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More Arrests Made After Insurrection At U.S. Capitol; Twitter Suspends Trump's Account Permanently; House Dems Plan To Introduce Impeachment Resolution Monday; Interview With Rep. James Clyburn (D- SC); Rep. Boebert Faces Calls To Resign Less Than A Week Into Term; Pelosi Called Joint Chiefs Chair About Safeguarding Nuclear Weapons From Trump; Biden To Release Nearly All Available COVID-19 Vaccine Doses; U.S. COVID-19 Death Toll Surpasses 371,000. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired January 09, 2021 - 16:00   ET

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

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: 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. It shows an officer being crushed in the violent mob crushed in the violent mob.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

[16:00:15]

CABRERA: Now we're told that officer suffered nonlife threatening injuries but that was horrific. And so is this: rioters also heard calling for the vice president of the United States to be hanged.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RIOTERS: Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence! Hang Mike Pence!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Let's head straight to the White House now and CNN's Jeremy Diamond.

So, all of this, Jeremy, comes as President Trump is being blamed now by both sides for inciting this violence, as Twitter has gone for good and now House Democrats planning to introduce articles of impeachment come Monday. What is the latest from there? JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, with 11 days

left in his presidency, this does appear to be the weakest and most vulnerable that we have seen President Trump in his four years in office. Besieged on all sides with calls for resignation, not only from a majority of Democrats but also from some Republicans, including Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski, Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger. So you are seeing some pressure for the president to resign, and if not that pressure, then there are these calls for his impeachment or for the use of the 25th Amendment to remove him from office or strip him of his presidential powers.

And so, at this moment of vulnerability, you're also seeing a president increasingly isolated. He is facing this wave of resignations from senior officials in his administration, including two cabinet secretaries and now, he has also been stripped of his one outlet for attacks, for venting, for whatever you want to call it, that we see the president do day in and day out.

Last night, the president after being banned from Twitter, he tried to use the POTUS account, his official government account on Twitter to attack Twitter and to essentially say that he was going to look for alternative ways of getting his message out, and the president decrying in a message, quote, we will not be silenced, clearly bothered and angry by this ban on Twitter.

Now, the president, though, is not really reflecting on his role in inciting that mob, that riot that we saw on Capitol Hill. Instead, what we've seen from the president in terms of any reflection on what he has done over the last week is some reflection on that video that he posted on Thursday night. This is not the first video we saw in which he said that he loved these great patriots who were on Capitol Hill. This is the one where he condemned the attacks on Capitol Hill, and he committed himself to a peaceful transfer of power on January 20th.

According to our sources, the president appears to have expressed some regrets of actually issuing that video on Twitter, which tells you everything you need to know about where the president's head is at right now -- Ana.

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

Over on Capitol Hill right now, leading House Democrats are not just talking impeachment, they're planning to start the impeachment process as soon as Monday if the president is still in office then.

Our senior congressional correspondent Manu Raju is on Capitol Hill.

Manu, just a few minutes ago, I spoke with California Democrat Ted Lieu. He told me right here on CNN, he fully expects a vote to impeach the president a second time and he also says that some Republicans are on board.

What else can you tell us?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, and that will be the question is how many Republicans ultimately vote for this. We're already getting indications some want the president out of office, a Republican like Adam Kinzinger of Illinois who's been sharply critical of the president's conduct after the November elections, most House Republicans are still on Trump's side, but will any others break ranks? When will they officially say will definitely impeach this president because all signs are pointing to that, that President Trump will have the dubious distinction of being the only president in American history who will be impeached twice by the House of Representatives.

Now, things are expected to move pretty quickly and, Monday, that article of impeachment will be introduced, it will accuse the president of inciting an insurrection, detail his actions after the election and detail his efforts on Wednesday, his comments on Wednesday, that led to the incitement of that mob that came to Capitol Hill and led to multiple deaths, including one of the United States Capitol police officers.

Now, after that is introduced, then the legislative process will move forward, including an effort by the House Rules Committee to set the parameters for the floor debate, which could occur by the middle of next week when the full House would vote. Now, at the moment, there are 180 co-sponsors, Democrats who have signed on to this resolution to impeach the president. They need a majority of the House. There's expectation they would do that because 222 Democrats currently serve in the House.

But the question will be, what happens then? If the president doesn't step down by then, there's no indication or expectation that the Senate would have come back before it's scheduled to return on January 19th. To have that impeachment trial, Mitch McConnell telling his colleagues privately that essentially that is not going to happen unless all 100 senators agree to that, which will not happen.

