Return to Transcripts main page
The Lead with Jake Tapper
Speaker Johnson Announces New January 6 Subcommittee; Sources: White House In Talks For January 6 Convicts To Meet With Trump; Mandatory Evacuation Orders As New Fire Breaks Out Near L.A.; U.S. Military Orders Thousands More Troops To Southern Border; UK Tabloid Settles With Prince Harry, Apologizes For Phone Hacking; Trump Threatens Sanctions On Russia If Fighting Doesn't End. Aired 4-5p ET
Aired January 22, 2025 - 16:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: You can imagine officers are now going to investigate an entire trail that that shooter may have been left behind.
[16:00:03]
But as we heard from one grandmother earlier, this is something that is going to stay with those parents and likely those students for the rest of their lives. Parents going home tonight without their kids.
ERICA HILL, CNN HOST: Absolutely. And we know it does stay with them because we know all too well from speaking with so many who have survived these shootings and -- and the parents who lost their children, what it is like for them.
SANCHEZ: Yeah. Thank you so much for joining us this afternoon.
Erica, thanks so much for being with us.
THE LEAD WITH JAKE TAPPER starts right now.
(MUSIC)
JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: January 6th rioters headed to the Capitol again. This time though, not to beat up cops, to be hosted by House Republicans.
THE LEAD starts right now.
Just days after getting pardoned by President Trump, some January 6th defendants could soon return to the scene of the crime, invited by a group of House Republicans. Not only that, there's also talk of the White House hosting some of these pardoned criminals.
Plus, Prince Harry's lawsuit settled. His new eight figure deal with a British tabloid and the alleged illegal tactics of phone hacking behind the massive payout.
And President Trump's new threat to Russia's Vladimir Putin. Why Trump says he may have no other choice.
(MUSIC)
TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.
We start with our politics lead. And welcome to the upside down, where those who stormed the Capitol to stop the count of electoral votes on January 6th, four years ago aren't just being pardoned, they're being celebrated. And where those who investigated that horrible attack on January 6th, 2021, they are now being pursued by those currently in power.
It is the world according to Trump, and Washington is warping its view to match his. This afternoon, House Speaker Mike Johnson announced a brand new subcommittee to, quote, continue the investigation of the events preceding and following January 6th. But there seem to be conflicting descriptions of the goal of this subcommittee. Speaker Johnson says the purpose is, quote, exposing the false narratives peddled by the politically motivated January 6th Select Committee.
White House -- I'm sorry, House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan of Ohio says that the purpose is to investigate, quote, what the Democrat led January 6th committee failed to uncover. And the new chairman of this subcommittee, Barry Loudermilk, says that it will investigate, quote, a series of intelligence, security and leadership failures, unquote, that led to the Capitol attack. That's all in the same press release, this as hard line conservatives on Capitol Hill.
And according to sources, some White House officials say they want to set up face to face meetings with the freshly pardoned rioters. And while we don't know which ones they want to meet with, some of the 1,200 plus who were pardoned violently attacked the capitol police on January 6th, 2021, as well as the metropolitan police department.
But not all Republicans are so eager to forgive, forget and celebrate these people.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DON BACON (R-NE): If you hit a cop and it was 140 cops are injured and -- or you vandalized the Capitol, I think there should be accountability. And so I would disagree with that, that part.
REP. MIKE LAWLER (R-NY): I said very clearly, I don't support the decision, but it's his decision.
SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): I would have preferred the president to look at each case individually, case by case, and separate out those acts of nonviolence and those acts of violence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski chimed in as well, putting her dissent in writing, saying on X, quote, I strongly denounce the blanket pardon blanket pardons. When asked if Republicans still back the blue, still back law enforcement after these pardons, Speaker Mike Johnson said this to CNN.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: The president has made a decision. We move forward. There are better days ahead of us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: We're covering all of this at both ends of Pennsylvania Avenue.
CNN's Manu Raju was on Capitol Hill. CNN's Jeff Zeleny is at the White House.
Jeff, are any Trump administration officials pushing back on this idea of inviting pardoned rioters to the White House?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Jake, they're not pushing back on it, nor are they confirming exactly when or who it would include should that happen. Just a short time ago, I asked the new White House press secretary, the Karoline Leavitt, if these invitations would be happening. She did not respond.
