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New Day Sunday
U.S. Vice President Not Ruling Out 25th Amendment To Remove Trump; Impeachment Articles Could Be Introduced As Soon As Monday; Multiple Republicans Considering Supporting Impeachment; Biden To Release Nearly All Available COVID-19 Vaccine Doses; Indonesian Navy Locates Human Remains In Plane Wreckage; Already More than Two Million COVID-19 Cases, 24,000 Deaths In 2021; At Least 83 Arrested In Capitol Siege; 2020 Smashes Record For Billion-Dollar Weather Disasters. Aired 5-6a ET
Aired January 10, 2021 - 05:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): This is NEW DAY weekend with Victor Blackwell and Christi Paul.
CHRISTI PAUL, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): A shot of Capitol Hill there as we are looking at 10 more days in the Trump presidency. It still is not clear when or even how leaders in Washington are going to hold President Trump accountable for the deadly insurrection at Capitol Hill.
Good morning to you, I'm Christi Paul.
VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): I'm Victor Blackwell. A source close to vice president Mike Pence tells CNN invoking the 25th Amendment is still on the table. That's in case the president becomes more unstable. Another source says that they have not even spoken since the attack.
The other option, of course, is impeachment. A House Democrat leading that effort says the article against the president for incitement of insurrection has 180 Democratic co-sponsors. The plan is to introduce that resolution tomorrow.
PAUL: The big question at this point is the timeline. Republican senator Pat Toomey says the president, quote, "committed impeachable offenses" but he doesn't think it's possible or practical to force him out at this point.
We've got a lot to get to with CNN White House Reporter Sarah Westwood, who is in Washington for us.
Vice president Pence, Donald Trump aren't speaking; the 25th Amendment apparently is now being floated but any possibility is open.
What do we know about the state of things in the West Wing right now? SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, good morning. Things in the West Wing are strained right now, to say the least, with the tensions between President Trump and vice president Pence boiling over into public view.
Trump and Pence have not spoken since Wednesday, when Pence was trapped in the Capitol during the insurrection. Some of the rioters shouting his name as they ransacked the Capitol.
Trump never checked on Pence's wellbeing and that is just one of many reasons why there are so many tensions between the two men.
Sources say Trump is angry at Pence and Pence is feeling disappointed that he is experiencing some of the vindictiveness that has been reserved for other cabinet members and aides but yet hasn't been extended to Pence, one of Trump's most loyal top officials up to this point.
To make that rift even larger, Pence is saying publicly that he will attend Biden's inauguration. Trump announced in one of his final tweets, before his Twitter account was suspended, that he would not be attending the inauguration.
Pence is working to ensure that, with these remaining 10 days, the transition to the Biden administration goes smoothly and that the president-elect has the tools he needs to combat the coronavirus.
Now the 25th Amendment has been discussed among cabinet members, those that remain. Remember, two cabinet members did resign in protest this week. Pence is leaving the option on the table, though, to prevent any further erratic behavior from President Trump over the next 10 days, so just a major rift between two men who have had virtually no daylight between them over the past four years.
BLACKWELL: Sarah, the likelihood is that impeachment will be moving forward.
What do you know about the legal team that might represent the president?
WESTWOOD: Well, Victor, we know that Trump is considering adding Rudy Giuliani and Alan Dershowitz, two attorneys, to his legal defense team. Giuliani has been instrumental in promoting the conspiracy theories that led to some of the violence that we did see at the Capitol.
Notably, some of the lawyers who defended the president the first time he was impeached, like White House counsel Pat Cipollone and Jay Sekulow, are not expected to be involved this time around.
And in fact, sources say Cipollone has even considered resigning over the past few days. So this legal team that the president has is going to look different.
And the landscape, of course, is going to be different this time around for impeachment because some Republicans are also considering joining Democrats in their support of impeachment, due to the president's incitement of violence this week.
So that is going to be interesting to watch this week ahead, as the president has to hastily assemble his defense team this time around.
BLACKWELL: Sarah Westwood, thanks so much.
PAUL: Also new this morning, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is telling lawmakers to prepare to return to Washington next week, another sign that House Democrats could move to impeach President Trump following last week's deadly Capitol riot.
BLACKWELL: CNN national correspondent Suzanne Malveaux is on Capitol Hill.
What is the Speaker telling lawmakers about the plans this morning?
