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Disturbing Video Shows Officer Crushed Against Door By Mob Storming Capitol; House Democrats Plan To Introduce Impeachment Resolution Monday; More Arrests Made After Insurrection At U.S. Capitol; COVID Hits Small California Town With A Vengeance; Images Of This Week's Deadly Riot Shook The World; Biden: "Complete Confidence" In Secret Service For Inauguration Safety; More Arrests Made After Insurrection At U.S. Capitol. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired January 09, 2021 - 15:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:00:00]

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York.

And new this afternoon, more arrests linked to the Capitol attack incited by the president, as Trump himself faces the prospect of becoming the first president ever to be impeached twice. Authorities have tracked down several men made infamous in photos and videos, including one who carried away Pelosi's lectern, a man wearing a horned hat, bear skin, another in a QAnon T-shirt.

All of this comes as shocking new video just further reveals how violent Wednesday's riot was. A warning, this is disturbing, it is dramatic. It shows an officer being crushed in the violent mob.

That's disturbing. This is too. The rioters were also heard shouting what appears to be violent and disturbing rhetoric calling for the vice president of the United States to be hanged.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PROTESTERS: Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: I want to go straight to CNN's Jeremy Diamond at the White House. All of this comes as President Trump is being blamed by both sides for inciting the violence, his Twitter now taken away for good, and now House Democrats planning to introduce articles of impeachment as soon as Monday. So what's the latest from there? What are you hearing?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, with 11 days left in his presidency, President Trump is perhaps at one of the most vulnerable and isolated points in that presidency, weakened by a wave of resignations within his own administration, including that of two of his own cabinet secretaries who have been in his administration since day one and the president's also isolated from the counsel of his aides preferring to believe his own delusional reality about the election and about his role in inciting that mob that marched on Capitol Hill this past Wednesday.

The president now also facing the loss of his Twitter account and you saw him yesterday attempt to lash out at that ban he faced from Twitter, tweeting instead from his official government account @potus, where he said we'll not be silenced. And he also talked about negotiating with other companies to try and get his message out and perhaps even considering bringing up his own platform.

But what is clear is that while the president is expressing some concern about the video that he posted, not the one in which he appeared to align himself with the mob that rioted on Capitol Hill, but instead expressing regrets, it seems, according to some aides, about that video in which he committed to a peaceful transfer of power and talked about the need for healing and reconciliation.

And all of this is happening, Ana, as we see the president could be only the first president in history to be impeached for the second time just this coming week and there is still, of course, pressure from lawmakers, including some Republicans for the president to resign with just over a week-and-a-half to go in office.

CABRERA: And we are also learning more this afternoon, more fallout for this president when it comes to trying to change the election results in Georgia. What can you tell us?

DIAMOND: Yes, that's right. We already know, of course, that call that President Trump made a week ago to the Georgia secretary of state in which he encouraged the secretary of state to, quote, find votes to help him win that state of Georgia, which, of course, he lost in the November election.

But now, we are also learning of another call first reported by The Washington Post and confirmed by our colleague, Jason Morris, that the president called one of these investigators in the state of Georgia who was investigating election fraud and urged him to, quote, find the fraud and also encouraging him that he would become a national hero if indeed he did find evidence of voter fraud in that state. That investigation actually concluded without findings of fraud in the county, in which that investigator was looking into.

And so it just goes to show you the length that the president was willing to go, calling not only the governor of the state of Georgia, the secretary of state, but also now one of those individuals directly investigating allegations of voter fraud and some legal experts are warning that the president, in doing so, may have committed some form of obstruction of justice even though it would be very hard to actually prosecute that case.

[15:05:06]

Ana?

CABRERA: Jeremy Diamond at the White House, lots of developments, thank you.

Over to Capitol Hill, where they're talking about impeaching President Trump again for inciting the mob that broke into the U.S. Capitol. And impeachment is not just a theory being floated. Leading House Democrats have actually drawn up an article of impeachment now and they say they are ready to move forward.

Our Senior Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju joins us on Capitol Hill. Manu, what is the likelihood of an impeachment with President Trump leaving office now in just a few days?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's very high at the moment because what Nancy Pelosi has been warning about for the last couple of days is that Donald Trump must resign or Vice President Mike Pence must invoke the 25th Amendment and take that unprecedented constitutional action to force Donald Trump out of office. If neither of those things happen, the Democrats are saying they will move ahead with an article of impeachment against Donald Trump and there's no indication that the president is going to step aside before he leaves on January 20th.

