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FBI Warns Of Armed Protests At Capitol And In All 50 States; U.S. Capitol A Fortress And D.C. On Lockdown As Threats Grow; Capitols Tighten Security; Shocking New Footage From Inside The Capitol Siege. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired January 17, 2021 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:30]

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM. Thanks for joining me on this Sunday. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York.

Right now, we are witnessing a nation on edge bracing for something we normally take for granted. The transfer of power from one president to another. And to understand the concern you can look no further than this shocking new video from inside the Capitol siege courtesy of "The New Yorker." And I have to warn you we have not censored the language and some of the images you're about to see are disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Knock, knock. We're here.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where the fuck are they?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Where are they?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: While we're here we might as well set up a government.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, let's take a seat, people. Let's take a seat.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Nancy Pelosi.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let's vote on some shit.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We paid for it. This is our house.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, get out that chair.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. This is our chair.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I agree with you brother but it's not ours.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're a democracy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It belongs to the vice president of the United States.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: But he's in here. It's not our chair. Look, I love you, guys. We're brothers but we can't be disrespectful.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, don't disrespect.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They can steal an election, we can't sit in their chairs?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's got to be something in here we can fucking use against these scumbags.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're acting the fool, man.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: America's republic -- no, this is (INAUDIBLE).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey. We're acting the fool.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, no. This is good. This is all good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes!

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think Cruz would want us to do that. I think we're good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: I think Cruz would want us to do this? I think we were good? In case you missed those last words. Now President Trump was impeached for inciting that insurrection which ultimately left five people dead. So now as Trump prepares to leave office he leaves the country in disarray.

This is America today. Barbed wire, National Guard troops, and Humvees. This is not normal. It's not normal for the nation's capital to look like a fortress bracing for an attack from its own people. But it's not a mystery how we got here. President Trump began spreading lies about the integrity of the 2020 election before people even started voting. And President Trump refused to commit to a peaceful transition of power repeatedly during the campaign and that typically peaceful transition disintegrated during the deadly events of January 6th.

So even if there is no violence between now and inauguration day, and we all pray that's the case, the damage has already been done. So what now? And how does the country move forward this week and beyond?

Let's take it one day at a time. To Washington right now and CNN's senior national security correspondent Alex Marquardt. He's there for us.

Alex, what is the situation on the ground?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Ana, this could look nothing -- this could not look less like a peaceful transfer of power, to your point. This is a reflection of the violence that we saw on January 6th and fears of any potential violence in the coming days in the lead up to the inauguration and around the inauguration.

This city is all but locked down especially in downtown D.C. around the federal buildings, around the White House, around the Capitol. It is as you say a fortress. The number of law enforcement, of military in the streets, is absolutely staggering. The Pentagon has authorized up to 25,000 National Guard troops to be mobilized for the inauguration here. You can see some of them right outside what has become, again, a fortress around the U.S. Capitol building.

I want to show you just some of what that looks like. So you have this fencing that has been put up since really the day after January 6th. It is now a wall that encircles the Capitol complex. Some of it, as you can see there off to the left, is topped with razor wire. You've got the Capitol dome, the east side of the Capitol there in the background.

[16:05:04]

And this is what we do see in a lot of the rest of the city. The National Mall has now been closed down until after the inauguration so this is a city that is very, very much under a tight security perimeter and as a result of that, Ana, we heard from the mayor of Washington, D.C. earlier today saying that because of the tight security down here that she fears for other state capitols and elsewhere in the city. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR MURIEL BOWSER (D), DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: I'm not only concerned about other state capitols. I'm also concerned about other parts of Washington, D.C. What you're showing is really the federal enclave of Washington, D.C. not where the 700,000 of us live. So our police department, working with our federal law enforcement partners and the United States Army quite frankly, also has a plan to pivot if we have any attacks in our neighborhoods.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MARQUARDT: So here you've got the federal part that Mayor Bowser was talking about and just over there is the Capitol Hill neighborhood where lots of people live there. It is quiet for now. We have not seen protesters. We've seen people coming out to take a look at the security perimeter. There is a lot of anxiety. There is a significant amount of fear of what could happen in the coming days, Ana.

