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Articles Of Impeachment Could Be Introduced Tomorrow; Biden Looking To Avoid Being Mired In Impeachment Proceedings; At Least 18 Federal Criminal Defendants Charged In Relation To Riot. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired January 10, 2021 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:24]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

Right now, Congress is finalizing plans that would make President Trump the first U.S. President impeached twice. A new Article of Impeachment is expected to be introduced in the House tomorrow.

Meantime, sources tell CNN that Vice President Mike Pence has not ruled out invoking the 25th Amendment to remove the President from office while some other Republicans are weighing even more legal options.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. PAT TOOMEY (R-PA): I think there's also a possibility that there's criminal liability here. I'm not a -- I'm not a lawyer. I'm not a prosecutor. So -- and I do know that the -- you know, the standard for a conviction in a criminal prosecution is quite high.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: President Trump's incitement of the insurrection that overran the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday left five people dead including Capitol Police Officer Brian Sicknick, who this afternoon was honored by fellow officers during a procession through downtown D.C. streets.

Also today, flags at the White House were finally lowered to half- staff, but so far no statement has been made as to why.

Let's go first now to Capitol Hill where the second impeachment of President Trump could happen as soon as tomorrow. CNN's Sunlen Serfaty joining me now. So, Sunlen, what more do we know about this new Article of Impeachment? And what the process would be this week?

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, the process, Fred, is exactly what House Democrats are trying to figure out at this moment. This certainly is a state of influx up here on Capitol Hill. Up here, things are very rigid right now because they're trying to figure out what the next steps will be, and I think that speaks to the complexity that Democrats are facing with the timing right now and how they pursue impeachment. Now, we do know that House Democrats will go ahead and move towards

Article of Impeachment very likely this week, potentially voting as early as Wednesday. But there is some concern about potentially delaying that next step, sending it over to the Senate.

Some Democrats are saying that that would be concerning because they are worried about the impact that a Senate impeachment trial would have on Biden's first day of his administration, the potential to delay nominations, the potential to delay things like a COVID relief package that the Biden administration has said that they are going to prioritize.

Here's House Majority Whip Clyburn speaking on "State of the Union" this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JIM CLYBURN (D-SC): We will take the vote that we should take in the House, and she will make the determination as when is the best time to get that vote and get the managers upon it and move that legislation over to the Senate.

It this so happens that it did go over there for a hundred days, it could -- let's give President-elect Biden the hundred days he needs to get this agenda off and running, and maybe we'll send the Articles sometimes after that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: So there you have Clyburn really talking about a potential delay in the House sending this impeachment resolution over to the Senate once it potentially is passed in the House.

Now, again, things are very fluid up here right now, a lot still needs to be figured out. But the going strategy right now at this moment is that House Democrats would potentially start on Monday. They would have a meeting of the Rules Committee to set up the parameters of the debate, then potentially move to a full floor vote on Wednesday.

It is then that Speaker of the House, Fred, Nancy Pelosi, she would be able to delay sending over the Article of Impeachment that passed in the House. It would delay appointing impeachment managers. That would slow things down and they could potentially hold on that for a hundred days or longer -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Sunlen Serfaty, thank you so much for that.

President-elect Biden has repeatedly said it's up to Congress to decide how to sanction President Trump over his role in inciting that attack.

Now CNN is learning, Biden's advisers have been working behind the scenes with Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other top Democrats to find a way forward.

CNN's Athena Jones is in Wilmington, Delaware, Athena, is the President-elect trying to avoid being mired in the proceedings as he kicks off his first 100 days?

ATHENA JONES, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fred. That's exactly right. There is intense interest among Democrats in holding President Trump accountable for Wednesday's attack on the Capitol. But there is equally intense interest among the incoming Biden administration to make sure they can avoid any move that would threaten swift progress of his ambitious agenda, an agenda to tackle the coronavirus pandemic, to get vaccines into millions of arms and to jumpstart the economy.

