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Pelosi Calls For 25th Amendment Or Impeachment Of Trump; Aftermath Of The Assault On The Capitol; Cabinet Resignations Continue; Devos, Chao; China Faces New Outbreak Near Beijing Just Before Lunar New Year; U.S. Breaches Yet Another COVID Record; Prosecutors Looking at Trump's Role in Inciting Riot; U.S. Allies Express Shock, Dismay after Pro-Trump Riot; Contrast in Police Response to Capitol Riot and BLM Protests; Mass Arrests in Hong Kong. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired January 08, 2021 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00]
JOHN VAUSE, ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: Hello, welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm John Vause with another hour of CNN NEWSROOM.
Republicans are talking Article 25 forcing him from office, Democrats a second impeachment, prosecutors not ruling out charges of inciting violence. And that's just what did the president did on Wednesday.
The double standards of protesting in the U.S. Why were rioters met at the U.S. Capitol met with little force and kid gloves while Black Lives Matter protestors from last summers were met with much more aggressive tactics.
And a travel ban in one part of China as coronavirus cases surge. A live report with the very latest from Beijing.
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 capital.
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 semi-automatic rifle and 11 Molotov cocktails.
The acting U.S. attorney for Washington expects more arrests as security video and social media identifies more suspects.
Five people, including a Capitol police officer, were killed during the violence.
President Trump is back on Twitter after a 12-hour long ban with a video message saying he is outraged by the heinous attack on the capital. 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 administration.
A White House adviser says the president recorded the video only because of looming resignations and a potential impeachment.
Trump's education secretary Betsy DeVos and transportation secretary Elaine Chao are the first cabinet members to step down in protest. Chao is the wife of senate Republican leader, Mitch McConnell.
Several others have also stepped down. That includes the deputy national security adviser and the First Lady's chief of staff.
And a source close to the vice president, Mike Pence, says he's been approached by a number of people asking to remove Trump from office by invoking the 25th Amendment.
That remains highly unlikely. It was adopted into the 1960s after John F. Kennedy's assassination. It's a mechanism for replacing present if he's physically unable or unfit to lead.
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has put another option on the table.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER, HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: 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 cabinet do not act, the congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Well, congressional leaders are demanding accountability from those who were meant to protect them.
The Capitol police chief and the sergeants at arms of the house and the senate are all resigning.
More now from CNN's Manu Raju.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: That's right. We own it, we own you.
MANU RAJU, CNN SNR. CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The 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 and their lives put in danger.
The damage still visible through the quarters of the capital where pro-Trump rioters riders broke windows, forced their way through emergency exits, stormed through all corners of the building.
CROWD: 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 terrorists struck throughout the Capitol forcing both the senate and house to forced to go on lockdown just as congress was preparing to verify Joe Biden's electoral college win over President Trump.
CROWD: (Noise)
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: The protestors are in the building.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: We'll pause.
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 the U.S. Capitol police. Another rioter broke a window on the chambers door prompted an armed standoff with Capitol police and many frightened lawmakers inside.
REP. RAUL RUIZ (D-CALIF) (Voice Over, Captioned): It was the closest I got to thinking there's a possibility I could die. So at any moment somebody could've rushed in the door with a semi automatic.
RAJU: Others were trying to think outside the box.
[01:05:00]
REP. JASON CROW, (D-COLO): I had a pen in my pocket that I could use as a weapon and I was looking for other weapons as well. And I was coordinating with the Capitol police to try to find a way out for us.
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), U.S. SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: We will not bow to lawlessness or intimidation.
RAJU (Voice Over): 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 loss.
SEN. JOHN THUNE (R-S.D.) (Voice Over, Captioned): "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. And there was 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: Michael Genovese is the president of the Global Policy Institute at Loyola Marymount University and he is with us from Los Angeles.
It's good to have you with us once more, Michael. It's been a while.
MICHAEL GENOVESE, PRESIDENT, GLOBAL POLICY INSTITUTE, LOYOLA MARYMOUNT UNIVERSITY: Thank you, John.
VAUSE: OK. So on Wednesday, Don Jr. was part of the warm up act, if you like, before the attempt to overturn the results of a free and fair election.
Here's part of what he said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, JR., SON OF PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: The people who did nothing to stop the steal, this gathering should send a message to them. This isn't their Republican Party anymore, this is Donald Trump's Republican Party.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Keeping in mind, a broken clock is right twice a day, is Don Jr. right, is the Republican Party now the Trump Party?