CABRERA: Absolutely. Alex Marquardt, we will check back. Thank you. I want to play more now from this shocking video from the "New Yorker"

taken by a journalist inside the Capitol during the insurrection. Again a warning, this contains graphic language.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a fucking million of us out there. And we are listening to Trump.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Your boss.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let us through.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let the people in.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It ain't safe for you guys.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We love you guys. Take it easy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: I want to bring in CNN's senior law enforcement analyst and former FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe.

Good to have you here. Andrew, what does your expert eyes see in that video?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Boy, you know, Ana, it's hard to watch. It is a torrent of people drunk on lies and propaganda, defiling and disrespecting the people's house. It's not the kind of video you ever thought you'd see in this country but, you know, here we are.

It is so clearly the work of an angry mob. There is no rationality here. But yet, in spite of that, in between these moments of offense and violence, you have people rifling through the desks of lawmakers, looking for, I don't know what you'd call it, evidence to support some of the nonsense that they believe. So there is some clear evidence or indicators of planning and execution, and they are actually trying to accomplish some sort of political goal here.

And then of course there's the threat of violence against the lawmakers themselves that seems to saturate these images. It's truly horrific. Really is.

CABRERA: It is. It's sickening to watch these images and to hear what they're saying. I want to play just another portion of this video and again a warning it contains more graphic language. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(CROSSTALK) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You think this is (INAUDIBLE) fucking day?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Millions of Americans are armed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Start making a list. Put all those names down and we start hunting them down one by one.

(CHEERS)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Traitors to the guillotine.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: This sort of thinking isn't going to end on Wednesday. I wonder though, could the violence get worse?

MCCABE: I think it absolutely could get worse. You know, to be clear, I think with the security procedures in place that you were -- that you had on just before I came in, it's pretty clear that the Capitol itself is locked down about as tight as humanly possible.

It's hard to imagine something -- certainly something along those lines happening at the Capitol over the next few days but we have, you know, 50 state capitols around the country that are not nearly as protected as our national capitol and those are the places that I fear smaller pockets of this sort of violence could really flare up. People taking advantage essentially of the fact that they are softer targets certainly than D.C. is right now.

CABRERA: I want to continue with the security angle here and show another portion of the video when the mob overtakes police outside the Capitol.

(Voice-over): You see just the crush of the crowd. People falling down the stairs. Others climbing scaffolding, tearing fabric. Officers just seem totally overwhelmed. When you look at that video, what kinds of security changes need to be made for the future?

[16:10:06]

MCCABE: Well, clearly, you know, you cannot let that mob, that wave of humanity get anywhere near the Capitol. And that was the error, the fault in planning that we see on display on January 6th. You're right. Those officers were completely overwhelmed. They didn't have near the number of personnel or the hardening of the real estate there in place that they should have had.

It would have been necessary to repel that sort of mob. So, you know, although we had acts of heroism, you maybe had some acts of not so much heroism, but none of it really made much difference because they didn't have a chance to repel a crowd of that size.

You are not going to see that on Inauguration Day. Obviously with 25,000 troops brought into the Capitol to augment a force, a law enforcement force several hundred -- several thousand really large. So it's a very different equation for someone who wants to make a scene on Inauguration Day.

CABRERA: I just want to put up a list of some of the people who've now been identified and arrested as part of this domestic terror attack. Not talking about names but what we've learned about what these people do, who they are. A retired Air Force Reserve officer from Texas, a former mayoral candidate, a West Virginia state lawmaker, an Olympic swimmer, two off-duty police officers from Virginia, a CEO of a Chicago area marketing technology company, a Florida firefighter, a realtor, an attorney, at least two teachers.

Andrew, these aren't who most people picture as extremist. These are our neighbors, some are people whom are supposed to protect us and educate us. How do you explain it and how much more challenging does that make this investigation?

MCCABE: So, Ana, I spent years working against extremists doing counterterrorism work in the FBI. And I have to tell you that that sort of a diverse cross section of people is exactly what you see in the population of adherence. People who are attracted to extremist rhetoric, to extremist movements. That's exactly what you see.

When we looked at those Americans who traveled to Syria for the purpose of joining the Islamic State, when you put all those faces and names down in one place you had doctors, lawyers, you had people who were Muslim their entire life and some people who just converted only months earlier. You had rich people, you have poor people, men, women, of every ethnic variety. So I think that's actually common to extremist groups.

