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Pelosi: Gen. Russel Honore To Lead Examination of Security; Pelosi: If Any Congress Members Aided Rioters, "There May Have to Be Actions Taken Prosecution"; Pelosi: Strong Interest in Congress For 9/11 Style Commission Investigating Capitol Insurrection. Aired 12- 12:30p ET
Aired January 15, 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]
JOHN KING, CNN HOST: He worked on a joint Chief of Staff that he will lead an investigation. What went wrong? How did - how did those rioters so easily get into the United States Capitol and she also said, and it is a legitimate question for her and she wants answers.
Some of her democratic members have raised concerns that Republican members of Congress actually gave tours to some of the insurrectionists, the day before and perhaps shared with them non- public information about offices that are doors in the Capitol that you know well from your years there.
But if you walk by you don't know that that's a senior member's office. It's called a hideaway office and the like. She said that she wants to know if members of Congress were accomplices, if they aided and abetted the insurrection on their own workplace.
DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: I mean to hear the Speaker of the House talking about that and referring to her colleagues is absolutely stunning but necessary, necessary given all of the reporting that we're doing, what we're hearing about the possibility that that is true.
We don't know their allegations right now but they're anecdote after anecdote that I'm hearing that our colleagues are hearing. Just one example. I talked to a member of Congress who shared with me a story about the day before.
Seeing a group of people in MAGA hats, not wearing masks and at the time her concern was COVID saying that why are they here, they're not supposed to be here, went up to the capitol police officer saying. Why are they here and the answer was there's nothing I can do about it because they were invited by a member of Congress.
That member wasn't there at the time and this was in one of the tunnels underneath one of the office buildings, not easy to get to and so it's that kind of thing that has to be investigated and it is no small thing, when she talked about trust.
It's remarkable that we're sitting here wondering whether or not members of Congress can trust one another and they're saying openly, several of them now that they're worried about their own safety not just from without, not just from outside but from within, from members who are part of the ideology and perhaps even more than the ideology, perhaps part of the planning and she used the word accomplice and the fact that that is a threat not just on January 6 but potentially ongoing.
KING: And she said in the case of this, she said if it turns out to be true and let's capitalize and underscore the if. The investigation continues but you have a lot of anecdotal evidence to look into here. She said if it is found that members of Congress - I don't know the right word recklessly, I'll leave it at recklessly perhaps lawlessly invited these insurrectionists into the Capitol and they should be dealt with by the Congress but also by prosecutors.
You pushed for that outside. It is remarkable also to hear the House Speaker. I should tell our viewers. We are also standing by for major news conference. The Mayor of Washington DC and a host of both city and federal agencies here in the United States Capitol to talk about the extraordinary moment here.
You drive to work this morning here in Washington DC and you see the National Guard. There are more troops in the city right now than there are in Iraq and Afghanistan because of last week's insurrection. Let's actually just listen to a little bit because this is so personal to the Speaker.
The Capitol building, you see behind me. It is a monument to our democracy. It is a symbol of our democracy. It is also the workplace for members of Congress every day and for Nancy Pelosi now for decades.
Listen to how she describes here, talking about so many disgusting images but one jumps out at the speaker.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): So many disgusting images but one figure. The man in a shirt with Auschwitz on it. Auschwitz. To see this punk with that shirt on and his anti-Semitism that he has bragged about. To be part of a white supremacist raid on this Capitol requires us to have an effort action review.
To assign responsibility to those who were part of organizing it and incentivizing it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: She's right about the images. She's right about the images of the Auschwitz shirt of the 6 million not enough T-shirts, the Confederate flag in the United States Capitol. They were punks. It's not often you hear the Speaker of the House use the term punk.
BASH: Look, I don't want to get personal, but this is personal for so many people. My great grandparents were two of those 6 million. My great aunt was a third and there's so many people across this country and frankly across the world who are affected by it, whether it's Jews or non-Jews or you know people who fought for the freedoms during World War II to overcome that.
And the fact that she used the word punk, she could have been a lot more crass and maybe should have been to talk about that person because he was part of a crowd that was supporting. President Trump and thought he was doing President Trump's bidding.
[12:05:00]
And yes, Donald Trump has now finally condemned the violence, mostly because he was worried about the liability that he would have going forward if something more happened but not this, not this.
