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State Capitals Tighten Security Amid Warnings Of Armed Protests; Interview With Lansing, Michigan Mayor Andy Schor (D); D.C. On Lockdown Amid Potential Armed Protests On Inauguration Day; Biden Urges Senate To Simultaneously Pursue Impeachment And His Agenda; Interview With Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA); Trump's Final Full Week In Office Ends With U.S. In Disarray; CDC: New, More Contagious Variant In U.S. Could Worsen Spread. Aired 11a-12p ET

Aired January 16, 2021 - 11:00   ET

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

[10:59:43]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Very quickly, Coy, what is the league doing to try to slow this down?

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Some examples: banning guests from visiting players' hotel rooms on the road, until January 26th requiring players and staff to stay home, except for team-related activities, masks required for everyone on the bench during games, and the league is also handing out punishments.

Brooklyn Nets guard Kyrie Irving fined $50,000 for violating the league's health and safety protocols by attending a party last weekend. These rules say, John, no indoor social gatherings of 15 or more people, no going to bars, clubs or similar establishments.

BERMAN: Coy Wire, thanks very much.

The NBA clearly knows the season may be at risk, but more importantly, lives are.

Appreciate it, Coy.

All right. Good morning, everyone. I'm John Berman.

Thank you for joining us for this special coverage.

Right now, the nation's capital preparing for possible unrest. The city in lockdown amid these extraordinary security threats ahead of Joe Biden's inauguration.

The Pentagon just increased the number of troops that will surround the area. There will now be at least 25,000 National Guard members there. That's more than Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria combined.

And it comes as we're learning chilling new information about the insurrection at the Capitol. According to "The Washington Post", Capitol police were warned three days before the invasion about a potentially violent scenario in which, quote, "Congress itself could be targeted". And sources tell CNN that both the FBI and Homeland Security failed to share the intelligence that they had about threats of possible attacks. This raises new questions as investigators continue to try to understand what happened that day.

As of last night, they've opened 275 criminal case and have charge nearly 100 alleged insurrectionists.

CNN has just learned that the man seen in this video, we're going to show you right now, smashing a Capitol Hill window with what appears to be a riot shield, he's been arrested and charged -- and charged now.

Federal prosecutors identified him as Dominic Pezzola. He appeared to indicate on a social media account that he was a member of the Proud Boys.

All around the country, state capitals on high alert as they brace for possible armed protests in the coming days. We're looking at this from all angles and have reporters and correspondents standing by in all the key locations.

Let's start with CNN's Matt Rivers in Austin, Texas. Matt, what are the preparations under way there?

MATT RIVERS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John, very much in wait-and-see mode right now here in Austin, Texas, with the Department of Public Safety closing the Capitol grounds and the Capitol building just behind me. It will be closed starting today all the way through the inauguration of Joe Biden with Texas DPS releasing a statement that said, in part, that they're aware of protests planned here at the Capitol and, quote, "violent extremists who may seek to exploit constitutionally protected events to conduct criminal acts".

Now CNN obtained a memo that was sent to state lawmakers here in Austin and their staff laying out what could happen this weekend. In that memo DPS says they're tracking at least three potential events for this weekend. One today, an event starting at noon, according to DPS, and two more potential events for tomorrow.

We don't yet know how big those events might be, how many people will show up. Things are quiet right now. But DPS is definitely prepared, I want to show you.

So they've padlocked the gate to the Capitol and if we look through the fence there, you can see that there are DPS officers. Now, you can't really see, but there are dozens of officers scattered around these grounds. The grounds are quite big.

They're not in full riot gear, but they do have face shields on. We know that DPS has deployed dozens of extra officers at this point to be prepared for any potential threats that might show up this weekend, John.

BERMAN: I've got to say, Matt Rivers, they're not kidding around. That's a pretty remarkable imagery behind you. Thank you so much for being there for us.

CNN's Natasha Chen is in Atlanta. Natasha, just how tight is security there?

NATASHA CHEN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well John, if you take a look around the Capitol area, you've got these low barriers here. It's not too difficult to imagine someone pushing through this if they really wanted to.

But then we're also seeing armored vehicles and a strong law enforcement presence here. We know that local, state and federal authorities are working together.

