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House Democrats Calling on Mike Pence to Remove Trump; Trump Faces Second Impeachment Days Before His Term Ends; Nearly Two Dozen People Facing Federal Charges for Capitol Hill Riots; Trump Faces Second Impeachment for Role in Inciting Deadly Riot; Law Enforcement Braces for More Violence Before Inauguration Day; D.C. Mayor Asks White House for Emergency Declaration to Get Funding for Inauguration Security. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired January 11, 2021 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Just hours from now, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she will call on Vice President Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment and declare the president incapable of performing his duties. This is after he encouraged domestic terrorists in a deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol. If Pence does not invoke the 25th Amendment, and there's no indication he will, Speaker Pelosi says her caucus will proceed with bringing impeachment legislation to the floor and with a vote as early as Wednesday.

She also says the president presents a, quote, "imminent threat to our Constitution and to our democracy." As Democrats' resolve to remove the president grow the stronger, the division within the Republican Party only grows deeper. Two Republican senators over the weekend breaking ranks and now calling for the president to resign.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: To your words, Poppy, there, the president encouraged domestic terrorists. All this as we are learning and seeing more of just how ugly, how dangerous this deadly riot got. Have a look.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Don't tell me (INAUDIBLE). Just go home. OK. You see me. Just go home. (INAUDIBLE), buddy, and go home.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCIUTTO: Several people now charged criminally for being involved. They are expected in federal courts across the country today. Hundreds more. You heard that right, hundreds more could be facing charges, according to federal authorities. Investigators are now looking into the level of planning and coordination that went into the insurrection. This was not an accident. This was not spontaneous.

And as we inch closer to President-elect Biden's inauguration, officials across the country are sadly bracing, preparing for more violence.

Let's begin with CNN's Sunlen Serfaty. She's on Capitol Hill.

Sunlen, just nine days left until the inauguration, but serious forward progress there on the hill towards a remarkable and historic second impeachment of a sitting president.

SUNLEN SERFATY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Jim. Democrats are certainly moving up here on Capitol Hill with a real sense of urgency. Today we will see Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi essentially start the wheels turning towards trying to get President Trump out of office early.

Now here's what we will see today. On the floor of the House, we will see Democrats introduce a resolution that will call for Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment. Now if that does not happen, they have made it clear that they are going to move towards impeachment and they have already written up at least one Article of Impeachment charging Trump with incitement of the insurrection.

Now this sets up a very likely full House vote on Wednesday on impeachment. Now as Capitol Hill moves towards their response to this and moves toward making a response to President Trump certainly was a poignant moment last night when Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi sat down in an interview with "60 Minutes" with her reflections on the horrific acts that happened at the Capitol.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): I think there was a universally accepted that what happened was a terrible, terrible violation of -- of the first branch of government, the legislative branch, by the president of the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SERFATY: Now as members and staff and frankly everyone up here still grapples with the emotion of what happened up here last week, House Democrats, they will huddle at 2:00 p.m. today for a caucus wide conference call to essentially plot out their next step at this lightning quick speed that they are racing towards their response this week, Jim and Poppy.

House Republicans will also hop on a conference call later today. An important moment for them. This will be the first time that they're all on the phone together since the attacks here last week -- Jim and Poppy.

HARLOW: OK, Sunlen, huge, huge day ahead. Thank you very much.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HARLOW: We will hear from the president today. This is as Democrats are moving toward very clearly a second impeachment. John Harwood joins us this morning. John, it goes without saying the president's biggest microphone has

been taken away. That is Twitter, and so his options for speaking to the American people are fewer now. What is top of mind for him? What is he going to talk about today?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, we expect if we do hear from the president today for him to condemn the actions of the technology companies that have shut down his access to his platform which is a step they have taken because of the danger that the president poses to the country. The danger that was made evident by that violence insurrection last week.

The president has been stewing in private. It's a very odd situation, guys, when you think about it that the most powerful man in the world has a giant press contingent covering him believes and complains and whines that he's been silenced because he can't send out Twitter messages.