KING: Not this and incentivized by President Trump, I think was the term Speaker Pelosi used, many have used stronger language. The Vice President of United States new reporting in the Washington Post just today that the - those rioters, they came up the stairs, had they been seconds earlier, minute - minute - maybe seconds earlier, they might have laid eyes on the Vice President as he was being taken by his secret service detail from the Senate chamber to one of those hideaway offices where he could be held until things were safe up there.
Manu Raju joins us now live from Capitol Hill. Manu was in the news conference. Manu, you've been around the Speaker many times over the years. You can see, number one, how important this is. The United States government was attacked, and we should never lose sight of that.
The United States government was attacked by its own citizens from within at the encouragement he'll dispute that he wanted things to be damaged or he wanted people to be killed but at the encouragement of the President of the United States. So you see her demand that we find out all the details and get to the truth but you also see how this is so personal.
MANU RAJU, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, no question about it and she made very clear that if anybody was involved in helping the insurrectionists come to Capitol Hill, learn the way, the lay out of the capitol building, if there is any inside help from members of Congress, she said that there would might be some action that'll be needed outside of Capitol Hill, suggesting potentially legal action, laws, criminal liability and the like,
We'll see, if it gets to that point but she went - she indicated that there's going to be this significant investigation about everything that happened, naming this retired general who is involved in the Katrina recovery efforts as part of this - to lead this probe.
Now she also made clear that you know her impeachment managers are preparing to go to trial against Donald Trump after Trump of course was impeached just two days ago by bipartisan vote in the House.
The question though is on the timing. There is been some speculation that she could withhold the article of impeachment to delay the Senate trial, give Joe Biden some time to move forward and get his nominees confirmed in the U.S. Senate where the trial would take place. Presumably deal with the other legislative business like the COVID
relief package so it's not distracted by the trial. It's just not clear what she is thinking about doing there. She said that she would not provide any sort of timeframe. I tried to ask her at the press conference if she would even consider withholding the articles of impeachment indefinitely.
That's within her rights to do. She could presumably stop a trial from happening. She did not answer my question. I tried to ask her outside the hallway the same question. She would not answer my question there either, but it did seem like that they're at least preparing for a trial, preparing for something to happen.
The expectation on the hill is that there would be a trial in the beginning days of the Biden presidency because the Democrats believe the president needs to be held accountable. They need to move forward on this charge of incitement of insurrection.
Question is of course whether the Republicans will vote to convict him but she's pretty clear that she believes the president is responsible and if there are other members of Congress who are responsible as well, she believe they should be held to account too. John.
KING: Very important days ahead as the investigation by General Honore and also several of the House committees and the Senate side will do the same thing as well. Very important as she talked about repeatedly Manu, transparency, truth and that's the only way you have trust is what she was talking by.
We'll watch that play out. Manu Raju on the Hill. Dana Bash with me in the studio. We're also waiting as I said at the top of the hour to hear a very important announcement from the Washington DC Mayor Muriel Bowser.
She will be with federal officials, city officials as well as security officials to discuss the remarkable preparations now for the inauguration planning that takes on of course much higher significance because not only of last week's Capitol insurrection but what federal officials say is continuing, they say off the charts chatter online by extremists, threatening additional attacks here in Washington and on state capitals around the country.
Our crime and justice correspondent Shimon Prokupecz joins me now with more on that. Shimon, right behind you I see some of the fencing put in the Capitol dome behind you and fencing just signifies that Joe Biden will be inaugurated president in Fortress Washington.
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Fortress Washington, military I guess, I mean there are military - the military is all over this area here and all over Washington DC. I wanted to show you behind me here. You can see some of the military vehicles and all of the National Guard troops just lining all across the road here and this is all up and down the Capitol.
And really the threat is real, John, right? We keep talking about this threat and whether or not some people feel well, maybe this isn't that real or maybe this is just out of an abundance of caution, it's not and as you said, a chatter remains off the charts. The FBI, the Department of Homeland Security, military, all very concerned about what they're seeing and hearing coming from various groups of people who are threatening our country.
[12:10:00]
And its people who live in this country and all of this is all about securing the transfer of power. Normally here, we're on constitution so normally down here is where the parade would be. You'd have people lining up for the inauguration and getting ready for the events.