GENOVESE: It has been for about three years now. And I think you have to give Donald Trump credit; he did an incredible job of doing a hostile takeover of the party and not only was he able to do that, he was able to remake the party in his own image.
And a lot of mainstream Republicans tried to fight him, they lost. It is his party.
Now in a post Trump era, they may want to re-brand but it's more than re-branding they need. They first of all need to do a mea culpa and then they need to remove all the toxins from the party from Donald Trump.
VAUSE: So if it's Trump's party, as you say, and it will be for some time because he'll remain influential even out of office, how does that play into what happens next?
Because some Republicans are talking about Article 25, forcing Trump out of office. Listen to the former White House chief of staff, John Kelly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOHN KELLY, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF (VOICE OVER): The behavior yesterday and in the weeks and months before that has just been outrageous from the president. And what happened on Capitol Hill yesterday is a direct result of his poisoning the minds of people with the lies and the frauds.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The former national security adviser H.R. McMaster tweeted --
"The reasons for yesterday's criminal assault on our congress and election process are many. Foremost among them is the sad reality President Trump and other have repeatedly compromised our principles in pursuit of partisan advantage and personal gain."
Even the former attorney general, Bill Barr, accused Trump of betrayal of his office. And now Pelosi, the speaker of the house, has warned the house will impeach unless he's forced out.
Why after so many scandals, so many egregious acts over the past four years, why now?
He'll still be around if it's going to be his party so why are they only going to act now when it's meaningless?
GENOVESE: Donald Trump is an escape artist, he's done it before. I think right now time is on his side. It's too really -- it's too short a time to do a real impeachment or a censure even -- although that could take a simple vote.
And certainly the 25th Amendment is much too complicated (inaudible) to get the cabinet to go against him. So I think Donald Trump has the advantage in the short run.
In the long run, of course, there's going to be investigations of Donald Trump from the State of New York, criminal investigations. And I think what happened at the rally before all the violence took place where Donald Trump said we're going to go down to the Capitol and Rudy Giuliani, his consigliere, talked about how it's going to be a trial by combat and then Don Jr.'s inciting people.
Their -- by the definition of the attorney general, former attorney general Barr -- it's an act of sedition for what he could be prosecuted. So I think Donald Trump has some real answering to do and he may have to face up to that shortly after he leaves office.
In the longer run it's still the Donald Trump party. And no matter how low he demands that the Republicans go, they go further into the gutter and into the sewer with him.
It's the Stepford Republicans. They fear him because of his base and 2024's just around the corner. You saw several people running yesterday, Hawley and Cruz -- they worry if Donald Trump will be his -- their rival, will he be the kingmaker, will he be the banker of the party?
[01:10:00]
Will he be the albatross or will he be the pariah?
VAUSE: Well -- and also at the same time, he could set up this media company, this Trump TV or Trump whatever it's going to be which, in some ways, that's been the power of his presidency, just using the Twitter feed and the social media and the power of the pulpit.
Will he remain as, I guess, loud and as influential and as heard as he is as president?
GENOVESE: I don't think there's any stopping him, I don't think there's any way to shut him up. He is a magnet for the media and the camera loves him.
He says outrageous things. He makes news and if there isn't news, he'll make up news.
There's a saying -- my wife's from Mexico and there's a saying that she reminded me of that -- "Do not give wings to scorpions." The Republican Party has done that.
Now it's coming back to bite them a little bit but they're not going to be able to get rid of him. He's going to be hang around and he's going to be the face, maybe the voice, and maybe the conscience of the party for the next several years.
VAUSE: OK. That's interesting. But also -- we'll just finish on the resignations that we're seeing; the education secretary, Betsy DeVos, the transportation secretary, Elaine Chao -- who cares? It's just so late in the game, does it do any good?
RAJU: It makes them feel good, probably. They can go to their dinner parties in Georgetown and say oh, well I'm a person of honor, I left when things got really bad.
They got really bad from the very beginning. They were enablers, most of these folks, played Donald Trump's game, they bowed to Donald Trump. And now when it's convenient and easy when you've got 13 days left, they go oh, I'm a person of principle, I'm leaving. It's just too convenient, too easy an out.
Those people are responsible. And it was George Will, a conservative columnist, who said there are people who are going to wear the scarlet 'S,' 'Sedition' on their chest, Cruz and others.
And I think that's something we can't let the Republican party forget. And that's why there's than a mea culpa in the future if they want us -- to bring back America to that party.
