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Protesters, Police Clash Blocks from Parade; Trump, Pence Honored at Congressional Lunch. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired January 20, 2017 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00] DAVID GREGORY, CNN POLITICAL ANAYST: A lot of police, a lot of military. So it's kind of all in the mix. And even I have not discerned -- and I'm not seeing it here -- you know, the sustained organized protests. You're going to see that that's planned. These seem a little bit more inchoate in terms of people setting garbage cans on fire. I'm not exactly sure what they're protesting.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Just to give context to people just tuning in right now, yes, there are pockets of protests but, overwhelmingly, the mood has been excitement. They have come from all over the country. They brought their parents, grandparents. And there's been excitement from them for people who support Mr. Trump and are excited about the future. And that's overwhelmingly what we have seen. And of course, there have been much more pockets of quieter protests. This is the biggest, loudest, most violent. At the moment, it seems contained to that 13th and K area.

CHRIS CUOMO, CNN ANCHOR: Most surprisingly, we've met a lot of people are here not necessarily because they're big Trump fans but because they support the process of this democracy and the transition of power.

CAMEROTA: And it's history in the making that they wanted to see.

CUOMO: That's right. They wanted to witness history.

And to David's point, I've stood a lot in these protests-turned-riots. You have to know the competition, who is there with an actual group with a real message of protests, who are anarchists, who are here just to make trouble, who are just criminals who come to take advantage of the situation. So, it's not as simple as watching the crowd and seeing these moving scenes.

GREGORY: i've been to a lot of protests around the world where you see them show up and already wearing gas masks and may have black head scarves and things like that. These are people who in it to get into it against the police. They're not even holding up signs protesting against Trump. So, it is what it is.

I'm struck by, as Alisyn was saying, we were getting a cup of coffee before we came out here and I met a couple from Scranton, Pennsylvania, former Vice President Biden's hometown. One is a doctor and one a nurse. They really liked the inaugural address from the president. And they we're getting ready to line the parade route. With the weather is holding off so far. But it looks like about 10 deep along the parade route and a great view from behind us looking back towards the capitol.

CAMEROTA: Beautiful. Where we are, this vantage point, from the capitol to the White House, it is majestic. You feel the excitement. People are now cheering along the parade route. It's a real front-row seat in history and everybody here feels it that we have spoken to.

CUOMO: We'll start in about half an hour. We're showing you one of the many choppers overhead in the sky.

We have a big team covering this inaugural parade.

Anderson Cooper is with us.

What are you seeing from where you are from, my friend?

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR, A.C. 360: Yeah, Chris, Alisyn, thanks very much.

We are in our rooftop location from the capitol where we've been watching the inauguration.

I'm here with Charles Ramsey, the former chief of police from Washington, D.C. We are continuing to watch what you have been reporting on.

Chief Ramsey, what to you see when you look at this, how organized do you think this small protest is? How much trouble is it for the police officers and the job the police officers are doing?

CHARLES RAMSEY, FORMER CHIEF OF POLICE, WASHINGTON METRO POLICE DEPARTMENT: It's relatively small, but nothing the police can't handle. I just got off the phone with Chief Newsham, the interim police of the Metropolitan Police Department to find out what exactly was going on. The line that you see there is actually protecting the group that's making arrests.

COOPER: Actually --- sorry, Chief Ramsey, we actually have Chief Newsham, the interim police chief, on the phone.

RAMSEY: Oh, great.

COOPER: Chief Newsham, is the D.C. interim police chief. He joins us.

Chief, thanks for being with us.

Explain what's going on around 12th and K, now 13th and K.

PETER NEWSHAM, INTERIM CHIEF, WASHINGTON METRO POLICE DEPARTMENT (voice-over): Today we had a little over 90 protesters that came out intent on destroying property. They broke a number of business windows, destroyed some cars, so tactically we were able to get them into custody, the line that you see formed right there is trying to protect those officers so they're safe while they're processing arrests. As you can imagine while you're processing arrests, those officers are trying to keep them safe while they do their jobs.

COOPER: So there are officers behind them while they're processing others arrested for damaging property you're saying?

NEWSHAM: Yes. It takes a little bit of time to get people's property and get them identified and get them transported for arrests and that's the process that's being undergone right now. The thing that's important to point out in the grand scheme of things this is a small disturbance that we have in a small part of the city. We have had thousands of people come here today and peacefully protest, but we anticipated there would be a smaller group intent on breaking the law and we're prepared for that. And for the ones throwing rocks at the officers you can rest assured that, investigatively, we will find them and arrest them as well.

