Stranger to angelinos. Hes the anchor of abc seven Eyewitness News at four and 6 p. M. Hes produced multiple Award Winning documentaries, two of which have made their way into the smithsonian institution. We welcome to our stage. He served in the United States house of representatives from 2011 to 2023, representing. 16th congressional district. During his tenure, he served on the House Select Committee to investigate the january sixth attack on the United States capitol, as well as the House Committee on energy and commerce and the House Foreign Affairs committee. Gentlemen we welcome you to the stage. Hi, everybody. Yeah, great, great to see you. You can hear our mikes, right . Everybodys mikes. Okay. Can you can you hear his notes . One, two and two. Not hearing him. Try now. There you go. I did have it on and then i that off. Good, good, good. Well, first of all, thank you for for here. Thank you. Yes, im sitting with you because ive always wanted to meet you. And im not just blowing smoke. Shoot at that. Thank you. And i think jim set up was perfect. He talked about this community and. I know many of you are familiar with little and what happened here during world two where so many people were whisked off to concentration camps and this whole community was wiped out and was empty and that was a a classic example of how the constitution was not defended and there were not enough people of courage who were willing to speak up and defend the Tiny Community that was locked up unjustly. They never got their fifth amendment rights and never were able to defend themselves in court and that they were law abiding citizens and never should have been locked up. So that leads us to and the the gentleman sitting to me was one of the few that has the courage and has had the courage to speak up when. Things were wrong when things were not truthful to the point where he eventually was by his own party. And now is on the outside looking in. But maybe thats not necessarily a bad thing. So heres our opportunity to talk to you. Adam thank you so much. Yeah, its great. So. Right off the bat, im just gonna throw you a real simple question. We get into the nitty gritty, and that is why, did you want to write this book . So its kind funny. Somebody told me when was looking at like, should i write a book . Or theyre like, okay, listen, its going to feel like an inherently thing to do to write a book right, because youre going to be like, oh, im going to write something. Me like you guys care about it, but the thing that finally got me to decide to do it is i know that my story in my experience, particularly growing up, but also my time in office from 2011, kind of advent of the tea party. So really in january it tells its a microcosm of the Bigger Picture and you know, we get asked questions a lot and im sure well talk about some of this like whats been happening why is this happening . And i think you can tell in my story a little bit of the answer of whats been going on and why its been going on so the reaction has been great and i think thats just because it helps to shed some light to a very confusing time. Yeah it is confusing. And im sure thats why everybody is here is because wed love to pick your brain and what is happening to our country and how it get this way. I what i love about book is you do lead us from well even before the tea party but you make sense of it from tea party on to to to donald trump. And then there is a very definite connection between the two. But i want to start since we only have a few minutes really kind of to delve into this, im going to jump right. What i think is one of the more dramatic moments, your book and that is youre youre sitting in your office and an angry mob is descending on the capitol. You have your pistol out. This is a Lieutenant Colonel in the air force. So he knows how to use a gun. And he has that. Hes done two tours in iraq. So thank you for your service. But youre sitting there and you. Got a gun on your desk knowing that this mob descending on the capitol, you youre not afraid, youre prepared. But what is going through your mind on how did you get there and how did things get this . First off, thanks for paying your taxes because you let me fly your airplanes, which was really gig. But i look up so i predict that violence actually after the election and specifically january 1st we were on a Conference Call with the conference and if you hear me talking about the Conference Im referring basically every republican member of congress, theres like a republican conference, a democratic conference, and so on. That call on the first. Kevin mccarthy actually. Liz cheney had started and said like, you guys gave this very compelling of why you have to vote to certify the and then Kevin Mccarthy on and goes like liz speaks for herself not for the whole conference and then he basically informed us that he was going to vote against certification that surprised me honestly, because typically leadership takes, the hard votes and at this point the hard vote unfortunately was to vote to certify. So i said i was the first congressman to go after. The leadership had given their presentation. And i just kevin, theres going to be violence on the sixth. I mean, i look at twitter, there are threats against me. There are people that are talking about coming on the sixth and in essence, 1776. Youve convinced you and donald trump and whoever have convinced a significant part of this country that an election was stolen. I mean, truly patriotic americans, that have had their patriotism abused. Youve convinced them that an election was stolen. Theres going to be violence. Thats the thats a natural act. His reaction to me was just adam, next caller. Next person. A guy, whatever. So that day of the sixth, i told my staff to stay home. I used to say i told my wife to stay home and i learned that i ask her to stay home. I, i, you know, i may have been married or may have been born night, but not last night. But i asked her to stay home. And so i was the only one in the office. And because i just knew something was going to happen and i was seeing around the