The Governor Brian Kemp has said earlier in the week that the threat level here is relatively low, but that they're not taking any chances. He's also made it very clear that the activities seen during the insurrection on January 6th. He called them illegal, un-American activities. That's not welcome here in Georgia.

This is very rattling for a lot of the Republican leadership in this state. Many of them really taking a look at the need for this extra security to ward off threats from people potentially in their own party.

Here's Lieutenant Governor Geoff Duncan talking about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GOV. GEOFF DUNCAN (R-GA): There is an increased security presence at the Capitol, a very significant increased presence. We started our general assembly session on Monday and, you know, here I was getting out of a vehicle on Monday with armed SWAT members with full body armor.

Looking out my office window yesterday, it dawned on me that the gentlemen standing there in the rain was there because -- not because of a terrorist, but because of potentially a Republican could want to attack our Capitol or myself. That's pretty -- I can't fathom that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[11:05:04]

CHEN: Duncan has also acknowledged that President Trump's words, he says, has made Georgia less safe. Keep in mind the president called Georgia election officials after the November election asking them to find votes for him, and after being reliably Republican for many decades, the state elected Joe Biden in November and has now sent two Democrats to the senate after the runoffs.

So there's a lot of tension here. Now, while there isn't a known specific threat here, nobody is taking any chances. The governor, again, welcoming peaceful protests only, John.

BERMAN: I have to say, those words from the lieutenant governor -- just chilling. And this is America. Natasha Chen, thank you so much for that report.

So let's go to CNN's Sara Sidner in Lansing, Michigan. Sara -- talk about a different animal completely.

Lansing in Michigan has had to live through the threats that the Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer has had to live through various riots on its Capitol grounds. What are you seeing there today?

SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It is very quiet today. But I'll give you an example. I'm going to give you just kind of a 360 look at what the grounds look like because there's a lot of room and space for people to come out and express their opinions. What there is not room for, what the governor and the leaders here, and even the citizens who live here in Lansing, do not want to see is any kind of violence. They have already made plans to try and thwart that, at least to keep their legislators safe as well.

You'll see that this is really more of a visual deterrent than it is a physical deterrent. Yes, it's a fence, but it's, you know, it's pretty flimsy.

However, they have already decided, the legislators, because of a credible threat that the police have gotten on this Capitol, that they will not be here doing the work of the people Monday through Thursday. That they are going to stay in their safe spaces, whether it is home or somewhere else, because there has been a credible threat recently to the Capitol since January 6th and what unfolded, the insurrection that unfolded in D.C.

We should also mention the alleged kidnapping plot against the governor that you mentioned a bit earlier. That was almost a roadmap to what we saw happen in D.C. And so they are going to clamp down here. The National Guard has been called up. They have accepted the call of duty.

There will be security. This place will be shut down to try and make sure that no violence occurs.

BERMAN: Sara Sidner, good report as always, thank you very much. Our thanks to Matt and Natasha as well. All of you please stay safe.

Possibly better than anywhere else, officials in Lansing, Michigan understand the threat as Sara just mentioned, given what they've seen. We're joined now by the mayor of Lansing, Andy Schor.

Mr. Mayor, you've already seen so much first firsthand. These men with long guns pushing their way into the Capitol, the failed plot to kidnap your governor.

What are you being warned about at this point? Is there anything specific you can tell us?

MAYOR ANDY SCHOR (D), LANSING, MICHIGAN: Well, we're, you know, we're hearing all kinds of rumors and we're getting intel from our Lansing police is coordinating with the National Guard which the governor called up at my request.

So we're -- you know, we're hoping for the best, we're hoping for a peaceful protest. You know, we believe in First Amendment rights, but we're preparing for the worst. So our coordination, the fencing that Sara just mentioned, some board-ups in buildings warning folks to stay away from the Capitol. All of that is precautionary.

BERMAN: You know, Michigan has this history of having a number of these armed militant groups, so what chatter are you hearing from them?

SCHOR: You know, we do have that history. We're a pro Second Amendment state. We have this every year, these armed groups at the Capitol. This year is a little different because we're concerned about what happened in D.C. and, you know, there's chatter on both sides.

There's chatter that people should come and create mischief and there's chatter that some in the militia and others are being told to stay away because someone may infiltrate the group and cause violence.

