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Federal Prosecutors Say, Rioters Planned to Capture and Assassinate Officials; Inauguration Ceremony Rehearsal Delayed amid Security Concerns; U.S. Bracing for More Attacks as FBI Warns of Armed Protests. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired January 15, 2021 - 10:00   ET

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

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POPPY HARLOW, CNN NEWSROOM: Good morning, top of the hour. I'm Poppy Harlow.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN NEWSROOM: And I'm Jim Sciutto.

Breaking this morning, prosecutors say that rioters intended to capture and assassinate elected officials during the deadly insurrection on Capitol Hill. These shocking new details coming just days before Joe Biden takes his oath of office on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.

But today, the seat of American democracy is looking more and more like a military fortress. More than 20,000 National Guardsmen will be deployed by January 20th. I have to share, I've traveled the world for more than 25 years, I've never seen a military presence like this outside a war zone.

We are now also getting new video of the rioters in helmets and tactical vests during the deadly mob attack that left five people dead. Poppy, it is the organization, the preparedness of this that is most alarming.

HARLOW: That is right. And the group going on to sing the national anthem as they defaced a key symbol, the key symbol of American democracy, the People's House, those people showing distorted sense of patriotism. They terrorized brave police officers sworn to serve and protect. One of the officers says the rioters even threatened to kill him with his own gun.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OFFICER MICHAEL FANONE, D.C. METROPOLITAN POLICE: The guys were stripping me off my gear. These were rioters pulling my badge off my chest. They ripped my radio off my vest.

Some guys started getting a hold of my gun and they were screaming out, you know, kill him with his own gun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARLWO: Wow. We're covering all of this with our team of reporters this is hour. Let's begin with Jessica Schneider in Washington. Jess, I mean, reading what federal prosecutors now say they have evidence of, to kidnap, to assassinate elected officials.

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes. We're getting these filings in slowly and they're providing this window, really, into just how much worse this all could have been. Federal prosecutors, they're unveiling these details of the Capitol attack plot in courtrooms across the country as these suspects are appearing and answering charges, and every revelation here seems to be more and more chilling.

So this is a brand new court filing and it says that the intention from rioters was to, quote, capture and assassinate elected officials. This came out in a detention memo seeking to keep Jacob Chansley locked up as the prosecution against him moves forward.

Now, Chansley was allegedly one of the first to break inside of the Capitol and it is his picture there. It was seen all over social media. He wore the headdress, face paint, carried a six-foot spear. And prosecutors are saying in this filing that Chansley also stood at the dais in the Senate where Vice President Pence had stood that morning. And while Chansley was there, he allegedly jotted down a note that said, it is only a matter of time, justice is coming.

And perhaps the most disturbing here is that Chansley's lawyers now are saying that Chansley was answering the call of the president and is now hoping for a presidential pardon. And Chansley also planned to come back to D.C. next week but he is now in custody locked up as this case moves forward against him.

So all of this unfolding in federal courts across the country while Director Chris Wray, FBI director, he said his agents are making arrests in rapid succession, they are fanned out across country and they are pledging to find everyone who was involved. Take a listen.

Do we have that sound? Okay, we don't have the sound. But Director Chris Wray spoke yesterday talking about the fact that may have made about 100 arrests, they have 200 suspects and they are fanned out across the country.

We're going to hear from law enforcement officials again this afternoon to get more updates but we are already getting many updates in written via these court filings. These rioters believe they were acting under the president's orders and, Poppy and Jim, many of them have actually been freely giving information to the FBI agents who question them. Jacob Chansley, he told the FBI agents that he believes politicians like Vice President Mike Pence and even President-elect Biden, he believes they are traitors.

[10:05:01]

So, law enforcement, they're actually talking to these suspects at the same time that they're monitoring all of these the chatter about what could transpire this weekend and next week. So a lot going on as these agents try to fan the country, I guess.

HARLOW: Wow. Jessica Schneider, thank you very much.

For more on what the officers who stood toe-to-toe with the rioters are saying, we're joined by our Crime and Justice Correspondent, Shimon Prokupecz. Good morning, Shimon.

To hear from them in their own words, I mean, it leaves you speechless.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it just paints a more terrifying picture of about everything we already know. You talk about toe-to-toe, we're also talking about hand-to-hand combat between the police officers and the violent mob of people. Of course, for the first time, we are hearing from some of these officers describing what they were doing as they were trying to survive, basically. One of the officers just speaking out to CNN, his name is Michael Fanone and here is what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FANONE: I would give them the justification that they were looking for to kill me if they already didn't have -- made that up in their minds.