Some people are very vulnerable to and drawn into that core lie of any extremist movement and that is exactly what we're seeing now with these -- this particular group of Trump supporters. They have invested on an emotional and spiritual level in this grievance that the election was stolen from them and they seem to be completely manipulated by that propaganda.

CABRERA: If you could keep your answer just very short I wonder, would you use the word radicalization? Have these people been radicalized?

MCCABE: They have been radicalized by the radicalizer-in-chief, the president of the United States, absolutely.

CABRERA: Andrew McCabe, I really appreciate your expertise. Thank you for sharing all of that with us.

MCCABE: Sure.

CABRERA: In an abundance of caution, state capitols nationwide are locking down as the FBI warns of potential armed protests in all 50 states. And we have a team of reporters spread out across the country ahead of the inauguration. That's going to be unlike any other.

Let's check in with CNN's Kyung Lah first in Sacramento, California. Kyung, what are you seeing?

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, this is just one snapshot of what we are seeing surrounding the capitol here in Sacramento, California. What you see over my shoulder here, this is a small group of National Guard. There are a total of 1400 guardsmen who have been activated to protect the capitol today and Wednesday. And that fence that they're standing next to, that is ringing the entire capitol. It is a six-foot high fence. And then if you look further at the entrances, there is an additional layer of law enforcement.

You can see those yellow spikes sticking out of the driveway. That's to prevent any vehicles from coming in. And then if you look further into the Capitol, every entrance and I know it's difficult for you to see here, but every entrance is then protected by vehicles to prevent anyone from rushing the capitol.

The governor says that law enforcement has been activated to its very highest level. The planned protest that was scheduled to be here in California appears to have fizzled. That they have not granted any permits in this state to any protests here.

And one last thing, Ana. You can't quite see it from here but all these businesses that are behind me, they've all shut down. A lot of them have boarded up. And they expect a repeat of this on Wednesday -- Ana.

[16:15:05]

CABRERA: It's great nothing bad is taking place but to think in the U.S. this is necessary.

Kyung Lah, thank you.

I want to turn now to CNN's Omar Jimenez. He's in St. Paul, Minnesota. What is it like where you are?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, things have been quiet here over the course of the day, which is exactly what officials wanted to see. But part of the concern and why you see the show of force behind me here at the state capitol is that FBI report that armed protests were being planned at all 50 state Capitols in the lead up to the inauguration, specifically and reportedly with threats in Michigan and in Minnesota.

Well, the head of the Department of Public Safety here in Minnesota pushed back on that a little saying that came in late December, and now at this point some of that info is dated for here in Minnesota. However, they say today they remain cautiously optimistic that the scenes that you're seeing behind me continue to be the scenes as we move forward because they have seen here how things can spill over to a point of real concern.

Back on January 6th as people were storming the U.S. Capitol there was a similar storm the capitol rally here in Minnesota that at one point prompted the governor's family to have to evacuate their residence -- Ana.

CABRERA: OK. Omar Jimenez, thank you.

Let's go to CNN's Bill Weir now in Madison, Wisconsin -- Bill.

BILL WEIR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Ana, very quiet here. Blessedly so. Happy to report. If you know geography you know Madison is probably one of the easiest capitols in the country to defend. It's an isthmus, between two lakes, so there's only a few ways in or out. And when we're here during the election this is the blueberry in the bowl of tomato soup. Liberal Dane County and red rural areas around.

There were a few Trump caravans that would come and circle this ring road around the capitol and actually stopped and had sort of a brief stand-off here, but that's not happening today. They've shut this whole perimeter down. It is a ghost town downtown. There is still plywood up from the violent protests that happened in the summer, end of May, beginning of June. A lot of the plywood, though, that was here out of the tension before the election had come down and now they're sort of putting it back up.

The governor, though, battening down the hatches there. National guardsmen inside, we know. We don't have the direct numbers but there's been no real specified threats. The Packers won a playoff game yesterday. That certainly lightens the mood here in this state. I saw more ice fishermen on Lake Monona than protesters so far today. Here's hoping it stays that way.

CABRERA: It is so eerie to see these barren streets on a Sunday afternoon.