So we shall see. But we do know that behind the scenes, there have been conversations going on about the possibility of the president speaking with some of these pardoned convicts, and this wouldn't be necessarily a surprise. He's been in an ongoing dialogue with many of them and their families throughout his campaign for president. They were a central part of his campaign rallies. Of course, he called them hostages. They are not.
He often played the music that they sang in prison at some of his rallies.
[16:05:00]
But here at the White House, there is a sense of how much this is going to over -- take or overshadow the beginning of his administration. And is it a -- there is a worry among some Republicans who want the president to succeed if this is an indication that he's too focused on looking backwards rather than looking forwards.
But two of those lawmakers that you played in the introduction there, Congressman Don Bacon and Mike Lawler, they both met with the president this afternoon. I'm told that pardons did not come up in the discussions. So that is one more example. Republicans are denouncing this decision, but its unclear if they're saying that directly to the president. And of course, it wouldn't matter even if they would most likely.
But the White House is not trying to draw attention to this, but they're not trying to dismiss the idea of having these meetings, either -- Jake.
TAPPER: Manu, what are you hearing about these January 6th rioters coming to the Hill? And do we know which ones?
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We don't know yet. In fact, we do know that members of the hard right House Freedom Caucus have been in talks with some of these prisoners.
Lauren Boebert, a congressman from Colorado, suggested that that could happen, others as well. But Boebert and others indicated that there is no plans yet on the precise timing and when to welcome them to the Capitol, even as these members said that they would welcome him here essentially to the scene of the crime.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. RALPH NORMAN (R-SC): I'd like to hear their side of the story.
RAJU: Even if the one -- even if they were convicted of attacking police officers.
NORMAN: I want to hear their side of the story.
RAJU: Uh-huh. And so --
NORMAN: Everything starts with the conversations. I'd like to hear their side of the story.
REP. LAUREN BOEBERT (R-CO): But I would certainly be willing to give them a guided tour. There's no plan right now.
RAJU: There's no plan. Okay.
BOEBERT: I give -- I give guided tours to people from all over America all the time.
RAJU: What do you say to critics who say you're bringing back the people who are part of the crime here?
BOEBERT: Well, I mean, the Capitol police officers are who took down barricades and gates and open doors are here, and they've been here ever since.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: Now, that claim that the police simply invited in the Capitol rioters is not true. In fact, of course, 140 police officers about that many were assaulted on that day. And of course, there were hours- long fights that we saw between the police trying to keep out the rioters. But that is the contention of some of those hardliners who are eager, or at least are willing to bring them back here.
Now, when I asked the speaker himself whether he would welcome them back, Jake, he did not answer directly in that response, you played. He talked about Donald Trump, how he was Donald Trump's decision to pardon, that he had no issue with doing so, but he also said he believed in the idea of redemption. And then he said that he's looking forward, not backward, even as he instead, later in that same press conference, Jake criticized Joe Biden's final pardons to preemptively give clemency to his own family members, saying he was shocked about that, but defended Donald Trump's right to do so for the January 6th rioters -- Jake.
TAPPER: Manu Raju, Jeff Zeleny, thanks to you.
Let's get right to our panel to discuss it all.
Erin, let's start with you. Let's listen to this exchange between Manu Raju and Speaker Johnson.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RAJU: Republicans have long said you guys back the blue. How do you justifiably say that when Trump just pardoned a bunch of violent January 6th rioters who attacked Capitol police? And if those rioters come to the Capitol, will you welcome them back here?
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: So, look, everybody can describe this however they want. The president has the pardon and commutation authority. It's his decision. And I think what the -- what was made clear all along is that peaceful protests and people who engage in that should never be punished.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: Johnson didn't really answer the question, though, about will he welcome the people who violently attacked the police?
ERIN PERRINE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST, AXIOM STRATEGIES: I think as of this point, that's probably still a hypothetical question, because even the members that were being asked who said that they wanted to hear the other side of the story, or they would welcome people for tours, nothing seems to be set in concrete, and it certainly doesn't seem to be set in concrete from leadership in the House to bring back people who were, you know, given a pardon for January 6th activities and convictions.
So I wouldn't go as far as to say he is dodging the question. He didn't directly answer it, but right now it's a hypothetical and he doesn't necessarily need to.
TAPPER: Let's bring in Marc Caputo.
And, Marc, you have some new reporting in Axios about how Trump came to make this decision to give a blanket pardon to hundreds of people, not differentiating between those who were trespassing and those who were violently attacking police. What did you learn about the Trump decision making process?