So we're hearing chatter on both sides. We're preparing for the violence just in case.

BERMAN: The Capitol being fenced off, we just saw pictures, boarded, security tightened. What about elsewhere in your city? Any added security for you or for government buildings?

SCHOR: Yes, in downtown we are. When we saw the Capitol kind of getting wrapped in fencing, we did some security measures of fencing for city hall which is right across the street, as is our police station.

We have had conversations with business owners, the state buildings are being boarded up and some business owners are boarding up their buildings. You know, whey don't want the destruction. They don't want broken glass and doors and people getting in and the cost to have to repair that. So people are taking precautionary measures.

BERMAN: So I've got to ask you, given what you have seen, all too close to your home, given what you have seen at the state capital, given what you've seen with the kidnapping threats against Gretchen Whitmer, what went through your head as you were watching the invasion of the U.S. Capitol?

[11:09:51]

SCHOR: I was mortified. I mean, you never think something like that is going to happen. 213 years of peaceful transfer of power and you see that kind of assault on democracy, you know, it was -- it was stunning.

And, you know, you do think about all of the members of Congress, many of whom are friends of mine. I was texting them, hey are you ok, are you safe.

And, you know, Congressman Dan Kildee was hiding in the gallery and it was shocking. It was something that you never expect. There's always people who are upset at the election of one party or the other, but I've never seen a mob try and take it over and attack our democracy. So it was shocking.

BERMAN: Yes. You know, shocking and stunning, but on the other hand, given what you went through, maybe it is something that should have been anticipated. There were groups who kept on promising that it would happen, more or less, and it essentially did.

Finally, last question, the carry laws -- the idea of carrying weapons into the State Capitol have changed. What impact do you think that will have?

SCHOR: Honestly, a little bit of both. You know, on the one hand, hopefully people will not come openly carrying. But on the other hand, it's going to instigate more people to come to raise their voice against it. You know, we have many people who believe they should be able to openly carry which they can under the law in Michigan and now they just can't within the Capitol.

We'll make sure that that is enforced via state police in the Capitol and make sure it's enforced. But again, that's another thing that we're looking at as an instigator.

I think it was the right move. I think it should have been done years ago and I've always been supportive of that. But it's a new factor in when people come downtown Sunday through Wednesday.

BERMAN: Mayor Andy Schor, we appreciate you being with us. We wish you the best of luck in the coming days. You and your family please stay safe.

SCHOR: Thanks, John. I appreciate that.

BERMAN: The nation's capital on lockdown this morning, but don't say it looks like a war zone. Why a National Guard leader takes issue with those words.

Plus, how law enforcement is using technology to keep an eye on travelers in the D.C. area.

And a U.S. Senator calling for members of Congress to be held accountable for spreading lies about the election.

We'll talk to Senator Bob Casey about what he thinks that punishment should be.

[11:12:02]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: The streets of Washington, D.C. eerily quiet this morning. That city is locked down amid extraordinary security threats ahead of President-Elect Joe Biden's inauguration. The National Mall, streets bridges into the city all closed as they prepare for possible unrest.

At least 25,000 National Guard troops are coming in and fencing is going up to keep people out.

CNN's Pete Muntean on the streets of Fortress Washington. It really does appear that the security is getting tighter and tighter by the hour. What are you seeing?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: More and more strict all the time, John. In fact, this is about as close as you can get to the Capitol now. We are blocks away from the center of the Capitol Complex, moved back here because Secret Service was doing a security sweep not all that long ago.

You can see the eight-foot wall there, outside the Capitol perimeter. That's also going up around the National Mall. Inside, some 7,000 National Guardsmen, the help coming from all 50 states, the offer from all 50 states and U.S. territories.

And the head of the D.C. Guard says 25,000 members of the Guard might be here by Inauguration Day. They are armed with M-4 guns, but the head of the D.C. Guard says this is not a war zone. Here's what he told me.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GENERAL WILLIAM J. WALKER, COMMANDING GENERAL D.C. NATIONAL GUARD: So this is not a war zone, and anybody who has been in a war knows that this is not a war zone.

