House January 6th Committee released graphic new insurrection video, presented new witnesses, and showed clip of depositions from Trump aides and family testifying against his election lies. The documentarian filmmaker testified and provided video footage of the Capitol riot while he was embedded with the militia group Proud Boys. Nick Quested one of the January 6 hearing witnesses joins Ari Melber to talk about his testimony last night. Zoe Lofgren a Democratic congresswoman from California and a January 6 committee member join Ari Melber to talk about Donald Trump`s culpability.

NICOLLE WALLACE, MSNBC HOST: Our network`s special coverage on "MORNING JOE" followed by the hearing in its entirety and then watch the January 6th hearings, the House investigates Monday, beginning at 6:00 a.m. Eastern on MSNBC. We`ll all be back that evening.

Thank you for letting us into your homes during these extraordinary times. We are so grateful. THE BEAT WITH ARI MELBER starts rights now.

ARI MELBER, MSNBC HOST: Happy Friday and get red for work Monday.

MELBER: Good to see you, Nicolle.

MELBER: Tonight on THE BEAT we`ll be joined by one of the two witnesses at last night`s January 6th hearing. The filmmaker who embedded with the now indicted Proud Boys militia at the Capitol. He`s here tonight on THE BEAT live, Nick Quested, so stay with us for that.

Also a key member of the same committee, veteran Watergate investigator Zoe Lofgren is here as well. So it`s a special show and we`ll bring them in tonight.

But before that a few key facts that we did learn in the hearing last night. I`m not going to try to summarize all of it and by now you probably saw the hearing or highlights or some coverage already. What we`re aiming to do is report out the key investigative findings for you, what we`ve learned from some of those witnesses. What we know from some of that significant testimony. But witnesses I`m going to get to in a few minutes.

The other thing we want to go through in terms of what we`ve learned is the damning evidence about the attack that day. And that`s one of the most important things, although there are many important things, so that`s what I`m starting with right now at the top of our broadcast for you because whenever you hear that the nation watched something in real time or we all lived through something together, the implication is that we saw the same things, that we understand some of the basic facts.

That was the case in 9/11. We all saw the buildings fall. But the insurrection built on a lie was quickly shrouded by another one, and many Americans have heard a diluted or a downright deceptive version of what happened. So last night mattered because every network with a factual news division broadcast the hearings. We can bring that back up because I want to make this point for you guys.

If you look at this image, every network broadcast the hearings to tens of millions of American homes, yes, this one right here. Now you might see one exception in the middle, we`ll get to that later tonight. But what you`re seeing on your screen right here, courtesy of "The Recount," they put this together, is that millions and millions of Americans were getting this information, the people who may not follow daily news and may not have heard the accurate story from friends or online about this attack, had to compare it with what Chairman Thompson described as, in a nod to the Eagles, comparing it to your own lying eyes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Be advised there`s probably about 300 Proud Boys. They`re marching eastbound.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`re going to give prior warning. We`re going to get compliant, but this is effectively a riot.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Breached the line. We need backup.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have breach of the Capitol. Breach of the Capitol.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We`ve lost the line. We`ve lost the line.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whatever it takes, I`ll lay my life down if it takes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Doors barricade. There`s people -- hallways outside, we have no way out.

MELBER: That was just some of the newly released video of the violent attack on the Capitol that as I just showed you went across all those channels and all those living rooms at night when people are home. And it ran alongside the actual violence, alongside with the committee is calling a, quote, "sprawling multi-step conspiracy to overturn Trump`s loss."

With evidence of how exactly Trump failed as commander in chief that day, failed to make any orders or calls to protect the Capitol, and evidence that he welcomed violence against the government, that he is supposed to lead, against his own vice president.

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): Aware of the rioters` chants to hang Mike Pence, the president responded with this sentiment, quote, "Maybe our supporters have the right idea." Mike Pence, quote, "deserves it."

MELBER: For those who have been informed about what happened that violent day or who are conversive with Donald Trump`s long, ugly, nasty, embarrassing history of violent and autocratic rhetoric, well, much of that would be familiar. But if you don`t follow the news or the facts all the time, and at the same time people with large followings are constantly to you lying about it, saying you don`t need to follow the news, just listen to their lies, then something pretty straightforward happens in America as news turns to recent history, there are many who will need a history lesson.

