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New Day

Trump Finally Concedes Defeat but Does Not Explicitly Say He Lost; U.S. Capitol Police Officer Dies from Injuries Suffered During Siege; U.S. Reports 4,000 Deaths on Deadliest Day of Pandemic; Trump Facing Growing Pressure to Resign or Face Second Impeachment; FBI Asks Public to Help Identify Terrorists Who Stormed U.S. Capitol. Aired 6- 6:30a ET

Aired January 08, 2021 - 06:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20.

[05:59:51]

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The president released this message this evening, because his House is on fire.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: His people are jumping ship. He's looking at a Congress that wants to impeach him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Investigators have already charged a number of people. Everything is on the table, and that includes the president.

JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: The U.S. has seen a record number of people die from COVID-19. The daily death toll passed more than 4,000.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every six seconds now, a new case, and every eight minutes, somebody's dying.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ANNOUNCER: This is NEW DAY with Alisyn Camerota and John Berman.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY. It's Friday, January 8, 6 a.m. here in New York.

And this morning, "The Wall Street Journal" is calling on Donald Trump to resign.

A Capitol police officer died overnight from injuries suffered after Donald Trump sent a mob of insurrectionists to the Capitol. Yes, the president put out a scripted video where, for the first time, he acknowledged out loud that someone else will be president on January 20, and he made sounds with his mouth that condemned the deadly mob terror. But there's another video you need to see this morning, taken by

Donald Trump Jr. just before the president told the crowd to go to the Capitol to overturn the results of the election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC: "GLORIA" BY LAURA BRANIGAN)

(KIMBERLY GUILFOYLE DANCING)

(IVANKA TRUMP AND DONALD TRUMP LISTENING TO MUSIC)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Yes, they're all there. Kimberly Guilfoyle, positively giddy about telling a mob to go to the Capitol. Dan Scavino, Kayleigh McEnany, Donald Trump Jr., Donald Trump, Ivanka Trump, Eric Trump, they're all there.

Does this look like a group with any reservations? Literally dancing in anticipation of what they're about to tell the mob. Dancing in anticipation of the insurrection.

A Capitol police officer is dead this morning after they told that mob to go to the Capitol. And my deepest apologies to the memory of Laura Branigan, whose music should never be a background to something so deplorable.

Overnight, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos became the second -- second cabinet member to resign. Again, the resignation only came after the insurrection that left the Capitol police officer dead, not during the months where Donald Trump was saying the things that might have inspired it.

Ted Cruz, the political general who led the charge to overturn the election, a charge that inspired the insurrection that led to the death of a Capitol police officer, overnight he made the claim that he's always stood up to Donald Trump. That's laughable. Way to go, Ted! You really told him when you were fanning the flames of election denial.

This morning, CNN has learned that Mike Pence is not inclined to invoke the 25th Amendment to force the president aside. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is poised to begin impeachment proceedings.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Dozens of those rioters have been arrested. Federal prosecutors say they're looking at all of the people who vandalized and incited violence, including President Trump.

CNN has learned that, in recent weeks, President Trump has asked lawyers about his power to pardon himself. And why wouldn't he? He's broken every other norm that decency used to rely on. We will ask our lawyers about the legality of all of that this morning.

Of for the other deadly crisis that the president has given up on, the U.S. reports more than 4,000 deaths from coronavirus just on Thursday. It's the deadliest day of this pandemic.

But let's begin with a deadly assault on the Capitol.

CNN's Jeremy Diamond is live in Washington with our top story. What's the latest, Jeremy?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, amid calls for his resignation, discussion of impeachment, and the 25th Amendment to remove him from office, President Trump is finally acknowledging the reality that he will no longer be president after January 20. He released a video that he posted on Twitter last night, finally acknowledging that reality, even though he did not explicitly congratulate President-elect Joe Biden. Nor did he mention Joe Biden's name once.

But the tone was strikingly different from what we heard from the president just the day before. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To those who engaged in the acts of violence and destruction, you do not represent our country.

