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Twitter Permanently Suspends Trump's Personal Account; Trump Could Be First President Impeached Twice; Biden Nods To Republicans Who Didn't Support Vote Challenge; Video Shows Moments Before Mob Breached Capitol Barricades; Trump Called Senator To Overturn Election As Riot Raged; Pfizer BioNTech Vaccine Appears To Work Against Mutation In New Virus Strains; North Korea Plans To Expand Nuclear Capability; More Capitol Rioters Identified And Charged. Aired 5-6a ET

Aired January 09, 2021 - 05:00   ET

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

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ROBYN CURNOW, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world. You're watching CNN. I'm Robyn Curnow.

Coming up this hour, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she will move forward with the motion to impeach president Donald Trump if he doesn't resign for encouraging Wednesday's insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.

This as Twitter permanently bans the president, saying his tweets risk inciting further violence.

And alarming new details as the investigation into the riot unfolds. Investigators say police found bombs and guns near the Capitol.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Center, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Robyn Curnow.

CURNOW: With just 11 days remaining in his term, Donald Trump faces the very real possibility of becoming the first U.S. president to be impeached twice. A single article of impeachment is expected to be introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday.

It accuses the president of incitement of insurrection for Wednesday's deadly siege of the U.S. Capitol by a pro-Trump mob. Five people have died, including a Capitol Hill police officer.

And Twitter on Friday took an extraordinary step of permanently suspending the president's personal account over fears he would use it to instigate more unrest. He is believed to be the first world leader ever kicked off the platform.

And congressional Democrats would prefer that he resign immediately or be removed under the 25th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Neither, though, is considered likely so impeachment is the most probable next move, as Manu Raju now explains and how that could play out.

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MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: House Democrats are pushing ahead and may make Donald Trump a historic figure in this regard: the only president in American history who could be impeached twice.

This comes in the aftermath of the demands by Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker, and other top Democrats, that the president resign or that the vice president, Mike Pence, and the presidential cabinet invoke the 25th Amendment of the Constitution to force the president out of office.

Now there is no indication the president will resign or that Pence will invoke the 25th Amendment and there are all indications that Democrats plan to push ahead to impeach Donald Trump.

And what the Democrats are looking at is one article of impeachment, looking at the incitement of an insurrection. That is the article in which they would charge that the president for committing a high crime and misdemeanor.

According to this document that I obtained, that it shows the president's -- what they are -- accuse the president of high crime by his actions; postelection, his efforts to try to overturn the election and, of course, all culminating on Wednesday, when he incited that violent and deadly mob to come to Capitol Hill that led to the deaths of 5 individuals so far and so much destruction and damage and fear here in this Capitol building, caused by that mob of Trump supporters.

This comes as some Republicans seem open to the idea of removing the president from office and at least one Republican so far calling on the president to resign, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska.

There is still questions about how this will work. The Democrats, if they go ahead, are looking at a possible vote in the full House by the middle of next week. But will there be enough time for an impeachment trial to remove the president from office before he is gone on January 20th?

Highly unlikely at the moment. And it could kick the matter into the new Biden administration, when the Democrats take control of the Senate majority on January 20th. They can have an impeachment trial at that point and prevent Donald Trump from ever running for office again.

All those questions are still yet to be settled. But major decisions on the horizon in the next day or so, as they push ahead to making Donald Trump the only president to be impeached twice and, of course, one of only three presidents in history who have ever been impeached, Donald Trump being one of them -- Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.

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CURNOW: Twitter has banned the president for life. The company said the risk of him inciting more unrest is too great after Wednesday's deadly riot. Other social media have also taken similar steps, as Brian Stelter explains. And also why losing Twitter is an especially hard blow to this president -- Brian.

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BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is hard to imagine President Trump without a Twitter account. Those two words, Trump and Twitter, have been linked together for the past four years. He has relied on his Twitter account to mobilize his followers, to share incendiary information, to demean the American news media.

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STELTER: But all of that has been taken away from the outgoing president. Twitter has banned him. They call it a permanent suspension. It is a ban. This is the first time any world leader is known to have been banned from Twitter.

It is a moment in Silicon Valley history and also a moment in political history. And one has to wonder how Trump is reacting, how he is feeling about this decision.

The White House did release a statement from Trump. He railed against Twitter's decision. He tried to get his followers to follow him to other platforms. He said he will come up with other ways to communicate via social media.