Thank you all of you for your reporting.

Will Trump's big election lie that fueled the attack at the Capitol -- will it keep going long after he leaves office? Professor Timothy Snyder, an expert and author on tyranny, joins us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:21:55]

CABRERA: We want to show you more of this shocking video just coming to light of what happened in different quarters of the Capitol as the siege was taking place. This video comes to us from the "New Yorker." It was recorded by a reporter who was covering the rally turned insurrection that day. And again, we want to warn you, the language and the images are disturbing but we do feel it's important to show you an unfiltered version of the truth. What happened that day as the people's house was attacked?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whoo-hoo! Go! Go!

(CHEERS AND SHOUTING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Whose house?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stand down. You're outnumbered.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's a fucking million of us out there. And we are listening to Trump, your boss.

UNIDENTIFIED RIOTERS: Treason! Treason! Treason! Treason!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Defend the Constitution! Defend liberty! Defend the Constitution!

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: 1776!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're afraid of Antifa? Well, guess what? America showed up!

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Joining us now Timothy Snyder, a professor of history at Yale and author of the book "On Tyranny: 20 Lessons from the 20th Century."

Professor Snyder, you have said a big lie can survive the liar and it's vital for Donald Trump's big lie to be cut off or history shows there can be dire consequences for democracy. And so when you look at that video and you hear the rage from these Trump supporters who have been fed misinformation, lies for months, how do you cut off that lie?

TIMOTHY SNYDER, AUTHOR, "ON TYRANNY": Yes. What we see is just what happens. If a lie is big, like, for example, Mr. Trump won the election, then if you believe that lie, you're inside a group and you feel like everyone else is on the outside. And then what's worse, if you do something on behalf of that lie, if you hurt people, if you attack a building, if you repeat that lie, then you're committed to it yourself.

So how do you reel this back? History tells us that lies can outlive the liar. And this lie will outlive Mr. Trump unless people take responsibility at the top, unless Republicans who have been mealy mouthed about this or have confirmed the lie change their minds and say the truth. And in the long term, what this country needs is much more local news. Much more production of facts about things that matter to people in their daily lives.

What's part of what's happened to us is we've lost the little truths all around us along with the local news and that vacuum gets filled up with a big lie, with some of the attractiveness of a big lie from a great distance.

[16:25:02]

CABRERA: I don't want to sound like an alarmist but I genuinely wonder, because you and I have been speaking about where we are headed for years now, how far down the road to tyranny has America traveled? Where is the country right now on that dark path?

SNYDER: It's not a road. It's an open field. And there are many different ways you can turn. So it was never a sure thing that we'll be a democracy and it's not a sure thing we'll turn away from democracy. What I would say is that what happened on January 6th was in the cards a long time before January 6th. We chose a president who doesn't believe in choosing precedents. We had a man in office for four years who told small lies, medium-sized lies, until he finally got to the big lie.

When the big lie is told we see that Americans are no worse, no better than anyone else. We act just like everyone else. And now we know that, here's the optimistic part. Now that we know that we have a chance to rebuild. We know there's nothing automatic about being a city on a hill. You've got to build. You have to climb that hill and you have to build that city. And that I think is our chance, to recognize that this is a moment where we could actually create a better democracy. We can't rely on the past. There's a future that we have to create.

CABRERA: I wonder, though, how much accountability is important in all of this as you rebuild. Because you've talked a lot about how elected officials helped spread the president's big lie. So I'm curious to get your reaction to this tweet from former congressman and presidential candidate, Beto O'Rourke, and he says this.

"Don't let Cruz attend the inauguration. His attempt at sedition and his incitement to violent insurrectionists should result in his expulsion from the Senate. He certainly shouldn't be allowed at a celebration of the peaceful transfer of presidential power."

Do you think he has a point?

SNYDER: He's got a bunch of points there. Number one, Mr. Trump never could have spread the big lie on his own without Mr. Cruz, without Mr. Hawley. Without a number of other Republicans that big lie would have never made it out of November into where we are now. Number two, if you are a legislator, if you were elected and then you call elections into question, you're inviting an attack on the people's house. You're inviting attack on the Capitol.

