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Preparing for More Violence in D.C.; Rep. Vicente Gonzalez (D- TX) is Interviewed about Potential Violence in D.C.; Biden Urges Senate to Multitask. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired January 14, 2021 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:32:46]

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, Washington is carefully preparing for the very real possibility of more violence in the run-up to the inauguration. Federal law enforcement are right now monitoring threats of armed demonstration leading up to President-elect Biden's inauguration around the country at state capitols, also here in Washington.

CNN's Pete Muntean is just outside the U.S. Capitol where you have this new fencing going up and armed national guardsmen present. I mean, Pete, was there last week when the -- those new fences went up and then when the first national guardsmen came. Now we have more national guardsmen deployed to D.C. than Iraq and Afghanistan combined. It's an amazing and, frankly, concerning show of force.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's very true, Jim. You know, more fencing, more national guardsmen arriving here by the minute. You can see through the massive fence that's been erected here some of the 20,000 members of the National Guard that have already descended on Washington, more arriving all of the time.

The threat here is very real according to the Secret Service, which is now heading security for this inauguration. It says that it's monitoring chatter online of the potential of more armed protests here in Washington. The Pentagon says it is especially concerned about improvised explosive devices or more pipe bombs like those found outside the RNC and the DNC. And the head of the Metropolitan Washington Police Department says there is a real reason why it is discouraging people from coming to the district for this inauguration.

Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF ROBERT CONTEE, METROPOLITAN POLICE DEPT.: As the mayor has encouraged residents and she has encouraged visitors from around the country, you know, we -- we're not asking people to come to D.C. for this. There's a major security threat, and we are working to mitigate those threats. So, again, our main -- we are just very intently focused on the job that's at hand. (END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: The context here is so key, Jim. This massive wall is very tall. I'm 6 feet. This is 8 feet tall. If somebody made it over to the other side, they'd be met with a lot of firepower. All the national guardsmen here have M-16s. The district clearing out right now. This is a serious concern ahead of this inauguration like no other.

[09:35:04]

SCIUTTO: Yes, I -- they were not armed until a few days ago.

MUNTEAN: That's right.

SCIUTTO: And that is a step they do not take lightly. It's a result of the threat.

Pete Muntean, good to have you there. Thanks very much.

Poppy.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Pete, thank you.

I'm joined now by Texas Democratic Congressman Vicente Gonzalez. He serves on the Foreign Affairs Committee. He's also a member of the Problem Solvers Caucus.

Good morning. Thank you for being with me.

REP. VICENTE GONZALEZ (D-TX): Good morning, Poppy. Good to be here.

HARLOW: I know you were there when the siege, the insurrection, happened on the Capitol and you said it shook you to your core but you were undeterred. I wonder your thoughts this morning as our Josh Campbell reports that intelligence officials are warning that the attack on you guys last Wednesday will, quote, likely motivate additional follow-up attacks by extremists throughout the year, and the bulletin from the FBI also says that these efforts were viewed by those who carried them out largely as a success and will serve as a significant driver of violence. Yet there you are at work again today. What do you think when you hear that?

GONZALEZ: Well, it saddens me to think that we have a president who incited this type of violence across our country and incited a mob to go to the United States Capitol and initiate a revolt against our democracy to resist the peaceful transition of power. And it resulted in five deaths, four of them are his own supporters. And another one is a law enforcement member. And so this is tragic. It's tragic internally within our country and it's tragic on how the world is seeing us right now.

HARLOW: You, on the Problem Solvers Caucus, all of you, a bipartisan letter that you wrote to the president a few days ago asking him to address the nation and to, in your words, quote, urge anyone considering mobilizing to go home. I wonder if you think his video address last night where he finally said there must be no violence, no law breaking, no vandalism, did it go far enough? And do you think it stops those people who many of them echoed his words as they descended on the Capitol?

GONZALEZ: Well, first of all, I'm happy he did that. Should it have gone further? Of course. He needs to go further and actually admit that he lost the election. That he lost the election. That it's been proven that he was defeated in all 50 states by secretary of states in all 50 states, the vast majority of them Republicans, his theory has been defeated and over 60 lawsuits across the country in state and federal courts, including in front of judges who he appointed himself who have found zero evidence of fraud and there's nothing that would have changed the result of this election, and he needs to let his constituents, his followers know this because this is what's instigated this revolt. They feel that their election has been stolen.

