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Man Seen Carrying Pelosi's Podium In U.S. Capitol Riot Arrested; Twitter Suspends Trump's Account Permanently; Momentum Builds Toward Potential Fast-Track Impeachment; Republicans Question Point Of Impeaching Trump In Final Days; CDC Director Warns Of Potential Case Surge After U.S. Capitol Riot. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired January 09, 2021 - 11:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:59:53]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello again.

Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

We begin this hour with breaking news.

Police making another arrest following the riot on Capitol Hill. Florida police taking 36-year-old Adam Johnson into custody. He was this man, seen carrying House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's lectern from the Capitol building. This makes more than a dozen people now arrested in connection with the insurrection that left five people dead.

Meanwhile President Trump is under fire from both sides of the political aisle. He is being blamed for inflaming that crowd of his supporters in an effort to overturn election results.

Democrats say they plan to unveil new articles of impeachment as early as Monday. They've already revealed one article of impeachment. That could set up a vote in the House as early as next week.

This as reports surface that some members of Trump's own cabinet have discussed invoking the 25th Amendment, removing him from power. Vice President Pence has stated, however, that he has no intention to do that.

As all this unfold, Trump's main platform to the world has shut him down. Twitter imposing a permanent ban on his Twitter page, citing a risk of further incitement of violence.

Let's turn now to CNN's Evan Perez with more on this latest arrest.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: We have another arrest. It's basically become a national roundup of some of these people that have been seen on some of the social media pictures who invaded the Capitol.

The latest arrest, his name is Adam Johnson. He was picked up in his home state of Florida in Pinellas County. He's booked in Pinellas County jail and according to the officials there, he was booked at the request of the Justice Department. We anticipate that he's going to face charges.

Now, the pictures I think you already have, are of him holding the speaker's podium, one of the many people who mobbed, who ransacked the Capitol and posted pictures of themselves or were captured on social media images showing what they were doing at the Capitol.

We know so far the Justice Department has announced charges against at least 13 people. There are a number of other arrests or charges that are still under seal.

We expect some more arrests over the weekend and we expect to see some more charges into the next week.

We're told, Fred, that the investigators from the FBI, the ATF, the U.S. Marshals, as well as the metropolitan police here in Washington are working with prosecutors around the country, around the clock to try to find some of these people. Some of them -- a lot of them have gone back to their home states and they're getting picked up and they're going to be brought here to face these charges.

WHITFIELD: Evan Perez, thank you so much for that.

Meanwhile, President Trump is reeling after his favorite social media platform Twitter indefinitely suspended his account.

CNN's Sarah Westwood is at the White House for us. So Sarah, what has been the reaction?

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Fred, President Trump seemingly attempted to get around that ban last night when he posted, complaining about having his free speech taken away, hinting that he could soon be looking for an alternative platform.

But this is coming as the White House is in crisis mode, dealing with the fallout from the president's incitement of violence this week and the looming prospect of impeachment coming potentially as soon as Monday. And privately, aides are taking that very seriously.

Publicly, the White House released a statement yesterday saying, "As President Trump said yesterday, this is a time for healing and unity as one nation. A politically motivated impeachment against a president with 12 days remaining in his term will only serve to further divide our great country." Now, 11 days left in the president's term.

But aides have been trying to guide the president towards a more measured response and towards a more forceful condemnation of the riots after his highly-criticized initial response in which he said he loved the rioters.

The president released a second video which he did go after the rioters more forcefully, but nonetheless, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were very dismayed at that initial reaction from the president and the fact that he did not seem to be bothered by the fact that these rioters were storming the Capitol. That included Republican Senator Ben Sasse who claims that Trump was delighted with what he saw.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SENATOR BEN SASSE (R-NE): As this was unfolding on television, Donald Trump was walking around the White House confused about why other people on his team weren't as excited as he was, as you had rioters pushing against Capitol police trying to get into the building.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WESTWOOD: Now during the insurrection CNN is reporting that Trump and his attorney Rudy Giuliani tried repeatedly to reach Senator Tommy Tuberville, an ally who they hoped to push into delaying the certification of the electoral college results.

[11:04:49]

WESTWOOD: They both mistakenly dialed Senator Mike Lee by accident. They did not reach Tuberville in order to pressure him to delay those certification further. But it just shows you the desperation that Trump and his allies were feeling as this scene unfolded on Wednesday.

