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20,000 National Guard Troops Expected in D.C. for Biden Swearing-in; Officials: Violent Extremists are Biggest Threat to Inauguration; Lawmakers Call for Probe into Suspected "Reconnaissance" Tours. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired January 14, 2021 - 11:00   ET

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

[11:00:20]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone. I'm Kate Bolduan. Thank you so much for joining us this hour.

Even with the country still reeling from the horrific attack on the Capitol last week, the nation is on even higher alert now with growing security concerns surrounding the inauguration of Joe Biden. Federal law enforcement officials are warning domestic extremists are likely more emboldened now to carry out attacks on the inauguration and throughout the year in the wake of last week's siege.

One source describing the online chatter as being off the charts at this point. With sources also telling CNN that officials are considering raising the terror threat level ahead of the inauguration and are worried about explosives. More than 20,000 National Guard troops are expected in D.C. next week.

To give you a sense of just how massive of a security presence that is, those 20,000 guard members are more than three times the number of active duty U.S. military currently in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria combined. Quite a statement on where the real threat to America is coming from right now.

And the threat is not isolated to Washington. States all across the country are on heighten added alert and also planning from arm protest with security being tightened in all 50 state capitals now.

With all of this in mind, it is confounding and actually unbelievable that there hasn't been a single briefing from a top-level federal official from any of the key agencies. Nothing from the FBI director, nothing from whoever is running the Department of Homeland Security at this point, nothing from the acting attorney general.

Now a week after the attack and more threats to come, no briefings for the public on what happened in our nation's capital.

There is a lot to get to today. So, let's start with CNN's Jessica Schneider. She is joining me right now. Jessica, what can you tell us about these new warnings from federal law enforcement officials?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, Kate, the takeaway here is that domestic extremists are feeling really emboldened because of their supposed success last week and that is heightened the likelihood for attacks on Joe Biden's inauguration on Wednesday.

So, we've gotten our hands on an intelligence bulletin and it points out that extremists are infiltrating peaceful protests and really doing so because of these conspiracy theories that are propelling them into action. Of course, the same conspiracy theories they're often hearing from the president.

So, this is the first thing we've gotten from the bulletin. It says, "The violent breach of the U.S. Capitol Building is very likely part of an ongoing trend in which extremists exploit lawful protests, rallies, and demonstrations, and other gatherings to carry out ideologically motivated violence and criminal activity."

Now, law enforcement has also been making calls where they're asking for an urgent assistance in security to secure Washington in addition to what we're already seeing on the ground here, 20,000 National Guard troops who already are here and stationed near the Capitol.

The bulletin also talking about the range of possible attacks. They're describing it in this bulletin, anything from attacking government officials and institutions to maybe racial and religious minorities. So, it spans far and wide.

And they're also saying that it is possible that the attack last week may have served somewhat of a launching pad, because it enabled these extremists to foster connections with other people from around the country.

Here is something else from the bulletin. It says, "...with the perception among some extremists that the breach of the U.S. Capitol Building was a significant advance toward achieving their ideological goals, they may be inspired to carry out for violence."

So, Kate, the warnings are stark from law enforcement. FBI Director Chris Wray held a call with law enforcement agencies across the country yesterday warning about what might be to come. And obviously the alert is throughout the country, not just here in Washington. Kate?

BOLDUAN: Jessica, thank you so much.

So, we're also learning more about last week's siege at the Capitol. A federal law enforcement official says the evidence uncovered so far suggest, it was not just a protest that spiraled out of control but rather that the violence was planned.

CNN's Evan Perez, he is deep reporting on this. He is joining us now with this. Evan, what are you learning about the investigation into the attack?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Kate, the indications that they're getting certainly from the evidence that the FBI and prosecutors are now in possession of, indicates that there were people who left the ellipse, the rally where the president was speaking outside of the White House. Where, by the way, because of security precautions on that side of the city, they had to leave behind backpacks. They could not bring any weapons anywhere close to where the president was. They left a little early and then they went to go retrieve some of the items that then were used in the assault on the Capitol.

[11:05:02]

And that includes things like crowbars. We saw people with sledgehammers, people with climbing ropes and climbing gear. People who clearly had trained and know exactly how to use these to get into a building. And so, that is what is leading law enforcement to increasingly believe that there had to be a greater level of planning than was first thought. And that may not be that there was one centralized group but there is certainly a number of desperate groups that had talked about getting into the U.S. Capitol.