Last night really did offer that as its first priority, preempting the entertainment shows and the regular programming that people would watch, to show the facts of that day. Now that project comes first because the more intricate problems of January 6th, the talk of sweeps and coups, of delayed certifications and fraudulent electors, those are the plots and ploys that were used and exploited on top of the actual violent insurrection.

So it would be hard for anyone even if you`re versed in this let alone if you`re busy living your life and hearing about it occasionally to see how that other stuff might matter, how we might need to act as a nation to protect against it happening again, if you don`t see that there was a violent coup first on that day. Well, if it seems depressing that it takes so much work to get people to see what happened as I mentioned in my introduction tonight in real time on TV. It happened right in front of their face, well, in this time of growing authoritarian impulses we can recall an expert on the topic Orwell, who famously said, to see what is in front of one`s nose is a constant struggle. Ours.

Now Orwell didn`t liver in the time of the internet or Tucker Carlson or social media, but he knew plenty about propaganda and human nature, and that`s what America is facing right now. The power of weaponized propaganda mixed with violence, the reasons that people turn back to conspiracy theories, to hate, to out groups, especially when they have grievances. And this is a challenge we -- this is American news here.

We talk a lot about what`s going on here in the U.S. and that`s understandable, but this is one of those challenges many societies have faced around the world. Some successfully, if you want optimism going into the weekend, others not successfully if you want to remember that democracies do fail and turn into something far worse than a rough democracy that can turn into authoritarian regimes.

When lies, grievance and violence combine to seek permanent power, well, this is one of those times that you know the threat is real which is why last night mattered, not for political reasons. I could care less about the perceived politics about any of it, but for the real reasons which is why this is a time for facts, for reality and, if I may, for some strength.

Let`s get into it. I am joined by former RNC chair Michael Steele and Dahlia Lithwick, a legal writer from "Slate."

Welcome to both of you. Lots of important stuff, a long week. As I told viewers I want to start with the reality of that day then we`re going to turn to some of the witness highlights which I thought were powerful.

MICHAEL STEELE, FORMER RNC CHAIR: Well, you know, it was riveting. It was - - not just from the sights and the sounds of new video or even, you know, hearing Ivanka basically said, you know, yes, Daddy knew it was not real, I knew it was, that he`d lost, et cetera, but it was just this galvanizing moment.

My frustration still remains, Ari, and it really touches on the last point you were making in your opening is that, do people really care? Do they really give a damn? I`m curious to see what the numbers are, you know, and see how many people watched, but you had an entire network saying screw this, we`re not covering it. I didn`t hear FOX viewers clamoring, beating up the network, imploring them to, yes, we want to see it.

So you have a significant portion of the American people who just don`t give a damn, who I believe actually want to see this whole thing collapse because they think somehow their vision of America is going to make it all better and what they don`t understand is that the very same people who were trying to mount an insurrection will be the first ones to crush their damn necks when they get to power.

STEELE: And they don`t understand that. And I think last night brought that reality, that truth, at least for me, it brought it home in a real way.

DAHLIA LITHWICK, SLATE WRITER: I mean, I was going to offer the same cautious inundation that you just heard from Michael which is I think --

MELBER: But how do we know you`re not just copying Michael?

LITHWICK: Well, because it`s going to be an inundation which has many syllables.

LITHWICK: No, I think what I wanted to say when you said history lesson, Ari, is that that`s only half the story because what is past is prologue and I think you cannot watch what happened last night and you cannot learn the lessons of the select committee without understanding that this is the game plan going forward.

LITHWICK: That if you don`t look at these fake electors and the Electoral Count Act and the effort to press state election officials into doing something they knew was false, and you don`t see the ways that`s being codified into law right now so that the 2024 election can go to plan, then you don`t really see not just what happened on January 6th, but what`s going to happen in 2024.

And so I just think that Michael`s sort of starting off point is mine as well, which is this isn`t just reckoning with history. This is understanding the kind of tick-tock of how it could happen again.

MELBER: Absolutely. And that goes to the accountability that is the obligation of government in a society bound by the rule of law.

