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CDC Director Warns Of Potential Case Surge After U.S. Capitol Riot; Man Seen Carrying Pelosi's Podium In U.S. Capitol Riot Arrested; House Dems Plan To Introduce Impeachment Resolution Monday; Seasoned War Journalists Stunned By Capitol Attack; Questions Raised On Security At Capitol; Study Says Pfizer Vaccine Appears To Be Effective Against New Strain; Fifty Passengers, 12 Crew Members On Board Missing Indonesian Plane. Aired 1-2p ET

Aired January 09, 2021 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

DR. ELIZABETH CLAYBORNE, EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN: Maryland right now has a new trial for an upcoming vaccine with Novavax. And we're enrolling in a phase three trial to get more opportunities for people to get vaccines to them, because this is going to be a process that we're experiencing for the rest of this year. And while you're waiting to get vaccinated, you also need to make sure you're taking steps to protect yourself by having an advanced care plan.

This is something I always bring up with you, Fred, when I talk about, you know, the experience with me having a vaccine, what it's like to be on the frontlines, and having advanced care plan means something that you have documented, talk to your family about the alerts, physicians like me, in a medical emergency about what your history is, what you would want, if you can't speak for yourself and who to speak to.

I recently did a TEDx talk about this. If you want to learn more, I encourage you to look that up and use platforms such as mydirectives.com to protect yourself, fill out an advanced directive, and save yourself from having a medical emergency in which there's no information available.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: We'll look for that.

CLAYBORNE: That gives you a voice where you may not be able to speak for yourself.

WHITFIELD: Excellent advice, and hopefully baby's doing well, too. We've been following your pregnancy, all throughout the pandemic. You're pregnant during the pandemic, had your baby during the pandemic. And now here, you're talking to us about the vaccine and protecting you, yourself and your family. Hoping all is well with you and the family this Happy New Year.

CLAYBORNE: Thank you, Fred. Appreciate it.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much. Dr. Elizabeth Clayborne.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

WHITFIELD: And hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for being with me this Saturday. 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 seen in photos carrying how speaker Nancy Pelosi's podium from the Capitol building there. At least 13 people, really dozens of people have now been faced with Federal charges in their role in this insurrection which left five people dead including a Capitol police officer.

Meanwhile, President Trump is being blamed by both Democrats and Republicans for inciting that crowd of his supporters in an effort to overturn the election results. Democrats plan to unveil a new article of impeachment on Monday, which would set up a vote in the House as early as next week. This says report surface that some members of Trump's own cabinet have discussed invoking the 25th amendment removing him from power.

However, Vice President Pence has stated he has no intention of doing that. Let's start with the arrests from the Capitol siege, many of them happening across the country. CNN senior justice correspondent Evan Perez is here with details. So, Evan, what more are you learning about how these arrests are unfolding?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, Fred, there seems to be a national roundup of these people who were seeing in some of the pictures that you've been showing they're participating in the mob insurrection, the ransacking of the U.S. Capitol. The first one that will point out is from the Justice Department saying that Adam Johnson was arrested back in his home State of Florida. He is in custody in Taos County, Florida.

We expect that he's going to be in Federal court here in Washington sometimes next --sometime next week. He was seen in those photos carrying the speaker's podium. Additional arrests have happened across the country, one man by the name of Jacobs Chansley was arrested in his home State in Arizona. He's also seen in some of the pictures showing sort of posing inside the house floor -- I'm sorry, the Capitol floor there.

The minutes before this the joint session of Congress was certifying Joe Biden's victory. And then of course, mayhem ensued. Another arrest that came in the last few days was Richard Barnett. He's the one that you saw in those photos with his feet up on Nancy Pelosi's desk. And now, this really sort of we should step back for a minute. And just -- and just point out that despite the carnival atmosphere that you see in some of these photographs, you know, this is a -- this is a dangerous situation.

Not only obviously are five people dead, including a Capitol police officer who was killed by the mob as he was trying to defend the Capitol. But there was a really serious situation unfolding outside. There was a truck laden with 11 bombs that was sitting out there for hours while the man who was responsible for that was attending the Trump rally. WHITFIELD: And Evan, you know, authorities continue to, you know, cast the net very wide. Are they also relying on, you know, local jurisdictions to help them identify a lot of people because I understand photographs are being used, tracking of cell phone activity in order to help find some of these suspects? People who are participating in this mob.