So, behind the scenes, Democrats are trying to garner support for one article of impeachment for incitement of an insurrection. This would come on top of the two articles of impeachment that have been approved by the House in 2019 for abuse of power and obstruction of Congress and would give Trump the dubious distinction of being the only president in American history who has been impeached twice.

Now that effort is still moving behind the scenes and we expect the article to be introduced on Monday. The question is when would they schedule a vote. And if there is a vote, it could move pretty quickly. On Tuesday, potentially, the House Rules Committee could move to consider the parameters for a floor debate so the full House could potentially vote by Wednesday.

So we're expecting potentially action by the middle of the week. At the moment, the sponsors of that impeachment resolution have 180 co- sponsors that need the majority of the House to get support. There are 222 Democrats, expectation that they'll have no problem getting the majority of support of the House.

The question though is in the Senate, there's unlikely going to be an impeachment trial before the president leaves office on January 20th. So that may kick it to the new Democratic majority that starts on January 20th to begin that impeachment trial in the Senate. If he's convicted, then the president would not be able to hold future office. So that's going to be the question for the senators and the House members here as they move forward in the coming days, Ana.

CABRERA: And, Manu, tell us about the scene that happened on Wednesday. While the doors and windows of the capitol were being smashed by that angry mob, we're seeing several Republican members of Congress apparently being offered masks but refusing to wear them. Any fallout from that today?

RAJU: Yes. Those members were ushered all into a secure location in the aftermath of the mob coming into the Capitol and there are rules in the House where members are required to wear masks at all times including members, staff, reporters and the like. They must be wearing masks.

But what you can see there is a Democrat from Delaware, Lisa Blunt Rochester, who is wearing red there, trying to pass out masks to several conservative House Republicans, that includes Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, freshman conservative Andy Biggs of Arizona and Scott Perry of Pennsylvania among several other conservative Republicans, six in total.

At one point in that video, it says from Markwayne Mullin, he can be heard saying I'm not trying to get political here in refusing to wear a mask. And members here are just concerned about the fact that this has been a place where it's been a COVID hot spot of sorts. A lot of members have gotten coronavirus over the months. And one reason why there's rules is to prevent the spread but, clearly, here, those members defying the rules. Ana?

CABRERA: The CDC director even saying yesterday that they believe this is going to end up being a super-spreader event, and we already have 370 million Americans dead from coronavirus. Manu Raju, thank you.

I want to bring in California Congressman Ted Lieu. He's with us now, member of the House Judiciary Committee, one of the Democrats drafting the articles of impeachment. Congressman, good to have you here with us.

You told my colleague, Wolf Blitzer, just last night that you started drafting the articles of impeachment just hours after this violence began at the Capitol. We have the draft now, and there's one article, charges President Trump with incitement of insurrection. Explain that charge and just how soon we could we see a House vote.

REP. TED LIEU (D-CA): Thank you, Ana, for your question. So what happened on Wednesday is that Donald Trump told his reporters to come on January 6th and that it would be wild. He then told his supporters that the election had been stolen and he told them to stop the steal. He instructed them to go down Pennsylvania Avenue and to go to the Capitol and then he directed them that they cannot take back our country by showing weakness and they have to show strength, and they listened to them. They attempted a violent overthrow of Congress while we were trying to accept the certified Electoral College results.

If this is not impeachable conduct, then nothing is. That's why we're going to introduce the article of impeachment this Monday.

[15:10:01]

I'm very pleased we already have 180 co-sponsors.

CABRERA: So is it your understanding that this is a go or is it possible that Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, is still waiting and going to hold off on this beyond Monday potentially?

LIEU: All of us, including Speaker Pelosi, will prefer that Donald Trump simply do the right thing and resign, or that Vice President Pence actually shows some spine, at least for himself and his own family, and invoke the 25th Amendment. If none of that happens, then on Monday, we will introduce the article of impeachment, which is incitement to insurrection and we do expect a floor vote this coming week.