Both of our guests here are going to stay, and as mentioned I want to get to those other key findings, as we`ve put it together. This is the actual testimony from the many people who did cooperate, and most people cooperated with this valid lawful committee. Much of it damning against Trump by his own aides and sometimes family.

JASON MILLER, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN ADVISER: He delivered to the president in pretty blunt terms that he was going to lose.

BILL BARR, FORMER ATTORNEY GENERAL: You can`t live in a world where the incumbent administration stays in power based on its view unsupported by specific evidence that the election -- that there was fraud in the election.

CHENEY: Jared, are you aware of instances where Pat Cipollone threatened to resign?

JARED KUSHNER, SON-IN-LAW OF DONALD TRUMP: I kind of -- like I said, my interest at that time was on trying to get as many pardons done, and I know that, you know, he was always, him and the team were always saying we`re going to resign, we`re not going to be here if this happens, if that happens, so I kind of took it up to just be whining, to be honest with you.

MARC SHORT, SENIOR AIDE TO VICE PRESIDENT PENCE: But I think he ultimately knew that his fidelity to the Constitution was his first and foremost oath.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was Mr. Meadows` reaction to that information?

ALEX CANNON, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN ATTORNEY: I believe the words he used was, so there`s no there-there?

GEN. MARK MILLEY, JOINT CHIEFS CHAIRMAN: We need to establish the narrative that, you know, that the president is still in charge and that things are steady or stable or words to that effect. I immediately interpret that as politics, politics, politics. Red flag for me, personally, no action.

BARR: I made it clear I did not agree with the idea of saying the election was stolen and putting out this stuff which I told the president was bull (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

IVANKA TRUMP, DAUGHTER OF DONALD TRUMP: I respect Attorney General Barr so I accepted what he was saying.

STEELE: Yes. That really goes to both of our first points is that not only does that give you some context about the actual history that occurred, right, in the moment, but now you begin to realize just how deep it was, how widespread it was, and how many of the players inside this administration were affected or impacted by Donald Trump`s singular mission, singular drive to overthrow this election.

This came from the top down. Now there`s going to be more evidence in the next few weeks of these hearings that`s going to fill in all those spaces between that top and everyone else, but I think it was very clear to me the fact that everyone, Ari, had to circle back to Trump in some form or way to get the sort of green light, to get the understanding but then on the back he was saying, Mr. President, everything you want can`t happen because you lost. You lost. You lost.

And the more they said it, the more driven Donald Trump became to replace them to find sycophants who would do what he wanted, to get rid of his own vice president in the process if necessary. That`s how craven he was. That`s how craven and maniacal he was in that moment to destroy everything this country and this government would stand for.

MELBER: And that is very well put, and Dahlia, that goes to the legal culpability. There have been serious charges filed and those trials will go forward for the seditious conspiracy to violently overthrow the government of the United States of America and those who are convicted should deserve every heavy punishment they get and those who under the rule of law are not convicted, found not guilty go on with their lives.

That`s the rule of law in this country. I`m not going to pre-judge each case. But there are heavy charges. And yet what does that tell you, Dahlia, as this process goes forward, that the elites that the Brooks brothers insurrectionists have not been arrested yet on any substantive crimes? And I`ll always say if there`s no evidence against them then so be it. Mr. Bannon and Mr. Navarro are currently indicted on process crimes of defying the investigation, why they`ve taken those risks only they can know.

But do you think that is an acceptable end point based on the available public evidence? Does it look to you like anyone else might have tried to follow in the play?

LITHWICK: It seemed to me, Ari, that one unifying theme from the first minute of those hearings yesterday right until the end when you had all of those folks essentially saying I showed up because Donald Trump asked me to. He asked me for two things. He asked me to vote and he asked me to show up today. And the line between the very start when Liz Cheney said, you know, he lit the match, he set the fuse, he -- that`s Donald Trump, and it seemed to me the entire organizing theme of last night`s hearing was, this starts at the top, like Michael just said.

This starts with Trump, and I think it`s almost impossible to look at the videos you just sort of showed in that montage and not see this animating theme which is everyone around Donald Trump told him no. Marc Short, Joint Chiefs, you know, Vice President Pence. His own attorney general said this is unlawful, you have no basis for this, and he went forward.