You would see jumbotrons, you would see other things out here. There is none of that here, John. All you're seeing is fencing and security and more fencing. You can see this truck here. More fencing coming in. I just didn't even know that this much fencing existed in this country, but it does and they just keep having - more and more just keeps arriving.
You know we're going to be hearing from security officials here in Washington and around--
KING: The Mayor of District of Columbia, Mayor Muriel Bowser beginning has very important security briefing here. My apologies to Shimon Prokupecz. Let's get straight to the news conference.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR MURIEL BOWSER (D-WA), DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: I'm here to provide an update on preparations for the 59th presidential inauguration.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: As you see we're having some trouble with the signal from the mayor's news conference. We'll get right back to it as soon as we can. Control room, tell me as soon as we have the mayor's shot back up. Dana Bash is with me in studios. We discusses as Shimon was showing us there.
I came to Washington just before the George H.W. Bush inauguration. Bill Clinton came after that two times, then George W. Bush. This is supposed to be a week that I know if you're watching at home, you're a Democrat or a Republican, it's a partisan, we're sure, your side won or your side lost but mostly it's also supposed to be a celebration of what does make America great.
Forgive me Mr. President but that the peaceful transfer of power, people coming together, people respecting institutions, people sharing information, the outgoing team sharing with the incoming team. We're in the middle of a pandemic and there are complaints constantly from team Biden that team Trump is better in later days than it was a couple of weeks ago. They're having troubles with that. To see the fencing and today to have to show my ID to a great member of the National Guard. Thank you for being there. Just to get to work, that's a different Washington. BASH: So different. I mean I was thinking, I went with then Vice
President Dick Cheney to Cobble when that National Assembly, their legislature open for the first time and I don't remember there being as much security there as there is in Washington right now.
I mean it is really, really remarkable and yes, it is a celebration of the peaceful transition of power but the fact that we have to have this city fortified with the military and thank you, thank you, thank you for your service to everybody out there, in order to allow that peaceful transition to happen because of the actions and the words of the President of the United States is not something I will ever understand.
KING: It's unfathomable in many ways and necessary at the moment if you talk to security officials and they're concerned not only here in Washington but around the country because of what they're hearing online. Again, the DC Mayor just started a very important news conference but there's some trouble in the age of COVID here with the shot, the logistics of the feed.
We'll bring it to you as soon as we can. Shimon Prokupecz is still standing by on the ground for us and Shimon, this is your business so help our viewers understand. Christopher Wray, the FBI director yesterday said that chatter is off the charts and the hard part for the authorities is trying to figure out what is aspirational or what is bragging and what is the intent.
Which piece of it is actually - is real that they actually are planning and for anyone who think these are just people laughing off, obviously the insurrection of the Capitol proved to us, the plot against the Michigan governor a couple months back proved to us that no. A lot of it maybe you know macho talk but some of it can turn out to be very real and very dangerous.
PROKUPECZ: You know what John, you said that perfectly. A lot of people probably discounted some of what they were hearing on social media before the insurrection occurred. Now they can't just discount anything and so what we're seeing across the country are the FBI agents in almost every field office working these cases--
KING: We have the signal restored here. Let's get back to this important security briefing with the DC Mayor.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOWSER: - dot DC dot Gov. We also know that residents are eager to do what they can do to keep our city safe and we certainly appreciate it so we want you to be vigilant, look around yourselves when you're out and about and if you see something, absolutely say something and you may report anything that you think is out of the norm by calling 911
You may report suspicious activity at 7279099. You can go to MPDs. IwatchDC.org website or text 'Tips' to 50411.
[12:15:00] We are also recommending that businesses download, print and display these signs and these signs, let anyone know that firearms are not welcome on the premises. We want businesses who encounter anyone with a weapon to call 911 and try not to confront that person or persons themselves.
The signs can be downloaded at inauguration.DC.gov. Later today, HSEMA, that's DC's Homeland security agency and MPD will host the community call to discuss the district's planning. Residents and stake holders can join that call today at 4:30 PM by dialing 844-881-1314.
The conversation will also be broadcast live on channel 16 as well as all DC government platforms. If you haven't already done so, sign up to receive specific alerts by registering. You can register and text INAUG2021 to 888-777 and finally all of this information can be located in one place at inauguration.DC.gov.
Once again, we will hear from our partners who have been engaged in this planning and are responsible for various aspects of execution. First and foremost, Matt Miller is the special agent in charge of the Washington field office for the United States Secret Service. Mr. Miller. Agent Miller, I should say.