But make no mistake. He has built up a special following on Twitter that cannot be recreated anywhere else. He had more than 80 million followers. And he cannot just take that somewhere else overnight.

Twitter says this decision was made partly because of fears of further violence. They are concerned Trump will incite further violence in the weeks to come. They are especially concerned about what we're seeing online, that some folks trying to apparently organize future protests that could turn into riots.

That is a real fear among Silicon Valley executives, at Twitter and elsewhere. I'm talking about Facebook, YouTube and other platforms and other companies. They do not want to be seen as even partially responsible for any further violence in the United States in the days and weeks to come -- Brian Stelter, CNN, New York.

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CURNOW: Donald Trump isn't the only person to lose access to Twitter. The company has been cracking down on thousands of accounts that spread conspiracies or advocate violence.

Ardent Trump supporters Sidney Powell and Michael Flynn have also now been blocked from the platform for promoting the conspiracy group QAnon.

And Google will no longer carry Parler in its app store. It has become a popular alternative of conservatives and rightwing groups. And then on Friday before his account was suspended, President Trump tweeted that he would not attend Joe Biden's inauguration. He'll be the first U.S. leader to skip his replacement's swearing-in for more than 150 years. The president-elect isn't exactly broken up about it, as Jeff Zeleny reports. Jeff.

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JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: He's one of the most incompetent presidents in the history of the United States of America.

And so the idea that I think he shouldn't be out of office yesterday is not at issue.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President-Elect Joe Biden sparing no words for President Trump but not embracing impeaching him in the final days of a tumultuous term.

BIDEN: So I think it's important we get on with the business, getting him out of office. The quickest way that that would happen is us being sworn in on the 20th.

ZELENY (voice-over): Biden insisted it was up to Congress to decide how to deal with Trump's conduct that incited deadly violence this week at the Capitol. He said his focus was moving the nation through its mounting and grave challenges.

BIDEN: I am focused on the virus, the vaccine and economic growth. What the Congress decides to do is for them to decide.

ZELENY (voice-over): Biden issued a forceful call for a full investigation into the breach of the Capitol. An attack that he said was carried out by thugs and domestic terrorists.

BIDEN: The damage done to our reputation around the world by the president of the United States encouraging a mob, a mob. This reminded me more of a state I visited over the 100 countries that I have gone to in third -- in tinhorn dictatorships.

It just cannot be sustained. It has to be immediately, immediately investigated in depth and people have be held accountable.

ZELENY (voice-over): Tonight, Biden said the events of the week made him reconsider his hope that Trump would attend the Inauguration to show the world America's peaceful transfer of power.

BIDEN: One of the few things he and I have agreed on. It's a good thing him not showing up.

ZELENY (voice-over): He said Vice President Pence was welcome and noted that he was heartened that so many leading Republicans stood against Trump's attempt to steal the election.

BIDEN: I've worked very hard with and against the former -- soon to be former Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. I thought what he said on the floor of the United States Senate was in fact the right thing to do. He stood up. He's ashamed.

I spoke with the guy that I have enormous respect for, enormous respect for. And I ran against him, Mitt Romney. I spoke to Mitt this morning again. This is a man that has enormous integrity, enormous integrity, who lives his faith.

ZELENY (voice-over): When asked about the horrific events of the week, made his task of unifying the country even more difficult, Biden said this.

BIDEN: I think it makes my job easier, quite frankly. have a number of my Republican colleagues, former colleagues.

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BIDEN: I used to serve in the Senate for a long time, call me. They are -- many of them are as outraged and disappointed and embarrassed and mortified by the president's conduct as I am and the Democrats are. We must unify the country.

ZELENY: But it is that very question of unity that hangs over this impeachment decision.

If Democrats in the House were to go forward with bringing impeachment proceedings, what would Senate Republicans do?

That's one of the concerns that Mr. Biden has trying to unify the country when he takes over on January 20th -- Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Wilmington, Delaware.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: Jessica Levinson is one of the authors of a podcast.

Wonderful to have you on the show. What we're seeing on the tech giants across the board, it seems like, they've certainly come down hard on President Trump, silencing him on social media. It's been a defiant, timed and very coordinated effort, hasn't it?