LITHWICK: And so to the extent that there`s mens rea, right? The intent to do something that you know is illegal, we`ve always heard, oh, Donald Trump can`t form the requisite intent, he didn`t know what`s going on, he`s delusional. Well, now we know, that`s why Ivanka`s important, that the one person he listened to evidently told him no, and when you have everyone around him telling him no, he can no longer say, I`m not culpable because I didn`t understand what was happening.

And so I think one of the things that you are going to see -- now, I know your question is a different one which is what is Merrick Garland feel that he is empowered to charge, that`s a political question in some sense, but I do think, Ari, that one of the things we saw yesterday was that if I`m Mark Meadows and I`m saying there`s no there-there, and persisting with the plot, now I`m on the hook for a whole bunch of things that I might not have thought I was on the hook for.

MELBER: Right. And that includes the --

MELBER: That includes some offenses that are not as heavy as sedition. If you know that he lost, writ large or estate, and you`re trying to seat fraudulent electors that`s elector fraud. It`s like voter fraud, but worse, more significant.

MELBER: Especially if you`re doing it under the color of federal power because it`s more than one offense, so now you`re stacking up felonies. Whether that gets to sedition, you know, you have to be tied into violence, but yes, I think that`s facing DOJ. You paraphrase, Dahlia, what the Trump fans were saying, oh, he told me to vote and come to the Capitol, right? Another way of saying that is, yes, he told me to vote and he told me to illegally try to stop other people`s votes. And that`s how democracy works. You have to stop at just exercising your own right to vote.

So look, I think this is an important conversation which is why we wanted to kick it off our coverage with both of you.

Michael Steele, you know what day it is.

STEELE: I do, baby. It`s Fall Back. Fall Back.

MELBER: It`s Fall Back Friday which means by the end of the hour we do a little more fun. We got Michael here, so I want to say Michael comes back, Dahlia gets to start her weekend. Thanks for being here, both of you.

Coming up, we have one of the two star witnesses from last night`s hearing live on THE BEAT. The filmmaker embedded with the Proud Boys as they stormed the Capitol. And that`s not all. We have another person who was in the room last night, a January 6th Committee member including a preview of Monday`s hearing. And coming up tonight, a fact check as I mentioned that we`re going to get to later because we start with the substance, but we will get to FOX News and why they are not acting as you see on your screen like a news channel. Stay with me.

MELBER: The January 6th Committee made its first primetime hearing quite focused with just two live witnesses, an officer and a filmmaker, who exposed some of the premeditated planning of the attack, and it`s one reason militia members were indicted for sedition because of the evidence of their preparation including a recon at the Capitol long before Trump`s official speech that day around 10:30 in the morning.

NICK QUESTED, DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKER: We arrived at the mall and observed a large contingent of Proud Boys marching towards the Capitol. We filmed them and almost immediately I was separated from my colleagues. For anyone who didn`t understand how violent that event was, I saw it, I documented it and I experienced it.

MELBER: Plus new video from Quested of meetings in an underground parking garage on insurrection eve, plans that also linked back to some Trump allies.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Are there going to be witnesses that describe actual conversations between these extremist groups and anyone in Trump`s orbit?

REP. BENNIE THOMPSON (D-MS): Yes. We have a number of witnesses who have come forward that people have not talked to before that will document a lot of what was going on in the Trump orbit while all of this was occurring.

MELBER: "The Times" also reporting that someone associated with the Trump White House had similar contact days before January 6th. A now indicted leader of this group also has a political history. There he was at a 2019 Trump rally, behind Trump in a Roger Stone shirt, reference to Trump`s longest-serving aide who was convicted and pardoned.

We also have footage there for photos of the two of them together in December 2020, this was after Trump`s loss, and the day after that appearance you see there on video there was him bragging about being at the White House posting some photos online, with the White House asserting that he only got in through a public Christmas tour.

So how much did the Proud Boys plan in advance? How high did these links go? The key witness for the committee who testified last night is our guest when we`re back in 60 seconds.

QUESTED: I documented the crowd turned from protesters to rioters to insurrectionists. I was surprised at the size of the group, the anger and the profanity.

MELBER: We are joined now by award-winning filmmaker Nick Quested who was a January 6th hearing witness last night.

QUESTED: Thank you very much for having me, Ari.