[14:35:09] COOPER: We have been pointing out all along that this is a very isolated incident and, by and large, everything is going peacefully. And a lot of folks have come to the city to enjoy this historic day, not only the capitol but walking all around the city.

Chief, do you have a sense of how many protesters there are. I'm not sure protesters is the right word but throwing things at police. How many are in the group --

(CROSSTALK)

NEWSHAM: That's a small group. We have images from much better views. We have cameras all over the city and I'm at the joint command center and literally we have thousands of others who are peacefully demonstrating in our city. So, that's a very isolated instance. We expected this kind of thing from this particular group. And you know, they're going to be held accountable because you know what we say in Washington, D.C., is we agree to disagree, but we don't agree to you coming to our city and destroying our property or hurting folks.

COOPER: Yeah, Chief, I know you're busy. I appreciate your time today.

And we're here with Charles Ramsey, the former chief of police in D.C.

In something like this, it doesn't in any way, for those who want to see the parade, it doesn't in any way limit their ability to go see the parade, to take part in it?

RAMSEY: No, this is outside the perimeter, so these people lined up on Pennsylvania Avenue probably aren't even aware this is going on, so this is an isolated incident. The majority of people here to voice their displeasure are doing so peacefully. The majority of people in D.C. are here to celebrate and we're trying to keep that balance.

COOPER: And the situation where you have folks who have lit some newspaper kiosks on fire, using them as barricades, is that something that police, as long as it's not expanding, they just let it happen or they would actually move in or try to stop it. RAMSEY: Well, you don't let it happen but you take each situation as

it developed and try to make a determination, is it really worth moving in and causing a bigger disturbance resulting in more arrests or just let that go because it's not really damaging anything else. Normally, we do what's called sterilize the area and get rid of anything flammable. But you can only go out so far doing that. At least this is away from the parade route.

COOPER: It looks like someone has broken into an SUV that was parked in that area. That's obviously another destruction of property right there.

Chief Ramsey, appreciate it.

We're going to take a break. Coming up, we're going back to the pomp of the ceremony of this really extraordinary day that we have been witnesses here in Washington. We're standing by for the start of the inaugural parade. We'll see President Trump soon as he wraps up lunch on Capitol Hill.

Much more after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:42:05] CUOMO: All right. We're about 20 minutes away from the inaugural parade here at the 58th inauguration of the president of the United States. Up and down Pennsylvania Avenue, tens of thousands of people are waiting to see the new president of the United States, Donald John Trump. He's taken the oath, given the speech, and now he's promising this day is all and the transfer of power to the American people.

We're back with our continuing inauguration coverage. Good to have you with us.

CAMEROTA: chris and I are here on the parade route. Once the president wraps up lunch on Capitol Hill, his motorcade will travel about a mile and a half to the White House. It will be followed by an array of military and school bands. So, we are standing by for the start of the parade.

We have correspondents all across from the parade route, from the Capitol Hill, along Constitution and Pennsylvania Avenues. They'll cover the presidents, the bands, the floats as he heads toward the White House.

We have our roving reporter, Brooke Baldwin, who we understand is on the back of a flatbed truck. She will be in motion.

Tell us where you are right now, Brooke.

BROOKE BALDWIN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I've got my feet locked down, ready to roll. There's four of us. This is entirely cool. Let me explain what we are doing, we are sharing this truck with our friends at ABC News. In a moment, we are just beyond the capitol outside of Russell, one of the Senate buildings here. In a moment, we will start heading down the parade route from Capitol Hill to the White House. We will be in front of the president's motorcade. What happens is called the dance, these four flatbed trucks will be sort of switching positions to get in front of the motorcade. So, at any point in time, when he and the first lady decide to hope out, maybe in front of the Trump hotel, anyone's guess, we will be able to see them and we'll follow them along the parade route.

And what's also fun, as we're along the parade route, we'll have correspondents throughout the parade route. We'll be able to see them, they'll see us. We're keeping our eyes on the president for all of you at home.

And, Alisyn and chris, we're ready to roll.

CUOMO: Literally, you're ready to roll.

(LAUGHTER)

BALDWIN: We are.

CUOMO: At the other end of the parade route, we have Don Lemon, MOTP, man of the people, out there mixing and mingling.

What's it like there, Don?

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's great. It's a very cordial crowd. A guy over here has the American flag.

We're here on Pennsylvania Avenue just a block or two from the White House. The reason we're here -- this is the favorite part for me every inauguration for me to cover because I get to talk to the people. But it's also usually where the president and the first lady get out of the car and walk this route on Pennsylvania Avenue, about a block or so to the White House. Not sure they're going to do it this time. We hope they will. Some walk a little bit further, a little bit longer than others. We're waiting for the president and first lady to get out. And we're out here with the crowds. And they're very excited that the rain went away and, Chris, that we don't get the protesters on this side of the barricade.