And so we know from the Friday press conference that President-elect Biden had here that he was planning to speak with House Speaker Pelosi and the Democratic leadership and we now know that those conversations have been going on all weekend between Biden and his advisers and the advisers of House leadership, and they're trying to thread the needle here.

[15:05:17]

JONES: They're dealing with a complicated thing that they're having to try to navigate, and you heard in Sunlen's report from House Majority Leader Jim Clyburn making one suggestion as to what they could do to punish the President, waiting a hundred days to send the Articles of Impeachment from the House after they vote them to the Senate.

Another idea being discussed is censuring the President so that he would be punished in some way, but censure would not prevent President Trump from running for public office in the future. So there's a limitation there.

But the idea here is that Biden has made it very, very clear that he wants to be able to have a Congress that is ready to hit the ground running on his legislative priorities, and not least among them economic relief, and also getting his Cabinet approved -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Athena Jones in Wilmington, Delaware. Thanks so much. All right, since it's unlikely the President would step down, some G.O.P. lawmakers are urging Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): I think the best thing for the country to heal would be for him to resign. The next best thing is the 25th amendment. That's why I call on Vice President Pence to do it.

This is the thing that just gets us out of the debate in Congress. It doesn't victimize Donald Trump. It makes him look as bad as he has been here and it is leadership.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Joining me now Mark Preston, CNN senior political analyst and Tom LoBianco, a Washington political reporter for "Business Insider" and a journalist who has covered Pence from the Indiana State Capitol to the White House. Good to see both of you. Oh, also, you're a biographer, a Pence biographer and the author of the book -- and there's more -- "Piety & Power: Mike Pence and the Taking of the White House."

Okay, now, good to see both. Get it all in there.

All right. So Mark, what do you think about this whole idea that the Vice President, you know, sources are telling us the Vice President has not ruled out invoking the 25th Amendment keeping it in his back pocket, so to speak?

MARK PRESTON, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: That was a well-placed shot across the bow from the Vice President to President Trump. Look, we know that they're not talking right now that there has been a divide that has deepened over the past several days.

We know that President Trump really didn't care much for the Vice President's safety on Wednesday; instead, still trying to rally senators after I suppose after the riot to then still try to uphold moving forward on the electors.

Look, I think Mike Pence is in a very difficult situation right now. He's in a corner, but he does have the ace card, and that's in his back pocket right now. So I think that Donald Trump is going to be very careful. And I think that, like the Vice President was also very -- well, certainly through his sources, was very careful when he said, that's not something he's thinking about right now.

Remember, Mike Pence does want to have a political career after this. He certainly doesn't want to inflame those Trump supporters, but at the same time, he has to protect himself.

WHITFIELD: All right, so Mark, you say he is in a corner, but you know, he made a conscientious decision, did he not, by essentially correcting the President on Wednesday by saying no, it's not up to me, the Vice President, to simply overturn things. He has stuck with decorum and protocol and certified the election.

And that really was the beginning of super angering the President, right, who wanted him to kind of change the rules in this favor. That's what Trump had already convinced his supporters of.

PRESTON: Yes, I mean, look, no question about that. And if you go down the list of those who have been close to President Trump, that list is getting very narrow right now. He has only surrounded himself by his -- by the likes of Rudy Giuliani, and you know, his family members.

So this is a very dangerous position right now I think that the country is in and I think that Mike Pence is trying to step up, and he is trying to at least try to get the President out of office and hope that the next, you know, couple weeks go smoothly.

WHITFIELD: So Tom, all of all this comes after CNN has learned that the President never even checked in on the Vice President seeing, watching the images on television as the reporting, we understand, he went back to the White House and he was watching the siege of the Capitol, knowing that the Vice President was there, he never even called to check in on him.

So I mean, what explains that besides a certain callousness, but what explains you know that about their relationship, about the President's real interest in what was happening?