What you have here is a community-based organization. It's part of the United States military, the Guard, but we are citizen soldiers and airmen, and we represent the communities we serve in. So it's not a military occupation and most of all Americans should be assured that the Guard is out here in support of the lead federal agency, the United States Secret Service, and that the 59th presidential inauguration will be peaceful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: Major General William Walker spoke to me wearing his dress uniform, having just spoken to House leadership here on Capitol Hill to reassure them that this will be a peaceful transfer of power.

The flip side of that is this could be a very quiet one. No bunting, no port-a-potties, no jumbotron, maybe not much in the way of crowds. All of that replaced by miles and miles of roadblock here in Washington. It is a real imposition if you live here, John.

BERMAN: It will be a one-of-a-kind, let's hope, inauguration.

Pete Muntean on the streets there. Please keep us posted.

CNN has learned that a intelligence officials and law enforcement are employing this huge array of surveillance and other high-tech communications to track the travel of certain individuals to Washington, D.C., individuals they believe could pose a potential serious danger leading up to and through inauguration day. Phil Mudd, CNN counterterrorism analyst, former CIA counterterrorism official and FBI senior intelligence adviser. Jonathan Wackrow is a CNN law enforcement analyst and former Secret Service agent for President Obama.

Jonathan, I want to start with you. Secret Service has oversight over the inauguration at this point. These surveillance tools, how will they be used over the coming days to make sure that Wednesday isn't like January 6th?

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well John, good morning.

And what the Secret Service has done under the National Special Security Event structure, the NSSE, is they've put forth a protective intelligence structure that brings, you know, together all of the key stakeholders in intelligence -- the FBI, local officials coordinating with the Secret Service to ensure that this clear and present danger, the threat that we're actually mitigating right now with all of the ramp-up of law enforcement and the National Guard, that we're keenly focused on, you know, pre-attack indicators.

[11:19:55]

And that we're identifying those with a high likelihood that they could launch an attack either in D.C. But it's broader. We want to take a whole of government approach to make sure that the entire National Capital Region is protected.

And then we're seeing the warnings go broader. We're seeing all 50 states right now, law enforcement is telling them that they need to be on alert, that these threats may manifest themselves whether in a coordinated attack or more likely in a lone wolf attack in various states across the country.

BERMAN: So, Phil, a senior DHS official telling CNN that ahead of the January 6th invasion, the FBI and DHS did not issue typical threat assessments associated with high-profile events, nor send reports to certain law enforcement on the ground there.

How could that happen? How could something like that not be transmitted?

PHIL MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: Boy, I can't quite figure this out. If you look at the seriousness of some of the threats that we've seen reported -- not general threats, John, but specific threats -- the FBI has already said they passed that information out. I would point out to you this makes me a little bit uncomfortable that the FBI said that solo. In other words, we haven't seen an entire government report saying what the interagency relationships were.

My guess is that people didn't anticipate the seriousness of what would happen on the 6th. And therefore, in contrast to what we're seeing coming up to this Wednesday, the pucker factor wasn't as high.

I'm going to also wager to you that the handoffs that we saw before the 6th weren't as clean as the FBI said they were. So I'm sure I'll get a few notes from my FBI friends, but I'm going to guess that we're going to see some of what we saw before 9/11. That is there are gaps between agencies and those gaps really hurt us before the 6th.

BERMAN: Yes, DHS acting deputy secretary, Ken Cuccinelli, I'm getting all the modifiers wrong, he told me yesterday we all saw the same thing. We were all seeing the same intelligence. This isn't an issue of us not telling them. They all knew what we knew. Jonathan, is that satisfactory?

WACKROW: Listen, this is -- you know, the intelligence was there. So, you know, this is not a failure of the intelligence. It was present. This is a failure to act on those intelligence warnings.

And quite frankly, those who, you know, held that back, it is negligence. And what it also does is it speaks to the breakdown, and to Phil's point, it speaks of the breakdown of the command structure that we're seeing both, you know, in terms of how that information is disseminated within a law enforcement entity itself and how it's shared amongst law enforcement and intelligence and partners.

And this is where, you know, we're going to have to look back at everything that, you know, happened prior to January 6th, understand every one of those failures -- whether it's a communications failure, an action failure, a readiness failure, we need to fully understand what went wrong so it never happens again.