[13:00:08]

PEREZ: Right. No, absolutely. There is a -- there is a wide net being cast. And we're told that hundreds of investigators, agents, analysts, from the FBI, the ATF, the U.S. Marshals, as well as here, the Metropolitan Police in Washington, they're all working to try to track down these people. And as you pointed out, you know, a lot of this was done in social media. People posted very proudly of what they had done.

And so, there is facial recognition software being used to match up some of those images with the surveillance camera images from inside the Capitol to try to find some of these people.

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

PEREZ: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: All right. Now to that building momentum towards historic second impeachment of President Donald J. Trump starting Monday, Nancy Pelosi signaling that Democrats intend to hold the President to account.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Sadly, the person who's running the executive branch is a deranged, unhinged, dangerous President of the United States. And 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 for us. So, Susan, while the House is committed to getting you know, to some business this week, the Senate, their business, if they take it on will come much later.

SUZANNE MALVEAUX, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It will be part two of the process. But make no mistake, Fred, there is a great deal of momentum of building behind this effort and this movement to impeach the president by House Democrats, even some Republicans indicating that they might be willing to do the same. It is a single article of impeachment here incitement of insurrection, it says.

And essentially it says that the President incited violence when -- encouraged violence and the overthrow of the government when the U.S. Capitol was attacked on Wednesday. What we expect in the days to come Monday, fast tracking here, the House Rules Committee to meet to issue a privilege resolution which essentially would strip away a lot of the kind of the normal debate that takes place.

And it would be a two-day period in which they would go ahead and discuss this and then could vote for it. It takes a simple majority in the House that are the Democrats have that majority they could very well if they have those numbers, impeach the President. It would there then go to the Senate. Now it is expected the Senate won't be back in session until right around January 20th.

It will be the Biden administration that will take on the second portion of this, which would be the trial and removal of the President. Again, it takes two-thirds in the Senate. And still even though the Democrats would be the majority, they would still need some Republicans on board. It was in December of 2019. I covered the first impeachment of Trump. Back then there were no House Republicans who signed on.

One single Senator Mitt Romney, who said yes to getting rid of the President. But aside from that, no Republican support. This is different. We are starting to see some indications of those who at the very least, are saying yes, he must go. Representative Adam Kinzinger, being one of them. Senator Ben Sasse and also Senator Lisa Murkowski who usually goes along with the President says 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. So, Fred, we'll see how this all plays out in the days ahead.

WHITFIELD: And while his Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, as he kind of taken the easy way out, could he assemble the Senate to come back earlier if he wanted to tackle this earlier as opposed to waiting till January 19th and 20th?

MALVEAUX: He could, yes. He absolutely could. He could bring them back this week and actually go ahead and deal with this. But no, first I -- mean, they'd have -- he'd have to be impeached by the House, would have to be presented to the Senate. But then yes, he could bring folks back. I think he's going to kick the can and see how it goes on the other side.

WHITFIELD: All right. Suzanne Malveaux, thank you so much. All right. With me now, Julian Zelizer. He is a CNN political analyst and a professor and historian at Princeton University. He is also the author of the book Burning Down the House. And Shan Wu, a CNN legal analyst and a former federal prosecutor. Good to see both of you. Happy New Year.

JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Thanks for having me.

SHAN WU, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Thanks for having me, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Julian, you first, you know, you have a new piece on cnn.com calling for President Trump to be impeached. Again, tell us why you believe this has to happen. ZELIZER: Well, Congress needs to take a stand about what just happened, something horrible happened in Washington, the President was involved in inciting an insurrection against Congress, not just the building, but the people. And members of both parties should go on record as to where they stand. It's about not just President Trump put presidential power and is this tolerable?

And so, I think there's a strong case to be made to use this power to go on record that this went beyond the pale.

[13:10:00]

WHITFIELD: Uh-hmm. And then Shan, you know, House Democrats do have a draft of a -- of a new impeachment resolution this article against President Donald Trump with a one article of impeachment incitement of insurrection, is the case strong?

WU: I think it's strong for the political process of impeachment. So, I think we have to distinguish between political and criminal prosecution. I think you have some elements for criminal prosecution, the statements inciting the riot but, you know, prosecutor is very conservative, they want proof beyond a reasonable doubt because that's what they have to show.

So, criminally, gone a weak case, president had a lot of defenses. But from a political standpoint, I think it's kind of a no brainer. I mean, he's calling for that. He basically -- had been laying the foundation for weeks, if not months.

