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President-Elect Travels to Washington for Inauguration; Biden Aims to Unify Divided Nation in His Inaugural Address; Insurrectionists Say They Were Following Trump's Call to Action. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired January 19, 2021 - 07:00   ET

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

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN NEW DAY: Fill the National Mall because it's locked down after the Capitol insurrection from Trump supporters.

[07:00:06]

Meanwhile, President Trump will reported snub the Bidens by not greeting them at the White House tomorrow. That's something, of course, Obamas did for the Trumps. Despite all of the birther lies they pedaled about the Obamas, they still believed in the tradition and the exercise of this moment of dignity and grace because it's what the country needed.

So, historic day ahead as Joe Biden becomes the 46th president of the United States tomorrow.

CNN's M.J. Lee live in Wilmington, Delaware, kicks off our coverage. M.J.?

M.J. LEE, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, President-elect Joe Biden's time in Wilmington, Delaware, comes to an end today. He is first going to be attending together with Dr. Jill Biden a farewell event where we are going to hear him speak and then, of course, he heads to Washington, D.C., ahead of tomorrow's inauguration.

You might recall that he had initially hoped to take the Amtrak, the train to Washington, D.C. He will no longer be doing that because of heightened security concerns. And then this evening, when he gets to D.C., he will be attending together with Vice President-elect Kamala Harris a memorial at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to honor all of the lives that have been lost during the COVID-19 pandemic, just a big reminder of how much the pandemic looms over Biden's upcoming presidency.

And then tomorrow, we have his big speech on inauguration day. We know that this is a speech that he has been working on for a while. And we know how much he believes is at stake as he tries to bring the country together and particularly looming over this speech is an insurrection on Capitol Hill we saw two weeks ago. So we certainly expect national unity to be a huge theme tomorrow when he is sworn into office, Alisyn.

CAMEROA: M.J., thank you very much for setting that up for us. So, the inaugural events kick off this afternoon under extreme security. The Washington Post reports that the FBI is warning law enforcement that far-right extremists have discussed posing as National Guard members to disrupt the inauguration.

CNN's Pete Muntean is live in Washington with more. It sounds like they're aware of it and on top of it, Pete. What are you seeing?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Alisyn. It only gets more and more clamped down here in D.C. from here on out. Police are in the process of closing down the bridges from Virginia into D.C. This is one of the checkpoints staffed by the members of the National Guard and the FBI tells The Washington Post that it's worried that domestic extremists could pose as members of the Guard.

The goal is to have 25,000 members of the Guard on the ground here in D.C. by tomorrow. But now the question is how long all of this protection will have to last especially with those new threats and the head of the D.C. Department of Homeland Security says it could be some time. Here is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTOPHER RODRIGUEZ, DIRECTOR, WASHINGTON D.C. HOMELAND SECURITY: Right-wing extremism is not going anywhere. And I think we can definitively say that. And so, one of the things that we want to do is see what is the new normal look like. And, certainly, you know, this domestic terrorism, this right-wing extremism is going to be with us for some time in the months and years ahead.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: Now, President-elect Biden will look out on to an inauguration crowd completely different, something like no other. 200,000 American flags on the National Mall that's been completely emptied out to represent those folks who could not be here either because of the pandemic or because of all of this protection. It is going to be very different, everybody here on high alert. John?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN NEW DAY: All right. Pete Muntean, please keep us posted. Tell us anything you see down there.

In the meantime, joining us is CNN Political Director David Chalian and CNN Political Analyst Maggie Haberman, White House Correspondent for The New York Times.

And, David, I want to put those pictures back up so people can see what Joe Biden is going to be gazing at from the west front of the U.S. Capitol there. Well, there it is at dark. You can see the flags lit up there. You know, it's so poignant in a way no people, in a way, Joe Biden is going to be staring into the abyss, David, both literally and figuratively. Yes, American flags instead of people there, but it's just such a moment. And I have to believe not the moment that Joe Biden ever thought about in the 36 plus years that he's been running for president on and off. DAVID CHALIAN, CNN POLITICAL DIRECTOR: Yes. We forget that this is his third -- this was his third attempt at the presidency, a 50-year career basically in Washington, D.C. And, of course, there's nothing, there's nothing about this election in 2020, nothing about this transition and nothing about the inauguration tomorrow that is as Joe Biden would have envisioned it, but this is the moment that he is now being asked to meet by the country.

And you hear about how he sort of preparing the inaugural address, you see him looking out at all of that American symbolism with those flags is going to be his approach to this moment, is going to be one of pleading with the country to unify, to solve some of the biggest challenges the country has ever faced.

[07:05:09]

CAMEROTA: Maggie, I do want to just take a moment to mark the moment with you, since we have spoken to you virtually every day over the past four years. I mean, this is the last full day of Donald Trump's presidency. And I know that you're still processing, as we all are, and will be for a long time, but what are your thoughts this morning?

