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Security Ramping Up At U.S. And State Capitols Ahead Of Inauguration; Biden Unveils $1.9 Trillion COVID, Economic Relief Plan; Trump Administration Miring Biden In Foreign Policy Problems. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired January 15, 2021 - 05:30   ET

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


[05:30:00]

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Preparations for what could be a very dangerous time. Security concerns in D.C. are so serious right now, President-elect Joe Biden has asked his deputy attorney general nominee Lisa Monaco to serve as a homeland security adviser to his inauguration team. And sources tell CNN officials are also considering raising the terrorism threat level.

A higher, sturdier wall is being installed in front of the U.S. Capitol now, and the National Mall will be closed on Inauguration Day.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Since Monday, National Guard forces in D.C. for the inauguration have more than doubled to more than 20,000 troops.

FBI Dir. Chris Wray, in his first public appearance since last week's riot, warned about what he calls concerning online chatter surrounding the inauguration. He says investigators have identified more than 200 suspects and have arrested more than 100.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER WRAY, DIRECTOR, FBI: Wherever they scattered to, whether it was Memphis, Phoenix, Dallas, Honolulu, what they are finding is we've got FBI agents tracking them down and arresting them. And if I were those people, you don't want to be the ones that have FBI agents knocking on your door at 6:00 a.m.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: Good to see the FBI director, finally.

And, of course, thousands of rioters managed to flee, so identifying and apprehending them is easier said than done. And the fear is that some of them may still be planning trouble at State Capitols nationwide.

Governors of Ohio, Georgia, Minnesota, Massachusetts, Kentucky, Oregon, and Wisconsin all activating the National Guard now.

ROMANS: Capitol Square in Richmond, Virginia will remain closed through at least next Thursday. In California, the highway patrol is denying all permits to protests through Inauguration Day. And in Florida and Oklahoma, lawmakers and staff are being told they need to work from home this weekend.

JARRETT: This morning, CNN has firsthand accounts from police officers who endured just the unthinkable inside the Capitol riots.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Metropolitan Police Officer Daniel Hodges trapped in Capitol mob.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

I can't even imagine the pain of that officer as you can see his torso being crushed in a doorway while his helmet is being torn off by those rioters. His name is Officer Daniel Hodges and he told CNN what it was like to face that mob.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANIEL HODGES, METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT: And there was a guy ripping my mask off and he was able to rip away my baton and beat me with it. And, you know, he was practically foaming at the mouth. So, just -- these people were true believers in the worst way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: Another D.C. officer, Michael Fanone, had his gear ripped away by rioters. They took spare ammunition, ripped a police radio off his chest, and even stole his badge. Then it got even worse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL FANONE, METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT: And then some guy started getting ahold of my gun and they were screaming out, you know, kill him with his own gun. At that point, you know, it was just like self-preservation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The more video emerges, the more we just see how violent and brutal this uprising really was. You know, a former firefighter there, highlighted, is under arrest for hurling a fire extinguisher at the head of a Capitol Police officer.

And then there's this guy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PETER FRANCIS STAGER, CHARGED IN U.S. CAPITOL INSURRECTION: Everybody in there is a disgrace. That entire building is filled with treasonous traitors.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.

STAGER: Death is the only remedy for what's in that building. Let's go stand up. Every single one of those Capitol law enforcement officers, death is the remedy. That is the only remedy they get.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They have defied their oath. They have defied their oath.

STAGER: So let's go back, this time not with a bible.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: That man, Peter Stager of Arkansas, is now facing charges. Authorities believe he's the man seen on video using a flagpole with an American flag to beat a police officer as he lay on the ground surrounded by a mob.

Investigators suspect there was some level of planning for the insurrection since evidence is growing that it was not just a protest that spiraled out of control.

JARRETT: This morning, lawmakers are taking new steps to protect themselves on Capitol Hill. Some members of Congress have told leadership they fear for their lives and for the lives of their family members.

There are also calls to investigate accusations that some GOP lawmakers could have given reconnaissance tours to rioters before the attack. And one Democratic lawmaker says panic buttons in her office were ripped out.

There's a growing realization about the danger they were in, especially when they see videos showing just how coordinated this attack seems. That includes video like this. People in helmets and tactical gear marching up the Capitol steps unobstructed.

ROMANS: Just still just shocking to watch.

All right. Another sign of these unprecedented times, the director of the Secret Service instructing all agency employees to remain professional and nonpartisan as they carry out their duties for Biden's inauguration Wednesday.

