The story came out in the book, "Peril," but the exchange between Trump and Pence was shocking enough to make its way to the hearing. After Pence told Trump he did not have the power to ignore the electoral results, Trump responded, "If these [Trump's] people say you have the power, wouldn't you want to?" Pence responded, "I wouldn't want any one person to have that authority."

Trump's response is shocking ... "But wouldn't it almost be cool to have that power?" When you break that down, it's almost as if Trump is saying forget about whether you ACTUALLY have that power ... it would be cool to do it anyway. That's pretty close to saying in spite of not having authority, why not just undermine democracy and do it anyway -- and that could show the kind of intent the Dept. of Justice is investigating.

The capper is equally shocking ... when Pence persisted that he had tried to find legit ways to challenge the election results, this was a line he would not cross, and Trump responded, "No no no. You don't understand Mike. You can do this. I don't want to be your friend anymore if you don't do this."