dismay. It is sickening and heartbreaking sight.

This is how election results are disputed in the banana republic, not our
democratic republic. I'm appalled by the reckless behavior of some
political leaders since the election and by the lack of respect shown today
for institutions, our traditions, and our law enforcement.

The violent assault on the Capitol and disruption of the constitutionally
mandated meeting of Congress was undertaken by people whose passions had
been inflamed by falsehoods and false hopes.

Insurrection could do grave damage to our nation and reputation. In the
United States of America, it is the fundamental responsibility of every
patriotic citizen to support the rule of law.

To those who are disappointed in the results of the election, our country
is more important than the politics of 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 president -- former President George W. Bush. Byron, your
thoughts.

BYRON YORK, FOX NEWS CHANNEL CONTRIBUTOR (voice over): Well, hard to
disagree with anything that the former president said there. A really
stunning and terrible day. It's amazing to think you had the first and the
second in line in the presidential line of succession, the vice president
and the Speaker of the House, together in the same room with a mob trying
to break in to the Capitol. It's really quite stunning.

And there is an irony here in the sense that, you know, over the last
several months, a lot of downtown Washington, the businesses were boarded
up. And a number of Trump reporter -- supporters would say to each other,
you know, they're not afraid of violence by Trump supporters, they're
afraid of the left in case Donald Trump is re-elected. They're afraid of
Antifa and the left. And now look at what has happened.

And as far as the president's most passionate supporters are concerned,
there's no doubt that he's whipped them up about this. And he has whipped
them up long past when his legal options were exhausted. And I think that
was on December 14th, when the Supreme Court declined to hear the Texas
case and the Electoral College voted.

So, there's no doubt that they were in Washington. The crowd is in
Washington because the president wanted them to be there to protest the
Electoral College certification in Congress.

And now this has happened, and it's going to be with the president when
he's -- when he's a former president and long beyond.

BAIER: Joining us now, Dan Crenshaw, Republican Congressman from Texas,
former Navy SEAL. Congressman, thanks for joining us. Your thoughts on this
day, this moment, and how we got here?

REP. DAN CRENSHAW (R-TX) (via telephone): It's atrocious. You know, we're
watching our fellow Americans storm the Capitol. And what disturbs me the
most about seeing some of it is these American flags being carried in as
this is some patriotic duty.

Well, I recall wearing an American flag on my shoulder as I stormed my
enemies and the enemies of our nation. That's what the flag is for. To
defend this country against our enemies.

The people in this Capitol are not your enemy, right? These are our fellow
Americans. This is not what you do and call yourself a patriot. There's
nothing to be proud of here. This is not OK. We should be condemned to the
-- to the fullest extent. And I'm just -- I'm just saddened, I think, more
than anything and disappointed by what I've seen. It's unacceptable.

BAIER: Congressman, what do you say to the people who point to the rally
that happened today and what was said at that rally, and say that it was
igniting what had already been stirred up, but it was really, really
steering it up to produce what happened.

There's all kinds of things online that the people who went into the
Capitol were not part of the Trump rally, all of that. We're 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.

CRENSHAW: Yes. So many hyped-up this day as this day of reckoning. As this
-- as this big win that would happen. So many told -- so many people said
this would be the last stand, the last fight, the last -- the last effort
to win back the republic, it's our 1776.

When you use that kind of language, you should not be surprised that people
tend to believe it. And a lot of people saying, it thought this was a game,
right?

They didn't -- to them, it was all performer to politics. But to others who
were misled and deliberately angered, this was real. And it became really
real, and it's not OK.

And I want to say something else here. This is exactly what we could 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, or that body
would receive all sorts of pressure to do what people wanted it to do.

This is why we diffuse power to the states to choose electors 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 that Congress can simply overturn electors. We are seeing it play
out right before our eyes. Many of us have said this all along, this is why
you can't do this, you cannot accept this precedent. And we did.

