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ABI Warns of Armed Protests Nationwide; At Least 20 People Face Federal Charges for Riot; Several Officers Suspended and Up to 15 Under Investigation; House Democrats to Vote Wednesday to Impeach Trump; U.S. CDC: About a Third of Distributed Doses Administered; Frustration Over Slow Vaccine Rollout in U.S. Aired 4-4:30a ET
Aired January 12, 2021 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us here in the United States and all around the world, you are watching CNN NEWSROOM and I'm Rosemary Church. Just ahead --
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CHRISTOPHER KREBS, FORMER SENIOR OFFICIAL, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: We are on the verge of what I fear to be a pretty significant breakdown in democracy, in civil society here.
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CHURCH: The FBI is warning of dozens of armed protests being planned nationwide ahead of inauguration day. Can law enforcement prevent more violence?
Plus, pushing to impeach. All eyes are on Capitol Hill today as the Democrats aim to hold the president accountable for last week's riot.
And President-elect Joe Biden has his coronavirus vaccine, the second one, but most Americans face a rollout troubled by delays and confusion. We will take a closer look.
Good to have you with us. And we begin in Washington where House Democrats are pushing ahead with their plans to impeach Donald Trump for a second time. Lawmakers will soon reconvene to consider one article of impeachment against the president for inciting last week's deadly insurrection at the capitol. The vote is set to happen a little more than 24 hours from now.
Meanwhile, acting homeland security secretary Chad Wolf is resigning. He's leaving just as the FBI has issued a chilling warning about more possible attacks on state capitols ahead of inauguration day. So let's go to CNN's Brian Todd for more.
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BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): A key focus now among federal and local law enforcement agencies preventing a repeat of Wednesday's deadly siege on the U.S. Capitol. According to an FBI bulletin obtained by CNN, armed protests are being planned in Washington, D.C. and all 50 state capitals this weekend through inauguration day. Officials monitoring online chatter in social media.
JAMES GAGLIANO, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: They're obviously looking at open source things. They're going through and following up on some of these chat rooms and some of these places where extremist tend to coalesce in the dark corners of the web.
TODD (voice-over): D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser concerned about more violent actors coming to Washington in the run up to the inauguration, is urging people not to come into the city on inauguration day.
MAYOR MURIEL BOWSER (D) WASHINGTON D.C.: 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.
TODD (voice-over): The Pentagon is bolstering the National Guard's presence in the nation's capital, with as many as 15,000 guardsmen to be deployed by inauguration day. Meanwhile, the dragnet for the perpetrators of Wednesday's siege intensifies.
At least 20 people have been rounded up across the country and face federal charges. Some are accused of bringing bombs and other weapons to Capitol Hill. Two men were arrested after photographs show them wearing a body armor and carrying plastic restraining ties inside the capitol.
One man is accused of writing in text messages that he wanted to shoot House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, that he'd brought guns and ammunition. One analyst says law enforcement is using sophisticated tools to track down many more suspects.
GAGLIANO: All of these cell phone records, all of the electronic exhaust that's given off by our cellphones, you know, crossing bridges and are easy our E-ZPass and license plate readers, and then matching that up with available online information, as well as conducting interviews of these people's friends in circles.
TODD (voice-over): In new fallout over the breakdowns that led to the overrunning of the capitol. Now former Capitol Hill police chief Steven Sund who resigned last week tells CNN and "The Washington Post," he was concerned about what's coming in the days before the siege. Some says he asked his boss, the House and Senate sergeants at arms for permission to request that National Guard beyond close standby.
Sund says they turned him down. Concerned about the optics. Sund said that when the rioting was underway, he pleaded five more times for help, including to the Pentagon for National Guardsmen to be deployed.
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Quote, I needed boots on the ground, immediate assistance right then and there, helping to form police lines to help secure up the foundation of United States Capitol building. They were more concerned with the optics."
TODD (on camera): The army general who is on that call strongly deny Sund's claim, telling CNN he did discuss the need to get a plan approved and that a request for National Guard troops was quickly taken to the secretary of defense. We also reached to the House and Senate sergeants at arms for their response to Sund's allegations. They didn't get back to us.
Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.
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CHURCH: And while some Capitol police officers are being hailed as heroes for their courage during that riot, several others have been suspended. The acting Capitol police chief says investigators are actively reviewing video and other material from Wednesday's attack. They're trying to determine if any current and former law enforcement officers played a part in the riot. In addition to the suspensions, we are told at least ten other officers are under investigation.
