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DC Mayor Urges People Not To Come For Inauguration Amid Threats; President-Elect Biden Nominates William Burns As CIA Director; Parler Sues Amazon After Being Deplatformed. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired January 11, 2021 - 12:30   ET

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

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[12:31:49]

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: The acting U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia says hundreds of people could ultimately face charges for their role in the Capitol attack. The FBI continues to ask for information to help find more rioters. You see one of the bulletins there says it has received more than 40,000 tips so far.

The threat of more violence is leading the National Park Service to close the Washington Monument to visitors and it is considering temporarily closing other public areas within the National Mall. The message from D.C.'s Mayor, stay away on Inauguration Day.

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MAYOR MURIEL BOWSER (D), WASHINGTON, DC: Our goals right now are to encourage Americans to participate virtually and to protect the District of Columbia from a repeat of the violent insurrection experienced at the Capitol and its grounds on January the 6th.

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KING: Joining me now CNN senior justice correspondent Evan Perez at the Justice Department and our CNN law enforcement analyst Charles Ramsey, the former chief of D.C.'s Metropolitan Police Department.

Evan, I want to start with you. As the investigations continue and more and more people are brought to account and brought to justice and brought into court, one of the conversations in town is that how is the top, the very top of these agencies dealing with this and that we have an acting Attorney General and FBI director who I believe have commented in a paper statement, but unlike this past summer, not as visible.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: You know, that has been a very stark contrast what we've seen since the Wednesday insurrection, John. We've seen paper statements from Christopher Wray, the FBI Director. We've seen paper statements from the Acting Attorney General Jeff Rose and nothing before the cameras. And frankly, across the administration, we've heard very little from the President other than that hostage video he recorded, nothing for the Pentagon. And you can watch just a little bit of what they did over the summer to see the big difference. Take a look.

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WILLIAM BARR, ATTORNEY GENERAL: We have evidence that Antifa and other similar extremist groups as well as actors of a variety of different political persuasions, have been involved in instigating and participating in the violent activity.

CHRISTOPHER WRAY, FBI DIRECTOR: We're seeing people who are exploiting this situation to pursue violent, extremist agendas, anarchists like Antifa, and other agitators. These individuals have set out to sow discord and upheaval, rather than join in the righteous pursuit of equality and justice and by driving us apart.

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PEREZ: And, John, I mean, that is back when the Attorney General and the FBI Director are both somewhat obsessed with this idea that Antifa the anti-fascist groups that were fighting on the streets here in Washington and in other cities were the big problem for law enforcement.

Obviously, in those arrests that we saw over the summer and just in, obviously in recent days, the bigger problem has been right wing extremism. And the silence from those officials is certainly got our attention. There's a lot of work that is being done right now by the FBI, by the prosecutors to try to bring some of these people to justice and one of their top focuses, John, is the concern about some of the coordination and whether or not there were -- how much planning there was that, you know, because you saw people with zip ties and so on showing up there. So we expect that these arrests are going to be in the hundreds, as you pointed out, and it's going to be going on for a while.

[12:35:14]

KING: Chief, the three people most responsible for protecting the Capitol, the security, the Capitol Hill police chief, the sergeant of arms in the House, and the sergeant of arms in the Senate, have all resigned because of this.

The former Capitol Police Chief Steven Sund gave an interview to "The Washington Post" in which he seems to make the case that he asked for help. He said he needed help. And he was told no by his superiors. Sund asked House and Senate security officials for permission to request the D.C. National Guard be placed on standby in case he needed quick backup. But, Sund said Sunday, they turned him down. It was the first of six times Sund's requests for help was rejected or delayed.

There are a lot of questions, accountability questions to be answered here, number one, but in this moment, when we know there's chatter about recreating this, doing it again, more violence before or around the inauguration. Do you have any confidence that they are ready?

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, that's really kind of remains to be seen. I thought they would have been ready on the 6th. I'm not surprised at what the former chief is saying. There are a lot of people's fingerprints are on this failure. There's no question about it. He's carrying the brunt of it now.

But as they get into more detailed investigations, which will take place, they'll find out that there are a lot of people that dropped the ball on this one. The question now is, what are we going to do in the future because we've got some very important dates coming up? And also if they move forward with impeachment either Wednesday or Thursday is going to possibly spark demonstration somewhere D.C. or elsewhere, then you've got the 17th that already has been targeted as some kind of demonstration, allegedly in support a second amendment rights. But I think that's just a cover for the kind of thing you saw last Wednesday.

