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New Day

House Votes to Impeach Tomorrow; First Lady Moving Things Out of White House; Right-Wing Social Media Users Flocking to Alternative Apps. Aired 6:30-7a ET

Aired January 12, 2021 - 06:30   ET

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

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[06:32:00]

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KARL RACINE, WASHINGTON, DC ATTORNEY GENERAL: The president has about nine more days of office, and, of course, the investigation is going to go on much beyond those nine days. It will be another legal question as to whether the president can be prosecuted after his term of office. I think the better weight of authority answers that question affirmatively.

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JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: That's the attorney general for Washington, D.C., suggesting that President Trump could face criminal charges for inciting the deadly mob that attacked the U.S. Capitol.

Joining us now is Daniel Goldman. He was the lead counsel for the Democratic House Manager's in President Trump's first impeachment.

Daniel, great to see you.

We'll get to the actual criminal liability in a second. But, first, I want to hit you in your wheelhouse, which is this impeachment process.

You wrote overnight, quote, a thorough impeachment investigation would include the security failure that occurred on January 6th, including whether and to what extent the White House, DOD or DHS rejected question for more security around the capital. The mob's intentions were public. What did the White House know?

How are you going to do a thorough investigation if the impeachment vote's tomorrow?

DANIEL GOLDMAN, FORMER LEAD COUNSEL TO HOUSE IMPEACHMENT MANAGERS: Well, you would do it before the Senate trial. There's certainly enough out there in the public record to show that the president (INAUDIBLE) a mob that then went to the Capitol to interfere with Congress' official duties and, ultimately, in an attempt to somehow overthrow an election. I think the article of impeachment is very aggressive. And it matches the emotions of the moment. I think when the urgency, of course, is that this is a clear and present danger sitting in the White House. So that's why the House is moving so quickly with ample evidence that's in the public record.

If you go to a Senate trial and you need to prove up the actual article of impeachment before the 100 senators, you would want to fill in a lot of the gaps that we don't have. And one of the big gaps is the security failures. And the discussion you just had in the last segment about how the president just sat around watching it rather than fielding calls from his own party leaders to help would be one example that you would want to include. That shows that the presidents -- that shows the president's mindset that he was happy to see this violent mob.

What else is there? What other conversations were there within the White House for requests for security beforehand? There's reporting out there that the FBI and NYPD was aware of intentions of people going to this rally to get violent. How much did the White House know about that?

BERMAN: It sounds like-- it sounds like, Daniel, what you're suggesting is that you support a more extended impeachment trial in the U.S. Senate?

[06:35:01]

You believe that this should take some time. Why not the urgency to get that done more quickly?

GOLDMAN: No, I don't -- I don't necessarily think it should take more time. I think the unfortunate reality of the situation is that impeachment and the Senate trial and conviction and removal is very unlikely, even in the best and quickest of circumstances to remove the president before -- in eight days.

And so what you are talking about now is setting a very important precedent that this kind of action, this kind of behavior, both in trying to overturn a lawful election and in fomenting an insurrectionist riot is unacceptable and will be met with accountability and will be met with consequences.

BERMAN: You just heard --

GOLDMAN: And so you're -- you're moving beyond the actual removal. That really should do -- that really should be the 25th Amendment. And the House is proceeding first with the resolution on the 25th Amendment, urging Vice President Pence to invoke that. That's correct. That's the quickest way to get removal. That is what should happen after last week when these --

BERMAN: Right.

GOLDMAN: This mob marched in screaming hang Mike Pence.

BERMAN: We do think --

GOLDMAN: Mike Pence should rise up and recognize that he needs to remove this president.

But if that doesn't happen, the best you can do is you move to impeachment. You set the example and set the precedent. I think you can fill in the gaps very quickly around what happened. And we're getting a lot of reporting to that effect.

BERMAN: I've got to let you go, Daniel, but how much of a case do you think the D.C. attorney general has, criminal case, for incitement?

GOLDMAN: I think, for a criminal case, you'd want to be able to connect the president's knowledge with the intentions of these right wing militias to use violence and to actually invade the Capitol. That would be the key for me is filling in that knowledge gap for a criminal case in court. You don't need that for impeachment, but you probably would want that for a criminal case.

BERMAN: The New York State Bar Association wants to remove Rudy Giuliani from its membership. Is that a move you'd support?

GOLDMAN: Sure. I think it should be worse. I think it should be more than that. That's not the body that licenses lawyers in New York. Rudy Giuliani should have his law license revoked. He should not be able to practice law. He is as involved in this as he was in Ukraine, and he is a real bane on our political system right now.

BERMAN: Daniel Goldman, thanks for being with us this morning. Appreciate your time.