JESSICA LEVINSON, PROFESSOR, LOYOLA LAW SCHOOL: It has. It does feel like there are a lot of people abandoning this sinking ship. And sometimes, when the first person starts, then other people or corporations will follow. So I think that's what happened. It was a big deal for Twitter to suspend the president's account just temporarily. And then when they decided, today, OK, this is enough. You are permanently banned, that essentially gives the other tech companies cover to say, OK, we are going to follow suit. These posts, they also violate our external policies.

CURNOW: So now it's not just President Trump, it's not just his Twitter feed, we have websites, hash tags, podcasts, message boards all linked to the president and supporters. They've also been shut down, again, across the board, on different platforms. In a country that is so hyper sensitive about First Amendment rights, how likely does it mean that not only are these moves censures but court challenges? LEVINSON: Extremely likely. As we said, we have our very first First Amendment censureship in our country. Even First Amendment purists, I used to think of myself as one are worried about what is currently happening with the massive amounts of disinformation. Look at what's happened. We have a Capitol under siege. We have our elected officials, cowering, praying, calling their loved ones inside the floor of the House. Why?

Because people say things that are fraudulent and not based in reality. Will there be lawsuits?

Absolutely. Will they be successful?

I don't know, because, again, the First Amendment protects against government incursions. Twitter is not the government. Facebook is not the government. Google play is not the government. It will be a huge sea change in our country if we do try and clamp down on this disinformation. It's not going to happen through the law, likely. It will happen, instead, by what we're seeing now, private companies deciding this is enough.

CURNOW: There's also talk, though, about the second push by the Democrats to impeach the president. Practically, how much can they push through in the next two weeks?

So the next question, obviously, is this really a political move?

Or is there some legal flexibility here?

LEVINSON: Both. So there is a physical universe in which it is in fact possible to impeach the president and even remove him from office in less than two weeks. If we truly believe that the president poses a national security risk, the House can draw up articles of impeachment over the weekend. It sounds like they're going to do that.

They can vote on them very quickly and then they can say to the Senate, now is your time. You need a trial. Trials don't have to last weeks and weeks. Trials don't even have to last two days.

The real issue is that I still don't think there's a super majority of the Senate. I still don't think there are 67 members of the Senate that would vote to convict. At that point, the impeachment probably does become symbolic.

Now why does it matter?

In part to try and get the president to move from office. In part, because as a consequence of impeachment, you could say he can never run for office again. That would be a big deal. It would clamp down on what could say for the next four years and the money he could raise for the next four years.

CURNOW: That's interesting. One other thing, President-Elect Biden says the one that he and President Trump should agree on that Mr. Trump should not be at the inauguration. It's now become a flashpoint date. A security concern. A reminder that the president does not want to hand over power despite losing.

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CURNOW: How dangerous, do you think, the next two weeks are?

And in particular, that day that Joe Biden takes over?

LEVINSON: I think that there are serious security concerns. If you just think about, for instance, in relationship where somebody is behaving badly. And then they realize that the relationship is going to end, that's the scariest part, right?

Because you don't know what that person is going to do. The fact that we have news reports that the Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi has been assured that military will prevent the president of the United States from launching a nuclear war, again, just reports, these are extraordinary times.

And that's a very precarious place to be in. Again, just a few hours ago, really, our Capitol was under siege. There were violent rioters, not protesters, that forced our elected representatives to shelter in place. I think the inauguration is going to be the next big day where we look and we worry about potential violence. And I think it will be a fairly small affair, when we talk about the inauguration as a result.

CURNOW: OK. Thanks so much. Always great to think to you there. Jessica Levinson. Thank you.

LEVIN: Thank you.

CURNOW: Images of that riot at the U.S. Capitol shocked the world. Now those same scenes are used to find the perpetrators and bring them to justice. We'll have the latest on the investigation.

Plus, COVID vaccinations in the U.S. still lagging woefully behind expectations. A little later in the show we will explain incoming president Joe Biden's plan to speed up the shots and why it's already controversial. That's next, too.

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CURNOW: I want to show you the footage here, CNN has obtained new video of Wednesday's assault on the U.S. Capitol. It was shot by veteran photojournalist John Harrington. Thousands of angry supporters, as you can see, pressed in on police and soon breached the barricades amid smoke bombs and pepper spray.

Harrington says he's covered numerous marches and riots in his career but Wednesday's mob was one of the most frightening. He also said he was hit with a chair and a fire extinguisher during the melee but was protected by his helmet.

