>>> TODAY, THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY MADE A BIG ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT JANUARY 6th, 2025. TODAY, THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY DESIGNATED CONGRESS' CERTIFICATION OF ELECTORAL VOTES -- WHICH HAPPENS ON JANUARY 6th, 2025 -- THEY DESIGNATED THAT A NATIONAL SPECIAL SECURITY EVENT. THAT MEANS A ROUTINE BID OF CONGRESSIONAL BUSINESS IS NOW GOING TO HAVE THE SAME LEVEL OF SECRET SERVICE PROTECTION AS PRESIDENTIAL INAUGURATION'S AND THE SUPER BOWL. AND HERE IS HOW HOUSE SPEAKER MIKE JOHNSON RESPONDED TO THAT NEWS. >> Reporter: AND WHAT YOU THINK OF JANUARY 6th BEING DESIGNATED NOW AS A NATIONAL SECURITY EVENT? DO YOU THINK THAT IS NECESSARY? >> I DIDN'T EVEN HEAR THAT THAT HAPPENED. WHO DID THAT? >> Reporter: DHS DESIGNATED IT AS A NATIONAL SECURITY EVENT. >> IT SOUNDS LIKE POLITICS TO ME. >> "IT SOUNDS LIKE POLITICS TO ME." JOINING ME NOW IS SUSAN GLASSER, STAFF WRITER AT THE NEW YORKER. NOW, MIKE JOHNSON WAS ONE OF THE RINGLEADERS OF THE 2020 JANUARY 6th PLOT. MARK ELIAS CALLS HIM, OTHER THAN FORMER PRESIDENT TRUMP, ARGUABLY THE MOST CULPABLE FEDERALLY ELECTED OFFICIAL IN WHAT TRANSPIRED THAT DAY. WHAT YOU MAKE OF HIS REACTION TO DESIGNATING THE CERTIFICATION A NATIONAL SECURITY EVENT? >> WELL, YOU KNOW, IT WAS REALLY STRIKING TO HEAR HIM SAY, "I THINK IT SOUNDS LIKE POLITICS," BECAUSE, OF COURSE, IT WAS TRUMP AND HIS ALLIES ON CAPITOL HILL, SUCH AS CARSON JOHNSON, THAT TURNED AN EVENT LIKE THAT INTO POLITICS, THAT IS REALLY A MINISTERIAL, CONSTITUTIONAL FUNCTION OF THE GOVERNMENT. AND IT REALLY IS SO STRIKING, BECAUSE WE ARE, ONCE AGAIN, FOUR YEARS LATER, IN AN ELECTION IN WHICH THE CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES FOR THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IS ALREADY ATTACKING AND UNDERMINING THE BASIS ON WHICH THE ELECTION WILL OCCUR, SAYING THAT THERE ARE GOING TO BE QUESTIONS ABOUT IT, THAT IT IS GOING TO BE FRAUDULENT, THAT IT WILL BE UNFAIR, AND OF COURSE CALLING UPON HIS ALLIES ON CAPITOL HILL TO SUPPORT HIM IN WHATEVER CLAIMS HE MAKES. THAT IS THE AMAZING THING. IMAGINE CALLING AN ELECTION RIGGED BEFORE IT EVEN TAKES PLACE. THAT IS THE SITUATION WE FIND OURSELVES IN, AGAIN. YOU KNOW, I DON'T KNOW IF IT WILL BE JANUARY 6th OR SOME OTHER WAY IN WHICH TRUMP CHOOSES TO ATTACK OR UNDERMINE THE LEGITIMACY OF THE ELECTION. IF HE LOSES IT, AGAIN. BUT, I THINK THERE IS A VERY REAL BASIS FOR THOSE CONCERNS. >> IF YOU ARE PAYING ATTENTION TO THE SORT OF SIGNALS THAT ARE BEING GIVEN, WHETHER BY THE DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY, OR BY THE ATTORNEY GENERAL, I FEEL LIKE A NORMAL PERSON THINKS, "I'M A LITTLE BIT WORRIED ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS THIS ELECTION SEASON." TODAY, MERRICK GARLAND, NOT KNOWN TO BE A PUBLIC ALARMIST, GAVE VERY UNUSUAL REMARKS TO THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE STAFF TODAY, WHERE HE CALLED OUT ATTACKS ON PROSECUTORS AND DOJ PERSONNEL, AND TALKED ABOUT CONSPIRACY THEORIES, AND JUST WANT THE PUBLIC AND OBVIOUSLY HIS STAFF, THAT THIS WAS VERY DANGEROUS AND THE ENVIRONMENT WAS VERY, VERY THREATENING TO THE INTEGRITY AND THE SAFETY OF THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE AND ITS EMPLOYEES. HE DIDN'T NAME TRUMP BY NAME, BUT IT IS -- SUSAN, CORRECT ME IF I AM WRONG -- VERY UNUSUAL TO HAVE SOMEONE LIKE MERRICK GARLAND SAYING THAT 54 DAYS BEFORE AN ELECTION? >> THERE IS, OF COURSE, THIS IS SOMETHING WE HAVEN'T REALLY SEEN BEFORE. MERRICK GARLAND, AS YOU SAID, IS A VERY CAUTIOUS OFFICIAL, NOT GIVING IN TO INFLAMMATORY STATEMENTS. I THOUGHT THAT SPEECH WAS QUITE REMARKABLE, AND IT IS VERY CONSISTENT, OF COURSE, WITH TRUMP BEING VERY CLEAR ABOUT WANTING TO USE, YOU KNOW, ESSENTIALLY TO ATTACK THE INSTITUTIONS THAT ARE SET UP TO SAFEGUARD THE DEMOCRACY. I WAS VERY STRUCK. SURPRISED IT DIDN'T GET AS MUCH ATTENTION, PROBABLY UNDERSTANDABLY, GIVEN ALL OF THE INCOHERENT AND INFLAMMATORY THINGS THAT TRUMP SAID IN THAT DEBATE THE OTHER NIGHT. BUT I WILL POINT OUT, HE WAS ASKED ABOUT JANUARY 6th, HE WAS ASKED ABOUT HIS ELECTION LIES, AND HE CHOSE TO DOUBLE DOWN ON THEM IN THE DEBATE THE OTHER NIGHT. HE SAID NOT ONLY THAT THE ELECTION HAD BEEN RIGGED AND STOLEN FROM HIM, BUT HE CONTINUES TO SAY THAT HE IS GOING TO CONTINUE TO HARDEN -- PARDON THE JANUARY 6th INSURRECTIONIST. AND HE CALLS THEM, AS YOU KNOW, REPEATEDLY IN HIS RALLIES, HE CALLS THEM, ESSENTIALLY, MARTYRS TO THE CAUSE OF DONALD TRUMP, AND THAT IS THE SIDE THAT HE HAS TAKEN ON. I NOTICED KAMALA HARRIS MADE A POINT OF SAYING, HOW MANY POLICE OFFICERS WERE INJURED ON JANUARY 6th, 2021. YOU KNOW, POINTING OUT THAT DONALD TRUMP CLAIMS TO BE SOMEONE WHO BACKS LAW ENFORCEMENT, WHO IS ANTI-CRIME. BUT, I'M JUST -- I THINK THAT IN THIS ELECTION SEASON, WE ARE GOING TO SEE MORE AND MORE ESCALATION THE CLOSER IT GETS TO THE ELECTION ITSELF, BECAUSE TRUMP IS ACTIVELY ENGAGED IN A CAMPAIGN OF UNDERMINING THE LEGITIMACY OF AN ELECTION THAT HE MIGHT LOSE AGAIN. >> YEAH, HE IS ALREADY SAYING TODAY ON THE CAMPAIGN TRAIL, "I THINK WE ARE GOING TO WIN VERY BIG AND AS LO