MARC CAPUTO, TRUMP WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, AXIOS: Well, as we know, the Trump decision making process is always a little hard to forecast. And that includes for Senator J.D. Vance as vice president-elect, who before they took office, had said on "Fox News Sunday" that will obviously folks who engage in violence against the police weren't going to get a pardon, but it turned out that happened. So, why?
Well, Trump wanted to have pardons on day one, and he wanted to have lots of pardons on day one, because part of the Trump decision making process is to go big.
[16:10:02]
And as they got toward the end and as they got close to that deadline, they realized they can't really do a case by case review of all of these different cases because it would take too long and you wouldn't have that giant announcement. So at a certain point, he said, F it. Essentially, from what I was told, let's just free them all and let's just do everybody. And that's what they did.
TAPPER: Chuck, we've talked a lot about Democrats messaging issues and challenges. Is there a way for Democrats to market themselves as more supportive of police than Republicans, or is the suspicion of law enforcement too baked in to too many parts of the Democratic Party?
CHUCK ROCHA, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I think it's both. I think you can use this as one example of things that I said the other day would be one of many examples that they do, which would be turning their backs on Americans, as far as I'm concerned, and what will be happening in these congressional races.
There's lots -- me and Erin were talking in the green room. There's lots of marginal congressional districts that were only decided by a couple hundred votes. Either way, do I think this one issue is going to move a whole bunch of voters? No. But I think this issue, coupled with other issues where I'll try to distinguish my candidates from Erin's candidates on the battlefield every day as one of the things that I would use.
TAPPER: Chuck, let's listen to Trump during an interview today with Fox when he was asked about President Biden's decision to offer preemptive pardons to members -- members of his own family.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I was given the option. They said, sir, would you like to pardon everybody, including yourself? I said, I'm not going to pardon anybody. We didn't do anything wrong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
TAPPER: As we mentioned before, and as we've broadcast on this network, I asked Biden about talk back in December 2020 of Trump issuing preemptive pardons, and Biden said it would set a bad precedent.
ROCHA: And I've said on this network that this drives me absolutely crazy because it opens Pandora's box to where it never ends. I'm going to pardon here. I'm going to pardon here.
And as a Democratic consultant, as I said yesterday it puts me in a difficult position to be like, she's bad. They pardoned all those January 6th people. Look at what they did, not conflating the two but just saying, then Erin's comes right back and goes, yeah, but he pardoned his whole family, and by the way, they said he probably wasn't in his right mind at the end of his presidency anyway. Then we start talking about things that aren't part of the issues that
America really cares about, which is gas and groceries, and that's the lane we go down.
PERRINE: And I think this is something everybody needs to remember in politics. As we enter this second Trump era. There is no moral superiority in politics.
Both Republicans and Democrats in this country have made mistake after mistake. And the choice now for the American people is what is your priority going to be? Is it going to be holding your elected leaders to account, to make sure that you are always getting the most honest answer, because that's going to come in the election? Or is it right now making sure that your bills are getting --
ROCHA: Who you trust?
PERRINE: Yeah. Who are you going to trust?
TAPPER: Thanks to our panel. We're going to talk all about this next with the House Republican as his colleagues extend those invites to January 6th rioters.
I'm also going to get that Republicans take on Trump's pause on the TikTok ban, despite the law getting bipartisan support and being upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court.
And we have some breaking news for you. A new wildfire growing fast, this one in northern Los Angeles County, mandatory evacuations underway. We're going to monitor this one and bring you updates as they come in.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:17:03]
TAPPER: We have some breaking news out of California where tragically, a new wildfire is growing quickly in northern Los Angeles County. Of course, just weeks after the deadly wildfires in the same region.
Let's get right to CNN's Josh Campbell.
And, Josh, this fire is exploding in size and moving so fast. Authorities have already issued mandatory evacuations.
JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Jake. This fire now at 5,000 acres, and this is only just a couple hours old. This is obviously what officials here had worried about. We were in this period of somewhat of a lull after those deadly fires in Palisades and near Altadena now. This fire burning up near the Castaic area.
I'm at the CNN Los Angeles bureau. I'll move over here, you can see over my shoulder the plume of smoke. And I know that we have some of that imagery as well from our affiliate KCAL with their helicopters that are just been showing this fire chewing through parts of this area that officials say is heavily dense with brush that's serving as fuel as this fire moves. The winds now currently blowing this towards the Southwest.