MAGGIE HABERMAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Look, Alisyn, this is, as you know and as you said, we've been talking about this for a very long time. This has been such a turbulent four years. I think it's going to take a while for everybody to look back and process and understand what we just witnessed historically.

I think that Donald Trump is somebody who has a history of down falls and then resurgences. He is a 74-year-old man. So there's a lot less time to have such a resurgence when you are as old as he is. I don't expect we're going to see him do another presidential run. I do expect he's going to try to stay relevant in the party. But I think that we are only beginning to see what kind of reckoning he faces, whether it's in a Senate trial or with legal actions when he's out of office. And, honestly, that's my main thought is, what is he walking off stage into.

BERMAN: What is he doing today, Maggie? I mean, it's become a presidential tradition to leave behind a gracious letter to your successor. Is he going to write one?

HABERMAN: I don't expect him to write one. I've been told by several people that that should not be counted on. What theoretically could happen is he could call Biden once he gets to Florida and the Biden inauguration is over and then that would be some sort of short version of the tradition. I doubt that it's something that Donald Trump would get credit for. He is getting very widely criticized for how he's handling this, which is with just a lack of grace in terms of the incoming family.

This is a tradition that every outgoing president is honored, including Barack Obama who was trashed and slandered by Donald Trump during the campaign -- both campaigns 2012 and last one, 2016, as not a real American. He raised questions about his birth and what his legitimacy to be president and yet Obama still did that. So I think that we are going to see Donald Trump continue to sort of insist that he won, which, John, he's been doing behind closed doors, he's been maintaining to people that he won. He is going to issue a series of pardons later today, possibly early evening, but that's it. That's what we're doing to see.

CHALIAN: Can I make just the point what Maggie is saying about the tradition? And it's not just for tradition sake, right? Is it for the image that is projected around the world about American democracy, about a transfer of power from one person to the other.

So this isn't just norm busting that the niceties don't exist under Donald Trump. This is preventing the United States of America from putting an image forth to all of its citizens and to citizens around the world that this is a project and a power house of a nation that is going to continue in a really peaceful, smooth way. And that just is something that Donald Trump is deliberately throughout this entire time robbed Joe Biden and, quite frankly, the country of.

CAMEROTA: Yes. When you look at it, the body language and the graciousness is just so stunning now to watch what the Obamas did for the Trumps.

BERMAN: They had birthers to the White House.

CAMEROTA: I know, I mean, because it was for the country.

BERMAN: Because it was for the country.

CAMEROTA: Right. Because that image --

HABERMAN: And because they had won, and there was a recognition that there was a new president. This is basically part of the Trump's refusal, at least Donald Trump's refusal and his wife is going along with it, to recognize that there is a change. This is not their house, that there is an election and that is the process that you need to be honoring and that's not what they want to do.

CAMEROTA: David, I remember vividly my thought four years ago when that was happening, and it was, well, this will be interesting. That's what I thought. I thought, well, this is will be interesting. Well, you know, the country is going to try this businessman, you know. They've long said, let's shake it up. Let's get an outsider. This is going to be an interesting administration. It turns out --

BERMAN: It didn't disappoint, did it? It was interesting.

CAMEROTA: Yes, but not exactly the right word.

BERMAN: George W. Bush predicted it on the stage of the inauguration where after the speech, he turned to his side and said that was some weird shit. And I have to say --

CHALIAN: He turned to Hillary Clinton, he said that.

BERMAN: Four years later, George W. Bush proven correct. CAMEROTA: You just went there.

BERMAN: I'm sorry.

CAMEROTA: You went there.

So, David, turn us now towards what we expect from President-elect Biden to say, what can he say at this moment?

CHALIAN: I think he has been laying the ground work, I think, throughout this transition of how he plans to handle this moment of day one and succeeding immediate days at the beginning of his presidency here, which is to keeping a laser focus on solving the COVID crisis, both in terms of ramping up the vaccine distribution as well as the rescue recovery plan that he mapped out last week for the country.

[07:10:03]

I don't expect a laundry list state of the union style address. It is going to have themes of unity and coming together and a real need to move the country forward that the only way the country can solve its problems, as he has said day in and day out of this transition, is to do it in a unified fashion together.

But it is going to be a full recognition of this particular moment of challenge, which is unparalleled, I would say, going back to FDR in our lifetimes this moment of challenge for the country. And I think Joe Biden is going to give real voice to that.

I think that's why watching today, as he leaves Wilmington and Mr. Biden comes to Washington for the first time as president-elect on the eve of him becoming the 46th president, it starts with a somber note, recognizing the 400,000 people who have died, all the victims of coronavirus, that that's actually how the Biden era starts with real empathy and recognition of this moment.