TOM LOBIANCO, WASHINGTON POLITICAL REPORTER, BUSINESS INSIDER: Yes, you know, before I jump in, I just want to say I'm also a proud CNN alumna, and I'm proud to be with "Business Insider," too. And I just want to say it's been said many times before, our Hill team, the CNN Hill team: Manu, Ted, Sunlen, Mattingly, Kristen, everybody, Preston, you Fredricka, Siegel, we have journalists for a reason, and it's for times like this and I couldn't be prouder to be among the ranks.

And so thank you guys for being there for witnessing this and for documenting everything for us.

[15:10:13]

LOBIANCO: You know, look, here's the -- here's what's happening with Pence. When his lawyer and I'll tell you, New Year's Day, Lin Wood, the Trump lawyer who is trying to overturn the election results --

WHITFIELD: In Atlanta.

LOBIANCO: He did an execution threat against the Vice President of the United States. I don't know why he wasn't arrested, frankly. And, you know, as it stands, that started this snowball rolling, this massive, just avalanche and Pence does that get angry very often. He's very -- you know, one thing that advisers always said throughout his term with Trump is that he was like uniquely designed to survive Trump because he lets these things roll off his back so easily, like water off a duck's back.

This one he couldn't, and you know, these threats against him. His wife and daughter were in the House Gallery when the Capitol was ransacked, when it was breached. Pence does not get angry very often, but one of the things that people around them will always tell you is that if it's a threat to his wife, if it's a threat to his children, he gets livid, and rightfully so.

WHITFIELD: So do you think, Tom, he is torn right now or considering a way -- what's the right thing to do right now versus his own potential political aspirations? So, what's next for him? Or is he thinking what's next for country?

LOBIANCO: Well, both those things, frankly. You know, look, that letter was very much him, it reminded me a lot of the guy who studied Russell Kirk, back in the 90s, who wrote these op-eds for a conservative think tank.

He wrote that from his heart, based on his principles, based on his studying the process, based on my reporting. But he's also looking forward to, to what happens in 2024. I mean, two of the people who will come out the worst out of this are the people who supported the insurrection: Ted Cruz, Josh Hawley who supported overthrowing the election results. Certainly Trump, I don't think there's anyone talking about him

running for President again in 2024. I think that's pretty much over and done with and what it does do. I mean, if you're looking at this in terms of sheer political fallout here, he clears the way for people who put their foot down like Mike Pence in that moment.

Remember, it wasn't Trump, who called in the National Guard to protect the nation, really, it was Pence. And he took leadership in that moment.

I was talking with a former Trump 2016 campaign adviser that day ago, and he made the point that, you know, Pence in that moment, the moment sometimes makes the man and that's something we have not seen a lot from him before, but kind of always known was there.

WHITFIELD: Yes, it's definitely been the shadow. So then Mark, might this also be a moment that Pence is considering, is this redemption, you know, time for him? I mean, there's a lot entailed with the 25th Amendment. It's not just him, you know, the majority of the Cabinet has to be on board. He has to be looking at that, too. Who is with him if he were to do this?

PRESTON: Well, you know, interesting, you know, I spoke to somebody who was very close to the President and the Vice President and posed that very question. And literally, the response was probably not enough people, meaning that those who are sticking around the President right now are very likely going to stay loyal to the President right now.

Now, there may be some who after all this is said and done will come out and say, I did it for the for the good of the country, and I needed to be close enough to the madman to make sure that he doesn't cross the line.

But we've already seen the likes of Elaine Chao take herself out of it. You know, the Labor Secretary, Mitch McConnell's wife, who decided to resign. You know, we also saw the same thing with Betsy DeVos, the Education Secretary, who instead of having to cast that vote against Donald Trump decided to resign.

Now, I don't think that it's -- when you come to it, we will not see the 25th Amendment invoked unless Donald Trump does something absolutely horrendous that does put the country in danger. But I do think, you know, and Tom knows him better than anybody does, you know, and if you really want to know Mike Pence, you should really grab Tom's book because Mike Pence has really dug himself a hole right now and I don't know how he climbs out of it.