capitol the capitol was closed. But i was still seeing like groups of kind of maga in the capitol. And im like pa this weird. Anyway, i go to floor of the house, i kind of get the somethings happening before really anybody. I left the floor during the proceedings and went back to my office and by the time i got back there all hell was breaking. And we had had the initial lockdown call because of the pipe bombs that were found at the rnc and the dnc and i go back to my office and open my window and my window of my office, which would be behind my desk, overlooks the west front of the capitol. And that west front is where you saw all the all the fights. And i just heard bang pop like explosions. And it was d. C. Metro police had just shown up and they were using their nonlethal munition was it had d. C. Metro not shown up when they did they showed up with like 600 officers. The capitol have been sacked, would have been destroyed like they are Unsung Heroes among the police force and i called my wife and we were talking we were shes like, go to cspan dot org. And theres all these different like views of the capitol. And i went to cspan dot org and i statuary hall which is this beautiful it was the original floor, the house just off the the big floor of the house now. And i. Saw the first rioters come in are insurrectionists come in, you know with their goofy clothes and stuff. And and ill tell you ladies and gentlemen, let me just. Fair warning. Im a christian. I take my faith seriously, but im not one of these. It feels like incense is evil or anything. All right. I did that day. I cant describe it. I cant explain it beyond. But when i talk to my wife and i saw this happening, there was this dark that i just felt that i cannot describe, just like a black veil and thats when i had pulled my gun out and put it on the desk, because i knew at point once they pierced the capitol, the perimeter there, there, there were threats all over to come kill me. All they to do was was basically walk to my office at that point. So barricaded myself in with my gun out. And ill say there was about a 30 minute period where i thought might have to use it. And thats a thats a really crappy feeling, especially as a military and somebody that went into to try to stop violence from happening. Right. So tell me about the others, because theres all this rumor of soandso did this, soandso did that. Was there fear because what we saw later on in the days to come, people suddenly beginning amnesia to how awful the situation really was. I mean, this was our constitution in coming to a halt, an insurrection is trying to basically end our country as we know it. There was not i will say honestly there was not a Single Person in there that was not scared to death. Which is funny when you think about the fact that those same people are the ones out calling it a tourist visit and, everything else. And so what happened is theyre all scared to death that day but still 138 of them vote against certifying the election was to me, kind of the beginning of like, hmm maybe maybe wont learn our lesson from this moment but what happened is for about two weeks, you know, youre in these conference meetings, everybodys quiet. Were all swapping stories. Oh, well, i was here when this happened and then i saw this happen, right. You know, like, if youre in a fight or you see a fight, know, and everybody gets together and talks about it, that was happening for and nobody knew where this was going to go. Nobody knew was going to come from this until your native son, Kevin Mccarthy, california, until he showed up at mar lago. And the second he showed up at mar a lago and picture of him and donald trump came out. Thats when i saw it. Not people enthusiast actually backing donald trump again, but kind of this like kind of beat puppy look where its just like, oh, no, well, we have to support him again. And then the enthusiasm for him. Rose so, kevin himself and im not going to say that donald trump wouldnt be where he was him, but i think theres a really chance he wouldnt have been. Trump was in the political until mccarthy showed up, took the little paddles from the ambulance the political ambulance and him back to life. Thats interesting and and i do want to talk about Kevin Mccarthy in a little while whats been in the news lately . You probably know what im talking about, but well get to that. Good. And they also want to talk about your religious, too. I think thats important to your story. But first, i think its important for us to understand who these people are that invaded the capital. Yeah. And you wrote the b c. They want to make themselves into action. Trump marauders were ignorant of current events. American history and the constitution full of false self righteousness. I think its important to understand these people are and why they did what they did in order for us to figure out whats wrong with america and get a deeper understanding of how do we fix this. So some of its visions of grandeur, this like idea that, you know, im going to be the savior of some of it is abuse peoples patriotism but bottom line comes down to their there is this actual war against kind of good and evil there of course on the good side, by the way, everybody, no matter what, thinks theyre the good guy, just thats something good to keep in mind in any conflict. And so they basically see part of the q and on when you hear about q and on and i tell you that there are people that truly believe and a significant number of people that truly believe that the government is run by satan worshiping child blood drinkers. Okay and a significant number of those people were were there on january six. You also had Christian Nationalists that were there on january six. You that if youre not familiar with too much of that kind of faith, you wouldnt have seen the symbolism that i saw, which is people blowing horns like the shofar, which symbolizes in time stuff. There was a jericho march around the capital the day before, so it was people that were convinced by failures from the pulpit of churches by the way, they were convinced that was the kind of armageddon