00:00 [BLANK_AUDIO]
00:10 Good afternoon, Representative Swalwell.
00:15 >> Good afternoon, Counsel.
00:16 [BLANK_AUDIO]
00:20 >> Am I correct that you weren't injured on January 6th?
00:24 >> I was not, no, not injured.
00:27 >> Yet you are the plaintiff in a personal injury lawsuit that you brought
00:32 against Donald Trump in the United States District Court, District of Columbia.
00:36 Is that correct?
00:37 >> Yes.
00:39 >> And you're seeking damages in that lawsuit?
00:41 >> Unstated, but yes, meaning no dollar amount is in the state.
00:48 >> And as a lawyer, you understand that if this proceeding
00:54 against President Trump is successful, that would improve your chances of success in that lawsuit?
00:59 Correct?
01:01 >> Counsel, can you rephrase the question?
01:03 >> Yeah, you're a lawyer, are you not?
01:05 >> Yes.
01:06 >> And you understand that if this case goes against President Trump,
01:11 that likely increases your probability of success in your personal injury lawsuit against him, right?
01:15 >> Objection, Your Honor, with all this.
01:17 >> Goes to bias, Your Honor.
01:20 >> Go for it, Walt.
01:23 >> I'll leave it to the legal experts as to what this means for a separate lawsuit, I don't know.
01:28 >> Is it your view, sir, that President Trump has some or
01:50 had some lesser quantum of First Amendment rights than every other American on January 6th?
01:56 >> No, it's not right.
02:00 >> So he enjoyed the full, as far as you're concerned, he had every right that every other American had to speak with full First Amendment protections on that date.
02:10 >> In accordance with the law, yes.
02:19 >> And you pointed out that during his January 6th speech,
02:24 he used the phrase fight and fight like hell, correct?
02:27 >> Yes.
02:30 >> Okay, and you would acknowledge that that is in fact common or
02:35 not uncommon discourse in political circles during speeches, right?
02:41 >> Sorry, could you clarify?
02:44 >> Yeah, politicians often say fight, fight like hell, or words like that, right, when they give speeches.
02:49 >> Yes, sir.
02:50 >> You've done it yourself, right?
02:52 >> I have. >> Many of your Democratic colleagues do that too, right?
02:55 >> That's right, that's correct.
02:58 >> And when you do it, you're not calling for physical violence, right?
03:03 >> I am not.
03:05 >> And you're not saying that your Democratic colleagues are calling for physical violence, right?
03:09 >> In my experience, that's not how I interpret it, no.
03:13 >> And you judge that by the words that are said, right?
03:18 >> And the surroundings of where they are, yes.
03:21 >> I'd like to show you
03:34 exhibit 1066, which was designated as a cross exhibit.
03:45 >> Well, I'm not asking you to put it up on the screen.
03:52 I'm asking, did you have an objection to that?
03:54 >> No, I don't know.
03:57 >> Could you put up exhibit 1066, please?
04:00 >> Are you asking for it to be admitted?
04:03 >> I will, yes, since it appears to be no objection.
04:06 Can it be admitted, Your Honor?
04:07 >> Yeah, 1066 is admitted.
04:12 >> And sir, I will represent to you that this is a collection of tweets from your Twitter account.
04:19 And,
04:21 >> [INAUDIBLE]
04:29 >> We're having a slight technical snafu, so ask me to bear with us.
04:33 >> [INAUDIBLE]
05:01 >> I'm not going to go through all of these, sir, but why don't we look at page 16 first?
05:07 So if you put page 16 up.
05:09 And I ask you if you recognize that as a tweet from your verified Twitter account, dated May 2nd, 2022?
05:23 >> Yes, sir.
05:24 >> Okay, and you wrote, if you think they'll stop with a woman's right to choose, you haven't been paying attention.
05:30 We have to fight like our lives depend on it, because clearly they do.
05:33 You wrote that, right?
05:35 >> Yes, I did.
05:36 >> And you were not calling for any sort of physical fight, correct?
05:39 >> No, sir, I was not.
05:41 >> You were not advocating violence?
05:42 >> I was not.
05:46 >> And look at the next page, please.
05:49 And this is another tweet from your verified account, is that right?
05:54 >> Yes, sir.
05:56 >> And you wrote, this is just the beginning, they won't stop.
06:01 Fight like your lives depend on it, because they do, right?
06:04 >> It says #voteLewis, yes.
06:10 >> And again, you were not calling for physical violence, that was a metaphorical fight, right?
06:14 >> Right.
06:15 >> And I could go through a bunch more examples, but I'm not going to spend a great deal of time on that.
06:23 There was one other, I did want to bring your attention to ask you about.
06:31 If you would look at page 13, please.
06:36 Is this a tweet from your verified Twitter account, dated February 4th, 2022?
06:46 >> Looks like it, yes.