[16:05:06]

So that means that the impeachment trial, Ana, could be kicked into post-January 20th, maybe January 20th itself in the afternoon or January 21st when Joe Biden is president, when Democrats of the Senate majority at that point, the early days of Trump administration -- the Biden administration could be filled with the efforts to convict Donald Trump, efforts to prevent him from returning and running for office again. So all those things will still have to play out in the days ahead, but at the moment, Ana, Democrats pushing full steam ahead to the president's second impeachment --Ana.

CABRERA: Before I move on to Congressman Clyburn to talk about just that, I do want our viewers to know and show them something else. This is an image that was taken on Wednesday, video from Wednesday, on Capitol Hill during the siege of the Capitol. Members of Congress were forced to huddle in a secure location in pretty tight quarters and several men and women, all Republicans, are being offered masks. They refused to wear them.

What are you hearing about this today, Manu? RAJU: Yeah, Lisa Blunt Rochester is the Democrat there in the red who was trying to hand those masks out to those six Republicans who were all in a secure location with other Democrats and Republican members following the mob coming into Capitol Hill.

There are rules in the House that require members to wear masks, aides to wear masks, reporters to wear masks when they are walking through the halls of the House or they're seated in meetings like this, clearly in violation of that. They refused to wear it.

One Congressman, Mullen, Mark Wayne Mullen, told Lisa Rochester, I don't want to get political here. Others there in the picture, including Scott Perry of Pennsylvania, rejecting the offer of a mask. Andy Biggs of Arizona, Marjorie Taylor Greene of Arizona, conservative Republicans, who green herself a freshman who has gotten into fights on the House floor about whether she should -- she should be required to wear a mask and which she is, according to the rules.

And, of course, Ana, the big reason why, this place, Capitol Hill, has been a bit of a hot spot for COVID-19. It has spread from member to member, to aides and others. That's why the rules are there, to wear a mask. But these members defying them, Ana.

CABRERA: And yet, we're still seeing records broken when it comes to the number of Americans who are dying every day, more than 370,000 Americans have lost their lives to the coronavirus. Thank you, Manu Raju.

One question we don't have answers to is how a group of Trump supporters turned domestic terrorists were able to break into the U.S. Capitol, a building that should be among the most secure in the world.

Both parties want answers. We're learning Democrats are raising questions as to whether some capitol police aided the rioters and were complicit in the insurrection.

Among those raises this possibility is House Majority Whip James Clyburn. He's with us now.

Congressman, all these allegations that some Capitol Hill police officers may have been complicit in this attack, it's stunning. What have you learned that makes you think this is even a possibility?

REP. JAMES CLYBURN (D-SC), HOUSE MAJORITY WHIP: Well, thank you very much for having me.

What I think is very, very clear. Irrespective of whether or not there was complicity here, there was a tremendous dereliction of duty. We are where we are in this country today with COVID-19 because of a lack of leadership, and I don't know whether or not the head of the Capitol police, the sergeant-at-arms in both the House and the Senate, maybe they are taking on the leadership practices of the president of the United States, because it's very clear to me that they were derelict in their duties to their employees, or should I say to the rank-and- file members and they were derelict in their duties to the Congress of the United States. When I drove into the Capitol on Wednesday morning, around 8:30 a.m.,

trying to get there in time for my 9:00 meeting, where we were going to talk about whether or not we had everything in place to protect members, I noticed that there wasn't anything different from what it was when I drove on to the campus the day before. I expected to see perimeters established that would prevent any kind of activity like we saw. It was not there. Those kinds of orders must come from on high, and it was not there.

And then we go to the meeting and I asked Zoe Lofgren, who chairs House Administration for us, and she said she had been assured that everything was in place to protect members.

[16:10:00]

It was not there.

And later in the day, when I participated in discussions between the leadership of the security forces and the leadership of House Democrats, we were getting mixed messages.

So, something was derelict here, and I think that those resignations which have been submitted were very, very deserving. And I would hope that the new leadership that comes in will be a little more diligent in carrying out their duties and responsibilities to keep the Capitol safe, not just for members but for visitors, for staff, for those people who have business in that building.

CABRERA: I want to move on to impeachment in just a second, but real quick, a follow-up, because I just want to clarify here. I mean, it's one thing to drop the ball. It's another thing to allege that, you know, police or law enforcement were actually, you know, complicit or trying to help the rioters accomplish whatever it was that they were after and trying to accomplish here.