King's birthday on the 18th could always pose some kind of problem. And then, of course, the main date, which is a 20th of January, the inauguration of the new president. And so they've got to get their act together very quickly. Because, you know, the sergeant in arms, both Senate and House have resigned, who's replaced them? I mean, I know there's an acting chief at the Capitol police but who's got the who's got the ball and who can make decisions.

KING: It's a very important time and obviously they're taking additional security concerns, the D.C. Mayor urging people not to come to Washington. We'll watch as it plays out. Grateful for the reporting and the insights, Evan Perez, Chief Ramsey, thank you for your time today. We will keep in touch.

And up next, the President-elect Biden picking a long term diplomat to lead the CIA.

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[12:42:12]

KING: President-elect Joe Biden tapping a career diplomat to run America's premier spy agency. William Burns is a respected veteran diplomat who has served in posts around the world for five presidents from Ronald Reagan to Barack Obama. If confirmed, Burns would be the first CIA chief whose lifelong experience comes from the State Department. CNN's Arlette Saenz tracking the transition from Wilmington, Delaware. Arlette, this one is out of the box. It's interesting.

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, it's certainly a unique pick as President-elect Biden decided to go with someone who has long experience in the State Department but not necessarily in the intelligence world. The President-elect has decided to nominate William Burns to lead the CIA.

Now Burns has been a longtime figure in Foreign Service circles. He served as Deputy Secretary of State under President Obama and then worked for about 33 years in the Foreign Service spanning across many presidents. And one of those positions he held was as U.S. Ambassador to Russia, that is something that could come in handy as he is set once confirmed to lead the Department or to lead the CIA.

Now, one thing to note about Biden's Cabinet picks, this position under the Trump administration, the CIA director is part of the Cabinet. But the President-elect has decided to go back to the old standard where the CIA director is not a Cabinet member. So that is one change.

But with the President-elect set to take office in just nine days, the majority of his Cabinet nominees have not had their confirmation hearings scheduled yet. That is a difference from past presidents as they have taken office.

Now in a short while, we expect to see the President-elect receiving the second dose of his vaccine. You'll remember he received the first dose of his vaccine about three weeks ago that, doing that in public on camera to try to instill some confidence in this vaccine as it's being distributed more widely, John.

KING: Arlette Saenz, appreciate the important update there. And again, later today, you'll see the President-elect of the United States get dose two of that important vaccine. Arlette, thank you.

[12:44:28]

Up next, the President loses his Twitter megaphone as Parler the social media app used by many of his supporters goes dark.

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KING: President Trump is described by allies as enraged, insisting he is not to blame for the deadly Capitol insurrection by his supporters. And we are told we could hear from the President later today. Sources telling CNN, the President wants to lash out at the big tech platforms that are banning him after last week's mayhem, Twitter and Facebook of course among the sites now banning the President.

Plus Parler, the right wing, no holds barred version of Twitter has lost its access to the internet. CNN's Donie O'Sullivan joins us now. And Donie, many Americans may not know what Parler is, but for the President's supporters, especially those most agitated, it's very important for him.

DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN REPORTER: Absolutely, John. And it has been taken offline overnight. Parler actually relies on Amazon. Amazon as well as delivering products to almost every household in America runs a whole ton of internet servers that keeps a lot of websites a lot of the most popular websites in the world online.

Last night, Amazon pulled its support for Parler. And Parler right now its offline. But in the past few moments we have just learned that Parler is suing Amazon in an attempt to get back online.

[12:50:10] Now, John, this is all coming about of course because as you mentioned Facebook, Twitter, they're purging the QAnon conspiracy theorists. They're getting rid of Donald Trump. So he him and his supporters are now looking for these new platforms where they can communicate. The problem with that, of course, is that many of these platforms have no rules at all. And they are just rabbit holes of misinformation and hate speech.

Last month, just a few weeks ago, I spoke to some Trump supporters in Georgia who used Parler. And here's what they told me about it.

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O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): What is something you could say on Parler that you wouldn't be able to say on Facebook?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That the coronavirus is not as deadly as everybody says it is.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you could literally post that on Twitter and get in Twitter jail for that.