WHITFIELD: And, Julian, you know, it's unclear if the Senate will take up this impeachment hearing, you know, while Mitch McConnell is the majority leader. He has given the next 10 or 11 days, but there is some debate about whether the President could be impeached, even after he were to leave office. Given that is censure of the President, an option for lawmakers to do something before, you know, the changing of the guard.

ZELIZER: It is. I mean, there is the option of censure, there are many experts who say that the proceedings can go forward even after he's out of office. And there's an additional part of this where the Senate has the authority to disqualify him from holding office in the future. And I think that's another part of the debate that's happening right now. But it could be that in the end center is where they go but many will feel that's not strong enough after watching the House of Congress be invaded by a mob. And that wouldn't be sufficient.

WHITFIELD: Shan, the search is underway for those involved in these riots. And we just learned that one of the men charged and Wednesday's attack told the FBI that he came to Washington this week as part of a group effort with other patriots from Arizona. That's how -- that's the terminology they're using, at the request of the President that all patriots come to D.C. on January 6th, 2021. That's according to a narrative from investigators in this court records.

So, you know, this kind of voluntary disclosure to the FBI is very strong wording in these court filings yet, really underscoring a coordination between the followers of the President and the president. So, what does that mean as it pertains to charges going forward?

WU: Well, I think coordination is really key. And that's why you're seeing this national effort coming together for this prosecution. I think something else that's important is to understand that the U.S. Attorney's Office in D.C. in my old office commonly works with the local police, because they have jurisdiction for local, federal, as well as street crimes. So, an aspect of this would normally be prosecuted as a regular D.C. crime.

But here, it's appropriate that's done as a Federal crime. But they really need national effort, because these folks came from out of the state as well as they've been staying in Maryland and Virginia. So, you need coordination with the locals in the States. But an even more important part of that is if you can bring separate state charges that may Indianize these prosecutions for a possible Federal party by President Trump.

So, there's many reasons to do this. This was not a normal crime. I mean, this was an attack on the heart of democracy, heart of (INAUDIBLE) and five citizens died.

WHITFIELD: Wow. All right, very complex. Shan Wu, Julian Zelizer, good to see both of you. Thank you so much.

ZELIZER: Thank you.

(CROSSTALK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Still ahead, inside the White House as the insurrection unfolded on Capitol Hill. A Republican Senator saying President Trump was "excited as a rioters pushed against police." He was watching it all on television. Plus, war reporters reacting to these stunning pictures. Why CNN's Arwa Damon calls the seize an American monster.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:18:17]

WHITFIELD: This afternoon, President Trump is reeling after his favorite social media platform Twitter instituted in a suspension and indefinite suspension on his account. Twitter cites what it calls the risk of further incitement of violence following the pro-Trump riot on Capitol Hill. CNN's Sarah Westwood is at the White House. So, Sarah, what has been the reaction?

SARAH WESTWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Fred, President Trump tried to get around that ban initially by using his app POTUS handled tweeting that his free speech had been attacked, but Twitter quickly took that down. They are taking this ban seriously. And meanwhile, the White House is in crisis mode, dealing with the fallout from the President's incitement of violence this week.

And also, with the prospect of another impeachment looming over Trump right now, the White House released this statement last night, 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 White House aides are taking this threat seriously.

In fact, on Thursday, top aides to the President came to him with a warning that there's a serious chance he could be removed from office if he didn't change his approach to the riots. That could happen either through impeachment, or they warned him about the possibility that cabinet members could pursue his removal from office using the 25th Amendment. Trump under that pressure recorded that second conciliatory message about the rioters where he had a more forceful comment condemnation of the violence.

But lawmakers on both sides of the aisle were still really dismayed about that initial response from the President which also involved tape remarks in which the President said he loved the rioters.

[13:20:02]

WESTWOOD: Some lawmakers claimed even that the President was happy to see his supporters storming the Capitol. And that's according to Republican Senator Ben Sasse who was also disturbed by how the President handled this at first.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. 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, President Trump and his lawyer Rudy Giuliani both tried to reach Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, newly elected to try to get them to delay the certification of the Electoral College results as all that chaos was going on. Both of them misdialed, they dialed Senator Mike Lee instead. But those efforts show the desperation that they felt as they watched the electoral results being finalized.

Now that that's happened, White House aides are pushing President Trump to consider what he's going to do after office but they're still, Fred, a lot of uncertainty about how he's going to handle these next 11 days.

