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More Than 50 Rioters Facing Criminal Charges So Far; House Democrats Considering Second Impeachment; State of Emergency in Tokyo as Cases Hit Record Levels; U.S. Allies Express Shock, Dismay after Pro-Trump Riot; Contrasts in Police Response to Capitol Riot & BLM Protests; Frustration in Europe Over Pace of Vaccine Rollout. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired January 08, 2021 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello. Welcome to our viewers joining us around the world. I'm John Vause.
[00:00:24]
Coming up here in CNN NEWSROOM, after 1,449 days and so many outrages and scandals, will Republicans finally act and remove Donald Trump from office?
And for his angry mob which stormed the Capitol, few consequences for now. Most simply walked out after their siege of the Capitol.
And how all this legal mayhem is shredding America's moral authority around the world, or what little there is that's left.
Donald Trump could be facing legal jeopardy once again, this time for possibly inciting violence, with a fiery speech on Wednesday urging his supporters to march on the Capitol. Investigations are underway to find all of those who breached security and forced their way into the halls of Congress.
More than 50 people are already facing criminal charges, including one man arrested with a semiautomatic rifle and 11 multiple cocktails.
The acting U.S. attorney for Washington expects more arrests as security video and social media identifies more suspects. At least four people died and a number of law enforcement officers were hurt during the violence.
President Trump, back on Twitter after a 12-hour ban, with a video message saying he's outraged -- outraged! -- by the heinous attack on the Capitol. And for the first time, he conceded publicly that he will not serve a second term. He says his focus now is on ensuring a smooth and orderly transition to a new transmission. Just 12 days to go.
A White House adviser says the president recorded the video only because of looming resignations and the possibility of impeachment. Trump's education secretary, Betsy DeVos, and transportation secretary, Elaine Chao, are the first cabinet members to step down in protest. Chao is married to the Senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell.
Several others have also stepped down, including the deputy national security adviser and the first lady's chief of staff.
And a source close to the close the vice president, Mike Pence, says a number of people have been asking him to remove Trump from office by invoking the 25th Amendment. That's highly unlikely, though.
It was adopted in the 1960s after John F. Kennedy's assassination. It's a mechanism for replacing the president if he's physically unable or unfit to lead. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says there is one other option.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): The president has committed an unspeakable assault on our nation and our people. I join the Senate Democratic leader in calling on the vice president to remove this president by immediately invoking the 25th Amendment. If the vice president and the cabinet do not act, the Congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Congressional leaders are demanding accountability from those who are supposed to protect them. The Capitol Police chief and the sergeant at arms of the House and the Senate are all resigning.
More details now from CNN's Manu Raju.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A day after deadly mob violence took over the Capitol, lawmakers were still struggling to comprehend how one of the nation's most fortified buildings could have been breached. Their lives put in danger, the damage still visible through the quarters of the Capitol, where pro- Trump rioters broke windows, forced their way through emergency exits, stormed through all corners of the building.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop the steal!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop the steal!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop the steal!
RAJU: Even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's suite, typically heavily guarded, was vandalized with a trespasser breaking in, shattering a mirror and leaving behind a threatening note, all while demonstrators removed her nameplate.
PELOSI: Justice will be done to those who carried out these acts, which were acts of sedition and acts of cowardice.
RAJU: The terror struck throughout the Capitol, forcing both the Senate and House to go on lockdown just as Congress was preparing to verify Joe Biden's Electoral College win over President Trump.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've lost.
RAJU: But the riled-up pro-Trump crowd instead tried to break into the House chamber, where lawmakers were sheltering in place. One woman was shot and killed by U.S. Capitol Police. Another rioter broke a window on the chamber's door, prompting an armed standoff with Capitol Police and many frightened lawmakers inside.
REP. PAUL RUIZ (D-CA) (via phone): It was the closest I got to thinking, there's a possibility I could die. So at any moment somebody could have rushed in the door with a semi-automatic.
RAJU: Others were trying to think outside the box.
REP. JASON CROW (D-CO): I had a pen in my pocket that I could use as my weapon. I was looking for other weapons, as well. I was coordinating with the Capitol Police to try to find a way out for us.
[00:05:05]
RAJU: In both chambers, a bipartisan call to condemn the violence and proceed with confirming Biden's victory, which Trump has been trying to stop.
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): We will not bow to lawlessness or intimidation.
RAJU: And in the halls of the Capitol, Republicans and Democrats placing the blame squarely on Trump's refusal to acknowledge reality and his lies about his election laws.
SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-SD) (via phone): Had we not had senators who decided to object, we probably wouldn't have had that many people in town, if the president hadn't encouraged them all to come to town. There's a lot of anger and a lot of emotion based upon, in most cases, just a lot of false information. You know, they were convinced of things that weren't so.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: To Los Angeles now and Jessica Levinson, law professor and host of the "Passing Judgment" podcast.
Jessica, thanks for being with us.
JESSICA LEVINSON, LAW PROFESSOR, LOYOLA LAW SCHOOL: Good to be back with you.
VAUSE: It's good to see you.