BERMAN: He has made this trip from Wilmington to Washington tens of thousands of times? I mean, my math is tough. I mean, I think, literally, as Joe Biden would say, tens of thousands of times he's gone from Wilmington to Washington. This time is different, not just because he can't take the train, which he's done 99 percent of them, but this time because he is going, for the first time, to Washington to be the president of the United States for the first time. And that's incredible thing when you think about the journey.

Maggie, while we have you because this is the last day we can talk to you about --

CAMEROTA: Ever?

BERMAN: -- while we're in the Trump presidency --

HABERMAN: For the rest of our lives.

CAMEROTA: For the rest of our lives. Starting tomorrow afternoon, who is going to be with us, right? I mean, who will be surrounding him for the next several days and weeks?

HABERMAN: That's a great question, John. It's still in formation. Not a ton of people. There are a handful of staffers who are moving down with him. I am told that there will be roughly a dozen on payroll. And I believe it's going to be the Government Services Administration payroll that will continue to pay that presidents get when they leave and these staffers will be kept on that payroll. Eventually, they will move over to another payroll most likely.

There's going to be a bunch of folks who are going to remain involved in his world, Stephen Miller is expected to be one of them. But most of these folks are not moving down with him. Because he is moving to his private club, although I don't know that he can stay there forever, there's a legal question about that too, he will have people to fetch things for him and do the things that he's gotten used to as president. But he's not going to have an infrastructure that he has had for the last four years. And I don't think he realizes yet just how jarring that's going to be.

CAMEROTA: David, the fanfare, if that's the right word, for President Trump's departure seems challenged because they -- what we understand is that they have sent out lots of invitations. It appears to their sort of just email list because Anthony Scaramucci got one who, I believe, has fallen from the good graces of the president.

CHALIAN: Yes. That sounds like you're building a crowd at any cost, that the president, who we know likes a crowd, was looking to get as many people in place as possible, so cast a wide net with your invitations and perhaps there was a clerical error there. It was odd to hear that Scaramucci was invited.

But what we do know, of course, is that the president wanted all the trappings of the presidency upon departure, not the post-presidency, leaving in the morning tomorrow as president, flying on the plane that still has the designation Air Force One because he will be flying as president of the United States to Florida and having a sendoff with some flourishes on the ground there at Joint Base Andrews, all of those trappings that this president does -- has shown he really cares about, that imagery of the presidency is important to him. He wanted to make sure he had all of that upon departure.

BERMAN: David Chalian, thank you. Maggie, thank you. And you know what, you're coming back. You're not getting out of this so easily. We will see you in the coming days.

CAMEROTA: This apparently is not the last time we'll talk to you.

HABERMAN: Thanks, guys.

BERMAN: We thank you for all the work that you've done over the last four years. I appreciate it.

HABERMAN: Bye.

CAMEROTA: How will Joe Biden help unite this divided country? We'll get insights from a biographer on the president-elect, next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:15:00]

BERMAN: New details about what Joe Biden will say in his inaugural address tomorrow.

Joining us, CNN Contributor Evan Osnos, he is the author of the Joe Biden biography, The Life, The Run and What Matters Now. Evan, thank you so much for being with us, great to have you on New Day.

I understand you've been speaking to people inside Biden world about the address tomorrow. What have you learned?

EVAN OSNOS, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Well, the message you're going to hear tomorrow in the inauguration address is going to be about the time to turn the page. You know, this is a moment in which Joe Biden has been anticipating for months. He's been talking about the need to come together for unity. It is obviously an aspirational message. He's trying to recognize where the country is and to say there is another path for us here.

You know, there is a resonance here, John, with a dark bit of history, another painful moment in our past. In 1861, Abraham Lincoln, after all, gave his inaugural address in which he said, we are not enemies. That's language that Joe Biden has been using in the past few weeks. You heard him talk about it in November after his win was recognized. And you're likely to hear him say something important, which is that unity is not some pie in the sky notion.

Unity, as he believes, is a fundamental ingredient how you begin to get things moving. Because what you can say we don't have to agree on everything, to agree on the idea that it's important to get vaccines into 100 million Americans in 100 days. We don't have to agree on everything to agree that it's important to protect people from eviction and foreclosure. Those are the kinds of steps that he believes if you start to show progress on the ground, you can begin to break down these barriers.

BERMAN: The comparison to Lincoln's first inaugural is interesting and I hope, in some ways, not all together accurate because, to an extent, Lincoln was wrong. I mean, his last paragraph, he said we're not enemies and he was wrong, because it turned out that the confederacy began basically right then and there and it gets to something you have written about Joe Biden himself and what he has come to realize about the hate he sees in America right now.