WHITFIELD: Uh-hmm. All right. Sarah Westwood. Thank you so much at the White House. So, Wednesday's assault on the Capitol has security experts voicing concern about something similar, potentially happening on the day of Joe Biden's inauguration. CNN Jasmine Wright is with the President-elect in Wilmington, Delaware. So Jasmine, is the President- elect in any way exhibiting that he's worried or nervous about January 20th?

JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN VIDEO PRODUCER: Hi, Fred. Frankly, the President- elect is not. He told reporters this week after when said that he is not concerned about his safety or the inauguration in just 11 days. And really he is not shying away from expressing his anger at President Trump over his part in excite -- excuse me, in inciting that violence on Wednesday at the Capitol. He called him an embarrassment.

He said that he is unworthy to hold that office. And on inauguration, Biden really reacted quite strongly to President Trump saying on Twitter that he would not come to the inauguration. And that is of course, before his Twitter was suspended. Take a listen to Biden here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: I was told that on the way up here, way over here that he indicated he wasn't going to show up at the inauguration, one of the few things he and I have ever agreed on. So, good thing I'm not showing up.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WRIGHT: And so that again, is Biden not holding back. And, you know, Biden is someone who likes to stick to tradition, likes to stick to precedent, and that precedent would be for President Trump to attend the inauguration. But of course, Biden said it's a good thing that he's not showing up. However, he did say that Mike -- excuse me, Vice President Mike Pence is welcome to come to the inauguration.

And if he does come, he would join those former presidents that are also expected to be there, including former President Barack Obama, former President Bill Clinton and former President George Bush.

WHITFIELD: Uh-hmm. All right. Jasmine Wright. Thank you so much. We know President Jimmy Carter said he would not be able to attend. And I guess that presumption because of the pandemic. There are those concerns as well. All right, Jasmine, appreciate it. All right. The scene looked like something from another country and from another time in history, but it wasn't. It was right here in the United States of America in the year 2021. Next, a pair of war correspondents giving their take.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:28:10]

WHITFIELD: This week siege at the U.S. Capitol stun even seasoned war journalists. Photographer Ron Haviv who has covered conflict in every corner of this globe was embedded with the mob, American mob and took dramatic pictures as they stormed inside the Capitol building. And CNN's own Arwa Damon watching events unfold from Istanbul, Turkey wrote this op-ed arguing that what happened on Wednesday was not like an insurrection in a developing country, it was uniquely American.

They both are joining me right now. Arwa, you've been in the throes of ISIS, you have seen some of the most dramatic government uprising. So, how do you compare what we all witnessed Wednesday to what you have experienced globally?

ARWA DAMON, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's the thing, Fredricka. I actually don't. Because yes, on a very superficial level, if you just look at the visuals, of course, you can draw some sort of a comparison to say the images we saw coming out of Iraq in 2016 when Shia protesters stormed and took over Parliament there and you could even stretch it out a bit further to when gunmen stormed parliament in Kabul in 2015, Libya, and 2014.

But really, the similarities ended there. And by that, I mean that, as you noted, America's dynamics, America's monster, what led America to this point, is uniquely American. Just how and all of these other nations, their own monsters, their own dynamics are uniquely theirs. And you know, prior to all of this, America used to have an air of moral superiority and tended to look down on countries that are going through their own battles for freedom and democracy.

And maybe now is the time to show shift that perspective and to one that's more centered around understanding and empathy.

[13:30:05]

WHITFIELD: Yes, I mean, the U.S. has, for a long time, sent monitors to countries across the globe to make sure that their elections are carried out peacefully and democratically, if that was, you know, the framework, that they were trying to put into place.

So then, Ron, you were right inside this American mob. How do you compare it to some of your past experiences and what you've seen abroad?

RON HAVIV, PHOTOJOURNALIST & CONTRIBUTOR, "THE NEW REPUBLIC": I think Arwa is definitely correct in what she just said.

And I think that some of the visuals absolutely are very similar, having been in various places, some of which Arwa mentioned and others where there's the changing of the government, a coup or something by insurrection.

The photographs of the victors taking over offices, looting, damaging things, so on. Those scenes I saw here and I saw them in other places.

But on the other parts, I think it's also interesting to note that if this was another place, there probably would have been a lot more death.

I think that there was one that, for the most part, even if some protesters were armed. They didn't really use their arms. And certainly the capitol police, except for the one occasion with the woman, didn't open fire, which often happens in other places.