CABRERA: Twitter, as we mentioned, has suspended Trump's account permanently. We don't know where the president's head is right now. We know he's more isolated. There's some reporting this afternoon that behind closed doors, he's saying he won't resign and he's actually expressing regret about having put out a video, you know, discussing a peaceful transfer of power. That's where he regrets. Are you concerned what might happen between now and a potential impeachment?

LIEU: That's a great point. That's why we have to send the article of impeachment to the Senate. Donald Trump needs to know that there is a tool out there where he can be immediately removed from office if he does anything even more crazy. And it's not just Twitter that banned him. Multiple social media platforms did. And maybe the deepest cut is actually Pinterest that banned him as well.

CABRERA: What was your reaction when you heard all of these social media accounts were suspending him, namely, Twitter, because, of course, that had been his primary method of communication with his supporters?

LIEU: I generally support free speech, however, the First Amendment does not apply to private sector companies, so they are free to do what they want. Had they actually taken action earlier in terms of the pandemic, I think a lot less people would have died because Donald Trump sent all sorts of misinformation through social media. But at this point, I'm pleased that they're not going to allow him to incite any more violence.

CABRERA: Getting back to impeachment, here is how the White House responded. This is a statement released Friday and they say, a politically motivated impeachment against the president with 12 days remaining in his term will only serve to further divide our great country. How do you respond to that statement?

LIEU: We had an insurrection and attempted coup that resulted in multiple people dying, including a police officer. We cannot heal our nation before we have justice and hold those responsible, including the president of the United States.

And impeachment is not just to remove a dangerous and delusional president, it's also to make sure that Donald Trump never holds office ever again, make sure he doesn't have a $1 million travel budget, he doesn't get Secret Service protection, he doesn't get a lifetime pension and to tell future generations that Congress, they didn't just sit around and give speeches in response to this attempt at a violent overthrow of our government.

CABRERA: You said you and your colleagues specifically drafted these articles with a goal of gaining GOP support. How so? LIEU: This is a very narrow article of impeachment. We don't talk about all the other crimes that Donald Trump did. It is focused on the insurrection and we have had conversations with other Republicans. We hope some would co-sponsor, but in any event, we believe we'll have some that will vote for this article if it comes to a floor vote, and we believe it will come to a floor vote.

CABRERA: Do you know of Republicans who have committed to that at this point?

LIEU: Confidentially, yes, I'm not going to say it publicly. And, obviously, they can do whatever they want until the floor vote actually happens.

CABRERA: Do you know or can you give us at least a number, how many?

LIEU: Not at this time but there will be Republicans that will vote for it.

CABRERA: What about in the Senate? Do you have any knowledge of senators who are planning to vote to convict?

LIEU: So, we're very pleased that Senator Ben Sasse has said that he's open to impeachment. We know Senator Murkowski has called on Donald Trump to resign. And with every passing day, just like the video CNN just showed of the law enforcement officer being crushed by the mob, we learn that Wednesday was actually worse than we even thought it was.

CABRERA: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell has said that it's very unlikely that there would be a vote on impeaching Trump or a trial regarding this impeachment before inauguration on January 20th unless all the senators agreed to a rule change, which, as we just heard from Manu, isn't going to happen. Do you think they would actually vote before Trump leaves office?

LIEU: Anything is possible. And first of all, none of us know what Donald Trump is thinking right now, what he might do tomorrow. He could do something even crazier two days from now and that could change what the Senate may or may not do.

[15:15:02]

But we're in the House of Representatives. Our job is to essentially indict the president. What he did was completely indictable conduct. He incited a coup to overthrow our government and it was violent and people died. We've got to do the impeachment and then the Senate will do what they're going to do. But we can't let what the Senate may or may not do, stop us from introducing these articles of impeachment. That's just one article of impeachment.

CABRERA: Right. Congressman Ted Lieu, thank you. Thank you for your time.

LIEU: Thank you. CABRERA: The DOJ announcing arrests in Capitol Hill riot, and it includes this man seen carrying away House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's podium. His identity next, live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Following Wednesday's riot at the U.S. Capitol, the Department of Justice has now charged more people today. I want to go straight to CNN Senior Justice Correspondent Evan Perez. Evan, tell us who has been charged.

[15:20:00]

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, you have a national round-up happening right now. One of the people who the Justice Department said today had been arrested, his name is Adam Johnson. He's the one seen in some of the photographs holding the podium, the speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi. He was picked up in Florida and expected to be in federal court in Washington next week.