MATT MILLER, SPECIAL AGENT-IN-CHARGE, DC FIELD OFFICE U.S. SECRET SERVICE: Good afternoon everyone. Thank you Mayor Bowser for inviting me to join you and on behalf of the men and women of the United States Secret Service, I'm happy to speak about plans for next week's presidential inauguration and answer any questions that may arise at this time.
January 20 will be this nation's 59 presidential inauguration. Designated as a national special security event or NSSE, the Secret Services again serving as the lead agency with respect to operational planning and security for the event. As most of you are aware, the Department of Homeland Security recently extended the NSSE designation dates for the period covering January 13 to January 21 in response to the events of January 6 when an election protest turned into a violent, deadly and unlawful assault on the United States Capitol.
For well over a year, we have been working with our federal, state and municipal partners to develop and implement a comprehensive operational security plan to ensure the safety of everyone participating in the event as well as those who may try to come to DC to watch the inauguration or spend time in the nation's Capitol.
Anyone who's seen any of the mayor's recent press conferences or listened to her earlier statements will realize, we're discouraging this in lieu of virtual participation, but we are prepared.
We cannot allow a recurrence of the chaos and illegal activity that the United States and the world witnessed last week. Our democracy is built on the rule of law and the Secret Service work force is dedicated and committed to uphold its oath to the constitution and assure that it's vital, no fail mission regarding the security of the presidential inauguration and the peaceful transfer of power is carried out. This year of course as everyone is aware our country is battling the
most significant health crisis to face the nation in more than a century. And the need to follow recommended public health guidance combined with the increased measures resulting from last week's events will undoubtedly impact the inauguration and almost every aspect.
That said, our security plan was developed to respond to any contingency that might arise on and leading up to January 20. Our partners for securing the inauguration include among many, many others, the Federal Emergency Management Agency which is responsible for incident response and recovery; the Federal Bureau of Investigations which is responsible for intelligence and incident investigation and of course the men and women of the Metropolitan Police department.
As for any NSSE, the Secret Service's core strategy is to leverage our existing outstanding partnerships with our local law enforcement, public safety and military colleagues here in the national Capitol region.
[12:20:00]
As well as those who are directly here in support of the week's events and the collaboratively developed comprehensive security plan for the inauguration. As you would expect, there are many partners involved in this planning, a number of whom are here behind me.
The Secret Service employs a unified command model. We establish an executive steering committee which is staffed with senior representatives from these agencies and others who have primary jurisdiction over various aspects of the inauguration and then create sub committees in this particular instance 28, dedicated to everything from crowd management, credentialing, maritime security, access control, medical care, just to name a few.
The expertise and coordination of everyone involved is critical to a successful event. We have conducted numerous training initiatives, tabletop exercises, rehearsals, field and senior command level exercises to ensure we have immediate, well-coordinated and effective response to any of the challenges we might face during this inauguration.
Using this process, we've developed a comprehensive, integrated and while it may not look like it from the outside, nimble security plan to ensure safe environment for our protectors, the event and the general public. Thank you very much.
BOWSER: Thank you Agent Miller. Administrator Tierney.
MARYANN TIERNEY, REGIONAL ADMINISTRATOR, FEMA: Thank you. Thank you, Mayor Bowser. I am MaryAnn Tierney. I am the regional administrator for the Federal Emergency Management Agency. While FEMA is not a law enforcement agency, public safety is our number one priority for the inauguration. FEMA has taken several actions to promote good public safety during this event. The president has declared emergency that has enabled FEMA to do
several things, the first thing is we have deployed a national incident management team to the DC Emergency Operations Center to work in support of our district partners. We have also deployed regional incident management assistance teams to both Maryland and Virginia to support their planning and actions.
We have been working with the district to identify resource requirements. For example, we are currently working in mission to pre stage ambulance resources and also, we have moved commodities such as food, water and shelter supplies closer in to support the district should that be needed.
We continue to support the Secret Service in their efforts to plan for this event. FEMA has also conducted several exercises in response to requests from the Secret Service as well as other agencies to help prepare since January 6. That is all I have pending any questions.
BOWSER: Than you MaryAnn. Let me now introduce Jeff Reinbold who is the superintendent for the National Mall and Memorial Parks from the National Park Service.
