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House on Verge of Impeaching Trump a Second Time; Washington Post Reports, FBI Warned of War at Capitol, Contradicting Claims; Trump Takes no Blame for Insurrection at Capitol. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired January 12, 2021 - 13:00   ET

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

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JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks for joining us today on this big, breaking news today. I hope to see you back here this time tomorrow. Brianna Keilar picks up our coverage right now. Have a good day.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, I'm Brianna Keilar and I want to welcome viewers here in the United States and around the world, as we are watching history unfold on Capitol Hill.

The House moving ahead today preparing to vote on a resolution calling for Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove the president, and they will also set the rules for impeachment today with a vote on the impeachment plan for tomorrow.

One of the authors of the House article of impeachment spoke to CNN this morning making the case to move quickly.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. DAVID CICILLINE (D-RI): Donald Trump is not going to change who he is. He is a danger to the country. We have a responsibility. Look, this is days before we're going to have a new president. The last thing we want to be doing is impeaching a president, but we have a solemn responsibility in the face of this evidence and this conduct and the danger this president presents to move forward.

We invite our Republican colleagues to join us. This is an important moment where the country and the world is watching how we respond to this attack on our Capitol.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Today, President Trump is emerging from seclusion, his first public appearance since last Wednesday's Capitol riot to visit Texas. Before leaving the White House, the president made delusional claims, took aim at Democrats for moving to impeach him a second time and raise the specter that it will cause violence. We're going to get to that in a moment. First though, we begin with breaking news. There are more serious signs indicating that the siege at the Capitol may not be the end of the violence, it may just be the beginning. An internal bulletin from the FBI is warning for plans of armed protests at all 50 state capitols along with the U.S. Capitol starting on January 16th. This is a bulletin based on information that the FBI received.

And it adds, a group is calling for the storming of government buildings. It says there are threats of uprising if the president is removed from office, and that the FBI is tracking various reports of threats against President-elect Joe Biden, Vice President-elect Kamala Harris and Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

And that is not all, House Democrats were just briefed on Monday about plots against them, involving armed pro-Trump extremists surrounding the Capitol building.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. CONOR LAMB (D-PA): We are in the midst of an ongoing series of crimes and an ongoing threat to the United States Capitol, to our institutions, to communities all around the United States.

The threats we are facing are very specific. I don't want anyone watching at home to think we're just sort of imagining that things could be bad. They are talking about 4,000 armed patriots to surround the Capitol and prevent any Democrat from going in, and they have published rules of engagement, meaning when you shoot and when you don't.

So this is an organized group that has a plan.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: I'm joined now by Devlin Barrett who is National Security Reporter for The Washington Post, and he's also author of the book, October Surprise, How the FBI Tried to Save Itself and Crashed an Election.

Devlin, let's talk about this exclusive that you have, an FBI report warning of a, quote, war at the Capitol coming out a day before the insurrection. Give us the details on what the report said.

DEVLIN BARRETT, NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: Right. So, on January 5th, which is one day before the riot at the Capitol, FBI personnel in Norfolk, Virginia, observed some really disturbing online conversations in which people are talking in which someone is urging their other supporters to go to Congress, break glass, knock down doors, get violent -- and this is a direct quote -- get ready for war.

And that's important for two reasons. One, it shows the degree of discussion that went into this ahead of time, that people seem to have this notion in mind in advance, but also that the FBI has said they did not have any intelligence beforehand, that this was in the works, that there was a violence plan. They said they were preparing for a First Amendment activity. And this report clearly shows that they were warned that there could be significant violence.

KEILAR: And yet they didn't act on it. Why not?

BARRETT: We're told that what happened was the report was written pretty quickly, turned around from the Norfolk office pretty quickly, and it was even briefed in the Washington Field Office of the FBI where they were dealing with exactly the threat or picture of what was to come the next day, but it did not significantly adjust how they responded, how they behaved, how they positioned themselves.

What we're still trying to understand is whether or not the FBI told many other law enforcement agencies that they had found this -- that have talked this bit of discussion.

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And it's not just discussion, there were maps involved, there were rally points discussed, and there were maps of tunnels around the Congress complex.

KEILAR: There were operational details.

I want to bring in Charles Marino to this conversation. He's a former Secret Service Supervisory Agent under three different presidents, and he also served as senior law enforcement adviser to the Department of Homeland Security.

Charles, your reaction learning that there was this FBI report a day before the Capitol riot that, as Devlin says, was briefed in the Washington office and that there were operational details discussed in here.

CHARLES MARINO, FORMER SECRET SERVICE SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT: That's right, Brianna. You know, I've always described what happened at the Capitol as a national security failure. We know that, strategically, there was no plan underway to anticipate what the threat was, what the intelligence was, coordinate the necessary resources and then implement that into an overall strategic security plan.