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SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN U.S. CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Victor and Christi. Well, actually, this letter to the colleagues, to her Democratic colleagues, is a very clear sign that they are moving forward and they are moving forward very, very quickly.
They want people to be on standby, ready to travel to Washington, D.C., for that potential vote, the article of impeachment. What she has been saying is that she has been in touch with constitutional lawyers and scholars, in and outside of Congress, to set the stage and to really build the case against this president here.
There is a growing sense and an overwhelming sense within the caucus, the Democratic caucus, that something must be done, that the president must be held accountable in some form or fashion.
And this is uniquely the House's responsibility of impeaching the president.
In her letter, she tells the caucus, "It is absolutely essential that those who perpetrated the assault on our democracy be held accountable. There must be a recognition that this desecration was instigated by the president," putting the blame squarely on President Trump.
What is different this time around and what we saw in December of 2019, the previous impeachment, is that now there are more and more Republicans who are signing on and indicating that, yes, the president must go in some way.
And perhaps that is through impeachment. This is senator Pat Toomey.
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SEN. PAT TOOMEY (R-PA): I have to say I do think the president's behavior this week does disqualify him from serving but we've got 10 days left, 11 days left. He is not going to be serving after that time. One of the things that I'm concerned about frankly is whether the House would completely politicize something. I do think the president committed impeachable offenses, but I don't
know what is going to land on the Senate floor, if anything.
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MALVEAUX: So the big question is, what is actually appropriate, this is being robustly debated within the Republican Party. We saw a letter from Republican Ken Buck, Republican from Colorado, and six others.
They said that they did not believe that they should object -- Congress should object to the certification of President-Elect Joe Biden's presidency. That happened.
They are now sending a letter to President-Elect Joe Biden, saying, look, please intervene. Please tell Speaker Pelosi not to move forward with this impeachment inquiry. They say it is unnecessary. They say it's inflammatory.
And so, as you can imagine, there is a lot of debate, a lot of discussion as to what is the most appropriate way of holding the president accountable and punishing him.
PAUL: Suzanne Malveaux, appreciate seeing you today. Thank you.
MALVEAUX: Thank you.
BLACKWELL: Let's talk about this with Lynn Sweet with the "Chicago Sun-Times."
Good morning to you. Let's start here with this reporting that the vice president is not ruling out invoking the 25th Amendment. The vice president has been asked this several times before and when he's asked, typically he dismisses it quickly, publicly. He is not doing that now.
Do you think it's plausible that he could invoke it?
And your take on the audience for that lack of a clear denial.
LYNN SWEET, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, "CHICAGO SUN-TIMES": OK. I think it means that we're at a very perilous time, Victor. Good morning to you. Just think, we're speaking at a time where, for the first time in the history of United States, we are not having a peaceful transfer of power.
Five people already died at the Capitol in a protest of the official counting of the electoral votes that would make Joe Biden the president. So here is why vice president Pence needs to keep that 25th Amendment option on the table.
You could talk about impeachment all you want. Monday, the articles could be filed. But it won't have any immediate effect. The only thing on the table, short of resignation, is the 25th Amendment and, Victor, this is so unprecedented because it has only been invoked several times on the voluntary part of the 25th Amendment, Section 3. Ronald Reagan in 1985 and President G.W. Bush twice in 2002 and 2007.
Section 4, which is the involuntary removal, has never been invoked. And you need the vice president on board to make it happen.
BLACKWELL: Let's talk about impeachment. We just heard from senator Pat Toomey, saying that he thinks President Trump committed impeachable offenses. You've heard Senators Murkowski and Sasse and Romney, very vocal about their disapproval of the president's role on Wednesday.
Do you expect that there is greater likelihood, this time around, than there was a year ago, that there could be the votes in the Senate to convict after what happened last week?
SWEET: Well, part of it is what the president does between now and the end of his term. If there is another incident, if there's more riots, either in Washington or other parts of the country.
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SWEET: If President Trump finds his workarounds to be banned from Twitter or Facebook, that will bring more Republicans on board. We will have a majority, you will have more senators on the Democratic side right now.
I think it still would be tough. But one of the things on the table now that was not on the table in the last impeachment is that, if President Trump is convicted in a Senate trial, then the Senate can go ahead and also take action to prevent him from running again, to disqualify him for office.