Yes, the moment does make the man and we should be happy that he did his job, but the fact of the matter is, he is still going to have that Donald Trump stain on him going into 2024, and by the way --

WHITFIELD: Yes, there are a lot of moments. Wednesday wasn't the only moment.

PRESTON: Right. WHITFIELD: There were a lot of moments.

PRESTON: A lot of moments and just to cap it, I don't think that you're going to see any in any of the pro-Trump folks going to be supporting Mike Pence.

WHITFIELD: Mark Preston and Tom LoBianco, good to see both of you. Thank you so much.

LOBIANCO: Thank you, guys.

PRESTON: Thanks.

WHITFIELD: All right, coming up, more than 200 House Democrats support removing President Trump from office. Legendary journalist, Carl Bernstein will join me live to talk about that and so much more.

Plus, a man at Wednesday's riot is charged with threatening to shoot House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on live television. We have his shocking text messages.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:19:25]

WHITFIELD: Tomorrow, Democrats plan in the House plan to introduce a new Article of Impeachment against President Trump and if passed, it would make him the only President in American history ever impeached twice. At least 213 House Democrats support removing him from office, but Democrats are not alone.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOE MANCHIN (D-WV): There's no doubt about it he should be impeached.

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): President Trump by his actions over the last two months since the election has lost the right to be President.

TOOMEY: I think the President did commit impeachable offenses. There's little doubt in my mind about that.

REP. ALEXANDRIA OCASIO-CORTEZ (D-NY): Well, you know, I absolutely believe that impeachment should be scheduled.

REP. VERNON JONES (D-GA): This President must be impeached and removed and anything less than that is an abdication of Congress's constitutional responsibility.

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): Donald Trump represents a clear and present danger to the health and safety of the American people, as well as our democracy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:20:16] WHITFIELD: All right, joining me to talk about all this, CNN political

analyst and legendary Watergate journalist, Carl Bernstein.

Carl, so good to see you.

CARL BERNSTEIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Good to be with you.

WHITFIELD: All right. So, so far, there seems to be a lot of momentum for the Democrats to do this impeachment. Republicans have been reluctant to go down this path, many. But many are also calling on the President to simply resign. As you know, you broke the Watergate story. You helped cover it. Nixon ultimately resigned.

But this is very different because we're talking about now 10 days counting down toward the inauguration of the next President. What do you see the best path forward, the most -- the most realistic path forward?

BERNSTEIN: I think it's important to remember why Nixon resigned, and that was because the courageous Republican leadership of the Senate and the House marched to the White House and demanded that he resign and warned him that if he didn't, he would eventually be convicted in the United States Senate after his impeachment.

What we need, indeed, is for the Vice President of the United States, the real leader of his party, along with McConnell, along with McCarthy to march down to the White House, tell the President of the United States that he must resign and let the American people know that they are going to the White House for that purpose.

If they had that kind of courage, which they have shown to be craven and lacking up until now, I think that would indeed, get some results. It certainly would get the American people to understand just what needs to be done and allow -- and let Trump know as well that he has no support from the Vice President, from the leadership to remain in office for another minute.

WHITFIELD: Instead, there's deafening silence from a number of Republicans or are there Republicans who are saying there just isn't enough time. There isn't enough time for impeachment. There isn't enough time for a 25th Amendment, what do you say to them?

BERNSTEIN: Look, one way or another, the stain of what has happened is going to cling to Donald Trump's person and his movement forever in history. The important thing at this moment is to make sure that in his state of utter madness, that he is constrained, that he is put in a constitutional straight jacket that he cannot do further damage to the interests of the United States, and the safety and health and welfare of its people and its Constitution, whatever that takes.

And it's damn time for McConnell, McCarthy and the others and Pence to say, that's what needs to be done. But something else is really -- I think we need to look at a bigger picture here and that is that really Donald Trump is the enemy of the Constitutional Republic that is the United States of America. That's the meaning of what happened in this insidious insurrection. It was inspired and encouraged an attack on the capital of the United

States government, encouraged by the President of the United States at the very moment that the Congress was counting the ballots to elect the legitimate President of the United States. That's what occurred here.