JEFF REINBOLD, SUPERINTENDENT, NATIONAL MALL AND MEMORIAL PARKS, NATIONAL PARK SERVICE: Thank you Mayor Bowser. Good afternoon. Inaugurations are special time, right? For our nation for our city and especially for those of us at the National Mall who host a lot of the events around an inauguration.
This one is no doubt very challenging and we've had a chance to work with the presidential inaugural committee since November and to come up with a reimagined inauguration. We did receive a letter from the U.S. Secret Service yesterday asking us to consider closing several areas within the national mall.
This is essentially the monumental core area around the White House, sections of Pennsylvania Avenue. I do want to thank the Secret Service, the U.S. Park police for working with us to understand what their concerns are, how we could help address this national security issue, to make sure that the icons that we administer are protected and also to make sure that if possible we could allow for first amendment activities in the park.
We are the premier first amendment area in the country, in the world probably and we wanted to see if it was possible to do that and also meet their security needs. So as of this morning, Secretary of the Interior has officially closed areas in the National Mall that includes again the core area and the locations that the Mayor mentioned before in support of the request from the Secret Service and the U.S. Park Police.
I do want us to talk for just a second about the first amendment areas. We were able to identify two locations, we had two groups that - several groups that had submitted first amendment applications.
[12:25:00] And we were able to identify two locations on Pennsylvania Avenue where up to 100 people will be able to gather. They will be met by a U.S. Park Police, escorted through magnetometers and then taken to these areas so that they can exercise their first amendment rights. I do again want to thank the Park police and the Secret Service for trying to find a way that we could accommodate that but recognize that these are different times and require different measures.
I also want to acknowledge Mayor Bowser for working with Secretary of the Interior to address some of concerns of - that she has for the city. Thank you.
BOWSER: Thank you. Steven Booker, the Acting Assistant Chief for the United States Park police.
STEVEN BOOKER, ACTING ASSISTANT CHIEF, UNITED STATES PARK POLICE: Thank you Mayor Bowser. On behalf of Acting Chief Monahan and the United States Park Police, the men and women as agent Matt Miller said, this is unprecedented. This inauguration is something filled with excitement, hope and hopefully a new path forward.
The United States Park Police as stewards of democracy ensure that first amendment rights are allowed to occur on federal park lands and our officers do it with emotional and personal fortitude to make sure that the mission of the National Park Service and Department of Interior is intact.
Our roles are not only the law enforcement arm of the National Park Service within Washington DC but also San Francisco and in New York as well. We are here to stand by the NSSE and all of our DC officials, our public safety administrators, our local law enforcement to ensure safe and secure event next week.
We work collaboratively and we have been doing so for months now and our incident management team with many men and women engulfed long hours into this planning. I congratulate them, few more days left to ensure we have a safe event for next week.
I'm here afterwards for any additional questions that you may have. Thank you.
BOWSER: Paul Wiedefeld, General Manager for Metro WMATA.
PAUL WIEDEFELD, GENERAL MANAGER & CEO, WASHINGTON METROPOLITAN AREA TRANSIT AUTHORITY: Thank you Mayor Bowser for your leadership during this Inaugural but more importantly for your leadership through this turbulent year and your support for that. Thank you so much. I also to give a special thanks to our frontline employees.
These are the bus operators, the train operators and station managers and our police who have once again showed their commitment to this region during this difficult time and this difficult year.
Working with Chief Contee and U.S. Secret Service, we basically have ensured that we have safety for our employees and for our customers but at the same time providing service for those that still need it outside of this other security area.
What the customers will see is a stepped up transit police presence. We also have reached out to our brethren basically, other transit agencies and you will see police officers from Baltimore, New York, New Jersey, Chicago, New Orleans, Houston, Denver and San Francisco also in our system throughout this week.
As the Mayor mentioned there will be 11 - there are 11 rail stations already closed today and two more tomorrow and 26 bus lines will be impacted. Again the best information for that is on our website WMATA.com.
These closures and diversions will stay in fact until through Thursday, the 21st. In closing, I know this is inconvenient for customers and for lot of businesses in the region but it's necessary for their safety as well. So thank you again Mayor for your leadership on this.
BOWSER: And I want to introduce now the lead law enforcement agency for the district of course and Chief Robert Contee--
(END VIDEO CLIP)