MELBER: We try to go to the source on a lot of this stuff so it is interesting always to hear from witnesses. Given that this happened last night, do you feel that the core facts that you had to share what you saw and documented came through? Is there anything else that you wanted to make sure you conveyed?

QUESTED: No, I think that the committee had a very erudite and concise roadmap to presenting their case. I think as far as I`m concerned, they took the crux of my footage and used it very effectively.

MELBER: One potential tension here on the side of the Proud Boys is if they indeed had a premeditated plan to storm the Capitol which was really one of the core moments of your testimony as reported, starting as early as the 10:00 hour that morning of the 6th, why did they also allow an independent outsider to film them in advance?

QUESTED: I don`t know, I don`t know if they had -- I mean, from my account I didn`t document them planning, but, you know, there`s a lot of hubris from people who were involved in this type of activities, like, so if they thought they`re on the right side of history, am I documenting the Jacobins in the French Revolution?

MELBER: Understood, and there`s those references in some of the grievance culture on the right to both being right or ultimately having the law come back around to support them or the privilege of thinking that you could do that to officers and storm and the law would not apply to you.

Were there any turning points then? I mean, you say the hubris, but on the eve, on the morning, were there any turning points from what they were doing and saying or what you were observing where it seemed to escalate, I mean, before they actually breached the Capitol?

QUESTED: Well, the barrier at the Peace Circle was really the Rubicon and when that Rubicon was crushed the language changed, the chanting changed, the whole demeanor of the crowd changed. It went from an agitated, you know, boisterous crowd into a crowd that was directly challenging the police. They were challenging them to choose a side or that they were traitors or that they were just on the wrong side of history.

So it was a direct challenge, the crowd was louder and there was more and more people coming, and then suddenly they were -- they pushed through that barrier and they made it into the next barrier and suddenly that small barrier is being kicked over and people are making makeshift weapons.

MELBER: Yes. You have some of that footage of the storming here when they also harmed Officer Edwards. We`ll play a brief part of that.

UNIDENTIFIED PROTESTERS: USA! USA! USA! USA!

MELBER: We see the impact on her there. Among many features of this and that`s some of the footage that the committee used in addition to yours is exposing these groups who were lying deeply with Trump fans as hating police, being against police, hating blue lives, wanting to hurt them to a criminal level caught on tape.

Where does that fit into your understanding of this group that you were documenting?

QUESTED: Well, there was a marked shift, when you look at the rallies earlier in the year, there would be the Proud Boys would -- would state, we`re on your side. They would scream back the blue, back the blue, back the blue. And on December 12, particularly, the D.C. police were separating the Proud Boys from BLM on BLM Plaza. And they felt that there wasn`t a line that they were going to cross.

They refuse to engage the police, or in any meaningful way. They did not want to -- in early rallies. So, this was a marked difference as well. But this wasn`t just Proud Boys there. There was all sorts of people and the crowd was just building and building and building. It was like water. It was just pushing against the barriers and it was going round the edge of the barriers and the weight just became impossible to hold back.

MELBER: Did you hear anyone on the 5th or the 6th as you got close to that time there directly or indirectly reference Trump allies, more senior officials, former officials as having wind of this?

QUESTED: No, I didn`t hear anything like that. But I did hear while we were scurrying from the peace circle towards the barriers. Before they came, I did hear someone scream. Now let`s get those votes.

MELBER: And finally, there`s been a lot of discussion of process, we have endeavored to interview anyone involved here who will talk. You get that because you`re a journalist yourself. We`ve heard from some people dealing with the committee that in their view, it is invalid, unlawful, or unprofessional. Our viewers have heard those interviews. Given that you have dealt with the committee and now been one of the sort of the star witnesses.

What is your overall view of your dealings with the committee, obviously, as a journalist, there are issues that can come up with regard to what you do and don`t share and professional issues? I`m just curious, your overall view having dealt with the committee, do you find it valid and professional?

QUESTED: No, I felt the committee was exceptionally professional. And I thought the investigative counsel, at every level, were very well researched. And I`m working from a very much a facts-based perspective. I talked to them initially on backgrounds, and I appeared under subpoena because I was providing certain work products to the committee.

MELBER: (INAUDIBLE) go ahead, sir.