the fight against good and evil. So it was a combination of people that had been had their patriotism abused, people that were like cosplaying civil war because there was also a group of folks that think that a civil war is hanging out with your friends by the, you know, by the campfire and shooting people you dont like. And they have this like, wonderful idea of a civil war. And then some are people that have been abused from their faith perspective to believe that this is a battle against good evil. So its all of that. But it comes from this idea that they feel left behind. They feel ignored and and quite honestly, that happens any time you get an Unstable Society when a majority, particularly a racial group in a majority, becomes the minority, even though technically white, is becoming a minority, itll the large, you know, its just not over 51 . And that creates a real concern among people so i think its of an all of the above along lines and you mentioned Christian Nationalism you were raised a religious yeah but you make it very clear in this book that you see a marked difference between Christian National ism and your kind of christianity and what nationalism has become and how it has fed into the Republican Party is part of this problem. Yeah so christianity as ive gotten older and understood better to me is, you know if you look at and and just bear with me as i talk about this, if you look at the example jesus in the bible, he said, give caesar what caesars and gods gods. What are you saying . And his and his disciples were constantly like, hey, when are we going to overthrow rome . And hes like, you guys are missing point. Im not here to overthrow the government right. Well, what you see in is directly what youre seeing like in the january six stuff and in Christian Nationalism, which is this idea that christianity is about overthrowing government or its about frankly no different than the taliban. All honesty, its about a running the government. And part of that is an abuse again from the pastors that that at the pulpit part of is just a complete misunderstanding of what christian anti is. And so i was independent fundamental baptist. Ive learned if youre ever in a religion that has to like adjectives before it its probably a cult or close to it and so i was raised independent fundamental baptist i now consider myself protestant nondenominational and which doesnt have added adjectives, just protestant. Okay. But i, you know, and part of that was just a control on how you act, a control on who you hang out with. And again this idea that somehow governance represents this broader battle of good and evil. And so theres a massive difference between the faith. I practice and understand now the jesus follow actually believes that immigrants worth and value and they should be treated as human beings and that everybody has and if to respect differences and all that kind of stuff, because he loved people, Christian Nationalism hates anybody that doesnt believe exactly what they do. I consider you and i were talking backstage and im like, i consider it the same as the crusades the crusades were all about killing. They had nothing to do with a faith. Faith became just kind of a flag attached to an essence to identify who you are i mean, look at the number of people claim to be christians, you know, fighting for donald trump that have never been to church a day in their life. Because what christianity becomes is a synonym for white. White america. So the racial undertones obvious . Yeah. Yeah, i think its and i wouldnt say its directly like, you know, somebody like black people, they dont like hispanic people, but its a cultural thing. So, you know, i mean, find obviously black and hispanic in the major groups they and they exist in growing numbers but its a cultural idea which is some of it is a racial undertone. Some of it is, you know, america sure aint what it used to be. Well, americas never what it used to be, because its a growing and evolving country. And, you know so i think theres some of that there. Yeah if you ask africanamericans the old america of the good old days, its a different thing. There was no such thing. Thats right so lets get into why they dont know the truth theyre uninformed and we have to bring in and granted yes i work for abc but im going to say it you know fox news and a lot of their pundits have feeding misinformation knowingly. And what were finding out in various court cases knowingly feeding this information and thats only source of information. These people, as well as these extreme places on, the internet. So how do you reach people with the truth . The truth no longer resonates with certain groups of people . Well, were both media guys, so im like im part of evil cnn. Right, which i love cnn, but yeah, i think so. What happens . People went like, im going to watch the and sometimes see things that challenged me and challenged my way thinking or see a different side. Stuff. You know, when you present the news, you present in essence, both sides or just facts, right . Well, what happened is starting in the nineties with am radio and rush limbaugh, people started to realize Media Companies started to realize person ality started to realize that and anger is a huge addiction. So theres this dopamine hit comes with fear. This dopamine hit that comes with the anger. I mean weve all been in situations we have to admit where weve been watching. You know, cnn, fox or msnbc and just hooked on this thing, making us angry. Well, thats the dopamine and what you know, rush learned as the angry roommate he made you the more youd listen to him and, the more the commercials he could make, the more hed make commercials the internet then came and realized if they created, you know, stories that that fit what you wanted to see and made you mad, youd click on them many, many more. And then politicians the scary thing. So fox news did that you know newsmax which actually newsmax used to be like a pretty sane conservative. You know, website. Now its a crazy tv station. And then politics begins. And this is when it got kind of out of control. We learned