Nothing has been stolen. This has been completely proven false. And it requires him and responsible members of Congress in the Senate to go back and speak to their constituents honestly and tell them, folks, this is the way democracies work and elections have results and we lost this one.

HARLOW: It's not only the president who doesn't believe that he -- that he lost. I mean there are 16 House members of your fellow House members from your state, from Texas, even after the siege on the Capitol, came back in that building and, you know, did not vote to certify the results of the election that are so clear and based in fact.

GONZALEZ: Right.

HARLOW: I wonder -- and obviously also Senator Ted Cruz. What -- what should happen to them?

GONZALEZ: It's -- it's very disappointing. And that's something I think if his -- their constituents believe this theory that the president has given them, and I think they're waiting for their master to tell them, hey, this is the -- this is the truth. Let me give you the truth. And that's why I -- I implore the president to talk to the American people and be honest with them about the election results. I think ultimately that's what --

HARLOW: But what should happen to them? I mean do you believe in censuring them?

GONZALEZ: To the members of Congress? I think, at the end of the day, they have to -- they have to answer to their constituents. And I don't know about censuring them because of the vote that they took. If they believe that that's -- I mean they have their -- that's their democratic right to take a vote however they decide. But, ultimately, they have to answer to the people in the district and the American people.

HARLOW: You sit on the Foreign Affairs Committee and federal officials held a call with law enforcement leaders yesterday and they warned that not only are Russian actors amplifying the false narrative, that members of Antifa infiltrated the riot at the Capitol. It's completely not true.

GONZALEZ: That's right.

HARLOW: And also the Chinese have seized on news stories showing the chaos that has unfolded there. Are you concerned, and I just wonder your thoughts on the long-term damage of America's standing in the world --

GONZALEZ: I'm very --

HARLOW: And the ability to deal with our adversaries in the world given this?

GONZALEZ: Well, I'm very -- obviously very concerned. I knew that the president's actions that resulted in this violence on the Capitol was going to have a foreign impact on how our foreign foes were going to take advantage of this situation. And the views of what our Capitol looked like last Wednesday is something that you would expect in Moscow or in Hong Kong but not in Washington, D.C.

[09:40:02]

And that's something that we're going to have to address moving forward.

But I'm confident that a Biden presidency will be able to go in -- will be able to heal our wounds here internally in the United States and be able to go talk to our friends and allies around the world and reassure them that we are back on track and we are still the beacon of hope and democracy and stability around the world that people can rely on and that the world can rely on. And I expect that that -- that President Biden will be able to deliver on this.

HARLOW: Congressman Vicente Gonzalez, we're glad you're safe. We're glad you're all right. Thanks for the time this morning.

GONZALEZ: Thank you. Thank you, Poppy.

HARLOW: Jim.

SCIUTTO: We are glad they're safe.

Will President-elect Joe Biden double down on his push for lawmakers to, in effect, multitask when it comes to the Senate impeachment trial and, at the same time, moving forward on President-elect Biden's agenda? We're going to discuss how that might play out, next.

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[09:45:00]

HARLOW: Welcome back.

President-elect Joe Biden is hoping that the Senate can really walk and chew gum, if you will, at the same time and multitask. He wants lawmakers to push forward with his agenda, the first 100 days, and also hold an impeachment trial.

SCIUTTO: High on his list of priorities, accelerating the COVID-19 vaccine program, jump-starting the economy with new stimulus, also getting his appointees approved.

CNN correspondent Jessica Dean has more details.

I imagine -- I mean we know he's had at least a conversation or two with Mitch McConnell. Is there any clarity for the president-elect as to whether he will, whether the Senate will be able to do both, or is it still up in the air?

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is still up in the air right now, Jim and Poppy, but it is something that President-elect Biden and his team are very keen to figure out as they prepare to assume office in less than a week.

It was always going to be a big sprint in the first 100 days for this administration. They knew they'd be facing a number of crises and they wanted to move as quickly as possible. Then they went ahead and won those two Senate races down in Georgia and they thought that they could really go big on a lot of this stuff.