QUESTED: No, no, I was just saying I felt that they`re being -- they`re -- they`re endeavoring to get to the facts of this case. And you know, they`re making a real effort to make sure that everything will be laid out to -- so that this never happens again.

MELBER: Very interesting, and as I think people know, just as executive privilege is a real thing with limits. There are types of journalistic privilege with limits, there are ways to come to legal accommodations. And I know a lot of people were really interested if not riveted by some of what you shared last night. So, hearing your own assessment, in your words, that committee adds to our public record as people hear about what they`re up to. So, I appreciate that and your time, Nick, thank you.

QUESTED: Thank you so much, Ari.

MELBER: Appreciate it. We`re going to fit in a break but coming up justice Thomas`s wife going even farther than was previously exposed, trying to help steal an election. And the Ivanka testimony. What else will be revealed? What`s coming in the Monday hearing? Committee member Zoe Lofgren is here next.

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY), JANUARY 6 COMMITTEE MEMBER: President Trump engaged in a massive effort to spread false and fraudulent information. President Trump`s efforts to pressure Vice President Mike Pence. President Trump corruptly pressured state legislators and election officials. President Trump summoned a violent mob and directed them illegally to march on the United States Capitol.

MELBER: Vice-Chair Liz Cheney previewing the central themes of next hearing on Monday and I`m joined now by January 6 committee member Zoe Lofgren. A Democratic congresswoman from California. We -- thank you for being here. I was going to say we know you. We know your work. And a lot of people who watch know you`re on the committee.

It was a deliberate choice that we didn`t hear from you or the majority of committee members last night. So, walk us through when we will hear from you and how you guys are giving this up as we look towards Monday.

ZOE LOFGREN (D-CA), JANUARY 6 COMMITTEE MEMBER: Well, each of us is taking the lead responsibility for some of the hearings in Monday. It will be my turn to play a more leading role. Obviously, all the committee members have played a big part of bringing us to the day itself. We will focus on the false narrative that the president engaged in that the election was stolen, it wasn`t, it was not.

He was told it wasn`t. We can go through the specific allegations and how they were disproven. We will go through what happened in some of the states and we`ll use, you know, taped interviews, documents, and some live witnesses as well.

MELBER: You know, sometimes we get into complex stuff. I have a very simple question for you. And it`s Friday, so maybe we can, you know, take a breather in the middle of the interview. Why does it matter, that Trump -- according to the evidence, knew he lost rather than was perhaps mistaken?

LOFGREN: Well, it goes to consciousness of guilt. But he also used this fraudulent election scheme to whip up the mob that we saw last night. So, the fundraising that he did off the lie of the agitation that he created at the mob, it was all part of the scheme to overturn the election. And the election is supposed to choose the next president, not the incumbent. As Liz said, I think, he -- on the morning of the 6th, he planned to stay in power, even though he`d lost the election.

That`s never happened in American history before. And I think the threat is ongoing to the country because he has convinced millions of people who trust him, who voted for him. He has misled them into thinking that the election system doesn`t work so that he can seize power. That is very -- yes. That`s very dangerous.

MELBER: No, I hope people are listening to you. You put that very clearly and that`s -- that should be a baseline requirement for office. It should be nonpartisan. You know, congresswoman, you have experience, I think, you know, and in your party, there are people who don`t love Al Gore, there are. Not everyone loves. And there are people who don`t love George W. Bush. Not everyone loves it.

But both those people, whatever one thinks of them. Were reportedly according to all evidence we have on the same page, that in a dispute about the election, they would go through the law, and they would accept the outcome. They both said that publicly and privately from what we know. And in this case, of course, more on the loser than the winner because the winner likes the outcome.

In that case, like it or not, Al Gore was the loser of the Supreme Court decision, which then is we know what led to the results. That`s the baseline. Donald Trump has the evidence showed last night and was -- we`ll hear from you next week, doesn`t meet that minimum threshold and instead is acting like an autocrat.

Before I lose you, I did want to get on the other news, Ginni Thomas, reporting makes it look worse and worse pressing in Arizona. 27 more than previously known -- is how many 29 total Republican state lawmakers asking them to potentially -- I guess, be involved in an illegal plot, potentially commit elective fraud. Your response?