Go home. We love you. You're very special.

And to those who broke the law, you will pay.

We're going to the Capitol. We're going to try to give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: Now, don't mistake that change in tone for a change of heart from the president. A White House adviser telling CNN that the president only recorded that video at the urging of his senior staff and as he was facing not one, but now two resignations from within his cabinet.

Now, separately, sources tell me and my colleagues that at least two cabinet members had been discussing in the lead up to that video, demanding a cabinet meeting with the president to demand that he confront his behavior and make a statement like the one that he made last night.

But -- and discussions have also been underway with the vice president and his staff, we're told, inquiries made about the 25th Amendment. But a source telling us that it is unlikely that the vice president would ultimately support invoking the 25th Amendment -- John, Alisyn.

[06:05:06]

CAMEROTA: OK, we'll see what surprises today has in store. Thank you very much, Jeremy.

So U.S. Capitol police announcing that one of their officers injured during the insurrection has died. This is the fifth death connected to that siege at the Capitol.

Dozens of arrests have been made, and federal prosecutors are looking at everyone involved, they say, including President Trump.

CNN's Jessica Schneider is live in Washington with more. What do we know, Jessica?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, law enforcement agencies across the board, they are promising more local and federal charges, with a slew of those rioters appearing in court on Thursday.

Now, investigators are scouring social media. They're asking the public for tips on suspects, and they've made clear they will be aggressively pursuing the people who stormed the Capitol, all while taking pictures and video.

And the acting U.S. attorney here in Washington said the arrests and charges that they've already brought, well, they're just the beginning.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(SHOUTING)

SCHNEIDER (voice-over): Stunning new details about the deadly coup attempt at the U.S. Capitol, as law enforcement officials bring their first charges against several alleged rioters.

Federal prosecutors charging 15 criminal cases related to the unrest. The first defendants arrested during the attacks appearing in court Thursday. Law enforcement saying that a man was arrested with a military semi-automatic rifle and 11 Molotov cocktails, calling it a very dangerous situation.

D.C.'s acting U.S. attorney saying the FBI also investigating the role of all actors involved, including how the president incited the crowd.

TRUMP: We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore.

SCHNEIDER: When asked specifically by a reporter if investigators were looking at Trump's role at the rally, Michael Sherwin saying this.

MICHAEL SHERWIN, ACTING U.S. ATTORNEY FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: We're looking at all actors here. And anyone that had a role and the evidence fits the elements of a crime, they're going to be charged.

SCHNEIDER: The rioters appeared to take Trump's cue, storming into the building, leaving behind not only a path of terror and destruction throughout all corners of its halls, but also death.

D.C. Capitol police confirming one officer died Thursday after he was injured responding to the riots.

Four other people, including one woman who was shot inside the Capitol, also died. The FBI asking the public for help to identify more people involved in the assault.

(on camera): And now several officials at the Capitol are stepping down after the pressure has been ramping up and the criticism mounting that they were not prepared to deal with that violent mob that overtook the complex.

Now, the Capitol Hill police chief, he will be resigning effective January 16. And the House and Senate sergeants at arms, they've also submitted their resignation under major pressure from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and top Democrat in the Senate, Chuck Schumer -- John.

BERMAN: I will tell you, one of the rare moments of bipartisanship has been the condemnation for how this was handled by security on Capitol Hill. Jessica Schneider, thanks so much for being with us.

We do have breaking news. The United States reporting more than 4,000 new deaths from coronavirus. That is the deadliest day in this pandemic. Four thousand, and there's every reason to believe it will get worse.

CNN's Stephanie Elam live in Los Angeles with the very latest -- Stephanie.

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's sobering to hear that, John. Four thousand and eighty-five people lost their lives to the coronavirus just yesterday. That's just in that one day that we know about there. That's a new single-day record, according to Johns Hopkins data.