[09:05:04]

That doesn't make any sense. But that goes to show you how disturbed this president is. We expect him tomorrow to travel to Texas to highlight the border wall, which exposes another test of his ability to mislead his followers because he's been trying to portray this as a giant new development when, in fact, most of what's happened on the border wall has been replacement of existing barriers and obviously Mexico has not paid for it.

We have heard from the first lady who has put out a statement talking about how her heart goes out to not only the police officer who lost his life but some of the insurrectionists who died in the course of the conflict, and she's also showed the president's penchant for self- obsession because she decried salacious attacks against her in conjunction with these attacks.

So the entire first family, the president's children as well as the president's wife, as well as the president himself are focused on how they have been victimized rather than the United States has been victimized.

SCIUTTO: John, I just want to be clear. You started your sentence saying the president will today condemn, I thought for a moment the violence we saw on the hill that we just the shared with our viewers. But he's going to condemn getting taken off Twitter. Is that right?

HARWOOD: You know, Jim, he issued that statement the other night, acknowledging, after he got tremendous pressure from members of his own party as well as Democrats, he issued that statement acknowledging that he wasn't going to be president after January 20th. He's been regretting that video statement that he put out ever since so, no, he is not consumed with his own culpability in arousing and inciting this insurrection.

He is consumed by what has been done to him by the loss of his platform, by the loss of his ability to raise money through Stripe and other services that facilitate his fundraising and communications. SCIUTTO: And not with the death of a U.S. Capitol police officer in

those riots.

John Harwood, thanks very much.

Well, right now, federal authorities are determined to find out exactly what kind of planning and coordination went into last week's insurrection. Top of mind, was there a plan to capture, kidnap, hold, detain, members of Congress?

Let's go to CNN crime and justice correspondent Shimon Prokupecz.

And Shimon, it's a relevant question. They were carrying zip-ties, right, a way that police use to detain people. And also, you know, images that stuck out to me was this line of people in camos with body armor, kind of coming together in formation up the steps to the Capitol. What have federal authorities learned so far?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Yes, and those things are key evidence in all of this, Jim. Also a military-style helmets we saw people wearing.

This is a big part of the investigation for the FBI and it's probably going to come to be one of the biggest investigations the FBI has ever undertaken. You have agents all across the country chasing leads, 40,000 tips now into the FBI from all across the country, and one of the big things from them right now is that they're trying to figure out the level of coordination, who planned this? Were there many groups? Was there one group?

One of the key facts also we just learned from the outgoing police in an interview with the "Washington Post," Steve Sund there said he thinks the pipe bombs that the ATF and the FBI were dealing with on this day that were planted and near the Capitol may have served as a diversion. So that would require some level of planning. And that would be a key fact in all of this.

So there is still a lot going on. Many of the arrests we're seeing right now are on -- well, you can argue in some ways are minor offenses for trespassing at the Capitol. But they're expected to grow. Those charges and this investigation, and the more time that goes by, I think we're going to learn a lot more here -- Jim.

HARLOW: Shimon, no question we'll learn more. If you can talk a little bit about the arrests that have been made so far. But also where is -- I mean, where is Christopher Wray? Where are the federal briefings after, what, five-plus days? I mean, you would think it would come within 24 hours. Where are they?

PROKUPECZ: That's a great question, Poppy. And many people are asking that because we haven't heard from the head of the FBI, Christopher Wray. We haven't heard from the acting attorney general. The FBI and the Department of Justice have done two calls on the record calls with the media where they took several questions which is sort of unusual also in this time because they don't often talk to us. So we have had some briefings. But publicly someone standing before a

camera answering questions, that has not happened. There are a lot of questions here on the intelligence, on other aspects of things that perhaps were missed that authorities right now maybe are not ready to answer but they're going to need to answer at some point.

[09:10:03]

There have been many arrests as you say, Poppy. One of the people arrested was this man seen with these zip-ties, this plastic cups, Eric Munchel, he was arrested in Nashville. There have been other arrests including another individual, Larry Brock. He's the man on your screen there with that green helmet that we just talked about. The type of outfits some of these people wore during this entire event are really striking.