One person who did not receive a phone call from the president during all that chaos was Vice President Mike Pence, who stayed at the Capitol throughout the day late into the night to oversee the certification of the election results.

The rift between the two men has only grown. They have not spoken since that day and Pence has said he will attend the inauguration if invited, while Trump has said he will not attend.

Now White House aides are hoping that the president can turn his attention to what he'll be doing after he leaves office in 11 days and preserving whatever is left of his legacy. But of course, Fred, there's a lot of uncertainty surrounding how the president will behave with this last week plus in office.

WHITFIELD: And so Sarah, what more do we know, if anything, about how it is the vice president and the president have not spoken when the vice president was seen going to work at the White House?

Ordinarily aren't they in each other's space, if at the very least on the phone? How is it they were able to avoid one another at work at the White House?

WESTWOOD: Yes Fred, the seeming split between Trump and Pence is really remarkable because throughout Trump's campaign and presidency, Pence has been in lock-step with Trump.

They have -- he has really been extremely loyal to the president. But earlier this week we did see Trump, while he still had a Twitter, go after Pence on that platform for overseeing the election results. Trump has privately complained that Pence did not do enough to obstruct the election. Now 25th Amendment talk of removing Trump with members of the cabinet did pop up this week but Pence, Fred, was said not to have been interested in using that option.

WHITFIELD: And it takes the vice president, it takes a majority of the president's cabinet and two-thirds Congress in order to get that removal of office to happen.

All right. Thank you so much, Sarah Westwood. Appreciate it.

All right. So momentum is building, however, towards a second impeachment of President Trump starting on Monday. Nancy Pelosi signaled that Democrats have every intention of holding the president to account.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Sadly, the person who's running the executive branch is a deranged, unhinged, dangerous president of the United States and there are only a number of days until we can be protected from him. But he has done something so serious that there should be prosecution against him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Suzanne Malveaux is on Capitol Hill. Suzanne, good to see you again. So what can you tell us about a potential timeline on this and is this momentum gaining traction?

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, already we have a copy of this. This is one single article of impeachment here that has been drawn up. The draft resolution calling for the incitement of insurrection of the president for his role on Wednesday with the mob entering the Capitol and trying to overturn the election results.

Now, things are happening very, very quickly here -- really rapid fire. Monday is when we expect that the House Rules Committee will meet and they will lay the ground rules here for the debate that will take place and for the privilege resolution that will come forward.

And that essentially means two days -- two-day process here, they could actually vote. It just takes a simple majority in the House to vote out these articles of impeachment. The Democrats, in fact, as you know, are in charge of the House so that could happen

Now, the next stage of this, of course, would be to send it over to the Senate. That is where they would have to conduct a trial, as well as determine whether or not they would convict the president, remove him from office.

I covered the impeachment in December of 2019 of Trump and it was very different than what we are seeing now. Before on the House side you had no Republicans who are signing off on the impeachment and only one Republican Senator Mitt Romney, who in fact voted to convict and remove the president. This go-around we are already hearing from some Republicans. They're not saying impeach, but they're certainly saying in some form or fashion that he must go.

We have heard from Representative Adam Kinzinger, Senator Ben Sasse, Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska saying this, "He needs to get out. He needs to do the good thing. But I don't think he's capable of doing the good thing."

And so what you will see on the Senate side, if in fact he is impeached, is a moment of reckoning here. It will be during the Biden administration. And the question is why would you try to remove the president during the Biden administration when he's already gone.

Well, if in fact they do that on the Senate side, he will never be able to run for federal office again, Fred.

WHITFIELD: And then Suzanne, at a minimum, aren't there some serious discussions being led by the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi about any kind of constraints of the president's powers in the, you know, few days left that he has in office?

[11:09:53]

MALVEAUX: That's right. I mean not only do they want to make a very strong statement that this can't be tolerated. This is not acceptable. But she has been in discussions with the Joint Chiefs of Staff on the Pentagon side to make sure that he doesn't have the kind of free reign, if you will, to make some decisions regarding national security.

So they do believe that by moving forward on impeachment that that, too, can be something that would curb his abilities.

WHITFIELD: All right. Suzanne Malveaux on the Hill, thanks so much for that.