Another arrest is Jacob Chansley, he was picked up in Arizona. He is in some of those images showing him with face paint, appears to be some kind of Viking get-up, again, inside the Capitol as they were ransacking the building.

Another arrest, Derek Evans, a delegate in the West Virginia House -- the legislature there in West Virginia. We're told by an affiliate in West Virginia that he has now resigned his position. He was captured on some of the videos again with the crowd there ransacking the Capitol.

But one of the things that I think we have to emphasize, you know, you see some of the carnival looking images of the scenes there from Wednesday, this was a serious, serious event. Obviously, there was somebody who had parked a truck full of bombs right outside one of the Capitol buildings. Prosecutors say there was one particular man who was picked up who was armed and he had told people in text messages that he came to kill Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the House of Representatives.

I'll play just a little bit of video from Wednesday that gives you a flavor of how serious this was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PROTESTERS: Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREZ: And you can hear them say, hang Mike Pence, obviously, one of the most loyal people to President Trump. President, at the end of his rally there, expressing disappointment to the fact that Mike Pence wouldn't do the illegal thing that the president wanted him to do and inciting the crowd, essentially, what you see happened there on Wednesday.

CABRERA: Okay, Evan Perez, thank you for your reporting. I want to bring in former Washington, D.C. Police Chief Charles Ramsey, a CNN Law Enforcement Analyst.

Chief Ramsey, 17 people currently facing federal charges. Are you surprised it's just 17 now three days after the attack?

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I mean, it will increase. I'm sure that everything is being done. The FBI, Secret Service, metropolitan police, everyone is going over video, doing all they can to try to identify the people that were involved in this intrusion the other day. So, right now, it's 17 but that number is going to grow every day, believe me.

CABRERA: The West Virginia State lawmaker, Derek Evans, he was among the rioters. We know he was arrested and was released on his own personal recognizance, the same for others facing charges. By definition though, what took place could be considered domestic terrorism? What do you make of these people being released until their next court hearing?

RAMSEY: Well, it's certainly up to the courts to decide whether or not they can be released and they can trust to come back to court. But the bottom line is they're facing some very serious charges and hopefully they all wind up doing some actual time in the penitentiary. That's what they need, prison time. Nothing short of that is going to really be satisfactory.

CABRERA: Here is what I don't understand though. They get to walk free in between their court hearings. Other people facing lesser and less serious charges are oftentimes held, aren't they?

RAMSEY: Well, at times, but you also have to remember that even in those cases with COVID and so forth, fewer people are being held. So I don't know what the rationale was behind that at all but I just want to see him wind up in a penitentiary. And whether they get out today or not, as long as they wind up in prison, and hopefully they will, that's what really matters to me.

CABRERA: When we talk about accountability and who's responsible, House majority Whip Congressman James Clyburn and some other Democrats have raised questions about whether some Capitol police officers actually aided the rioters and were complicit in this insurrection. And I'm going to ask Representative Clyburn about this when I speak to him live next hour, but did you see anything in any of the videos or images you've seen that might indicate this?

RAMSEY: I saw some that were disturbing where it looked like they just kind of like opened the barriers to let people in. Why they did that, I don't know. But I do know there will be a thorough investigation on all of this. And if you do, in fact, have Capitol police officers or any police officer that was a part of this, then they ought to be arrested and charged the same as everyone else.

I mean, this is just totally unacceptable. And I include the president of the United States and members of his family.

[15:25:02]

They got up there and incited the crowd. As far as I'm concerned, they should all be locked up.

CABRERA: I hate to play this video again, because it's painful to watch, but because of your expertise and experience, I do want to play the video of a police officer, how this officer was treated by this mob. Let's watch.

It's barbaric. It's painful to watch that because you could see the pain that he was in. What's your reaction when you see that?

RAMSEY: Well, I mean, I was horrified. But, first of all, that's a metropolitan police officer, not a Capitol police officer. That particular platoon came after the riots started when they eventually got around asking for assistance. There was a platoon of metropolitan police officers that were given the assignment of protecting that particular door, and that's where the officer is from.

I contacted the Chief Contee this morning. The officer was injured but nothing life-threatening. So he will be out for a while. Obviously very sore but that's a metropolitan police officer. They did a tremendous job. They never breached that door.