OK, so here's Donald Trump just a few hours ago. And he's appalled, really appalled. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Like all Americans, I am outraged by the violence, lawlessness and mayhem. Tempers must be cooled and calm restored.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: That's really interesting, because someone also called Donald Trump just a day earlier said this to the same mob that raided the Capitol. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength, and you have to be strong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: You know, he urged them to march. He said it was going to be a wild day. All the rhetoric.
You know, there's some about-face. It could be to try and stop the resignations of senior White House officials. It could also be he is telling the truth.
How much of this is, though, legal jeopardy that Trump is now facing for inciting violence?
LEVINSON: I don't know how much of it he thinks he's really in legal jeopardy and how much of it he just doesn't want to continue the calls for the 25th Amendment. He doesn't want to continue the calls for impeachment. He would be the first president in history to be impeached twice. He doesn't want to continue, as you said, the bleeding of the senior staff.
I think that he also doesn't want to continue the calls that he should resign, that maybe that's the only way that he could be pardoned for federal offenses, that Vice President Pence might, by some stretch of the imagination, pardon him.
Again, I think this is all falling under the umbrella of stop the bleeding. But of course, the words that he said for the last five years, four years, four months, four weeks, four days. All of that matters a lot more than 24 hours after the violent insurrection that he says, Let's all calm down, and there's going to be a peaceful transition of power.
VAUSE: Yes, I mean, it's gaslighting in the extreme. We also have his troops or supporters, whatever you want to call them. Prosecutors in theory could bring charges of seditious conspiracy or rebellion or insurrection.
Is that even a remote possibility? Or is it more likely that they'll be charged with unlawful activity on Capitol grounds, which is a much easier, much more lenient offense.
LEVINSON: Yes, so it is a remote possibility, but John, if you look at the way they were treated, I don't see throwing the book at them at this point.
So you could face those far more serious, far rarer charges, for instance, sedition, insurrection. You could try to, although I don't think you would get it, try the president of the United States on inciting violence.
But I think you're much more likely to get tamer charges, like destruction of federal property, breaking and entering into federal property.
Why do I say that? In part, one, those other charges are so rare. But two, because look at how the Capitol Police respond to this group, as opposed to other groups, where we have seen far more peaceful protests.
VAUSE: You know, we've had I think 1,449 days of this administration. There's 12 days left. And a few Republicans have now said, Hey, the president has gone too far. I mean now? We've got the former attorney general, William Barr. He was blunt. He issued a statement saying, "Orchestrating a mob to pressure Congress is inexcusable. The president's conduct yesterday was a betrayal of his office and supporters."
And even within the GOP, discussions about forcing Trump from office. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): The president caused this. The president is unfit, and the president is unwell. And the president must now relinquish control of the executive branch, voluntarily or involuntarily.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: I want to get to the sort of the mechanisms of this. Just now it's trying to get rid of him?
LEVINSON: Profiles in courage, John. I don't know to say.
I mean, it is astounding. Everybody knows that words matter. All these elected representatives go to the nation's capital because they know that's a powerful place, that they're in powerful positions of trust.
So first, all to pretend now suddenly what was said, the support that was given. What was not said for all of these years doesn't matter, and that it's less than two weeks. Only because they were forced to shelter in place, put on gas masks, protect themselves with chairs in the House chamber.
Only now we do have the most, frankly, comparatively tepid of responses. This -- I mean, it is no wonder that the rest the world is looking at us and saying, Are you OK?
VAUSE: Yes, it's not like the kids in cages were bad enough, huh? You had this opening by Nancy Pelosi, basically telling the Republicans and Vice President Pence that he needs to invoke Article 25, or she will move to impeach. So just explain, how does Article 25 work? Because there's a couple of options if they could go down the route? They could go down the cabinet route or the Congress route. What's it looking like, if it's -- at all?
LEVINSON: None of the above. I mean, that's the honest response, which is the 25th -- bringing forth the 25th Amendment, it's a political decision. We've never used Section 4 before.
Super briefly, what it would require at this point is the vice president of the United States would have to find a majority of the 16-member cabinet, say to them, We think that the president is no longer fit to fulfill the powers and duties of his office.
They would then transmit in writing something to the president pro tem of the Senate, the speaker of the House. At that point, the president -- and you better assume this president would -- can say, Absolutely not. I'm just fine.
If Congress is in session, they have to come back within 48 hours. Either way, either the moment they get back in session or the moment they get with that piece of paper through the president. They have 21 days to decide whether or not he is fit.
At that point, a super majority two-thirds of Congress has to vote to say he's not fit in order to remove him. Again, two-thirds of both houses. The cycle can continue after that. There's other legislation pending that you could have not the cabinet but a different legislative body. The clock has run out on that legislation, though.
VAUSE: OK, so he's there for 12 more days, and just sort of buckle up and hold on.
Jessica, thank you. It's good to have you with us.
LEVINSON: Thank you.
