Exclusive: Trump 'was getting his advice from people who were demented': official

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Rep. Norma Torres (D-CA) briefly spoke with Raw Story during the break of the fourth public hearing of the House Select Committee on Tuesday, saying that what continues to shock her is that people who should know better were promoting conspiracies.

"It's heartbreaking how this man was able to fool so many American people," she said. "And you wonder, educated, professionals who know the system and understand the system — why they went along with what the president was stating for so long."

She specifically cited former Attorney General Bill Barr who waited so long before he came out about the details around the attempt to overthrow the election. Barr remained largely silent between his infamous interview with the Associated Press and when his book was released.

"It is not surprising to me that people who were fooled by the president then came out and violently attacked us," she noted.

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She said that the probe is important to her because, "as a person who sat for 45 minutes in the House gallery listening to what sounded liked a herd of elephants trying to get to us, it's important to me to have closure — to understand what led to that violent attack... This is our Democracy. We almost lost it."

Torres said that one thing missing is that the American people don't fully understand how democracy works and how elections work.

"The average voter just goes to cast their vote and if their candidates win, great. If not, they may frown for a couple of hours and then they move on. The president didn't move on. He called for violence," she said.

Trump then ignored his own legal advisers, and even his own daughter, she said, all of whom told him that he lost the election.

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She went on to speculate that Trump's biggest problem is that he's never heard "no" his entire life and because of that it's "difficult to feel that rejection."

Meanwhile, "he was getting advice from people who were demented," she said.

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