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The Situation Room
Trump's Twitter Account Permanently Suspended; Interview with Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA); Impeachment Calls Grow Louder; Prosecutors Allege Capitol Riot Suspect Had 11 Mason Jar Bombs and an Assault Rifle in Truck; U.S. Reports 4,000+ Deaths in Deadliest Day Yet of Pandemic. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired January 08, 2021 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[18:00:00]
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in THE SITUATION ROOM.
We're following fast-moving breaking news on the push to impeach President Trump for his role in the deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol. CNN has now obtained a new draft article of impeachment in which House Democrats charge Mr. Trump with incitement of insurrection. It may be introduced as soon as Monday.
And just a short while ago, the White House fired back, saying impeachment would be politically motivated and further divide the country.
Also, tonight, president-elect Biden is demanding an investigation of the damage done by President Trump, saying he encouraged a mob like we have seen in Third World dictatorships.
But the incoming president is declining to take a stand on impeachment, saying that decision is up to the U.S. Congress.
Let's go to our chief White House correspondent, Jim Acosta, right now.
Jim, as impeachment clearly is gaining momentum once again, the White House is in crisis mode, and just released a new statement. Update our viewers.
JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf.
The White House just released a statement in the last couple of hours on these pending impeachment proceedings, which seem to be moving very rapidly. We can show you that statement, put it up on screen.
It says: "A politically motivated impeachment against a president with 12 days remaining in his term will only serve to further divide our great country," the White House calling this impeachment process that may be starting politically motivated. Obviously, House Democrats don't feel that way. They say it's
absolutely necessary after what happened two days ago. But aides to the president tell me there is no way that Donald Trump will resign from the presidency, despite this latest threat of a second impeachment before he leaves office.
As one Trump adviser told me, there is zero chance he will step down because -- quote -- "He doesn't think he did anything wrong."
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA (voice-over): Two days after he incited a bloody siege at the U.S. Capitol, Donald Trump is facing the head-spinning prospect of becoming the first U.S. president to be impeached twice.
The sudden commitment to an orderly transition may be too little, too late.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20. My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power. This moment calls for healing and reconciliation.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Good afternoon.
ACOSTA: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her fellow Democrats are now marching toward impeachment proceedings against the president, all the while making sure Mr. Trump doesn't do anything drastic. As Pelosi told her Democratic colleagues: "I spoke to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, to discuss available precautions for preventing an unstable President Trump initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike."
House Democrats say they're ready to move quickly.
REP. JACKIE SPEIER (D-CA): We're not just doing this for the next 12 or 13 days. We're doing this for generations to come. And if we are not willing to state that the acts by the president of the United States to incite domestic terrorism and insurrection is an impeachable offense, then nothing is an impeachable offense.
ACOSTA: If the House impeaches the president, some Senate Republicans who didn't vote to convict and remove Mr. Trump the last time around say they may have had a change of heart.
SEN. BEN SASSE (R-NE): The House, if they come together and have a process, I will definitely consider whatever articles they might move, because, as I have told you, I believe that the president has disregarded his oath of office.
ACOSTA: White House advisers say there is zero chance the president will resign, with one source telling CNN -- quote -- "He doesn't think he did anything wrong."
But even former White House officials say Mr. Trump should consider stepping down. ALYSSA FARAH, FORMER WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS:
They allowed this myth, this lie to take a life of its own that the election might be overturned. When the moment called for leadership, he did not do the right thing, and lives were lost because of it.
ACOSTA: Some of the president's top enablers are also facing calls to resign, like Republican Senator Ted Cruz, who released a statement condemning the violence at the Capitol, saying: "Now we must come together and put this anger and division behind us. We must stand side by side as Americans. We must continue to defend our Constitution and the rule of law."
That's after he was umping up voters in Georgia, likening them to revolutionary soldiers.
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): You are patriots, just like the patriots gathered at Bunker Hill, just like the patriots gathered at Valley Forge.
ACOSTA: Other Trump loyalists are feeling the wrath of the Trump base. After GOP Senator Lindsey Graham told Mr. Trump to give up his election fight...
SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): And when it's over, it is over. It is over.
ACOSTA: ... Trump supporters were screaming traitor as he walked through the airport.
CROWD: Traitor! Traitor! Traitor!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lindsey Graham, you are a shame to the country! You know it was fixed! It's going to be like this forever wherever you go for the rest of your life.
ACOSTA: Mr. Trump signaled he won't congratulate president-elect Joe Biden on his Inauguration Day, tweeting, "He won't be going," giving the Capitol a break from having the instigator in chief on hand for the transfer of power.
[18:05:08]
TRUMP: And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ACOSTA: And our sources tell us the president and first lady are expected to leave for Mr. Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort on January 19, one day before the inauguration.
Obviously, with the president and the way things are going these days, those plans could change. But we should note to this day that the president still has not taken any responsibility for what happened a couple of days ago. He has not offered any apologies for what happened on January 6. And, Wolf, let's go back to this video that was captured at Reagan National Airport earlier today, Senator Lindsey Graham, one of the president's longtime loyalists, once a critic of the president, but then became a loyalist, arriving at the airport earlier this afternoon. He was met by an angry mob of Trump supporters screaming "Traitor" him.