All right. Meantime, we have new video now from Wednesday's riot on Capitol Hill. I want to warn you ahead of time the video is very disturbing.

It shows the horrifying and stunning moment when rioters launched a violent attack on police officers on the west side of the Capitol. And at one point the crowd was crushing an officer trapped between a door and a shield.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just go home, ok. You see me, just go home. Go home.

I'm not hurting you.

(EXPLETIVE DELETED)

(END VIDEO CLIP) WHITFIELD: At this hour, CNN does not have an update on the identity of that officer or his condition.

All right. With me now is Shawn Turner, a CNN national security analyst; Franita Tolson is CNN election law analyst and vice dean for faculty and academic affairs at the USC School of Law.

Good to see both of you.

FRANITA TOLSON, CNN ELECTION LAW ANALYST: Good morning, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Shawn, let me begin with you. I mean it is hard to watch that video, isn't it? You know, very troubling. And to see the suffering of that officer while he's trying to do his job.

When you look at that video and when you look at the totality of events, what is the explanation as to how this happened, how Capitol police were caught so off guard, so undermanned, underequipped and put in this situation?

SHAWN TURNER, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Yes Fred. Thanks for having me on.

And I just want to (INAUDIBLE) say it's really hard to watch that video. And my thoughts are with that officer and his family. It's just a disgusting display of the fact that (INAUDIBLE).

You know, when we think about how this happened, you know, I approach this from an intelligence perspective. And I ask the question, what did these officers, what did the infrastructure (ph) not know that allowed this to happen.

You know, when we look at uprisings overseas, when we look at national security threats overseas, we see some strikingly similar signs that we saw in this case that sort of tell us what's going to happen.

And so when you look at what happened on the 6th, we see that these groups early on, they started to communicate very privately in order to plan an event like this.

They talk amongst themselves on secure apps. They worked to gather (ph) resources to get ready for this. And then as we saw and as we're finding out now, then they go public when they believe that they can pull together a critical mass.

What's really startling about this is that when they go public as they did and they got their critical mass and they move on a building the way they did the Capitol building, what really matters, Fred, the key indicator, the key point is whether or not they have a leader who supports and encourages them or whether or not they have a leader who very unequivocally says that this can't happen and pushes back on this group.

And I think that what we saw, the reason that this was allowed to happen was because this group at every turn, had a leader in the president of the United States, who not only cheered them on but supported and to this day continues to encourage their bad behavior. And I think there's more (ph) at this time.

WHITFIELD: So it sounds like you're saying pointblank -- I mean they essentially got the marching orders then. And so, you know, pushing against any other type of authority like the Capitol police, I mean that came with the territory.

[11:14:59]

WHITFIELD: So Franita, you know, Democrats are, you know, planning to introduce this article of impeachment that has already been drawn up as early as Monday. Is it your view that there is a strong case in which to impeach this president for a second time?

TOLSON: Yes, absolutely. Honestly, I don't know how anyone can watch that video and focus on the argument that the president only has a few days left so we should wait it out, as opposed to the gravity of the misconduct.

Impeachment is very important. So the House does have a good case if you think about what impeachment would accomplish.

The first is accountability. The president incited a riot. More people could have died. This could have been significantly worse than it was. And, you know, thoughts to the five people who perished as a result of his actions.

It's also about creating historical precedent, right. We make it clear that this behavior violates the presidential role if the House impeaches for this conduct. I mean this is separate from whether or not the Senate convicts. The impeachment itself sends a powerful message about what the president can and cannot do in executing the duties of his office.

It's also about --

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: So you -- so I think I heard you say that even if the Senate were not to convict, because the Senate wouldn't get it until like January 19th -- 20th, right at the time of inauguration, even if they would fail to convict, you think it is impactful enough that the House would be able to impeach the president.

And help explain your view on that, why that is enough even without a conviction.

TOLSON: It's important because this president has violated so many norms over the course of his time in office that we really need a reset. Impeachment does that to some extent because it sets a new standard for what the president cannot do.

And even more importantly, Fred, I think this raises the question of why should the president be immune from the one penalty that the constitution provides just because the conduct occurred late in his term? We don't want to set a precedent where presidents can engage in this behavior in year four or in the last weeks of their term and then refuse to go after that president for that misconduct.

