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Trump: "There Must Be No Violence, No Lawbreaking"; Mitch McConnell Leaves Voting For Trump's Conviction On The Table; Biden Urges Senate To Work On His Agenda In Tandem With Impeachment; U.S. Intelligence: Capitol Siege Will Likely Motivate Follow-Up Attacks; State Capitols On Alert For Inauguration Week Violence. Aired 12- 12:30p ET

Aired January 14, 2021 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

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JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Hello to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John King in Washington. Thank you for sharing this big news day with us. It is a history-making week.

President Donald Trump impeached for the second time. When the Senate impeachment trial starts, how long it will last, how many Republicans will vote to convict, and if the Senate can bar President Trump from another presidential run, all unknowns this hour?

This, though, is certain. The top Senate Republican Mitch McConnell holds giant influence here. McConnell says he will listen to the legal arguments, meaning a vote to convict is possible. Now that makes the second Trump impeachment trial very different. Remember, McConnell was a firm no from the beginning in the first.

A good bet today is five or six GOP Senate votes against the president, but 17 or 18 would be needed to reach two thirds requirements for Senate conviction. Follow the leader is very much a thing among Senate Republicans, so McConnell's choice here will heavily sway the final math.

The president predictably in a rage vexed that his aides and allies, including Senator McConnell, are not rushing to defend him. We're now six days from the Biden Inaugural. The impeachment trial just one of the daunting day one challenges now for the new administration.

The Coronavirus is raging. The vaccine rollout is behind schedule. Just this morning, devastating news from the government, reporting that nearly a million Americans filed for first-time unemployment benefits just last week.

The president-elect is asking the Senate to split its days, taking breaks from the impeachment trial to confirm its cabinet and to confirm a big new Coronavirus economic package. Take a look here at the United States Capitol. It looks simply foreign this hour.

National guardsmen sleeping in the halls as part of intensified security. An empty national mall now on Inauguration Day is another part of the new security posture. Authorities say last week's Capitol insurrection is it sparking more planning, targeting Washington and state governments as well. Wednesday President Trump spoke the words he refused to speak a week earlier as he watched his supporters storm the congress.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I want to be very clear; I unequivocally condemn the violence that we saw last week. Violence and vandalism have absolutely no place in our country and no place in our movement. I can't emphasize that there must be no violence, no lawbreaking and no vandalism of any kind.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Sources telling CNN this morning the president's script had heavy input from White House lawyers and that it came only after a sobering threat briefing by the secret service and only has constant pressures from the aides that the president had to speak out and condemn violence.

With us this hour to share the reporting and their insight, CNN's Phil Mattingly, NPR's Tamara Keith and CNN's Jeff Zeleny Phil, let's start on the Hill because that is the next big question, when will the trial begin? What will Mitch McConnell do?

Listen here to Senator Lisa Murkowski she's often a maverick, she goes after her own tune, but she is also someone who is close with the Senator McConnell. In Murkowski's view, she says the president needs to be held accountable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI (R-AK): I believe that this president has committed an impeachable offense. I think that is one of the most consequential actions that we should take, and I think that that would be appropriate.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: That's one, Phil, and it's pretty easy to get five or six, but it's hard to get to 17 or 18, and almost impossible unless Mitch McConnell says let's do this. Where are we today?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, look, I think this is a crucial point, because we saw a couple days ago when Liz Cheney came out and said she would vote for impeachment when it became clear that the Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell believes that the president has in fact committed impeachable offense hasn't committed devoting for impeachment but believes that has actually occurred here. That there might be some grand rush by Republicans to not just impeach the president but convict the president as well.

If you learned anything from yesterday's vote where 197 House Republicans voted against impeachment, that's not the case, and the president still has very real pull inside the party. I think the dynamics right now are just super fluid.

In fact, all Republican Senators, I'm told, hadn't heard a word from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell until right around the House vote yesterday. That left a lot of them unsettled. Needed to know some direction, needed to know any information they could about a potential trial.

They wanted to get a sense, as you noted. The leader matters an extraordinary amount always, but particularly with this Senate Republican Conference. I think where things stand right now; Senators are waiting to see how things play out?

There is one truth, and I think this is across the board even for Republican Senators who have already put out statements opposing impeachment. They are outraged by what occurred, they are outraged by the president's actions, and they believe the president very clearly was culpable for what occurred on January 6th.

[12:05:00]

MATTINGLY: Whether or not that gets them to convict the president, that remains an open question and that I think along with when the trial will start? What the structure of the trial will be and whether or not Joe Biden will be able to operate in the mornings while that trial is ongoing? The biggest question right now is where is McConnell going to land once those arguments are actually laid out in full?