I will tell you, Wolf, we have seen this kind of hostility before. Typically, we see it at Trump rallies and not directed at Republican allies of the president. But it's a reminder, if you turn against this president, the base will turn on you -- Wolf.
BLITZER: They certainly will.
All right, thanks very much, Jim Acosta reporting.
Let's dig deeper into the new impeachment effort up on Capitol Hill in the draft article obtained by CNN.
Our senior congressional correspondent Manu Raju is on the scene for us, as he always is.
Manu, walk us through how all of this is likely to play out.
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, already, the draft is being circulated, and it's expected to be introduced on Monday, one article of impeachment, incitement of an insurrection.
That's what House Democrats are moving towards at the moment as they discuss how to move quickly to impeach President Trump, making him the first president in history who would be impeached twice.
Now, a final decision has not been made about whether to move ahead. But Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, is making all steps to move in that direction.
Just moments ago, she instructed her House Rules Committee to set the scene for a floor debate that could occur by the middle of next week. Now, ultimately, the question is, where does it go from there? We expect it likely would get support from a majority of House Democrats, which would be -- the majority of the House, because it's controlled by Democrats, which should be enough for it to get approved.
But in order to convict and remove the president from office, they would need two-thirds support of the Senate during an impeachment trial. The Senate, currently controlled by Republicans, has no appetite to move forward on an impeachment trial before President Trump's time runs out in office on January 20.
And there are questions about whether Democrats will press ahead in the new Biden administration to -- they could have a trial after Donald Trump leaves office, and essentially prevent him from ever running for office again.
Those discussions are happening because there are concerns that it could put Biden in a bit of an awkward spot as he's trying to move forward with his agenda and as Democrats tried to go after the former President Donald Trump.
Biden himself would not say if he supports the idea of moving ahead with an impeachment trial at the moment, but there are some signs that Republicans are breaking ranks.
One Republican, Lisa Murkowski, became the first Senate Republican to call on Donald Trump to resign. She said: "I want him to resign. I want him out. He has caused enough damage."
She went on to say: "He doesn't want to stay there. He only wants to stay there for the title. He only wants to stay there for his ego. He needs to get out" -- very strong word from a sitting Republican senator, the first one to do so far.
Some others are open to voting for an article of impeachment or voting to remove him from office. We will see if it gets to that point. But at the moment, Wolf, Nancy Pelosi wants Donald Trump to resign. If he doesn't, expect an impeachment vote in the House, presumably by the middle of next week -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Yes, like I'm expecting it.
Manu, you also have new details about what the president was actually doing as that mob was storming the Capitol. You were right in the middle of it. And thank God you're OK.
RAJU: Yes, it was a remarkable development here, that Donald Trump was actually trying to continue to fight the Electoral College certification even after the mob came on Capitol Hill, threatened so many people, cost lives, this deadly clash.
The president was not consumed with that. He was consumed with trying to get more Republicans to object to further states that were awarded to Joe Biden to delay the proceedings even further, even though there was no chance Congress would overturn the will of the voters.
The president mistakenly placed a phone call to Mike Lee, the Utah Republican senator, on that afternoon on Wednesday, thinking that he actually had called Tommy Tuberville, who is the new freshman senator from Alabama.
What the president wanted was to urge Tuberville to object to more states to drag out the proceedings further. Later in the night, at 7:00 p.m., Rudy Giuliani, the president's lawyer, called Tuberville -- called Mike Lee again, mistakenly, thinking that he was calling Tommy Tuberville, and left a message on Mike Lee's voice-mail, calling on -- urging -- thinking that he leaving a message for Tuberville, and saying that Tuberville should continue to object to allow the process to continue to play out.
[18:10:05]
That was at 7:00 p.m., roughly, Eastern time, hours after the mob had come and stormed Capitol Hill, after all the chaos and destruction in the Capitol. That was still the focus of the president and his legal team at that moment. Tuberville himself voted -- was one of just seven Republicans to vote to throw out the Pennsylvania electoral votes and one of six Republicans to vote throughout the Arizona electoral votes -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Yes, that was so, so sick, indeed, especially after those riots developed, very dangerous riots, up on Capitol Hill.
Manu, stand by. I'm going to bring you back in a moment. I have got some more questions for you.
But, right now, I want to cover what's going on with the president- elect of the United States, Joe Biden going even further in his condemnation of the current president, while trying to sidestep that issue of impeachment.
Let's bring in our political correspondent, Arlette Saenz, who's covering the Biden transition for us in Delaware.
Arlette, so, Biden says he wants to focus on the work ahead. Tell us what's going on.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's one of the most incompetent presidents in the history of the United States of America.
And so, the idea that I think he shouldn't be out of office yesterday is not at issue.
ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL REPORTER (voice-over): President-elect Joe Biden blunt in his critique of President Trump but refraining from calling for his impeachment in his waning days in office.
BIDEN: So, I think it's important we get on with the business of getting him out of office. The quickest way that will happen is us being sworn in on the 20th.
SAENZ: The president-elect says he will leave it to lawmakers to decide on next steps, while directing his attention to the challenges ahead.
(on camera): At that point, it'll be just a little over a week before the president leaves office. Do you believe this is a good idea?
BIDEN: I'm focused on the virus, vaccine and economic growth. What the Congress decides to do is for them to decide.