So the big question here is how did this get missed? We know that the intelligence was out there. It was chatter, extensive chatter on social media networks about what the plans were. And this either got to the right people and they didn't take action on what the intelligence was or it didn't make it to the people that needed to know. Either way, this is a huge failure.

KEILAR: And I imagine it will be judged as one, right, sort of in the annals of history of this moment, that we always think about moments where we wonder if intel would have made a difference. And this is probably going to be a moment where it would have.

The public doesn't know, obviously, Charles, of many threats of violence that face the government that never materialize. So give us the perspective on this, on it's easy, certainly, in retrospect to say that this is something that should have been acted on. Is there something that should have been clear at the time to law enforcement, to the FBI that this was something they needed to take very seriously in the moment?

MARINO: It's totality of the information, totality of the environment, Brianna. So that is intelligence you're getting specific to certain actions and credible, and also tying to other ongoing events that were occurring that day. We know that the Trump rally was taking place with a large crowd right down the street, questioning the validity of the election. And then at the Capitol, we had certification of that very election.

So you need to put all these two and two together and you need take in all of this intelligence tied to actions that are taking place and what the focuses of those protesting rally, and you need to participate here. And that needs to be incorporated into the security plan, and we know based on what happened, those Capitol police officers were set up to fail by their leadership.

KEILAR: I want to dig, Charles, into some of the threats, the potential risks that this inauguration could bring, snipers. How is Secret Service, how is law enforcement going to combat, for instance, that risk?

MARINO: Yes. So let's talk about what's going to be different during the inauguration from what occurred at the Capitol on the 6th. The inauguration is what's called the national special security event, the NSSE. This is the highest level that you can label an event from a security standpoint.

It puts the Secret Service in charge of the planning and organization, and it brings a holistic approach across the government, state and local agencies, the National Guard, FEMA, you name it, all these resources come together in a very holistic manner to safeguard this event. They will be monitoring the specific intelligence as it relates to one of the threats that you just brought up, among many others, and they will be implementing countermeasures to all of those.

But, I mean, make no mistake about it. The threats are still very real. They are credible. We know that the threat environment in the United States here is elevated. We have yet to see the Department of Homeland Security take any action by deploying and issuing a national terrorism advisory system, advising that the threat environment is elevated.

We've got the resignation of the acting secretary this week from Homeland Security. Quite frankly, I have never seen anything like it. There's normal continuity from the secretary position as a principal federal official to ensure that if there is a crisis, the secretary is there.

That makes it more urgent, Brianna, that for the incoming administration, Congress needs to act quickly and nominate the nominee for DHS, Ali Mayorkas, to make sure that there is a secretary of Homeland Security in place to receive all this information and respond accordingly in the event of a crisis and set the new administration up for success. KEILAR: And, Devlin, real quickly, before I let you go, the FBI, clearly, they are taking this seriously now, but at the same time, you're looking at threats potentially widespread across the country when it comes to potential armed gatherings.

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Is the FBI confident that they do have, you know, the correct response and the correct picture that they should be looking at?

BARRETT: I think what the FBI is trying to do now, given the events of last week, is sound the warning as best they can, that everyone needs to step up their security, everyone needs to step up their intelligence-collecting, and everyone needs to prepare for the possibility of violence on the 17th and three days later for the inauguration.

I don't think they will be caught flat-footed this time, but I do think when you talk about having to cover 50 capitols, when you talk about the notion that something could pop up anywhere, that is a security nightmare to deal with from the FBI's point of view.

KEILAR: It is huge. Charles, Devlin, thank you so much to both of you for your insights, and, Devlin, for your reporting.

The process to impeach President Donald Trump is underway. Right now, members of the House Rules Committee have just finished debating a proposal to force Trump out of office using the 25th Amendment. And it calls on Vice President Pence to immediately use his powers under Section 4 of the 25th Amendment to convene and mobilize the principal officers of the executive departments in the cabinet to declare what is obvious to a horrified nation, that the president is unable to successfully discharge the duties of his office.

I want to bring in CNN Senior Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju on the Hill. When this fails, it's not an if but when, we say, Manu, what are the Democrats going to do?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Impeach the president, that's going to happen tomorrow. The only question is how many Republicans will break ranks? We expect virtually all Democrats to vote to impeach Donald Trump for the second time in his presidency. This will be on the charge of inciting insurrection.

The last two charges from 2019 was an abuse of power charge as well as obstructing Congress. This has to do with entirely his actions post- November 3rd elections, his efforts to subvert the will of the voters, to urge the Georgia secretary of state to tilt the election to him, even though Joe Biden won that, all culminating in his comments last week to that violent mob of supporters that came to Capitol Hill, stormed this building, led to the death of a five individuals, including one U.S. Capitol police officer.