[14:45:24] CAMEROTA: That is such a blessing, Don. The rain has held off. There were some forecasts that it was going to be a really soggy day. It's cloudy, but that's OK. And it's and much warmer than inaugurations past.

So, everybody is very grateful for that, including John Berman, who we find on Constitution Avenue somewhere.

John, what are you seeing?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I see behind me the Army Field Band getting ready to fall in line behind President Trump when he drives down Pennsylvania Avenue on his way to the White House.

You've been talking about the protests. The only way anyone knows there's a protest here is by watching it on TV. We can't see it, can't hear it. And I don't think President Trump will see it or hear it as he drives down this route, because not only are they separated by geography, but by ideology. Because these people lining this route, the thousands of people lining this route are his people. They're here for him. We were waiting in a security line about 80 minutes to get in during the inauguration itself this morning. People were trying to watch on their phones, which was tough, and missed most of it.

One thing they did see was Executive One that flew overhead with former President Obama. They cheered. Not in appreciation but as in good riddance. There were a few one-finger salutes. These people not happy with the old but very happy with the new. And they're extremely excited to see President Trump drive by -- Alisyn?

COUMO: John, cheer versus jeer there. There will be protests around this event. There's some organized ones throughout the weekend. What we were showing you earlier, those were riots. Those were people committing criminal acts.

This is the lunch. The cameras are back up. Let's listen in.

REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY, (R-CA), HOUSE MAJORITY LEADER: Because sitting right back over there by Father Sara (ph) was a young congressman who served one term who I believe was our finest president, Abraham Lincoln.

(APPLAUSE)

MCCARTHY: "I will give tours and when I give tours the people will stand on the tile and I tell them to stand on the exact spot of his death, and I tell them to look back at the clock and recite the time. And I tell them to tell me what time that was, and they ask me why, and I say, because that's the exact view that Abraham Lincoln had. I wonder what his ideas and thoughts were. The challenges were the greatest to our Constitution ever in the history.

Our challenges today are different, but we still have big challenges.

So, today we have a gift for you, Mr. President, today, the flag flown over the U.S. capitol. But Mr. Lincoln had very inspiring words, the times were different but, in his annual message to Congress, I thought these words meant the most, "The dogmas of a quiet past are adequate to a stormy present. We occasion is piled high with difficulties. We must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, we must act anew and think anew. We must disenthrall ourselves and then we shall save our country."

Mr. President, I wish you the best of luck.

(APPLAUSE)

NANCY PELOSI, (D-CA), HOUSE MINORITY LEADER: Mr. President and Madam First Lady, congratulations on the inauguration.

The American people pray for your family and the success of your administration. Following up what Mr. Blunt so beautifully started us on this morning,

and Mr. Schumer continued, and I follow our House Republican leader, Mr. McCarthy, yes, in this room, this was the original chamber. Lincoln sat there. And here we are gathered today, in that old House chamber where Lincoln served, beneath the same clock that Lincoln heard ticking. But under the gaze of Cleo.

Mr. President, right up there by that door, the muse of history, Cleo.

For almost two centuries, Cleo and her clock have reminded the men and women in these hallowed halls that we are part of history, that our words and actions will face the judgment of history. And that we are part of a long and honorable heritage of our democracy. That is Cleo's advice.

We come this sacred inauguration day united in respect for our democracy and determined to make a difference in lives of hard-working Americans.

I have the privilege of presenting the flag to the vice president of the United States, Mike Pence. One of the House's own.

Right Mr. Speaker?

(APPLAUSE)

[14:50:33] PELOSI: We know that Vice President Pence is strengthened by his faith and family, and by the experience he built here this these halls.

I told him, Mr. President, he knows the territory. He knows the territory.

It is now my honor to present one of the flags that flew above the capitol today to the vice president of the United States, Mike Pence.

We pray for you, for you beloved wife, Karen, for Michael, Charlotte and Audrey, all of your family.

God bless you, Mr. Vice President.

And remember that this flag we pledge to every day for liberty and justice for all is our calling

Now it's my honor to present you with this flag.

(APPLAUSE)

SEN. ROY BLUNT, (R), MISSOURI & CHAIRMAN, JOINT CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEE ON INAUGURAL CEREMONIES: Well, those of us who served in the House or still serve in the House think the Senate is never quite as quick as the House, but maybe when it comes to photographs we are.

And my good friend, Chuck Schumer, is going to come and make that presentation.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER, (D), SENATE MINORITY LEADER: Thank you, Roy.