And there are various concerns. As you mentioned, there are mandatory evacuation orders that are in place for certain neighborhoods. There are mandatory evacuation warnings that have been issued for other areas.
What we've been hearing from our colleagues here at KCAL is this is essentially an air attack that's been going on. They've requested up to ten helicopters and airplanes to fight this from above, that according to fire officials.
And essentially on the west side of this fire is where the helicopters have been operating, essentially drawing water out of a nearby reservoir to try to bring this to some type of containment on the opposite side is where we see those big heavy jets that have been coming in and dropping a lot of the retardant on the ground, hoping to stop the flow of this.
Where it's operating right now, this fire, not heavily populated home- wise. The Angeles National Forest officials say that there are homes in the immediate vicinity and nearby. What they're really concerned about, Jake, is the direction that this is headed southwest, where it is moving in towards the area that is heavily populated, which is why we see those evacuation orders that have been sent out.
Again, this is the last thing that officials here wanted. If there's any good news, any terrible situation is that there were already numerous resources that were staged here nearby as officials were worried about these winds kicking back up. I'm talking about crews not only from California, but nearby neighboring states, as well as Canada and Mexico that currently have some of their assets that are here, that are now actively attacking this fire.
Our colleague Ross Leavitt at the CNN transportation team notes that it looks, according to some of the online records, 5 to 6 aircraft currently on station. But again, authorities tell KCAL they've requested up to ten aircraft trying to bring this thing to a slow. But as I mentioned, it's already ballooned over to 5,000 acres right now. That number just keeps increasing, Jake.
TAPPER: All right. Josh Campbell, thanks so much.
And our politics lead, Speaker Mike Johnson is now calling January 6th a day of peaceful protest and creating a subcommittee to investigate, quote, false narratives around that day. Republican lawmakers now want to host some of the convicted and pardoned rioters at the Capitol.
[16:20:04]
And the Trump administration is discussing some sort of invitation for some of these rioters to possibly go to the White House and meet with the president.
Joining us now to discuss, Republican Mike Turner of Ohio.
Thanks for joining us, Congressman.
So, Speaker Johnson is creating the subcommittee to investigate January 6 and the Select Committee that investigated that day. What's your take?
REP. MIKE TURNER (R-OH): Well, there certainly are things to investigate, Jake, but I think January 6th is one of those days where I think almost all Americans hearts break in both the visions of -- of people, you know, physically breaking into the Capitol, and people actually assaulting police officers. The scope, I think, of Trump's pardons were unexpected, as we certainly know that there are people who did unexpectedly end up in the Capitol who were peaceful, who were prosecuted politically.
And there certainly has been just, you know, that day has been used for political purposes. We had, of course, the Pelosi's January 6th Select Committee that was -- was very, very political. There are things to continue to investigate.
But at the same time, I think were seeing really from both sides a great concern that doesn't really represent what I think the American people see that day and their concerns.
TAPPER: The people who broke into the capitol vandalized it, attacked cops, attacked Capitol Hill police, they were pardoned. Do you have an issue with that?
TURNER: I think that was very unexpected. And certainly yes, I do. Many people do. And I think the sweeping nature of it certainly was unexpected.
TAPPER: Do you have any idea who the House Freedom Caucus members are going to be inviting? Because obviously, there is a significant difference between some grandma who got swept up in it all and was trespassing, and maybe some people feel like the prosecution of her was overzealous. And the leaders of the Proud Boys or the Oath Keepers, or people who physically were attacking police, and there's video of it and, I'm not the one not distinguishing among them. The president is the one who didn't distinguish among them.
TURNER: Right. But also, Jake, remember, though, the Department of Justice, you know, it viciously prosecuted individuals, some of which ended up in the capitol, not even knowing how they ended up there or that there had been any violence whatsoever. There were people who had there was such an injustice in how they were prosecutors who rightly deserved a pardon.
And the fact that January 6th has been used so politically is really continues the travesty. And so, you know, certainly, you know, as we look to this, this sweeping pardon it certainly does, I think provide some continuation of the concern of what was expected.
TAPPER: You say it's been used politically. I mean, it was an event incited based on lies about Trump not having lost the election, and they were there to stop the counting of the electoral votes. I mean, it is inherently political. The entire point of it was to stop a peaceful political process.
