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Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) Discusses Impeaching Trump 2nd Time, Trump Not Attending Inauguration; New Spotlight on Trump's History of Embracing Violence; New Arrests in Domestic Terror Attack on Capitol. Cruz, Who Challenged Biden's Election, Tries to Rewrite History; Retired Capitol Hill Police Officer, Butch Jones, Calls Breech on Capitol Hill Appalling, Says Double Standard Based on Race. Aired 1:30-2p ET
Aired January 08, 2021 - 13:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[13:30:00]
BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: The president still retains quite a lot of support. It seems unlikely that the vice president would move forward with the 25th Amendment.
How significant does that make the efforts by Congress, by the House, how much pressure does it put on Democrats to move forward with impeachment?
REP. JACKIE SPEIER (D-CA): I think the willingness to move forward with impeachment is quite strong.
And I do believe that that effort -- personally, I do believe the effort must be undertaken. We must act on behalf of the Constitution of the United States.
I think the president should be criminally charged as well. He has incited domestic terrorism.
KEILAR: The president, after his video yesterday, which was sort of his style of concession, it was at least admitting there would be a transition.
He now says he will not attend Joe Biden's inauguration, which is such a symbolic part of peaceful transfer of power.
What do you think of this decision?
SPEIER: I have no problem with him not attending the inauguration. It has happened in the past. John Adams rode out of town before Thomas Jefferson was inaugurated. There are a number of incidents in history.
He is such a polarizing figure that it will be, I think, very problematic. And I'm sure President-Elect Biden is very content with the decision by President Trump.
KEILAR: On this call, this Democratic caucus call that's going on right now, did the speaker bring up anything about the conversation with chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Mark Milley, where she addressed the president and his ability to handle nuclear codes at this point in time?
She's clearly worried about something that he could do and she was looking for answers there. Did she say anything to you all about that?
SPEIER: Well, I'm not going to divulge what happened on a caucus call. Those are private conversations.
You can take the speaker at her public statements. She's deeply concerned about the condition, mental condition of the president and his ability to continue to do his job.
KEILAR: Do you have those concerns? And were they assuaged by what you heard from the speaker that there are safeguards in place?
SPEIER: I am -- this president is filled with vengeance. He will continue, in my estimation, to do everything he can in his position of power to meet out what he believes are the kinds of punishments to go to people that have not been loyal to him.
He is maniacal. I can't underscore the fact enough that he will do treacherous things. He is capable of it. He did it on Wednesday.
Our lives would have been lost, many of our lives would have been lost had the individuals had the guns to be able to exercise their intent to, as they say, take back our country.
What does that mean when the president of the United States says to his crowd we are going to take back our country. That is fomenting sedition and anarchy.
KEILAR: Congresswoman Jackie Speier, thank you so much for joining us. This is an important call going on. We appreciate you talking to us about it.
SPEIER: Thank you, Brianna. Happy New Year to you.
KEILAR: Happy New Year to you. May it get better. I will say that.
SPEIER: Yes.
KEILAR: In moments, President-Elect Joe Biden will speak for the first time since President Trump announced he will not attend the inauguration. Stand by for that.
[13:34:10]
Plus, new details on the domestic terror suspects who attacked the capitol, including new arrests.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KEILAR: This is how the president of the United States initially described the domestic terrorists who launched a deadly insurrection on U.S. soil and attacked the capitol in his name. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We love you. You're very special.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: His daughter, Ivanka, called them American patriots. And she asked them to stop attacking the capitol before she deleted that tweet.
But of course, this is hardly the first time the president has complimented violence in his name or by his supporters.
In 2015, after the beating of a homeless man by men spouting anti- immigrant rhetoric, saying Donald Trump was right, he pretended not to know about it. He quickly called it a shame.
But then he said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I will say the people that are following are very passionate. They love this country. They want this country to be great again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: He later tried to clean that up, calling the incident terrible.
In 2016, after a protester was punched by a Trump supporter at a rally:
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[13:40:04]
TRUMP: I thought it was very, very appropriate. That's what we need a little bit more of.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: In 2017, he tried to be funny, saying this to a Long Island audience that included police, giving officers a green light to rough up suspects.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: When you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, you just see them thrown in, rough, I said, please don't be too nice.
Like when you guys put somebody in the car and you're protecting their head, the way you put the hand -- like don't hit their head and they just killed somebody, don't hit their head. I said, you can take the hand away, OK? (LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Also that year, when Neo-Nazis showed up in Charlottesville, he tried equating them with the counter-protesters who were speaking up against them.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You had a group on one side that was bad, and you had a group on the other side that was also very violent. And nobody wants to say that. But I'll say it right now.
You had some very bad people in that group. But you also had people that were very fine people, on both sides.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Last year, during the protests over the death of George Floyd, he tweeted, "When the looting starts, the shooting starts."