VAUSE: Well, many are demanding answers for what led to the security failures, but the mayor of Washington, D.C., Is blaming President Trump for the riots. She calls them textbook terrorism.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR MURIEL BOWSER (D), WASHINGTON, D.C.: We must also understand where the federal law enforcement response was much stronger at the protests over the summer then during yesterday's attack on Congress.
I also call on the Joint Terrorism Task Force to investigate, arrest and prosecute any individual who entered the Capitol, destroyed property, or incited acts of domestic terrorism.
We have some work to do to find out what happened, to make sure it doesn't happen again. And that's my job right now. And that's the job of everybody here. I'm upset that my police officers were put in harm's way when they were just doing their jobs.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Joining us now from Cambridge, Massachusetts, CNN national security analyst Juliette Kayyem, who served as assistant secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, she served during the Obama presidency.
Juliette, good to see you.
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Thank you for having me.
VAUSE: OK. So clearly, different situations require different tactics. But on Wednesday, there seem to be one tactic for Capitol Police. It was retreat. You know, the one lone police officer inside the Capitol. He pulled out his baton, but he does not put his sidearm.
And then there was this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Police are squabbling with protesters. There we go.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Those are the steps of the Capitol a bit earlier. The insurgents sort of weren't really squabbling. They just seemed to walk past. You know, there's normally an impenetrable barrier or metal barriers that they put up.
Is that simply because they just didn't have the numbers to do anything else?
KAYYEM: Yes. I mean, from the beginning, this was a situation in which law enforcement got overpowered and overwhelmed.
So I think of it in two parts. One is, why did they not have the manpower, woman power to essentially fortify the Hill? Capitol is on a Hill. It's known as Capitol Hill. As both -- both before the event, because they certainly could have known online that there was going to be activity. And definitely after Donald Trump, the president, urged his supporters to go up the Hill. So they lost control of the building.
But the second part, I think, the pictures that you're seeing are law enforcement agencies and the Capitol Police clearly trying to maintain whatever order they could and de-escalate so that the rioters, which they did, eventually would leave voluntarily.
There was not a purge. There was not extra weaponry. That wasn't the military going in. That was a tactic. You can criticize it, but I think, given who was in -- in those buildings, the representatives and the senators, the Capitol Police decided to -- to at least try to get as many people out voluntarily.
[00:15:06] VAUSE: OK. So there is this question. You know, was this incompetence or was it a conspiracy, which led to the security breach? Here's the former chief of Capitol Police with an explanation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TERRANCE GAINER, FORMER U.S. CAPITOL POLICE CHIEF: It's clear to me that the police were outnumbered, and they apparently underestimated the strength and the level of violence in that crowd and overestimated their ability to control the crowd.
We failed. We did not secure the Capitol. And people need to be held responsible and explain what -- what happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Yes, there's a lot of explaining. There's also a lot of reporting that "calls for violence against members of Congress and for pro-Trump movements to retake the Capitol building have been circulating online for months."
KAYYEM: Absolutely.
VAUSE: Also, this reporting from "The Atlantic": "The conversations were public, easily observable, and egged on by a president, who often engaged with them directly."
You were at the Department of Homeland Security.
KAYYEM: Yes.
VAUSE: Would you have known at this point -- and other domestic law enforcement agencies -- that about, you know, 10,000 or so, you know, pro-Trump supporters at some point would be arriving at the Capitol?
KAYYEM: Yes, you would have -- I knew. And I'm not in government anymore. I have been yelling from whatever platforms I could on CNN and others. The president had marked this date as early as December. He had been utilizing his Twitter pulpit and other ways to get the crowd riled up.
And when he said go up the Hill yesterday, that clearly -- whatever he said doesn't matter. It's what they heard, which was he was being deprived of his lawful place as president. And they were voting against him up the Hill.
So whatever failure and intelligence occurred, including some reporting that the Capitol Police were offered additional assistance and didn't take it, so that was where it was a complete failure of preparedness and -- and planning.
Because if you had been better prepared, that group would have never gotten into the building. That -- I know it looked scary, and they were scary once they got in the building, but that's not a group that should be able to overpower, essentially, a paramilitary force, if you -- if you bring in the right people. BERMAN: I mean, $750 billions of defense spending and this is how they
refer (ph) to people?
KAYYEM: Yes, it's embarrassing.
BERMAN: Yes. I mean, on New Year's Eve, the D.C. Mayor actually put a request for National Guard support. Just over 300 troops were allocated, initially for traffic control.
"The Washington Post" is reporting about orders which were given by the Pentagon which prevented the guardsman "from receiving ammunition or riot gear, interacting with protestors unless necessary for self- defense, sharing equipment with local law enforcement or using Guard surveillance and air assets without the defense secretary's explicit sign-off."
There'd also been this option of last resort. We saw just before four p.m. about 1,000 troops were eventually deployed. It was all a bit too late.
Are those guidelines reasonable? I mean, you don't want --
KAYYEM: Right.
BERMAN: -- want, you know, the military being armed on the streets.
KAYYEM: It's the hardest thing. It is.
VAUSE: A lot of coincidences start adding up. There's 2,000 Capitol Hill police, 10,000 protesters coming. And you only get 300 extra National Guard troops.