[07:20:08]

Let me read. This is your own writing from your book. This is Biden saying, I'm embarrassed to say I thought you could defeat hate. You can't. It only hides. It crawls under the rocks. And when given by oxygen any person in authority, it comes roaring back. And what I realized is, the words of a president, even a lousy president matter. They can take you to war. They can bring peace. They can make the market rise. They can make it fall. But they also give hate oxygen. OSNOS: You know, this is the moment that Joe Biden is going to try to put that concept into action, that the words of a president matter. He is not under the illusion that this is a problem that can be solved at the very top, but the solution has to begin at the top. His belief is that our political atmosphere has been poisoned over the last four years and that having somebody at the top who talks in a different way, who talks about politics differently, who says to people, even though you didn't vote for me, I'm here to represent you, that that's the beginning of the solution.

But this is not a process that's going to be fixed overnight. But the inauguration address is one of the moments when he will have a larger audience than almost any other moment in his presidency and he's going to try to stake out the terms of the engagement.

BERMAN: Evan, I think you'll appreciate this, because I think all political reporters of our age sort of got into the business reading What It Takes by Richard Ben Cramer. And I had a chance to read the Biden sections again last night. And one of the first things that Cramer wrote about Biden -- excuse my language, I've already sworn once on the show, he says, Joe Biden has always had balls, sometimes more balls than sense.

OSNOS: Right.

BERMAN: But that is how Joe Biden approached things at least back then, at least through the '80s. And I wonder if the last few decades of Joe Biden's life, everything he's done, in some ways, the tragedies and some ways the experiences, what kind of perspective you think that has given him as he takes office tomorrow?

OSNOS: Yes. I think perspective is the keyword, John. You know, he is in so many ways, at the age of 78, the product of the best moments of his life and the worst moments of his life. We know the stories of the tragedy, the losses he has suffered, and also the setbacks, the things of his own doing, failing out of the '87, '88 presidential race, which Richard Ben Cramer described so well.

And it took him a while. It took him some years later before he could acknowledge, as he said in 2008, I wasn't ready to be president. And there is a sense in which the man we see today, who is a little calmer, a little quieter, a little slower than he was when he got into this business, as that ambitious, bumptious man in a hurry, that this is the moment when he is ready. And he wasn't ready when he set out to become president for the first time some 30 year ago.

BERMAN: No. And people need to realize when he was first running. He thought about running in '84. He was running as like a Bobby Kennedy- type. He was running as the next generation and now he's taking president as the last generation in some ways. Who does he listen to? Who is he listening to right now?

OSNOS: Well, this gets to the very core of how he sees society. Most of all, he listens to family. I mean, I know that sounds like a cliche in politics, but not in the Biden world. That is a true fact. He is talking to people like his sister, Val Owens. He's got his wife, Dr. Jill Biden, of course, is there. But also he has got some people around him who have been with him for a very long time, Mike Donalan, as one of his key advisers, chief strategist, doesn't have a big public profile but one of the people who has his hands on this speech is helping him write it.

There's also a younger speechwriter named Vinay Reddy, who is running the process. And then there are younger members of team, people like Cedric Richmond, a congressman who joined Biden world over the last couple of years and is playing an important role helping him connect not only to younger Americans but really to also people of color.

Biden knows in a sense that he does not look and sound and believe all the things that other Americans all do. And what he's trying to do is put himself into contact with enough people that he can keep his what he would call his fingertip sense of politics alert.

BERMAN: One of the things that Joe Biden has said for decades when he's making a promise is I give you my word as a Biden. So tomorrow, if he's speaking to the American people, giving the American people his word as a Biden, what do you think that will be? What is that promise?

OSNOS: His promise is that he is going to be determined to commit himself to the very idea that it's possible to choose unity, that unity and disunity are choices. And, you know, David earlier mentioned the Roosevelt inspiration here. And Roosevelt is much on Biden's mind these days. And one of the things that Roosevelt believed was that, as he said, you can give Americans the truth, you can hit him on the chin with it and give them tough news as long as you're honest about it. And that's one of the things that you hear Joe Biden try to say these days. This is partly about COVID, it's partly about a response to Trump. But his belief is, if I level with you folks, as he would put it, then I can begin to rebuild some credibility even among people who didn't want me to be their president.

BERMAN: Evan Osnos, thanks so much for coming on the show this morning, a pleasure to talk to you. I look forward to continuing this conversation in the coming months.

[07:25:02]

OSNOS: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: So, be sure to join CNN's all-day coverage of the inauguration of President Joe Biden. It begins tomorrow. We will start our coverage here on New Day at 5:00 A.M.

So many of the insurrectionists who stormed the U.S. Capitol say they were just following orders from Donald Trump. So, how exactly were they radicalized by the president?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:30:00]

CAMEROTA: More than 90 people face federal charges for their role in storming the U.S. Capitol. The perpetrators say it was President Trump.