And we have to stop it. This is a deeply unconstitutional process. I wanted
President Trump to win, but I, as a member of Congress, cannot overturn an
election. This is fundamentally what this is about. It doesn't meant that
people's anger about election irregularities and the bad processes that we
see in many states are invalid. Those are very, very valid concerns, and
they must be addressed. But we must address them in the right way. We can
change laws at the state level.

There needs to be a year 2000 Florida awakening for each of these states
where we clean it up and we give people certitude that their vote really
counts. There's nothing more important in this democracy, but there
couldn't be a worse way to solve it then by what happened today day.

BAIER: Congressman, last thing. We have two weeks here, 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, let's
support the law enforcement, go home. But he also said, essentially,
continue the fight and this election is not over, and let's continue to try
to overturn it. What should he be saying tonight?

CRENSHAW: I wanted everybody who is objecting, I want the president, I
wanted everybody out in front of those protestors as they were storming the
capitol to be there and say stop. 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
OK. I wanted them to say that they misled them, because I think that's
really what happened here. And that message has to be far more forceful
than it has been.

BAIER: Congressman Dan Crenshaw, thanks very much 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, the Defense Department walking this
tightrope tonight, wanting to avoid being seen as law enforcement on the
Capitol with soldiers in uniform, preferring to use, obviously, the
National Guard in a backup role.

National Security Correspondent Jennifer Griffin at the Pentagon right now
following all of this. And kind of a late development, a story about what
Vice President Pence's role is in all of this. Jennifer?

JENNIFER GRIFFIN, FOX NEWS NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Bret, there's
been a lot of confusion about the role of the D.C. National Guard. And
remember, a request for the National Guard has to come from the mayor's
office. So Mayor Muriel Bowser requested some D.C. National Guardsmen on
Monday. Those were agreed to by the Pentagon. The Army Secretary Ryan
McCarthy was put in charge of those troops. There were 340 troops that were
approved on Monday.

Now we have learned that 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 chairman
of the Joint Chiefs, authorizing, allowing the Pentagon to authorize the
mobilization of 1,100, the entire D.C. National Guard. That is what we've
learned happened.

We also have heard that President Trump was not involved in that decision,
that it was Mike Pence on those phone calls. And remember, he had just came
back from the capitol having been 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.

BAIER: That's a big development. Do we -- we'll press the White House for
answers on that, about President Trump's role. And do they have a sense of
how long they're going to be deployed here or what this deployment looks
like?

GRIFFIN: It's an open-ended deployment at this point in time. But what is
significant, and this was 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,
flak jackets. They would be used for basically traffic patrol and for
helping with move crowds, but they were not going to be used in a law
enforcement. That was at Mayor Bowser's request and that was the agreement
with the Pentagon. And that is the agreement for the 1,100 troops who are
being mobilized. We're told that a call to D.C. National Guard gone out and
they're going to meet at 7:00 at the D.C. armory here in D.C.

BAIER: OK, again, enforcing a curfew now. Jennifer Griffin live at the
Pentagon, Jennifer, thank you.

New information from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Let's get the latest on
what's happening on the Hill and go back to Chad Pergram there. Chad?

CHAD PERGRAM, FOX NEWS PRODUCER: Good evening, Bret. The House Speaker has
just put out a statement here, indicating that the House of Representatives
is going to come back into session at some point later tonight once they
get the capitol fully secure. She tells members, I look forward to seeing
you later tonight. She says that we knew that today would be a part of
history in a positive way. But she said, 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 Leader Hoyer and with Clyburn and the
Pentagon, we decided we should proceed tonight at the capitol once it is
cleared for use. She called what happened here today when these marauders
came storming into the building a, quote, shameful assault being made on
democracy, quote, it was anointed at the highest level of government.

And also, and 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 mat
and fight for Arizona and Pennsylvania and so on, will they still be
willing to do that with the same level of invective and vitriol? One
example of members starting to flip on this, Cathy McMorris Rodgers used to
be the chair of the House Republican Conference, a 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.