So, the other option I thought of was try to appeal to somebody's humanity. And I just remember yelling out that I have kids and it seemed to work. Some people in the crowd started to encircle me and try to me offer me some level of protection.

A lot of people have asked me my thoughts on the individuals in the crowd that helped me or tried to offer some assistance, and I think kind of conclusion I've come to is like, thank you, but (BLEEP) you for being there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PROKUPECZ: And then we heard from Officer Daniel Hodges. He is that officer -- we've all seen that video of that officer being crushed in the doorway wearing the gas mask and the violent mob trying to pull that gas mask off his face. Here is him describing those moments.

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OFFICER DANIEL HODGES, D.C. METROPOLITAN POLICE: There's a guy ripping my mask off and he was able to rip away my baton and beat me with it. And he was practically foaming at the mouth. So these people were true believers in the worst way.

Things were looking bad. I was calling out for all I was worth and an officer behind me was able to give me enough room to pull me out therefore and they brought me to the rear so I was able to extricate myself.

The cognitive dissonance and the zealotry of these people is unreal. They are waving the thin blue line flag and telling us we're not your enemy while they were attacking us and killed one of us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PROKUPECZ: And, Poppy and Jim, we're hearing from law enforcement officials that it is these heroic efforts from these officers, specifically the MPD, the Washington, D.C. Police Force that saved many of the lawmakers' lives. By doing what they do, they gave the Capitol police enough time to move lawmakers out of harm's way.

Of course, we now know from what we're seeing being alleged by federal prosecutors that they were targeting lawmakers and that they wanted to assassinate those lawmakers.

SCIUTTO: Their lives were in danger and they were listening to the president's words before they went to the Capitol. Shimon Prokupecz, thanks very much.

Well, the rehearsal for President-elect Joe Biden's inauguration ceremony has now been pushed back one day due to security concerns.

HARLOW: It is really troubling. Our Pete Muntean joins us now from Washington.

Pete, can you talk to us to the extent that obviously they're able to share what kind of steps are being taken now to avoid a repeat of the deadly insurrection last week?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Poppy, I can show you just how jarring the security presence here in Washington really is. This perimeter only gets bigger and bigger by the moment.

This is Pennsylvania Avenue, the parade route went the Capitol and the White House, all pretty much deserted right now. No bunting, no porto potties, no jumbotrons, maybe not much in the way of crowds.

I've been showing some of that fencing that has been going up around this major perimeter. The roadblock stretch for miles. You can see the fencing all the way down there, blocks away from where we are, really, the closest you can get to the Capitol right now.

Security officials say the threat here is a very real one.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN CUCCINELLI, ACTING DEPUTY SECRETARY, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY: Some of the online chatter that you and I were talking about before talks about Sunday the 17th, again, no specific credible threats but the chatter focused on that day is something we're paying close attention to. And so I think the decision was made to delay a day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: You can see the capitol off in the distance there. We know that inauguration rehearsal delayed from Sunday now moving to Monday, separating anybody who comes here, peaceful or not, is now this 12- foot wall based in concrete.

[10:10:00]

This is a really jarring scene here, Jim and Poppy, an inauguration like no other.

SCIUTTO: Listen, it looks like a war zone, the military presence. And we keep saying the statistic but it is informative, more soldiers on streets of D.C. now than in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria combined, by a factor of four. Pete Muntean, thanks very much.

This news just into CNN. New polling from the Pew Research Center finds that most Americans want Donald Trump removed from office. 54 percent say it would be better for the country if he was removed and Vice President Pence were to finish the final few days of his term. 68 percent do not want him to remain a major political figure in the future. And that arguably the bigger finding.

HARLOW: John Harwood joins us from the White House this morning. Good morning to you, John.

The president has been pretty quiet, laying low, despite a few taped remarks, et cetera. What do we know about his mindset this morning?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It's bad. And the first thing to say, Poppy, is all of my colleagues have been describing, and Jim as well, has been describing Washington as a war zone, thousands of troops posted everywhere. The reason that Washington looks that way right now is because of the behavior of the president of the United States and what he has inspired and unleashed in this country.