Federal investigators are searching for those who took part in the riot. The FBI says the founder of the Hawaii chapter of the far-right group Proud Boys was arrested. He admitted to CNN NEWSROOM he was there. And he posted his tweet with the caption, "Hello from the Capitol." Pete Muntean has more on others facing charges.

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PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New court documents detail the charges against Lonnie Coffman of Alabama, who federal officials say packed his truck with 11 Molotov cocktails, a handgun and an assault rifle and parked it only a block from the Capitol grounds.

He is one of 13 people just charged by the Department of Justice as investigators are scouring the internet for images to identify those involved in Wednesday's attack on the Capitol.

Federal officials also just charged West Virginia state lawmaker Derrick Evans after he livestreamed from inside the Capitol and identified himself.

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DERRICK EVANS, WEST VIRGINIA STATE LAWMAKER (from captions): We're in, we're in! Derrick Evans is in the Capitol!

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MUNTEAN (voice-over): Evans' attorney insists his client is not a criminal, instead exercising his First Amendment rights as a, quote, "independent activist and journalist."

Evans later deleted the clip but West Virginia's governor did not mince words about what he saw.

GOV. JIM JUSTICE (R-WV): It is a scar on West Virginia.

How in the world can we possibly, possibly think that's anything but bad stuff?

MUNTEAN (voice-over): Also arrested, the man seen sitting at a desk in House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office. Richard Barnett of Arkansas now faces a trio of federal charges, including theft of public property, an act he detailed in a local television interview on Thursday.

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RICHARD BARNETT, CAPITOL RIOTER (from captions): I set my flag down, I sat down there at my desk. I am a taxpayer. I'm a patriot. That ain't her desk. We loaned her that desk. And she ain't appreciating the desk so I thought I'd sit down and appreciate the desk. I threw my feet up on the desk.

(END VIDEO CLIP) MUNTEAN (voice-over): But not all the consequences are coming through the justice system. The Texas attorney is no longer employed by his insurance company after posting what he called "peacefully demonstrating" on Facebook.

A Maryland marketing company fired a worker seen inside the Capitol, wearing his company ID badge.

And former Pennsylvania state lawmaker Rick Saccone resigned from his post as an adjunct college instructor after he posted this video to Facebook.

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RICK SACCONE, CAPITOL RIOTER: (INAUDIBLE). They are Macing them up there. We're trying to run out all the evil people in there, all the RINOs that have betrayed our president. We're going to run them out of their offices.

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MUNTEAN (voice-over): Police in Washington are distributing photos of those who stormed the Capitol and now say they have received more than 17,000 tips. D.C.'s acting police chief says they will aggressively pursue persons of interest.

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CHIEF ROBERT CONTEE, METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPARTMENT: We still have a significant amount of work ahead of us to identify and hold each and everyone of the violent mob accountable for their actions.

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MUNTEAN: Investigators say photos are key for them. The FBI set up a portal so people can upload their own. But in an area already laden with cameras, it will become especially hard to hide from the law -- Pete Muntean, CNN, Washington.

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CURNOW: As chaos was unfolding in the U.S. Capitol, Mr. Trump didn't try to stop the riots, instead focusing on reversing the election results. While senators hid from the violent mob in a holding room, the president was asking allies to delay the Electoral College vote count.

Now Mr. Trump also tried to call newly elected Alabama Republican Tommy Tuberville. We know this because he misdialed another Republican, Mike Lee. A spokesman for Lee confirmed calls from both Mr. Trump and his attorney, Rudy Giuliani.

[05:25:00]

CURNOW: Now there certainly appear to be stark differences between how the police handled the Capitol riots compared to Black Lives Matter protests last year. I want to show you the scene now in June, when police cleared out a Black Lives Matter crowd outside the White House, arresting more than 300 people.

That's five times more than the 60 arrests police made on Wednesday after opening up barricades to let Trump supporters enter the Capitol grounds. Police say, unlike last year, a curfew was not announced ahead of the confrontation. Most of this week's charges were for less serious misdemeanors as well.

Coming up at CNN, President Trump's final days in office now forever branded by an attempted uprising by his most militant supporters, U.S. lawmakers are preparing to impeach the president a second time for inciting this deadly mob.

Plus, COVID is not letting up at all. At the start of this new year, how the coronavirus is shattering records and thousands of more lives.