VAUSE: Yes. It's interesting days ahead, Michael, for everyone. Everyone thinks that the inauguration means the end of Trumpism, it's not. And we'll continue to follow it.
Michael, thank you for being with us. Michael Genovese in Los Angeles. GENOVESE: Thank you, John.
VAUSE: OK. Happy New Year.
GENOVESE: And to you too, sir.
VAUSE: Well, with the barn door shutting well and truly after the horse has bolted, increased security at the Capitol is now being put in place.
That includes new fencing and thousands of National Guard troops who are on their way to Washington.
But why wasn't tougher security there before the attack?
CNN's Brian Todd reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (Voice Over): A beleaguered officer in the capital falls back in the face of a crowd of intruders. U.S. Capitol police now under scrutiny for being undermanned and overrun.
ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER FBI ACTING DIRECTOR: That was a massive failure and we need to get to the bottom of how that happened.
TODD: Lawmakers grateful to officers who protected them.
REP. GRACE MENG (D-N.Y.): People were fearing for their lives, making calls to their families to say goodbye.
TODD: But also demanding answers.
REP. KAREN BASS, (D-CALIF): Why were they overwhelmed? Everyone knew this was going to happen. Why weren't they tracking social media, why did they erect the barriers around the capitol that are present now?
TODD: One problem, not calling up enough personnel, says a former D.C. police chief.
CHARLES RAMSEY, FORMER WASHINGTON D.C. POLICE CHIEF: They can bring in the Metropolitan Police, they can bring in police agencies from Maryland and Virginia to help them. Obviously, the National Guard.
TODD: The City and the National Guard say they sent help as soon as possible and back up eventually arrived. But sporadically, and in small numbers at first.
In June, by contrast, federal guards were out in force well ahead of Black Lives Matter protests. Another apparent mistake preparing for a terrorist attack instead of a violent mob.
TERRENCE GAINER, FORMER CHIEF, U.S. CAPITOL POLICE: What we probably needed is less long guns and we needed a lot more riot control batons that would have helped control that mob.
TODD: Also an issue, not anticipating how many protesters would come.
RAMSEY: These right-wing groups had made it very clear that they were going to be there. I mean, everything was in place. How could you be possibly caught off guard?
TODD: Also under scrutiny, how the rioters were treated. Some officers criticized for giving way too easily or one even apparently taking a selfie with the mob.
A far cry from how Black Lives Matter protesters were dealt with by Federal forces in June when they were violently cleared out of the park in front of the White House.
BASS: I think it's just an example of the double standard. Obviously, Black Lives Matter's protesters were perceived as very threatening and for some reason, these weren't.
TODD: D.C.'s mayor says the city's police focused on their responsibilities.
MURIEL BOWSER, MAYOR OF WASHINGTON D.C.: I needed MPD to focus on law enforcement activities and being able to respond on to any hotspots.
[01:15:00]
JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: So help me, God.
TODD: Now with Joe Biden's inauguration just two weeks away, 6,200 National Guard are arriving in D.C. and tall fencing is going up around the capitol, along with pledges of tighter security.
Before word came of his resignation, Capitol Hill police chief Steven Sund defended the actions of his department saying his officers responded valiantly to thousands of intruders at the Capitol.
He said they were actively attacked with metal pipes, chemical irritants and other weapons.
Still, Sund said, there would be a thorough review of everything that occurred.
TODD (On Camera): Brian Todd. CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Earlier, I spoke with CNN's national security analyst, Juliette Kayyem. She served as assistant secretary of the department of homeland security during the Obama Administration.
I asked her, essentially, what went wrong here for law enforcement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: 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, womanpower, to essentially fortify the Hill? Capitol is on a Hill, it's known as Capitol Hill -- both before the events 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 a law enforcement agency, the Capitol police, clearly trying to maintain whatever order they could and deescalate so that the rioters -- which they did -- eventually would leave voluntarily.
There was not a purge, there is not extra weaponry, there wasn't the military going in. That was a tactic. You can criticize it but, I think, given who was in those buildings, the representatives and the senators, the Capitol police decided to at least try to get as many people out voluntarily.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Well, the big story out of the U.S., a milestone that almost went unnoticed. The worst single-day death toll yet from the coronavirus in a week full of broken records.
Plus, once again a major city in China under lockdown after an outbreak of COVID cases. A live report with the very latest in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: For the past three days, the U.S. has seen a record number of people died from COVID-19 each day.
And on Thursday for the first time yesterday, the daily death toll passed more than 4,000. According to Johns Hopkins University, more than 365,000 people in the U.S. have died since the outbreak began.