That is exactly what those senators and congressmen did who doubted the election. So I think there really is a point here. And the final point is that people who call into question American elections, what they're asking for is another chance for themselves. It didn't work in 2020 but maybe it'll work in 2024 to lose an election, cry fraud, and then ask for violence. That has to be cut off now. And so the point about Mr. Cruz and by the way also about Mr. Hawley I think is a very strong one.

CABRERA: And it definitely could set a terrible new precedent, right? That is the biggest fear I have is like where does it go from here? It just seems like we're living a nightmare right now or in some kind of terror movie.

As we look ahead to Wednesday now, Joe Biden will be president. He'll be a crisis president from day one. He has an impeachment trial looming for President Trump still. A struggling economy. A raging pandemic. And on top of it all he's going to be taking the oath of office in a city that looks like a war zone. And we've been, you know, getting a taste of the message he's going to deliver in the days ahead. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: We didn't get into all of this overnight. We won't get out of it overnight. And we can't do it as a separated and divided nation. The only way we can do it is to come together, to come together as fellow Americans, as neighbors, as the United States of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: So from American carnage under Trump to time to heal under Biden, how important will his words be when he makes his address on the balcony of the U.S. Capitol?

SNYDER: Well, you can't be a great president without being a crisis president. Our two greatest presidents Lincoln and Roosevelt were crisis presidents. I think it's very important what Mr. Biden says. I think it's also very important what Mr. Biden does. Healing can only arise after there's truth and reconciliation can only arise when we deal with the problems like the absence of local news, like the presence of COVID, which are making Americans much more anxious and lonely than they really have to be.

So the words will be important but the remaking of American society from the ground up with more emphasis on truth, more emphasis on health, more emphasis on people having basic, normal lives with better expectations, that is what will count in the long run.

CABRERA: All right. I couldn't agree more. And you know it more than all of us. Thank you, Timothy Snyder, for sharing all of your research with us and helping us understand this moment we're living through. Really appreciate your time.

[16:30:00]

Cities across the nation are bracing today for potential violence in the days leading up to the inauguration of President-Elect Biden. So, we'll go live to more state capitols. We'll give you an up-close look at the types of preparations officials believe are needed to keep you safe. You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: A nation on edge. U.S. cities boarding up, fencing up, blocking streets and buildings, bracing for possible violence ahead of Inauguration Day. The U.S. Capitol looks more like a fortress today and so do state capitols across the country.

[16:35:02]

CABRERA: The FBI has warned of possible armed protests in all 50 states.

We have a team of reporters spread out across the nation. Let's take you to Lansing, Michigan now and CNN's Sara Sidner. Sara, this amount of security is not normal. Are experts worried this is just the beginning of potential long-term threats and possible violence? SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. All of the people that

track extremism have told me that they think that this could be a slow burn. Nothing may happen this weekend. So far, nothing has. It has been absolutely peaceful. There have only been a handful of people that have come out to protest outside of the Capitol. Members of the militia have come out. But very, very few people and nothing really has gone on.

There's more reporters here, to be perfectly frank with you, and more members of law enforcement than there are people here who are protesting. You will see there is a major deterrent. This is the National Guard. They are parked at the very end of Michigan Avenue, so that you can't just drive up to the Capitol, itself. Folks have been making their way -- parking and making their way on foot.

But we were able to talk to a couple of the people who came that were with the militia. They said that they were members of the Boogaloo Boys, and they had a reason for being here. I asked them what the reason was and if violence was going to be part of their message.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am protesting a government overreach.

SIDNER: What is it that you feel the government has overreached on? What are the things that bother you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Every part of are our lives. You can't do anything without getting permission from our government, whether it be build a house, own a firearm, drive a car. You can't do anything. They choose what school -- what you have to learn in school for kids. That was never intended by our founding fathers. That was supposed to be left up to the states or the counties or the people, themselves.

SIDNER: So, you have frustration toward the government. What are you going to do about it?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are going to continue to protest and continue fighting until we can get what -- back to what we deserve.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: And by fighting, he said that violence wouldn't be the first order of business. That it would be other things, like rallying, outside of the Capitol.

But when asked about whether or not voting was one way to fight, he said that it wasn't working. That the representatives aren't doing what the people ask. And so, it is confusing as to what they're going to do next.