Well, now, we think -- we have to figure out how this is all going to work logistically within the Senate. So he's hoping that they can do this at the same time. Perhaps they can -- what he's calling bifurcate the day and take up Senate business in one half of the day and then deal with the impeachment trial in the other half of the day. It's an interesting place for the Biden team to be in and for the president- elect to be in because they do understand that President Trump, and they hold him responsible for what happened, but at the same time they also don't want to put his agenda in peril.

So this is what he said. This was a statement that the president-elect released some hours after the impeachment vote last night. But it really illustrates where their priorities are as they begin to assume office.

Here's what it says. I hope the Senate leadership will find a way to deal with their constitutional responsibilities on impeachment while also working on the other urgent business of the nation. From confirmations to key posts such as secretaries for Homeland Security, State, Defense, Treasury and Director of National Intelligence, to getting our vaccine program on track and to getting our economy going again. Too many of our fellow Americans have suffered for too long over the past year to delay this urgent work.

And that was really telling because on the day that President Trump was impeached for the second time, that is what the president-elect was really keying in on. That, yes, they do need to deal with impeachment, but, Poppy and Jim, they also really want the focus on getting their nominees confirmed, getting this economic package passed and whatever else legislation they want to push through when they know they've got -- or they hope they've got the votes to do it.

HARLOW: A ton on their plate. Jessica Dean, thank you very, very much.

Well, obviously, all of this happening in the middle of this dire pandemic. Forty thousand Americans have died of COVID-19 in just the first two weeks of the new year. And now a new CDC forecast shows the death toll will only rise from here.

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[09:52:34]

SCIUTTO: An update now to a story we told you about yesterday. Former Michigan Governor Rick Snyder has now been charged -- charged with willful neglect of duty for his role in the Flint water crisis. It's amazing.

HARLOW: It's a really big deal. Snyder and a former Flint city official are each facing, if convicted, up to a year in prison or a $1,000 fine if convicted of the misdemeanor charges. Prosecutors will announce finding of their criminal investigation at a news conference today.

This is a really significant development. Twelve people died, more than 80 were sickened, you'll remember, of Legionnaires disease and other diseases when the city switched their water supply from Lake Huron to the Flint River to cut costs.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HARLOW: They didn't replace the lead pipes and not only, Jim, did people die, but children have life-long developmental disorders, major implications for so many kids in Flint because of that decision.

SCIUTTO: Yes. And it took years to address.

HARLOW: Yes.

SCIUTTO: It's just alarming.

Another story, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Andrew Yang, he's going to kick off his run for New York City mayor this morning. Yang has lived in New York for some 25 years, raising his two children there. He is, however, facing a packed field, including a former HUD secretary, former police captain and the city controller.

HARLOW: Of course he became really well-known in the primary for his trademark policy idea that is a universal basic income. It's something he's championed for a long time and is something that he would try to effect in New York if he is elected mayor.

SCIUTTO: Well, a new intelligence bullet is warning that the Capitol attack may motivate extremists to more violence and that online chatter is now off the charts. We're going to have new details ahead.

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[09:59:03]

SCIUTTO: A very good and busy news morning to you. I'm Jim Sciutto.

HARLOW: It sure is. I'm Poppy Harlow. We're glad you're with us.

Well, this morning, the U.S. Capitol is on edge, barricades are up and soon more than 20,000 National Guard members, that is more than, Jim, as you have said, and it's so important to say again, three times the U.S. troops currently in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria combined. They will be in the nation's capital for President-elect Joe Biden's Inauguration Day.

SCIUTTO: Yes, I cannot think in my experience of a military presence like that around any seat of government save Kabul or Baghdad.

HARLOW: Yes. Yes.

SCIUTTO: Remarkable to see here in Washington.

Why that increased security? Because there are new, urgent warnings of right-wing extremist violence in Washington leading up to the inauguration. This as Biden's predecessor, Donald Trump, became the only sitting president to be impeached twice. He now will face a Senate trial that could disqualify him from holding public office again.

[10:00:02]

And, today, a slew of new pardons could come as his days in the White House run out.