GOLDMAN: My pleasure.

BERMAN: This morning, sources tell CNN that First Lady Melania Trump has already started moving out of the White House. We're also getting new details about what's happening to the White House itself before the Biden's move in. That's next.

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[06:42:00]

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: We are eight days away from the inauguration and sources tell CNN that First Lady Melania Trump has already been moving things out of the White House for weeks.

CNN's Kate Bennett is live at the White House with more.

So is she still living there, Kate?

KATE BENNETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, she's still living there, but she's definitely been efficient in moving and packing for just about -- well, several weeks. I mean after the election was -- was -- was not conceded but after it was proven the electoral votes came in that Donald Trump would, in fact, be leaving the White House, whatever he was saying publicly, privately behind the scenes the first lady was getting underway, packing things up, determining what was going to go to Mar-a-Lago, what would go into storage. Now we've learned that that process that she's been in is almost

complete. One person says it's more than 50 percent completed. That she has already basically setting up to leave the White House. She is focused mainly -- her favorite hobby has been collecting photo albums and putting those together and that has been a lot of her focus, sort of trying to shore up a personal legacy, making sure that things are documented.

We haven't heard from her publicly. We heard her statement yesterday, the first words in five days since the insurrection at the Capitol. So certainly she's not occupying her time with public events, but she is behind the scenes packing, doing her photo albums, making sure that the next step in the Trump life is well set up.

CAMEROTA: And what about the actual, physical preparations for getting the White House, the building, ready? We understand that, of course, there has to be an extra deep cleaning.

BENNETT: Right. So this is interesting, too. This is not the typical dance that happens in the six hours between when the outgoing president and the incoming president all leave together and go up to Capitol Hill for hours at the inauguration ceremony. Behind the scenes, literally one moving van moves up to move them out, old president out, and the new president in on the other side. That's not happening this time. This is COVID. This is a pandemic. There will be a substantial deep clean.

My colleague, Megan Vasquez (ph), and I have reviewed federal contract documents outlining just how much this is going to cost for a thorough top to bottom. The contracts we looked at total about close to half a million dollars. This includes, you know, $40,000 for carpet cleaning, $115,000 for flooring and replacement, more than $50,000 for new paint, fresh coats of paint and wall coverings. So certainly this is going to be a deep COVID clean before the Bidens set foot inside the White House.

CAMEROTA: Half a million taxpayer dollars. Oh my goodness.

Kate, thank you very much for all of that reporting.

BENNETT: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: We have a quick programming note. Abby Phillip talks with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and her family. So you can watch our CNN special "Kamala Harris: Making History." That will air Sunday at 10:00 p.m.

So with social media sites cracking down on right wing extremists, where will they go now?

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[06:48:56]

BERMAN: New this morning, Twitter says it has banned 70,000 accounts promoting the QAnon conspiracy theories. FaceBook also restricting talk about election fraud and Parler, the newly favored conservative social media site taken offline indefinitely.

CNN's Donie O'Sullivan joins us now.

Donie, where are all these users going to go?

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN REPORTER: They're going to alternative platforms, John, and there are concerns this morning that those platforms will be used by Trump supporters to organize more violence.

Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We had an election that was stolen from us.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): Some of the biggest peddlers of the conspiracy theory that Trump didn't lose the election, including the president himself, have been purged from major social media platforms like FaceBook and Twitter since last week's insurrection.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The president's Twitter account has been suspended.

O'SULLIVAN: But they and their followers have been finding new homes online, platforms like Parler and messaging app Telegram that have few rules and where hate and misinformation fester.

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: I'm moving from Twitter to Parler. I'm moving to Parler.

[06:50:00]

I'm moving to Parler. I have a Parler account.

BEN DECKER, CEO, MEMETICA: When people push disinformation or conspiracy theories, those conspiracy theories are just further re- enforced. There's no counter rebuttal like there might be on FaceBook or Twitter where you have fact checkers and people who have differing views that offers a civic debate.

O'SULLIVAN: Weeks ago we spoke to Parler users who explained why they prefer it?

O'SULLIVAN (on camera): What is something you can say on Parler that you wouldn't be able to say on FaceBook?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That the -- that the coronavirus is not as deadly as everybody says it is.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you can literally post that on Twitter and get in Twitter jail for that.

O'SULLIVAN: But you can post it on Parler?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. No problem.

O'SULLIVAN (voice over): Financially backed by prominent conservative donor Rebekah Mercer, Parler is a social media app with an interface similar to Twitter. It was increasingly popular and reached number one on the Apple store for a time before being taken offline overnight Sunday after Amazon, which hosted the site, pulled support for it. Parler is suing the tech giant in a bid to get back up and running.