But both of the people who described themselves as Boogaloo Boys said that the violence, they didn't believe in it. And that they did not think it was good, what happened on January 6th in the Capitol. They said that that should not have happened.

CABRERA: OK. Sara Sidner, thank you.

Let's go now to CNN's Miguel Marquez in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Miguel, what are you seeing and what are you hearing from officials there?

MIGUEL MARQUEZ, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I can't say that there was a single, serious protester out here the entire day. Officials really brought out everyone from the state level, county, city, the federal, and the National Guard here at the Capitol, which has been the focus of lots of protests over the last many months.

This protest, today, it was circulating before, long before, January 6th. January 6th, in those extremist groups, they saw showing up today as basically a trap. Does this mean it's over? No. It is a very good result for law enforcement. They had drones here. They had their own cameras here. Anybody who showed up here was probably going to get on the radar of law enforcement and that's something that these individuals certainly didn't want.

Going forward, Pennsylvania will be dealing with lots of issues. There are 10 members, Republican members, in their Congressional delegation. Eight of them voted against allowing the electoral college to be approved and to go forward. Only two of them, Senator Toomey, who is retiring, and Representative Fitzpatrick, a Republican, voted to allow the electoral college to be approved and for Joe Biden to take the oath of office on Wednesday.

So, that's what they are dealing with, in places like Pennsylvania. It is far from over. There are concerns about the rest of the week. The Capitol will be closed the rest of the week. But it's not just this week. They'll be looking into months and years ahead -- Ana.

CABRERA: It is so weird to see how quiet and empty all of these images are. Thank you, Miguel.

I want to go to Martin Savidge, who's joining us from Atlanta. Set the scene for us there, Martin.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Ana. Well, they've begun to relax the kind of security cordon that had been set up around the Capitol. It had been in place for hours. But now, you can see even the National Guard has begun to pull away. Not leave but pull out of the positions they have had. It's primarily -- you've got the Capitol police and Georgia state police now that are monitoring things. At most, we saw six armed protesters.

[16:40:00]

SAVIDGE: Everything was quiet but they did get a lot of attention from law enforcement.

There were concentric rings of security around the Capitol here. They had closed some of the streets, especially those in front of the building, itself, using dump trucks to prevent anyone from trying to ram their way through. It's been a peaceful day. They're relaxing now. But they may have to keep this up for several more days. We'll see -- Ana.

CABRERA: OK, thank you. We will check back with all of you. I appreciate all of your reporting. A quick break. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Welcome back. Parts of Washington, D.C. this week had looked like a city under siege. Barricades and razor wire, military vehicles blocking roads, the National Mall completely closed, and about 25,000 National Guard troops moving in around the nation's Capitol.

I want to bring in retired U.S. Army Lieutenant General Mark Hertling. He's our military analyst and a former commander of U.S. Army Europe. General, I want to talk about this huge military mobilization, not only in Washington, D.C., but in every state capitol right now.

[16:45:07]

CABRERA: Have we ever seen mobilization of this magnitude before, simultaneously?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RETIRED), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Certainly not something this large, Ana. And what's interesting to me is the National Guard, or the forefathers of the National Guard, the early days of the militia, have been part of every inauguration since George Washington. But certainly not at this level and certainly not with this kind of background noise going on.

You know, a lot of reporting has been addressing the 25,000 that are deployed to Washington, D.C. That's a lot more than twice that is normally supporting the inauguration. But, as you've reported, all of the state Capitols have deployed and mobilized their National Guard as well. And it's been a tough year for the Guard.

They not only have this, but they've been providing COVID support. They continue with their normal missions, not only in deployments overseas but also like in Europe. When I was commanding there, there is a state partnership program, where various nations have partners in U.S. National Guard. They continue to do all of those missions at a very high rate of operational tempo. And they perform very selflessly across the board.

CABRERA: And we salute them times like a thousand for all of that, because it is amazing that the selflessness and how they're serving all of us. You were a division commander in Iraq. Washington, D.C. is being compared to a green zone, like Baghdad, with check points --

HERTLING: Yes.

CABRERA: -- and barricades. Is that a fair comparison? And is there any other way to make a city secure without giving every appearance of a police state?