When you look at that number, it's unbelievable. And when you look at it overall and what's happening in the country, it's very clear that the epicenter of this outbreak is now here in California, where over the last two days, we've seen deaths rise by about 1,000 people here. That's how bad it is.

Our positivity rate in the state is almost 13 percent, which is the highest since testing has been widespread here in the state, as well. What was the spring in New York is now the winter in Los Angeles, as you see these numbers here overall.

And this is really playing out. Hospitalizations in California, record number, almost 23,000. Record number of people in the ICU, almost 5,000 people here in Los Angeles. Also record hospitalizations here, and that's above 8,000. And you have about 20 percent of those people in the ICU.

In fact, Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti pointing out the fact that one day this week, the number of deaths for COVID was one more than the number of people who lost their lives in homicides in 2019. In fact, take a listen to him paint the picture for how things are right now in Los Angeles.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI (D), LOS ANGELES: It's every six seconds now, a new case, and every eight minutes, somebody's dying here. We've seen this across the country, and we've seen it particularly here where we have the densest metropolitan area in America. We're seeing heroes in our hospitals. We're seeing angels in our ambulances stretched thin to just deal with the onslaught right now with what's happening here at the epicenter, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[06:10:06]

ELAM: And keep this in mind here, just to show you how quickly this number is ramping up. The hospitalizations, more than 550 people have been admitted to the hospital since January 3, just five days, and we've seen that number jump, while the positivity here in Los Angeles is now at 17 percent. Very scary numbers.

And the truth is, officials here are expecting that January is going to be worse than December, which was already the deadliest month that we've seen so far from the coronavirus pandemic, John.

BERMAN: It's terrifying to think it could be any worse than it is right now.

Stephanie Elam, thank you so much for keeping us posted.

And it goes without saying, this is what the president, Donald Trump, could have been focused on, instead of trying to overthrow the results of the election. But he chose instead his undemocratic, violent path.

This morning, "The Wall Street Journal" is calling for his resignation. Will others join that call? It will be very interesting to see -- to see if there is a rise in volume for that request.

Twelve more days to go. Will he last that long? We'll bring you the very latest, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: This morning, President Trump facing growing pressure to resign or face the prospect of being impeached again. This for his role in the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol that has left five Americans dead, including now a Capitol police officer.

[06:15:05]

A source tells CNN that Vice President Mike Pence is highly unlikely to pursue removing the president from office using the 25th Amendment. That was a condition. Nancy Pelosi then said if he didn't do that, she will push impeachment as soon as next week.

Joining us now is Anna Palmer. She's the founder of Punch Bowl News. Also with us, former Republican congressman Denver Riggleman. He's the chief strategist for the Network Contagion Research Institute.

Anna, I just want to start with you, because I actually think the most interesting development about the next 12 days and the possibility of the president lasting that long is "The Wall Street Journal" coming out and calling for his resignation.

This is what "The Journal" wrote in an op-ed. The Rupert Murdoch-owned "Wall Street Journal." They said, "This was an assault on the constitutional process of transferring power after an election. It was an assault on the legislature from an executive sworn to uphold the laws of the United States. This goes beyond merely refusing to concede defeat. In our view, it crosses a constitutional line. It is impeachable. If Mr. Trump wants to avoid a second impeachment, his best path would be to take personal responsibility and resign."

This is a moment in history when "The Journal" calls on the president to resign, Anna. I do wonder if that might lead to others within the Republican sphere to join that call.

ANNA PALMER, FOUNDER, PUNCH BOWL NEWS: Well, I think "The Journal" is basically laying the groundwork for other Republicans to join it. You've already started to really see a lot of Republicans, particularly in the Senate, in the business community, and some donors, start to break with Trump in a way that we haven't for the past four years, when he's said things that are untrue, are false, are, you know, kind of do these things that whip up his supporters.

And so I think what will be interesting to see is, 12 days, you know, in most people's life, that's not very long. In Trump's life, in the White House, that is a very long time to be in the White House.