But Parler did, at least, remove this post from Trump supporter attorney Lin Wood, which seemed to call for Vice President Mike Pence to be executed by firing squad. Though Wood later told CNN he made no threat and believes in the rule of law.

The controversial far right group the Proud Boys is urging followers to welcome new users to the Telegram app where its channel has seen a surge in new followers over the past few days. We found this post on a Telegram channel summing up the potential influx of users. Parler being shut down has sent tens of thousands or more of people to Telegram. Now is our opportunity to grab them by the hand and lead them toward ideological truth.

DECKER: The further migration towards more secure fringe platforms is going to create a bigger blind spot for researchers and law enforcement. There's absolutely no doubt about that.

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BERMAN: Donie, the big question continues to be, what took Twitter and FaceBook so long to enact the action that they finally did?

O'SULLIVAN: Yes, John, you know, I think maybe some executives in Silicon Valley woke up on Thursday morning and thought about all that violence that we saw on the Capitol on Wednesday and realized that they were culpable. That by allowing misinformation and hate to fester on their platforms for so long that they had some responsibility.

Now, there are some concerns, including being expressed by the ACLU and Germany's Angela Merkel that, you know, a company being able to shut down the president of the United States is problematic and that perhaps that Silicon Valley billionaires do have too much power. But, of course, many people, you know, Democrats and others would say that it's too little too late.

I think all of this, you know, whatever side you're on, you're going to -- I think this is going to be a new priority for the Biden administration in terms of doing something about big tech.

John.

BERMAN: Donie O'Sullivan, listen, thank you very much for being with us. Stay on it. Honestly, the fact that Twitter's bragging about taking 70,000 QAnon users down now? Now? Where you been?

All right, appreciate it, Donie.

O'SULLIVAN: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: So a lot of folks up in New England saying that Bill Belichick now acting like a patriot. How he turned his back on an offer from the president, next.

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[06:57:09]

BERMAN: So in the wake of the insurrection, the attack on the U.S. Capitol, New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick has decided not to accept a Presidential Medal of Freedom. He says he will not go to the White House. If you guys can put his statement up on the screen so I can read it. In a statement he says, recently I was offered the opportunity to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom, which I was flattered by out of respect for what the honor represents. Subsequently, the tragic events of last week occurred and the decision has been made not to move forward with the award. Belichick says remaining true to the people, team and country I love outweigh the benefits of any individual award. The Medal of Freedom is the nation's highest civilian honor.

We spoke to Jim McGovern, the chairman of the rules committee, native of Worcester, Massachusetts, yesterday, and says -- he said it would be outrageous if Belichick had accepted it. And I know, as a Patriots fan, there were a lot of people up there who were outraged at the possibility of Belichick going to the White House to receive this. Belichick backing out. You know it's got to sting the president.

The language Belichick used is interesting. It was --

CAMEROTA: Passive voice.

BERMAN: The decision has been made.

CAMEROTA: By whom, Mr. Belichick?

BERMAN: Well, it was interesting, I doubt it was made by Bob Kraft, whose the team owner, and a better friend of the president than Bill Belichick. I don't think Kraft has said anything about any of this out in public.

CAMEROTA: I like that you're pretending right now to be an objective reporter about the Patriots, though you have shared with all of us your undying love for them. How do you feel about what -- that statement that he made?

BERMAN: I feel like they're out of the playoffs. No, look, I feel -- I feel like if you're a coach of a football team with a diverse group of players, how could you go to the White House?

His statement goes on to say, the lessons he learned during Black Lives Matter and the team's meeting he had. I don't think -- I think there are players who may not have played for him had he gone. I can't imagine a scenario where he could have survived had he gone to the White House.

CAMEROTA: Well, there you go.

BERMAN: Yes.

CAMEROTA: That helps us understand the decision a lot. Thank you very much.

BERMAN: NEW DAY continues right now.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: According to an FBI bulletin, armed protests are being planned in Washington, D.C., and all 50 state capitals.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Our goals are to protect the District of Columbia from a repeat of the violent insurrection.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: House Democrats took the first step today toward impeaching President Trump a second time.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is obvious that the president is no longer qualified to hold that office.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Kevin McCarthy has been telling colleagues, the president now feels like he bears some responsibility for all this.

We should take all of that with a massive grain of salt.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This administration will always, in the ranks of history, be book ended to explosions of white supremacist violence.

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

CAMEROTA: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is NEW DAY.

America is on high alert this morning for more domestic terror attacks after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

[07:00:03]

CNN has obtained an FBI bulletin warning about plans for armed protests in all.