I'll play this clip right now of some people who well into the assault were talking about some of the knowledge that they had. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey guys, I've been in the other room, listen to me. In the other room on the other side of this door, right here where these feet are standing. There is a glass that if somebody, and if it's broken, you can drop down into a room underneath it. There's also two doors in the other room, one in the rear, and one to the right when you go in. So, people should probably coordinate together if you're going to take this building.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PEREZ: And, Kate, now you have prosecutors who typically do counterterrorism cases, people who do public corruption cases who are now trying to put together essentially a sedition conspiracy case because they're going to look at travel records. They're going to look at the money to try to figure out exactly who was in on this, how much planning ahead of time there was and they're going to try to build a bigger case.

BOLDUAN: And some members of Congress to add to what you just reported, they're asking for an investigation into what they think are suspicious tours of the Capitol that other members gave in the days before the attack. What are you hearing about this, Evan?

PEREZ: Yes, the FBI is very much aware of these -- there are some videos that have been shared. Members of Congress are writing letters and there's a deep concern about this, worried there are members of Congress who either willing or unwillingly gave tours to people beforehand and allowed them to have a little bit more knowledge about this building before the assault happened on the 6th. That's a big question.

Again, nothing has been proved. There are still a lot of investigation to be done. But it is definitely on the radar of the investigators.

BOLDUAN: All right. Evan, thank you very much.

So, states all across the country are facing threats as well. Security being stepped up in all 50 state capitals ahead of possible violence. In Wisconsin, for one, the National Guard has been deployed to Madison to support security efforts there. And as we are going to show you here, windows at state Capitol building have already been boarded up as a precautionary measure, they say.

So, joining me right now on what is expected to happen and what is feared is Wisconsin's Attorney General Josh Kaul.

Attorney General, thank you for coming in. The threat is real and immediate as Evan Perez just laid out all over the country. How concerned are you in Wisconsin?

JOSH KAUL, WISCONSIN ATTORNEY GENERAL: I think we need to make sure that we're on high alert in our Capitol and state Capitols across the country. We saw a domestic terrorism event at the U.S. Capitol and as your reporting has been discussed saying there are a lot of concerns that there is going to be a follow up on this.

What we need is real leadership right now from the federal government and we need the president to look into the camera and to be clear to people, he's been lying about the results and this is a fair election and that Joe Biden won.

BOLDUAN: Attorney general, assuming that you do not get and we need to assume that you're not going to get that from the president of the United States to come to a camera and say that he lied, what are you most concerned about happening in Wisconsin?

KAUL: Well, again, a lot of this has been spurred on by the false claims of election fraud. So, more leaders of the Republican Party can talk about how those claims are totally baseless, the better off we'll be. We're worried that people are going to show up armed and that extremists are going to take advantage of that. Just as we saw in Washington, D.C. We're taking precautions and law enforcement is going to (AUDIO GAP) in that kind of criminal conduct (AUDIO GAP) to the fullest extent of the law.

BOLDUAN: Sorry to jump in. I think we're having a bit of a technical issue with your shot.

How are you preparing? I mean what we know is that federal officials are saying that extremists are feeling emboldened after the siege and the attack on the U.S. Capitol. How are you preparing? I've seen images of doors of you know doors boarded up in Madison at the Capitol Building. What else - what else are you doing?

KAUL: That is right. And the physical security of the Capitol Building has been operated and that is including having National Guards groups deployed. We are also working with other agencies to make sure that information is being shared and we have a Wisconsin Statewide Intelligence Center that monitors potential extremist activities and the safety of Wisconsinites. If we get information (AUDIO GAP) threats, we're going to make sure that they're acted upon and that people are held accountable.

[11:10:09]

BOLDUAN: You said that you - what you need right now is leadership from the federal government. Have you gotten any information that you need from the FBI, from federal law enforcement officials? What information are you getting from them about the potential threat?

KAUL: On the law enforcement side, there has been great coordination and that is continued professionally and in the way that we needed to and we're sharing information. They're keeping us updated about information that they received. So, I'm confident that those relationships are going to work effectively. But we need the leaders of the federal agencies to be briefing the public about this. To make sure that the tension is raised and to make clear that the federal government is going to use the full force of its resources to hold anybody who engages in criminal activity and activities, that they'll hold them accountability.

BOLDUAN: Attorney general, thank you for coming on.

Coming up for us, Mitch McConnell makes clear that the Senate will not start an impeachment trial until after President Trump leaves office. What he does not make clear though is where he stands on conviction.