KAYYEM: Yes.
VAUSE: With no ammunition or riot gear.
KAYYEM: Yes, it is. I mean, it's a challenge. And it is the original deployment of the National Guard made sense that not being armed, because you really just thought that this was just going to be sort of a traffic control.
And what that means is the National Guard will do things so that the police, who know how to deal with civilians, so to speak, we'd be relieved from some of those duties like traffic control or -- or crowd control.
In hindsight, should the National Guard have been there as a sort of military force for D.C., certainly to stop the crowd from going in, I think they would have been intimidated by the National Guard or any military presence, for that matter.
They were not intimidated, because no one was there. Right? And so that -- you know, that -- that is the challenge that we need to look at, is why was no one essentially there?
And so I think it's -- I think the question of how the military was, was going to be deployed and what they eventually did, which I think is quite negligible when you look at it. We'll have to be reviewed, as well. And if I were President-elect Biden, that's one of the first things you would want to do, simply I think, also as a -- as a necessity to ensure that there's not something rotten in the -- in the Capitol Police.
VAUSE: Yes. Just over a week to go, huh?
KAYYEM: I know.
VAUSE: Juliette, good to see you.
KAYYEM: Thank you.
VAUSE: Well, it's a milestone which went almost unnoticed. As the U.S. was thrown into deep political turmoil, the coronavirus pandemic killed more Americans in one day than ever before. More on that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[00:21:58]
VAUSE: Well, for the third straight day, the U.S. has set a new record for the daily pandemic death toll. More than 4,000 people died on Thursday, bringing the national total to more than 365,000 since this all began. That's according to Johns Hopkins University.
Meantime, the distribution of the vaccine is picking up speed, but it is way behind what was expected. Forty million doses should have been distributed by year's end. Twenty million people should have been vaccinated.
But right now, upwards of 21 million doses have been distributed, close to 6 million administered.
California remains the worst hit U.S. state. It's seen record hospitalizations surging death tolls and a healthcare system under tremendous strain. The L.A. County public health director calls it a crisis of epic proportions. As of Thursday, someone in L.A. County was dying of the virus every 8 minutes.
L.A.'s mayor says the number of people that have died from the virus in a single day, 259, is equivalent to the number of homicide deaths during an entire year.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR ERIC GARCETTI (D), LOS ANGELES: We're seeing heroes in our hospitals. We're seeing angels in our ambulances stretched thin to just deal with the onslaught right now of what's happening here in the epicenter. Los Angeles, Kansas, a couple of other places around the country really are where we're seeing this fight continue.
And despite the distractions in Washington, we won't stop saving lives and are still very hopeful that the country will recognize this and get us the resources we need. We need more vaccinations. And it's clear vaccinations are not being
handed out where we need the most. Dr. Fauci said this about California in Los Angeles. We've got the capacity to do much more. And we need those vaccinations to come directly to local governments who can get those out.
Second is we need that funding, too. This is the Congress. Unfortunately, the Senate leadership and president walked away from their promise to help cities out. They're the ones defunding our first responders. They're the ones walking away from those who are on the front lines.
And third, it's on us as individuals. We have to continue doing everything in our own behaviors to tighten up our bubble, to make the right decisions, and to make sure, especially in our household for the majority of the spread is happening to make sure we're doing everything we can to stop this now.
Those things together gave me hope that, by the end of this month, we'll see the worst behind us, but we still have tough days ahead.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Japan is also seeing a record rise in COVID cases. The prime minister has declared a state of emergency for Tokyo after it passed 2,000 cases on Thursday.
Let's get more on this. CNN's Selina Wang is live for us in Tokyo.
You know, there's been a lot of reluctance for this declaration, or this emergency declaration. What does it actually mean, though, in terms of what the government can do? And what was the hesitancy there to begin with?
SELINA WANG, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: John, that's exactly right. Reluctance is very much the word for the state of emergency.
And this is not a strict lockdown like we've seen in many parts of the world. The Japanese government actually does not have any legal means to enforce these restrictions, so this state of emergency is simply encouraging and urging residents to work from home, to stay at home and asking bars and restaurants to close by 8 p.m.
Schools will actually remain open. When Japan declared a state of emergency back in April, however, it was much more stringent, with nonessential businesses and schools closing.
[00:25:04]
But really, health experts, many of them say that this move is too little, too late. That in order to effectively curb transmission, Japan needs a state of emergency that is far longer and far more stringent. And we've seen the prime minister's approval ratings drop dramatically over his handling of the pandemic.
Critics say that he's been reluctant to take any moves that would hamper the economy. In fact, up until late December, the Japanese government had been encouraging people to go out and travel and eat through steep discounts through this domestic travel program, and back in November, Suga had dismissed calls for a state of emergency and since November, cases have now more than doubled.
We are seeing hospitals under strain here. For the first time, Japan reported more than 7,000 cases on Thursday. We are seeing record high cases almost every single day.
And John, of course, we are now less than 200 days away from the Olympics. Even though this latest wave may pale in comparison to some of the cases we are seeing in parts of the world, this does raise doubts as to how successfully Tokyo will be able to host the Olympics, which also hinges on vaccinations.