And so we really have to be concerned about setting a precedent where we hold the president accountable for the entirety of his term.

WHITFIELD: Shawn, Speaker Pelosi is also talking about, you know, constraint of the president's powers, that perhaps limiting the president's nuclear authority is something to take very seriously right now.

Do you see that that is something that is needed, you know, possible imperative at this point?

TURNER: Well, you know, I don't know that members of Congress have a formal avenue to be able to restrict the president of his power without (INAUDIBLE) invoking the 25th Amendment.

But I do think it is the case that we all should be concerned about what the president might do in his final days in office, simply because of the behavior that we've already seen.

Now I will say that I and I think voters should take solace in the fact that we've got immensely capable and honorable leaders at the heads of our military services. We've got a significantly strong and admirable core of government employees who will only follow lawful and legal orders.

So I think that to the degree that people are concerned about the orders the president might give, I think we should all understand that this is an uncertain time and that there's a possibility that we'll see something that we don't want to see.

But I do think that (AUDIO GAP) such that if those orders were questionable, there are certainly people around the president and certainly our military leaders who will do the right thing for the American people and make sure that this president doesn't act out and doing something (ph) that threatens the United States or threatens our democracy any further.

WHITFIELD: All right. We'll leave it for there. Happy New Year to both of you. Shawn Turner, Franita Tolson -- good to see you both.

All right. Coming up, President Trump silenced on Twitter. New fallout over the controversial decision and the platform that is gaining popularity among conservatives.

And despite the turmoil in Washington on Wednesday, the Republican National Committee endorsed President Trump as the man to continue to lead the party forward.

Former Senator Jeff Flake responds straight ahead.

[11:19:20]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: President Trump's social media presence has been delayed -- silenced for a bit. Last night Twitter making the extraordinary step to indefinitely suspend the president's Twitter account.

Trump has been using Twitter as his direct line of communication, it's been his megaphone to his 88 million followers. But Twitter says in his final days he posed a risk of further incitement of violence following the Capitol Hill insurrection.

For more now, I want to bring in CNN's Chief Media Correspondent and host of "RELIABLE SOURCES", Brian Stelter.

So Brian, this is interesting because we heard in our Sarah Westwood reporting the White House saying, you know, the president feels like he is being censored, you know, and his freedom of speech is being taken away.

But this is a private enterprise, Twitter is a private company. This is not a government entity. There's a very different issue of censoring if you're a government entity versus a private company making a decision that, you know, you may have crossed the line with the privilege of using our service.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's very important context here. This is not a First Amendment battle because this is not about the government. This is about an individual trying to use a private company's service.

However, it does show how much power these technology companies have that virtually every technology platform has taken the keys away from Trump.

[11:24:54]

STELTER: We know Trump doesn't drink, but it's almost like a situation where it's a drunk driver and his keys are being taken away from Twitter, from Facebook, from YouTube, and the list goes on and on.

And the Twitter move cuts most deeply, Fred. As this morning's "New York Times" says, you know, this is his favorite megaphone, this is a megaphone he's been using and using for years. And it has been completely silenced.

Twitter's rationale is that the president was using the platform to incite violence and could inspire further attacks. I can't believe I just said that, but that's the truth. That's the only truth here.

Here's what Twitter said in its justification, quote, "Plans for future armed protests have already begun proliferating on and off Twitter, including a proposed secondary attack on the U.S. Capitol and state capitol buildings on January 17th.

There has been talk among far right extremists about trying to organize further protests. And it's important to make that note about state capitols. What we saw on Wednesday, the United States Capitol, was repeated in several other states, in several states.

There were skirmishes and fist fights at state capitols. And so there is a real concern that could happen again and Twitter is saying that Trump cannot be trusted to have his Twitter account anymore.

WHITFIELD: And then Twitter is also being challenged with ok, so why now. Because the president has been incendiary by use of his Twitter account a lot, you know, for a very long time.

I mean clearly, you know, this reached a whole new level, what we saw on Wednesday on Capitol Hill.

But what is Twitter saying to those who were critical of the social media platform as to the timing of why they would show this restraint of his account now and not before.

STELTER: Well, to be frank with you, I think Twitter and other platforms have been making up the rules as they have gone along. Over the past two years they've been confronted by a series of really difficult decisions.