And later, new reporting on how President Trump is responding to being impeached a second time and how he might try to use pardons to try and divert attention from the fallout.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:15:46]

BOLDUAN: President Donald Trump is the first American president to be impeached twice, that happened in the House yesterday. The next step is a Senate trial.

The majority leader of the Senate, Mitch McConnell, he is now making clear that it will not be starting that Senate trial until after President Trump leaves office. But that is about all we know about what this Senate trial is going to look like in this moment. We also don't know where Senator Mitch McConnell stands on this.

He is sending signals that may be considering backing impeachment of Donald Trump. He's reportedly furious with the president, wants him out of the Republican Party for good and thinks they may be the opportunity but still we don't know where he stands on this. A lot of questions.

So, let's get to CNN's Phil Mattingly, try to get some answers. Phil, what are you hearing first and foremost about how the Senate trial will go?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And Kate, you're like totally setting me up for failure here. Everything is just so fluid right now in terms of what the next steps of the process. All right. Look, I think the key point is start with this. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell making clear as you noted, the Senate is not going to come back before January 19th to consider that trial. And his rationale was actually rather clear.

I want to read what he said in a statement. He says, "I believe it will best serve our nation if Congress and the executive branch spend the next seven days completely focused on facilitating a safe inauguration and an orderly transfer of power to the incoming Biden administration."

The back story of that is the security situation in Washington D.C. Obviously, McConnell is a member of the gang of eight, every member of Congress, both Senate and House are being briefed on the security concerns that have only grown in the wake of January 6th. So, there will be no Senate trial until at least January 19th.

Now, where it gets complicated is what actually happens next. Kate, keep in mind, once the Senate goes into a Senate trial, afternoon, that is the only thing they could do.

Now, what the Biden folks are hoping will happen is that they can kind of - as Biden said, bifurcate things, be able to work in the morning on nominations, on his legislative agenda before turning over to the trial. But keep in mind, these trials traditionally aren't short. The shortest one up to this point I think was 21 or 22 days.

And so, right now the dynamics of what the trial will look like, when the trial will start, what will trigger the trial, we know once the managers - the House managers bring over those article of impeachment, when the Senate is in session, the trigger starts and things start to move very quickly.

When Speaker Pelosi decides to make that move, we still don't know the answer. But that will go a long way to dictating what actually happens next in this process as the Senate looks to convict or might convict President Trump.

BOLDUAN: And Phil, I mentioned how Mitch McConnell is leaving the door open for possibly supporting impeachment, possibly supporting conviction here. What would that mean? Give some perspective for folks for other Republican senators if did he and what you have heard from other Republicans since the House vote yesterday?

MATTINGLY: Well, Kate, it will be enormous. And I don't want - you know, some people have drawn the conclusion that if Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell decides to support impeachment that 16 of his colleagues will join him or more to convict the president. That is not where things land right now.

And I think that underscores the reality at this moment inside the Senate Republican conference. Until Senate Majority Leader McConnell sent an e-mail to his colleagues yesterday right around when the House vote occurred, they had not heard from McConnell. They had seen the new stories, "New York Times" broke the story. We matched the story about McConnell's misgivings about President Trump, about his openness to impeachment, about his feeling that the president had committed impeachable offenses, but they hadn't heard from him at all.

And that caused some serious disenchantment inside the Republican conference. As members are trying to kind of figure out where they're supposed to land on this. Look, 17 Republicans joining with 50 Democrats. That is a very high Hill to climb.

However, in just a couple of days, Mitch McConnell, even though he will move from majority to minority leader will become the most powerful Republican in the country. He has a serious of loyalists not just inside his own conference but in the Republican Party writ large based on his career over the course of the last 36 or 37 years.

Where he goes matters. Where he is trying to take the Republican Party, and make no mistake about it. That is what is happening right now where McConnell is trying to take the Republican Party away from President Trump, that matters too.

But I want to read one statement from Senator Rob Portman. He's an Ohio Republican close ally of Mitch McConnell. He's more moderate than harshly conservative, if you will. And he stance, he put out a statement last night, making very clear, he's going to be a juror. He hasn't made up his mind yet. He wants to see how the trial plays out.

[11:20:00]

But he said this, "If the Senate conducts an impeachment trial, among my considerations will be what is best to help heal our country rather than deepen our divisions."