BLACKWELL: You know, Toomey talked about what lands on the Senate floor. And as it relates to the scope of the articles of impeachment, there is now this new reporting, first from "The Washington Post," now confirmed by CNN, that the president spoke with another Georgia official, asking that person to find the fraud. He would be a national hero.
House majority whip James Clyburn says that those should be considered in the articles of impeachment.
Do you think there's any appetite to expand the scope?
And how would that potentially jeopardize what happens in the Senate?
SWEET: Well, the simpler it is, the faster it will be. And the impeachment will have to be condensed on the fastest of fast tracks. But the idea that Trump pressured this Georgia elections investigator certainly could be added to it.
You know, this is yet another call. But that case may be harder to prove because there is no, so far, recording of that conversation, as there was with the Georgia secretary of state. So it might be that you want to just have the absolute strongest case you could make.
BLACKWELL: Good point. Let's talk about President-Elect Biden. He said this week that he needs his cabinet confirmed as close to January 20th as possible. There's also this coronavirus relief package that Dems want to pass.
How do Democrats navigate wanting to look forward to this new administration, with the potential weeks of Senate trial for impeachment and that really important window when the new administration comes in?
SWEET: Well, the timing of the trial is up to the Senate -- what will be the new majority, Victor. And as the senators always like to say to reporters, you know, we could do more than one thing at once. Not the ideal situation, of course, where the first 100 days of Joe Biden's presidency, where he wants to just move forward and pass his agenda.
We have so many story streams going here. But President Biden knows -- he knows this now from history, he has the House and the Senate. Might not have that two years from now.
If you're going to have your big stuff done, you have to get this moving now. You can't wait. And the Senate could schedule things. But if the Supreme Court justice John Roberts does have to preside over it, then his schedule comes into play, too.
BLACKWELL: And we should also remember that Speaker Pelosi held the articles of impeachment at the end of 2019, beginning of 2020, for a completely different reason, obviously. But she did delay that sending it over to the Senate.
The president obviously is still seething over the permanent suspension from Twitter, other platforms as well. CNN's reporting is that he is expected to fight with Big Tech in the last 1.5 weeks of his administration.
What are the chances of any success or major impact, considering his rift within the party?
SWEET: Well, in terms of Big Tech, let's always remember that Facebook and Twitter are privately -- are private entities. This does not have to do with First Amendment rights. No one has a right to have their platform. Facebook is free. We don't even pay to get on it as users, same thing with Twitter.
So eventually there may be a workaround. Now we know why President Trump was so intent on trying to put handcuffs on Big Tech because he feared this would happen. And for now, he is muzzled and he is muzzled for a good reason.
People listened to him and they all flocked to Washington for this deadly riot; can't happen again. And this is how he communicates. Now maybe down the road, there will be other ways or other platforms invented that he will be invited on. Maybe he will even own it.
But for the time being, for the short term, his fight with Big Tech now is more theory than reality.
BLACKWELL: Ten days left. Lynn Sweet, good to see you. SWEET: Good to see you, Victor
PAUL: Pfizer says it is ready to meet the demand of the incoming Biden administration. The drugmaker is prepared, they say, to release millions of doses of its coronavirus vaccine.
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PAUL: How that could complicate, though, the goal of getting everyone two doses.
BLACKWELL: Investigators believe that they found the crash site of that fatal plane crash off the Indonesian coast. Search teams have found debris and human remains.
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PAUL: Some breaking news to share with you in the search for the wreckage of that deadly plane crash off the coast of Indonesia. Investigators now saying this morning they have located the crash site. They have the plane's black box and search and rescue teams are finding human remains among the plane debris.
CNN's Kristie Lu Stout is with us live.
What else are you learning about the investigation this morning?
KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN ANCHOR: Christi, just imagine the agony for the family members, as we learn that plane wreckage, clothing and human remains have been pulled from the crash site in an area called the Thousand Islands chain. It's located 20 miles northwest of Jakarta. This a day after that Sriwijaya airliner took off.
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STOUT: We're learning about the people on board, a husband and wife, who were traveling to attend a funeral; a family of five, with a 7- month-old baby boy; another family of five, who filmed this joyous farewell video on social media before that doomed flight.
Earlier we heard from the Indonesian president Joko Widodo, who urged people to pray for the victims.
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JOKO WIDODO, INDONESIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): In the name of the government and Indonesian people, we would like to express our condolences on what has happened. And yesterday I already instructed the transport ministry and the search and rescue agency to help with the search operation as quickly as possible.