This is something that needs to be addressed in terms of its seditious reality, in terms of really who he most represents, in some ways, is the secessionist President of the Confederate States of America, Jefferson Davis, because Trump has taken his movement and himself out of the equation of the legitimate governance of the United States of America.

WHITFIELD: And why are --

BERNSTEIN: He is no longer part of the United States of America. He has really seceded himself and his movement from who we are as a country.

WHITFIELD: And why are you willing to make --

BERNSTEIN: And that's what the meaning of that attack is.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Why are you willing to make the comparisons between the President and Jefferson Davis when there are many Republicans who are unwilling to see and make the same associations that you have just made for the President who has assaulted democracy, undermined democracy and encouraged this riot, which is now the premise of this article -- singular Article of Impeachment?

BERNSTEIN: Look, we can argue over what historical figure is the most evil in terms of the damage done to the United States by undermining its interest, which President, and whether it is Jefferson Davis, the President of the Confederate States or someone else.

Trump is in a league by himself here in terms of his sedition, in terms of his undermining interest in the United States, but I use that comparison because what we are left with now, Trump's movement, those people who have followed him so blindly, the tragedy of them following him so blindly. They are now left in another country, a country in which they believe is apart from the rest of the United States, that really follows only Donald Trump.

And that's why I made this comparison to the Confederate States of America that had seceded from the larger entity.

[15:24:30]

BERNSTEIN: We have -- Trump's movement is not going to magically disappear, and one thing that would help, again, is if these Republicans, so-called leaders got up and said, look, this is an un- American President of the United States in what he has done. We call on those who have blindly followed him to join the United States of America, work with us, let's work united with Joe Biden, with the President of the United States, with a serious Republican leadership to heal and bind this country. But also, there can be no forgiveness, no blind -- saying all of this

goes away and that Donald Trump should not face some kind of real criminal action that is justified, we will see, and certainly impeachment, conviction if it can be obtained because his crimes -- constitutional and otherwise -- need to be remembered as long as there is a history of the United States of America, and this, indeed, danger to the Republic by pulling out so many of our people and saying that there is an alternative reality contrary to the real existing U.S.A., and I am going to be the leader of that and you are going to follow me blindly down this rabbit hole.

And now we have seen the results with an attack on the Capitol of the United States inspired by him, and even now he refuses to condemn it in the way that it should be because he actually, we know, believed in it.

WHITFIELD: At least one other Member of Congress has said what we are witnessing is an uprising of a Confederacy. That doesn't go away just because this President -- sitting President of the United States right now is leaving office in a matter of days.

Carl Bernstein, good to see you. Thank you so much.

BERNSTEIN: Good to see you. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, coming up, race and the riot, a CNN analysis finding D.C. Police made more than five times as many arrests during Black Lives Matter protests then the insurrection on Capitol Hill.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:32:10]

WHITFIELD: All right, New York is now planning to send at least 1,000 National Guard members to assist with President-elect Joe Biden's Inauguration. New York's Guard will join 6,200 other Guard members from across the country who will now help provide security at the Inauguration following last week's riot at the U.S. Capitol, and you can see pictures there of these non-scalable fences that had been erected after what took place on Wednesday, and there are now 18 known Federal criminal defendants related to the Capitol riot as well.

CNN's justice correspondent, Jessica Schneider joining me now, so Jessica, there's been a new arrest in connection with some especially vile threats against the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. What can you tell us about that?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Right, Fredricka, some revealing texts about this one man who came to Washington last week. He came with several firearms and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. Now prosecutors have revealed that he allegedly sent text messages that he was targeting House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, so that man is Cleveland Grover Meredith, Jr.