CABRERA: Amazing, and I am so happy that you have that update for us to know that he's going to be okay.

I want to play another moment from the riot. This is in the moments before a woman was shot by a Capitol Hill police employee.

From your expert eyes, what do you see in that video, Chief?

RAMSEY: Well, I mean, that use of force, I don't have the return, so I didn't see that one specifically, although I believe I saw it earlier in the day. This is when the Capitol police officers fires at the crowd. Yes, well, that's a use of force that will be investigated, my understanding, by MPD, their force investigation team.

Again, this is a hairy situation. I don't know exactly what their policies are, but I do know this. They took the members of Congress to a secure location within the Capitol building. Had they breached that and actually attacked members of Congress, I'm telling you, there would have been a problem and would have been use of force, high levels of use of force to protect the lives of those members, period.

So these people put themselves in that situation. They had no business being in there. So me personally, my empathy and condolences go to the family of Officer Sicknick who was killed in the line of duty during this event.

CABRERA: Charles Ramsey --

RAMSEY: Not the other, yes.

CABRERA: -- thank you for being with us.

So what does Wednesday's deadly failed coup mean for the United States' standing on the world stage for how the U.S. pressures other countries to not just hold fair elections but also to honor results? Fareed Zakaria joins us live, next.

But first quick programming note for you. Join CNN's Wolf Blitzer for "The Trump Insurrection: 24 Hours That Shook America," a look at what happened at the U.S. Capitol and what happens next. This new CNN special report airs tomorrow night at 10:00 Eastern here on CNN.

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[15:33:16]

CABRERA: We have more breaking news this afternoon. The U.S. death toll from coronavirus surpassing 370,000 lives lost.

The state of California getting hit especially hard. The number of COVID patients in the ICU reaching an all-time high today.

CNN's Sara Sidner reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LINDSAY PACKARD, ICU MANAGER & NURSE, ST. MARY MEDICAL CENTER: We've never seen the ER like this before and our whole time being here.

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This is what COVID-19 looks like in California in 2021, a hellscape.

PACKARD: That death toll has been out of this world.

SIDNER: On the edge of the Mojave Desert, at St. Mary Medical Center in Apple Valley, you can see the crisis even before you walk in.

(CROSSTALK)

SIDNER: Patients arrived constantly, some by ambulance

(CROSSTALK)

SIDNER: Some on foot.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What's going on today?

SIDNER: A California National Guard strike team of medics and nurses arrives daily.

UNIDENTIFIED NATIONAL GUARDSMAN: This is an area of great need. And we're glad to be here. You know, when I first got in it, it felt like maybe a Band-Aid on an arterial bleed.

SIDNER: A gush of patients that just won't stop.

PACKARD: I'd say about 80% of our patients are COVID. SIDNER: Temporary plastic walls erected all over this hospital, create a maze of COVID pods, patients with other emergencies line the halls.

(on-camera): The hospital is so full here that some of the patients that you're seeing here in the hallways will have to wait seven to 10 days possibly just to get a room. They need to be admitted to the hospital. But they're being cared for in the hallways for now.

(voice-over): Upstairs in the 20 bed ICU --

PACKARD: In ICU, we see death and dying on a daily basis but never to this scale.

SIDNER: -- every Intensive Care Unit bed is full. Every staff member busy saving patients.

[15:35:07]

PACKARD: We have over 50 ICU patients in the hospital right now. And we only have the staff to care for about 20 of them. So, we are being stretched. The nurses are being pushed to their absolute breaking points and then a little further every day.

SIDNER: The soundtrack here --

(BEEPING)

SIDNER: -- a never-ending series of beeping codes and rapid response calls alerting staff when someone's heart has stopped or breathing has stalled.

That's what's happening behind this curtain inside a newly created COVID unit. A COVID-19 patient, in pain, can't catch her breath.

(COUGHING)

SIDNER: Nurses and doctors can't either, working every day to exhaustion.

ARTUR GRIGORIYAN, EMERGENCY MEDICINE, ST. MARY MEDICAL CENTER: The physical toll of course, there's also an emotional toll and it's very hard to deal with patients die. You know, mortality is very has been very, very high.

SIDNER (on-camera): How do you deal with this? Are you OK?