Do you believe that police were trying to help these rioters in some fashion?

CLYBURN: Well, I believe my eyes, and I looked at these videos, and I saw barriers, those barricades, being removed and people being waved in. I saw what was going on with some members, some of the law enforcement people taking selfies with these insurrectionists. I believe my eyes.

CABRERA: Let's talk about the impeachment now, because based on the conversations you've had with your Republican colleagues, I'm curious how many do you think will actually vote to impeach President Trump?

CLYBURN: I don't know. But that should not be the basis for our action.

I am very concerned, not just about what is happening with this president but what will happen with this country going forward. Now, I know that everything I've heard about, the articles being drawn up and will be limited to one article dealing with the insurrection or whatever we may call it, inciting to riot. That's important. But let me tell you what's also important. The most fundamental thing

about a democracy is the integrity of the vote. And we had this president and the secretary of state in Georgia with everybody listening to the tape, trying to encourage the secretary of state down in Georgia to disregard the results of the election and to overturn those things and give him his 11,700 some-odd votes that he needed in order to declare a victory.

That is impeachable, and we ought not let that go. I'm getting a little sick and tired of us allowing things like that, just let it go. We should not let that go. That is very fundamental.

And so if you're going to have articles of impeachment, I think it's got to cover that action as well.

So, I am really concerned about that, and I'm making it very known to the members of my caucus that this is not just about Trump. This is about this democracy that we all hold dear. And we ought not ignore what he attempted to do with that vote down in Georgia.

CABRERA: We did have a chance to see the draft of this one article of impeachment, which is incitement of insurrection, and it does reference the phone call with the Georgia secretary of state asking him to find enough votes, but ultimately, they link that into what culminated in this insurrection attempt. There are now just 11 days left in President Trump's term. Mitch McConnell has said that a Senate trial wouldn't even happen until after Biden's inauguration.

So if this is about getting Trump out of office, because he's a danger to the American people, doesn't this timeline make that a moot point?

CLYBURN: Well, as I just said, it's not only about Trump. It is about whether or not we're going to send a signal to anybody who ever occupies the White House again, that we are not going to ignore any attempts on your part not just to cause an insurrection but to ignore the will of the people.

So, this impeachment that I am pushing very hard for, I think, is necessary for us to say, at least the House of Representatives will not tolerate this. We'll let Mitch McConnell determine whether or not the Senate will tolerate this.

[16:15:01]

Now, if you look at it, even if he doesn't have but one day left, let's move forward and get this done. And it will send a signal to anybody who ever runs for the office to know that you are not going to use precedent as established by Donald Trump in order to conduct yourself when you carry out your duties and responsibilities. So this is much more than Donald Trump.

CABRERA: I want to ask you about a pair of photographs that were taken during the attack on Wednesday. The first shows a noose. That was constructed near the Capitol. The second shows a rioter carrying a Confederate flag through the halls of Congress, something that has never happened before, not even during the civil war. You likely know this but I want to make sure our viewers know that the

portrait to the right of this rioter carrying that Confederate flag, it depicts Senator Charles Sumner. And in 1856, Sumner was viciously beaten on the Senate floor by a fellow Congress member for giving a speech against slavery.

The portrait to the left depicts former vice president and slaveholder, John Calhoun.

What is your reaction to an image like that?

CLYBURN: Well, I thank you very much for asking that question, because let me give a little bit of historical context to this for your listeners. First of all, Sumner was attacked by a South Carolinian. Preston Brooks I think was his name, from Abbeville, South Carolina, and caned to near death.

So as a former teacher of history and everyday student of history, I kind of keep up with those things.

But the second thing I would like to point out is that the Confederate battle flag, that's not the Confederate flag. That's never been the Confederate flag.

Those insurrectionists back in the 1800s tried to get that flag adopted as the Confederate flag but their so-called stars and bars was a circle of stars and three bars. That flag that you see and that cross that a lot of people think are bars, that's the St. Andrew's Cross, and that flag was resurrected and used by Nathan Bedford Forest, the founder -- he says he was not the founder but some indications are that he was the founder, certainly, the perpetrator of the Ku Klux Klan.

So, today, that flag has taken on a different meaning because when the people of Germany outlawed the swastika, that's the flag that's been adopted by the white supremacists and the other hate groups in Germany. They can't use the swastika, so they use that flag.