(END VIDEO CLIP) STOUT: On Saturday, the plane, which was a Boeing 737-500, that took off from Jakarta and, moments later, they lost contact with the plane. The Indonesian navy was able to find the message after locating a signal from the fuselage of the doomed flight.
The CEO of the airline says that the plane was used, it was about 26 years old but it was in good condition. We also learned more details about the weather. The plane had been -- the flight was delayed some 30 minutes because it is monsoon season. Heavy rain is underway but the investigation has only just begun.
PAUL: Kristie Lu Stout, we appreciate the update.
Coronavirus cases, as you know, are surging, hospitals are overwhelmed right now and experts say the worst may still be weeks away. We're talking with public health specialist Dr. Saju Mathew, asking him why doctors report the surge we're seeing is now yet the holiday surge.
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BLACKWELL: More than 2 million new coronavirus cases have been reported in the U.S. since the start of the year.
PAUL: And think about this, nearly 270,000 of those cases were reported just yesterday alone. CNN's Polo Sandoval following all of this for us.
That's remarkable.
POLO SANDOVAL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Health officials have said that the key in trying to keep those numbers down is by increasing vaccination efforts. Behind me here in Brooklyn is one of the so- called megasites that the city is setting up. It's expected to open later today. It will be one of many that you could expect throughout the city of New York. It will be offering appointment-based 24/7 vaccinations.
Right now it's just for health care workers but tomorrow -- not only health care workers but also long-term care facility residents and staff. But starting tomorrow, you can expect first responders, teachers and then, of course, people over the age of 75.
The mayor in New York City hoping that this will allow them to get closer to that goal of vaccinating a million people by next month.
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SANDOVAL (voice-over): Drive up, sleeve up, done. At this popup vaccination drive-through east of Atlanta, there's been a steady stream of first responders and health care workers eager to get the COVID-19 vaccine they preregistered for.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's almost like a contest, when you open up and everyone is rushing in to sign up at the same time.
SANDOVAL (voice-over): That's been the problem here and at many mass vaccination locations across the country. High demand means appointments may be hard to get. Come Monday, Dekalb County first responders and people over 65 will be eligible to get their shots as well.
Like other parts of the country, Dekalb County officials are facing the challenge of establishing confidence in the vaccine among some African Americans, among Latinos, even a few health care workers, says Dr. Elizabeth Ford.
DR. ELIZABETH FORD, DEKALB COUNTY DISTRICT HEALTH DIRECTOR: What I'm concerned about is that there is still a population of folk that are super anxious about this vaccine and, most likely, that's the population that needs it the most.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I understand fully where those reservations come from. I understand the history. I understand where it's coming from but I still had to do what was best for me, my family and those that I serve.
SANDOVAL (voice-over): Pfizer, maker of one of the two vaccines currently authorized in the U.S., says it's ready to send out millions of vaccines each day.
This comes after President-Elect Joe Biden pledged to release all available doses as soon as he takes office, breaking from the Trump administration's approach of holding back half of vaccine productions to ensure second doses are available.
DR. CELINE GOUNDER, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: What we're really trying to do here is simplify the distribution. In a sense we've been getting in our own way, making things overly complicated.
And so long as there are not any manufacturing glitches, we're confident that the supply of vaccine will be there when people return for their second dose.
SANDOVAL (voice-over): Biden's team says CDC guidance regarding second doses will stay the same. Recipients of Pfizer's version should go back for theirs 21 days after their first shot, 28 days for those with Moderna's.
Meanwhile, weekly tallies of COVID-19 have never been higher. Already more than 2 million new COVID cases have been confirmed this month. On Saturday, Arizona surpassed 10,000 total COVID-19 deaths while Texas reported a record number of hospitalizations for the seventh day in a row.
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SANDOVAL: What's truly a telling number is the weekly rates of new COVID-19 cases, Christi and Victor. Looking over some of these numbers from Johns Hopkins University, now saying, over the last week, we have averaged about 247,000 new cases a day.
Putting that into perspective, that is nearly four times as what we saw during the summer peak back in July. And then, as you've heard continuously from officials, Christi, it's bound to get worse as we continue to see some of those numbers from the holiday season.
PAUL: All right. Polo Sandoval, we appreciate you. Thank you.
BLACKWELL: Let's bring in Dr. Saju Mathew, public health specialist, primary care physician.