And you know, whether or not he can continue to have the posture that he did last night, where he did have a very somber video, where he read from the script, he usually doesn't -- you know, isn't able to stay on that script for very long.

And that's going to be the real question for Republicans. Are you going to support this? The impeachment is going to happen in the House. The speaker and Democrats are very upset about what has happened, and so, they're going to make Republicans go on the record to either support this president on his way out or not.

CAMEROTA: Congressman Riggleman, now Republicans in the Senate are worried about the president's rhetoric? Now they're jumping off the sinking ship? I mean, wow, what a profile in courage. Twelve days left to his administration.

And I just want to play for you something that Senator Ted Cruz said last night. He thinks we don't remember yesterday. He thinks we don't remember two days ago and what he did. Listen to him now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): The president's language and rhetoric often goes too far. I think, yesterday, in particular, the president's language and rhetoric crossed a line, and it was reckless. I disagree with it. And I have disagreed with the president's language and rhetoric for the last four years and have said so many, many times.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CAMEROTA: No, he hasn't. No, he hasn't. He ginned it up. He ginned up what happened in the Senate when they were trying to once again overthrow the election results. Your thoughts, Congressman?

DENVER RIGGLEMAN, CHIEF STRATEGIST, NETWORK CONTAGION RESEARCH INSTITUTE: Yes, I think you see people backpedaling, because I'm just going to say it simply, the president has no alibi here. You know, when you look at, goodness gracious, you know, I've been on this show. You guys have been great in actually presenting facts.

When you look at what's happened in the past few months, he crossed that line a long time ago with his rhetoric and was spreading things on social media that really ginned up this sort of -- this anger and this rage at the government. You think it was just not too long ago, I think we were talking about him retweeting that Joe Biden killed SEAL Team 6.

This isn't -- you know, that's what I was talking about, is that the radicalization of language and -- and pushing out these conspiracy theories and telling the mob that the government is against you is something that -- that bothered me from the beginning. And now we have five people dead.

As you know, the Capitol police officer succumbed to his injuries. And it gets to the point that you say, OK, who's culpable in this? And you're sort of seeing the rat sleaving the ship right now. Because I know there is no alibi for the president. It's very difficult to defend your actions going back in history when you're fundraising off the very disinformation that was being pushed not only by the president, but by his attorneys and by people in the dark web.

So that information bubbled up and they actually were able to execute that information and activate those individuals to do what they did yesterday. And -- or the day before.

So those are the things that bothered me about this. And where do we go from here? I think when you look at the resignation, I think that's the only path for the president at this point. I think impeachment is a path for the president and I think the 25th Amendment is a path.

I think all of those things are in play here, but he is culpable. Anybody who says different, I would love to argue with him over the past few months on data and on the chatter that we've seen on the Internet.

[06:20:03]

By the way, can I just warn people, January 20 is coming. So we also need to identify the chatter that we're seeing right now. And I'm warning people, we need a whole of government approach right now to look at what's going on on the Internet, what's going on on social media, where that organization is coming from.

And you don't need to be an intelligence analyst to look on Instagram and do a hashtag search and see somebody that says they're going to take a rifle. I mean, we can -- we're seeing that right now. January 20 is something we need to be aware of.

BERMAN: Yes, the president has no alibi.

Anna, I want to follow up with something you said declaratively, which is that impeachment will happen. Explain to us the mechanics of that. How it will happen, when it will happen by.

And also, you have new reporting from the Republican side of the House, just how enraged, at least behind the scenes, senior Republicans are.

PALMER: Yes, I'll take that in two parts.

First of all, as far as impeachment, the speaker has said if they don't invoke the 25th Amendment, she is going to proceed as soon as next week. The House caucus is unified in its, you know, support for this measure.

The real question will be, what happens with the Senate. You know, they haven't even organized yet. What will Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell do?

So I meant it in the sense that it will definitely happen in the House, which is controlled by Democrats. But I do think it will put Republicans in a tough spot, if they -- you know, where they'd end up on this issue with the president, since so many are upset.