This past summer, he had the National Guard forcibly clear peaceful protesters with tear gas from the street in front of a church near the White House so he could hold up this Bible for a photo-op.
Even Wednesday, he reportedly initially resisted calls for the National Guard to be called up when his supporters, insurrectionists, were looting, destroying federal property, and invading the capitol.
The president also defended the 17-year-old Kyle Rittenhouse, charged with killing two people at a Black Lives Matter protest in Kenosha.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: He was trying to get away from them I guess, it looks like.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Then, when the far-right ground, the Proud Boys, held a rally to celebrate Rittenhouse, the president was asked during the debate if he would tell white supremacists to stand down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Proud Boys, stand back and stand by. But I'll tell you what, I'll tell you what, somebody has to do something about Antifa and the left because this is not a right-wing problem.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: This is a left-wing problem.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Trump later denied that was a dog whistle to the group, even though the Proud Boys interpreted it quite differently. Some put the phrase on their logo. Some use it as a rallying cry, even selling merchandise with it emblazoned across it.
The president embraced QAnon conspiracists who believe that Democrats and celebrities are running a mass pedophile ring as part of a Deep State effort to destroy Trump.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I heard these are people that love our country and they just don't like seeing it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: You heard the president inciting violence at that rally.
But look at his fundraising emails in the couple days before the attack: "Defend integrity. Last line of defense. Calling on strongest allies to step up to the frontlines of this nasty battle."
Another one reads, "This isn't about politics. This is about fighting for the future of the nation. Will you fight for your country? In three days, we will crush the radical left."
Remember, the president's track record when Senator Ted Cruz starts rewriting history.
Cruz, one of the biggest Trump enablers and apologists over the years, even after Trump called his wife ugly and implied his father was part of the JFK assassination plot by falsely tying him to Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin.
Cruz, one of the ring leaders of the challenge to Joe Biden's Electoral College win and his rightful position as America's next president.
And now, only after the violent and deadly attack in Washington that left five people dead, including a police officer whose death is now being investigated for murder, one who is at the forefront of the sedition caucus, Ted Cruz, has the gall to say this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): I think yesterday in particular the president's language and rhetoric crossed a line and it was reckless. I disagree with it.
And I have disagreed with the president's language and rhetoric for the last four years and have said so many, many times.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Just like a Texas weathervane, seeing which direction the wind is blowing as he changes his story.
Cruz says Trump's rhetoric went too far. Trump's rhetoric. What about the guy who fired up a crowd this weekend by comparing the
efforts, their efforts, to keep Democrats out of power to the American Revolutionary War?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CRUZ: Each of you look around, the men and women that are gathered here, you are patriots, just like the patriots gathered at Bunker Hill, just like the patriots gathered at Valley Forge, just like the patriots who forged this nation.
[13:45:08]
The men and women gathered here and across the state of Georgia are fighting for the United States of America.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KEILAR: Cruz and all of these other Trump allies, abandoning him, like his cabinet secretaries, these are not profiles in courage. These are people who are leaving the arena early to beat the traffic.
I want to go to CNN justice correspondent, Jessica Schneider, with some breaking news on the attack on the capitol.
Jessica, law enforcement officials are working fast to bring criminal charges against those involved. I know you have new details about a couple of specific suspects. What are you learning?
JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: We do, Brianna. Law enforcement is now briefing reporters, talking about their swift efforts.
And they're thanking the public for giving them a number of tips that have led to a number of arrests. A number of suspects are in custody. And now we're looking at a number of federal charges.
They say, so far, 15 criminal complaints have been filed and they're giving details about several of the suspects. I will rundown for you.
They just talked about a Derrick Evans, a delegate in West Virginia legislature. He is being charged because he filmed himself on the capitol grounds going into the capitol. That's one person they've named.
They also talked about Richard Barnett, of Arkansas. He is now in custody. He was arrested in Little Rock, Arkansas.
This is the picture that's become notorious over the past several days. He was seen and photographed in Nancy Pelosi's office, speaker of the House, putting his feet up on the desk.
Prosecutors say that he also stole property from Nancy Pelosi's office. He had actually spoken about it to a local newspaper, bragging about what he had done, talking about the fact he had taken property.
So he is now under arrest. They say he is in custody, arrested in Little Rock, Arkansas, today.
They talked about another man as well that they're charging. He was one who parked a pickup truck that was registered to him on the south side of the capitol.
And when investigators went in to look at the truck, they found a number of alarming things, Brianna. We previously talked about they found 11 Molotov cocktails.
Investigators are going more in depth. They say they also found in that truck two handguns, an M-4 assault rifle, as well as gasoline and materials that could be used for homemade napalm. That's used for incendiary devices, bombs, flamethrowers.