Dr. Mathew, good morning to you. The Biden administration says that they will take a different tack here and will release all of the doses that it has. I imagine that that creates a new set of concerns to make sure that second dose is available when it's time to get it.
DR. SAJU MATHEW, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Yes, good morning, Victor. Happy new year to you and Christi. Listen, that is definitely a concern of mine. If you look at the way the trials were conducted for both Moderna and Pfizer, it was two doses about, you know, a month apart.
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MATHEW: And that's only when you get 95 percent protection. You get about 50 percent protection two weeks after the first dose.
So as Dr. Gounder just mentioned there on sound, I hope that we can do more than ensure. I think we have to be absolutely sure that everybody who gets the first shot can come back to that same location and get the second dose.
We already have such vaccine hesitancy in this country that I think that, also on a moral standpoint, if you promise somebody 95 percent protection, just giving them one shot is not going to protect them the way that we have promised.
PAUL: Let me ask you this, Saju. We know that ICUs are full. There are reports that in California alone, L.A. mayor there saying that a person in his city is dying every eight minutes. Doctors are reporting this holiday COVID surge hasn't even arrived yet. The holidays were two weeks ago so this may be confusing to people.
Why is what we're seeing right now not the holiday surge?
MATHEW: Right. So Christi, you have to think about how, from when somebody gets exposed to the virus and actually gets infected, that could be almost five to two weeks. And then you have to wait another two to four weeks before somebody gets sick enough to go into the hospital and then maybe even go into the ICU.
Now with the hospitals filling up, Christi, around my community, people are actually waiting until they are sicker before they get into the ICU. So really, the cases that we're seeing right now is from two to four weeks ago. And if you think about it, Christmas was only about two weeks ago. We
haven't even hit the New Year's surge, which will be the next four to six weeks.
BLACKWELL: So we know that variants of viruses are not new. We've discussed this, as the South African, the British variant, we've learned about those. The CDC is now working to determine if disinfectants work against these new variants -- we are talking about on surfaces.
Would you expect that they would be?
MATHEW: Yes, I think that they would be. If you think about it, a lot of the disinfectants really have worked so far. And ultimately nine months into the pandemic, we're finding out that really the surfaces are not that big of a deal, Victor.
The bottom line for the transmission of this virus is really the two Ps that we talk about a lot, proximity, prolonged contact and being unmasked. Now that we are in the winter seasons in most parts of the U.S. we have to really remember that it's those small indoor gatherings where the transmission is occurring.
And for people that are concerned about the surfaces, remember, good old soap and water will kill the virus as well.
PAUL: All right. Dr. Saju Mathew, thank you for keeping us all informed here. We appreciate it. Stay safe there.
BLACKWELL: Thanks, Doctor.
MATHEW: Thank you.
BLACKWELL: Just ahead, we will get the latest on the new arrests after the assault on the Capitol and the search across this country for more suspects.
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PAUL: No American president has been impeached twice. By midweek it's possible that that could change. There have been other presidential impeachments in recent history of course; you remember President Clinton. Our next guest served as a special adviser to President Clinton when he was impeached. Guy Smith joining us now.
Guy, thank you so much. We always appreciate having you here with us. Talk to me about why invoking the 25th Amendment is already off the table.
GUY SMITH, CLINTON WHITE HOUSE ADVISER: Well, I think that the only opportunity for the 25th Amendment was vice president Pence and then seven members of the cabinet. It doesn't appear that the members of the cabinet have much interest in this.
There have been some discussions but they don't seem to be going anywhere. Remember, a lot of the cabinet are acting, so they are not in a position to even be involved.
And Pence used to be, just a few days ago, really close to the president. The president directly put vice president Pence and his family in harm's way. So I think Pence is now saying that the 25th Amendment is still on the table just to increase leverage.
But the impeachment resolution is coming like a train down the track. And the House will pass it, with Republican support, early in this week.
PAUL: So there are these reports, too, that Mitch McConnell, unlikely that he will hold a second impeachment trial.
What is the effect of the suggestion that a vote of censure would happen?
I mean, if the intention is to keep the president, to ensure that he can't run for federal office, what's the consequence of a censure?
SMITH: There would not be a consequence of censure. What censure would do would be a condemnation of the president's actions by both the House and the Senate. And it could actually be an outlet for a lot of Republicans, who would not want to vote to convict in an impeachment trial but would vote for a censure.