BERMAN: Phil, the more you hear, it appears that there are questions about whether this was a lack of imagination. And by that I mean the communication that does exist that we do know about talks about concerns of possible conflict on the ground between these right-wing groups, radicalized Trump supporters and maybe other kinds of protesters, not the direct threat from these rightists groups themselves -- again, a lack of imagination possibly. What do you see?

MUDD: I think in this situation you need a lot of experience, a lot of years in the business, because people rush to judgment. What you really need to do now, John, is one thing. And that is ask the right questions.

Jonathan hit one right on the head. People are focused on intelligence. I'm sure we're going to find intelligence gaps. You didn't need a lot of intelligence to say thousands of people who don't like what's happening on Capitol Hill were going to show up in Washington and that some of those people were potentially prepared to walk down to Capitol Hill. That didn't require intelligence. Turn on your TV.

So ask questions about intelligence, as you say, ask questions about preparation, imagination. Ask questions about response. I think the critical questions you need to ask are not just about response, that is were people prepared with the National Guard for thousands of people to show up? But really sensitive questions about policy and politics.

Did somebody think it would be embarrassing when the president spoke to have thousands of people securing Capitol Hill? Did somebody think it would be embarrassing to have that kind of security when you had different security for Black Lives Matter movements?

Did some people think that it would be uncomfortable to have National Guard people down on Capitol Hill protecting the Congress, when as I said, other parts of the country didn't have that kind of protection?

So I think break down the problem into questions and make sure, to close, you do not have individual agencies giving you individual answers, John.

BERMAN: These are great questions, Phil. I appreciate the input there.

And Jonathan, I want to close with this question that comes from my mom, which is basically given what we know now, given what we've been through, how safe is it to have Joe Biden take the oath of office outside like he's planning?

[11:25:01]

WACKROW: Well, you know, what I can say is that the Secret Service working with everybody, all of their law enforcement intelligence partners, will ensure that Joe Biden will take the oath of office outside and it will be safe.

The multi-layered approach that the Secret Service is putting, you know, in place right now, when we see a lot of the overt actions, but there are a lot of covert actions that they're taking.

All of this combined in a very well-coordinated structure will guarantee the safety of the incoming president and the incoming administration.

BERMAN: I thank you. My mother thanks you. Jonathan Wackrow, Phil Mudd -- appreciate you both being with us.

MUDD: Thank you.

WACKROW: Thanks, John.

BERMAN: New details about the days before the attack on the Capitol, the troubling activity that concerned some congress members. Senator Bob Casey joins me next.

And another broken promise from the Trump administration. It turns out that the reserve stockpile of vaccine they've been talking about doesn't actually exist.

[11:25:57]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: John Berman here. This is CNN's special live coverage.

The new coming majority, Democratic majority in the Senate, faces a number of priorities in the next few weeks. The Democrats must pursue the second impeachment trial of Donald Trump. They must confirm Joe Biden's cabinet nominees and take on the new administration's legislative agenda, including passing a nearly $2 trillion coronavirus relief package.

Yesterday President-Elect Biden's incoming press secretary Jan Psaki said this about the expectation, quote, "Our team has been already busy on the phones engaging with Democratic offices, Republican offices, having discussions about this plan and the path forward. But our expectation and hope and belief is that we need to walk and chew gum at the same time."

Joining me now, Democratic Senator Bob Casey of Pennsylvania. So talk to me about what this will look like specifically. The word of the day seems to be "bifurcation". How will you do the impeachment trial and the business of the Biden administration at the same time?

SEN. BOB CASEY (D-PA): Well John, good to be with you.

We have no choice. We have a number of things that have to happen at the same time.

confirmation proceedings have to go forward and we have to use our time wisely on those confirmations. We have to begin to work on the relief bill that President-Elect Biden just outlined, which is essential to tackle the virus, to lift the economy and to help people that are still hurting.

And thirdly, we have to have an impeachment trial. So I don't have a fixed sense of how long an impeachment trial would take, but if you just look at the last one in January where you had the House managers putting their case through in about two days or maybe two to three days, I think a lot of that, just my view, could be cut down to a third.

