Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

U.S. Braces for More Violence Ahead of Inauguration; Indonesia: Magnitude 6.2 Earthquake Kills at Least 34; U.K. Bans South America Travel Ban Due to New Brazilian Strain; QAnon Shaman Asks Trump for Pardon After Capitol Riot; Tech Companies Ban Trump, Not Other Notorious Leaders. Aired 4:30-5a ET

Aired January 15, 2021 - 04:30   ET

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

[04:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Joe Biden's inauguration on Wednesday will take place amid some of the tightest security ever seen in the nation's capital for such an event. A ring of fences and barricades now surrounds Capitol Hill. More than 20,000 National Guard troops have been deployed due to ongoing threats. The National Mall will be closed to spectators.

The FBI says it has identified some 200 pro-Trump rioters who took part in the deadly siege of the Capitol on January 6th. More than 100 people have been arrested so far.

There's deepening worry among American law enforcement that the Capitol insurrection wasn't just a one-time event. Rather they fear it could be the opening salvo of a much larger campaign of violence and unrest. CNN's Josh Campbell has those details.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: We are learning that that violent attack on the United States Capitol last week did not happen in a vacuum according to a U.S. intelligence bulletin obtained by CNN. Officials at the FBI and Department of Homeland Security are concerned that extremists are looking at that mob attack on the Capitol as a success. They are fearful that that could then inspire future attacks.

Now according to this bulletin, officials say 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 achieving their ideological goals. They may be inspired to carry out more violence.

So that obviously giving officials great pause. We know that authorities have been talking to law enforcement around the country to prepare for future protests and the future potential violence. Now we're also learning that the FBI continues to identify and apprehend the perpetrators of last week's attack on Capitol Hill. We are learning just Thursday morning federal agents in Pennsylvania arrested a man who is now accused of striking police officers with a fire extinguisher. That just the latest arrest as they continue to try to identify, locate and apprehend those that were responsible for the violent attack.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: Now earlier I spoke with CNN law enforcement analyst Charles Ramsey. He was the chief of the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington D.C. from 1998 to 2006. I asked him if he could have ever imagined a scenario like the one, we find ourselves in today.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: I was involved in two inaugurations. We never thought of anything like this. I mean, obviously, security is tight. You lock everything down. You worry about the different threats. But the reality is, I don't think anyone imagined that someone would actually storm the Capitol and actually break inside the way they did on Wednesday.

So, you know, whereas you take all the precautions that you can possibly take, you tabletop different exercises, looking for threats and so forth. But what we saw unfold last week is something that is totally unprecedented here in the U.S.

[04:35:00]

BRUNHUBER: So, we heard FBI Director Chris Wray say they are seeing, in his words, an extensive amount of concerning online chatter about events surrounding the inauguration, and from what we are hearing from intelligence sources, right-wing forces actually seemed emboldened by what happened on January 6. So how worried are you about inauguration, January 20th?

RAMSEY: Well I am very worried about it. I mean, not only the inauguration itself on the 20th, because I mean, that's going to be locked down pretty tight. But something can happen anywhere in the city, around the city, or anywhere in the United States.

I think January 20th is a date where we'll be fortunate if nothing happens anywhere in the United States. There are a lot of threats, not all of them directed towards Washington, D.C. So we have to be vigilant across the country and be very alert.

January 17th is a good example of that. There is a lot of chatter about having demonstrations at all 50 state capitals, for an example. And these would be people that will be armed, so called Second Amendment demonstration. So we just have to be alert. It is not going to go away even after the 20th, unfortunately. I think we are going to be in this for a while.

BRUNHUBER: You know, what was striking was how just unprepared, you know, the law enforcement was to handle what happened. From what you're seeing, from what you're hearing, do you think the response has been enough so far? Do you think they will be prepared?

RAMSEY: Well they're prepared now, but they were unprepared on January 6th. And that caught me off guard, you know. I spent nine years as chief of Metropolitan Police Department in Washington, D.C., and I know how closely the Capitol Police, Metropolitan Police, park police, all of the agencies work together, sharing intelligence, sharing information.

The inauguration is a good example. The swearing in itself takes place in the U.S. Capitol. They handle that. They handed off to the Metropolitan Police Department. We handled the parade, got the president to the White House, the Secret Service, obviously, is the lead at the White House, all three agencies working seamlessly together.

I was very surprised when I saw what happened at the Capitol. Now granted, there were a lot of people and it does come a point where you can just get overwhelmed, but to me, it happened far too easily, and that's what surprised me.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER (on camera): Our thanks to Chief Charles Ramsey for that analysis.

Still to come, the U.K. implements a partial travel ban amid fears of another new coronavirus strain.

Plus, the search is on for survivors of a deadly earthquake in Indonesia. Dozens are confirmed dead and many people are trapped. We'll have a live report next.