O'SULLIVAN (voice-over): But you could post it on Parler?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'SULLIVAN: So, John, I mean, really, this is a whole new challenge now for this country. If millions of Americans are moving to platforms where there are no rules at all, I mean, it could really be a recipe for radicalization. John?

KING: And it's a fascinating time. We live in a country that cherishes its first amendment. Americans should be able to say just about anything, but there's a just about part to that. And that's where we are right now trying to sort through that, especially when it's just the lie, flat out lie in many cases. Donie O'Sullivan, grateful for your reporting and insights on these stories.

And up next for us, Democrats say President Trump isn't the only one who must be punished after last week's insurrection.

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[12:56:06]

KING: A newly elected House Democrat today introduced legislation designed to remove from office Republican lawmakers who supported the President's election objections even after last week's violent Capitol insurrection. The measure from Congresswoman Cori Bush reads in part, members of the 117th Congress who sought to overturn the 2020 presidential election violated their oath of office to uphold the Constitution or the rules of the House of Representatives, and should face sanction including removal from the House of Representatives.

Joining me now to discuss this and more, Julie Hirschfeld Davis, the congressional editor for The New York Times. Julia, it is great to see you. It's a critical time on Capitol Hill. I want to come back to the Democratic efforts to punish some of these Republicans in a minute. But Manu Raju just setting some reporting and saying some House Republicans are privately discussing whether to censure the President as a way to express their disapproval. Where is it because that is one of the defining questions? If Republicans say impeachment is too much, or impeachment is just can't do it with only nine days left, what will they do? Is there enough serious traction for a House censure or at least a House Republicans to push for censure?

JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, I think there's no question that, you know, there are Republicans who would like to register dismay and disapproval with what they saw on Wednesday, but don't want to go so far as to get involved in an effort to impeach the President or even this effort that House Democrats have launched to try to call on the Vice President to invoke the 25th amendment, and begin that process himself with the Cabinet.

And so, yes, I think there's a lot of interest amongst some of those Republicans. And they have had conversations also with some Democrats about whether this could gain traction. I think the problem we did see, as you probably remember, the last time the House impeach this President, there was also talk of a possible censure. And the problem is that most of the Democrats who are involved in this effort, and frankly, some of the Republicans think that that doesn't go anywhere near far enough to respond to what we saw on Wednesday.

There is a lot of anger and a lot of, you know, really deep conviction that the House has to go on the record very strongly against what happened on Wednesday. And then impeachment is the really the only way to do that. So there is interest in a sort of off ramp. And censure would certainly be that. But so far, I don't see the kind of critical mass that we need to see it had that take off. But of course, we don't know where this is going to go. It's all moving very, very quickly.

KING: Things are moving very, very quickly. And what your team and our team will stay on top of it. This is the resolution from Cori Bush. She's a freshman Democrat, just elected who says that the 130 plus Republicans, House Republicans who voted for the election objections, even though they know it's a lie, and even after what happened at the Capitol, Wednesday, should be sanctioned in some way.

Don Beyer, a member of the House of Democrat says Kevin McCarthy should resign he wrote, he tweeted, I'm sorry, after terrorists shed blood in our Capitol, Kevin McCarthy went to the House Floor and led the renewed attack on our democracy because he's the Republican leader, obviously, Mr. McCarthy. Democrats obviously want to keep the pressure up here. There's legitimate anger and outrage. There's also midterm politics, which have already begun, but we have not heard from Kevin McCarthy since then. Is there -- are there any conversations among these Republicans to say they at least owe the American people an apology? DAVIS: Well, the Republicans, at least on the House side are scheduled to have a call this afternoon where they're going to talk about probably this issue and more including the impeachment push. I think that it would be very unlikely that we'd see the leadership embrace any kind of move like this to actually force members out. But we are seeing on the Democratic side and frankly, it has some sympathy amongst some of the Republicans as well an effort to really, you know, cast out these members who are involved in this as pariahs.

There's talk of trying to strip their committee assignments. There's been a call by Sheldon Whitehouse on the Senate side to take Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, the Senate ringleaders of this effort off of the Judiciary Committee because now there's going to be an investigation of this, this insurrection. And he's saying that they shouldn't be involved in that since they helped to stoke it.

[13:00:01]

So we're going to see, I think, a lot of really strong push from the Democrats. And I think that the question remains whether they're going to be successful on that.