These companies don't want to be in the business of making editorial judgments or content moderation judgments. They desperately do not want to be in that business. That's an expensive and hard business to be in.

However, they've been given no choice because of the use of their platforms, the abuse of their platforms to incite violence. This is the first time a world leader has been removed from Twitter in this way.

Think about that. It wasn't a dictator in some far-off land. It was the United States president that was removed.

Twitter has been under tremendous pressure from its own staff to take this step. And frankly, it's a lot easier to do it in the final few days of the Trump administration than it would have been to do this a year or two ago.

So Twitter is receiving some credit, also a lot of blame for not doing this sooner and also a lot of blame from Trump supporters who are going to feel even more aggrieved, even more isolated.

Donald Trump Jr. this morning telling his fans to sign up for his own email server, his own email list so he can stay in touch with them.

And that remind me of one other important detail, the Trump campaign is not sending out emails anymore. They're not even sending out emails anymore, so I'm starting to wonder if they're having a hard time getting access to servers to even send emails.

This president is incredibly isolated right now, his platforms are shrinking by the hour. Maybe the only way he can reach the public right now is through an old-fashioned press conference, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Ok. Well, that could be interesting. All right. Brian Stelter, thank you so much.

All right. Coming up next, Senator Lindsey Graham harassed at Reagan International Airport. One woman calling him a traitor after he criticized President Trump this week.

[11:28:26]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: For any notions of removing President Trump to actually work will take significant Republican support. In an impeachment scenario, well over a dozen GOP senators would have to vote to convict a president of their own party. And as of now, there doesn't seem to be much appetite for that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. FRENCH HILL (R-AK): I would like to see what their thought process is. I don't know that we need more brinkmanship here in the final 12 days of the Trump administration. I think we need more leadership.

SENATOR ROY BLUNT (R-MO): There is no way we're going to impeach the president. There's not the time to do it. When Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are talking about it, it's obviously just another political point trying to be made.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Last time President Trump faced impeachment only one Republican senator voted to convict him, Mitt Romney. He is one of four Republicans right now currently on Congress who are on the record saying the president is unfit for office. The others listed right there -- fellow Senators Ben Sasse, Lisa Murkowski and Representative Adam Kinzinger.

Joining us right now, former Republican Senator Jeff Flake of Arizona. Good to see you.

JEFF FLAKE (R), FORMER ARIZONA SENATOR: Good to see you.

WHITFIELD: So is it your view, is it your fear that it will be more of the same? I mean the Republican National Committee just met last night and the Chair Ronna McDaniel was unanimously re-elected to her position.

President Trump seems to still be the leader of that party. Is it your view that very little will change after all of this?

FLAKE: I think things will change. You know, if this event has done anything, I think it will accelerate the movement away from the president and hopefully away from Trumpism.

This was cataclysmic, I mean, in terms of damage to a party. It should be. And I can't imagine that it won't be. [11:34:52]

FLAKE: Whether the president is impeached or not, again, I hope that the House doesn't follow through with it. There's certainly not the time. I would rather see the president just go away. And I don't think that this will damage him in the eyes of his supporters.

WHITFIELD: So, Senator, how necessary is it in your view that there has to be some sort of consequence for President Trump, if the house is able to impeach, yet the senate is unable or unwilling to convict?

FLAKE: Right.

WHITFIELD: I mean you heard, you know, Roy Blunt say, you know, there really is no time to do it. But there is time to do something. How damaging is it if, you know, the latter view, no time to do it, no consequence comes to the president?

FLAKE: Well, I think the consequences have come. He's lost an election. He was diminished significantly. During that time, his whole -- you know, all the falsehoods about the election being rigged, that may have endeared him to some, but the broader public I think sees it for what it is.

And then cheering on the mob was just inexcusable. So I mean whether or not the House moves through with impeachment, the president is diminished.

There will be likely legal action, the southern district of New York and others are moving forward even if the president pardons himself, those things won't be affected. But to try to move through with impeachment, I'm with Colin Powell and, frankly, it seems Joe Biden and others saying let's move ahead, not look backward.

WHITFIELD: So let's talk about what seems to be still a price to be paid, even among some of your fellow colleagues on Capitol Hill. You've spoken about it, that, you know, people want to keep their jobs. That's why they may not say anything against the president.