[05:35:05]

"The Washington Post" reported last month that the president-elect is bringing in former members who have worked with him because of concerns some agents are too loyal to President Trump.

The Secret Service warning echoes a similar reminder from joint chiefs to the military this week. CNN has learned the Pentagon is increasing efforts to find and eliminate extremist ideology within its ranks.

JARRETT: Just remarkable that they have to issue that kind of warning.

Well, even as the insurrection, impeachment and, of course, the inauguration draw so much attention this week, it's all happening against the backdrop of coronavirus. The mind-numbing death toll reaching more than 3,000 Americans dead a day now. In almost all of his recent public appearances, President-elect Joe

Biden remains focused on the pandemic, leading in an area where the president has just completely checked out. Now, Biden is unveiling his COVID and economic relief plan as he gets ready to take office next week.

CNN's Jeff Zeleny reports more on this from Wilmington, Delaware.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (on camera): Good morning, Christine and Laura.

President-elect Joe Biden will be delivering another speech here today in Wilmington, offering a detailed plan for the vaccination rollout that he says will begin when his administration takes office next week. He called the Trump administration's plan a dismal failure.

Now, in a sweeping set of remarks last night here in Wilmington, he offered, for the first time, a deep outline for his economic relief plan and his COVID virus taming plan as well -- a $1.9 trillion package. Now, this is mixed with economic relief as well as billions of dollars dedicated to helping states improve their vaccination rollout, but he framed it as a moral obligation for the country.

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT: There is real pain overwhelming the real economy. One where people rely on paychecks, not their investments, to pay for their bills and their meals and their children's needs.

The decisions we make in the next few weeks and months are going to determine whether we thrive in a way that benefits all Americans or whether we stay stuck in a place where those at the top do great while economic growth for most everyone else is just a spectator sport.

ZELENY (on camera): Now, there is no question the size and scope of this plan is daunting and it will be difficult to get through the Congress.

One thing that Mr. Biden did not mention, impeachment. That will complicate this even more, of course. But he is still hoping for bifurcation in the Senate. What that means is that they can work on the impeachment trial of what will be former President Donald Trump even as they are considering this sweeping legislative package.

Now, he said he will also outline the second part of this package in February when he delivers a joint address to a joint session of Congress. But the question here is can he do all of this? Is this too much, too fast? He will find that out, of course.

So even though next week he delivers his inaugural address, the speech on Thursday night here in Wilmington offers a roadmap for his agenda -- an agenda now complicated by impeachment -- Laura and Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, Jeff, thanks for that.

Also important to note that the plan for the eviction protection and for unemployment benefits goes all the way into September, an acknowledgment that we are really in the thick of an economic crisis here and it will continue to last.

Also in that plan, details on cybersecurity funding. More than $10 billion to boost the nation's cybersecurity and information technology. It's meant to protect the companies involved in distributing COVID vaccine.

But it's also a recognition of bigger problems. Officials are still grappling with that massive cyberattack linked to suspected Russian hackers. The one that targeted, remember, the U.S. government and companies late last year.

JARRETT: Well, in their final days in office, President Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are quietly and surgically complicating the next administration's foreign policy efforts.

Nic Robertson joins us live from London. Nic, walk us through what you see happening here.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: There's a trust deficit in the United States democracy at the moment and that's -- we've witnessed that with the insurrection.

And now, from the State Department, from President Trump, an effort, if you will, to sort of handcuff President-elect Joe Biden on foreign policy issues.

But the international view does tend to coalesce around the fact that Biden is the right man, right place, right time to try to put back together the pieces that Donald Trump has sort of torn out of U.S. foreign policy. Why? Because Biden has the experience.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON (voice-over): As President Donald Trump's loyalists stormed Congress, America's global standing sagged and President-elect Joe Biden's job to unify at home and rally overseas allies got harder.

BIDEN: Let me be very clear. The scenes of chaos at the Capitol do not reflect true America.

[05:40:03]

ROBERTSON (voice-over): In the days since, Trump has worsened Biden's overseas woes. From the Caribbean to the Mideast, to the Far East, Trump is miring Biden and foreign policy problems.

January ninth, lifting self-imposed restrictions regarding Taiwan. January 10th, saying it will designate Yemen's Houthis a terrorist organization. January 11th, designating Cuba a state sponsor of terror. And, January 12th, adding yet another complicating twist to years of escalating tensions with Iran with this claim. MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Al Qaeda has a new home base. It is the Islamic Republic of Iran.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): With days left in office, Trump's administration appears to be further limiting Biden's diplomatic options. The president-elect hoped for international backing to bring Tehran back into compliance with the Obama era multinational nuclear deal that Trump unilaterally exited.