BAIER: Chad, so do we have a timing on when they're going to be cleared
out and back on the floor?

PERGRAM: Absolutely not. First of all, they have to make sure that the
House and Senate chambers are OK. Again, as I said before, they don't have
to meet there necessarily. But you still have members and staff who are
sheltering in place in undisclosed locations here in the Capitol Complex.
That is part of the problem. We are probably several hours away from this.

And again, if some of those members who wanted to contest the electoral
votes back off of their original positions, this will take about 40
minutes.

BAIER: Yes, and that is going to take a long time. They were only on
Arizona when this all happened. Chad, thank you. We'll head back with any
breaking details.

Let's get more on the streets of Washington D.C. Correspondent Kevin Corke
out there tonight. Good evening, Kevin.

KEVIN CORKE, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Evening, Bret. I'm on the north side
of the capitol, which has been a very active protest scene throughout the
afternoon. We arrived here a little bit after 1:30 this afternoon, and it
was very active and, frankly had been that way right up until around 6:00
p.m. eastern time. As you know, that is when the official D.C. curfew went
into effect.

I'm going to step off camera for just a second and allow you to see behind
me. We see a long line of law enforcement officials here. As you know,
we're talking about multiagency approach to clearing out the crowd here
post curfew, metropolitan police, capitol police. I've seen the National
Guard on the other side of the capitol.

In the distance, on my walk over here from the bureau, I noticed about a
dozen fire and other ambulances and different law enforcement vehicles up
and down this particular avenue. We are talking about Constitution. And I
can still see the red and blue strobes in the distance. But for right now,
it's relatively quiet here on the north side of the capitol, in stark
contrast to what we saw earlier today, Bret.

BAIER: OK, panel, thank you -- or, Kevin, thank you very much.

I'm going to bring back the panel. Amy Walter, you have been listening in
to these interviews and these developments. Your thoughts?

AMY WALTER, NATIONAL EDITOR, "COOK POLITICAL REPORT": It's a pretty
remarkable moment that we are in, Bret, and I think the point that Chad
made is a really important one about what Congress does now. You heard from
one of the higher ranking members in Congresswoman Liz Cheney saying that
this was a terrible moment and instigated by the president of the United
States. I think that this vote needs to happen on the Electoral College and
should be finished with. Other states should be agreed to. The idea that
we're 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 rioters got into the capitol, where he said, in a
statement that he noted that he was going to come out against the Electoral
College, going against the votes of the Electoral College. He said I will
not pretend such a vote will be a harmless protest gesture while relying on
others to do the right thing. And little did he realize that harmless
protests gesture would truly turn into what we saw today with the United
States capitol.

This election is over. The president apparently will not concede. That does
not mean that those around him cannot argue that this is over, that while
the president may not do it, to say to his supporters and anyone else who
is listening, the race is over. In 14 days there will be a new president.
There will be a peaceful transfer of power. This has to happen now. This
isn't a joke. There is a woman who is dead.

BAIER: Yes, 100 percent. I have a full screen from the prime minister of
Great Britain, of the U.K. Boris Johnson, and 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.

Brit, there are a number of lawmakers weighing in. 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 HUME, FOX NEWS SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: I must say, Bret, this was
never going to succeed, this protest, this challenge to these electors. It
was never going anywhere. The votes were never even close to being there
for that.

But politically, some of these House members in particular and some
Senators as well who were backing this and supporting it were obviously
doing so because they felt there was this level of support for Trump in
their 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 hadn't done this, that they weren't supporting this. They are
already committed to it, I guess. But I bet a lot of them probably regret
it now and may regret it even more later, because this is an event that is
going to turn off the American people in a big way.

And you saw leaders of the Republican Party, I can't think of one of any
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 today, in my judgment, make no mistake about it.

BAIER: You mention Mike Pence. And the statement he released just before
the proceedings started, literally at about 1:00 p.m. eastern time. He said
"It is my considered judgment that my oath to support and defend the
Constitution constrains me from claiming unilateral authority to determine
which electoral votes should be counted and which should not." And that
made the president very angry, and 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?