So it's interesting how there are these sorts of very similar things where I had sort of feelings of deja vu and other things which are very unique to what was going on at the time.

WHITFIELD: Arwa, do you think it's going to be difficult after this point for the U.S. to be sending, you know, representation to countries to help them with their electoral process, especially after this? DAMON: I don't know if it's necessarily going to be difficult for them

to send them over, bearing in mind that a lot of different countries that go through some issues do send representatives to other countries.

What is more concerning at this stage is the sort of message that this sends to other governments that are authoritarian or dictatorial or who don't want to give up power.

Because, unfortunately, we live in the kind of a world where any leader who wants to hold on to power can now turn around and say, hey, America, look what happened in your own backyard.

And people aren't mature enough to be able to say to themselves or leaders aren't mature enough to say to themselves, well, maybe now it's time to be better than what the American example is.

And I think that's why there's a lot of concerns for people who are still going through these very same battles that the example that was once really held up as being the golden standard for democracy, America, has now been very seriously eroded.

WHITFIELD: So, Ron, as you were standing toe-to-toe with some of these rioters, how did it compare? The kind of emotions you saw in them, what was exhibited, how similar, different perhaps was it to what you have seen in people in war zones?

HAVIV: I would say that the emotions range from pure anger, as well as pure belief in what they were doing was correct that many of them consider themselves patriots to maybe complete surprise, first of all, of course, by the lack of security that existed.

And once they arrived in the building, complete confusion as to why they were there.

Some, I think, had a mission. Others were part of the group as they kind of broke in. And there was this complete disorganization.

And one of the things that they kept saying was that this was their house and that they felt they had the right to do it.

And also that they compared themselves to Black Lives Matter, who they felt could do whatever they want. And so if they could do whatever they want, why should the Trump supporters do the same thing?

And so it just kind of goes on this bigger picture of this division that does exist in this country about the number of people that believe the election is a fraud, who represented not only the people that went inside the capitol but certainly by the thousands of people that were outside the capitol that were listening to the president earlier in the day.

And I think visuals that came out for myself and my colleagues really do show the symbolic breakdown that did occur.

While I think there's definitely much more deeper issues between them, the fact that they lost control of this building is similar to what happened with 9/11. It's a pretty serious issue.

WHITFIELD: Yes, well, the power -- the images are very powerful.

Ron Haviv, joining us from New York, thank you so much.

Arwa Damon, from Istanbul.

Appreciate both of you, your reflections and how you are seeing it. Appreciate it.

Up next, before, during and after the insurrection. We'll have a timeline of the chaos, including the comments made by the president's children, the frantic calls for help, and the warning signs that may have been missed.

[13:34:54]

Also ahead, three more cases of the coronavirus variant found in New York as the vaccine rollout hits several hurdles.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: After Wednesday's horrific events at the capitol, many questions are still left unanswered.

Why wasn't there a more robust security presence to begin with? And why did it take so long for backup to arrive? And will those who participated in the mob inside the capitol all be held accountable?

Here's CNN's Alex Marquardt.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is the moment President Donald Trump launched the riot.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to walk down Pennsylvania Avenue.

MARQUARDT: Telling his supporters he'd have their back.

TRUMP: We're going to walk down, and I'll be there with you.

MARQUARDT: Trump's family doing what they could to egg on the crowd.

ERIC TRUMP, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S SON: We will never stop fighting.

LARA TRUMP, WIFE OF ERIC TRUMP: We are in this fight until the bitter end.

DONALD TRUMP JR, PRESIDENT TRUMP'S SON: This is Donald Trump's Republican Party!

MARQUARDT: And Rudy Giuliani literally talking about taking up arms.

RUDY GIULIANI, PERSONAL ATTORNEY TO PRESIDENT TRUMP: Let's have trial by combat.

[13:39:59]

MARQUARDT: Then they get back into their cars and leave as the crowd, unleashed and fired up, makes its way to the capitol.

(SHOUTING)

MARQUARDT: It isn't long before the rioters manage to get through the police line, overwhelming the officers and breaking through the barricades. The insurrection is under way.

UNIDENTIFIED LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER: Second floor.

MARQUARDT: Now, two major questions. Why wasn't security stronger? And who is this mob whose riot led to the deaths of five people?

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): There was a failure of leadership at the top of the capitol police.

MARQUARDT: Immediate blame is placed on the head of the capitol police, who defends his officers, saying they acted valiantly. But last night, he agreed to step down.