TURNER: But, Jake, I think -- like I said, I think for the American public, their heart breaks at this that it continues on, on, on both sides to see this as just a politicization. I absolutely agree that there are individuals who deserve to be pardoned, that there was a travesty of Justice, that the Department of Justice had weaponized January 6th and pursued people who did not deserve to be prosecuted and should not have been prosecuted.
I'm so, you know, I -- you know, glad that the president had exercised his pardon authority to do so. But, you know, as we go forward, this is -- you know, this is -- this is one of those things where, you know, we are at some point as a nation going to have to put this behind us.
TAPPER: I mean, I'm just -- I don't hear you condemning the fact that people who are beating up Capitol Hill police officers who literally would lay down their lives to protect you and your family, I don't hear you expressing concern that they were pardoned, but let's move on.
TURNER: Jake, actually I did. You did hear me say that.
TAPPER: Okay?
TURNER: You did actually hear me say that.
TAPPER: Among the flurry of executive orders President Trump has issued, I know there's one that you're very concerned on because he -- there was a law to ban TikTok. It was passed by the House, passed by the Senate, signed into law, upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court. But President Trump is putting a 75-day pause on that.
I don't even know -- I mean, I didn't even know that a president could do that. But what's your reaction?
TURNER: Well, this is a great editorial in "The Wall Street Journal" today. I think that encapsulates what you just said. This is a law that was passed by Congress and signed by the president of the United States.
[16:25:04]
And it includes dates and actions that need to be taken in order for a sitting president to have an ability to pause its effect, and that is that. ByteDance, the owner of TikTok, began the process of being able to disinvest from TikTok.
Now, ByteDance has said they will not do so, and I believe it's because they don't really see it as a business. I believe it -- that it is used by them in a -- as a propaganda tool. I have grave concerns that it's a national security risk, that the access to data and other apps on equipment, phones, that the apps could be on are at risk. That's why many governments around the world have banned TikTok from being used on their equipment. They're even India has banned TikTok in its country, and we had begun the process of requiring disinvestment.
I think this national security threat is a -- is a real one that, you know, this law that we passed needs to be enforced. And China's interest in TikTok needs to be divested.
TAPPER: Before you go, sir, you were until recently, the chairman of the House Select Committee on Intelligence and Speaker Johnson removed you from that post. I'm wondering if you have any thoughts as to why that happened or where the Intelligence Committee goes going forward. I know there are lots of members of the Intelligence Committee, Republicans and Democrats, that were not happy with that announcement.
TURNER: Right. And, Jake, you and I spoke about that just -- just shortly after. You know, one thing is certain, if you go in a different direction with the Intelligence Committee where you're looking into the intelligence community itself and, you know, the so- called deep state, you, you, you stop looking at the nation states or the non-state actors that seek to threaten Americans and the risk to the United States. And that's what I'm fearful of.
My focus was on national security. It will continue to be on national security. And I think, you know, its unfortunate that the committee might be losing its focus and instead focusing on what they consider to be the elusive deep state.
TAPPER: Congressman Mike Turner, Republican of Ohio, thanks so much, sir. Appreciate it.
Another urgent matter, the U.S. military is deploying more troops to the U.S.-Mexico border. Their specific assignment as President Trump just three days into office, now proceeds with his immigration crackdown.
Plus, we're following the latest on that new explosive wildfire in California.
We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:31:28]
TAPPER: In our national lead, President Trump's immigration crackdown escalating, the U.S. military is sending thousands more active duty troops to the southern border, adding to the roughly 2,200 already there. Were just learning this is only the start. Even more are expected to be deployed to the border in the coming weeks.
CNN's Priscilla Alvarez joins us.
Priscilla, do we know anything about the specific units being deployed to the border?
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're still waiting for units, but we have numbers. So as you mentioned, 1,500 deployed. Now we are hearing from sources that they could deploy up to 10,000 active duty troops.
So this is really about manpower. They are trying to shore up as much personnel along the U.S. border to release border patrol agents to be on the front lines, which we have heard multiple times, both from the agents but also from President Trump.
Now, as far as what they do when they get there, this is mostly helping behind the scenes operational readiness. Intel analysts who can assess the flows of migrants and any threats. Also, augmenting air operations and air assets so they are not doing law enforcement work so much as that they are helping border patrol behind the scenes so that border patrol can get out and do the apprehending as they are meant to do.