MATT SCHLAPP, CHAIR, AMERICAN CONSERVATIVE UNION: Let me get to, when you
started off the panel in the show, you talked about these claims of voter
irregularities. I would like just to take a minute on that, because that is
what this is all about. I'm 53-years-old. I've spent my whole adult life in
politics. When I was asked to go to Las Vegas to try to ascertain what
happened in Nevada, nobody really knew. It was a little bit of a black box.
And I was shocked. Quite honestly, I was shocked to find tens of thousands
of votes that we could prove should not have legally been in the count. By
the end it was over 100,000 votes. And all those exhibits were sent to the
judges, each step in the legal process. And the judges really had no desire
to look at any of the evidence because they viewed it as a political
question.

BAIER: So Matt, I just want to interrupt you. I just want to interrupt
you. I got it, and I do hear you.

SCHLAPP: But don't I have a right to talk about that? Because that is what
this is all about. It's all about --

BAIER: But there are 60 court cases, you couldn't find one judge, Trump
judges, any judge to get you a hearing to the evidence that you're laying
out? The president spent all this time talking about it, and we now have
had a certification in all 50 states. And now you're saying there is not
one judge anywhere?

SCHLAPP: If I could just finish. In the state of Michigan, it has been
said several times that the president has exhausted all of his legal steps.
The state of Michigan, excuse me, the state of Georgia just gave a judge, a
designated judge yesterday, that case has not even gone to court.

So people can dismiss it and say that's not a real thing. All I can tell
you is that I've been briefed on what happened in Georgia and the illegal
votes cast that are in this count would be enough to switch the result. And
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 percent of the country that believes that this illegal voting
has been systemic and widespread has the chance to run its full course.
Everyone in this process who has tried to short circuit that, including
judges that won't even look at the evidence, they are causing us to be more
divided. Now, this is all going to be over and we're going to have one
president.

BAIER: OK, I hear you, I hear you, Matt, but listen.

SCHLAPP: And we're going to have to figure out how to live with each other
and heal as a country.

BAIER: Let me play a sound bite from today's rally.

SCHLAPP: I am listening.

BAIER: And this is Rudy Giuliani and Don Jr. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUDY GIULIANI, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S ATTORNEY: Let's have trial by combat.

(APPLAUSE)

GIULIANI: I'm willing to stake my reputation, the president is willing to
stake his reputation on the fact that we're going to find criminality
there.

DONALD TRUMP JR., PRESIDENT TRUMP'S SON: These guys better fight for
Trump, because if not, guess what. I'm going to be in your backyard in a
couple of months. If you are going to be the zero and not the hero, we're
coming for you, and we're going to have a good time doing it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: Now, you're talking about unity, you're talking about coming
together, you're talking about letting court cases go. That's not what
they're talking about.

SCHLAPP: Well, I said first you have to adjudicate the wrongdoing.
Remember, the type of wrongdoing I saw in Nevada and was just briefed on in
Georgia, these are felonies, Bret. These are serious problems. In the state
of Nevada you had widespread, people voting in more than one state, people
who didn't live in Nevada voting. You can't do that in a democracy.
Usually, there is always some of this, and it's more minimal. And 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 this on a very
widescale. And in these states --

BAIER: And that's a fair point. Article two and state legislatures,
however, the Supreme Court didn't take it up either.

So Brit Hume, just weigh in on this. I want to get an update from Chad
Pergram, but just your thoughts on what has just been talked about.

HUME: The question all along has not been whether this was a perfect
election. There never is such a thing. The question has not been whether
there was significant irregularities. There were a lot of things that were
done, particularly prior to Election Day, that were manifestly unfair, and
that I think are the main reason that Trump might have a claim to say that
the election was unfair.

But unfair and illegal and subject to reversal are different matters
entirely. And I have read through a number of the opinions written by
judges in this case, and it is not true that in those cases, that I have
read, at least, that they didn't look at the evidence. They did. In most
cases, their opinions, and they're pretty strong, demolished the so called
evidence.