The House sergeant-at-arms resigned as well. Recognition of their failure to keep the capitol secure and lawmakers safe.

How valiantly the capitol police performed is very much in question.

One officer takes a selfie with a rioter. Here, others are seen stepping aside from a doorway, allowing the rioters to try to get through.

Moments later, a plainclothes officer shoots through the door hitting a woman, an Air Force veteran, who dies.

As the chaos grew, there were frantic calls to get support, from the Pentagon, from the National Guard, from anyone.

GOV. LARRY HOGAN (R-MARYLAND): I got a phone call from House majority leader, Steny Hoyer, who was calling me saying that he and Speaker Pelosi and Senator Schumer were all together in an undisclosed bunker.

They'd been spirited off to some undisclosed location, that the U.S. capitol police was overwhelmed, that there was no federal law enforcement presence.

And that the leaders of Congress were pleading with me, as the governor of Maryland, for assistance from Maryland's National Guard and state police.

MARQUARDT: Governor Larry Hogan says special riot police were on the way and agrees to send Maryland's National Guard.

But, he says, that was held up by the Pentagon, which needs to approve. It didn't happen, Hogan said, for another 90 minutes. HOGAN: In the meantime, we did not hesitate. We continued to mobilize

and get ready so that if and when we finally got that approval we could immediately move.

MARQUARDT: The Pentagon now defending itself, saying it offered assistance to the capitol police days before the January 6th riot, but was turned down.

UNIDENTIFIED PENTAGON OFFICIAL: We engaged with the capitol police last week and into the weekend. They confirmed to us after our request that they were going to come to us with any requests for assistance on Sunday, 3 January, that they were not going to have any requests for assistance for DOD.

MARQUARDT: The D.C. National Guard had been told by the mayor of Washington to be unarmed and only to help with traffic in the subway.

(on camera): So far, there has been no serious response by law enforcement.

(voice-over): For most of the afternoon, the rioters swarmed the capitol unchallenged. Not until nightfall do reinforcements finally help push the rioters back.

(on camera): There's this long line of metropolitan police, so that's the Washington, D.C., police who, in the past half hour, have slowly, methodically, peacefully pushed these Trump supporters back from the capitol.

(voice-over): By then, the damage was done. Rioters got onto the Senate floor and up on to the dais where Vice President Mike Pence had just sat. This one with plastic handcuffs, as another with a smile on his face snags Speaker Pelosi's podium. Congressional offices trashed.

Congressman Jim Clyburn insinuating that rioters had been told where to find his unmarked office.

REP. JIM CLYBURN (D-SC) (voice-over): How come they don't go where my name was? You won't find my name, but they found where I was supposed to be. So something else is going on untoward here.

MARQUARDT: Another rioter told "The New York Times" that a capitol police officer directed him to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer's office.

In Pelosi's office, this man kicked his foot up on her desk. He has now been identified as Richard Barnett, arrested and charged with three federal counts, including theft of public property.

Arrests and charges are pouring in, almost 100 total arrests for the week.

West Virginia state legislator, Derrick Evans, who recorded himself storming the capitol, faces criminal charges.

The Justice Department says, so far, 13 people face federal charges. Forty were charged in superior court. Assault cases, firearms cases.

One man charged had filled his red pickup truck with 11 homemade bombs, an assault rifle and handgun. The vehicle was found by the bomb squad near the capitol.

Future charges, the D.C. federal prosecutor said, could include seditious conspiracy, rioting and insurrection.

[13:44:59]

The D.C. police and FBI putting out photos of persons of interest, asking for help from the public to bring justice to those who brought such a dark day to America.

Alex Marquardt, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: This programming note. Join CNN's Wolf Blitzer for "THE TRUMP INSURRECTION: 24 HOURS THAT TOOK AMERICA." A look at what happened at the U.S. capitol and what happens next. This new CNN special report airs tomorrow at 10:00.

And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:49:55]

WHITFIELD: New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says health officials in his state have just discovered three new cases of the coronavirus variant first identified in the U.K. At least 63 cases of the U.K. variant have now been found in the U.S. according to the latest data from the CDC.

This, as a new study provides early evidence that Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine might be effective against the new strains.

Joining me right now to discuss, Dr. Mati Hlatshwayo Davis, an infectious disease physician at the Washington University of Medicine, in St. Louis.

Dr. Davis, good to see you.