Now, the big question we have, though, because this is what the national emergency declaration helps with, unlocking money. We know the department of homeland security needs money. Well, this also allows them to dip into Pentagon funds as they did the first time around. Were still waiting to see what those numbers are going to be.
But in addition to resources, this is going to be a money game. And that is what's still unanswered.
TAPPER: Can you tell us about your reporting on the roughly 10,000 refugees who were set to travel to the United States had already been vetted and approved, and they just had their flights canceled? We reported on some of them yesterday, Afghan families.
ALVAREZ: Vetted, approved and have gone through a years-long process, to suddenly learn that they can no longer come to the United States. So, this came on the heels of another executive order by the president suspending the refugees and missions program.
What was sudden however was that they cancelled these flights when the order itself had said that it was going to start on January 27. So, now, anyone who's gong to come between now and then is also cancelled. But certainly, this has been quite stunning to resettlement partners who are anticipating more time and, again, it does affect those 10,000 people who we had already vetted, we being the United States to come to the United States.
Now, the Trump administration says that this is on the basis of national security and public safety. So, that is the argument that they're making in basically shuttering this program, but this does leave over 10,000 people in limbo.
TAPPER: All right. Priscilla Alvarez, thanks so much.
Attorneys general from 22 states and commonwealth start suing to block President Trump's move to end birthright citizenship. Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell is one of those attorneys general, and she joins us now. She represents Massachusetts.
So, Attorney General Campbell, the 14th Amendment in the U.S. Constitution, which is at issue here, says, quote, all persons born or naturalized in the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States, unquote.
The question as raised by the Trump folks is whether undocumented immigrants are, quote, subject to the jurisdiction thereof, since they were not here under any legal process. How would you address that in court?
ANDREA JOY CAMPBELL (D), MASSACHUSETTS ATTORNEY GENERAL: So I'm grateful for the partnership with 17 other Democratic AGs, where we filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration yesterday for what is a blatant violation of the Constitution.
[16:35:01]
One, he doesn't have the power of either executive order to eviscerate the Constitution, to eradicate the 14th Amendment. It has been crystal clear for over a century that the 14th Amendment extends birthright citizenship, not only to folks who are born here, but folks who are born here, regardless of status, regardless of demographic. If they are born on your soil, they are citizens.
And of course, we know this comes out of a collective fight post- slavery for Black folks to be able to be afforded not only citizenship, but the rights that are attached to that. So it's a blatant violation of the Constitution. He doesn't have the unilateral power to do it.
And most importantly, he's doing it on the backs of babies seeking to solve the immigration issues of this country. So, we're all standing up and fighting back to protect our Constitution and the rule of law.
TAPPER: Right. But on that issue, to protect those babies that you speak of, what the Trump administration is going to say is that the 14th Amendment is about people born into the United States and subject to the jurisdiction thereof. But because those babies parents were undocumented, they were not subject to the jurisdiction thereof.
So what would your answer in court be? Because if this does end up before the U.S. Supreme Court, which I anticipate it will, that's a conservative court. You're going to have to explain that.
CAMPBELL: I don't know that it will end up in the Supreme Court. Right now, were asking a district court in Massachusetts to end this executive order so that it doesn't actually take effect. And their interpretation of the 14th Amendment is just that their interpretation, which is absolutely flawed. The Supreme Court has made it crystal clear for over a century, including executive branches before this president, that even with that provision in the 14th Amendment, it is crystal clear that if you were born in this country, you are indeed a citizen here, regardless of parent's immigration status.
This was resolved years and decades ago by the Supreme Court, and now they are attempting to rewrite the Constitution, to rewrite decisions in the Supreme Court. And frankly, if this ended up before the Supreme Court, I'm confident that every justice would not only agree with us because they care deeply about the rule of law in our Constitution, but because they made it crystal clear over and over again for over a century just what the 14th Amendment means.
TAPPER: A new Justice Department memo spells out plans to go after state and local officials if they refuse to enforce the president's immigration policies. Eight cities in Massachusetts are considered sanctuary cities. What are you advising the leaders of those cities when it comes to the president's immigration and deportation plans?