So that flag carries a current meaning that has nothing to do with the Confederacy, and it ought to say to all my friends in South Carolina and across this country, we should be dissociating ourselves from that flag because that flag has nothing to do with heritage. It has nothing to do with the history, even if you want to be sensitive to the Confederacy. It has a totally different meaning that we should all keep in mind when we go about carrying out our duties and responsibilities.

CABRERA: Congressman James Clyburn, thank you for being with us.

CLYBURN: Thank you so much for having me.

CABRERA: As millions watched in horror as a violent mob breached the U.S. Capitol, sources tell CNN the president was borderline enthusiastic.

We'll discuss that next. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:22:37]

CABRERA: Five people died because of the events at the Capitol this past week. Others were psychologically traumatized as rioters stormed in. But what was the president's reaction while all this was going on?

Just listen to Republican Senator Ben Sasse.

(BEGIN AUDIO 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.

HUGH HEWITT, RADIO HOST: That said --

SASSE: That was happening. He was delighted.

(END AUDIO CLPI)

CABRERA: Our own Kaitlan Collins reported Trump was, quote, borderline enthusiastic as the mob entered the building because they were disrupting the electoral vote count.

Joining us now, John Podesta, former counselor to President Obama and former White House chief of staff to President Clinton and chairman of Hillary Clinton's 2016 presidential campaign.

John, thanks for being with us.

It was just a couple months ago you wrote an op-ed warning that having a delayed transition would put people's lives at risk and you said this. We know from history, including a foiled terrorist attack on the day of President Barack Obama's inauguration, that our adversaries seek to take advantage of the United States during transitions. We cannot let that happen today.

When you wrote those words, did you ever in your wildest dreams think that you would turn on the TV and see rioters spurred on by the president storming the Capitol building?

JOHN PODESTA, WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF UNDER PRESIDENT CLINTON: Well, unfortunately, I did, because he's been fomenting this, really, for months. And at the time, you know, the concerns that I was expressing were ones in which they -- some of his people were interfering, particularly at the Pentagon, with the orderly transition.

But I think one doesn't need a big imagination to understand that Donald Trump can do very dangerous things on the spur of the moment, and this latest episode, what happened at the Capitol on January 6th, his incitement of insurrection, was only the latest in a long line of really breaches of his oath of office. And I think that's why it's so critical that we move forward to see whether or not he can be removed from office before January 20th.

[16:25:00]

CABRERA: Let's talk about that, because the president has just 11 days left in office. If he won't resign, or if Pence won't invoke the 25th Amendment, House Democrats say they are preparing to file an article of impeachment on Monday charging Trump with incitement of insurrection. Do you think that's the right move or would that just deepen the nation's divisions even more?

PODESTA: Well, look, I think the Congress in those circumstances would have no choice. Right now, look, it's up to Republicans, really, to move forward. You noted that Vice President Pence could convene the cabinet, and they have the power under the 25th Amendment to begin the removal of the president of the United States. They could do that and execute it right -- you know, almost immediately.

And if that doesn't happen, I think Mitch McConnell could go down to the White House and say, Mr. President, it's time to resign. We're done protecting you. If the House of Representatives impeaches you, it will come to the Senate and you will be convicted. And your only recourse is to resign.

But I think when it comes to what Democrats need to do in the House, I think it is -- as Mr. Clyburn was suggesting, it's really for posterity that they go on record saying that this was fully -- it's unacceptable for a president to get anywhere as close to what we saw, which is fomenting a crowd that was made up of white supremacists, anti-Semites, right wing extremists, to attack the capitol. That we will not have that and we will go on record saying that that's an impeachable offense.

So I think it's quite appropriate for them to do it. And the Senate, then, will have to consider, take up, and try the president and people will have to go on record and vote, is this -- are you on the side of the Constitution, or are you on the side of the insurrectionists?

CABRERA: You know what is so stunning, when you listen to some of these rioters in interview clips with reporters who were covering the events that day, they really believe they were doing something righteous. They have believed all these lies that have, you know, spread throughout social media, and people for years have been screaming at social media to do something, people who care about facts and truth and, you know, the democracy.

So, Twitter finally took action, permanently suspending the president's Twitter account last night, because of tweets they said were inciting violence.

As somebody who was frequently attacked by the president on Twitter, what was your reaction to his account being taken away?