So I would hope we could do the impeachment trial over the course of -- if we didn't start until Thursday, say Thursday, Friday, Saturday, we're allowed to have an impeachment proceeding on Saturday, and maybe into Monday. But I hope we can complete that even as we're doing work in the morning on the other priorities.

BERMAN: What do you think about the requirement that all senators be at their desks during the trial? To have 100 people in a room of that size in this moment with the pandemic, how safe would that be?

CASEY: Well, we've had occasions in the last couple of months where all members of the Senate were at their desks at the same time. Maybe not for as prolonged a period, but as long as everybody is wearing masks and as long as -- and the good news here, John, is that, as you know from the recent impeachment proceeding, senators don't talk, which I think a lot of Americans are thankful for.

But that means you don't have as much risk when there isn't a lot of speech making and when you have masks on.

BERMAN: Very quickly I want to read you something that Senator Kevin Cramer said about what his standard might be to vote to convict. The question is, will you be able to get 17 Republican senators to vote to convict?

He says there's a lot of people upset but the legal standard for inciting insurrection is going to be pretty hard to prove because his, the president's words, matter and his words were reckless and his words certainly had an impact. But his words were also carefully selected.

If you're going to take him at his word, his words were "protest peacefully and patriotically". I just think it's a pretty hard standard to prove. Your reaction?

CASEY: Well, look, every senator is going to have to make a determination about what standard they apply. If you're going to apply a criminal law standard, beyond a reasonable doubt, I don't think that's the appropriate standard. When you look at what the president said, not only on the day but the days leading up to it, just putting out some of this. you know, be there on the stick, it will be wild, fight like hell. If you don't -- and if you don't fight like hell, he said you're not going to have a country anymore.

All these are populistic (ph) references. And John, I think it's relevant and I hope we remind our colleagues in the senate on the Republican side that we now know from the evidence that Mike Pence was only feet away from being confronted by these terrorists.

And I think every Republican senator should consider that. The president in a matter of days was able to radicalize a group of Americans against his fellow Republican governing partner. Didn't happen over months or weeks. In a matter of days he sent them to the Capitol to do something and his own vice president could have been killed.

BERMAN: 100 feet, 60 seconds -- that's what "The Washington Post" says. That's a very short period of time and that distance is nothing. It is nothing --

CASEY: Yes.

[11:34:56]

BERMAN: -- to how close Mike Pence was to that danger.

Senator, you've been pretty outspoken. There weren't just Republican senators like Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley who continued to spread the lie about the election not being valid, to refuse to validate the free and fair election.

A lot of House members from the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania were also pushing this, voted to overturn the electoral college results. What do you think should happen to these members?

CASEY: Well, the House has to make that decision, but I'll just express my hope. There should be some kind of censure or some kind of condemnation as the rules in both chambers contemplate.

In our state we had eight out of nine members of the Republican -- members of our delegation who were Republican -- engage in perpetuating a lie, a total falsehood and sowed the seeds of the violence we saw. And the violence -- the threat of the violence, of course, is not over. This is going to be a continuing threat. And if you engage in that kind of conduct as a legislator, there has to be -- there has to be accountability.

BERMAN: The president has said there should not be violence going forward, but he hasn't said he lost a free and fair election. How do you think the fact that he refuses to say he lost to Joe Biden -- how should that affect the senate trial coming up?

CASEY: Well, I think it's certainly evidence about his intent, what he was thinking about on the 6th and long before that.

So, look, there's going to be a substantial body of evidence. The house report on this is more than 76 pages and we have new evidence since the House drafted that report days ago. So there's going to be more evidence. And I hope that by the time a trial would commence that we would have even more evidence between now and then.

So I think it's a substantial body of evidence. You don't have to unearth it by hiring a private investigator. It's there in plain sight. Journalists have done a lot of good work and I think there are other disclosures by law enforcement that will be relevant to the impeachment trial.

BERMAN: Senator Bob Casey, we appreciate you being with us today. Please stay safe over the coming days.

CASEY: Thanks, John. You, too.

BERMAN: So with everything going on across the country, with the huge security presence all around him, President Trump is spending the last weekend -- his last weekend in the White House.

A look at what he's doing. He's got just a few hours left to issue pardons. When might they come? All that next.