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CURNOW: Good to see you. Welcome back to our viewers here in the United States and all around the world. I'm Robyn Curnow. It's just 29 minutes past the hour.

So no U.S. president has ever been impeached twice. Donald Trump could be the first. A single article of impeachment is expected on Monday in the U.S. House of Representatives. It will accuse the president of incitement of insurrection for Wednesday's deadly siege at the U.S. Capitol.

President Trump is believed to be the first world leader ever banned from Twitter as well. The platform said it permanently suspended the account for fear he would use it to instigate more unrest.

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CURNOW: We get the latest from Jim Acosta.

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JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Two days after he incited a bloody siege at the U.S. Capitol, Donald Trump is facing the head-spinning prospect of becoming the first U.S. president to be impeached twice. His sudden commitment to an orderly transition may be too little, too late.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: A new administration will be inaugurated on January 20th. My focus now turns to ensuring a smooth, orderly and seamless transition of power. This moment calls for healing and reconciliation.

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA), HOUSE SPEAKER: Good afternoon. ACOSTA (voice-over): House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and her fellow Democrats are now marching toward impeachment proceedings against the president, all the while making sure Mr. Trump doesn't do anything drastic.

As Pelosi told her Democratic colleagues, "I spoke to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, to discuss available precautions for preventing an unstable president from initiating military hostilities or accessing the launch codes and ordering a nuclear strike."

House Democrats say they're ready to move quickly.

REP. JACKIE SPEIER (D-CA): We're not just doing this for the next 12 or 13 days. We're doing this for generations to come. And if we are not willing to state that the acts by the president of the United States to incite domestic terrorism and insurrection is an impeachable offense, then nothing is an impeachable offense.

ACOSTA (voice-over): If the House impeaches the president, some Senate Republicans, who didn't vote to convict and remove Mr. Trump the last time around, say they may have had a change of heart.

SEN. BEN SASSE (R-NE): The House, if they come together and have a process, I will definitely consider whatever articles they might move, because, as I have told you, I believe that the president has disregarded his oath of office.

ACOSTA (voice-over): White House advisers say there is zero chance the president will resign, with one source telling CNN, quote, "He doesn't think he did anything wrong."

But even former White House officials say Mr. Trump should consider stepping down.

ALYSSA FARAH, FORMER WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF STRATEGIC COMMUNICATIONS: They allowed this myth, this lie, to take a life of its own, that the election might be overturned. When the moment called for leadership, he did not do the right thing and lives were lost because of it.

ACOSTA (voice-over): Some of the president's top enablers are also facing calls to resign, like Republican senator Ted Cruz, who released a statement, condemning the violence at the Capitol, saying, "Now we must come together and put this anger and division behind us.

"We must stand side by side as Americans. We must continue to defend our Constitution and the rule of law."

That's after he was amping up voters in Georgia, likening them to Revolutionary soldiers.

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): You are patriots, just like the patriots gathered at Bunker Hill, just like the patriots gathered at Valley Forge.

ACOSTA (voice-over): Other Trump loyalists are feeling the wrath of the Trump base. After GOP senator Lindsey Graham told Mr. Trump to give up his election fight ...

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): And when it's over, it is over. It is over.

ACOSTA (voice-over): -- Trump supporters were screaming, "Traitor," as he walked through the airport.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Lindsey Graham, you are a traitor to the country. You know it was rigged. It's going to be like this forever, wherever you go, for the rest of your life.

ACOSTA (voice-over): Mr. Trump signaled he won't congratulate President-Elect Joe Biden on his Inauguration Day, tweeting he won't be going, giving the Capitol a break from having the instigator-in- chief on hand for the transfer of power.

TRUMP: And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore.

ACOSTA: And the White House released a statement on the pending impeachment proceedings saying, quote, "A politically motivated impeachment against a president with 12 days remaining in his term will only serve to further divide our great country."

Of course, Democrats don't see it that way; they see these proceedings as absolutely necessary -- Jim Acosta, CNN, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: Earlier on, I spoke to author Brian Klaas, who teaches global politics at University College London and I asked him about this moment in American history. Take a listen.

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BRIAN KLAAS, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF GLOBAL POLITICS, UNIVERSITY COLLEGE LONDON: I think it is a beginning and an end. So it is an end in the sense that the elites in the Republican Party, people like Mitch McConnell, are finally acknowledging that Trump is dangerous, right?