SAENZ (voice-over): Biden said his outlook would be different if more time remained in the Trump presidency.
BIDEN: He has exceeded even my worst notions about him. He's been an embarrassment to the country, embarrassed us around the world, not worthy, not worthy to hold that office. If we were six months out, we should be moving everything to get him out of office, impeaching him again, invoke -- trying to invoke the 25th Amendment, whatever it took.
SAENZ: But the president-elect does want immediate action in investigating the security breach at the Capitol, after rioters launched an insurrection incited by President Trump.
BIDEN: The damage done to our reputation around the world by a president of the United States encouraging a mob, a mob -- this reminded me more of states I have visited in over the 100 countries in third -- tin-horn dictatorships.
SAENZ: Biden also said lawmakers, like Senators Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, who led the charge to challenge the Electoral College results, share in the blame.
BIDEN: I think they should be just flat beaten the next time they run. I think the American public has a real good clear look at who they are. They're part of the big lie, the big lie.
SAENZ: But he doled out praise for the large group of Republicans who stood up to the last-minute attempts to overturn the election.
BIDEN: I have worked very hard with and against the former -- the president, the former, soon-to-be-former majority leader, Mitch McConnell. I thought what he said on the floor of the United States Senate was, in fact, the right thing to do. He stood up. He's ashamed.
I spoke with a guy I have enormous respect for, enormous respect for, and I ran against him, Mitt Romney. I spoke to Mitt this morning and again. This is a man of enormous integrity, enormous integrity, who lives his faith.
SAENZ: After the tumultuous events of the week, Biden welcoming the president's decision not to attend the inauguration.
BIDEN: One of the few things he and I have ever agreed on. It's a good thing, him not showing up.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SAENZ: Now, even as President Trump plans to sit out of the inauguration, president-elect Biden said he would welcome Vice President Mike Pence to attend the inauguration.
He has said he has not yet spoken with Pence since all of this has gone down. And then, on the transition side, the transition team says that they still want to see more cooperation between the outgoing and incoming administration and that they are hoping that some of those outgoing officials will soon meet with their counterparts with that transfer of power set to take place in 12 days -- Wolf.
[18:15:04]
BLITZER: Twelve days, indeed.
Arlette, stay with us.
I also want to bring in our special correspondent, Jamie Gangel, and our senior political commentator, David Axelrod.
David, within days, the president of the United States could actually be impeached a second time, this time for inciting an insurrection. Let that sink in just for a moment. Is this how history is going to remember President Trump?
DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think so, Wolf.
And I think you are right to say, let that sink in, because it's never happened before in the long history of this republic, when a sitting president of the United States encouraged an insurrection against the government of the United States.
And there's no doubt that that's what he did. The president is doing cleanup now. And we saw his statement last night, which had all the sincerity of a hostage video.
But, in it, he tried to back off the fact that he was the one who incited the crowd, he invited them to Washington, and he sent them down -- sent them down Pennsylvania Avenue. And that is how he will be remembered. He is going to be remembered not -- there are many other things that have happened during these four years that were tumultuous and unprecedented and disturbing.
But the last chapter of this Trump story is the one I think that will brand him forever in the minds of the American people and in history.
BLITZER: You know, Jamie, the White House just released that statement saying impeachment would, in the White House's words, only serve to further divide the country, and that this is a time for healing and unity.
It's a pretty ridiculous statement, given the way the president has governed, the things he has said, not just recently, but for four years.
JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Right.
Wolf, there there's one person who is responsible for this division, and that is Donald Trump. And I have to say, he has to be very worried about the Republican Party right now. There are a growing number of Republicans who are saying they want him out, resign, remove.
And we are hearing from more Republicans now. My sources say that they are considering supporting impeachment. I spoke to two lawmakers on Capitol Hill, Republicans who are former allies of President Trump, and they said they would consider impeachment, even though there are just 12 days.
They said to me, there's no reason for long hearings. We experienced what happened on there. We know what happened. And we can make a decision, depending on what those articles say, Wolf.
BLITZER: Yes, if the president doesn't want to be impeached by the House of Representatives for a second time, he can simply resign. Then there won't be an impeachment effort under way. GANGEL: Correct.
BLITZER: Arlette, Democrats do want to hold the president accountable. But they also don't necessarily want to make things even more difficult for the incoming President Joe Biden in 12 days.
So is it possible for them to accomplish both?
SAENZ: Well, Wolf, that's the tricky political question in all of this, is whether the decision to move forward with impeachment would have any type of long-term ramifications on president-elect Biden's hope to achieve his agenda and also promote unity.
During the campaign, you have always heard Biden talk about how he wants to lean on bipartisanship when he's in Congress. You heard him talk about today some of those items that he wants to push through when it comes to a COVID relief package and how it's going to have a high price tag.
But the question is, if these movements towards impeachment continue, whether any Republicans may reconsider or tie up things that the president-elect would want to work on going forward. And the enormous challenge that he is faced with right now is uniting the country.
He has billed himself as someone uniquely positioned to do that. And after the events of this past week, he believes that part of that will be easier for him to achieve.
But it is an outstanding question whether these Democratic attempts to pursue impeachment, whether that will affect any of the president- elect's agenda, or perhaps maybe if the circumstances around this are just entirely different, and if ultimately they won't hold him to what is happening when it comes to impeachment.