[04:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: You're seeing dramatic video of a woman trapped under the rubble of a collapsed building destroyed by Friday's earthquake in Indonesia. Rescue efforts are underway after a powerful 6.2 magnitude earthquake. Hundreds are injured and at least 34 people have died. Our Will Ripley has the latest from Hong Kong. Will, last I spoke with you we saw the death toll jump last hour quite drastically. Judging from the pictures we're seeing I imagine it may increase significantly in the coming days.

WILL RIPLEY, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely, Kim. It just doesn't look good on the ground there and unfortunately rescuers have less than an hour of sunlight remaining before night fall which is going to complicate things. Aside from the fact that geologists in Indonesia are predicting more powerful aftershocks following this massive 6.2 quake that hit in the early morning hours on Friday, following a 5.9 quake the day before. So some of the buildings that may have been damaged or weakened in the first quake collapsed in the second quake.

One official estimate that as many as half of the buildings in the two cities in the immediate area near the epicenter of this shallow earthquake are either seriously damaged or collapsed. Which means in this official's estimation there are tens of thousands of people who are displaced and many more whose homes might still be standing but they're simply too afraid to sleep in those buildings. Worried that an aftershock could bring the walls tumbling down around them.

This is a sad that we've seen play out time and time again in earthquake ravaged Indonesia. A country that sits on the ring of fire and experiences at least one minor earthquake under 5.0 point every day or so. And yet a country that continues to have huge numbers of people in these areas living in substandard buildings that are not up to code that put people, men, women, children in very unsafe conditions whenever these major earthquakes hit.

On top of the fact that they still don't have a handle on how many people might still be buried under the rubble, even getting to the most devastated areas is proving to be difficult. Because a lot of the roadways have been shattered, there are watermain breaks that are causing, you know, minor flash floods in certain areas, making roads impassable. Now that it's going to be nighttime, it's going to be even more difficult, Kim, to find those people. And when someone is trapped under a building, really every minute counts in trying to get them, trying to keep that death count from continuing to go up.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, a very sad story playing out there and we'll keep following it. Thank you so much, Will Ripley.

Right-wing media in the U.S. are furious over continued election fraud claims and the supposed betrayal of Republican lawmakers who voted to impeach the president. We'll go to Washington for the details. Please do stay with us.

[04:45:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BRUNHUBER: Well this just into CNN. We're hearing that high winds caused a power outage at a Kaiser Permanente facility in Colorado and they lost 165 doses of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. Now workers scrambled to administer 135 doses while they were still viable. Power is back on now and the refrigerator that stores the vaccines is functioning again.

The coronavirus pandemic is raging in multiple parts of the world. Germany, previously a success story of containing the virus, is running out of ICU capacity in more than half of the country. Health officials report new cases have passed 2 million, new deaths hit a record of more than 1,200 Thursday.

Portugal is back into lockdown today. It too marked a new high of confirmed cases on Thursday for a second straight day. I

n Latin America Brazil's Amazona state is facing a shortage of oxygen. A surge there has been attributed to a new variant originating in the region. And this has prompted the U.K. to ban travel from the South America and Portugal. So for more on all this we're joined by CNN's Salma Abdelaziz, in

London. Salma the bad news -- OK, another COVID variant floating around, but we're hearing some good news from where you are in the U.K. Scientists there think vaccines will work on the Brazilian COVID variant.

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN REPORTER: That's right, Kim. Now travel restrictions have gone into place. It went into effect today, over a dozen South American countries, Portugal, their travelers can longer enter the U.K., Portugal as well. Those travelers cannot enter the U.K., that is an indefinite ban.

The transport secretary has described it as precautionary because the concern is with this new variant -- that's obviously been detected in Brazil. It's caused a surge of cases there. Is not that it is more dangerous or that it is potentially immune to the vaccine. The vaccine does seem to be able to work against this new variant.

But the concern is that it could spread more easily, that it is more infectious, and that is why we're seeing the Brazilian health care system struggling to deal with this new variant, and the U.K. knows this all too well. They know this firsthand. There has been of course, a variant here that was identified during the holiday break, during the Christmas period. That's up to 70 more -- 70 percent more transmissible, rather.

[04:50:00]

According to the Prime Minister, it's caused a huge surge in cases here. Record breaking death toll, unprecedented case numbers. Hospitals here are simply struggling under the pressure that this new variant has created.

So these restrictions are going into place of course to prevent this new variant from entering the U.K., The transport secretary saying he does not believe, again, that this variant from Brazil has already entered the U.K. and that this should minimize that risk.

And again, this country simply can't have the variable of a second variant -- another variant that could spread through the population. But I think there's a lot of worry and concern about how quickly it can spread. I think a lot of people look at the U.K. over these past few months and have seen how this country's health care system has simply been brought to the brink. And of course, they are afraid, Kim, this now variant from Brazil looking like it could be doing something quite similar -- Kim.

BRUNHUBER: Absolutely. All right, thank you so much, Salma Abdelaziz in London.