BIDEN: The only way out of this crisis is through diplomacy -- clear- eyed, hard-nosed diplomacy.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Tehran's position now as Trump heads for the exit, Biden is isolated.

HASSAN ROUHANI, PRESIDENT OF IRAN (through translator): How does someone -- it's going to take so many years for world countries to trust the U.S. And it was a major loss.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Tensions with China have also been kept bubbling by Trump. Last Saturday, lifting restrictions limiting diplomats and other officials' travel to Taiwan, a red line for China.

ZHAO LIJIAN, SPOKESPERSON, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY (through translator): Any action that harms China's core interests will receive a resolute counterstrike from China and will succeed.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): In Yemen, the following day, Trump's plan to designate the Iranian-back Houthis, who control much of the country, as a terrorist organization condemned by aid agencies for limiting aid and stunting Biden's already limited ability to help end the war.

Next day in Cuba, more of Biden's diplomatic reach curbed. Trump designating Cuba a state sponsor of terror. Normalization could cost Biden political capital.

On the border with Mexico a day later, Trump talked to Biden. My legacy will live on.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The 25th Amendment is of zero risk to me but will come back to haunt Joe Biden and the Biden administration. Be careful what you wish for.

ROBERTSON (voice-over): Biden's challenge at home and overseas, repair Trump's damage. And unlike the outgoing president, Biden has the diplomatic experience to at least put some of the pieces back together.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROBERTSON: Well, the good news for President-elect Joe Biden is that a lot of the United States allies have a really healthy appetite for any of that damage repair -- any of that rebuilding of the U.S. stature around the world and its foreign policy initiatives that have been such a signature of the United States over many decades. There's a healthy appetite for that -- Laura. JARRETT: That was a great piece, Nic. Thanks so much, as usual.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:47:38]

ROMANS: Some troubling news on the American jobs crisis. Another 965,000 people filed for first-time unemployment benefits last week. You can see that's the biggest weekly jump since March.

Dig into the numbers and it's even worse than the headline. Another 285,000 workers filed for pandemic unemployment assistance. Take that all together, that's 1.4 million jobless claims last week, the most since mid-September.

It underscores the emergency facing the incoming Biden administration. He inherits a Main Street still suffering an economic and jobs crisis, and a worsening health crisis that will hold the economy back.

No question, more aid is needed. Biden wants a $1.9 trillion rescue package with bigger stimulus checks and enhanced unemployment aid. The question now, will Democratic control in the White House and Congress mean more stimulus more quickly to help this economy recover?

JARRETT: There's also a potential education crisis. A new CDC study suggests schools can safely reopen during this pandemic but only if communities do everything they can to slow the spread of the virus. The complications of keeping schools open and all the closings just frustrating officials and parents for almost a year now.

And that's not just in the U.S. Take London, where instead of opening their doors to business travelers and families, hotels are hosting coronavirus patients with hospitals stretched to the limit.

CNN's Max Foster reports for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MAX FOSTER, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): British Prime Minister Boris Johnson made it a national priority to keep schools open during the pandemic.

BORIS JOHNSON, U.K. PRIME MINISTER: I do want to stress for everybody the efforts that we're making as a -- as a government to try to keep primary schools open.

FOSTER (voice-over): But those efforts weren't enough. Just hours later, he was saying this.

JOHNSON: Primary schools, secondary schools, and colleges across England must move to remote permit provision from tomorrow.

FOSTER (voice-over): It was a swift U-turn in the face of this -- a precipitous surge in reported cases since December -- the highly contagious new variant of the disease that changed the game.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is happening to (INAUDIBLE) and how is he becoming (INAUDIBLE)?

FOSTER (voice-over): Johnson's scientific advisers counseled three weeks ago that it was impossible to control the variant without school closures. But he's still sticking to his default position on schools and he wants them to reopen as soon as possible.

[05:50:04]

ELLA, HIGH SCHOOL STUDENT, 12 YEARS OLD: When I was in year seven and the first lockdown came, we were like oh my gosh, this is so good. We don't have to go to school. And now I'm just like please let me go back to school.

FOSTER (voice-over): Ella is now learning from home. I visited her school just before the holiday break.

ELLA: At home, there's lots and lots of distractions, such as phones, et cetera.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Children could still learn if they're from the home, but it's not as good as going to school.