BLITZER: All right, everybody, stand by.
There's more breaking news we're following.
I will also speak with a key House Democrat who's demanding President Trump's immediate, immediate removal from office one way or another. Representative Pramila Jayapal is standing by live. We will discuss.
We will be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:23:04]
BLITZER: We're back with breaking news.
The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, just moments ago issued another statement confirming the House of Representatives is prepared to move ahead on impeachment if, if President Trump doesn't resign in the next 12 days.
Joining us now, Representative Pramila Jayapal, a key Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee.
Congresswoman, thanks for joining us.
Yes, you're calling for President Trump's immediate removal from office. You have also signed on to this effort to impeach him again.
What message will it send if Mr. Trump becomes the first president of the United States to be impeached twice?
REP. PRAMILA JAYAPAL (D-WA): Well, it is absolutely the appropriate message, because this is a president who fueled, incited and aided in the most violent and destructive assault on the United States Capitol since the War of 1812.
These were insurrectionists who were armed, who came in with a plan, who were assisted with that plan, and told to do that in order to overturn the election by Donald Trump.
So, I think it is absolutely necessary that we, for the security and safety of this country, do everything we can to remove this president. And if that means we have to impeach him, then we -- I believe we should do that.
BLITZER: Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska just became the first Republican senator to call for President Trump to immediately resign.
How much support do you think you have from Republicans in the House and Senate, for that matter, for President Trump's impeachment and removal from office?
JAYAPAL: Well, I think everyone wants him to go immediately.
And, of course, that doesn't mean we won't hold him accountable for everything that he has done. But we cannot afford to have Donald Trump stay in office with access to the -- control over the nuclear quote codes and all of our intelligence agencies and our law enforcement. That is dangerous.
[18:25:02]
So, I do believe that more and more Republicans are going to join the call, because you cannot look at what happened, at the videos of Donald Trump over the last month since the election, actually, two months since the election, continuing to insist that this was a fraudulent election, that he was not turning over -- implying that he was not going to leave office, now talking about pardoning himself, but continuing, even with his speech yesterday, continuing to say that this was just the beginning of the journey of the great patriots.
He's talking about insurrectionists who came to the Capitol, fired guns into the House chamber, desecrated the Senate chamber, and knew exactly where they were going. And I think that is deeply, deeply troubling.
BLITZER: The White House, as you know, is pushing back against the impeachment effort, arguing in a statement that, "A politically motivated impeachment against the president with 12 days, 12 days remaining in his term will only serve to further divide our great country."
That's the quote. What's your response to that?
JAYAPAL: Well, first of all, it isn't politically motivated. It's about the safety and the security of our country, when the president, the sitting president, is attempting a coup, essentially, attempting and inciting these insurrectionists, and continuing to do so, by the way.
So, that's number one. But, number two, if Donald Trump is so concerned about unity, there were many -- many things he could have done along the way.
So, I heard somebody say that he was -- he gave that speech like a hostage that had been taken that was being made at gunpoint to say those things. We all know they aren't true, from the fact that he called out the National Guard. He didn't call out the National Guard. He did everything he could to prevent us from having the security.
And I believe -- and even the French intelligence and NATO intelligence is saying that the White House, either explicitly or implicitly, controlled much of what happened yesterday, or, to be more accurate, what did not happen, in securing the United States Capitol.
BLITZER: And I know you were right in the middle of all of this and thank God you're OK.
But I know you were scared, understandably so.
Congresswoman, good luck. Thanks so much for joining us. We're happy you're OK.
JAYAPAL: Thank you so much, Wolf.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
BLITZER: All right, we got some more breaking news coming into THE SITUATION ROOM right now.
I want to go back to our chief White House correspondent, Jim Acosta.
So, Jim, what's going on?
ACOSTA: You can see this on screen right now. The president's Twitter account has been suspended.
And all you can see if you go to @realDonaldTrump at the moment, it says: "Account suspended. Everything has been sort of wiped off of the social media platform."
Twitter has also released a statement just in the last several minutes about this. And I could just read this to you.
It says: "After close review of recent tweets from the @realDonaldTrump account and the context around them, we have permanently suspended the account due to the risk of further incitement of violence."
That is from the Twitter Safety Department at the Twitter social media platform.
Wolf, this is obviously an extraordinary development, because, as you know, one of the defining aspects of the Trump presidency has been his use of his Twitter account. He has fired people by Twitter. He has announced policy changes by Twitter. He's announced pardons by Twitter. And he has incited violence on Twitter, as we know.
We saw this leading up to the events on January 6. And Twitter is saying, because of the president's potential to further incite violence, they are shutting down his account.
Now, obviously, Twitter has come under a great deal of scrutiny, a lot of pressure from social media safety advocates, in recent weeks, saying that the social media platform hasn't gone far enough. In recent days, we saw they took down some of the president's tweets. And prior to that, they had been labeling the president's tweets in the run-up to January 6, pointing out when he would say false things about the election results and so on.
But this is a dramatic development, Wolf, no question about it, suspending permanently, the social media platform says, the president's Twitter account.
Now, one has to wonder, Wolf, what this will do to the president's state of mind. We know he's been unstable. We're hearing from our sources that he has lost it and so on in recent days. What does this do to the president, now that he no longer has access to this Twitter account, which he talks about all the time as a way of going around the media and so on?