So I understand Matt has a grievance, Trump had a grievance, and we do need
to do something about the kind of mail-in voting situation we had where it
was being done in states which had never really tried it before, and it
manifestly helped the other side. But that doesn't make the election
stolen. It just doesn't.

And Trump was saying all kinds of wild things today, including his claim,
for example, that Mike Pence had the authority to reject electors, to
reject the certifications. He does not. His job here is purely ministerial.
And when he said he couldn't do that, he was right. He can't under the
Constitution. So that's where we are.

BAIER: That is where we are. And what happened today cannot happen. Let's
get the latest from Congressional Correspondent Chad Pergram. Again, a
status report, Chad.

PERGRAM: We are told in the past few minutes, Bret, that there is a goal,
and that's one senior source told me here, 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 try to finish the certification of the Electoral
College.

But the problem is both chambers, both the House chamber and the Senate
chamber are trashed. They are these escape hoods all over the place.
There's broken out glass. They're just a mess. The floors are slippery. And
keep in mind, we're doing this during a pandemic, and so they can't exactly
throw those protocols out the window. So they thought that 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 maybe as early as 8:00, Bret.

BAIER: But again, this is a process that is going to take some time. We
went to Alabama, Alaska, and Arizona.

PERGRAM: That's right. And keep in mind that the House and Senate were
meeting separately. So even if you want to say, OK, we're really not going
to go through and go to the mat and contest Arizona, you still have to have
roll call vote on that, because that's a live question in both the House
and Senate, and then come back into session in the joint session and then
see whether or not they are going to continue with any of these other
electoral challenges maybe to Pennsylvania or Georgia, or maybe some
Republicans might pack it in.

If they do pack it in after those roll call votes to certify Arizona or
not, or you could do it by unanimous consent or a voice vote, that could
make it pretty quick, frankly. You come back into session, and you could be
wrapped up in 30 or 40 minutes.

BAIER: Chad, thank you. Let's heard to Mike Emanuel, chief congressional
correspondent. Quite a day on the hill. What do you know, mike?

MIKE EMANUEL, FOX NEWS CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Bret, I've been
talking to some of the key players who have been challenging the
certification of the election, and they're really trying to figure out what
their next play is at this point. Obviously, they are still upset about the
2020 election, but they recognize there's an optics problem. They've have
seen all this unfolding on their TV sets as we have, as we've been talking
about it. And they recognize that a lot of people on their side of the
aisle are totally aggravated and that some are starting to flip on them.

And 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 about how they're going to play it, because they recognize their
bases still is aggravated about the election, but the reaction today really
hurt the cause going forward, Bret.

BAIER: 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?

EMANUEL: So far we have not heard specifics. Obviously, it's still a very
active scene. We are in lockdown here at the Russell Senate Office
Building, basically told to shelter in place, and 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 bottom line, we have not heard anything about the woman who
lost her life earlier today.

BAIER: And can you tell us, is the tear gas smell gone from the capitol?

EMANUEL: It is dissipating, let's put it that way. It was bad earlier, but
it is definitely clearing out. And so what would anticipate with some
cleaning and perhaps some cleanup of some of the mess left behind that they
may be able to get back in session in the next hour-and-a-half or so.

BAIER: All right, Mike, we'll head back for any details.

Back with the panel. Byron, I think the question a lot of people have is
about security and about the Capitol police. Why didn't they know this was
a possibility? They deal with tons and tons of protests all the time. But a
siege, a lot of people all at once can overwhelm security quickly. And we
just don't have a sense of what the situation was.

BRYON YORK, CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT, "WASHINGTON EXAMINER": No, and
believe me, there is going to be a commission to investigate the events of
this day, I feel absolutely certain. To expand a little bit about what Mike
was just reporting, this effort, this Republican effort to challenge
Electoral College results has just blown up in their face because of these
events today.