CAMPBELL: We are closely working with all our municipalities here in Massachusetts, including our governor, governor and local elected officials, and making it crystal clear that not only will I, as their attorney general, fight to protect them, I will use the law to do it. It has been disheartening to see a slew of executive orders that weaponized the Department of Justice. I would rather the president take these resources, which are limited, and direct them to helping us solve public safety issues, which we do every single day.
We are holding folks accountable who perpetuate crimes in the commonwealth, regardless of whether they're citizens or undocumented. We've done that with the former U.S. attorney here in Massachusetts. This is what we are pushing them to do versus trying to create some type of more fear or, frankly, to suggest that we are in somehow violation of the law, which we are not.
TAPPER: Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Campbell, thanks so much for joining us. We appreciate it.
We are following some major breaking news. A new wildfire in northern Los Angeles County on top of the flames, firefighters are having difficulty getting to the fires because of traffic. We're staying on top of this one. More ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:43:05]
TAPPER: Breaking news now, the brand new Hughes Fire -- Hughes Fire in northern Los Angeles County. It's only about three hours old and it's already scorched through more than 5,000 acres. Dry brush is an issue. L.A. traffic is holding up firefighters. That's another issue. We're keeping a close watch on this one.
In our world lead, Rupert Murdoch's "The Sun" tabloid newspaper is settling a lawsuit with Prince Harry. The duke of Sussex previously accused the tabloid and other UK papers of illegally hacking his phone and thus being able to obtain private information for more than a decade.
CNN's Max Foster has more on the apology, and the reported multimillion dollar settlement.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAX FOSTER, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): After months of preparations, Prince Harry's lawyer today ended the case against Rupert Murdoch's UK tabloids. That was before the trial had even started settling for a figure legal sources say runs into eight figures.
DAVID SHERBORNE, PRINCE HARRY'S LAWYER: News UK have admitted that "The Sun", the flagship title for Rupert Murdoch's UK media empire, has indeed engaged in illegal practices.
FOSTER: The civil case alleged "The Sun" and the now shuttered "News of the World" newspapers had illegally obtained private information about the prince and used it to sell newspapers.
In court, NGN's lawyers apologized to the duke of Sussex for the serious intrusion into his private life between 1996 and 2011. For unlawful activities carried out by its private investigators and for phone hacking.
Perhaps most notably, it apologized for its, quote, extensive coverage and serious intrusion into the private life of his mother, Princess Diana.
The tabloid obsession with the princess was well known, with almost every step documented by photographers. She died in 1997, in a car crash whilst being chased by paparazzi in Paris.
[16:45:02]
But it wasn't just the royals who were alleged targets of the tabloids. Ordinary civilians say they were subject to claimed invasions of privacy, sometimes using the same very questionable tactics.
And in a criminal trial starting in 2013, one editor of the Murdoch owned "News of the World" was found guilty of conspiracy to hack phones. He was sentenced to 18 months. The real question now is what comes next?
EMMA JONES, HACKED OFF: This is here now for the police to investigate. You know, we've got a corporate culture of unlawful behavior. We've got an admission of that. And the same people still working at that organization, for what reason would they not have to now investigate those practices and say, you know, this has happened. The evidence is almost laid bare, and they've gone to huge lengths to avoid being scrutinized in the court.
FOSTER: Prince Harry may have settled, but the legal battles may not be over for the tabloid press, with the prince calling for a new police investigation. Pressure is mounting. A spokesperson for "The Sun" said no staff at the newspaper were found culpable, and police have previously found no criminal case.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
FOSTER (on camera): We have heard from the police tonight, Jake. They said they were aware of the civil proceedings confirming there are no criminal proceedings yet. But they add we await any correspondence from the parties involved which we will respond to in due course. So a criminal trial is possible in future. But they haven't even had the evidence from the cases today to
consider that. But it is a potential. And that's really what Prince Harry wants here.
TAPPER: All right. Max Foster, thanks so much.
Just in on the breaking news, a new explosive wildfire near Los Angeles. Data models show this fire is expected to spread south and west in the hours ahead. CNN has a team right now trying to get as close to as safely as possible to show you what's going on. We're going to be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[16:50:55]
TAPPER: And breaking news. We're very closely watching this brand new fire in northern Los Angeles County. Authorities have ordered mandatory evacuations. This is the first significant wildfire outbreak since the deadly fires earlier this month. We're working to speak with the L.A. County fire chief.
CNN teams are also on the ground. We're going to look more -- please, look more for this story.