And Japan right now is behind several countries when it comes to vaccinating its population. They do not plan to start rolling out this program until late February.
So even though the prime minister has maintained that these games will go on as planned, this does raise concerns as to whether or not that will be the case -- John.
VAUSE: Selina, thank you. Selina Wang there, live for us in Tokyo.
Indonesian authorities have freed the suspected mastermind of the Bali bombings from 2002. Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir is suspected but was not convicted of links to the attacks which killed more than 200 people.
He's regarded as the spiritual leader of a jihadist network with ties to al-Qaeda. He served 10 years in prison for his links to a militant training camp in Indonesia.
Authorities say the 82-year-old will enter a deradicalization program.
Well, a contentious issue Japan would very much like to forget is resurfacing in South Korea. A judge there has ordered Japan to pay so- called comfort women $91,000 each in damages.
These women in their teens or early twenties who were forced to work as sex slaves for Japanese troops during World War II. A dozen victims had sued the Japanese government in 2016 for kidnapping, sexual violence and torture.
Japan has denounced the ruling and summoned (ph) the South Korean ambassador.
Japan says the controversy was settled under treaties the two countries signed in 1965 and then again in 2015, but the South Korean judge says the victims right to receiving damages was not invalidated by those agreements.
Well, coming up on CNN NEWSROOM, the world reacts in shock after Trump supporters smash into the U.S. Capitol building. Why these scenes have inspired deep fear in the country's allies. That's next. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: We have breaking news now. A U.S. Capitol Police officer has now died from injuries sustained in Wednesday's riot. He is the fifth fatality from the violence there.
Federal investigators are looking into everyone's role in that riot, including the president's part in inciting the crowd. More than four dozen people have been charged so far, but a U.S. attorney says that is just the beginning.
The president posted a video message on Twitter Thursday night, claiming to be outraged by the heinous attack. House Democrats are pushing for Trump to be removed from office or face yet another impeachment.
Two cabinet secretaries, Betsy DeVos and Elaine Chao, are among the growing list of administration staffers who have resigned in protest.
U.S. President-elect Joe Biden placed the blame for the riot squarely on Trump's shoulders.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: I wish you could say we couldn't see it coming, but that isn't true. We could see it coming.
The past four years we've had a president who's made his contempt for our democracy, our Constitution, the rule of law. Clear in everything he has done. He unleashed an all-out assault on our institutions of our democracy from the outset. And yesterday was but the culmination of that unrelenting attack.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Some U.S. allies also are laying blame for Wednesday's shocking scenes on President Trump while still defending the strength of the democratic system.
Some U.S. adversaries also taking this opportunity to express some glee. CNN's Nic Robertson has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice-over): Nightly newscasts, the world watched America's democracy falter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Here we go, brother!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As we filmed, protesters tore down Pelosi's nameplate.
And so here we are right now inside the halls of Congress.
ROBERTSON: In the aftermath, newspapers showering shame on the embers of Trump's presidency. World leaders, damning in their response.
BORIS JOHNSON, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: What President Trump has been saying about that has been completely wrong, and I unreservedly condemn encouraging people to behave in the disgraceful way that they did in the Capitol.
ANGELA MERKEL, GERMAN CHANCELLOR (through translator): The basic rule of democracy is after the election there are winners and losers. Both have to play their role with decency and responsibility, so that democracy itself remains the winner. I regret very much that President Trump did not admit defeat in November and again yesterday.
ROBERTSON: Close allies wondering how it came to this.
SCOTT MORRISON, AUSTRALIAN PRIME MINISTER: They're a great friend of Australia, and they're one of the world's greatest democracies. And so we just -- Our thoughts are with them, and we hope for that peaceful transition to take place.
ROBERTSON: On Twitter, both Norway's and Sweden's prime ministers directly blaming President Trump. Heavy responsibility now rests on President Trump, Erna Solberg wrote.
"President Trump and several members of Congress bear substantial responsibility," wrote Stefan Lofven.
From Canada to Chile, Norway to Greece, India to Australia and New Zealand, global leaders vented worries. Sadness, horrendous, the world is watching, common themes.
(on camera): These leaders know that what happens in America has a trickled-down effect on the rest the world. They worry about how this can influence democracy going forward. These are real concerns.
(voice-over): Meanwhile, America's enemies seemingly scoring points and China taking some apparent sarcastic satisfaction.
HUA CHUNYING, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESWOMAN (through translator): We hope that the American people can enjoy peace, stability and security as soon as possible.
ROBERTSON: And in Moscow, a TV anchor reading a foreign ministry statement: "The reason behind the divided American society lies also in the archaic electoral system."
Yet, perhaps most striking, some allies still held back from blaming Trump directly.
BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER: The rampage at the Capitol yesterday was a disgraceful act, and it must be vigorously condemned. I have no doubt that American democracy will prevail.
EMMANUEL MACRON, FRENCH PRESIDENT: What happened today in Washington, D.C., is not America. Definitely. We believe in the strength of our democracies. We believe in the strength of American democracy.