And Finally, also, another significant arrest was this man by the name of Doug Jensen. He is seen in the Capitol chasing around that hero black police officer, that many credit with diverting the crowd. So many, many arrests. And we're going to see more and more in the days to come, certainly.

SCIUTTO: You know, when I watched him in that moment, I'm sure you agree, Poppy, he didn't know if those folks were armed.

HARLOW: No.

SCIUTTO: He didn't know if they had guns. He didn't know if his life was in danger. That is -- that's bravery.

Shimon, thanks so much for bringing us that and the rest of the story.

Well, joining me now to discuss all the legal issues here, potential criminal possibilities, charges, CNN legal analyst and former counsel to the assistant U.S. attorney general for national security, Carrie Cordero.

Carrie, great to have you on this morning. I want to share the view of a Republican senator here to my colleague Jake Tapper this weekend on the president's possible involvement or liability here. Have a listen in and I want to get your thought. This is Senator Pat Toomey.

(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 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)

SCIUTTO: You, of course, are a lawyer here. When you hear the president there saying march to the Capitol, it's been stolen, show strength, when you hear his son, Don, Jr. saying we're going to bring it to you, or Rudy Giuliani, right, say trial by combat, what is the legal standard here for them being charged? CARRIE CORDERO, CNN LEGAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, Jim,

this is a country of the rule of law and if one thing has to hold, it has to be that. There is going to be a wide range of accountability for what transpired on January 6th.

A range of political accountability and then a range of criminal justice accountability, and it's going to start with the types of arrests that Shimon was describing, the individuals who were engaged in the acts of violence, and then that investigation is going to have to expand because what happened here was seditious conspiracy.

And so all of the individuals, including the political leaders, including the president, including Rudy Giuliani, including potentially members of the president's family, individuals who spoke at the event in the morning that riled up the crowd and used language of war, of attack, of violence that resulted in numerous federal laws being broken that day with the purpose of violating the Constitution, with the purpose of preventing the Congress from finishing the election.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

CORDERO: So, absolutely, this should be a wide-ranging conspiracy investigation.

SCIUTTO: Listen, how do we know that was the purpose? The president said it repeatedly. Right? I want to ask you this, you know, it's interesting when you compare it to Watergate. Watergate was a break-in at night to an unoccupied office of the DNC in the Watergate Hotel. This was in broad light of day by the hundreds and attacks on people. Right? People died. There was a Capitol Hill police officer, 42 years old, lost his life here.

I wonder, can the president attempt to pardon his way out of this, his children's way out of this, even all those folks who marched to the Capitol?

CORDERO: He might. He's got, what, nine days left in office and he might try to exercise his authority, but now we have a specific event that resulted in so far five deaths, including the death of a Capitol police officer. We can all see the videos of the violence that occurred against the Capitol, against members of the police force there. And so I don't think that he is going to be pardoned -- able to pardon his way out of accountability for that.

At the same time, Jim, there should be political accountability. I cannot believe that corporate America, that other political leaders, that former and current advisers of the president are not demanding his resignation this morning after him inciting this event that resulted in the death of a Capitol police officer.

[09:15:00]

So, there should be political accountability, there's a range of political accountability from expulsion to reprimand, to censors that should take place for the many members of Congress who fomented this event. Some of them probably more actively --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

CORDERO: Than others. But there is a whole range of accountability, and I just want to highlight, Jim, also something that Poppy said as you were coming to me. Which is, it is inconceivable that there has not been a Department of Justice and FBI --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

CORDERO: Press conference. You mentioned Watergate. To me, this is so far -- Watergate isn't even the frame through which I look at this. This was a domestic terrorism attack --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

CORDERO: And so, I'm looking at this from a counterterrorism perspective, not a Watergate perspective.

SCIUTTO: They are terrorists, domestic terrorists. Listen, we see police press conferences within hours of school shootings, right? You know, events like that and still silenced in the days after this. Carrie Cordero, great to have you on, I'm sure we have much more to discuss in the coming days.