MATI HLATSHWAYO DAVIS, INFECTIOUS DISEASE PHYSICIAN, WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY OF MEDICINE, ST. LOUIS: Good to see you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: Does this study give you confidence about the effectiveness of the vaccine?

HLATSHWAYO DAVIS: It's a ray of light in what's been dark days for us, Fred. This study is very reassuring.

As you know, the strain came to our borders a few weeks ago, and almost immediately, researchers at Pfizer, Moderna and Walter Reed began research to see if their vaccine products would be effective against the strain.

And this data, so far, has been very reassuring as most of us in the public health medicine and scientific arena were hoping for.

So excellent news because, as you know, with the numbers and the death rates the way they are, we need everything, everything that we have available to fight this.

WHITFIELD: That must give you great relief considering you just received, right, your second dose of the coronavirus vaccine yesterday morning?

HLATSHWAYO DAVIS: Yes, I did. So much relief. And I can't even say to you that I would even think I could use the word "hope" after the type of week we've had in this country, after this horrific, horrific assault against the capitol.

But Friday, for me, was a day of gratitude and a day of hope.

And I'll be honest with you, Fred, after a year of taking care of patients on the front line and seeing the sort of sickness and devastation that this has wrought upon our communities, our family, it's meant so much to me.

As you know, I had a baby in May. I have a 4-year-old. My husband is a pediatrician in the neonatal intensive care unit at Washington University. For our family, this is a must.

And I don't say that lightly. Many in our community are hesitant. And by our community, I mean specifically the African-American community.

And they have every reason to be, given the horrific history of atrocity that has happened in government and scientific and medical communities.

I say to them today, this is not a decision I made lightly. But the science must lead when you're making these decisions.

The science is clear here. This is an effective vaccine. It is a safe vaccine. Mild side effects. And 24 hours out of the second dose.

But most people, I'll be honest, I'll say you can expect a little more in the way of headaches, myalgias or muscle aches, fatigue and even fever. I'm still having minor muscle ache at the site of the site.

So reach out in your community that you trust who do this work, myself included. But be thoughtful about this.

Because this is not a choice between a vaccine or no vaccine. Let's be clear. This is a choice between the risks and benefits a vaccine and the risks and benefits of COVID, which include death.

WHITFIELD: That you were speaking to that and demonstrating receiving the vaccine really speaks volumes and is potentially highly influential, particularly among the communities you're talking about who have expressed a lot of reluctance. So the latest CDC numbers show that the U.S. effort is still woefully

being schedule.

President-Elect Joe Biden now breaking with the federal government's policy of holding back half of the vaccine supply to ensure second doses are available and, instead, planning to release nearly all available vaccine doses when he takes office.

Are you comfortable with that? Do you think that's a good idea?

HLATSHWAYO DAVIS: I am, I am. I mean, I have to be at this point.

And I don't say that lightly. I was born and raised in Zimbabwe, considered a low-income country. And many of my country men and women will not even see this vaccine for a year, which is terrible.

However, that doesn't underscore the fact that, here in the U.S., we are leading in cases, almost 22 million in total, over 370,000 deaths.

This vaccine is the most important tool in an otherwise large toolbox, which, let me be clear, still involves masking, still involves social distancing and avoiding gatherings of any kinds, especially large gatherings, washing hands.

But we need this vaccine. And the data shows that having both of those vaccine doses as it was done in the trials is the best way to protect our communities.

So to get this vaccine out, obviously, with guidance from the federal government, which has been lacking to this point, is something that I think is key, Fred. We need this.

WHITFIELD: So even if you get the vaccine, you still have to uphold all the other protections to make sure that everyone is safe.

[13:55:07]

Dr. Mati Hlatshwayo Davis, thank you so much. Always good to see you again. Thank you.

HLATSHWAYO DAVIS: Great to see you again, Fred. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, we're following breaking news overseas now. Now clues in the search for that missing plane. Details next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: This breaking news that we're following. Authorities in Indonesia found a Boeing 737 evacuation slide at sea where an Indonesian passenger plane is believed to have crashed.

The Indonesian navy says it has found the location where the plane disappeared earlier today with 62 passengers and crew on board.

Rescue crews may have found debris. And fishermen in the area tell CNN that they heard a large explosion and felt a large wave around the time the plane was suspected to have crashed.

[14:00:03]

According to global flight tracking service, flight radar 24, the plane dropped 10,000 feet in less than a minute before disappearing from radar.