Meantime, after a slow start, vaccine distribution is picking up speed but remains way behind early expectations.
Forty million doses should have been distributed by the end of last year, 20 million people vaccinated.
The reality is upwards of 21 million doses have been distributed, close to 6 million administered.
[01:20:00]
More details now from CNN's Erica Hill.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ERICA HILL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The vaccine is making it into arms.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: Couldn't come soon enough in my mind.
HILL: But not nearly as soon as promised.
DR. MONCEF SLAOUI, CHIEF SCIENTIFIC ADVISER, OPERATION WARP SPEED: In the month of December, between the two vaccines, the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccine, we expect to have immunized 20 million.
HILL: That didn't happen. Of the 21.4 million doses distributed so far, less than 28 percent, 5.9 million, have been administered.
DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF ALLERGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES (Voice Over, Captioned): If we don't catch up on what the original goal was then we really need to make some changes about what we're doing.
HILL: The federal government now offering 3 billion dollars to help states with the rollout, HHS telling them to expand eligibility as the American Hospital Association calls on Secretary Alex Azar to coordinate the national efforts among all of the states and resolve barriers to rapid deployment.
Even if a million people were vaccinated every day, it would take nearly six months to reach just half the U.S. population.
DR. ABDUL EL-SAYED, EPIDEMIOLOGIST & PUBLIC HEALTH EXPERT: All of this because they failed leadership from the very top of American government. And here we are in January breaking records.
HILL: Four hotspots among the 10 states posting their highest seven- day averages for new cases since the pandemic began.
MARTY WALSH, MAYOR OF BOSTON: The numbers continue to grow in the wrong direction.
HILL: In California where hospitals are reaching a breaking point, L.A. County's public health director noting bluntly --
BARBARA FERRER, DIRECTOR, L.A. COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH (Captioned): This is a health crisis of epic proportions.
HILL: Southern California one of two regions in the state where there are zero ICU beds available.
Daily reported deaths in the U.S. topping 3,800 Wednesday. Another record. This funeral home in Nevada adding refrigerated trailers to handle the increased need.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: It's something that I would never would ever have believed in my career I would ever have to be dealing with this.
HILL: At least 52 cases of the new variant of the virus first identified in the U.K. have now been documented in the U.S.
And a new study from the CDC finds hundreds of cases identified late last summer over a two-week period at an unnamed Arkansas University were linked to fraternities and sororities. That was before the school banned gatherings of more than 10 people.
HILL (Voice Over): Erica Hill, CNN, New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: China reported 76 new COVID infections on Friday, the highest daily number since July.
With a cluster of infections in Hebei province driving the outbreak, the provincial capital is now under lockdown.
Eleven million residents now banned from leaving the city, they're only allowed to be out for emergencies.
Now Stephen Jiang is in Beijing with more on the details of the lockdown. Seventy-six cases, eleven million people locked down. I guess this is how they have to do it, right?
STEVEN JIANG, CNN SNR. PRODUCER: Right, John. But also remember for many here this announcement from Hebei is sort of like a deja vu reminding them of some of the very draconian measures we saw in Wuhan earlier this -- last year, actually, in the height of the pandemic.
Because not only there is a softer lockdown for the provincial capital where schools have been suspended for several days and also have -- a lot of transportation links have been suspended as well including long-distance buses and trains. But also exits and entrances inside the province on national highways and expressways being blocked off.
And now authorities also require people in Hebei to present a negative test result if they wan to enter Beijing including commuters who live just outside of Beijing if they want to go to work on a daily basis. Starting on Monday, they have to have this test result as well.
So all of these measures, as you say, for this new spike of cases. This number made pale in comparison to what we see in many other places including in the U.S. But for China obviously, this is the largest spike they have seen in several months.
And also, the proximity of Hebei to Beijing, the national capital, obviously adding political sensitivity and importance to this outbreak.
Also there are several mysteries involving this latest outbreak including many of the cases involving villagers who actually don't leave their homes much. So they're still trying to figure out what really happened.
But they are really taking a page from their usual response playbook, if you will. Mass testing, contact tracing as well as these lockdowns and the travel restrictions.
But this, of course, is happening at a time, John, as you know as we're fast approaching the most important holiday on the Chinese calendar, the Lunar New Year, which falls in mid-February. So that means likely millions of Chinese will be on the move again very soon. So that obviously causes a lot of concern. That's why authorities in
many places are encouraging people to stay put, not to travel to their hometowns this year. But that, obviously, is going to be a tall order.