HERTLING: Yes, I think it is a very fair comparison. In fact, all of the terms being used are similar. The green zone, the potential for an insurgency, the various threats and the analyses of those threats from a variety of organizations across the board that could impede on the inauguration. It certainly is somewhat like a combat zone.

And that's troubling to me, because, you know, not only are we watching this in our national news and waiting to see what happens as the days go on, but our international allies and partners and even our foes are watching this as well. They've never seen anything like this before. And it certainly is a reminder, when you see some of the videos from the D.C. area and from other states. It certainly looks like the kind of deployments the military has contributed to in the last several years.

CABRERA: And when you talk about the weight on the shoulders of these men and women in service, we're told the most likely threat to this inauguration is not from a foreign enemy or overseas terrorist but from American extremists. What has become of our country, when we are thinking about a U.S. soldier's rule of engagement, if threatened by fellow American citizens in our own nation's Capitol?

HERTLING: Yes, and that's a great point to bring up and I'm glad you did. Because, you know, as we talk about the number of deployed, we're certainly not addressing the issues, like rules of engagement, use of force, the command and control structure. Who do these people work for? What kinds of things are get -- are they going to be asked to do over the next couple days, if things get sporty?

The anxiety of not only the soldiers, many of whom have been on combat deployments, but some this may be their first mobilization. What should they expect? Their families are certainly concerned as well. They're cold and tired as we've seen photos. This certainly mirrors any kind of deployment a soldier would go through overseas and, yet, it's in our own nation. That's troubling. They're going to have --

CABRERA: Yes.

HERTLING: -- these are young 18 to 24-year-olds who are going to be making decisions on a moment's notice that puts others, and perhaps themselves, in harm's way.

CABRERA: Yes.

HERTLING: They've got to be extremely well trained for that. And it's a tough situation for sure.

CABRERA: Lieutenant General Mark Hertling, as always, thank you for your service. Thank you so much for sharing your perspective.

HERTLING: My pleasure, Ana. Thank you.

CABRERA: Amid threats of potential violence, Joe Biden will be sworn in on Wednesday as the next president. We'll take you inside the inaugural preparations, next.

[16:49:10]

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CABRERA: A rehearsal for President-Elect Joe Biden's inauguration will take place tomorrow after initially being delayed due to security concerns. The big event is on Wednesday, and it will look very different from all the presidential inaugurations of years past. In part, because of the pandemic. But the very big, growing concern has to do with possible violence.

CNN's Arlette Saenz is covering the Biden transition in Wilmington, Delaware. Arlette, what new details are you learning about Wednesday's inauguration?

ARLETTE SAENZ, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ana, President-Elect Biden's inauguration on Wednesday will certainly be scaled back, not just because of the pandemic, but also those security concerns that have been rising around the inauguration. You will not be seeing a crowd on the mall or a traditional parade down Pennsylvania Avenue. That'll be replaced by a virtual parade. And, also, those inaugural balls are called off.

They, instead, will be airing this primetime celebration the evening of the inauguration that will feature a host of celebrities, including Tom Hanks who will hosting that event. There will be performances from people, like Bruce Springsteen and Jon Bon Jovi, along with a group of other celebrities who will be participating. Hamilton's Lin-Manuel Miranda among them, as well as Justin Timberlake, and Eva Longoria, and Kerry Washington, who will be introducing some of the segments.

But the President-Elect has been very adamant that one of the main traditions of this inauguration stays the same, and that is the swearing in taking place on the West Front of the Capitol.

[16:55:08]

SAENZ: Biden has said that he does feel that it will be safe to do that on Wednesday, even as there are all these security concerns. And that will also be the location where the President-Elect will be delivering that speech. There may not be thousands in the crowd, as there have been in years past, because the National Mall will be cleared. But they are trying to keep up a lot of the momentous nature of this inauguration with their plans.

CABRERA: OK. Arlette Saenz, thank you.

And don't forget, tonight, join our own Abby Philip, as she talks with the soon-to-be Vice President Kamala Harris and her family. CNN's Special Report, "Kamala Harris Making History" airs at 10:00 Eastern here on CNN. We'll be right back.

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[17:00:00]

CABRERA: Hello, again. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. You are live in the CNN NEWSROOM.