PODESTA: Well, at long last, I guess, but the -- you know, I think if you go over to the other platforms, Facebook gave him such a wide berth, told him that he could essentially do anything he wanted to until it culminated in five people being killed. I think they all bear some responsibility.

But the other people who bear responsibility are the people who enabled this in the first place. Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz, Kevin McCarthy, who, again, encouraged, agitated, spread the big lie that this election was fraudulently undertaken. There was no evidence of that.

Had they been the leaders that we should expect from the United States, stood up, fought back against Trump lies, we'd be in a very different place today.

CABRERA: Over at the White House, the president's facing growing pressure to resign, as we've been discussing. Many in his administration are jumping ship. His daily public schedule now says that President Trump will work from early in the morning until late in the evening. He will make many calls and have many meetings. That is the official readout.

If you were chief of staff right now, what would you be doing or saying?

PODESTA: Look, I think I'd say, President Trump, you know, it's time to throw it in. You know, you're not, by extending this, you're only compounding the trauma to the country. Let Mike Pence have the last 11 days of the presidency and you know, time to move on.

Now, he'd probably fire me if I said that, but that's the right thing to do, because that's the right thing for the country. Get him out of office. If you are -- if you are too dangerous to be on Twitter, then you're too dangerous to be in charge of the nuclear codes.

CABRERA: John Podesta, good to have you with us. Thanks for your perspective and expertise.

PODESTA: Thanks, Ana.

CABRERA: Colorado Congresswoman Lauren Boebert is one of Congress' newest faces, yet she's already facing calls for her resignation. Why? That's next.

But first, make sure you join CNN's wolf Blitzer for "The Trump Insurrection: 24 Hours that Shook America". We'll have a look at what happened at the Capitol and what happens next. Our new CNN special report airs tomorrow night at 10:00 Eastern.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:30:00]

CABRERA: One of Congress's newest faces is already facing calls for her resignation, just a few days into her term.

CNN's Sunlen Serfaty explains why.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP. LAUREN BOEBERT (R-CO): I have constituents outside this building right now.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Less than a half hour before the capitol came under siege --

BOEBERT: They know this election is not right.

SERFATY: -- one of the newest Republican House members, 34-year-old Lauren Boebert, of Colorado, was on the House floor fanning the flames of the insurrection.

[16:35:04]

BOEBERT: I will not allow the people to be ignored.

SERFATY: She spent the morning tweeting, "Today is 1776 and promising to fight with everything I have to ensure the fairness of the election."

(SHOUTING)

SERFATY: And after the deadly violence inside the capitol, she proudly joined the group of Republicans objecting to certifying the election results.

Congresswoman Boebert, now only six days into her first congressional term, has quickly become one of the new faces of the conservative provocateurs on Capitol Hill.

On the day she was sworn in, she released this flashy video. Declaring she'll be bringing her .9-millimeter Glock to the halls of Congress and the streets of D.C.

BOEBERT: It's our job in Congress to defend your rights, including your Second Amendment, and that's exactly what I'm here to do.

SERFATY: The video went viral. Democrats pounced, calling it a dangerous attention grab.

And a stern warning came from the D.C. Police chief.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBERT CONTEE, CHIEF, WASHINGTON, D.C., POLICE DEPARTMENT: We plan to reach out to the congresswoman's office to make sure that she is aware of what the laws of the District of Columbia are, what the restrictions are.

SERFATY: Under federal law, lawmakers are allowed to carry guns on Capitol Hill but not in either legislative chamber.

Off capitol grounds, D.C. law requires a license to carry a firearm and a conceal carry permit, which the congresswoman says she has already started the process to obtain.

BOEBERT: This is something that there's no question that I will have and be able to carry here in Washington, D.C.. SERFATY: It's unclear if Boebert has already brought her gun to the

capitol.

BOEBERT: There's an absolute uproar over people wanting to defend myself. I mean, come on, I'm five foot zero, 100 pounds.

SERFATY: Boebert has attracted national attention for a while. She owns Shooter's Grill in her hometown of Rifle, Colorado, a gun-themed restaurant where she encourages her employees to be armed.

BOEBERT: We carry firearms, not because of gimmick.

SERFATY: And in 2019, she confronted then-presidential candidate, Beto O'Rourke, in this viral video.

BOEBERT: I drove down here from Rifle, Colorado, regarding, hell, yes, we're going to take you're A.R.-15s and --

(CROSSTALK)

BETO O'ROURKE, (D), FORMER PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: Let's be respectful. Let's be respectful.