KING: And I would say this, if they are so outraged, they could come out and say so, they could speak out clearly, and if they don't want to impeach, they could propose some other sanction or alternative against the president but right now mostly they wait.

And one other thing they are waiting for Tamara Keith is to see what else the president will do in his final days? We know the moving crews are at the White House. We know from our reporting the president essentially had to be pushed by his lawyers, who say sir, you're going to be sued. You are going to be sued and prosecutors are looking at what happened at the Capitol last week?

So, you better make it clear you do not condone violence, so this was almost forced if you will on the president. But one of the big questions is we keep hearing words of pardons. We keep hearing questions about what else will he do or what do we know at a time most of the White House staff has disappeared?

TAMARA KEITH, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, NPR: Well, also don't discount the damage that this has done to his brand and the Trump business is really all about brand. It's not entirely clear what he will do?

We've been hearing signals about pardons off and on for the last couple of weeks, and it's unclear when exactly it will happen, though we are expecting that there will be more to come. And, you know, the fascinating thing is that while President Trump has, in many ways, shrunk from the office in the last two weeks, three weeks, two months since the election, Vice President Pence is still going through the motions, the kind of motions that you would expect the President of the United States to do, burnishing their legacy.

Pence have trips coming up to talk about what the administration has done with the military, for instance. Obviously, President Trump went to the border, but he delivered a speech and it wasn't carried live on TV because all the networks were carrying - all the cable networks were carrying the Justice Department briefing about the insurrection at the Capitol.

KING: Well, it is beyond doubt and now time for the president. Especially now it's hard we don't see him. I understand the reasons behind this, but we don't see him on social media because he's been banned. So, he is normally transparent about his thoughts. Even his anger, we don't even see that right now.

Jeff Zeleny, I find it fascinating - look, this is a very difficult time for Joe Biden. You have the - his party wants to hold the president accountable. They want him - he has been impeached a second time now they want him convicted and they want to do the best they can to push the Senate to do that.

But now the Coronavirus case count is numbing and sobering, the hospitalizations and deaths even more so. Nearly a million people have filed for first time unemployment benefits last week. Joe Biden wants to get his cabinet in; he wants to get his agenda moving.

The statement he issued after the House impeachment vote last night, it's hard to really figure out what he wants. He says yes, they want to hold the president accountable. Yes, they want did their constitutional duty. He does not say the Senate should convict here. He does not say when they should move. What does he want?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: John, in a perfect world, he would not have wanted impeachment. He did not support it. He did not oppose it, of course. That would have been very disastrous for his own relationship with his own Democratic Party.

He had to allow congress to see this through. Yes, he is outraged as well. He spent a lion's share of his life public service in that building, in those halls. So yes, it's personal to him, but he's trying to turn the focus to the challenges that lay ahead. So that's why he's delivering a speech here this evening, putting it in the evening hours to try and draw more focus on it to outline his plans for COVID relief.

That spans the gamut from economic relief to Americans also increasing funding for vaccine distribution and trying to get that on track. He's just six days away from inheriting a remarkable series of crisis and one more legacy he inherits in the Trump Administration is impeachment that of course the Democratic Party is doing that.

He is going to - the best-case scenario isn't even that good a scenario for him if you think about it, splitting the days half day's impeachment, half days trying to confirm nominees and getting his bill through. We all have seen how Capitol Hill works.

That is going to be complicated at best but one sign of optimism we do see are these scheduling of confirmation hearings. So, the first one is tomorrow of real hands ahead of the DNI, the Head of the National Intelligence Agency and then a series of them on Tuesday as well.

So that at least is moving and there has been an agreement with the president-elect and Mitch McConnell to move forward on the transition here. So that is where things stand with him. But no, he did not want impeachment. Now it's just one more thing he has to deal with.

KING: And part of your job, Phil, and thankfully for us you're very good at it, is trying to crack the code. Because you know, Senator McConnell says he's open-minded, but you're left to trying to crack the code of the ultimate sphinx there of what he means and what he is thinking?

[12:10:00]

KING: And where he is going to end up? Here is Lindsey Graham you know to crack to code here; he was a just reelected, so he has six years before he sees the votes again. B, he is from South Carolina. He says impeachment is a bad idea. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Be careful what you wish for today. Under this theory the radical left, if you can impeach a president after they're out of office, why don't we impeach George Washington? He owned slaves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: So that one is easy, Lindsey Graham is no. This one is a little more difficult Rob Portman from Ohio who is up in two years. He is up in the next election in a state that's leaning more and more Republican but still competitive.