ROBERTSON: Everyone, it seems, counting on President-elect Joe Biden to make it all better.
[00:35:08]
Nic Robertson, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, for more on the international response, CNN European affairs commentator Dominic Thomas, with us from Los Angeles.
Dominic, good to see you.
DOMINIC THOMAS, CNN EUROPEAN AFFAIRS COMMENTATOR: Good to see you, John.
VAUSE: OK, so out of all the reactions, the one which sort of stood out the most, was sort of kind of unusual in a way, was Emmanuel Macron, the French president. Near his -- he was there in front of -- you know, the French president was in front of a U.S. flag. There was a French flag and an E.U. flag, as well.
He was defending the values of American democracy, trying to not only reassure his own country but the American people, as well, it seemed. You know, the U.S. has been hated and loved and despised and demonized, but never has it been pitied like this.
THOMAS: Yes, I mean, this is a sad similar situation that we find ourselves in. I think, you know, what you -- what he showed there in the run-up is that Emmanuel Macron understood this and spoke at the beginning in French and then moved over to English, to -- to really kind of highlight that historic relationship between France and the United States and really to argue that these institutions would survive the Trump presidency.
But he's also well aware of the fact that this country, because of COVID, is under lockdown and that people in France, like in the United States, were watching events unfold live on television, having already followed, very closely, the American election cycle.
And I think they're well aware of the tremendous concern and -- that people had and, in fact, the shock of watching events unfold in this way in -- in Washington, D.C.
VAUSE: You know, the reactions, though, in many ways, were fairly predictable. There was glee from adversaries like China, almost giddy that the U.S. and its democratic institutions are under attack. But not just under attack, but under attack from within.
THOMAS: Yes, and I think that was -- it's absolutely crucial. Those responses were -- you know, were quite predictable. But I think that even though, you know, just looking at the European Union, of course, attributing blame to Donald Trump was, you know, unambiguous across the leadership spectrum.
But various prime ministers and foreign secretaries, presidents and so on also underscored like Macron had done, the survivability of these democratic institutions.
But I think there is one really interesting point. When Donald Tusk, you know, and the former president president of the E.U. Council tweeted that there are many Trumps. And I think that this awareness that everybody has a Capitol to defend, as Donald Tusk argued, and that Europe has struggled and continues to struggle these foreign organizations and parties that were, in many ways, emboldened by -- by President Trump, was a really sort of interesting way of dealing with that situation. And you look at the spectrum of responses.
VAUSE: You know, what we're looking at with the turmoil in the U.S., you know, with the rise of, you know, sort of the right-wing white nationalism, it also seems to be this get-out-of-jail-free card for countries with a record of human rights abuses.
And so here's a headline from Thursday from one of the news outlets: "Turkey Empowers Police to Use Military Weaponry to Crush Protests."
You know, on Biden's to-do list, rebuilding American moral authority to tackle issues like that, it's not only important and something which needs to be done. Not exactly a priority, though. And can it actually be done in the first place in many -- in one term or even more, I guess.
THOMAS: Yes, I mean, it's absolutely clear that the Biden-Harris administration's absolute priority is to deal with the COVID health -- health crisis and then to begin the process of restoring the American people's faith in these institutions that are being undermined by the Trump presidency. That one cannot adequately, you know, highlight, underscore the extent to which the multilateral order has also been undermined by the Trump presidency.
And I think that the Biden-Harris administration must also launch a foreign policy offensive. And that, COVID permitting, when President Trump [SIC] attends or goes to visit NATO, the E.U., or attends the G- 7 meeting or the G-20 meeting in Rome in October, I think you'll find he will be welcomed by -- you know, with open arms by the members and leaders of these organizations that are absolutely eager to rebuild and strengthen the transatlantic relationship, particularly in the face of a rising Russia and China that are considered hostile to the interests of Europe itself.
VAUSE: Yes. Dominic, I think you mentioned President Trump. You meant President Biden. It's just to clarify for our viewers.
THOMAS: Yes.
VAUSE: I've been doing it all night. Thanks. Good to see you.
Dominic Thomas there for us in Los Angeles.
THOMAS: Thanks, John.
VAUSE: Well, a stark contrast in police response. Rioters at the Capitol were met with little force. Maybe a (UNINTELLIGIBLE). Protestors for racial injustice, though, were met with a much more aggressive approach. Why some call it a double standard. That's next.
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[00:42:02]
VAUSE: So far, more than 50 arrests have been made after rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol, and most of those seem to have been for curfew violations.
Seems to have been a real kid-glove approach by law enforcement. Just a few months ago, though, a much different scene when people protesting racial injustice were met with tear gas, violence and mass arrests.
CNN's Alex Marquardt takes a look at the stark difference in police response.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): With peace now restored in the Capitol, demands for answers. Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell called the violent insurrection a shocking security failure. Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi demanding the resignation of the chief of the Capitol Police, who now says he will step down on January 16.
PELOSI: There was a failure of leadership at the top of the Capitol Police.