BOEBERT: Well, I am here to say, hell, no, you're not.

SERFATY: And Boebert has since called the violence that happened up here on Capitol Hill inexcusable, but she is still facing calls for her resignation from local officials and local Democrats back home in Colorado.

Sunlen Serfaty, CNN, on Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CABRERA: The U.S. capitol is supposed to be one of the most secure buildings in the world. So, how was it able to be overtaken by a mob? We'll dig deeper, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:41:45]

CABRERA: The deadly insurrection at our nation's capital raises a lot of national security concerns. And it's exposing just how vulnerable the capitol building and those inside were to an attack that never should have happened.

I want to bring in CNN national security analyst, Samantha Vinograd, who served as the former senior advisor to the national security advisor under President Obama.

Sam, there are warnings from Twitter already of chatter online about more potential violence. What is your assessment of the near-term security risks we're facing?

SAMANTHA VINOGRAD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, Ana, put simply, our homeland is in havoc and our security resources are stretched thing.

We were already dealing with the security impacts of COVID, cyberattack, the transition, and years of Trump's mismanagement.

Now, on top of all that, we have credible live threats to key U.S. national security assets.

The FBI, Twitter, and others have warned about the risk of more violence, particularly as recent events could inspire more of Trump's supporters to act out.

Twitter has specifically cited the U.S. and state capitols as potential targets. And other political entities and events like the inauguration may also be at risk.

Now, while arguably too little, too late, we are seeing public and private-sector action.

To mitigate online radicalization, operational planning, private tech companies have removed users who glorify and instigate violence on their platforms like President Trump.

Intelligence and law enforcement personnel at the federal, state, and local level are now directing a more appropriate level of resources to mitigate this threat.

Notably, the rapid reprioritization of these resources could leave us exposed in other areas.

For all these reasons and more, this is an unprecedented period of vulnerability for the United States of America.

CABRERA: Tries to physically safeguard the nation's capital.

There are also questions about, how do you contain a president who has done some things that are questionable, to put it very gently.

We know House Speaker Nancy Pelosi called the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, about safeguards to President Trump from ordering military action and accessing the nuclear codes.

Is that enough?

VINOGRAD: Well, our national security apparatus is incapacitated. Because he's a national security threat, if the president won't resign, the best thing Donald Trump can do right now is not work at all.

The problem is the president of the United States is charged with leading our national security apparatus.

With Trump missing in action, it is unclear who's in charge and who's fulfilling President Trump's national security roles and responsibilities.

At the same time, we do have this reporting that officials are discussing how to contain the president, how to protect the United States from President Trump.

That may not be legal. Officials do not have to obey unlawful orders. But unless he is removed from office, President Trump has full executive power up until the inauguration.

I think officials could try to slow roll the process or slow roll paperwork. But that is certainly a systemic dysfunction.

These resignations are also a sign of U.S. government incapacitation. These resignations are not profiles in courage.

Despots are not born overnight. These individuals enabled the president for years. Their resignations are transparent attempts at rehabilitation.

[16:45:07]

And they're dangerous. They could lead to more disruptions during the transition and information gaps.

Overall, I think malign actors view this period as a window of opportunity. We look weak and these malign actors may try to exploit this period for their own purposes.

CABRERA: Sam Vinograd, as always, thank you.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Breaking news, Republican Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania says the president committed an impeachable offense when he incited a mob that then stormed the U.S. capitol.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[16:50:02]

SEN. PAT TOOMEY (R-PA): I do think the president committed impeachable offenses. But I don't know what is going to land on the Senate floor, if anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: So that's big breaking news because Democrats are planning to introduce an article of impeachment against the president on Monday for incitement of an insurrection.

Also breaking this hour, CNN has learned Trump is considering having his personal attorney, Rudy Giuliani, as well as another controversial lawyer, Alan Dershowitz, represent him in the event of an impeachment trial.

And more breaking news, out other major story today, the two numbers that are going to pop up on the side of your screen both passing grim milestones this afternoon. The death toll from COVID-19 in the U.S. just passed 371,000 Americans. The number of confirmed cases, more than 22 million, since the beginning of 2021.

So just nine days ago, the U.S. has recorded more than two million new cases and 24,000 deaths.

It's clear the vaccinations can't come soon enough, but they aren't coming as quickly as originally promised.

According to the latest update from the CDC, just 6.7 million COVID vaccinations have been administered.