[01:25:00]
Because, for millions of Chinese, they simply do not want to consider or entertain the thought of having to miss their most important holiday two years in a row. John.
VAUSE: Yes, it's a big one. It'll be tragic for a second year if it happens but -- maybe. Stephen, good to see us. Stephen Jiang live for us in Beijing.
Columbia reported more than 70,000 new coronavirus cases in the last 24 hours. That is a new record.
The nation is approaching 2 million total infections. Columbia also reported more than 300 people dying on Thursday bringing the number of the death toll overall to more than 45,000.
Brazil now has more than 200,000 coronavirus deaths, that's second only to the United States.
Also recorded a number of new cases on Thursday of nearly 88,000 which means that Brazil has also the third highest infection rate in the world.
Meantime, officials there are touting progress made on the vaccine front. Researchers say phase three trials show the vaccine developed by the Chinese company, Sinovac, is 78 percent effective.
CNN's Matt Rivers reports now from Mexico City.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this pandemic has been trending in the wrong direction in Brazil recently and, unfortunately, new data that came out on Wednesday only serves to reinforce that point.
Nearly 88,000 newly confirmed cases were reported by Brazilian health authorities on Wednesday. That is the highest single day increase of this pandemic so far.
Those new cases joined by more than 1,500 newly confirmed deaths from the virus. Those deaths have now pushed the overall death toll in Brazil to more than 200,000 for the first time.
There was some good news in Brazil on Wednesday with the governor of the state of Sao Paulo announcing that a Chinese vaccine called CoronaVac that had been undergoing phase three trials in the country, that trial has shown that the vaccine has a 78 percent efficacy.
That is a number that officials there are very happy about. There is still some confusion about exactly when the distribution of that vaccine will take place.
The governor of that state says that he hopes to start vaccinating people this very month and that would come as welcome news to this country.
Because, as we just mentioned with those numbers trending in the wrong direction, vaccines are desperately needed as this pandemic just shows no signs of slowing down in Brazil.
Matt Rivers, CNN, Mexico City.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Indonesian authorities have freed the suspected mastermind of the Bali bombings from 2002.
Islamic clerk Abu Bakar Ba'asyir is suspected but never convicted of links to the attack which left 202 people dead. He's regarded as the spiritual leader of a jihadist network with ties to al-Qaeda.
He spent ten years in prison for his links to a militant training camp in Indonesia. Authorities say the 82-year old will now enter a de- radicalization program.
Coming up next on CNN NEWSROOM. How the world reacted to the beacon of democracy under a siege by those who broke into the capital building hoping to overturn the election results.
Why the riots struck deep fear into the country's allies.
Also up next.
UNIDENTIFIED SPEAKER: What are we supposed to do, OK? The supreme court's not helping us, no one's helping us. Only us can help us.
VAUSE: Find out why so many decided to storm the Capitol for reasons which seem to (inaudible).
That in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:30:45]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: It's just gone half past the hour. Welcome back everybody.
You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
I'm John Vause.
Well federal investigators have warned everyone involved in the storming of the U.S. Capitol riot will be investigated. That includes Donald Trump, and allegations of inciting violence.
More than four dozen people have been charged so far with many more expected. A Capitol police officer died late Thursday, the fifth fatality from the violence.
And Donald Trump posted a video message on Twitter Thursday night, claiming he is outraged by the -- what he called a heinous attack. House Democrats are pushing for Trump to be removed from office or face another impeachment.
U.S. President-Elect Joe Biden placed the blame for the riots squarely on Trump's shoulders.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: Don't dare call them protesters. They were a riotous mob, insurrectionists, domestic terrorists. It is that basic. It's that simple.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Some U.S. allies are also blaming U.S. President Donald Trump for the domestic terror attack on the election results. But they're also defending the strength of democratic systems.
And some U.S. adversaries are taking this opportunity to gloat with a little bit of glee.
Here's CNN's Nic Robertson.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR (voice over): on nightly newscast, the world watched America's democracy falter.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As we filmed, protesters tore down Pelosi's name plate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And so here we are right now inside the halls of Congress.
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 have been saying about that as being 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 is 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 trickle down effect on the rest of the world. They worry about how this can influence democracy going forward. These are real concerns.
(voice over): Meanwhile Americas enemies seemingly scoring points. In China taking some apparent sarcastic satisfaction.