LOFGREN: Well, that is not going to be the subject of our hearing on Monday. That`s -- it`s the big lie. That`s the subject. As certainly, there is a lot of evidence, documents which you have, and we have, about a variety of efforts made to have state legislators overturn the election.

To discount the electors selected by the voters and put instead the loser of the election into the Electoral College and those emails are part of a broader scheme that all can be traced back -- I mean, they did not randomly occur. There was an organized effort that we can trace and that we will provide evidence for.

MELBER: Understood and I know it`s -- I mentioned, it`s the weekend`s coming, I imagine it`s a working weekend for you. So, here on this Friday evening, appreciate you making time, Congresswoman Lofgren.

LOFGREN: Thank you. See you Monday.

MELBER: OK, we`ll be watching. See you Monday. I`m going to fit in a break now. Up ahead, Fox News, I guess they need to save space. A sensitive kind of bubble. A censorship and to cancel culture. Why did everything I just say describe their approach to the hearings because they can`t handle -- you guessed it, the truth. We`ll get into that. Our break down with some special guests. Next.

MELBER: We have the data. Most Americans don`t watch news at night. But with this unusual blockbuster approach by Congress for primetime hearings, which most networks deem newsworthy enough to carry. We have the numbers. Last night over 90 million people saw some of the hearings live, plus millions more in coverage and reaction including this morning and across the whole internet.

So that footage played out across virtually all the major networks you see here with one glaring exception in the middle. Every network with a newsroom chose to air this. Those are independent news judgments as they do for any big government events regardless of which party is in charge. Fox though, outed and isolated itself with this censorship approach.

And I`ve got two special guests to get into all of this right now. A comedian that I am sure many of you know and cherish, Tommy Davidson`s BEAT debut. The original cast member of the iconic 90s show, In Living Color. We`re going to get to that in a minute. He`s also gone in Spike Lee`s Bamboozled as the Oscar -- excuse me as the voice of Oscar Proud, the beloved cartoon character.

And he`s got some new music out of jazz singles Sweet Reunion. And back with us author, friend of THE BEAT Michael Steele. Welcome to both of you. Michael, you look at the cancel approach here. Fox wants to cancel what it disagrees with. No other news network did that. For your response and your fallback of the week. Here`s a little bit of a fact check on what was on Fox last night and what the rest of America saw.

MICHAEL STEELE, FORMER LIEUTENANT GOVERNOR OF MARYLAND: Gotcha.

TUCKER CARLSON, HOST, FOX NEWS: Yet another lecture about January 6 tonight, an outbreak of mob violence, a forgettable minor outbreak by recent standards.

SEAN HANNITY, HOST, FOX NEWS: This is now about a security failure of incredible magnitude, and they don`t even seem to want to talk about it. The one person that looks good is Donald Trump.

LAURA INGRAHAM, HOST, FOX NEWS: An unsuccessful laborious attempt to connect the dots back to Trump. So, Trump to a coup that never happened.

STEELE: Well, they just sound stupid. I`m sorry. And -- you know, he (INAUDIBLE). Look, the reality of it is, you didn`t want to show it, talk about it, because you`re part of the story. Fox`s part of the story. They`re emails and text messages from all the folks who just showed. So of course, they don`t want to show that. You got to -- if you`re going to perpetuate a lie, you`re going to perpetuate it to an obvious conclusion.

And that is until someone just shut it down completely. Well, that`s what this committee is in the process of doing. They don`t want to be a part of that. Which gets me to my fallback, Friday moment. For all you Republicans out there, who think Donald Trump actually gives a crap about you, or anything related to you, just asked Mike Pence how that feels, baby. To know -- to know that the president United States stood there and says that you deserve to die.

Because you wouldn`t do what I instructed you to do. Now, I don`t know how y`all going to, you know, deal with that. There are a whole lot of psychiatry and psychologists and people you can lay on a couch with about that. But you need to get your stuff together. And Tommy, let me just say, boy, it`s just a pleasure to be on with you, man.

TOMMY DAVIDSON, COMEDIAN: Thank you. Thank you so much. It`s nice to see both of you man. I`m glad I`m the comedian on here. Because there`s a lot that`s funny these days. Do you know what I mean?

MELBER: Funny ha, ha, of funny, terrible?