Well now back to the siege on the U.S. capitol. The man who is seen during the riot wearing face paint and horns is asking President Trump for a pardon. Jacob Chansley known as the "QAnon shaman" -- in reference to the far right conspiracy theory group -- is facing six federal criminal charges including civil disorder and entering a restricted building. Well his attorney told CNN anchor, Chris Cuomo, why his client should be shown mercy. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ALBERT WATKINS, ATTORNEY FOR CAPITOL RIOT SUSPECT JACOB CHANSLEY: He loved Trump, every word. He listened to him. He felt like he was answering the call of our president.

My client wasn't violent. He didn't cross over any police lines. He didn't assault anyone. He was there at the invitation of our president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: Well, some people are cheering that President Trump was permanently removed from Twitter after that violent siege on the U.S. Capitol, but critics say the apps policies are inconsistent. While Mr. Trump's social media megaphone has been muted, it's still available for other world leaders with sketchy reputations. CNN's Scott McLean reports.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

(CROWD CHANTING: USA! USA!)

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Following the deadly U.S. Capitol riot, many political opponents are cheering Twitter's decision to permanently ban the person they say encouraged the insurrection, President Trump. Twitter claimed his account posed a risk of further incitement of violence. Trump's personal Facebook account was also suspended indefinitely.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It violated our policy that it was a risk we couldn't take.

DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think that big tech is doing a horrible thing for our country and to our country and I believe it's going to be a catastrophic mistake for them.

MCLEAN (voice-over): Social media platforms have consistently pointed to their own rules to explain controversial decisions, but experts say it's consistency that's been lacking.

MARIETJE SCHAALE, STANFORD UNIVERSITY CYBER POLICY CENTER: They're not consistent so you also have to wonder whether some of these companies have become basically monsters that they cannot tame themselves anymore.

MCLEAN (voice-over): Trump's ban has set off a fierce international debate around free speech and who if anyone not to be policing it online. The Mexican president called the ban contrary to freedom. While a spokesperson for German Chancellor Angela Merkle said it's problematic.

Critics also pointed to the odd paradox of a U.S. President barred from Twitter while a cast of repressive regimes and brutal dictators remain. Like Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro who the United Nations has accused of crimes against humanity including murder and torture or the government of Saudi Arabia which has a long record of jailing, even killing dissidents.

The company explained in 2018 that blocking a world leader would hide important information people should be able to see and debate.

CINDY COHN, ELECTRONIC FRONTIER FOUNDATION: I don't think they made the wrong decision by kicking off President Trump. However I'd like to see them apply that same standard to leaders around the world.

MCLEAN (voice-over): But many of the world's most unsavory leaders also have some of the tamest Twitter accounts. Russian President Vladimir Putin has a verified Kremlin account but offline he's been accused of silencing his critics. His agents even poisoning his political opponent Alexei Navalny. Navalny warns the precedent will be exploited by the enemies of freedom of speech around the world.

COHN: Expecting the companies to be the speech police of our dreams. You know only policing the bad speech and always allowing the good speech is simply unrealistic.

MCLEAN (voice-over): This week, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey defended the ban but said platforms should look critically at inconsistencies of our policy and enforcement. President Trump used his Twitter account unlike any other world leader to enflame debate, insult critics and spread outright lies but he wasn't the only one accused of bad behavior.

[04:55:00]

Just last week China which denies accusations of forced sterilizations of Uighur minorities, reportedly tweeted from the account of its embassy in Washington that the minds of Uighur women have been emancipated, making them no longer baby making machines. The tweet was removed by Twitter.

But other incendiary posts are still up like the 2018 tweet from Iran's Ayatollah calling Israel a malignant cancerous tumor that has to be removed and eradicated.

Twitter told CNN, we've taken enforcement action on world leaders prior to this but didn't give any details. A former executive summed up the reluctance like this.

ADAM SHARP, FORMER HEAD OF NEWS AND POLITICS AT TWITTER: If I threaten my neighbor, it's a crime. If the president threatens our neighbors, it is a statement of foreign policies.

MCLEAN: In 2018, Twitter explained that -- we review tweets by leaders within the political context that defines them and enforce our rules accordingly.

But local political context is where experts say American social media companies have a blind spot. That same year Facebook conceded it didn't do enough to prevent the genocide against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar the previous year. Human rights activists say the killings were fueled in part by hatred ginned up by military leaders on the social network. Facebook now says it's made vast improvements and banned 20 accounts.

MCLEAN: Why is it only now that we're kind of waking up to this? This has happened before.

SCHAAKE: Well, I don't think it's a secret that Americans tend to look at their own society with much more attention than at the rest of the world and it's also a matter of resources. I mean how much effort have these platforms really put into understanding the societies in which they were unleashing their products.

MCLEAN (voice-over): Europe is already planning vast new legislation to rein in the power of social media platforms while both parties in Washington agree something needs to change, they just can't agree on what.

Scott McLean, CNN London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: And thanks for watching. I'm Kim Brunhuber. "EARLY START" is up next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:00:00]