We knew he was for a very long time. But people who denied his danger are now accepting it and condemning him unequivocally. That's important.

But at the same time, Trump has conditioned his base to cheer for authoritarian tactics, to cheer for encouragement of violence, to cheer for demonization of political opponents. And that does not end on January 20th.

Trump has remade the Republican Party in his image. So I think what you're going to see over the next two to four years is an internal fight within the Republican Party for its future.

Is it going to try to return to the days of John McCain and the decency that you saw in the Republican Party? Or is it going to continue with Trump 2.0?

And that's the fight that we're going to see. And unfortunately, the base is still on board with a lot of what Trump has done.

We saw in a poll recently that about half of Republicans had some level of approval for insurrectionists violently storming the Capitol, resulting in deaths of five people.

[05:35:00]

KLAAS: This is a long-term problem and it's something that was foreseeable.

Republicans made the bet that they could get away with it. And now it has serious consequences that are on display for all to see.

CURNOW: I want to talk about this second push to impeach the president. You talk about this is a president who, in many ways, wallows in victimhood.

Does this push -- is it necessary?

Or do you agree perhaps with Lindsey Graham who says this might incite or get Mr. Trump's supporters to see him as a victim in that this is counter intuitive, essentially?

Or do you think this is a way for the Republican Party to make its choice, potentially turn against him?

KLAAS: Well, I signed an open letter with around 2,000 political scientists, calling for Trump to be removed from office for two reasons. One is the immediate threat. We have seen that Trump lives in a fantasy world. What he says is untrue, it is fiction.

And he's causing violence based on that fiction. I don't want to gamble that something else doesn't happen in the next 11 days. That is one reason.

The second reason is precedent. If you don't impeach the president over this, you can't impeach future presidents over more minor transgressions. You have to say, if you incite violence that results in the violent takeover of the United States Capitol, there are consequences.

Even if the impeachment doesn't proceed quickly enough, I think it's worth doing to ensure that future presidents understand, if they behave like Donald Trump did this week, there will be consequences for them. And it will be the first time in United States history that a president has been impeached a second time and, again, stain his legacy. And that is important for precedent as well.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CURNOW: Brian Klaas there from University College of London, speaking to me a little bit earlier. That riot at the U.S. Capitol could very well prove to be another

COVID-19 superspreader event. CDC director Robert Redfield said the mostly unmasked mob could have exposed members of Congress and law enforcement to the virus.

At the same time, the vaccine rollout continues to lag far behind expectations. Of the more than 22 million doses distributed to states, only a little more than 6.5 million have actually gone into people's arms. Large scale vaccinations really can't come too soon. Already 2021 is bringing record COVID deaths, as Erica Hill now reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR AND U.S. CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The first week of 2021, shattering records, more than 20,000 COVID related deaths, over 4,000 reported Thursday alone, topping daily highs set just the day before. But numbers only tell us so not much.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Every day I live, knowing that my dad passed from COVID-19 and my uncle passed from COVID.

HILL (voice-over): Families forever changed, with no end in sight. Former hotspots reaching sobering new levels: Arizona, now averaging more than 9,000 new cases a day, up 139 percent, from its July highs.

In Texas, new cases are 86 percent higher than its previous peak. And then, there is California.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're running low on water. Sterile water is needed for specific types of intensive ventilation, for people on breathing machines.

HILL (voice-over): The Los Angeles hit area hit particularly hard.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's every 6 seconds now, a new case and, every 8 minutes, somebody is dying here.

HILL (voice-over): A new CDC model estimates nearly 60 percent of COVID-19 transmission comes from people with no symptoms of the virus, underscoring the importance of wearing masks, keeping our distance and handwashing.

Meantime, new frustration as vaccinations slow.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nothing is more important than vaccinating nursing home residents. That was supposed to be a federal responsibility under the original plan.

Guess what?

I know this won't shock a lot of you. The federal government isn't getting the job done.

HILL (voice-over): Shots are getting in arms. First responders in New Jersey, teachers in West Virginia, veterans in Pennsylvania. But just three states have administered more than 50 percent of the doses they received. The head of the FDA, encouraging states to expand eligibility.

DR. STEPHEN HAHN, FDA COMMISSIONER: We think that will go a long way toward using these vaccines appropriately and getting into the arms of individuals.

