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Biden Plans Bipartisan Church Service Before Inauguration; CNN: Trump Bitter And Consumed With Grievances Over Election Loss And With Republicans Who Didn't Back Him; CNN: Trump Taped Farewell Message Last Night, Could Release Today; CNN: Trump Expected To Issue About 100 Pardons, Commutations Today; Mitch McConnell: The Mob Was Fed Lies, They Were Provoked By The President And Other Powerful People. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired January 19, 2021 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Hello to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm John King in Washington. Thank you for sharing this very important day with us.

One day, 24 hours from right now, until Donald Trump is a former president. The intervening hours are filled with tension and with uncertainty, a giant security challenge, and a potential pardon spree. Negotiations over sharing Senate power and vital confirmation hearings for the Biden team.

Sources describe the outgoing president as joyless and disinterested. He did tape a farewell address Monday evening which we're told does include a reference to the incoming administration. The plan is to release it sometime today, along with a long lengthy list of pardons that potentially include a corruptor former lawmaker and a rapper facing gun charges.

President-Elect Joe Biden arrives in Washington this afternoon to signal one of the giant changes now just one day away. President Trump ignores the pandemic. You see those flags right there? The president- elect today visits that National Mall Memorial, a tribute to the nearly 400,000 Americans killed by COVID.

The pandemic and the security threat will make for a most unusual and anxious inauguration. "The Washington Post" reporting a new FBI intelligence bulletin warns conspiracy theory followers have discussed posing as National Guard members and then blending in among the 25,000 deployed across the Capitol city to infiltrate the inauguration.

The inaugural is tomorrow, but today, a preview of the massive change coming and coming soon. Five confirmation hearings for Joe Biden's cabinet, promises for men that fact, the rule of law and respect for allies are about to make a comeback.

Democrats will soon control the White House and the House of Representatives, but a 50-50 Senate does mean the Biden agenda is on a tightrope from the get-go. The president-elect nodding to those new dynamics today, inviting top Republican and democratic leadership to join him at St. Matthews Cathedral here in Washington tomorrow for a pre-inauguration worship service and key Biden ally in the Senate hopes that gesture starts Washington down a better path.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): That church service tomorrow is an important part of respecting tradition and signaling the importance of faith in Joe's life. It's how he's been able to get up when life has knocked him down. It's central to how millions and millions of Americans have gotten through this pandemic so far, and it's an important remainder of who Joe is, and who we are as a nation, a nation that is hopeful and optimistic, and it's going to need a lot of help coming together.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: With us to share the reporting and their insights on this important day, CNN's Kaitlan Collins and Seung Min Kim of "The Washington Post". Kaitlan let me start with you, 24 hours from right now Joe Biden will be the President of the United States but we're waiting for the final full day of the Trump Presidency.

Waiting to hear exactly what he says in that message he taped last night, waiting to see what the pardon list will look like and whether it's just long and interesting or whether it's long and shocking? Your colleague Pam Brown, our colleague Pam Brown, saying as of now nothing outside of the norm, nothing terribly shocking on there, but what do we know?

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: And that would be outside of the norm given, of course, what we've heard from the last several weeks of what the president has been considering doing when it comes to this final act, these pardons and commutations that we're expecting to get at some point today. It's not clear what's going to be this afternoon or later this evening.

But we know this is going to be one of the last things that Donald Trump does before he leaves office tomorrow. He has taped that farewell address, but that's just a taped message. It's not some kind of prime time address from the Oval Office like you've seen previous presidents give on their way out the door.

And it is just so unusual at this last week of Donald Trump's final full week in office. How quite he has been, John? We have not seen the president since last Tuesday and so he taped that address yesterday. We are expecting to see him at that departure ceremony tomorrow but other than that the president has stayed behind closed doors and has been incredibly unusually quite during his final full week in the White House.

KING: It is fascinating to watch as he goes out, quiet on the way out. Very different, very different than what we've seen, but he of course has been humbled, or we assume humbled by what has happened in recent days and weeks. Seung Min, if you look up on Capitol Hill today, if you look at what Joe Biden is doing when he arrives in Washington, going down to that very somber memorial on the National Mall, paying attention on moment one here Washington to the pandemic, the current president simply ignores.

And on Capitol Hill today, a reminder that at this time tomorrow, just about every point on the compass is going to change. Pick your policy, the China policy, the immigration policy, tax policy, treasury policy they're all going to change at noon tomorrow. Listen to just a sampling of some of the Biden cabinet picks getting their confirmation hearings today.

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AVRIL HAINES, DNI NOMINEE: To be effective, the DNI must never shy away from speaking truth to power, even especially when doing so may be inconvenient or difficult.

[12:05:00]

HAINES: When it comes to intelligence, there is simply no place for politics ever.

ALEJANDRO MAYORKAS, DHS SECRETARY: I will do everything I can to ensure that the tragic loss of life, the assault on law enforcement, and the desecration of the building that stands as one of the three pillars of our democracy. The terror that you felt, your colleagues, staff and everyone present will not happen again.

JANET YELLEN, TREASURY SECRETARY NOMINEE: The smartest thing we can do is act big. In the long run, I believe the benefits will far outweigh the costs, especially if we care about helping people who have been struggling for a very long time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: The scope of change Seung Min is going to be dramatic, and it will happen immediately. You write this morning in "The Post" about one of the big issues in which it is a total 180 from Biden - from Trump if you will immigration policy.

Right out of the box tomorrow, Joe Biden the president will send to congress legislation that creates an eight-year pathway to citizenship. The DACA beneficiaries are going to apply for a green card immediately.