But it would not put the Senate in a position, where they could have Trump never run for office; however, if the impeachment resolution passes in the House -- and it will -- then a trial could be held after Biden takes office because the Democrats will control the Senate after January 20th.
And then they can hold a trial whenever they want. But it's important to remember that another dynamic here is that President-Elect Biden would really rather not have this as a distraction in the first weeks and months of his administration.
However, the Senate can hold a trial when it wants to. The Constitution says the Senate is the sole -- has sole responsibility for a trial. So it could hold that over Trump's head.
And then without Twitter and without other social media, the air has gone out of the Trump balloon. And as we see more and more detail coming out of the invasion of the Capitol building, you're going to have more and more Republican anger also and division within the Republican Party, serious division.
PAUL: And I've had more people ask me in the last week, who is the Republican Party?
What do they stand for? Can you answer that question right now?
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SMITH: Well, they don't really know. There's two Republican parties and this is -- actually, I think we're watching, Christi, in real time, the disintegration of the Republican Party as it has been known, certainly since the Cold War.
What we now have is the Trump cultists, who believe all the lies and continue to -- and those in Congress continue to -- help spread those -- the fraud lies from the election and so many other things.
And represented by like senators Cruz and Hawley and then you have the establishment Republican Party, represented by Mitt Romney, Lisa Murkowski. And this is the kind of divide -- and this is one of the things that Nancy Pelosi is contemplating.
First of all, she's angry, she's livid because the people's House was attacked directly because of the president. But the other thing is, politically, it drives a stake through the heart of the Republican Party and keeps them so divided that it gives the Democrats even more leverage in terms of politics.
PAUL: It's not just President Trump that is being discussed right now in terms of what charges might come. Let's listen here to several other people -- Don Jr., Giuliani, Congressman Mo Brooks -- what they said at that rally prior to the riot that ended up at the Capitol.
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DONALD TRUMP JR., PRESIDENT TRUMP'S SON: Stand up and fight. Stand up and hold your representatives accountable.
RUDY GIULIANI, ADVISOR TO DONALD TRUMP: Let's have trial by combat.
REP. MO BROOKS (R-AL): Today is important in another way. Today is the day American patriots start taking down names and kicking ass.
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PAUL: It's bold language.
What is your expectation that charges of incitement could be imminent for any of these men?
And how would that affect, if it does, this notion from President Trump, that he would consider using Giuliani as one of his attorneys in his defense, if it becomes necessary?
SMITH: Using Giuliani for anything is kind of ludicrous given -- given his recent track record. But I think that you're not going to see any charges from a Trump Justice Department.
But once the Biden administration takes over, there will be a new attorney general; there will be a new look at everything. I think you can very likely see a lot of charges. You could even see the president being charged with sedition and inciting a riot.
And, remember, when you are not president, you can be indicted and he's not going to be president at 12:01 on January 20th. And if the pardon doesn't come -- and this business about being able to pardon himself is very sketchy in terms of constitutionality.
So unless he makes nice with president Pence, steps down, Pence pardons him, he is just in a world of legal hurt.
PAUL: Guy Smith, thank you for walking us through what has happened and what the expectation is could happen. We appreciate your expertise and you being willing to get up at 5:40 in the morning for us on a Sunday. Thank you, sir.
SMITH: Thank you for having me.
PAUL: Of course.
BLACKWELL: So the FBI has made several arrests in connection to this attack on the Capitol. And the growing list of charges are giving new understanding to the extremist elements in the crowd. Let's go now to CNN's senior crime and justice correspondent Evan Perez for more -- Evan.
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EVAN PEREZ, CNN SR. JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Federal authorities around the country are working through the weekend, hunting down some of the people involved in Wednesday's terrorist attack on the U.S. Capitol.
We know of at least 18 arrests on federal charges and dozens more are facing charges in local court here in Washington.
Among those arrests are Adam Johnson, arrested in his home state of Florida. He is seen in pictures carrying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's lectern.
Also arrested, Jacob Chansley in Arizona, seen in video inside the Capitol, wearing face paint and a bearskin hat. The FBI says that Chansley told them he came to Washington because Donald Trump called for his supporters to come and that he organized a group to heed the president's call to action.
Another member of the mob facing charges, Derek Evans, a delegate in the West Virginia legislature. And he announced that he is resigning his seat.