HILL (voice-over): While the coalition of governors is demanding the federal government release the doses it has been holding back, writing, "The failure to distribute these doses is unconscionable and unacceptable."

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: Good afternoon.

HILL (voice-over): As states wait for an answer, CNN has learned that President-Elect Joe Biden plans to release all available doses.

BIDEN: Vaccines give us hope. But the rollout has been a travesty.

GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D-KY): We have got to vaccinate as many people as quickly as possible to defeat this virus.

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HILL (voice-over): One bit of good news, a new study finds the Pfizer BioNTech vaccine might be effective against two new strains of the virus first identified in the U.K. and South Africa. That U.K. variant has now been found in at least eight U.S. states.

HILL: Here in New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo announcing the state will move into phase Ib on Monday for vaccinations. They will begin scheduling them for those over age 75, first responders as well as public transit, public safety and education workers -- in New York, I'm Erica Hill, CNN.

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CURNOW: COVID is tearing through the U.K. as well. London's mayor has now declared a major incident because of the strain on the National Health Service. I want to go straight to London. Nina dos Santos is standing by with more on this.

Very worrying signs from where you are.

NINA DOS SANTOS, CNNMONEY EUROPE EDITOR: Very worrying, considering the mayor of London, said his data has shown 1 in 20 people across the British capital were carrying COVID-19 and several thousand people were in the hospital. That was a 35 percent increase versus the first wave.

That's been echoed by the head of the NHS, who said it was the equivalent of having one of the large hospitals coming in every single day with COVID-19.

So in the midst of all of this, the U.K. has also not stopped another grim daily milestone when it comes to the coronavirus death toll, 1,328 people lost their lives 28 days after having a COVID positive test on Friday; 68,000 more people were infected. In terms of the daily death toll, Friday's numbers were the worst so

far since the pandemic started. All in all, the U.K. has lost 80,000 of its citizens to this virus, making it the fifth worst-hit country anywhere in the world. So authorities are desperately trying to tell people to take this seriously and to stay at home wherever they can.

They've launched a major social media initiative that has gone live just a few hours ago earlier today. The chief medical officer of the government has said, essentially behave as though you have coronavirus because you could be passing it on. It's so prevalent within these communities.

Also for international travelers watching this, as of next week, those visiting the U.K. will have to show they're COVID negative and have had a test 72 hours before arriving on these shores -- Robyn.

CURNOW: Thanks so much, Nina, stay safe.

North Korea has announced plans to build a nuclear submarine and add to its nuclear stockpile. What does Kim Jong-un's ambitions mean for the region and the U.S.?

We'll go to Seoul to find out.

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CURNOW: Welcome back. It's 45 minutes past the hour.

North Korean leader Kim Jong-un says his country is building new modern nuclear weapons and research for a nuclear part submarine is complete. He made the announcement at a Congress of the Workers Party. Kim calls the United States his nation's worst enemy. And he says North Korea's development of nuclear weapons to deter the U.S. will go on without interruption.

Let's go to Seoul. Paula Hancocks stands by with the latest.

Paula, what can you tell us?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is an important meeting in North Korea, fairly rare as well. What we're hearing is insight into the foreign policy, the military and economic goals that North Korea has going forward.

So as you say, he has, Kim Jong-un, said certain things about the United States, bearing in mind there's been no mention of the President-Elect Biden or the U.S. election since it's happened.

So this is really the first time that they've said anything about the United States in relation to that, saying no matter who is in power, there will always be this anti-North Korea stance as far as Kim Jong- un is concerned, saying the only way that relations between the U.S. and North Korea will improve is if the U.S. ends its hostile policy.

This is something we have heard before. But as I say, the first mention of a new power in the United States since the election itself. Now there was also an awful lot about the military size, the weaponry, different stages of development that North Korea is working on, a nuclear-powered submarine, a solid fuel ICBM, this is the intercontinental ballistic missile.

And North Korea saying once again, they wouldn't be the first to use nuclear weapons, they would only use them in defense. And if you're looking for a sliver of optimism, they have also pointed out, despite the ramp-up of weaponry that Kim Jong-un is talking about, it does not exclude diplomacy.

Just a slight mention there that diplomacy is not completely out of the window. But certainly, there were plenty of conditions put on it if it was to happen-- Robyn.