HUA CHUNYING, CHINESE FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESWOMAN: 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 divide in 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 ravage of the Capitol yesterday was a disgraceful act and it must be vigorously condemned. I have no doubt that American democracy will prevail.
[01:34:51]
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.
Nic Robertson, CNN -- London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: 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 that sort of stood out
the most was sort of -- kind of unusual in a way. It was Emmanuel Macron, the French president. He was there in front of -- you know, the French president is in front of a U.S. flag. There was the French flag and an E.U. you flag as well.
But you know, he was defending the values of American democracy, trying to 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 idolized and demonized, but never has it been pitied like this.
THOMAS: I mean this is a sad situation that we find ourselves in. I think, you know, what you showed there in the runup is that Emmanuel Macron understood this and spoke at the beginning in French and then moved over to English 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 is 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 was well aware of the tremendous concern and the people had, and in fact, the shock at watching events unfold in this way in Washington D.C.
VAUSE: You know, the reactions, you know, in many ways were fairly predictor. There was the 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 is actually crucial, those, you know, the responses were, you know, 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 there is prime ministers and foreign secretaries, presidents and so on. And also underscored like Macron had done the survivability of these democratic institutions.
But I think there was one really interesting point was when Donald Tusk, you know, the former president of the EU Counsel 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 with these far-right organizations and parties that were in many ways emboldened by President Trump was really sort of an interesting way of dealing with that situation. And you look at the spectrum of responses.
VAUSE: You know, what we'll hear with the turmoil in the U.S. and, you know, with the rise of the sort of 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.
On Turkey -- 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 take on issues like that, it's (INAUDIBLE) quite important and something that needs to be done.
Not exactly a priority though, and can it actually be done in the first place? In one term or more, I guess?
THOMAS: Yes. I mean it's absolutely clear that the Biden-Harris administration's absolutely priority is to deal with a COVID hand on the health crisis.
And then to begin the process of restoring the American people's faith in its institutions that have been undermined by the Trump presidency that one cannot adequately, you know, highlight, underscore the extent to which the multilateral order, and has also been undermined by the Trump presidency.
And I think that the Biden-Harris administration must also launched a foreign policy offensive on that COVID permitting -- when President Trump attends or goes to visit NATO, the E.U. or attends the G7 meeting or the G-20 meeting in Rome in October, I think he will find he will be welcomed 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 the 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. Just to clarify for our viewers. Yes. I'll be doing it all night.
Thanks, good to see you. Dominic Thomas there for us in Los Angeles.
THOMAS: Thanks, John.
[01:39:52]
VAUSE: Still ahead on CNN NEWSROOM, one of these protests is not like the other. One, an exercise in constitutionally predicted right to free speech, the other an attempt to undermine democracy in the U.S.
So why did police react so differently in this?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He just said trial by combat. I'm ready.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: These rioters urged on by President Trump and (INAUDIBLE) will take you inside the U.S. Capitol as insurrection and chaos, rain.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: The police are still trying to piece together exactly what happened Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol. D.C. police have released these images calling them persons of interest and wanted to be talked (INAUDIBLE) for entry into the Capitol.
CNN's Elle Reeve was in the midst of all of it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What are we supposed to do? Ok? The Supreme Court is not helping us. No one is helping us. Only us can help us. Only we can do it.
ELLE REEVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A mass group of Trump supporters stormed the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday to stop the certification of what they believed was a fraudulent election.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Unquestionable, there are votes were stolen. It's unquestionable. There is so much proof.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We want our representatives to do the right thing, decertify like the seven swing states.
CROWD: U.S.A. U.S.A. U.S.A. U.S.A.
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, TRUMP ATTORNEY: 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 is peaceful guys that were like no, no, we don't want to do that.
Then there was that guy. You know, he just said, well, oh well, I'm breaking it in.
Broke down the barriers, and we rushed, 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, 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, mazing everybody.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Are you ok.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get some milk in your eyes. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They mazed me. They pushed me out and they mazed me.
REEVE: We spoke to some people who broke into the Capitol.
(on camera): Tell us just what happened in there. Tell us what happened?
[01:44:54]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, we went in there. Then I walked in and there's a whole bunch of people lighting up in some organ (INAUDIBLE) room. I don't know if it's an organ or ton of organ things but they were smoking a bunch of weed in there.
And then moved it down, so many statues, cops are very cool. They're like, hey guys have a good night. Some of them which is crazy.
It's really weird, you can see that some of them are on our side.
REEVE: We reached out to the Capitol Hill police for comment but have not yet heard back.