Now, the president cocooned in the White House, by himself, not appearing before the public except in those taped remarks, is privately wishing for some sort of honor sendoff. He may be able to muster as the commander-in-chief some honor guard to salute him as he leaves and some cadre of aides and supporters but he is going to be leaving in deep, deep disgrace and that poll indicates it, 29 percent approval. And this is why the president was impeached, become the first president ever to be impeached twice, may become the first president to be convicted by the Senate.

He has consumed privately with rage at what he considers the betrayal of his supporters and vice President Mike Pence and Rudy Giuliani and others who have failed to protect him even though he is responsible for the fate that he is now experiencing. He is trying to conjure up some sort of defense for impeachment charges on the basis of the Senate can't convict him after he leaves office on constitutional grounds or that on free speech grounds, what he said was not exactly an incitement to the insurrection because he didn't intend that to happen.

All of which indicates the very dismal state of this presidency, as he leaves, a few aides still there supporting him and it is a sad picture and one that will be replaced next Wednesday when Joe Biden takes the oath.

HARLOW: John Harwood, I appreciate the reporting. Thank you very much.

The Republican Party is certainly in a crossroad. And when President Trump leaves office, will much of the party go with him or will it change and form a new direction.

SCIUTTO: Plus, when will Senate take up the impeachment of President Trump? What could it look like? Is a delay possible? We're following all of the latest.

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HARLOW: This morning, the nation's Capitol building premise on lockdown as the FBI warns of potential armed protests there and across the country at all 50 state capitols leading up to Joe Biden's inauguration.

SCIUTTO: Listen, Washington, D.C. looks like a police state right now. It is hard to just see from these pictures. You drive around the Capitol today. There are soldiers like that at every corner leading to the Washington Mall and the Capitol.

CNN's Martin Savidge is in Atlanta, Georgia. Martin, there is a direct threat to all 50 state capitols. That is what the FBI is saying. I am curious, do they have the security resources to respond right? Are you seeing it there?

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Right. Well those are two different questions. So, first, do they have the resources? Governor Brian Kemp, who, of course, has had a falling out with the president, says that they do have the resources, they are ready, although he also says that he perceives that the threat is low against the state of Georgia and against the capitol here, which is an interesting statement given the fact that Georgia played such a pivotal role in two critical elections, voting for Joe Biden and then, of course, overturning and making the Senate Democratic.

Here is security measures that are being worked on right now. These are not a reaction as to what happened in Washington. This is kind of a long-term security issue that they've been working on. It is going to be a permanent fence and as you can tell, it's definitely not going to be in place by this weekend or in any time for the inauguration.

Let me point out there. You have this. This is the kind of security fencing you may have seen around the Capitol on the day of the protests. It was pretty flimsy stuff any dedicated crowd to easily punch through. Now, they have beefed up the security presence here. In fact, you can see, you have got an armored vehicle like this one right here. This is belonging to the Georgia State Patrol.

So you've got the quasi-military stance of the Georgia State Patrol, you've got Atlanta Police that are standing by, any number of federal forces that can respond as well to the capitol. So they believe that on top of the National Guard, I should point out, they have got several dozen National Guard troops positioned already to move in here but they're also sending 300 National Guard troops to the U.S. Capitol.

So, Georgia says it is ready. I guess they'll find out maybe as soon as this weekend. Poppy and Jim?

HARLOW: Martin Savidge, thank you very much.

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So, on that question, let's bring in Georgia's lieutenant governor, Geoff Duncan. It is interesting to hear the governor say, as Marty just reported, that the threat is pretty low. Is that right?

LT. GOV. GEOFF DUNCAN (R-GA): Well, certainly, Brian Kemp continues to work hard for all 11 million Georgians and appreciate his support. I will tell you there is an increased security presence at the capitol, a very significant increase presence.

We started our general assembly session on Monday and here I was getting out of the vehicle on Monday with an armed SWAT members and full body armor looking out my office window yesterday. It dawned on me that the gentleman standing there in the rain was because there because of not a terrorist but because a Republican could want to attack our capitol or myself. That's pretty -- I can't fathom that.

HARLOW: I mean, that has got to be mind-boggling because of the domestic terror threat from members of your own party.

Look, you told the Atlanta Journal Constitution in the last few days, it starts at the top because the top of the spear is willing to fan the flames of misinformation. Do you believe your state is less safe right now because of the words of president?

DUNCAN: Absolutely. I mean, actions have consequences. And when you you're willing to lie to 350 million peoples, then you're going to see consequences. And, unfortunately, we're watching those consequences play out. It is troubling. But, look, we're in the midst of picking up the pieces here in Georgia and trying to move on.