He appeared in Federal Court on Friday and prosecutors say these are the text messages he sent. He said that he was considering quote, "putting a bullet in Pelosi is noggin on live TV" and that he had "An s-ton of armor piercing ammo." Those were the two texts. Now, he also allegedly texted that he wanted to run Nancy Pelosi over.

On top of that, Federal agents they searched his Holiday Inn hotel room in Washington, D.C., as well as the truck and trailer that were outside. Inside, they found three guns including an assault rifle and those hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and that is really just a sampling of the details that we're learning from all of these court documents. They are all disturbing and they speak to just how much worse this might have been.

We're seeing more than a dozen people charged so far, including a man found with 11 homemade bombs in his truck near the Capitol. But Fred, this is likely just the beginning of the charges because the acting U.S. Attorney in D.C., he now says hundreds may end up under arrest.

This is a very active investigation with hundreds of investigators from the F.B.I., local police as well all working from several command centers 24/7 -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, Jessica Schneider. Thank you so much. So officials are facing tough questions about why law enforcement appeared to be so unprepared ahead of the violence on Capitol Hill.

Many observers quickly pointing out the stark contrast between the images we saw at the height of the Black Lives Matter protests last summer when demonstrators of all races faced a massive show of force were sometimes pepper sprayed and hit with rubber bullets.

Contrast that to the much smaller police presence when this mob, mostly white Trump supporters, what they faced when they barreled through the Halls of Congress on Wednesday.

And among the most unnerving images, the photo of a man parading through with a flag that has been described as a white supremacist flag. Listen to what Congressman James Clyburn talked about when with Jake Tapper this morning.

[15:35:19]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLYBURN: But the fact of the matter is, that flag has been adopted by skinheads and white supremacists in Germany. You can't -- it is illegal for the swastika to fly in Germany. So they took that flag.

So when that guy walked in there with that flag, he wasn't talking about the Confederacy, he was talking about his whiteness. That flag is the flag of white nationalism and the flag of white supremacy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Joining me now to discuss is Rashawn Ray, a Sociology Professor at the University of Maryland and a fellow at the Brookings Institution. Rashawn, good to see you. Happy New Year.

RASHAWN RAY, SOCIOLOGY PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND: Happy New Year.

WHITFIELD: But sadly, we're starting off this way. You know, so what -- when you look at these images, and here you are, you know, at the University of Maryland, I mean, this is a stone's throw away from the U.S. Capitol, and when you saw what we all witnessed, in your view, what were this throng of people saying to America? What's the message that you believe they were sending by these acts?

RAY: Well, Fredricka, it's always great to be on with you, and definitely Happy New Year, I mean, to what has become a very, very interesting start of 2021. I mean, as you mentioned, I'm just a stone's throw away, either in Maryland or at Brookings, and the message that they were sending is that it is not okay for people to be able to fairly participate in our democracy.

What they were upset about is throwing a temper tantrum about the fact that more people voted over the last century, when it comes to presidential elections, over the fact that two Democratic senators won in Georgia. That's a very, very key point for people to recognize.

This divide that we're seeing right now in America isn't -- it is about race. It is not necessarily just a divide between white people and black people. It's really a divide between Democrats and Republicans and a recent Pew study showed this that over 75 percent of Democrats said that, yes, the United States of America is more difficult for black people compared to white people. Less than 10 percent of Republicans said that.

WHITFIELD: So you saw this as less about race and more about politics. I mean, there was a noose, you know, outside of the Capitol that had been erected. I mean, it took some real planning to put it there.

There were news crews, their equipment that was trashed, and then someone used some of the cable to erect a noose. But in your view, this still was more about politics. That was, I guess, the intent of most of these rioters.

RAY: Well, no. Let me be clear. This is definitely about race on behalf of what I call domestic terrorists who stormed the Capitol. I want people to keep in mind this, this is the key question. Imagine if the people who stormed the Capitol last week were not white. That speaks to the role that race plays in America.