If the Senate conducts an impeachment trial, among my considerations will be what is best to heal our country rather than deepen our division? So, your first reflex is to say, oh, healing? He is like the House Republicans who say let's not impeach. But if Leader McConnell came forward and said I think it's best to heal the country that we convict the president, Rob Portman could follow the leader.

MATTINGLY: Yes, it's entirely possible. Look, you read the Portman statement the same way that I read the Portman statement and I think you need to put people into groups at this point in time. You're obviously have as you noted the four or five who have already made clear that they're pretty on board with this or at least leaning in that direction right now. You have to put those who are up in 2022.

Again, going back to the fact that President Trump inside the Republican Party particularly with the base the most active in the Republican Party is still very, very popular they have to be cognizant of their political flanks as well. I think the most interesting dynamic, and this is where McConnell kind of looms so large given who he is? But also, in a matter of days, he's going to be the most powerful Republican in the entire country. Those who want to try and move the party away from President Trump and feel like there needs to be a concrete moment or concrete action to make that happen.

And whether or not they are willing to split from their activist base, to split from Trump supporters in an effort to try and do that. That's where McConnell is right now. If you've paid close attention over the course of the last five or six weeks, he hasn't been very subtle about it. He has been trying to move his conference away.

If you listen to his January 6th remarks before the attack, that was a historic speech. I think if you go back and read what he said not only just going after the president but also his own colleagues. And you know better than anybody John, McConnell is very, very, very unwilling to attack his own conference on anything.

Splitting his conference is the one thing he never wants to do. And so, he is clearly in that position right now of trying to consider how to move the Republican Party on from President Trump? The biggest thing for his conference right now, particularly those who are up in 2022, which are looking at the politics and looking at the realities right now, is whether or not they want to go with him on this specific moment?

KING: Right, calculating the new reality of being in the minority, part of that as well. Tamara, normally the president, we know he is mad right now. We know he's mad that Mitch McConnell is not out speaking; absolutely we're not going to impeach him flushing this one away as he did the first impeachment.

We know he is mad even his own aides are not on television defending him at this moment. Normally the president would use his Twitter chainsaw to go after those people who he views as disloyal. He doesn't not have that anymore including I'll add this. The Republican Governor or Arizona Doug Ducey remember Joe Biden won Arizona. Doug Ducey is a politician.

In a series of tweets this morning, he says, among the other things he said is this, I will not agree with him this means President Biden on everything, but I certainly will not hesitate to share my views on the public policy issues that matter to Arizonans, but I believe President-Elect Biden is a good man and wants to serve his country.

You see more and more Republicans trying to escape the toxicity of the president's months of lying about the election and try to get to a better place, the question is what will the president try to do about it?

KEITH: Well, and then Ducey faced consequences earlier from even being willing to certify the election results in his state. So, the backlash from Trump allies certainly has come. It's really not clear right now how President Trump is going to move forward and wield his power in the way that he has in the past?

Because his power has come from intimidation, from fear of his Twitter feed, from members of congress staying in line to avoid his wrath on Twitter, avoid him primary them or getting someone to primary them. He certainly has been urging people - you know, he was urging the Governor of South Dakota to primary John Thune.

But - but - it's not clear whether he's really going to put money behind those threats, and it's not clear yet how influential he will be beyond the very core of his base, the kind of people who would show up for a rally.

KING: One of the giant questions for the next several days, and then, of course, the next several months and the next cycle. Does the president fade away or does he find a way to stage resurgence? We shall watch all that Tamara Keith, Phil Mattingly and Jeff Zeleny grateful for the reporting and insights. Up next for us law enforcement officials say, the insurrection at the Capitol is now serving as an inspiration for future attack planning.

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[12:15:00]

KING: Unless you're a VIP, if you want to see Joe Biden's Inauguration in person, you simply can't. Official now says the national mall will be closed to the public on Inauguration Day, this coming as U.S. intelligence officials warn extremist chatter is now "Off the charts".

The Fed says last Wednesday's attack on the United States Capitol will likely not be the last. Instead, that insurrection is being cited as an inspiration as authorities try now to keep track of new attack planning.

Let's bring our CNN Security Correspondent Josh Campbell who has been tracking this chatter. Josh, what do we know?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes John, we're learning that the violent attack on the United States Capitol last week did not occur in a vacuum. In a new joint intelligence bulletin by the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security obtained by our colleague Whitney While Intelligence Analyst indicate that extremists now look to that event last week as motivation.