[11:37:30]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right. It is the final weekend of Donald Trump's presidency. Washington resembles a fortress, the nation's capital preparing for President-Elect Joe Biden's inauguration on Wednesday as the FBI warns of security threats across all 50 states.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump is plotting his departure, asking apparently for a red carpet good-bye and 21-gun salute. And yesterday he took a meeting with the CEO of My Pillow at the White House.

Joining me now is Josh Dawsey, White House reporter for "The Washington Post". You tweeted you spoke with the My Pillow CEO Mike Lindell yesterday. This was after we all saw the bizarre notes he was carrying. And he is a guy who erupts with conspiracy theories. Why was he at the White House, Josh? JOSH DAWSEY, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: He was at the White House for a

good-bye meeting with the president. He spent five or ten minutes with the president and then he was with the president's lawyers for some time yesterday.

The president's lawyers were very dismissive of Mike Lindell. He left frustrated. He felt he had one more bid to make to the president, you know, try and find a way to overturn the election. Obviously, that's not going to happen with four days left.

But he spent five or ten minutes with the president and then he was with the lawyers for some time. And even the president seemed fairly uninterested in his theories at this point.

BERMAN: I mean, dismissive of him, but the fact that he got into the Oval Office, that tells you a lot given that one of the pages, one of his notes apparently used the phrase "martial law". Any details on that?

DAWSEY: Well, it's unclear exactly what his notes said. Or how seriously they were presented. He told me last night that a lawyer that is, you know, in the presidential orbit gave him the notes to share with the president. He refused to say repeatedly what lawyer.

He said he didn't even know some of the things on the notes but he was handing off a packet. He left with the packet, the president did not keep it.

You know, Lindell has been a super supporter of the president nonstop on television networks, at all of the rallies. He's kind of a celebrity in MAGA world, so to speak, you know.

The My Pillow guy became one of the Trump -- one of the Trump world (ph) figures somehow. And yesterday -- you know, the president has been doing hundreds of meetings with people for final pictures, for good-byes, and when he came he didn't just come for a final picture. He came bearing all sorts of conspiracy theories.

BERMAN: Our producers -- by the way, the White House has just declared a photo lid for the day, which means we're not going to see the president, which I suppose is not surprising. But our people have seen the national security adviser go in, chief of staff Mark Meadows, Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. Any sense what they're doing there or what exactly is happening today?

DAWSEY: I don't. Just before I came on with you, I was trying to figure that out myself. The president has no public schedule this weekend. He's not supposed to leave the White House.

This has been kind of -- so far, not that exciting of a good-bye. His last week he's done very few events, no public events or very few public events, for that matter. One trip, I guess, to the border wall.

He's going to have some sort of ceremony on Wednesday to leave that's akin to a State Department farewell ceremony for a visiting head of state. But he's not been interested in doing much. You've see the vice president out there, John. You know, flying to various places to meet with troops. To do final COVID briefings, to do FEMA briefings. And the president has been pretty silent and staying at home and not really doing anything in his last few days as president.

[11:44:56]

BERMAN: And you've got some reporting, Josh, on where his mind actually is. I'm going to read some of this to you. It says "Trump has been more concerned with other actions that could have serious consequences for his post-presidential life, according to people familiar with the President's concerns.

The developments include Twitter and other social media companies suspending his accounts. The PGA of America canceling a golf tournament at one of his properties. And Deutsche Bank announced that it would no longer finance his developments. It sounds like he's worried about Thursday, Josh.

DAWSEY: Well, in many ways, he became a pariah after the events at the Capitol. You've had all sorts of companies distance themselves from him so no one was doing business from him.

The PGA championship was particularly hurtful to him. He cared very much about having that at his club in New Jersey. You have banks who say they won't loan to him. You have folks who say they will be boycotting his hotels.

People around the president do not depict him as necessarily enthused about his post-presidency life.

You also have investigations out of New York that seem to be ramping up. "The New York Times" and others have reported that. I think CNN has as well.

So you have a lot of confluence of factors that may not make for the most pleasant of situations for the post-presidency.

BERMAN: Josh Dawsey, we'll let you get back to digging as to what is going on in the Oval Office today with all those people showing up. Thanks so much for being with us.

DAWSEY: Thank you.