As security concerns mount, we are learning that President Trump has approved the D.C. mayor's request for a pre-disaster declaration. That means extra funding for security around the inauguration. After he got his coronavirus vaccine, President-elect Joe Biden told reporters the threats won't stop him from taking his oath of office on January 20th.
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JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm not afraid of taking the oath outside, and we've been briefed, but I think it's critically important that there be a real serious focus on holding those folks who engaged in sedition and threatened people's lives, defaced public property, caused great damage, that they be held accountable. And I think that's a view that is held by a vast majority of Democrats and Republicans in the Congress.
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CHURCH: So, let's talk now with Javed Ali, Towsley policymaker in residence at the University of Michigan and former senior director for counter terrorism at the National Security Council. Thank you so much for being with us.
JAVED ALI, TOWSLEY POLICYMAKER IN RESIDENCE, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: Thank you for having me, Rosemary.
CHURCH: So, a disturbing an unprecedented FBI internal bulletin reveals that armed protests have planned for all 50 states and that the U.S. Capitol in the lead up to the inauguration. And there are threats against Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Speaker Nancy Pelosi and threats of an uprising if President Trump is removed before January 20th.
What was your reaction to this? And what needs to be done to try to neutralize these threats? ALI: Well certainly, very surprising to hear the FBI, my former employer, released a bulletin like that. But I don't think it was done with sort of any ill intent. I mean, it was clearly based on, or appears to be have been based on either specific information that suggests that there are threats in all 50 states or on the abundance of caution that even without that direct, specific, credible threat information that individuals, and leaders in literally every state across the country need to do more to get ready between now and the inauguration.
CHURCH: But how is that possible for the country to deal with that? I mean, if you're having these attacks in 50 different states at the capitol buildings, and we saw what happened last Wednesday in that instance. They were not able to control the mob, what happens if it's happening simultaneously in 50 different states?
ALI: Yes, I have a hard time believing that they've got that specific information suggesting that there are actually 50 plots all coordinated to occur around the inauguration in every state. I think it is more on the abundance of caution. I haven't seen the bulletin so I can't speak to it directly.
But in terms of measures that can be done between now and then, clearly this is a warning -- a warning sign that security needs to be ramped up. Both with the activation of National Guard elements and there appears to be news that governors in many states have already made that decision to mobilize National Guard units. And then beefing up law enforcement security, and other homeland security resources as well.
And developing a very secure layer of perimeter-based security so where, what happened last week at the capitol can't happen again. Because you've these rings of security around a very tightly guarded target. So hopefully that's going to be one of the pieces of this plan as it goes forward.
CHURCH: So meantime, of course, two Capitol Hill police officers have been suspended. Many more are under investigation. And another individual has been arrested in the wake of last Wednesday's insurrection for directing rioters through the capitol building.
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Do you worry that some insiders who enabled this riot still remain and pose a possible threat to the inauguration? And how difficult will it be to track them, and other perpetrators down do you think?
ALI: Yes, this is one of the saddest parts about what happened last week. Because for those 15 folks, and potentially others as you mentioned, enabled rioters and this mob to overwhelm their force. I mean, this has serious consequences. It desecrated this iconic piece of the American, sort of national identity, physical destruction. And somebody was murdered. One of their fellow officers were murdered.
So, I can't even imagine what these 15, and potentially others, must feel. They're going to have to bear that cost for the rest of their life. And they are going to probably face legal consequences too. So, this is about as serious as it gets.
CHURCH: Counter terrorism expert Javed Ali talking to me earlier.
Well President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have met for the first sim since the deadly riot at the Capitol. A source says they had a good conversation at the White House on Monday and agreed to work together for the remainder of their term. Pence has been under pressure to invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Mr. Trump from power, but if that doesn't happen, Democrats say they will vote to impeach the president on Wednesday. Our Ryan Nobles has the details.
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RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Tuesday will be a big day here on Capitol Hill. That's when Democrats will begin the process of impeaching President Trump for the second time. They'll start with a resolution giving Vice President Mike Pence 24 hours to invoke the 25th Amendment which is unlikely that he will do. And then on Wednesday they'll take up the actual articles of impeachment.
And it is expected that they'll be able to pass it relatively quickly. They have the votes, and it is likely that it will get through the Democratic-controlled House without much of an issue. The question is, what would become of those articles of impeachment once they are passed.
The current Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell does not appear to be all that interested with moving forward with a trial prior to President Trump leaving office on January 20th.
So, the question is what does Chuck Schumer do with those articles of impeachment? He has suggested that he is willing to move forward with the trial almost right away. Even after President Trump is already out of office.