FOSTER (voice-over): Teachers tell me nothing can truly replace face- to-face learning, but they only want to return when it's safe. And they're critical of the government for not acting more decisively.

The education regulator says she's weighing the health benefits of schools closing against the harm that can do to student well-being.

AMANDA SPIELMAN, CHIEF INSPECTOR, U.K. SCHOOLS REGULATOR OFSTED: There are real problems with motivation. There are real problems for younger children trying to learn through screens. We can see effects across the board.

FOSTER (on camera): So, if the U.K. lockdown works and virus rates stabilize, will reopening schools undo that progress? Well, research in "The Lancet" medical journal based on the last lockdown suggests not. It concludes that schools don't drive virus rates up. Rather, they reflect what's already happening in the community.

SHAMEZ LADHANI, PUBLIC HEALTH ENGLAND, LEAD AUTHOR OF LANCET RESEARCH: When we look at the data, what we do see is that there is a lag in school-aged children compared to adults. So when adult rates started going up, children's rates started going up. And during the lockdown when adult rates went down, it took a week but children's rates started going down as well. So there is a very close correlation.

FOSTER (voice-over): Some form of prioritizing in-person learning is being used around the world. In Denmark, schools got creative in using any space available -- even a church cemetery. In South Korea, the government has been willing to close schools in response to rising cases but has also tried to maintain normalcy -- from temperature checks in May to sitting high school exams in December. Masks played a big role in France where first of all, children over 11

and later, everyone over six had to wear one.

But as winter set in and the new variant took hold, government has to reassess. Denmark has kept schools closed for now. In Italy, high school openings have been delayed again and again, only slowly allowing students back. German schools are shut until at least the end of the month.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Let's just take a moment to --

FOSTER (voice-over): Europe, a continent that prioritizes face-to- face learning above almost all else in this pandemic, forced to yield -- at least for now.

Max Foster, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, thank you, Max.

You know, we're about to find out how far President Trump will go to protect his supporters. Jacob Chansley, also known as QAnon Shaman, is asking for a presidential pardon. The Arizona man was seen at the Capitol riot wearing face paint and horns and is now facing six federal charges.

Now, Chansley's attorney says his client should be shown mercy because he was just following the president's invitation to march into the Capitol.

JARRETT: Death row inmate Corey Johnson was executed overnight for killing seven people back in 1992. He's the 12th prisoner put to death by the Trump administration following a 17-year hiatus in federal executions. Another execution is scheduled for later today.

President-elect Biden has signaled he wants to work on legislation to end the federal death penalty.

Well, eight people are in the hospital after a New York City bus veered off the road and fell 50 feet, leaving half of it dangling from an overpass. My goodness, look at that. Crews are working to clear the wreckage and have to secure fuel and other hazardous materials first. No word on what caused that accident.

ROMANS: Terrifying.

Let's take a look at markets around the world to close out the week. Asian markets have closed mixed. European shares have opened slightly lower here. And U.S. futures really aren't moving very much here after kind of an uneventful day.

Look, the markets are trying to digest the Biden plan and new stimulus and when will it come. Will it get through a Democrat-controlled Congress? America, of course, still in a jobs crisis here. And the Federal Reserve chief, Jerome Powell, said the economy is still a long way from maximum employment.

During an event at Princeton University, Powell indicated the central bank has no plans to raise interest rates from near zero anytime soon. Powell also said now, while the economy struggles to recover, is not the time to pull back on easy money policies.

It began at the beginning of the pandemic, Laura.

JARRETT: Some sad news this morning. Mister Rogers' widow has died. Joanne Rogers was married to the famed children's television host for over 50 years until his death in 2003.

Fred Rogers Productions announced her passing saying, quote, "She was an accomplished musician, a wonderful advocate for the arts, and continued their shared commitment to supporting children and their families after Fred died."

[05:55:04]

Joanne Rogers was 92 years old. And we are certainly thinking of her family.

ROMANS: Absolutely -- what a contribution they made.

All right, 54 minutes past the hour this Friday. Thanks for joining us. I'm Christine Romans.

JARRETT: Try to have a good weekend. I'm Laura Jarrett. "NEW DAY" is next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The nation's capital on high alert and on edge.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fears over renewed attacks in Washington, D.C. have turned the Capitol building into a fortress.

CHIEF ROBERT CONTEE, METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT: This is a major security threat and we are working to mitigate those threats.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is crazy. It's the most extreme I've seen in 16 years.

WRAY: From January sixth alone, we've already identified over 200 suspects.