[12:20:00]

CAMPBELL: They see that largely as a success, an attack on the U.S. government. Intelligence officials are now worried that there could be follow-on attacks that have been motivated by what occurred in Washington, D.C. I'll read a part of what this intelligence bulletin says.

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.

It goes on to say that with the perception amongst some extremists that the breach of the U.S. Capitol building was a significant advance towards their ideological goals. They may be inspired to carry out more violence again those concerning law enforcement officials as they try to stop potential threats this weekend, and indeed, surrounding the inauguration.

Finally, John, it's worth noting that so much of what we see in this intelligence bulletin about what is motivating some of these violent actors' mirrors what we heard from the President of the United States time and again.

This intelligence bulletin says that these extremists are motivated by this idea that there is some deep state that's trying to undermine President Trump, also this idea that the 2020 election was stolen. We've heard that time and again from the president. Officials say that is that type of rhetoric that is also motivating some of these extremists, John.

KING: It's reckless rhetoric when it comes from the president who should know better. And Josh one thing authorities hope to do to discourage future attacks is to hold accountable, put in jail those responsible for this past attack. A notable arrest today, tell us about it.

CAMPBELL: Yes, it's right. We're learning this man Robert Sanford was arrested by federal agents this morning in Pennsylvania. He was alleged he is seen on video throwing a fire extinguisher at Capitol police officers during that attack, striking one officer on his helmet.

It ricocheted and hit another officer who was not wearing a helmet. He was arrested by federal agents. This case showing what we've heard time and again from law enforcement since that incident, that is these violent actors will be held accountable just one of the many arrests that we've seen as law enforcement tries to find, locate and apprehend those who attacked the U.S. Capitol, John.

KING: Josh Campbell, I appreciate that important update and keeping track as authorities try to prevent future attacks. I appreciate it very much. And today a bipartisan effort to honor one of those Capitol Hill police officers, this one for his incredible grace under pressure.

United States Capitol police officer Eugene Goodman lured a group of rioters away from the Senate Chamber where lawmakers and journalists were taking cover in the middle of the U.S. Capitol attack. Congresswoman Charlie Christ and Congresswoman Nancy Mace now want to award Officer Goodman a congressional gold medal, "For his bravery and quick thinking". The law makers credit Goodman with saving their lives and other lives as well. Saying thanks to his valor, we are here today.

State Capitols are now on high alert. West Virginia's Governor joins us next to discuss the security challenge, the COVID vaccine rollout, and how plays in Trump country?

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[12:25:00]

KING: State Capitols right now operating under a raised threat level, the FBI warning the Biden Inauguration is a target for right wing extremist violence and planned protests nationwide could spiral into episodes of insurrection. This 50-state alert for inauguration week well it adds to immense pressure, government already dealing overwhelmed valuing the pandemic.

West Virginia says at the moment it is not aware of any specific, credible threats, but state officials promise vigilance over the next several days. Joining us now is the West Virginia Governor Jim Justice. Governor, appreciate your time. I know you're busy right now. What are your security officials telling you? Any threats at all or just are on alert just in case?

GOV. JIM JUSTICE (R) WEST VIRGINIA: Well John, to be perfect in all - I certainly hope and pray that we're not going to have any threats or any violence. It is a time when we should be celebrating in our nation and our security people do not feel like there is going to be any violence, and they do not have any credible threats at this point in time, and let's just hope and pray that it stays that way.

KING: Amen and let's hope and pray it stays that way in West Virginia and across the country including here in Washington. You had a different tone than the President of United States last week. Now former member of your legislature had to resign because he took part in the assault on the Capitol.

You said last week, the violence we are witnessing right now in Washington D.C. is absolutely unacceptable. I condemn it in a strongest possible term. People have every right to have their voices heard peacefully but there is no place in our country for this type of activity.

On the same the President of United States is later being depleted by Twitter excuse me said these are the things and events that happened when a sacred landslide election victory is so unceremoniously and viciously stripped away from great patriots who have been badly and unfairly treated for so long.

You were strong and responsible Governor. The president is in my words not yours, was reckless. Do you believe this impeachment debate it's on the front page in your papers right now? I know you are Republican. I know you have been aligned with the president in the past. Do you believe impeachment is the right course so that he needs to be held accountable in any way?

JUSTICE: John, I would just say simply this. The attacks on our nation's Capitol were despicable. That's all there is to it. And absolutely, when efforts or frustrations become way over your words, it's not good.