But you know, we are reporting this morning in Punch Bowl A.M. that House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy got into a screaming match with the president on Wednesday as the House was under siege and the Capitol was, you know, being attacked, with the president, because he wanted him to denounce the mob and tell them to leave, and the president at first refused. It's important context to remember.

Kevin McCarthy is the closest ally that Donald Trump has among Republican leadership. And that's a clear fraying of that relationship.

The president finally did tweet and then did put out a video, but it took him quite a while. And Kevin McCarthy from our reporting was very upset about it.

CAMEROTA: Again, Congressman Riggleman, Kevin McCarthy. He's the one that blessed the obstruction in the House, where they stood up and tried to once again get in the way of counting the electoral votes for, you know, President-elect Biden.

I mean, I just don't understand their newfound religion on thinking that President Trump has dangerous rhetoric.

RIGGLEMAN: Fear. You know, we talked about voting to object to the electors, which I thought was ridiculous. And I -- and I've said before, all of those votes, this stop the steal nonsense, all the rhetoric that you heard, by the way, at the rally, not just from President Trump, but from Madison Cawthorn or from Mo Brooks, even a gubernatorial candidate from here, Amanda Chase from Virginia. You're looking at this -- this rhetoric. And then you go and use that baseline of disinformation to object to the electors and then scream about it on the floor, that we have to fight, things like that.

And you know, I know Kevin. And a friend of mine. But, by the way, you voted to object to the electors. You bought into this. This was the wreck that we said, the stop the steal, the fund-raising that you've seen everywhere on this. And it's been constant. This has been constant for months.

So again, this is fear of losing careers now. Now you have people worried about what's going to happen in '22. The Republicans were sort of on a high after the House wins, but now it looks like they've lost awfully. The Senate, the House. The Republicans are in disarray.

And, you know, that was the fear that I had, is that disinformation would rip apart the fabric of one major party, because they believe in nonsense.

And if nonsense is driving decision making, which you've seen from the top down for so long now, what happens is you have this. You have what happened at the Capitol. You have people that are killed, and you have a mob who's actually attacking just based on fantasy.

It is -- I think it's unprecedented. You know, to have the biggest conspiratorial grift in history and to weaponize that, I think this is unprecedented in United States history.

BERMAN: You talk about losing careers, people have lost their lives. There's a U.S. Capitol Police officer who's dead this morning after injuries that he suffered from this.

Congressman Riggleman, Anna Palmer, thank you so much for being with us this morning. Thanks for the scoop, Anna.

We know that Donald Trump was the inspirational of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. Who were the soldiers on the ground? CNN's identified a list of pro-Trump conspiracy theorists and right-wing extremists who were front and center. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[06:28:46]

CAMEROTA: Developing this morning, take a look at your screen, because the FBI is asking for the public's help -- you probably can't see this -- just to identify these domestic terrorists who stormed the U.S. Capitol.

CNN has identified some of the radicalized Trump supporters who were part of the insurrection. CNN investigative correspondent Drew Griffin joins us now with more.

So what do we know, Drew?

DREW GRIFFIN, CNN INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Alisyn, I can tell you, the FBI is going to know who those people are very, very soon, because as we found out, the community out there, the people in the United States, are so disgusted by this that they're flooding us with identifying some of these people. We have just picked some of the most prominent ones to focus in on.

And I want to show you just four of them. A Proud Boy from Hawaii, a white nationalist from Alaska, tons of QAnon supporters out there, who are being identified.

Let's focus in on Jake Angeli. This guy calls himself the QAnon Shaman from Arizona. This is the guy with the buffalo horns, with the shirt off. Obviously, a QAnon conspiracy theorist believer.

He also posed with Rudy Giuliani a few weeks ago in Arizona.

A second one I want to focus on is -- is the guy that was breaking into Nancy Pelosi's office, putting his feet up on the desk. He has a name, too. His name is Richard Barnett, easily identifiable.