Now, there is some complications that could happen in terms of the beginning of the Biden administration and invoking his agenda. Schumer has said that they're going to have to try and do both, that means getting some of these nominations confirmed for the Biden cabinet, while at the same time conducting a trial.
Now the vice -- former vice president soon to be president said that he was concerned about how this process could interrupt his first 100 days in office, but he said that it is up to the Senate Democrats to decide how to handle that. But one thing we know for sure is that it does appear that the House Democrats will move forward with impeaching President Trump once again. He will be the first president in American history to be impeached twice in one term.
Ryan Nobles, CNN on Capitol Hill.
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CHURCH: And the top U.S. House Republican said the president bears some of the blame for Wednesday's riot. He says Mr. Trump has actually accepted responsibility. According to a source, Kevin McCarthy also admits that the violence was not caused by the left wing group Antifa. That's despite what many of his fellow Republicans have claimed. He and other members of the party are now floating the idea of censuring President Trump for inciting the violence.
Well, even though Mr. Trump is back on speaking terms with Mike Pence, all is not well at the White House. Kaitlyn Collins has more.
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KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: This is the first time that President Trump and the vice president have spoken since that deadly riot broke out on Wednesday when the president sent Mike Pence up to Capitol Hill with vulgarity because he was not doing what the president wanted. And of course, we saw what ensued after that. And now this is the first time they came together we are told in the oval office and had a conversation.
And the readout that we got from a senior administration official did say that the president is not going to be resigning from office like some Republican Senators have called on him to do. They said that the president and Mike Pence are going to serve out the remainder of their term. And given the fact that actually finally did speak, it does seem to make it less likely of the theory that the vice president is actually going to invoke the 25th Amendment to strip Trump of his power is going to happen.
So of course that means that we are likely to see Democrats move forward with that impeachment process that they've promise is going to happen tomorrow. That remains to be seen. How that's going to play out. But of course, all of this comes as there is an added touch of chaos over at the White House, now that the acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf is stepping down from his job only days after saying he was not going to step down from his job.
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Now we believe this is less likely to do with the fallout from the riots and the president's response, more to do with the legality of the fact that he is an acting secretary. Some court rulings are going to invalidate some of the moves he made. But it's just this process, and it's bigger picture of chaos and Donald Trump's last week on the job. His last fill week on the job as president. Which is, you know, he's finally speaking to the vice president after going their longest stretch without speaking.
He's got his acting DHS secretary, who is technically in charge of security at the inauguration stepping down in the final days on the job.
Now we've got the Patriots head coach Bill Belichick saying he is no longer going to receive the Medal of Freedom because of the events that happened last week.
So not at all the way that White House aides and the president's senior staff thought his last week, his last full week on the job as president of the United States was going to go. Kaitlan Collins, CNN, the White House.
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CHURCH: And when we come back, a look at hurdles that have to be cleared to speed up the vaccination process in the United States. Back with that in just a moment.
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CHURCH: The number of new coronavirus cases in the U.S. topped 200,000 on Monday like it did the day before and the day before that and so on. In fact, for the first time ever the U.S. has surpassed 200,000 new cases every day for the past week, and as cases rise, so do hospital admissions. The U.S. has now gone 40 days in a row with more than 100,000 people hospitalized with the virus. And there are plenty more terrifying statistics as the U.S. struggles to even begin to contain COVID-19. Our Nick Watt has more.
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NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): For the first time America is averaging over 3,000 COVID-19 deaths a day, more dead in a day than were killed on 9/11, every day. Dozens of bodies in that trailer. Funeral homes in California are turning people away.
MAGDA MALDONALDO, OWNER, CONTINENTAL FUNERAL HOME: About 200 people a day just to say, no, we have no more capacity for them. It is really, really sad.
WATT (voice over): Meanwhile, a little over a third of the vaccine doses distributed across the country have actually been administered. We were promised 20 million shots by new year.
DR. SCOTT GOTTLIEB, FORMER FDA COMMISSIONER: We need to acknowledge that it's not working. We need to hit the reset and adopt a new strategy.
WATT (voice over): The president has failed again.
DR. CELINE GROUNDER, MEMBER, BIDEN-HARRIS TRANSITION COVID ADVISORY BOARD: The complete lack of planning here is quite frightening frankly, and I think all of us are very worried about what we're inheriting and stepping into right now.
WATT (voice over): The president-elect December pledge 100 million shots in his first 100 days.
DR. JONATHAN REINER, PROFESSOR OF MEDICINE, GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: We need mass vaccination events. I actually think what we should doing now is getting rid of the priority system.