He doesn't have that anymore, at least not for the time being. And it makes -- it makes you wonder, covering this president, knowing how unstable things have been in recent days, whether or not this pushes the president further to the edge. As impeachment is being contemplated, the 25th Amendment is being contemplated, and so on, he can't vent on Twitter.
One of the things we have noticed over the weekends covering this president, he won't be doing the work of the American people. He will be tweeting his grievances and so on. He can't do that, it seems, this weekend, during a critical time, the end days of his presidency, Wolf.
BLITZER: I just want on my phone to his Twitter account, and I saw -- the only thing you see over there, it says he was following 51 individuals, but he had 88.7 million followers, 88.7 million followers, account suspended. Twitter suspends accounts that violate the Twitter rules.
He's always boasting how many millions of people get his information on social media. Facebook suspected him. Instagram suspended him. Now Twitter has suspended him. This is going to cause him deep, deep not only frustration but anger.
And I assume he's going to try to retaliate.
ACOSTA: I assume he'll try to retaliate. We are expecting this evening some kind of video message from the president.
Now, we also have to wonder whether that video message is something that Twitter did not want to put up on the platform. Perhaps that's not the case. We'll have to wait and see what that video message is. These recent video messages that the president has put out there, after January 6, he's tweeted them out. He can't do that this evening.
And so presumably if the White House wants to get that video message out to the American people this evening, one that we're expecting this evening, they're going to have to do it the old fashioned way, they'll have to email it to the White House press, their least favorite people in the world, in order for us to get it out to the rest of the world.
So, the president, he has been knee-capped by Twitter. He can no longer use this account to do all of the various and sundry things that he does on a regular basis. He is, for all intents and purposes, banned at the moment from this very powerful social media platform, Wolf.
BLITZER: And banned from sending out anything to his 88 million followers.
Brian Stelter, our chief media correspondent, is with us as well.
So, Brian, give us a little perspective on what is going on right now. Twelve days to go in the presidency and Twitter permanently suspends him.
BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: This is a moment in Silicon Valley history, as well as a moment in political history. And this has significance all around the world, Wolf. So many world leaders use Twitter to communicate.
But this is an historic moment where Twitter has stepped in and said no, that world leader, the United States president, is too dangerous to use our platform. It is an astonishing thing that technology companies like Twitter and Facebook feel they have to protect the public from the American president. They have to take away his keys because they don't trust him to get behind the wheel.
It does speak to the power of technology companies, and I think many Trump supporters will hear about this and say this just proves that Trump is being censored, he's being punished, he's being hurt by Silicon Valley.
But censorship is not the right word here, Wolf. This is nothing to do with the First Amendment. The First Amendment is about your relationship to the government, no your relationship to a private technology company.
And these platforms have been under tremendous pressure from liberals, from Trump critics, from a lot of employees at Twitter to take action against this president. Now, hundreds of Twitter employees signed a letter saying they wanted Trump banned, and now he has been banned.
BLITZER: So, he's banned not just from Twitter and his 88 million followers, but earlier, Zuckerberg banned him from Facebook and Instagram as well. Those are the three biggest social media operations that the president had. Hundreds of millions of individuals potentially were getting his information here in the U.S. and around the world.
STELTER: Yes. Facebook basically suspended him indefinitely, but at least for two weeks, that means through inauguration day. On Facebook, he has a chance to come back someday in the future. On Twitter, this is apparently a permanent move by Twitter.
So, February, March, whatever, there's no appeal, there's no coming back to Twitter. Not just Twitter, but we've seen YouTube, we've seen Twitch, we've even seen websites that specialize in shopping, Shopify, also took action against the president's campaign. This is a -- YouTube is another one. The list goes on and on.
You know, we have seen this remarkable action by technology companies, because they fear what Trump will do with his platforms.
BLITZER: As you know, Brian, a lot of people think these platforms should have been done this a long time ago, given what the president was out there promoting. What do you think?
STELTER: That's right. Look, think about six months. The president was on Twitter during the unrest across the country. He said, when the looting starts, the shooting starts. And that was the kind of post, so incendiary, that many people said then his account should be suspended. The reality has been Twitter and Facebook have been very afraid to cross this president, they have been afraid to take action against his account when in any other situation, he would be suspended years ago. That's just the reality.
[18:35:00]
But they put in place different policies, different exceptions to the rules in order to avoid this kind of moment, this collision with the American president. There are regulatory concerns. There are concerns that Trump's fans will leave these platforms.
And, by the way, that's already happening, Wolf. I think we will hear about the president going off to fringe platforms instead. He's going to go off to far right Websites that promise they will not block him. And that's where he will communicate instead, but to a much, much smaller audience, Wolf.
BLITZER: It's really an amazing, amazing situation when you think big picture about what's going on. This is the president of the United States in his final 12 days in office and, all of a sudden, Twitter suspends him personally, account suspended.
I want to bring in Preet Bharara, CNN senior legal analyst, a former U.S. attorney of the Southern District of New York.
Preet, what do you think about this from a legal perspective?
PREET BHARARA, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: With respect to Twitter, something that should be clear to everyone and it gets confused a lot, and a lot of folks who are put under sanction by social media platforms make an allegation that they're being censored or that it's a violation of their First Amendment rights. It is not.