And we saw this week following that insurrection, we saw the vice president said let's move on, let's, you know certify this vote. The next president is Joe Biden.

You saw Lindsey Graham, who said you know, I'm out, finally, I'm out.

FLAKE: Right.

WHITFIELD: And now look at the consequences of their actions. Just take a look at this videotape.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CROWD: Hang Mike Pence, hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence.

Mr. Graham, you are a traitor to the country. You know it was rigged. You know it was rigged. You know it was rigged. You garbage human being.

It's going to be like this forever, wherever you go for the rest of your life.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: So what does that sentiment indicate to you, you know, of the road ahead for those who speak out, for those Republicans who, you know, are critical of the president, even though he's on his way out. Their life could be made a little miserable just like that?

FLAKE: Yes. Believe me, I understand.

WHITFIELD: You've been there.

FLAKE: I've been there. I feel for them and it's an awful thing. Mitt Romney was harassed in an airport the other day. You just saw Lindsey Graham and obviously the vice president with people calling, you know, for horrible things to happen.

It's just -- it's where we are. We just passed the tenth anniversary yesterday of Gabby Giffords' shooting. I just wrote a piece for "Deseret News Magazine" last month and kind of relived the baseball shooting. I was on that field.

So we're in a horrible place as a country in items of political violence and we need to do better. And I'm taken to heart by what the president-elect has said and the manner in which he's handled the transition. And I hope that we can unify. We certainly need it.

WHITFIELD: The vice president saying he would go, you know, to the inauguration, you know, to punctuate his thoughts this week.

FLAKE: Yes. Yes.

WHITFIELD: So, you know -- and speaking of papers, you know, some hometown papers of Senators Josh Hawley a Republican, and Ted Cruz, you know, are calling for their resignations as well.

I mean "The Houston Chronicle's" headline said "Your lies cost lives." And look, it was in the middle of that insurrection, you know, Hawley's, you know, fist was raised in the air. I mean Ted Cruz continued to vote later on that evening not to certify the election.

So do you agree with those calls from those newspapers and what do you see as their demise?

FLAKE: You know, during this whole experience, frankly for the past four years, we've known who the president is. Those of us who have been paying attention. And not many of his actions have surprised me.

[11:39:41]

FLAKE: But what has surprised me and has been very disappointing, particularly after the election, is the number of my former colleagues who have been willing to amplify the president's falsehoods about the election and to pull stunts like this where they try to hold the election up, try to get the vice president to decertify somehow, knowing that he can't do that and wouldn't do that.

So that's been extremely disappointing and I hope people do remember that as these individuals look for leadership positions or look for re-election. That ought to be remembered. It should.

WHITFIELD: So bottom line, though, you are hopeful you think that the Republican Party will find some cohesion again, you believe that on the horizon will be less of a divided party that you're seeing today?

FLAKE: I do, I do. If the Democratic Party, as I think that they will, will try to govern more from the center, that's kind of who vice president -- or I'm sorry, President-Elect Joe Biden is, that's where he is.

If the Democrats do that, Republicans will be forced to or we simply won't be a major force in national -- or some statewide elections. So I do think that that's what will force Republicans to come to our senses here. There is no future with Trumpism, let's be frank. It's just -- it's a demographic cul-de-sac. And there's no there, there. There's no coherent philosophy to move forward.

So I do hope that we have saner voices in the future talking about where the party has to go.

WHITFIELD: All right. Former Senator Jeff Flake, thanks so much. Happy New Year to you.

FLAKE: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: And join CNN's Wolf Blitzer for "THE TRUMP INSURRECTION: 24 HOURS THAT SHOOK AMERICA". The special report airs tomorrow night at 10:00.

We'll be right back.

[11:41:41]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. We're seeing new images today of rioters as they storm the U.S. Capitol as a joint session of Congress was in the process of declaring Joe Biden president-elect. Five people died, including a Capitol police officer, as the mob incited by President Trump mounted its attack.

CNN's Brian Todd has more on the life of the officer who was killed.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): With flags lowered to half staff, the Capitol Hill community is reeling over the death of a respected police officer, 42-year-old Brian Sicknick.

But with their sorrow, some including members of Congress, are also expressing anger.

REP. KATHERINE CLARK (D-MA): My heart goes out to Officer Sicknick's family. There are a lot of people who have officer Sicknick's blood on their hands.