Coming up in our world lead, however, we're going to turn to that. President Trump sent a warning to Russia today. Trump said: End your war on Ukraine or suffer heavy economic pain via tariffs. Trump added, we can do this the easy way or do it the hard way.
CNN's Matthew Chance is in Moscow.
Matthew, what are you hearing in Russia?
MATTHEW CHANCE, CNN CHIEF GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, there's been no real official reaction to this post by president Trump on his Truth Social media platform, the one he owns. But Russian television has picked it up. Of course, state media, they've kind of, you know, scoffed a little bit at the factual error. Trump said that 60 million people had died from Russia in the Second World War. In fact, it was -- it was closer to 26 million, which is obviously still an enormous amount of people.
And they've sort of poured water on the idea that in a country which is the most sanctioned in the world, or one of them, you know, there are more sanctions out there that Trump would be able to bring to bear to, to sort of force the Kremlin to the negotiating table when it comes to Ukraine. But I really think, Jake, that all of that kind of misses the point. I mean, this was a very public offer, essentially by President Trump to mediate, mediate in the in Russia's war in, in Ukraine.
And that's something, I think, behind the closed doors of the Kremlin, they're going to be looking at very seriously. It's something we've anticipated. It's been flagged by Trump in his in his campaign. And in the past few weeks that he intended to do something like this and have a summit with Putin and get to the negotiating table about Ukraine.
The war is taking, of course, an enormous cost on on Russia in terms of treasure and lives. But it's also sort of generally understood that the Kremlin sees negotiations like this and a ceasefire as an opportunity to consolidate its territory and to rebuild its military.
So that really would be, in the words of Trump, a gift, a fight (ph) -- no, he didn't say that, he said a favor to Putin. So in that sense, it really would be, Jake.
TAPPER: All right. Matthew Chance in Russia, thanks so much.
Let's get the view from Ukraine now with CNN's Nick Paton Walsh, who is in Kyiv.
Nick, what does President Zelenskyy think of President Trump two days into the new Trump presidency?
NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, look, I mean, he's had little choice but projecting hope and optimism that Trump will try and take a position of trying to engineer peace through strength. And in fact, we heard him echoing some of Trump's points that he made in his opening hours of being in office, suggesting that indeed, there wasn't an ocean between Europe and Russia. Trump had said that there was an ocean between the United States and the Ukraine conflict, and also echoing Trump's demand that Europe spends more money on its defense, suggesting the same 5 percent figure. Trump had a matter of hours earlier.
In fact, today we heard him suggest that indeed, Trump might be the kind of strong man who could push Putin into peace. Also, he said, could Xi Jinping of China and even suggests, too, that his teams might meet Trump's teams to begin some sort of political process?
Look, clearly, Zelenskyy sees his own man power here in the war diminishing Russia incrementally but steadily advancing on the front line. And many questions amongst the Republican leaders how long they're willing to continue bankrolling Ukraine's defense here and seize the need to -- seize upon any kind of negotiating strategy.
Does he think, necessarily, that Trump wants to take this all the way through, and the peace from strength will last? We simply don't know. But it's clear that the tables having chairs arranged around them. Now, the mood music is certainly there.
Trump has made two very clean comments in his first 48 hours, suggesting that he wants to pressure Putin, pointing out twice how damaging this has been for Russia's economy. That is unexpected. People are thought. Many thought he might be cozier to the Kremlin head.
And so it's an unexpected start, certainly. But as Matthew was saying, we've seen Russia in the past use negotiation to further its military goals, exploit it cynically, frankly.
[16:55:04] And I think there are many Ukrainians worried that the path ahead is exceptionally complex and, frankly, quite dark.
TAPPER: Nick Paton Walsh in Kyiv, Ukraine, for us. Thanks so much.
We're also following breaking news here in the U.S., a new wildfire in Los Angeles County. Gusty winds and dry brush are fueling the flames. This one started this morning. It's already burned more than 5,000 acres. The Los Angeles County fire chief is trying to call into the show right now.
Keep it here.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
TAPPER: Welcome to THE LEAD. I'm Jake Tapper.
Any moment, federal workers in any diversity, equity, inclusion and accessibility offices will be placed on paid administrative leave. These DEI offices were given a deadline of 5:00 p.m. Eastern by President Trump after he signed an executive order banning DEI programs in the federal government, calling them, quote, "forced, illegal and immoral discrimination programs," unquote.