(INAUDIBLE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As we surged, we were basically shouting at the cops. And there were people arguing with them, trying to get in (INAUDIBLE)
REEVE: Clashes with police happened sporadically throughout the day. And waves of tear gas wafted over 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.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's what we're doing. We're fighting back
REEVE (on camera): What's the point, what's the endgame?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What's the point?
REEVE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: 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 socialist republic. And that is not right. That's what I'm doing here.
REEVE: Elie Reeve, CNN -- Washington D.C.
(END VIDEOTAPE) VAUSE: Many on social media have been quick to compare how police dealt with the Trump-supporting insurgents who stormed the Capitol Wednesday with the demonstrations last year against racial justice not far from the Capitol.
Rioters were treated with kid gloves and little resistance from police at the Capitol. So far a few dozens arrest have been made but mostly for curfew violations.
Months earlier and a few blocks away, Black Lives Matter protesters were met with tear gas, riot police and mass arrests.
Segun Oduolowu is the host of the Emmy award winning news magazine show, "The List". And he is with us from Los Angeles. It's good to see you.
SEGUN ODUOLOWU, TV HOST: Hey, John. How is it going? Good to see you.
VAUSE: Hey, it's going ok.
Let's start with police in Atlanta dealt with demonstrators who were exercising their constitutionally protected right to protest?
That was August, the police reaction triggered by a protester throwing a brick at a window at downtown police station.
Here is a scene Wednesday from the Capitol. Many windows were smashed there, but all we have is like selfies? We should note that at least five people have now died after the clashes there.
So are the police complicit with this? Or are they just sympathetic with the Trumpers or are they trying to defuse a dangerous situation which they were not prepared for and we're outnumbered and this is the only way to do it?
ODUOLOWU: Wow, that is a very loaded question. Are they complicit? You know there's video of police officers taking a selfie. There's video of police officers helping people down the steps when the rioters were finally tired. And I wouldn't even call them rioters -- when the domestic terrorists were tired of looting and destroying the Capitol building. You have video of police helping people down the stairs.
You know, if you don't want to call them complicit, it would be the same as if somebody broke into your house and you gave the burglar milk and cookies and opened the door for them and called them a cab.
I find this to be appalling. Barbarians were literally on the doorstep of democracy and the president of the United States is the one who opened the keys to the gate and let them in and told them to go ahead and destroy it.
That should appall and sicken everyone as it seems to have done the rest of the world.
VAUSE: You know, if you look at the crowd at the Capitol, the rioters, the insurgents, the terrorists -- whatever you want to call them. No face coverings -- this in the midst of a pandemic which seems to not only there's selfishness but also a total lack of shame for their actions. Like this guy.
ODUOLOWU: But there is no consequences, John. There's no consequences. Like this has been churning and fomenting for the entire presidency. Charlottesville, good people on both sides when Neo-Nazis are marching through a college town, and a young lady loses her life when another domestic terrorist drives his car into a crowd of people.
Ohio, Michigan -- armed insurgents brake into Capitol buildings. And there is a plot to kidnap the governor of Michigan and hold a tribunal. And he's calling the freedom fighters and liberators.
There's no consequences. Like this is -- this is what is so just disheartening and should make people weep for the hypocrisy of this democracy. When it has been spurred on by a despot. I mean this is that playbook of a dictator's handbook, right.
VAUSE: Yes.
ODUOLOWU: You discredit the press and everything is fake news from, you know, you network to anyone that says anything against him. You discredit intelligence and the science and you make people believe that you are the only way out, you scapegoat minorities and --
[01:49:55]
VAUSE: Let me jump in very quickly, because we're running out --
ODUOLOWU: Go ahead.
VAUSE: I just want to jump in here right now because I want to show you a soundbite from Richard "Bigo" Barnett. He's the guy that made himself very much at home in the office of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RICHARD BIGO BARNETT, RIOTER: I sat my flag down. Sat down here at my desk. I'm a taxpayer. I'm a patriot. That isn't desk. We loaned her that desk. And she isn't appreciating the desk. So I though I'd sit and appreciate the desk. I threw my feet up on the desk.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: You know, is this maybe not so much white extremism but more white entitlement or white privilege? These people are angry because they didn't get the president they wanted?
ODUOLOWU: This is white entitlement and privilege on steroids. BLM marches, they're met with rubber bullets, tear gas and a heavy police presence. Because people were dying at the hands of the police.
These people are mad because they lost an election that will come back again in four years' time.