THEORTIS "BUTCH" JONES, FORMER CAPITOL POLICE OFFICE: The way that they went out or the way that he died was unnecessary.

TODD: Capitol Hill police say Officer Sicknick was injured on Wednesday while quote, "physically engaging with protesters". That he returned to his division office and collapsed. He died late Thursday.

The youngest of three sons, born and raised in South River, New Jersey Brian Sicknick is being called a hero by his family tonight.

In a statement sent to CNN, the family saying, "He wanted to be a police officer his entire life." As a means to that end, they say, he joined the New Jersey Air National Guard.

That branch says Sicknick joined in 1997, was deployed to Saudi Arabia and Kyrgyzstan and served in a security force squadron, the air guard's military police.

Sicknick was honorably discharged from the New Jersey Air National Guard in 2003 and joined the Capitol Hill police in 2008.

Capitol Hill Police say Sicknick most recently served in the force's First Responders Unit. One former Capitol Hill officer says the job is dangerous, even under normal circumstances.

JONES: Every day your life is in danger. There's no promise that you're going to come home the next day or the same day that you go out. Every officer that swears in takes the job very seriously -- to protect Congress.

TODD: Officer Sicknick and his colleagues, though by most accounts overwhelmed by the rioters are drawing praise from members of Congress who they fought to protect.

PELOSI: Many of our Capitol police just acted so bravely and with such concern for the staff, for the members, for the Capitol, for the Capitol of the United States. Many of the men -- and they deserve our gratitude.

REP. ANN KUSTER (D-NH): We were all very fortunate that the Capitol Hill police that were there were thinking as quickly as they had. If they had automatic weapons, they could have killed hundreds of members of Congress.

TODD: Tonight one of the men who helped prevent that horror is being remembered by his family for his empathy, his commitment to rescuing dogs and his love of the New Jersey Devils hockey team.

Brian Sicknick had no children, but lived with his girlfriend of 11 years. (on camera): In its statement to CNN, Brian Sicknick's family asks the public and media not to make his passing a, quote, "political issue", but his death will be the subject of a federal murder investigation with the U.S. attorney's office, the Capitol Hill police and the D.C. Metropolitan Police taking part.

Brian Todd, CNN -- Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[11:49:00]

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WHITFIELD: Federal health officials are warning that the U.S. Capitol riot will likely be a surge event that will have public health consequences. The outgoing CDC director sounding the alarm after a pro-Trump mob stormed the halls of Congress not wearing masks and ignoring social distancing guidelines.

Joining me now to discuss is Dr. Anish Mahajan the chief medical officer at Harbor UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles. Good to see you, Doctor.

So do you share the same sentiments as Dr. Redfield that this was a surge of -- a super surge event?

DR. ANISH MAHAJAN, CHIEF MEDICAL OFFICER, HARBOR UCLA MEDICAL CENTER: Well, it certainly could be. What we saw were, you know, hundreds if not close to thousands of people congregating without masks for extended periods of time.

And these individuals, we know, came from all over the country. And so they're going back to where they live and perhaps potentially bringing the virus with them and spreading it all over.

WHITFIELD: And then to underscore, you know, how bad the situation is across the country, health officials in California have just deployed 88 makeshift morgues to counties statewide to help handle an influx of bodies. This as some hospitals there prepare for the possibility of having to ration care.

How dire is the situation when you hear that?

DR. MAHAJAN: The situation is very dire here in southern California. We have historic high numbers of hospitalized COVID patients, historic high numbers who are critically ill.

[11:54:58]

DR. MAHAJAN: We don't have any more ICU capacity, all of the hospitals in the region are putting ICU patients in unusual places in the hospital just to find room for them.

And we haven't yet even seen the patients that will come in as a result of their mixing during the Christmas holidays. As you know, it takes two to three weeks for patients to get sick enough to need the hospital after they have gotten the virus and Christmas was only two weeks ago. And we're already full.

So the next seven to ten days are extremely worrying to all of us here.

WHITFIELD: Wow. Very frightening. Dr. Anish Mahajan, thank you so much. Continue to be safe.

DR. MAHAJAN: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: And we continue to follow breaking news.

New arrests in the Capitol Hill riot. The man who was caught on camera carrying Nancy Pelosi's podium now facing charges.

[11:55:52]

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