CURNOW: Thank you, Paula Hancocks live in Seoul.

Coming up on CNN, militant Trump supporters were sending out signals of their plans a long time, a long time before the attack, this attack, at the U.S. Capitol. We will ask why those clues were all but ignored. That's next.

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CURNOW: Federal prosecutors are revealing shocking details from their investigation into the violence at the Capitol. They say an Alabama man was parked two blocks from the Capitol with guns and 11 homemade bombs. He's now facing multiple federal charges.

And the Justice Department announced also charges against 13 more people on Friday, including this man, who went viral for this photo at House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's desk. Richard Barnett is now in federal custody. His arrest is one of dozens, as agents comb through incident videos, social media posts and tips from the public.

Now the mob attack on the Capitol didn't come out of the blue. There were numerous warnings in social media for months. The rioters were advised to come with weapons and supplies for a violent siege. And as Drew Griffin now reports, the threats are still coming -- Drew.

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DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SR. INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over) : Caught flat-footed, federal and local officials insist they had no idea the siege would happen. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was no intelligence that suggested there

would be a breach of the U.S. Capitol.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): But that seems hardly believable. In the days and weeks before the insurrection, the warning signs were clear. Violent and threatening online posts and online call to arms, "Operation Occupy the Capitol," one viral post called it.

"Go to Washington January 6th and help storm the Capitol."

"We will storm the government buildings, kill cops, kill security guards, kill federal employees and agents and demand a recount."

"Trump or war today. That simple," another user posted.

JOEL FINKELSTEIN, NETWORK CONTAGION RESEARCH INSTITUTE: The writing was on the wall months ago that this could turn into something extremely violent.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Researchers who track hate, violent speech and extremist groups say what happened at the Capitol shows what some dismissed as just online boasting was actually a plan of action and some of those who sieged the Capitol were prepared.

JOHN SCOTT-RAILTON, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO: There were men on the Senate floor wearing tactical equipment, carrying zip-tie restraints of the kinds that police use to handcuff people. I somehow doubt that they just brought those to a protest.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): The nonprofit rhetoric had wide reach. The nonprofit Advanced Democracy tracked 1,480 violence-related QAnon Twitter posts just since January 1st.

On TikTok, videos promoting violence reviewed 279,000 times.

SCOTT-RAILTON: If you look at the work of anybody who has been tracking violent extremism in the United States, you will find that they have been issuing warnings regularly about these groups and the language that they're using.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): One of the main Stop the Steal rally organizers, Ali Alexander, told followers on Periscope he and three Congress men were planning something big.

ALI ALEXANDER, STOP THE STEAL ORGANIZER: We four schemed up a pretty maximum pressure on Congress. We could change the hearts and the minds of Republicans who were in that body, hearing our loud war from outside.

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GRIFFIN (voice-over): He told followers, "Bring tents, sleeping bags and other supplies," and added this, "If D.C. escalates, so do we."

A follower responded to the post, "Bring a gun." Investigators of the Anti-Defamation League say they were sharing the

violent posts and concerns about January 6th with law enforcement right up until this week.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've been in touch with law enforcement on a very regular basis.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): Fearing the warnings were being ignored, the ADL went public.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our level of concern rose so dramatically that, on Monday, we actually published a blog to put it out on the public record about our degree of alarm. We weren't surprised by the intensity of what happened.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): What's next?

January 20th: researchers are worried about the increasing chatter about violence at the inauguration.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think it's very plausible that we are just at the beginning of this.

GRIFFIN (voice-over): "Round two on January 20th," one poster writes on the online forum The Donald. "I don't even care about keeping Trump in power. I care about war."

"Please take urgent action to save our country."

"On January 20th," says another post, "it's our last chance."

GRIFFIN: All of this means the same groups that attacked the Capitol on January 6th may already be planning to be back in Washington. Hopefully, this time, law enforcement is taking note -- Drew Griffin, CNN, Atlanta.

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CURNOW: Thanks, Drew, for that.

Before we go, this programming note take a look at these times. CNN takes an in-depth look at the storming of the U.S. Capitol in "The Trump Insurrection: 24 Hours That Shook America," airing Sunday night in the U.S. of course. Here are the times on your screen.

So that wraps up this hour of CNN. I'm Robyn Curnow. Thanks so much for joining me the past two hours. The news continues.