So they're laying out a litany of complaints that have been filed in federal court. Right now, the number is at 15.
But they say, Brianna, their work is far from done. They say they're getting a flurry of tips in. They haven't said how many.
But they thanked the public for giving them this information that has led to a number of arrests already, from people we have seen in pictures on social media, and people who really bragged about what they've done as we saw in the case of Richard Barnett.
They're keeping the public apprised here, Brianna. And they are working diligently and listening to the public as they call in those tips.
To recap, a number of people arrested, federal charges against at least 15 people now, but they expect more charges in the hours and days to come.
People who really flaunted that they had been inside the capitol, whether it was Richard Barnett putting his feet on Pelosi's desk or other people who had filmed themselves and bragged it on social media -- Brianna?
KEILAR: Providing evidence of their crimes.
Jessica Schneider, thank you so much for those important new details on suspects in the attack on the capitol.
[13:48:42]
Next, I will be speaking with a former Capitol Hill police officer who calls what happened appalling and says there's a double standard based on race. Stand by.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[13:53:27]
KEILAR: The Senate Homeland Security and Rules Committee jointly announced today they will hold hearings on the security failures ahead of the attack on the U.S. capitol. It's apparent that law enforcement officials missed the signs ahead of
this riot. While there was no intelligence of a threat, demonstrators said on social media that they were not planning a typical protest.
But in conversations before the rally, a source tells CNN capitol police assured federal agencies and the cities that they knew how to deal with large demonstrations.
I want to bring in retired capitol police officer, Butch Jones. He was on the force for 37 years. He was one of the founding members of the Black Police Association for Capitol Hill. He is also a veteran.
I wonder, sir, as you were watching this -- and I want to thank you so much, because you are in a unique position to share your view on what happened.
I wonder what you were thinking, as you watched this play out, and what you thought about capitol police essentially going it alone on this.
BUTCH JONES, RETIRED CAPITOL POLICE OFFICER: I was appalled when I first saw it. No preparation, no outer perimeter, no inner perimeter. They were not prepared at all.
Normally, in a situation like this, we usually are with Metropolitan Police, United States Park Police and capitol police. I didn't see any of that yesterday.
Also, I didn't see any horses, which is a great crowd stopper. I think they allowed them to do what they did.
[13:55:06]
KEILAR: So you were looking -- I mean, let's back up away from the capitol. You're talking about a perimeter on capitol grounds, but well away from the building.
We watched these folks just kind of traipse right through fencing and obstructions that were, at least visually, telling them they were not supposed to be where they were going.
You're saying there should broadband police officers there.
JONES: Without a doubt. Fourth Street on the west side of the capitol, there should have been a line of police officers there. There was no reason for them to get that close to the capitol.
I didn't see any reinforce coming in. Nobody was called in to help them. The capitol police management to not accept the offers from the FBI, the military, I thought that was a shame by itself.
To let them guys stay out there by themselves, I thought it was a disgrace.
I blame management. And I also blame the police board, which is made up of the sergeant-at-arms of the House and the sergeant-at-arms of the Senate. They are responsible for the safety of the capitol police.
KEILAR: A lot of them were injured. We know that one has died.
I wonder, as you watch this, I think what a lot of people were saying was, if this had been a Black Lives Matter -- if this was initiated as a Black Lives Matter protest, where there were a lot of calls to action about going up to Congress, and this was in opposition of something that Congress was doing, that this would have been a very different, one, stance when it came to preparation and police preparedness.
But also, once this was under way, how some people were responding.
What do you think?
JONES: Without a doubt, I think they would have been have been treated differently.
Number one, if it was Black Lives Matter, they wouldn't even have gotten that close to the capitol. They wouldn't have even gotten to the step of the capitol.
For them to -- I remember one day Louis Farrakhan came up to the Hart Building. This wasn't even a demonstration. He came up to the Hart Building and he had four gentlemen with him.
And they held the whole department over. And they even had the SWAT team in the garage until he left. Four guys, plus Louis Farrakhan. They held the whole department over.
So they react on certain parties, on the blacks.
And I think that they was a part of allowing these people to come up to the capitol the way they did.
KEILAR: Butch, thank you so much for being with us and sharing your experience and your perspective as a former capitol police officer. Butch Jones, we appreciate you being with us.
JONES: Thank you. And thank you for having me.
KEILAR: Of course.
We're waiting right now to hear from President-Elect Joe Biden. He's going to speak just hours after President Trump announced that he will not attend Biden's inauguration. We're going to take you to this event live.
The White House is in chaos. It is in crisis mode, as Democrats gain more support for the president's second impeachment.
And one of his closest confidants, Hope Hicks, joins those considering leaving the White House.
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[14:00:00]