The key point going into tomorrow's vote is that House Republican leaders are not planning to whip their members and tell them to fall in line against the impeachment resolution. That, Brianna, is different than the 2019 situation, when they all fell in line and sided with Donald Trump. So, ultimately, we expect a vast majority of the conference to side with Donald Trump, but there will be some Republicans breaking ranks.

And then how quickly will it go over to the Senate, and how quickly will they have a trial, not going to happen before Donald Trump leaves office, but presumably in the early days of the Biden administration. At that point, if 17 senators on the Republican side break ranks, they could join with Democrats and prevent Donald Trump from ever serving in office again.

So all of that will play out in the days and weeks ahead, but the first step, after this vote tonight, to call on Vice President Mike Pence and invoke the 25th Amendment then impeachment tomorrow, Brianna?

KEILAR: A statement tonight, it will be action tomorrow. Manu, thank you so much, Manu Raju live for us from Capitol Hill.

As the president left this morning on his visit to the border, he rebuffed the question about comments that he made to his supporters before they marched to the Capitol and attacked it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: What I said was totally appropriate. And if you look at what other people have said, politicians at a high level, about riots during the summer, the horrible riots in Portland And Seattle and various other places, that was a real problem, what they said. But they've analyzed my speech and my words and my final paragraph, my final sentence, and everybody took the tee, thought it was totally appropriate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: So, unclear who he is talking about there when he says, everybody thought his speech was appropriate, because the broad conclusion, and it's one that covers quite a bit of real estate across the political spectrum, is that it was not only inappropriate but that it incited violence, his speech.

In his speech that preceded the riot, Trump repeated false claims that the election was stolen. He urged his supporters to show strength at the Capitol. He told them, quote, if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore, and he said he would be going with them up to the Capitol. So, yes, a call to action, if there ever was a call to action, leading to this effort by Congress to impeach him a second time.

I do want to go now to Chuck Schumer, the Democratic leader in the Senate. Jim Acosta, wait for just a moment, if you will. Let's listen to what Schumer is saying about potential threats.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Any examples of travel, and we have seen online and the authorities have seen online desires to come back to Washington and to go to other places to cause more trouble and more violence, and there are many examples of this kind of travel.

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There are many examples of this kind of travel.

So, here we are today, and we are concerned about these people getting back on airplanes and doing more violence. And so today, ahead of a concern for -- ahead of the concern for possible future attacks and with the law on our side, we are to say that these insurrectionists, many of whom are known to be at large, should not be able to hop on a flight.

We are here today because of the folks, the people, the insurrectionists who breached the U.S. Capitol fall under the definition of threats to the homeland and should be immediately added to the TSA no-fly list. We are calling on the authorities, the FBI, the TSA, any of those who were inside the Capitol should be placed on the no-fly list and not be allowed to fly because -- any of the -- let's wait until he goes -- any of those who were inside the Capitol should not be able to fly and should be placed on the no-fly list. We are calling on the authorities, FBI, TSA, Department of Homeland Security to put them on the no-fly list immediately.

Amidst the continued threat of future violence online, the federal government's own concerns, I spoke to Director Wray about this twice in the last few days, we cannot allow these same insurrectionists to get on a plane and cause more violence and more damage. These individuals are a threat to the homeland as defined by the law. The law allows this. And they should be placed on the no-fly list.

Look, the attack on our Capitol remains under active investigation. The situation has many concerned about the possibility of another attack or attacks, and rightfully so. I'm continuing to be briefed on an almost daily basis, as recently as last night, by law enforcement, to, one, ask them what their threat assessments are, to, two, make sure they're going after every person who was inside that building, and, three, to do everything they can to prevent any future attacks like the one that occurred in the Capitol.

So, if these insurrectionists are not prosecuted to the full extent to the law, their pledges to disrupt and incite further violence could occur again. The law says that acts of terror, like those perpetrated by the people who unlawfully and violently breached the Capitol must be considered a threat to the homeland. Once you're a threat to the homeland, you should and must be placed on the no-fly list, plain and simple. The threats to violence cannot be allowed to fly, and neither can these individuals.

Let me give you a little more background. Many of the individuals who were part of the attack last week, as I said, remain at large, are wanted for questioning, violent acts and more. The founding member of the Proud Boys Hawaii was arrested last Thursday accused of unlawful entry into the U.S. Capitol building, captured in an airport in Hawaii. According to The Times, the Justice Department and the FBI have embarked on a nationwide manhunt to track down scores of people, and now it's even larger, who have attacked the Capitol. With so many questions about safety and the worry about future possible threats, the least we can do is make the skies, the inauguration, the Capitol and the country safer. That's what I'm asking be done today.