There were really two different kind of efforts in the House and in the
Senate. A lot of people in the House really did want to overturn the
result, change the result of this election, while a number of people in the
Senate said they were just trying to study things. Ted Cruz and the 10
senators he'd gotten to go along with him on this challenge were proposing
a commission, a quickie commission to do a quickie investigation 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 the
idea of doing it with multiple states, as you pointed out, they just got to
Arizona, the idea of doing it with multiple states taking hours and hours
and hours, I think that is probably going to be completely out the window
as of now.

BAIER: Yes. Let's head back to the White House, the North Lawn, John
Roberts. John, info?

JOHN ROBERTS, FOX NEWS CORRESPONDENT: A couple of things, Bret. First of
all, the tweet that I read you earlier in the program was deleted by the
president along with that video that he tweeted out to try to diffuse the
situation on Capitol Hill. Unclear at this point why those two things were
deleted, though they did fall under criticism for being somewhat
insensitive. The first tweet, or at least the tweeted video, the president
again talked about the election being stolen as he did in the written
tweet. It's possible he got a little bit of blowback on that.

The other thing is over who called out the National Guard. "The New York
Times" reporting that it was Vice President Mike Pence, not the president
who called out the Guard. I was told just a few minutes ago by Chris
Miller, the acting defense secretary's chief of staff Kash Patel that it
was, in fact, the president who authorized the deployment of the National
Guard, that he and Miller have been talking for a couple of days about
contingency plans for the march, making sure that buildings, the federal
building here in Washington, D.C., as well as citizens were protected.

Mayor Muriel Bowser a couple of days ago asked for 340 National Guards.
They were authorized right away and deployed. And it wasn't until, I'm told
by Patel, until after the siege began at the Capitol Building that she put
out the call for the National Guard, the rest of the National Guard
contingent to be brought in, and that was immediately authorized by the
president through his Chief of Staff Mark Meadows. So potentially that goes
some distance to clearing that up. Bret?

BAIER: The National Security Advisor Robert O'Brien tweeting out that he
had spoken with Vice President Pence, he's a genuinely find and decent man.
He exhibited courage today, as he did at the capitol on 9/11. As a
Congressman, I'm proud to serve with him, kind of backing up Pence's moves
today?

ROBERTS: Yes, and I've got to tell you, after unswerving loyalty to the
president over the past four years, even some very difficult circumstances
that have been much publicized, it was a remarkable break between the vice
president and the president. The vice president has got 16 more days in
office, potentially he's 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 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 sent that letter to members of Congress to say,
I do not have the authority to act unilaterally here. He didn't say despite
what the president says, but that's basically what in net effect of it was.

But after this long being in lockstep with the president, to see that break
today really was quite extraordinary and something we haven't seen before.
Bret?

BAIER: John, last thing here. There a lot of people who say, listen, the
president has a lot of supporters. After today, you have people who are
always his critics saying that he's leading in insurrection, that the vice
president should lead the 25th Amendment and take him out in 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, how he
dismounts from his office?

ROBERTS: Yes, and I think we saw that with the vice president, with what
Mitch McConnell said as well. It's quite possible that President Trump
would find the White House a fairly lonely place to be politically for the
next 16 days.

BAIER: All right, John, thank you very much.

Finally tonight, we'll take a look back at the sights and sounds of a
historic day in Washington.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CROWD: Stop the Steal! Stop the Steal! Stop the Steal!

(SHOUTING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Without objection, the House is going to go back into
recess.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Security here at the United States capitol has failed.

CROWD: USA! USA! USA!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sit down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They broke the glass?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody stay down! Get down!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Take that house. Take it now. Take it now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BAIER: We're a strong country, a resilient country, we can get through
this.

Thanks for inviting us into your home tonight. That's it for this SPECIAL
REPORT, fair, balanced, and still unafraid. THE STORY hosted by Martha
MacCallum starts right now. Martha, we didn't even talk about the South
Carolina races and the --

END

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