Twitter is a private company. It has terms and conditions of use and if you violate those terms and conditions, you can be suspended temporarily or permanently as they have done now. In fact, Donald Trump, by virtue of his office, being the commander in chief, has probably gotten away with more violations of Twitter terms than any other human in the country and only now, given the events of this week, and the violence that's resulted in death, is Twitter taking it seriously when it comes to the president of the United States.
So he has no cause of action, he has no claim, probably to some extent, it's probably helpful to him. Taking him off Twitter precludes the ability of him to make incriminating statements about things that have been litigated in court. I imagine that if there's impeachment proceedings, that one of the things that's going to be raised is what was in Donald Trump's mind with respect to the insurrection of this past week. And some of that evidence comes from his tweets.
BLITZER: Very quickly, you know, Preet, he's going to be a private citizen in 12 days, maybe even earlier if he were to resign or be removed according to the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, Preet, but once he's a private citizen, can he go and file lawsuits, can he complain, does he have any legal case at all to get back on?
BHARARA: I don't believe so. He can be a plaintiff even as the president. What cannot happen while he's the president is under DOJ guidelines. He can't be charged with a crime.
But other legal proceedings, he's free to make and bring and he has done so on behalf of his campaign, as we know, dozens of times around the country. He can try to bring an action. But I think there's a clear case based on the internal regulations and terms and conditions of Twitter, which they're allowed to enforce pretty much as they see fit. I don't think he has any claim or cause of action whatsoever.
BLITZER: We just got a statement from Joe Manchin, the Democratic senator from West Virginia, thanking Twitter for taking this action. Significant statement indeed. There you see it right now: Thank you Twitter for taking this action. We must come together as a country to heal and find a common path forward.
Let me go back to Jim Acosta, our chief White House correspondent.
Any reaction at all from the White House, Jim, that we're getting to this really dramatic move? The president of the United States suspended from tweeting.
ACOSTA: Not yet, Wolf. But I suspect that the reaction will be fierce, because this is a president who has been complaining about what he deems to be social media discrimination for some time.
But let's keep in mind, this is a private company, it's a publicly traded company but it is a company that has a platform that he's been using to spread lies and fear and hatred over the last four years. He's tweeted everything from calling the press the enemy of the people to #firefauci about Dr. Fauci during this coronavirus pandemic. So, he's used this Twitter account to great harm.
But, Wolf, you don't have a first amendment right to shout fire in a crowded theater. And that is essentially what the president has been doing over these last four years. And it's what he's been doing leading up to the events on January 6th, the attempted violent coup that we saw on January 6th.
The president of the United States was inciting people not just at that rally on the Mall on January 6th. He was doing it on social media. And so, you know, this is a social media platform, a very powerful company, as Brian Stelter was just talking about, taking stock of the situation and saying, you know, listen, we can't do this forever.
One of the things that's been discussed, Wolf, leading up to the November 3rd election, is whether the president could be banned on social media platforms had he won reelection. But now that he's a loser, he's leaving office soon, he goes back to be a private citizen.
As we've seen time and again on social media platforms, private citizens can get banned from these platforms left and right if they're not complying with the rules of those social media platforms. And Donald Trump is somebody who has time and again not just broken the rules of social media but just sort of broken the rules of decent society, spreading hate and fear and lies and so on.
[18:40:08]
I think a lot of people will be applauding this tonight on both sides of the political spectrum.
BLITZER: You know, it's interesting, Brian Stelter, the president suspended permanently from Twitter and Twitter saying they do so because, they cited, the risk of further incitement of violence. Brian, further incitement of violence by the president of the United States.
How often does Twitter suspend permanently individuals? Because a lot of individuals out there on the far right, let's say, maybe on the far left as well, are permanently inciting violence.
STELTER: This does happen from time to time, largely with people that our viewers have never heard of. Random, usually fringe accounts that do get suspended temporarily and you get a few warnings, you hit a few strikes, then you might get permanently banned.
But never has a world leader been de-platformed like this. I'm talking about third world countries, dictatorships, we don't see this happen from We got more detail from Twitter, Wolf. I'm going to read here. It
says, in determining whether to ban Trump's account permanently, Twitter took into account statements he made off-platform, meaning they were judging not just his tweets, they were judging his behavior at the Save America march and other statements he's made. Twitter also saying, we need all social platforms to do this more proactively. Often, what is planned in a semi-private space is buried on the open web.
Twitter is sending a message to other technology companies saying, we all, all of these companies, that have platforms on the Internet, have to step up their performance and judge content more seriously.
By the way, earlier today, Apple said that it may take action against Parler. Parler is that new social network that's been really popular far right Trump supporters. There's been speculation that Trump would just move over to that site instead. Apple is threatening to remove Parler from its App Store because of content moderation concerns.
So, look, it's the fourth year. All of this probably should have happened sooner. But these technology companies are trying to show some responsibility in the very last days of the Trump administration.
BLITZER: It really is incredible. And, Preet, you tweet, I tweet, you know, Brian tweets, almost everybody I know tweets nowadays.
So, give us your perspective on how you anticipate, the president has always been bragging about his 88 million followers on Twitter and how important it is to get his message -- he hates what he calls the mainstream news media, he calls us the enemy of the American people, he says he has his own opportunities to convey his messages, he always cites Twitter. Now that's gone away.