And first, let's have a hand for Roy. He did a great job, he and his staff, on this inauguration.

(APPLAUSE)

SCHUMER: Mr. President, earlier this year, Iris and I were truly blessed. We watched our oldest daughter, Jessica, marry the boy of her dreams. We are so happy. That's when I learned that nothing is official until there's a photo of it.

So, Mr. President, now it's official. I present to you the photograph of your inauguration.

(APPLAUSE)

(LAUGHTER)

BLUNT: So, Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, and Mrs. Trump, and Mrs. Pence, you are going to have a lot more to look at over the years is something that really a tradition that has started. Now this is the eighth inauguration where the Lennox company has made a special presentation for a gift made uniquely for you and uniquely for this event. This year, the company proposed and the committee determined that the bowl they had in mind was something you would value for a long time. The one that the president has and the first lady has is an etching of the White House looking directly across at the Jefferson Memorial. And the one that the Pences will be presented with and have at their home would be the capitol looking down at the Lincoln Memorial.

The artist who was with us the other day talked about trying to capture Levant's (ph) design for the city as well as how this city came together. Timothy Carter was the designer. The glass master, Peter O'Rourke (ph), made these. They also have a compass in the bottom of them, or an etched-in compass. Remembering, Mr. president, as the vice president already knows, the center of Washington it's not at the White House. It's actually right here in the center of the capitol building.

(LAUGHTER)

And the city is then laid out northwest, northeast, southwest, southeast from that place.

(LAUGHTER)

The other unique thing, the other unique thing for the first lady and her parents, that would never have been such an important thing before, the glass came from Slovenia.

(APPLAUSE)

SCHUMER: The designer thought that the best glass in the world for this particular design, which he began to work on last summer, was glass from Slovenia. Maybe he knew something that none of us quite knew for sure at that time.

(LAUGHTER)

[14:55:20] I would like to now have the toast to the vice president and the president.

And the speaker and I both served with Mike Pence, so it was a challenge for me to give up this moment. But, Mike Pence, the speaker of the House, will bring that toast. And then, the majority leader will come and toast to the president.

And, Mr. President, if you have anything to say at the end of those remarks.

I would like to say, so I don't forget to do it, thanks so much to the staff that made all this effort happen today.

(APPLAUSE)

BLUNT: Stacy McBride, the staff director of the Rules Committee; and the staff director for the Joint Committee on the Inauguration, Maria Lowmeyer (ph), who came on board to do this. The last event was the pope's visit, so that just got her ready, Mr. President, for your visit.

The captain of the police, the sergeant in arms of the House and Senate, the cooperative effort of the D.C. police.

Our goal today was for this event to be an event where people came, and when they left the event outside, they felt like they had all the freedom they possibly could have and still all the security you needed. I hope they left feeling that way. And if they did, it was the great work of so many other people.

Mr. Speaker?

(APPLAUSE)

REP. PAUL RYAN, (R-WI), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Thank you, Roy.

This is a great honor and privilege to toast my dear friend and former colleague, Vice President Mike Pence.

(APPLAUSE)

RYAN: I just really enjoyed saying that. That's -- I think about the times that we've walked back and forth just down this hall on the way to a vote. But if memory serves, more often than not, we walked that way because we were hauled into the speaker's office for being admonished for being rebel rousers in the Republican Study Committee. We've had so many great memories here.

I know this job makes you an officer of the Senate, but you, my friend, will always be a member of the people's House.

(APPLAUSE) RYAN: We talk about our two bodies quite a bit, and if I had to use a sports analogy, I'd say, we play rugby, they play golf.

(LAUGHTER)

Just saying.

(LAUGHTER)

I'm reminded of something though that I think is pretty profound that makes me think of Mike Pence. I'm reminded of the words of Mike's favorite author, Mark Helprin: "As long as you have life and breath, believe. As long as you have life and breath, believe."

Ladies and gentlemen, there was no one that I have served with who brings more belief to his work than Mike Pence. No one believes more deeply in our country and her people. No one believes more deeply in our capacity to do great things. He is a happy warrior. The president could not have chosen a better partner for this work than Mike Pence.

So, Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, we raise our glasses to you, to Karen, and to your beautiful family. May you have every blessing and success as the 48th vice president of the United States of America.

(CROSSTALK)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL, (R-KY), SENATE MAJORITY LEDER: Well, the theme of today's inauguration is "Uniquely America." There are some words that come to mind when you hear that phrase: Big. Bold. Energetic. Enterprising. Resilient. Always looking to the next horizon. It sure sounds like our country. And it sure sounds like Donald Trump.

(APPLAUSE)

MCCONNELL: Our president has surmounted formidable challenges.