DAVIDSON: Yes, you know, what I have to say about all that is, you know, the denial is a river in Egypt. We all know that one. You know what I mean? And the proof always comes up -- that, you know, the proof always comes out. And we`ll just have to see. You know what I mean? It`s just been a great career for me.

I`m a big fan, Ari, of you guys over there, and Rachel. And I was ironically, I was on a cruise ship doing a television show. The whole four years Trump was in office and when he got voted in. So, the only way that I got news was from you guys, you know, so I watched the whole (INAUDIBLE).

MELBER: Well as -- as the Lonely Island guys used to say I`m on a boat.

DAVIDSON: Exactly. Exactly, but, you know, it`s -- you have my perspective as, well, man.

MELBER: Well, let me jump in on this because you very kindly say that and shout out to Rachel, we are all fans of Rachel here, but we`re not going to let you talk about us, Michael and I do want to shout out and live in color. I grew up on this pioneering social commentary goofiness. And you know, if you know Michael Steele, you know, there`s a lot of times where he just looks at what`s going on in politics and says homie, don`t play that. Let`s take a look at some highlights.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Welcome to the homeboy shopping network.

KIM WAYANS, COMEDIAN: Former presidential candidate Mr. Ross Perot.

JIM CARREY, COMEDIAN: Apparently, some folks got upset when I referred to African-Americans as you people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From Boogie Down Bronx, Jennifer Lopez.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Mr. Williams, is this your attorney?

JAMIE FOXX, COMEDIAN AND ACTOR: No, he just hanging.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Homie, homie, homie --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Homie don`t play that.

MELBER: Am. I got a two-parter for you. What did that mean to you all then doing this work together as a team that has pioneered, a space that then was less supported in terms of platforms, and now you have so much more obviously, and two what`s on your mind? Because I know you`re working on issues and gun violence and other things. So, take it away.

DAVIDSON: We`re just proud because we knew -- we knew what the show meant to America, you know, were the hottest comics at the time. Keenen Ivory Wayans was like Professor Xavier from X-Men, he just grabbed us, put us on T.V. And we brought color to T.V., not color to T.V. But we prove to America that all Americans laughed at the same things.

Now when we`re in the black and white era, everybody laughed at Andy Griffith, everybody laughed at I Love Lucy. We all laugh at the same things. But we were able to prove that we all really do coming into the 90s because we showed faces that weren`t shown on T.V., doing the same type of things that we all laugh at.

You know, we were outgrowth of laughing, outgrowth of the 70s because we were kids with that. So, we were just very proud and then we brought in this new pop culture that now is prevalent, now it`s corporate, now you know -- it being cool and being a part of each other`s lives was in style at one time and In Living Color big, big part of that.

MELBER: Respect to that. And now I got -- I, like, 20 seconds, but tell me what you`re doing about gun violence.

DAVIDSON: I`m down here right now in San Antonio doing the show at a comedy club and I`m raising some money for the Uvalde victims` families. So, proceeds of that will go to that because I think our children are really -- not only think, I know how important our children are, because -- how about this? There are children.

So, I`m going to be first, you know, there`s a lot of news out there, especially being a stand-up comic. And you know, all the stuff that`s happening to us. Well, that gives us a good platform to say simple things like, you know, we don`t want our children killed by guns because lawmakers want to sit down and not make it happen.

MELBER: Yes, it all makes sense. And as we try to do it out here, we cover more than one thing. I`m thrilled to meet you because like I said, grew up on it. Michael clearly watches and I feel like other people out there do too. So, Tommy Davidson, thank you. And I`m glad you enjoyed your time on the cruise ship.

DAVIDSON: And thank you guys too, and stay out there on the battle -- on the battlefield. We need you, man.

MELBER: There it is. Tommy and Michael. Appreciate it. We`ll be back tonight with one more thing.

MELBER: There has been a lot of news across this week and through last night, and a programming note, I am not done working or spending time with you. I`ll be anchoring tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern with these special guests. Committee member Elaine Luria, Chai Komanduri, who you may recall, our friend Michael Beschloss, and more. It is anchoring live at 9:00 p.m. Eastern tonight. So, you can join me there 9:00 p.m. Eastern, 6:00 p.m. Pacific. And I hope you have a great weekend. "THE REIDOUT WITH JOY REID" is up next.