Now, if you're trying to read tea leaves, and that's always a little bit danger when it comes to written statements at this point in the process. That echoes a lot of what we heard from House Republicans who imposed impeachment over the course of yesterday as well. And so, keep an eye on this.

I would say this. Nothing is settled right now. The Republican conference is still very much up in the air. Lindsey Graham trying to get members to come out and support the president on this. This is still very much kind of an open ball game here and where McConnell lands will be very, very important as to where the rest of the conference goes.

BOLDUAN: Phil, thank you so much.

So, the White House and President Trump is apparently wallowing in self-pity, according to sources. Spending these final days largely isolated and still denying the reality that he lost the election. Yes, he is.

According to "The New York Times," Trump on Tuesday aboard Air Force One repeatedly told folks on board, quote, "I won."

Sources also again, let me say it one more time. That is a lie. He did not. I hate that we haven't even to fact check it still. Still, sources are telling CNN that he is considering another round as pardons that could come as soon as today as a way to try and divert attention away from the violence, the siege, the mess, the chaos that he created and the impeachment that resulted.

CNN's John Harwood, he is joining me now at the White House with much more on this. So, John, essentially nothing has changed but everything has changed. What are you hearing there?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Kate, one of the ways in which Donald Trump is psychologically disfigured is that he cannot accept responsibility or culpability for the consequences of his own bad behavior. He has to insist that he is faultless and has been wrong by others.

As a result, even though he left the election with only this fantasy that it had been stolen from him, he blames Rudy Giuliani for not successfully prosecuting the case for election fraud. He says he's not going to pay Giuliani. He faults weak Republicans who are willing to accept the reality that he lost the election.

As Kevin McCarthy did on the House floor yesterday, even as Kevin McCarthy opposed impeachment, was trying to sort of keep his party together. Even Mike Pence who has been slavishly loyal to him throughout four years, he faults Mike Pence for weakness because Pence is not willing to in a futile gesture try to subvert his constitutional duty. So, he attacks Mike Pence for not having courage, sets the mob in effect on Mike Pence. That shows how deeply the president is committed to the idea that he's done nothing wrong.

Now, the one thing the president is capable of grasping is when there is severe pressure on him that might generate some adverse consequences and that is why in this group of pardons that he is considering, the idea is very much alive that he would attempt to pardon himself. Legally dubious, never tested before but if you're Donald Trump with just a few days in office and you recognize that you've got some serious legal exposure from this insurrection, why not take a chance on it. We're expecting that he may do that.

BOLDUAN: Yes. That looks like desperation. I mean, let's talk though for a second, John, about kind of bigger picture of the final weeks of what his presidency has looked like. Impeachment being just the latest. What does this mean for Trump and his future?

HARWOOD: Well Trump's future is extremely problematic. He has got problems all over the place. First of all, he's going to live with the disgrace of being the only president impeached twice by the House of Representatives, might become certainly not sure as Phil just reported, might become the first president to be convicted.

Setting that aside, he has got big, big financial pressure. He owes hundreds of millions of dollars. His bankers have left him. Corporate America is sprinting away from him. People associated with his post- election lies and the insurrection are finding themselves pariahs. So, he's going to have a difficult room to operate within the business world.

And then, finally, there is that legal exposure. Even if he makes a self-pardon stick with respect to the insurrection, he's got potential state charges both from the New York state attorney general and the Manhattan district attorney that are beyond the reach of a presidential pardon.

All of those things are bearing down on him as he looks at the last few days of his presidency. Kate?

BOLDUAN: John, thank you so much.

Still ahead for us, we are following breaking news on the security preparations that are underway in Washington right now.

This is just coming into CNN. The National Mall will now be closed to the public on Inauguration Day. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:29:19]

BOLDUAN: We have breaking news coming in. The National Mall in Washington is being shut down. The public will not have access to the area on Inauguration Day. This is clearly a response to the heightened security alert in the nation's capital. Amid these growing threats from domestic extremists.

CNN's Pete Muntean, he is on the streets of Washington taking a look at what that means and looks like right now. Pete, what are you seeing?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Kate, it is jarring and frankly a little bit unbelievable. This is Constitution Avenue leading down to the National Mall which we know is closed. And this is very deserted right now.

We know with the mall closed, no bunting, no crowds, no jumbotrons in an inauguration like no other. Anybody who shows up here will be separated from the Capitol Complex by this massive wall that's been erected. And you could see that some of the 20,000 National Guardsmen who are arriving here in Washington right now.