You mentioned the Noose. We could also talk about black Capitol police officers who reported being called the N-word. We can highlight the Nazi paraphernalia. It was very clear that they were doubling down on racism and that's one of the interesting things about policing and racism in America.

The reason why they were not viewed as a threat is because oftentimes, whiteness is not viewed as a threat to law enforcement while blackness is. So what we saw last summer were about nearly 6,000 police officers, law enforcement coming to D.C. in June for a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest.

There were about 300 people arrested last summer pretty much on that one week -- on that one weekend, less than 60 on the Capitol that day -- where they storm the Capitol as Congressman Clyburn said, finding offices that people don't even know where they're located at. It was very much about race and racism and the Republican Party needs to figure it out.

WHITFIELD: And we're also learning a bit more about some of the people who were rounded up after the fact. You know, in the case of Cleveland Gordon Meredith of Alabama, who was staying at a Holiday Inn in southwest D.C., right in the shadows of Capitol Hill, there, agents found three guns, a Glock 19, a nine-millimeter pistol and an assault rifle and approximately hundreds of rounds of ammunition so much, you know, that is very upsetting there.

And this person allegedly texted ahead of time about his plot to take out the House Speaker and then having weapons on his trip to D.C. He is facing Federal charges including writing the threats and possession of an unregistered firearm and ammo. I mean, this is a very lengthy list, but, you know, he is being detained, at least until a court hearing next time week.

But, you know, is that enough? We're talking about intent here and that kind of arsenal and to the House Speaker.

[15:40:10]

RAY: I mean, look, these are domestic terrorists and we really have to look at how they were able to gain so much access. I mean, we've seen police officers taking selfies with them, letting them in. We heard that some of these domestic terrorists were flashing military badges, flashing police IDs. These are individuals who are our next door neighbors. They are lawyers. They are CEOs. They are elected officials.

And part of the way that they were able to get through with this is either benign neglect on the short end or some form of conspiracy on the broader end and it needs to be fully investigated at the congressional level.

WHITFIELD: And we're still trying to corroborate a lot of the reporting there. And, you know, you've heard it a lot Rayshawn, I have, too, where people look at this aghast and say, well, this is America. And the bottom line is, yes, this is America. You can remove the question mark.

RAY: I mean, it definitely is America. I mean, unfortunately, it is America, in all of its glory and in all of its badness. While that Capitol coup was happening, what was happening in Georgia was that we had the Senate flip and it wasn't simply about the Senate flipping from Republican to Democrat, but the fact of how many people were able to come out to vote.

The fact that John Lewis's legacy was his Reverend Raphael Warnock and then a person who used to work on his staff in Jon Ossoff. That's the legacy. The legacy that black people represented over 50 percent of the Democrats who voted in the State of Georgia, as well as in other states and the people who stormed the Capitol did not want that to happen.

This is America. Biden is going to have a tough task moving forward, but Republicans also need to play their part and do something about this as well.

WHITFIELD: Rayshawn Ray, good to see you. Thank you so much.

RAY: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: And a programming note, join CNN's Wolf Blitzer for "The Trump Insurrection: 24 Hours that Shook America," that's tonight at 10. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:46:04]

WHITFIELD: The worldwide coronavirus case count has just surpassed 90 million and we're now closing in on two million total deaths. The United States has had more cases and more deaths than any other country and we're just 10 days into the New Year and the U.S. has already recorded more than two million new coronavirus cases and more than 27,000 deaths.

Joining me now to discuss Dr. Richina Bicette, an Emergency Medicine physician and the Medical Director at the Baylor College of Medicine. Dr. Bicette, I wish that we could start out by saying we're really encouraged by something as it relates to COVID, but instead, it's the opposite. These are staggering numbers, and very sobering. What are your thoughts?

DR. RICHINA BICETTE, MEDICAL DIRECTOR, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: You know, Fred, it doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure out why our numbers continue to get worse, why we see this pandemic just continue to worsen and why these numbers are so staggering. Despite us being in the midst of the throes of the worst public health crisis in decades, states are still wide open.