Five people died in Wednesday's mob scene, including a Capitol police officer, who was attacked by the pro-Trump crowd. Prosecutors have laid out serious charges against some suspects, including against a man who drove from Alabama with a truck, allegedly carrying bombs and a handgun and a rifle.
Another man, arrested with firearms, allegedly told friends that he came to kill Speaker Nancy Pelosi --
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PEREZ: -- Evan Perez, CNN, Washington.
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BLACKWELL: A special military honors may be coming for that officer, Brian Sicknick, the U.S. Capitol police officer, who was killed in last week's riot. Sicknick was a staff sergeant for the New Jersey Air National Guard and served two deployments.
PAUL: Military officials confirm the Secretary of the Army supports Sicknick receiving posthumous special honors and a burial at Arlington National Cemetery. The family would like that to happen. The flags at the Capitol have been lowered to half-staff in his honor. Officer Brian Sicknick was 42 years old.
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BLACKWELL: 2020, we should stop just talking about 2020.
Can we just put that away?
PAUL: Can we just keep moving?
BLACKWELL: And look forward. It was an unforgettable, unbelievable year in many ways not good. There was a COVID pandemic, a politically divisive presidential election and several climate disasters.
PAUL: 2020 smashed the record for billion-dollar weather catastrophes and that probably got overlooked many times over.
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PAUL: So listen, Pope Francis says he was amazed by what he witnessed in Washington on Wednesday. We will get more clarity of what he meant in a moment. Stay close.
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BLACKWELL: Pope Francis is now talking about the deadly siege on Capitol Hill. He says he was amazed that something like that could happen in the U.S. because it's so disciplined when it comes to democracy. PAUL: During an interview with an Italian TV network, the pope said
Wednesday's violence, quote, "must be condemned" and that the deadly riot proves even in a democracy such as America there is, quote, "something wrong about people taking a path against the community, democracy and the common good," unquote.
Now he added that, quote, "We must reflect and learn from history so that the same mistakes aren't repeated because what happened," he says, "can be remedied."
On Wednesday we all watched together what was happening at the Capitol, Marianne Williamson, author and former Democratic presidential candidate, was publicly praying on Instagram as it was happening.
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MARIANNE WILLIAMSON, FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: It doesn't matter whether we are on the Right or on the Left; conservative, liberal; Democrat, Republican, independent, all of us are Americans.
May no weapons formed against our country stand. And dear God, we pray for these protesters. May angels hover over them and remind them of their sanity.
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PAUL: That last part may be hard for some people to accept. But this is part of the reset that she believes is happening right now.
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WILLIAMSON: Martin Luther King said, the Lord said I have to love my enemies, he didn't say I have to like them. There is an agape love, a very impersonal love, whereby you're loving humanity, you're praying for humanity.
Now that doesn't mean we don't hold people accountable. I think it's very important that we hold anyone who participated in any kind of criminal action related not only to this particular event but also to this entire administration.
But that does not mean we don't love. It just that sometimes love says no.
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PAUL: She pointed out that history shows us it's the people of this country who enact change, more so than the politicians.
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WILLIAMSON: It is the people who started the abolitionist movement. It is the people who started the women's suffragette movement. It is the people who started the civil rights movement.
The largest movements in American political history had not emerged from the political class or political parties of that time.
And I think that that's what's happening now. Some of our biggest problems are not where Republicans and Democrats are different; some of our biggest problems is where they are far too much the same.
Our biggest problem is money in politics, which makes both of them far too beholden to advocacy or short-term corporate profits than to the people of the United States.
You know, Christi, we do tend to get it right. We do course correct. That has been our history. We had slavery. But then we had abolition. We had the denial of rights to women and then we had women's suffrage.
We had segregation and then we had civil rights. All that we are doing here is living the same struggle in our time. This is the newest iteration as we're pushing back on forces that are essentially undemocratic and un-American.
And I believe in us, Christi. We are rising to the occasion. It's not just that I think we are going to; I think we are.
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PAUL: So I want to hear about your reset. Share it with me. Find me on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. I would love to hear from you.
BLACKWELL: Next hour of your "NEW DAY" starts right now.
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KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Pence isn't ruling out an effort to use the 25th Amendment to remove the president from office. The two men have not spoken since Wednesday's attack on the Capitol.
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Democrats are pushing full steam ahead to give Donald Trump the dubious distinction of being the only president in American history who will be impeached twice.