So, give us your perspective.
BHARARA: Look, I've interviewed a number of people over the last three years on my podcast I often ask a simple question about social media, and I say, to what extent is Twitter responsible for the rise and for the election of Donald Trump. And many of them, who are pretty smart folks, say without Twitter, he may not have been elected.
So people who are talking about this being an astounding setback for the president, who may choose to run again, by the way, he becomes a private citizen. But there are some indications he seeks to become the leader of the country again, and without the powerful Twitter account that he's accumulated over time, I think it's a big deal.
You can ask the question, if the president says it, but it's not on Twitter, it's like a tree falling in the woods, if there's no one there, does it make a sound. And he has amplified what is already a powerful platform, meaning the presidency, I think in a way that has never been done before. And to take that away from him, one might argue, to some degree renders him kind of mute. So, it's a big deal.
BLITZER: Very quickly, before I let you go, Preet, he still is the president of the United States, the most powerful man in the world, that's what we always call the president of the United States, for another 12 days, presumably he stays in office for another 12 days. What do you think he could potentially do in retaliation during these 12 days? Executive orders, whatever he wants to do as far as punishing Twitter and Facebook, Instagram, some of these other platforms that have suspended him?
BHARARA: He talks incessantly about repealing section 230.
BLITZER: H e failed in doing that.
BHARARA: He failed in doing that. And by the way, I think he has no power to do anything, in part because there's not a lot he can do, because of the tools at his disposal.
And second, I think there is a feeling among people around him, whether it's the Justice Department or the Defense Department, you name it, the federal trade commission, that he doesn't govern anyway, but his influence is so limited based on the events of this week that I think even if he were to try to take some drastic and inappropriate action against Twitter or some other social media company, that those orders, I expect, if they are unlawful, would be declined, would be defied.
So, you know, he's got a few days left.
[18:45:01]
He doesn't have a lot of cards in his deck. He doesn't have a lot of people who are prepared to do things given the state of the country that we're in and given his status as soon to be ex-leader of the country.
BLITZER: All right. We're going to continue to monitor, this is a huge breaking news story, a major development. The president of the United States let me repeat, the president of the United States has now permanently been suspended from Twitter. He has no longer an opportunity to directly speak to 88 million of his followers on Twitter.
We'll have much more right after this.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[18:50:01]
BLITZER: On top of the other breaking news we are getting chilling new information right now about the investigation into the deadly act of domestic terror up on Capitol Hill.
Our crime and justice correspondent Shimon Prokupecz is joining us right now.
So, Shimon, one person has now been charged, was said to have had a truck filled with homemade bombs. What are you learning?
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, pretty frightening details we've learned from the FBI, the Department of Justice today. In a press call they said they found 11 Molotov cocktails in a truck just in close to the Capitol here.
They say that they encountered an individual, his name is Leroy Kaufman. He's from Alabama. And when they searched his truck, they found these 11 Molotov cocktails and described it as having liquid inside of it that is sort of like napalm -- obviously very concerning for authorities.
We don't exactly know what or what he was planning if anything at all but certainly very frightening. They also found a couple guns on him. They found some weapons inside the truck. So he is in custody.
We also learned details about the other people that they have arrested. They are looking for many still, but some of the people they've arrested including an individual by the name of Richard Barnett, of course, has become widely known because of the photo of his boots, his feet on the desk of Nancy Pelosi. The FBI announcing, they arrested him today in Arkansas.
And they are looking for many, many more, Wolf. They say they have a 24/7 operation going. Three command centers, hundreds of prosecutors, FBI agents, analysts working the investigation and they say they are just getting started and they're going to continue to arrest people who were inside the Capitol and the investigation is going to continue, Wolf.
BLITZER: What are you learning, Shimon, about the federal murder investigation into the Capitol Police officer's death?
PROKUPECZ: So, certainly, very concerning for authorities. He died after something that happened inside the Capitol.
So, the FBI and the Department of Justice are potentially investigating this as a felony murder case. We still have a lot to learn, certainly an autopsy to determine how exactly he died. They say they're going to continue that investigation and if it warrants further charges, they're going to bring them -- Wolf.
BLITZER: Shimon Prokupecz, with the latest up on Capitol Hill. Thanks very much.
There is other breaking news we're following as well. More than 368,000 American lives now lost in the coronavirus pandemic and the country has just topped 21.8 million confirmed cases following the single deadliest day yet in this crisis.
CNN's Nick Watt is in Los Angeles with the latest.
Nick, there is deep concern now, what, about a possible U.S. variant of the virus?
NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Wolf, there is no actual evidence that this variant exists but the White House coronavirus task force just looked at this steep surge in the fall and winter and thought, well, maybe this is a U.S. variant. Meanwhile, Wolf, broad agreement that we've got to do better on
vaccines. But how?
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BIDEN: Good afternoon.
WATT (voice-over): Team Biden tells CNN they have a radical plan, release nearly every vaccine dose on hand. Stop holding back for second doses.
GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D-KY): We would certainly pick up the speed of our vaccination.
We need some assurances that those second doses are going to be there.
WATT: Pfizer and Moderna won't say if they're able to manufacture those second doses in time.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES: The second dose is absolutely critical. That one dose of Moderna and one dose of Pfizer has not been proven to be efficacious to the degree that we want.