BERMAN: So the Capitol insurrection -- join Anderson Cooper for a look at the people who helped pull it off. Who are they? And amid ongoing threats, where are they now?

The new "CNN SPECIAL REPORT: THE FACES OF THE TRUMP INSURRECTION". That airs tonight at 10:00.

So as the number of COVID deaths here in the U.S. approaches 400,000 fresh warnings about new, more contagious variants that could be taking hold.

Stay with us.

[11:46:36]

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BERMAN: The same day President-Elect Joe Biden revealed his plan to tackle the pandemic once he takes office, the CDC warned about Americans -- warned Americans about the highly transmissible coronavirus variant it says could worsen spread in the U.S.

The agency also projects the U.S. death toll from the pandemic could surpass 400,000 before Joe Biden is sworn in next Wednesday, getting awfully close as we speak.

And this just in: globally, half a million new coronavirus deaths have been reported in just the last six weeks.

Dr. Jorge Rodriguez is a CNN medical analyst and an internal medicine and viral specialist.

Let's talk about this new variant if we can. It is much more easily transmissible. So what does that do to the U.S. effort to battle the pandemic?

DR. JORGE RODRIGUEZ, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, John, it makes it a lot more difficult. First of all, it's -- mutations happen all the time and this variant from England -- and there are others throughout the world -- makes the virus a lot more effective. Therefore, it is a healthier virus.

What's going to happen as predicted by the CDC that will this will be the predominant virus by March of this year is that more people are very likely to get infected.

Now, the greater number of infections, even if the percentage of death stays the same, the greater number of deaths. The greater number of people that are going to go to the hospital to get sick, which means the less number of people that can access care for other diseases.

So it is going to burden the health care system. It is going to increase the number of deaths. And it is going to spread the illness faster throughout the country.

(CROSSTALK)

BERMAN: It's awful -- it's awful given where we are right now. And local public health officials at where you are in L.A. County, there's someone dying every six minutes from COVID-19. What exactly makes these new variants more easily transmissible?

DR. RODRIGUEZ: Well, very simply, I want people to think of a virus as a necklace containing only six colored beads, let's say. And there's a certain specific pattern -- red bead, yellow bead, whatever. When a virus replicates and by mistake a different colored bead comes in that changes the whole structure of the virus and that structure can make it a lot more effective. For example, the English variation of this virus makes the attachment a lot more effective. So this virus is so efficient in transmitting that's what makes it more dangerous. What we're hoping is that there is not a mutation in the future that makes the virus immune to the current vaccines. So a much more effective virus is going to spread a lot more easily in a community.

BERMAN: And it creates the need to get so many more vaccinations in people's arms that much more quickly.

Yesterday President-Elect Joe Biden laid out his plan to get 100 million people vaccinated or receive the first dose of the vaccine in the next hundred days. From where you sit being in the middle of this all, what's the one thing you would like to see changed to get people vaccinated more quickly?

DR. RODRIGUEZ: Well, I wish it was just one thing. But the first thing is I'd like people to understand that these two vaccines that are currently available, the Pfizer and the Moderna vaccines, are not going to change their DNA; are not, you know, really that experimental. This technology has been out there for a long time.

And the efficacy, how effective these virus -- these vaccines are is unheard of. And we need to take advantage of that.

So people don't need to fear the vaccines. They need to fear the virus. That's the first and most important thing that I want people sort of to get through their heads right now.

BERMAN: I've got to let you go very soon but very quickly how realistic is it to get 100 million people a dose of the vaccine in the next 100 days.

[11:54:56]

DR. RODRIGUEZ: You know, America got to the moon. I think anything that we set our mind to, anything that people cooperate on, we can do. So I think sending FEMA out and the National Guard is a great thing to do. I think we can accomplish it if we have the will to accomplish it.

Dr. Jorge Rodriguez, thank you very much for being with us this morning. Really appreciate your insight on this important subject.

DR. RODRIGUEZ: Thank you, sir.

BERMAN: All right. There is so much going on in our nation this morning.

And our breaking news coverage continues.

We've seen all morning long National Guard troops taking up positions across the country -- a nervous nation watches.

Please stay with CNN. Our special live coverage continues right after this.

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[12:00:08]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, everyone.