WATT (voice over): That is beginning to happen. Joe Biden got his second dose today. Remember, it's a two-dose vaccine. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You still have confidence in your COVID team,
that they will be able to vaccinate 50 million Americans in the first 100 days?
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT-ELECT: I do, and I put together, which I'll be announcing on Thursday, laying out a plan and cost of how I want to proceed.
WATT (voice over): They plan to release every dose on hand, to stop holding back those second doses, but it's a gamble say some experts.
DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: If there are production snags or if we just cannot administer the vaccines quickly enough, if people cannot get that second dose in time, I don't know how I'm going to be able to convince my patients to even get the first dose.
WATT (voice over): Biden's team says second doses will not be delayed. Production will not be a problem.
MICHAEL OSTERHOLM, MEMBER, BIDEN-HARRIS TRANSITION COVID-19 ADVISORY BOARD: We at this point do not be concerned about that. I'm very confident that the plans cover that.
WATT (voice over): In terms of containment while we wait, a good place to be is under 5 percent of tests coming back positive. Right now the nation is averaging over 13 percent. In Idaho, it's over 50 percent. And more evidence, as if we need it, that this ain't the flu. A Chinese study shows most COVID patients discharged from the hospital still suffer at least one symptom six months later.
Nick Watt, CNN, Los Angeles.
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CHURCH: Joining me now is Dr. Larry Brilliant, a CNN medical analyst and epidemiologist. Thank you doctor for being with us and for all that you do.
DR. LARRY BRILLIANT, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST, EPIDEMIOLOGIST: Thank you. Nice to talk to you, Rosemary.
CHURCH: So, more than 375,000 Americans have died from COVID-19, and the country is now struggling with its vaccination effort, only about 9 million doses administered so far. As a result we're seeing some states abandoning CDC guidance on who to vaccinate first. Instead trying to administer as many doses as possible. Is that what needs to happen here?
BRILLIANT: You know, I think we've maybe a bit off a little bit more than we could chew for good intentions, however. There are many reasons to vaccinate people. You want to protect vulnerable communities like the over 75. You want to take care of the communities that have been underserved like the African-American community, immigrant communities. And you want to protect your first responders and hospital so that the hospitals don't get overwhelmed. And then most importantly you want to stop the pandemic. Now each of those has a slightly different cadence, but by creating this system that vulcanized the delivery, I think it got too complicated.
CHURCH: Yes, so I mean, how do states carry out successful vaccinations on mass then? Because in many states, computer systems are crashing when people try to make appointments. It happened in Georgia on Monday. So, how do you stop that from happening and get on with the job at hand of administering as many shots as possible without the more privileged getting to the front of the queue as it often happens.
BRILLIANT: I think the key is simplicity. When we did the movie "Contagion" that I was advisor for, we envisioned this outbreak similar to COVID. And we created a lottery.
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And you get your number and then you go to a big coliseum or the -- an arena that had been set up. And most importantly, they were doing vaccinations 24/7 every day around the clock. I'm afraid by bringing it through pharmacies, or hospitals and just doing things 8:00 to 5:00, Monday through Friday, that's not what we want. We want an all- out effort, but we want it really simple.
CHURCH: Yes, I mean, New York is doing 24 hours. And they have got booked appointments right throughout the night. So, President-Elect Joe Biden still insisting he will be able to administer 100 million vaccinations in his first 100 days. A million shots a day. Is that doable and should he release all shots available as he suggested he might do?
BRILLIANT: Two separate questions. I do think it is doable. I remember to get 100 million in 100 days, you don't actually have to do a million a day. You only have to average a million a day. So, in the out days, maybe you are doing 3 or 4 million a day. Once you have geared up and we start off with where we are right now. So, yes, I definitely think that that's doable.
As to whether you should release all the vaccines, I agree with Dr. John. All of these other fine epidemiologists and physicians who say yes, it is better to have the vaccine that is available in people's arms and not in refrigerators. And I would say there's a slight difference between the Moderna and the Pfizer vaccine and that case, because we are assured of getting 200 million doses of Moderna pretty -- according to calendar.
The Pfizer is broken into two shipments or two deliveries. One of them we may not get until April. So, I'd be pretty confident that if we vaccinated 100 million people right away with the Moderna vaccine, we would not have to worry that the second dose could be forthcoming. The important thing is to get as many doses in peoples arms as soon as possible, not in the refrigerator.
CHURCH: And our thanks to CNN medical analyst Dr. Larry Brilliant there. Well there's no rest this week for Congress as Democrats push to
remove President Trump. But can lawmakers juggle that and the plans of the incoming president? That and more when we come back.
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