I'm here in the State of Texas, and if I wanted to go to Sunday brunch and find somewhere with bottomless mimosas where I could listen to music and hang out, I could do that right now. If I wanted to go to a club last night, I could have done that. There are places that are still wide open despite people dying.

We just had our highest daily death toll on January 7th, yet for some reason, there are still states across the United States that do not have mask mandates in place. Someone needs to help me make it make sense because I can't wrap my brain around this.

WHITFIELD: So you're saying there needs to be a shutdown lockdown of a period of time, or at the very least mask mandates in order to make a dent.

BICETTE: At the very minimum. At the very minimum. For example, Florida, which has the fourth highest death toll in the U.S., no mask mandate. Arizona, they're seeing 11,000 new cases per day. Their daily caseload is up 12.6 percent, no mask mandate.

I'm not exactly sure what politicians are thinking is going to help curb coronavirus cases, if we're not telling people to wear masks, and if we're still allowing them to gather in groups.

WHITFIELD: Do people have a false hope in the vaccines? There has been a rollout. There have been, you know, upwards of four million people who have already received their, you know, first dose, some are now getting their second dose and is that kind of you know, the shot in the arm that people, you know are counting on that says we can relax our ways.

BICETTE: I think those who are nowhere close to this pandemic, possibly have a false sense of hope in this vaccine. I believe that possibly government thought that the vaccines were going to get rolled out and were going to get administered the very next day and that was going to be the end of the pandemic. That's not what's happening.

There have been at least 22 million doses of vaccine delivered, but only about seven million doses of vaccine given to patients. That's just about 35 percent. We're not doing as well with the vaccine rollout as we would have hoped and it's going to take a long time before we can get enough people fully vaccinated in order to curb these numbers.

WHITFIELD: Dr. Richina Bicette, thanks so much. Continue to be safe.

BICETTE: Thank you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right, up next, officials in New York are trying to put coronavirus vaccinations on the fast track. We'll take a look at Governor Cuomo's new plan straight ahead.

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[15:53:48]

WHITFIELD: Welcome back. We're just 10 days into the New Year and the U.S. has already recorded more than two million new Coronavirus cases and more than 27,000 deaths.

The State of New York reports more than 15,000 new cases of COVID-19 and a positivity rate of 6.2 percent. New York City says it will now have mega vaccination sites that will operate around the clock to vaccinate those eligible.

CNN's Evan McMorris-Santoro is with me now from New York. So tell us more about these mega vaccination sites.

EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Fred, that's right. I'm standing outside the Brooklyn Army Terminal, which is a place -- one of the places that New York is hoping to build an army of vaccinated New Yorkers to help to combat this rising level of COVID here in this city.

You know, Governor Cuomo changed the rules last week, allowing more New Yorkers to go and get the vaccine, saying a new list of frontline workers and also any New Yorker over the age of 75 can now sign up at sites like this starting tomorrow and get vaccinations.

This would be open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The doctor in charge of the spot says that expanded list could be very, very helpful in fighting this disease.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JONATHAN JIMENEZ, MEDICAL DIRECTOR, POP-UP TESTING NEW YORK CITY HOSPITALS: Everybody in every category is going to want to get the vaccine, and we want to just at this point, I think provide the vaccine to as many people as who want it at this point, and so to expand, it just means we're going to be able to provide it to more people.

And I think this is really going to be a big campaign over the next year. As more people get vaccinated, it becomes more normal and I think then that group of people that are comfortable will expand.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[15:55:28]

SANTORO: So Fred, last week, there was controversy that maybe the existing rules meant that supply was going unused. Now the conversation shifts to getting enough people here to make sure that there's enough supply to meet the demand. The hope now is that by shifting the gear to having a few more people get vaccines that we actually start to get these in people's arms and start to have the impact it needs to have -- Fred.

WHITFIELD: Wow. OK, that's quite the undertaking. Evan McMorris- Santoro, thanks so much in New York. We'll be right back.

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