Now, I'm going to go to two other subjects. First, what President Trump said this morning, showing how despicable a president he is.

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He blamed the violence that he helped cause on others. He blamed the divisiveness that he regularly caused on others. He blamed so much on others. To this, what Trump did today, blaming others for what he caused is a pathological technique used by the worst of dictators. Trump causes the anger. He causes the divisiveness. He foments the violence and blames others for it. That is despicable.

The technique Trump is using is used by the worst dictators the globe has ever seen. Donald Trump should not hold office one day longer. And what we saw in his statements today is proof positive of that if you needed any further proof, which I didn't.

As I've said, if he won't resign, and Vice President Pence in the cabinet won't invoke the 25th Amendment, he will be impeached by the House, and as the law requires, tried by the Senate. Okay.

Now, about the Senate trial. So, Leader McConnell is saying he can't call the Senate back after the House votes for impeachment because it requires unanimous consent, the consent of every senator. That's not true. There was legislation passed in 2004 that allows the Senate minority leader and majority leader to jointly reconvene the Senate in times of emergency. This is a time of emergency.

McConnell claims he needs unanimous consent, the agreement of all 100 senators, but it's not so. I've asked him to call the Senate back. All he needs is my agreement. I'm still minority leader, and his agreement, he's majority leader. And we could come back ASAP and vote to convict Donald Trump and get him out of office now before any further damage is done.

The legislation that passed in 2004 puts a dagger through the heart of this idea that you need unanimous consent for every senator to call back the office.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- not a racist. I am glad that Trump had it in him. (INAUDIBLE) racist and anti-Semite. I am glad (INAUDIBLE). You're nothing but coward (INAUDIBLE). I actually got excited over it. That's how much I loathe you. That's how much I'm glad what they did unlike Nancy Pelosi did. People do what they do. After all, you don't care about monuments and neither do I.

And where in the First Amendment does it say that you have protest peacefully and (INAUDIBLE) and unrest in our hearts (INAUDIBLE) unrest in these streets.

KEILAR: All right. We're going to step away from this press conference that Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democratic leader, has been doing there. Obviously, he was interrupted by someone who was very upset, difficult to hear what they were saying.

But Chuck Schumer was saying that what he wants, and he is demanding that the feds place people who entered the Capitol on the no-fly list. He said that they -- this is necessary to contain possible future threats. He said that they are threats to the homeland, and so they should be on the no-fly list.

He also addressed President Trump's comments this morning where he basically said that what he said to his supporters before they marched up to the Capitol and staged an insurrection that it was appropriate. And he also said -- which we know -- that if the president does not resign, that if Vice President Pence does not undertake the 25th Amendment and what it says in the amendment, that Trump will be impeached by the House.

And he also was frustrated that Mitch McConnell is not going to help him move this along to get started before Joe Biden is president.

I do want to bring in Jim Acosta, who is our Chief White House Correspondent. You heard the minority leader. I wonder how concerned the president is about tomorrow where he will become the only president in history to be impeached twice.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brianna, the president and his advisers, they are concerned, obviously, that the president is now going to have the dubious distinction of being the only president to be impeached twice.

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But beyond that, there are other legal considerations.

I've been talking with some sources close to the president familiar with discussions going on behind closed doors that the president has been told he has to de-escalate his rhetoric, that he has to denounce violence for fear that he may be the subject of prosecution and potentially liable in a civil lawsuit for what occurred at the Capitol on January 6th.

I talked to a source familiar with these discussions and this source says lawyers have been recommending a de-escalation of rhetoric not just for the good of the country but also to reduce the risk of legal jeopardy. I talked to another source who advises the president and he said, quote, he can absolutely be sued.

And so, Brianna, there are lawyers advising the president at this point not just about the prospect of impeachment but also about the prospect that he could be charged criminally in the District of Columbia or by federal prosecutors or that he could be sued, that he could be held liable for what happened at the Capitol on January 6th after he leaves office.

And, remember, when he's not president anymore, he doesn't have that legal protection that the Justice Department claims that the president has. Once he leaves office, he is a private citizen and can absolutely be brought up on charges, prosecuted criminally and be sued potentially for what happened on January 6th.

As for what the president said earlier this morning, not taking responsibility for the violence at the Capitol and saying every word of his speech was perfect, obviously, that's garbage. Once again, to use a technical term, he's just being full of crap about this, Brianna.

KEILAR: Very technical term. Jim Acosta, thank you so much, live for us from the White House.

Just in, the U.S. Army will be doing background checks on soldiers who are there guarding the inauguration.

Plus, new details on the plots on the Capitol, including one involving lawmakers, I'll be speaking with one.

And remember how Lindsey Graham said that he was done with the president? Well, that didn't last long. We'll explain.

This is CNN special coverage.

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