MARQUARDT: Pipe bombs were also found at the headquarters of the Democratic and Republican National Committees, as well as on the grounds of the United States Capitol.
Congressional leaders are calling for an investigation into why Capitol Police seemed so unprepared for the chaos, despite Trump supporters, and Trump himself, promoting the rally for weeks.
CHARLES RAMSEY, FORMER WASHINGTON, D.C. POLICE CHIEF: There's just no excuse for it. The intel was there. It was open-source information that was there.
MARQUARDT: It was shortly after 1 p.m., when pro-Trump protesters breached these barriers in front of the Capitol building, confronting Capitol Police and overwhelming them.
The rioters smashed windows and stormed through the halls, even breaking onto the Senate floor. Nearly five hours later, just before curfew, D.C. Police, National Guard, and the FBI reinforced the Capitol Police and finally clearing the complex of rioters.
Signs have emerged that law enforcement didn't always resist. An officer was seen taking a selfie with a rioter. Police opening a barricade for rioters after the Capitol had already been breached, demonstrating what is now being blasted as a clear double standard.
Federal law enforcement treating pro-Trump, almost entirely white rioters far differently than they treated Black Lives Matter protesters in D.C. last summer.
This was what met protesters in Washington then, following the death of George Floyd.
PATRISSE CULLORS, CO-FOUNDER, #BLACKLIVESMATTER: Black leaders, black organizers, black protesters are treated completely different. We spent an entire summer last summer fighting for people like George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. We were met with rubber bullets.
MARQUARDT: We were in front of the White House at Lafayette Park, when on June 1, a little warning and response to a largely peaceful protest that day, officers were ordered to quickly clear the area, using different chemical irritants and projectiles.
Moments later, the president strode across the park for a photo op to hold up a Bible. So why the difference?
[00:45:05]
GAINER: The Capitol Police were trying to do something a little softer as we tried to welcome protesters up there. But it got out of hand.
MARQUARDT: Almost immediately, many asking what would have happened, had they been black or Muslim protesters?
BIDEN: No one can tell me that, if it had been a group of Black Lives Matter protesting yesterday, there wouldn't have been -- they would've been treated very, very differently than the mob of thugs that stormed the Capitol. We all know that's true, and it is unacceptable. Totally unacceptable.
MARQUARDT (on camera): In terms of the difference in the way that the protesters have been treated here in Washington D.C., it's not just that treatment that is so glaring. It's why these protestors came out. In the case of the Black Lives Matter demonstrators, they were demanding an end to racial violence, deadly violence at the hands of police, while the rioters here were coming out because of crazy, widely-debunked conspiracy theories being pushed by the president of the United States himself.
Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: A startling store. In the meantime, this is a very short break. We'll be back with more on the difference in police tactics in the U.S. in those two different issues. Right on Capitol Hill and the Black Lives Matter protesters, earlier last year.
Stay with us. Back in a moment.
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VAUSE: Europe is seeing great complaints over the speed of the coronavirus vaccine rollout. It's taking longer than many expected. And fears over the new COVID variant are adding to the urgency. CNN's Melissa Bell has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MELISSA BELL, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's been nearly 10 days since the E.U. officially launched its vaccination program, but where vaccine procurement was organized by Brussels, rollout was not. So far E.U. (ph) has vaccinated more than 326,000 people, with a website to keep the public informed.
As of Thursday, Germany had vaccinated more than 417,000, Spain more than 207,000, but France only about 45,000.
DR. MATTHIEU CALAFIORE, GENERAL PRACTITIONER (through translator): Every time, we have wasted time, when we are faced with an epidemic that doesn't waste time. It happened last spring. It happened in the autumn and now with the vaccine.
BELL: The French government's plan is for residents of nursing homes to get the vaccines first.
RAYMOND FISCHER, NURSING HOME RESIDENT (through translator): Of course, I do regret that it should be taking this long. Not for me, though, as give or take eight days, it changes nothing. They can vaccinate me next year if they want.
BELL: In response to criticism over the slow pace of the rollout in France, this week the categories of those eligible widened, and more vaccination centers opened.
JEAN CASTEX, FRENCH PRIME MINISTER (through translator): I ask that we stop with the sterile (ph) controversies, which bring nothing apart from concern, to our compatriots who are already tired and on edge.
BELL: But France is not alone. Spain's rollout has also been criticized for being slow, partly for a lack of nurses.
And in Germany there are fears that not enough doses have been ordered.
JENS SPAHN, GERMAN HEALTH MINISTER (through translator): The truth is that the vaccine is a scarce resource worldwide, and that's why we have to ask large parts of the population for patience.
[00:50:03]
BELL: But patience is wearing thin in countries like France, where the restrictions in place cost the economy every single day.
XAVIER TIMBEAU, PROFESSOR, OFCE-SCIENCEPO: It's very urgent, because the lockdown is limiting economic activity, and the numbers are impressive. So around a billion, maybe a little bit under but around a billion euros a day, so a day late is costly.
BELL: The plan in France is for 50 million people to be vaccinated by the summer. That would mean more than 2 million vaccines, given every month and a much faster rollout than we've seen so far.
Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Brazil now has more than 200,000 coronavirus deaths, second only to the United States. This as officials talk progress made on the vaccine front.
Brazilian researchers say Phase 3 trials show the vaccine developed by the Chinese company Sinovac is 78 percent effective. Officials hope it will soon be cleared for emergency use.
The governor of Sao Paulo, where it is being manufactured, is praising the trial results.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOAO DORIA, SAO PAULO GOVERNOR (through translator): We hope to have more vaccines, but at the moment this is what we have. It's one of the safest vaccines in the world. We already have data on its safety. In China, they have vaccinated more than 700,000 people, proving that this is one of the more adequate vaccine options.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Brazil has a total of close to 8 million coronavirus cases, with a record of almost 88,000 new infections on Thursday. As vaccines roll out across the developed nations, a program backed by the World Health Organization will soon be delivering coronavirus vaccines to many poorer countries.
The COVAX facility has raised money to pay for vaccines for 92 developing nations. These are countries with no other means of obtaining a vaccine on their own.
The program helps ensure that the vaccines are being distributed fairly among all nations with the hopes of stopping the spread of the pandemic faster.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KATE O'BRIEN, WHO IMMUNIZATION DIRECTOR: We need about $7 billion in order to deliver enough vaccine to these countries through the end of 2021. And the facility has already raised about 6 billion of the $7 billion.
So the facility has access to over two billion doses of vaccine. And we will start to deliver those vaccines, probably by the end of January and, if not then, certainly by early February and mid- February.
So that's how countries in Africa, in South Asia and other countries around the world of these 92 that are less able to afford vaccines are actually going to get vaccine. And laying them out and rolling them out at the same time that high-income countries are rolling out their vaccines.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Well, investigators are still trying to work out exactly what happened on Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol. D.C. Police have released pictures of persons of interest wanted for unlawful entry into the Capitol during the domestic terrorist attack.
We get more now from CNN's Elle Reeve, who was in the middle of it all.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are we supposed to do? OK? The Supreme Court's not helping us. No one's helping us. Only us can help us. Only we can do it.
ELLE REEVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A masked group of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday to stop the certification of what they believe was a fraudulent election.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unquestionable there are those that are stolen. It's unquestionable. There is so -- there's so much proof.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People, come on. You didn't come up here for nothing. Come on up and tell Nancy Pelosi what you think!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want our representatives to do the right thing and decertify the seven swing states.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: USA! USA! USA!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: USA! USA! USA!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: USA! USA! USA!
REEVE: The rally started peacefully as tens of thousands gathered outside the White House. They cheered Donald Trump and his allies as they continued to lie that the election was stolen.
RUDY GIULIANI, ATTORNEY FOR DONALD TRUMP: Let's have trial by combat.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He just said, "Trial by combat." I'm ready! I'm ready!
REEVE: People marched down two avenues to the Capitol, and once they got there, some broke through barricades. Once a few rioters broke into the building, the mob followed.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was actually here when this guy started breaking in with a cane. Obviously, there's a power struggle. There's the peaceful guys that were like, No, no. We don't to do that.
Then there was that guy. You know, he just said, Oh, well. I'm breaking it in. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We broke down the barriers, and we rushed them. We
charged them. We got all the way to the steps and made a line. So we stood there, and we tried to push them back a little bit, until finally they started getting rough with us. So we had to push them back.
So that's what we did. We pushed them back. We tried to get up the steps. They wouldn't let us up. So then they started pepper-spraying and macing everybody.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you OK?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Put some milk in your eyes.
[00:55:00]
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They maced me. They pushed me out, and they maced me.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mace.
REEVE: We spoke to some people who broke into the Capitol.
(on camera): What really just -- what happened in there? Tell us what happened?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we want to there. And then I walked in, and there's just a whole bunch of people lighting up in some Oregon room. I don't know if it's an -- There's ton of Oregon things. But they were smoking a bunch of weed in there.
And then we moved it down. So many statues. Cops are very cool. They were like, Hey, guys, have a good night, some of them. It's just crazy. It's really weird. You can see that some of them are on our side.
REEVE: We've reached out to the Capitol Hill Police for comment but have not yet heard back.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have your backs for a long time now. Long time.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A huge group of us stormed inside, and as we sort of -- We were basically shouting at the cops, and there were people arguing with them, trying to get them on our side, basically.
REEVE: Clashes with police happened sporadically throughout the day, and waves of tear gas wafted into the crowd. They said they felt like they were doing something good.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, this is a bunch of really, really pissed- off regular folks. I've got a job. This is Wednesday. I'm supposed to be at work, yes. Shh.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't tread on me. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's what we're doing, fighting back.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And what's the point? What's the endgame?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the point!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're losing our freedoms. What do you mean what's the point?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Taking our freedoms, locking us down and turning this country into a blasted (ph) socialist republic, and that is not right! That's what I'm doing here!
REEVE: Elle Reeve, CNN, Washington, D.C.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: You're watching CNN NEWSROOM. Please stay with us. I'm John Vause. I'll be back with a lot more news after a very short break.
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