HARLOW: Not only lie repeatedly to the American people but lie in the phone call with your secretary of state, Brad Raffensperger, and demand that he find more than 11,780 votes. And that interestingly is included in the Democrats' article of impeachment that, as you know, the House used to impeachment the president. Do you believe the president should be convicted in the Senate?

DUNCAN: Well, I'm certainly not a member of Congress or in the U.S. Senate.

HARLOW: No, I understand that but I'm asking your opinion. You're the lieutenant governor of Georgia and the president asked as part of this article of impeachment, they include him asking for basically fraudulent actions to steal the election.

DUNCAN: Yes, certainly, almost immediately when I heard that call, I was disgusted. It had no place. I can't imagine anybody on his staff thought that was a good idea. And, certainly, there is going to be consequences for that. The quicker we could move past Donald Trump, President Donald Trump, and move on as a nation and as a party -- I mean, I think that phone call was a massive pivot point for the Republican Party. It broke fact from fiction in one fell swoop on a phone call.

And I'm encouraged that the movement starting to build a GOP 2.0 that we should never, as a party, let a person be more powerful than our party.

HARLOW: Wow. So the question is, is it though? Is the party significantly going to change? You have got polling this week from Axios. It says 64 percent of the Republicans say that they support the president's recent behavior and then you've got you saying no, the party needs to move in a different direction. I think the word you used is a PET Project, policy, empathy and tone.

How are you sure this is not still the party of Trump.

DUNCAN: Well, I can assure you, if we don't move away from the party of Trump, we will continue to lose and not be in the White House in 2024.

The PET Project is something that I think allows us to go back to the basics. I think Republicans are generally really good with the policy. Even the folks that maybe don't vote with us in this past election understand that they trust us with finding their next job or growing their economy or helping them with retirement or health care.

But the empathy part, I mean, how can we convince folks to vote for us if we don't truly understand their problems.

And T part of it is tone. I mean, I don't have to say much about the president's tone in the last four years. It's alienated many, many folks.

HARLOW: Okay. Okay. You're right on that. But you also just said the last four years. I mean, you have long been a supporter of the president, you voted for him in November. You tweeted in 2019, this picture of the two you riding together and called him a friend. That was after Charlottesville, after his both sides remarks, that was after he used, you know, National Guard members to clear Lafayette Square and protesters so he could have a photo op with a bible.

John Kelly, his former chief of staff, told Jake Tapper a week ago this is who the president has always been. This is (INAUDIBLE) who he became after he lost, it is who he's always been.

So I guess my question for you is, hasn't he always been this way?

DUNCAN: Well, I certainly haven't been a supporter of everything, the one of those things that you mentioned. But I will tell you this. I am a supporter of the policies. And I think this is really what cost the president the election. I think it's also what cost Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue down here in Georgia, the election, was if he just spent the last 100 days of reminding Americans of what the policy wins were, the jobs he created, the pandemic, the reaction with the vaccine, those things. If he just took up the last 100 days and acted like the president instead of the -- instead of a bully, I think we would have had a different reaction nationally.

HARLOW: I hear you. I guess my question is -- you call him a bully, you talk about the problem in tone, the dangerous rhetoric, look what happened at the Capitol, you knew all of this, right, and you still voted for him and stood by him.

[10:25:09]

So the question, I think, for the party that I'm asking you is, does one outweigh the other? Is having policies you agree with, does that trump, no pun intended, anything else?

DUNCAN: Well, I think you position the exact question that the party has to ask itself going forward if we're going to be successful. I think back to the president's most notable phrase was make America great again. I think if we're going to be a GOP 2.0, if we're going to be able to be a legitimate contender in the Senate and also in the White House in 2024, we have got to be focus on making Americans great again.

And that's a more finite focus. That's one that's inclusive, it doesn't tell people what has to happen, it asks people what we need to do. And, certainly, as a Republican that is trying to win elections all over the state and the country, I think we have to be willing to ask questions and get better.

HARLOW: Georgia Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan, thank you for the interview, for your thoughtful responses and we just wish you all safety and peace in the coming days.

DUNCAN: Thanks, Poppy.

HARLOW: Jim?

SCIUTTO: Great interview, discussion on the way forward is so important right now.

Well, Senate Republicans reportedly torn over whether to convict President Trump during a Senate trial, but we still don't know when such a trial will begin. And will it take place while other legislative business is considered up there on the Hill. The latest from Capitol Hill, coming up.

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