WATT: The latest numbers reported just over 22 million doses distributed, fewer than 7 million actually in arms, calls for easing the rules on who gets it when.
MAYOR BILL DE BLASIO (D-NY), NEW YORK CITY: If we can't vaccinate the people who are most in danger, we're going to lose lives we did not need to lose.
WATT: So, New York's governor just expanded the pool of people who can get a shot and now includes first responders and over 75s.
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): That's, by far, the largest group and those are people who desperately need it.
WATT: Just look at New York's new case count line, exploding way higher than spring. The NYPD commissioner just tested positive.
Across America 4,085 people reported dead yesterday. The most COVID deaths in a day ever, and here in Los Angeles?
MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI (D-CA), LOS ANGELES: We had 259 deaths. That's one more than all the homicides in 2019 in L.A. City combined, in a single day equal to a year of homicides.
[18:55:04]
WATT: Arizona has now overtaken California, leads the nation in new cases, per capita. But, still no statewide mask mandate to control the virus.
WATT: A crumb of comfort, the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine does appear to work against that more contagious strain first identified in the U.K. now spreading across the U.S.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
WATT (on camera): And, Wolf, more horrible news out of California, Los Angeles just set another record for most deaths in a day beating yesterday and county hospitals here are preparing to ration care, so- called triage officers will decide who gets treatment and who doesn't -- Wolf.
BLITZER: All right. Nick, thank you very much.
There is more breaking news we're following tonight. A source tells CNN that Vice President Pence has spoken by phone with the family of the capitol police officer who died from injuries he sustained in the riot by Trump supporters, that the president himself encouraged.
Another source tells CNN that U.S. attorneys are now planning to open a federal murder investigation into the death of the police officer, Brian Sicknick.
CNN's Brian Todd is joining us right now.
Brian, Officer Sicknick is only the fourth capitol police officer to be killed in the line of duty since the force was actually founded two centuries ago.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf.
And, tonight, the exact circumstances of Officer Brian Sicknick's death are unclear, but as the investigations ramp up, Officer Sicknick is being remembered as a hero who was working his dream job until the very end.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (voice-over): With flags lowered to half-staff, the Capitol Hill community is reeling over the death of a respected police officer, 42- year-old Brian Sicknick. But with their sorrow, some including members of Congress are also expressing anger.
REP. KATHERINE CLARK (D-MA): My heart goes out to Officer Sicknick's family. There are a lot of people who have Officer Sicknick's blood on their hands.
THEORTIS "BUTCH" JONES, FORMER CAPITOL POLICE OFFICER: The way that they went out or the way that he died was unnecessary.
TODD: Capitol Hill police say Officer Sicknick was injured on Wednesday while, quote, physically engaging with protesters that he then returned to his division office and collapsed. He died late Thursday.
The youngest of three sons, born and raised in South River, New Jersey, Brian Sicknick is called a hero by his family tonight.
In a statement sent to CNN, the family is saying he wanted to be a police officer his entire life. As a means to that end, they say, he joined the New Jersey Air National Guard. That branch says Sicknick joined in 1997, was deployed to Saudi Arabia, and Kyrgyzstan, and served in a security force squadron, the Air Guard's military police.
Sicknick was honorably discharged from the New Jersey Air National Guard in 2003 and joined the Capitol Hill police in 2008.
Capitol Hill police say Sicknick most recently served in the force's first responder's unit. One former Capitol Hill officer said the job is dangerous even under normal circumstances.
JONES: Every day is a -- your life is in danger. There is no promise you'll come home the next day or the same day that you go out. Every officer that swears in takes the job very seriously to protect Congress.
TODD: Officer Sicknick and his colleagues though by most accounts overwhelmed by the rioters are drawing praise from members of Congress who they fought to protect.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Many of our Capitol Police just acted so bravely and so, with such concern for the staff, for the members, for the Capitol, for the Capitol of the United States. Many of them, and they deserve our gratitude.
REP. ANNIE KUSTER (D-NH): We were all very fortunate that the Capitol Hill police that were there were thinking as quickly as they had. If they had automatic weapons, they could have killed hundreds of members of Congress.
TODD: Tonight, one of the men who helped prevent that horror is remembered by his family for his empathy, his commitment to rescuing dogs, and his love of the New Jersey Devils hockey team. Brian Sicknick had no children but lived with his girlfriend of 11 years.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
TODD (on camera): Now, in a statement to CNN, Brian Sicknick's family has asked the public and media not to make his passing a, quote, political issue. But as we've been reporting, his death will be the subject of a federal murder investigation with the U.S. Attorney's Office, the Capitol Hill Police, and the D.C. Metropolitan Police taking part -- Wolf.
BLITZER: I know those Capitol police. I covered Capitol Hill for a long time.
And our hearts go out to his friends and his family.
Brian Sicknick, may he rest in peace and may his memory be a blessing.
To our viewers, thanks very much for watching. I'll be back once again tomorrow, Saturday, tomorrow, 5:00 p.m. Eastern for a special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM.
Also, this is important, Sunday night please join me for a CNN special report, "The Trump Insurrection: 24 Hours that Shook America". That's at 10:00 Eastern, Sunday night, only here on CNN.
Thanks for watching.
"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.