GRIGORIYAN: I guess I'm still standing but, you know, we'll see. Give it a few months.

SIDNER (voice-over): But right now, a patient needs him. He's on life support. COVID pneumonia is on the attack. His lung has collapsed. There's a scramble to insert a chest tube. The difference between life and death, razor thin.

PACKARD: People don't take it seriously until they're here with us or until they're on the other line of that phone call talking to their family member for the last time. It is real, it is serious and most of what we're seeing is preventable.

SIDNER: The hospital is making space in every nook and cranny, but the crush of patients threatens to overwhelm the space and the staff every single day.

Everyone here expects this to get worse before coronavirus takes its last breath.

Sara Sidner CNN, Apple Valley California.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: Be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:41:04]

CABRERA: As rioters attack the U.S. capitol, the world reacted to the events in shock.

Look at the front page of these newspapers. This is from Canada. A headline, declaring what happened on Wednesday, "Anarchy."

In Italy, one paper went with the headline, "Once Upon a Time in America."

And "The Times of India" with this eye-catching headline, Coup Klux Klan. Don Triggers Mob and Rob Bid."

A British correspondent who was inside the capitol during the chaos spoke to some of the rioters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED BRITISH CORRESPONDENT: What's the purpose of storming Congress itself?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because they work for us! They don't get to steal it from us. They don't get to tell us we didn't see what we saw.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We all know that they changed rules mid game and they're not being held accountable and that's a shame.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Joining us now, Fareed Zakaria, the host of "Fareed Zakaria, GPS" here on CNN, and the author of the new book, "Ten Lessons from a Post-Pandemic World."

Fareed, the entire world is watching this violence and vandalism as it happens at the U.S. capitol.

I just want to start by getting your reaction on what played out Wednesday and this moment we're living in right now.

FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN ANCHOR: Without any question, this is the most significant threat to American democracy since the Civil War.

We've really lived through one of the truly epic moments of history. And what we saw was a kind of violent manifestation of the threat.

But it's important to understand, what we saw on the steps of the capitol, that mob, that attempt at insurrection, was just the violent and physical manifestation of an attempt at insurrection, which was going on legally and within the halls of Congress.

That is to say, the demands of those people who were storming the capitol were to overturn a duly certified election that had been upheld in almost 60 court challenges.

That demand, which was being voted on by Congress, which seven Senators and 137 members of Congress voted for, after the insurrection attempt, that demand is itself an effort at sedition, at insurrection.

And it was a demand, of course, perpetrated, instigated by the president of the United States, but then encouraged and goaded on by senior members of the Republican Party.

CABRERA: And media, too. Right-wing media continues to put out --

(CROSSTALK)

CABRERA: -- and enable and foment and just amplify these lies.

Here's the thing. Even after what we've seen and the horror that we witnessed on live TV, these new videos that are surfacing that just emphasize how violent this was, even with Twitter suspending the president's Twitter account and his ability to communicate that way, it still won't change what too many Americans believe, what these rioters believe that we know is not even true.

ZAKARIA: Exactly. The task here is for every member of Congress, Republican and Democrat, and of course, in particular, those Republican members who voted for the effort to nullify the election, to get out there and to admit that they were lying, that these are lies.

That this election was free and fair, that it was certified by state officials, that every counterclaim that has been taken to court has been shot down.

Unless you have -- the root of this issue is not those mobs. The root of the issue is the president had spread cancerous lies about the election, fed and created a conspiracy theory.

[15:45:00]

And that conspiracy theory is what caused this effort to overturn democracy.

And you know, you still have Senators, like Josh Hawley and Ted Cruz, unrepentant for their efforts to essentially instigate a sedition. And you still have members of the House, you still have the House

minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, who joined in that effort at sedition.

It's important to understand, the demands of those mobs that stormed the capitol were being upheld by senior members of the Republican Party.

Until you get them to denounce it and to admit the election was free and fair, to admit that they were playing with fire, you will not convince those people.

I think the real blame lies not with those people who stormed the capitol. It's on the instigators, the people who told those people that the election had been stolen, was fraudulent. That's the problem.

CABRERA: I'm hoping we still have Fareed here because I know your signal is breaking up just a little bit, Fareed.

But I'm curious to get your thoughts on the fact that there are just 11 days left until the president is out of office.