CORDERO: Thank you.

SCIUTTO: Still to come this hour, National Guard members from 11 states will head to D.C. ahead of President-elect Biden's inauguration, as calls for new protests have law enforcement officials bracing for more violence.

HARLOW: And as you heard, John Harwood talked about we'll probably hear from the president today. But what is he going to condemn? The big tech companies after he was banned from Twitter for good.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:00]

HARLOW: Well, this just in to CNN. We now have actually obtained what is the single house impeachment article against the president. This is the article of impeachment that they -- the Democrats will file today.

And it points to the president's repeated false claims that he won the election in the weeks leading up to and after the election, but of course, also in the speech that he made to the crowd on January 6th right there in front of the Capitol before pro-Trump rioters, domestic terrorists breached the Capitol. What's interesting in this, Jim, is that in this article, it also cites the president's call with Georgia's Republican Secretary of State urging him to -- in the president's words, find enough votes --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

HARLOW: To overturn the results in Georgia. That's notable, right? Because Clyburn hinted --

SCIUTTO: No question --

HARLOW: That, that might also be part of this.

SCIUTTO: Yes, it connects the two in effect, right? I mean, the incitement to violence, but also the lie about the election and other efforts, right --

HARLOW: Right --

SCIUTTO: To overturn it. I mean, I guess, that's the issue here, right? I mean, it's the violence and then the intent of that violence literally, to overturn the election as well as the pressure that he applied prior to it. I mean, it's remarkable to see this, you know, less than the year after you and I covered the rest of that --

HARLOW: Of course --

SCIUTTO: The first impeachment of this president --

HARLOW: Yes, for sure.

SCIUTTO: Well, this morning, there are growing fears that we might be seeing more of this, that deadly violence like we witnessed during last week's attempted coup. And again, we don't use that language lightly, but that is what was intended here. It could happen again. Law enforcement and the National Guard in D.C. are now bracing themselves, ramping up security ahead of inauguration day. And Poppy, I drove around the Capitol yesterday and saw the presence there. There are now 850 National Guards men stationed --

HARLOW: Wow --

SCIUTTO: Around the Capitol building --

HARLOW: Wow --

SCIUTTO: To protect it.

HARLOW: And to think that, that is needed. I mean, one would --

SCIUTTO: Yes --

HARLOW: Not think before what we saw happen last Wednesday. Let's go to our Jessica Dean, she is following the president-elect's team in Delaware. How, I do wonder what it is like for the president-elect and his team to sit in the seat that they're in right now preparing for this inauguration after what happened?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Poppy. And the president-elect has said time and time again, that, look, his focus is on assuming office on January 20th. That's what he and his team are focused on. Of course, the key part of that is the inauguration itself and how that's going to unfold. The plans for that had already been dramatically scaled back due to

the pandemic in keeping everyone safe in that way from a health perspective. But we are told that those plans are standing. They are moving forward. That President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President- elect Kamala Harris will take their oaths of office on the west front of the U.S. Capitol as is customary. And I spoke with a senior inaugural official, they say they have confidence in their security partners on this.

The inauguration as is custom has been designated a special -- a national special security event. That means that the U.S. Secret Service has taken the lead in planning all of this and the logistics on this, and that planning has been well under way for over a year.

So this is different in terms of the preparation than what we saw last week at the U.S. Capitol. So, they feel confident in their security partners. They're talking to them all the time as they move forward, and, of course, we expect to see quite a security presence on that inauguration day and the days before, Jim and Poppy.

HARLOW: It is a sad reality that it is so needed, Jessica Dean, thank you for that reporting. With me now is Democratic Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland. Senator, thank you for the time this morning.

SEN. BEN CARDIN (D-MD): Poppy, it's good to be with you.

HARLOW: We are getting in -- and I'm going to show our viewers as they ask you this first question. New images of just how brutal Wednesday was. You were obviously there in the Capitol and take a look because as the days have gone by, we've gotten more and more disturbing, terrifying, traumatizing images. And we haven't heard from you yet about what it was like to be in there. What did you think?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CHANTING)

CROWD: USA!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CARDIN: Well, Poppy, it was frightening. Obviously, there's a high degree of anxiety. There was concern about our own personal safety. But quite frankly, we have a concerned about the safety of our democracy.

