The former federal judge J. Michael Luttig, who counseled then-Vice President Mike Pence's team in the days before the 2021 U.S. Capitol attack, spoke to FRONTLINE ahead of his anticipated House Jan. 6 committee appearance.
“The plan was to overturn the election through the exploitation of what I've called the institutions of democracy and the instruments and instrumentalities of our democracy,” Luttig told FRONTLINE in a May 25, 2022, interview — his first for television.
Luttig served on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit from 1991 to 2006. Prior to his time on the bench, Luttig was assistant counsel to the president under Ronald Reagan and clerked for then-judge Antonin Scalia and for Supreme Court Justice Warren Burger. He also served as assistant attorney general in charge of the Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice under George H.W. Bush. After leaving government service in 2006, he entered the private sector, where he has worked for both Boeing and Coca-Cola. He is currently retired.
This interview is being published as part of FRONTLINE’s Transparency Project, an effort to open up the source material behind our documentaries. Explore the transcript of this interview, and others, on the FRONTLINE website: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/in...
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CHAPTERS:
Rising Concern During the 2016 Elections - 0:00:00
The Trump Presidency - 0:08:25
The 2020 Election - 0:18:01
Initial Response to the 2020 Election Results - 0:25:42
Growing Concern of a Constitutional Crisis - 0:48:33
A Call From Richard Cullen - 1:00:39
“We need to help the vice president.” - 1:21:44
An “Assault From Within” - 1:48:42
The Jan. 6 Attack on the Capitol - 2:02:35
A Call from the Vice President - 2:08:27
The Response to the Events of Jan. 6 - 2:15:22
A “Clear and Present Danger” - 2:27:48
The Twitter Thread - 2:35:21