Like George Floyd will never breathe again four years from now. Sandra Bland, Tamir Rice, Breonna Taylor. These people will not breathe again four years from now.
There will be other election. This is white entitlement and supremacy and just a petulant nature fomented, created and whipped into a frenzy by a narcissistic.
VAUSE: Very quickly.
ODUOLOWU: 1956 Senator Charles Sumner delivered a passionate speech against slavery. Two days later he was attacked by Representative Preston Brooks who's a relative of someone that Sumner had called out and denounced during his speech. Brooks repeatedly hit him with his cane. He was badly injured.
Sumner went on to become a hero in the north. Brooks, the attacker, a hero in the south. So will the U.S. head in that direction? Will there be heroes for each side or will this be a moment like Sumner, a turning point which brings change.
ODUOLOWU: I hope it's a turning point that brings change, but when you see the confederate flag flying in the halls of the Capitol building, the rebel flag of the white al-Qaeda that tried to break up the union that is America, it must give you pause and it must frighten you as to what is to come.
We pray for peace, but right now with what we saw, Biden and Kamala Harris have their work cut out for them because Trump left the cupboard extremely bare and very angry.
VAUSE: Yes. There's a lot to do. There's multiple crises.
Segun, good to see you. Thanks for being with us.
ODUOLOWU: Always a pleasure, John.
VAUSE: Take care.
Hong Kong makes more arrests for alleged violation of the city's national security law. Among them a prominent activist who could now face years in jail. We'll have details on that when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Prominent pro-democracy activist Joshua Wong is among the latest to be arrested under Hong Kong's national security law. Just a day earlier, dozens of activists and former lawmakers were also arrested for allegedly subverting state power.
CNN's Anna Coren has details from Hong Kong.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANNA COREN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Already serving 13.5 months for his involvement in the Hong Kong protests, high-profile activist Joshua Wong could now be locked up for years.
Police re-arresting him, this time for alleged subversion under the national security law. But he wasn't alone as authorities stage the largest crackdown, arresting a total of 55 former pro-democracy lawmakers, activists and lawyers under the Beijing-sanctioned national security law that came into effect in June of last year giving authorities sweeping powers.
ANTONY DAPIRAN, LAWYER AND AUTHOR: Beijing wants to sideline them once and for all and to ensure that there is no space for a genuine opposition to be as part of mainstream politics in Hong Kong.
COREN: The mass arrests carried out by more than a thousand police were the results of the primary election for the opposition Democratic Party. That took place back in July where 600,000 people cast their votes to choose the Democrats top candidates to stand in the legislative council elections scheduled for September.
[01:54:56]
COREN: The government postponed those elections citing COVID-19. However, police alleged the goal of the Democratic Party was to gain a majority and veto government legislation ultimately forcing the resignation of the chief executive Carrie Lam.
In Beijing-speak, this means overthrowing the government, an act of subversion.
U.S. citizens John Clancey, a lawyer whose firm represents many of the protesters was among those arrested.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have anything to say to the people?
JOHN CLANCEY, LAWYER: (INAUDIBLE) work for democracy and human rights in Hong Kong.
COREN: He was released on bail without charge for now. And says police have confiscated his U.S. passport.
President-Elect Joe Biden's Secretary of State nominee Antony Blinken tweeted, "The Biden Harris administration will stand with the people of Hong Kong and against Beijing's crackdown on democracy."
Despite the climate of fear, remaining pro-Democrats held a press conference in the wake of the crackdown. Chanting, "We are not afraid of oppression."
And others like former lawmaker Emily Lau who served 25 years in the legislative council says she won't be silenced either.
EMILY LAU, FORMER LAWMAKER: Everything is on tenterhooks, we are very worried, but that does not mean the game is over. No way. How can it be over? This is our home. We will do our level best to defend it.
COREN (on camera): Are you prepared to go to jail?
LAU: I am. I've been expecting this because you are dealing with an authoritarian regime.
COREN (voice over): After being held for more than 24 hours, most of the arrested were released on bail without charge.
Hong Kong's chief executive Carrie Lam issued a statement defending the government, saying it will continue to safeguard national security in Hong Kong, lawfully and dutifully without fear or anxiety.
But as police warn of more arrests, many Hong Kongers feel those emotions daily now living in the city.
Anna Coren, CNN -- Hong Kong.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Thank you for watching CNN NEWSROOM. Stay with us because there will be more me at the top of the hour (INAUDIBLE).
Stay with us. I'm John Vause. Back in a moment.
[01:57:16]
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