And that has prompted the incoming Biden administration to change the COVID-19 vaccine strategy.

So instead of holding back some doses to ensure second doses of the vaccines are available, President-Elect Biden will aim to release every available dose of this vaccine when he takes office.

With us now is Dr. Peter Hotez, professor and dean of tropical medicine at Baylor College of Medicine.

Doctor, what is your reaction to this change in strategy by the incoming Biden administration? Do you agree with it?

DR. PETER HOTEZ, PROFESSOR & DEAN OF TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: Well, I'm certainly all for increasing the number of Americans who get vaccinated. After all, we've failed on every other aspect to attempt to do -- to enact COVID-19 control measures.

This is all we have left is to vaccinate our way through this. So, we need to increase the number of Americans who get vaccinated.

The problem is, you know, we have to remember that a single dose of either the Pfizer vaccine or the Moderna mRNA vaccine doesn't do very much. It does not induce much in the way of virus-neutralizing antibodies, which is how all of these vaccines work.

What really happens, in some individuals, it works, and in others, you don't get much of a response at all.

As long as it's recognized that we absolutely have to follow up that first dose with a second dose, it's OK.

I'm just worried people may get the wrong dose, saying, hey, it's OK to walk around with just a single dose, because that's not the case.

CABRERA: And what if there aren't enough doses for that second round? What if production can't keep up and someone has to wait more than the recommended amount of time? Would they then have to start their vaccination regimen over?

How does that work?

HOTEZ: Well, there's not a lot of data beyond the three and four-week period for each of the -- for each of those vaccines. So if it's not too much longer, then they can go ahead and get the second dose.

If they have to wait much beyond that, then you may have to restart the whole vaccination process again.

But it's especially important for people to know that once they get that first dose, they are still vulnerable to COVID-19. And they have to operate on the assumption that they're still extremely vulnerable.

CABRERA: There's still a lot of questioning about, you know, why it's taking so long to get the available doses administered into people's arms.

Should the incoming Biden administration just do away with the priority groups and open up the vaccine to everyone who wants it right now?

HOTEZ: Well, right now, what we have to do is it's all-hands-on-deck in vaccinating the American people and reduce every barrier possible.

So I think the first thing we have to do is to open up more vaccination sites and vaccination hubs.

It's the pharmacy chains and others are just not adequate for -- to do the full job of vaccinating two to three million Americans a day, which is where we have to get to, to get the three quarters of the population vaccinated by the end of the summer.

So, that's one, possibly liberalizing those restrictions because people are confused about it, they're too fussy in many places.

So eventually and pretty soon, we have to open it up to anyone who wants to get vaccinated should be able to get vaccinated without a lot of paperwork or fuss.

And then, third, we're going to have to get more vaccines on the table. We're not going to be able to do this with the two mRNA vaccines alone. That was never the intention.

The mRNA vaccines are the first to get out. But we have to get the adenovirus vaccines up, we have to get the particle vaccine up. We have a recombinant protein vaccine up.

We've got all of those on the table if we're really going to rapidly accelerate. And we're just doing this at too slow a pace at this point.

CABRERA: We are seeing skyrocketing numbers in daily cases. We're seeing deaths still going up, with more than 4,000 Americans reported dead in one day this week. Hospitalizations are still breaking records.

And we're just over two weeks past Christmas, so, you know, based on what we've learned, it sounds like we could still see more surges from the holidays.

Where is the ceiling? [16:55:02]

HOTEZ: You know -- you know, Ana, we're in a race against death right now. And that's the way -- why we have to accelerate our vaccine program.

As I've mentioned, we've failed to implement any kind of COVID-19 containment strategy.

The White House, this current White House has left us no other alternative at this point but to vaccinate our way out of it pretty much.

And that's where we have to put the emphasis. Otherwise, the numbers, the deaths will continue to accelerate.

We're closing in on 400,000 deaths now, which is the number of American G.I.s we lost in World War II.

CABRERA: That is horrific.

Dr. Peter Hotez, thank you for staying with us throughout this entire coronavirus journey. Appreciate it.

HOTEZ: Thank you.

CABRERA: And that does it for me this evening. I'm Ana Cabrera. I'll be back here tomorrow at 5:00 p.m. Eastern. And I appreciate, again, you tuning in. I'll be joined live by Jeh Johnson, the former Homeland Security secretary, tomorrow.

Up next, it's a special edition of "THE SITUATION ROOM" with Wolf Blitzer. Good night.

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