06:48 >> Okay, and you write there, Cheney and
06:53 Kinzinger may not be in my party, but in this fight, we're all on the same side.
06:57 You see that?
06:59 >> Yes, I do.
07:01 >> And what fight were you referring to here?
07:03 >> I have to see the tweet above it to have context, but
07:07 I'm assuming based on the date that it
07:14 refers to the January 6th investigation, but I have no confidence.
07:19 >> But when you say the January 6th investigation, you mean the January 6th select committee?
07:24 >> Yes.
07:25 >> Okay, and that was because Representative Cheney and
07:29 Kinzinger were the two Republican members who Speaker Pelosi had appointed to that committee,
07:34 is that right?
07:36 And you considered them to be on your side of that fight, correct?
07:43 >> I think I said we, but all of our side, yes, which I was on, yes.
07:48 >> Okay, all right, we'll put that exhibit aside.
07:51 Now, earlier today,
08:00 counsel showed you some tweets by President Trump.
08:07 You remember that?
08:08 >> I do.
08:09 >> Did counsel pick which tweets they were going to show you, or
08:12 did you discuss with them which tweets you wanted to testify about?
08:15 >> Chosen by counsel.
08:17 >> Did you have an objection?
08:19 >> I'll let him go.
08:23 >> I'm sorry, so now I missed the, can you repeat the question and answer it?
08:29 >> I think he said that they were chosen by counsel.
08:31 >> Okay.
08:31 >> So one that counsel focused on,
08:40 if you would put up the 224 PM, so
08:45 this is exhibit 148, page 83 in that first one.
08:49 Do you remember discussing this one at 224 PM?
08:52 >> Yes, I did.
08:58 >> And then if you go to the next page, the second tweet on that page.
09:07 Can you remember discussing the second tweet from 601 PM?
09:11 >> Yes, I did.
09:12 >> Okay, now let's look at the two that counsel decided to skip that were right in between those two.
09:16 Okay, let's look first at the tweet from 15 minutes after the first one you discussed at 224 PM.
09:24 Page 83, second tweet on the page.
09:29 >> I see it.
09:35 >> Okay, and at 238 PM, 15 minutes or so after the tweet that
09:41 you discussed about Vice President Pence, you see that President Trump wrote,
09:49 please support our Capitol Police and law enforcement.
09:52 They are truly on the side of our country.
09:54 Stay peaceful.
09:55 Do you see that?
09:57 >> Yes, I do.
09:57 >> Do you remember reading that on January 6th?
10:00 >> I do.
10:01 >> What did you understand that tweet to mean?
10:06 >> That he needed a ten-X before he said it, before the mob had come.
10:15 But he, I imagine, had seen the violence committed against the officers.
10:20 And believed that he had the power,
10:26 because he sent them there, to stop them from abusing the officers.
10:30 >> So that's what, strike that.
10:37 So whether he had the power or not, certainly he's telling people
10:43 to support our Capitol Police and law enforcement and stay peaceful, right?
10:50 >> And ask for your pass.
10:52 >> Yeah, and he told them that in his speech, right?
10:55 He told them to proceed peaceably and patriotically to the Capitol, right?
11:00 >> You have to play that for me.
11:04 >> Okay, well, the judges heard it, so I'm not gonna take the time to replay it now.
11:09 Let's look at the next tweet that he sent at 3.13 PM, if you could put that up, please.
11:13 You see that tweet?
11:15 He says, I'm asking for everyone at the US Capitol to remain peaceful.
11:20 No violence, exclamation mark.
11:22 Remember, we are the party of law and order.
11:25 Respect the law and our great men and women in blue.
11:27 Thank you, exclamation mark.
11:30 See that?
11:30 >> I do, sir.
11:32 >> Okay, do you remember reading that on January 6th?
11:35 >> I do, yes.
11:37 >> Okay, what did you understand that to mean on January 6th, sir?
11:42 >> That a lot of violence had taken place.
11:46 At that time, I was, as I said, probably just arriving with a gas mask in my hand
11:51 to the evacuation room, and the President is asking
11:56 the violent rioters to stop attacking the police.
12:03 >> So that's a couple of posts between the two posts that you have previously discussed,
12:10 where the President is asking people to stop attacking and be peaceful, right?
12:16 >> In these tweets, yes.
12:19 >> In those tweets.
12:20 And we looked at a short video, about one minute,
12:27 where he asked people to do exactly the same thing, right?
12:30 To be peaceful.
12:31 >> Essentially, yes.
12:32 >> Yeah, and that came somewhere in the 3 o'clock hour, so
12:36 presumably around or slightly after that 3.13 PM tweet, right?
12:40 >> That's about right.
12:42 >> Yeah.
12:44 >> I'm done with that now, but thank you.
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12:56 I'm done with that now, but thank you.
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13:17 I don't have any further questions for you, sir.
13:36 >> Thank you very much.
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