But even before his Twitter account was shut down, the president tweeted that he was going to be skipping Biden's inauguration, something that's only happened three other times in American history and not for the last 150 years.

What is the significance of that?

ZAKARIA: In a way, I'm glad because I think it signals to the world, to America, that this is a very unusual rule-breaking, law-breaking president who doesn't lead democratic norms and traditions, who's willing to flout them, who puts his own self-interest above the decorum and the norms of democracy.

And in a way, it is an accurate reflection of Donald Trump, who came in the sense as a rule breaker and, to my mind, an anti-democrat. He leaves a rule breaker and anti-democrat.

CABRERA: Fareed Zakaria, thank you very much, I appreciate you joining us.

ZAKARIA: My pleasure.

CABRERA: Don't forget to check out his new book, "Ten Lessons for a Post-Pandemic World." And be sure to tune in to "Fareed Zakaria, GPS." That's tomorrow morning at 10:00 a.m. eastern, right here on CNN.

Twitter warns there's online chatter about more protests, even a potential second attack on the capitol just days before Biden's inauguration on January 20th. We'll get a closer look at what's being done to keep the president-elect safe. That's next.

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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CABRERA: Whatever the political or criminal fallout from that deadly attack on the U.S. capitol, one thing is certain and will not change: Joe Biden will take the oath of office and become president 11 days

from now.

But the events of this week will have an impact on the security level at Biden's inauguration.

CNN national correspondent, Athena Jones, is with us now.

Athena, this will already be an inauguration unlike any other in modern times. What has changed since Wednesday?

ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Ana. Well, the main thing that has changed is that we've now seen a vivid depiction of how terribly things can go wrong when there isn't enough security in place.

So there's heightened security going in the next several days leading up to the inauguration.

And that security isn't theoretical. You mentioned Twitter. There's Twitter talking about chatter about attacks.

Also, experts who track these threats are warning that calls for violence have only intensified ahead of Inauguration Day.

For instance, the leader of the Anti-Defamation League is saying there's chatter from white supremacists, far-right extremists who feel emboldened by the events of last week.

Another expert saying, while most of America was horrified, in a certain part of the right-wing conversation, they see what happened Wednesday as a success.

Now, President-Elect Biden was asked about his level of concern about security at a press conference here in Wilmington yesterday.

Here's what he had to say.

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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Totally different entity is in charge of the inauguration than was in charge of protecting the capitol, the Secret Service.

I have great confidence in the Secret Service. I have great confidence in their ability to make sure that the inauguration goes safely, goes off safely, and goes off without a hitch.

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JONES: So, there you heard President-Elect Biden expressing confidence in the Secret Service. The Secret Service, for their part, in a statement, saying that,

"Inauguration is a foundational element of our democracy." And that their planning has been a long time in the making.

And of course, Ana, we already know, as you mentioned, this is going to be a very different inauguration from the type we've seen in the past. A much-reduced affair because of the threat of the COVID pandemic.

So for instance, members of Congress are not going to have thousands upon thousands of tickets to share with constituents who want to see Biden sworn in, in-person. Instead, they'll have just tickets for themselves and for a guest.

There's not going to be that typical inaugural parade along Pennsylvania Avenue with thousands of people greeting the recently sworn-in president. Instead, that will be a virtual parade.

And of course, other celebrations like balls will also be virtual. So a very, very different year.

But Secret Service saying they're going to be ready -- Ana?

CABRERA: OK, safety first on all fronts.

Thank you, Athena Jones, live for us in Wilmington, Delaware.

Up next, they were photographed in the act, and now federal authorities have tracked them down, at least some of the Capitol Hill rioters. That's next.

[15:54:51]

You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

CABRERA: You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. Thank you for staying with me. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York.

We begin this hour with breaking news. More arrests linked to the capitol attack incited by the president, as Trump himself faces the prospect of becoming the first president ever to be impeached twice.

Authorities have tracked down several men made infamous in photos like this and videos, including one man who carried away Speaker Pelosi's lectern, a man wearing that horned hat and bearskin, and another in a QAnon shirt.

All this comes as shocking new video just further reveals how violent Wednesday's riot was.

A warning. It's disturbing. It's dramatic.

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It shows an officer being crushed in the violent mob crushed in the violent mob.

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