HARLOW: Yes --

[09:25:00]

CARDIN: While we were being -- there was an insurrection taking place. We were not safe in the Capitol of the United States. There were people outside the Senate chamber and house chamber while we were in those chambers, and we recognize that our democracy was being under attack. HARLOW: We heard from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last night on "60

Minutes" about what she thinks needs to happen in terms of impeaching the president, should the Vice President not invoke the 25th Amendment. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): I remember when Republicans in the Senate went to see Richard Nixon and said, it's over. That's what has to happen now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: You will need 17 Republican senators in order to convict the president in an impeachment trial. Do you have them? Do you believe that there are enough Republicans who have had enough?

CARDIN: Well, first, let me just agree with Speaker Pelosi. The Republican leadership including the vice president should meet with the president and tell him, he has to resign. That he has lost all credibility and for the good of our nation, he needs to resign now. There are still nine days left of his presidency, and we want the president to leave office.

If he doesn't do that, then, there's of course, the 25th Amendment that could operate before the 20th. An impeachment in the house is certainly appropriate. The trial in the Senate would take place after January the 20th, leader McConnell has made that clear. So, yes, there's got to be accountability for the president. He incited insurrection into our country.

He needs to be held accountable and all who are responsible for what happened last Wednesday. But we also need to take action as soon as we can to protect our country and to make sure that President-elect Biden has all the tools he needs when he assumes office on January 20th.

HARLOW: So, it's interesting, senator, you say take action as soon as we can. There is an idea that was floated yesterday in my colleague Jake Tapper's interview with Majority Whip Clyburn, who said, you know, maybe we wait after the first 100 days of the Biden presidency. Let him get what he can done, get his cabinet members confirmed and through the Senate, and then move to impeach the president. What do you make of that idea?

CARDIN: Well, I think we have different options. And clearly, it would be stronger for our nation and our democracy if we can get bipartisan support for the actions that are taken. We've already heard from several of my Republican colleagues indicating that President Trump has committed impeachable offense.

HARLOW: Right --

CARDIN: So, therefore, perhaps, we can get a bipartisan way forward to make it clear that the president will be held accountable either through impeachment or some other means. That would be the best process moving forward if the president doesn't, in fact, resign within the next 24 hours.

HARLOW: Even after the insurrection, even after the domestic terrorists attacked all of you inside the Capitol, six senators, six of your colleagues in the Senate and 138 members of the house still voted against certifying the election. Listen to former California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. This was really striking, I thought, to hear from him over the weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ARNOLD SCHWARZENEGGER, FORMER CALIFORNIA GOVERNOR: But what are we going to make of those elected officials who have enabled his lies and his treachery. They're complacent with those who carry the flag of self-righteous insurrection into the Capitol.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLOW: He asked what we should make of your colleagues who have enabled this president. And I wonder what you think, for example, Senator Hawley and Senator Cruz. Should they be expelled from the Senate?

CARDIN: Well, I think they have violated the constitution and the oath that they took in becoming a senator. I agree with President- elect Biden, they are now on-must to their constituents, and we would very much hope that their constituents would also hold them accountable.

HARLOW: Senator Ben Cardin, thank you for being here very much this morning. And I'm so sorry --

CARDIN: Thank you.

HARLOW: To everyone in that building that day. Thank you for your time.

CARDIN: Thanks.

HARLOW: Well, President Trump, as we mentioned is a man this morning without his favorite megaphone. That's Twitter. Today, he's expected to speak out against big tech companies after a number of them banned him from their platform, some permanently.

SCIUTTO: And we're moments away from the opening bell on Wall Street. How are they seeing this crisis? U.S. futures are lower. Investors looking towards a number of issues, among them, the house barreling towards impeaching the president a second time as well as the remarkable rise in COVID cases. We're going to be keeping a close eye on the markets. Stay with us.

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