Would reinstate the program to give Central American miners temporary legal residence, re-unification of relatives of U.S. citizens, refugees screening in admission centers, new border security message, work permit for spouses and children just a 180 from where we're right now.

As you write in the piece, one of the knocks on President Obama, was even though he supported many of these things, that he never sent up paper legislation with his name on it to do all those things. Why is that for you is so important?

SEUNG MIN KIM, WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: It's really important particularly among immigration advocates and Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill, because it shows that the president-elect is willing to put kind of skin on the game that his political capital so early on in his presidency.

You know as well as anyone, John, just how critical the first 100 days are to any president in accomplishing his agenda. For Biden the stakes are so much higher as we navigate this unprecedented pandemic, try to climb out of the economic turmoil that we're facing right now.

While the incoming Biden Administration is very much focused on the Coronavirus really, they've made it clear that they're going to walk and chew many pieces of gum at the same time, including on immigration reform.

There are advocates and lawmakers still frustrated that President Obama did not prioritize this in 2009 when there was a filibuster- approved majority in the Senate and the Democrats controlled the White House and the House at that time, but now with a similar configuration in a Biden Presidency, President-Elect Biden is surely making this a top legislative priority after COVID relief, and that's really important to people who, after decades, want to see this done.

KING: And it will be fascinating to see if he can get through, again, a very narrow majority in the House, the narrowest of majorities by the end of the week in the United States Senate. Kaitlan Collins, take us again inside the final hours of the Trump Presidency.

We have a brand new CNN poll out this week and look, the American people, Trump - he lost the election, then you had the Capitol insurrection. He is blamed for that. 70 percent of Americans in our poll disapprove of how this president has handled the transition? How President Trump has handled the transition to Joe Biden?

Perhaps he can change those numbers a bit in his favor if he actually says something gracious in his taped address we're going to see. We shall wait and see. He has been anything but gracious in the 77 days since the election. Who is he talking to?

It is stunning to hear he wants a sendoff at Andrews Air Force Base. His Former Chief of Staff John Kelly invited says no thanks. Former White House Counsel Don McCain invited says no thanks. Who will be there and how small now is the president's circle at the very end?

COLLINS: Yes, John I'm getting the sense the White House wasn't too selective with who they invited to this departure ceremony tomorrow because of course remember Jon Kelly is someone who said that Donald Trump is one of the most flawed people that he has ever met and said that if he was part of the cabinet he would have voted to remove him from power.

That's not exactly someone you would expect to be in the audience for the president's final goodbye in Washington. So it seems this has really been an all encompassing invitation. But it does come as the president's inner circle has been shrinking.

A lot of his senior staff has already left the building or is packing up their offices. And a lot of people have tried to distance themselves from the president given just how the mood that he's been in ever since, of course, that January 6th rally that of course then inspired that mob that went up to Capitol Hill.

So you've seen that. But I think one of the notable things as the president is leaving office that has surprised even the closest people to him is one of the overarching senses of his time in office is that nothing sticks to him. Nothing really seems to affect his approval rating with Republicans or his standing with Republican lawmakers on Capitol Hill until this.

This has really changed everything. And so you are seeing this completely different dynamic as his time in office is coming you know to just a matter of hours at this point. And something like that has even surprised his own staff.

So one of the feelings that we've heard from a lot of people around the president is they're on their way the door is not - they're not going to be on the White House grounds tomorrow or Thursday or Friday, it's the sense of relief that this is all kind of coming to an end.

[12:10:00]

KING: It is beyond odd dynamic. If the president is surprised somehow that people would turn after he incited an attack on his own government, maybe he should spend some time in Mar-a-Lago thinking about that.

And Seung Min, it is a giant challenge for Joe Biden. You're taking office in the middle of a pandemic, an economy that's bleeding jobs. None of your cabinet picks have been confirmed as yet. The country is divided because of the election and then because of the insurrection.

Look at these numbers right here did Joe Biden win the presidency legitimately? 99 percent of Democrats say that, they view this and rightly so, fair and free election that was carried out. But only 19 percent of Republicans think Joe Biden is a legitimate president.

How much does that factor in to what we hear from the new president tomorrow in his first big speech, the inaugural address? Does he try to sway them over with words, or does he just hope with the COVID relief package or speed up in the vaccine rollout that months from now may be those numbers will start to improve?

KIM: I think it's all the above, John. I mean, Joe Biden has a considerable task ahead of it and not just tackling the immediate challenges in terms of the pandemic and economic relief, but just uniting the country. I mean, that's CNN poll will start, when you look at the percentage of Republicans who do not believe Joe Biden won the election legitimately, that is something that the Biden Administration, the Biden White House personnel really do have to work to rebuild that trust in government and that trust in what the leader says. That's certainly going to be a challenge going forward, but, you know, this is not anything new for Joe Biden. I mean, he began his presidential campaign trying to steer the country away from what Trump had specifically done to this nation and preach this message of unity, preached how he could work across the aisle with Republicans.

Now we have to wait and see, to see if that actually materializes but certainly on the first day and in the first coming days, you're going to hear that message of unity a lot.

KING: And it is a remarkable moment. Seung Min Kim and Kaitlan Collins grateful for the reporting and insights on this final of the Trump Presidency in part at the beginning if you will to transition that play out tomorrow. And just into CNN and a very important law enforcement story.

CNN has learned that two National Guard members have been removed from inauguration security duty, that part of the security vetting to ensure none of the troops have ties to extremist groups. It is not clear whether that two were connected to any groups or exactly what triggered their removal?

Also today the Justice Department filing the first significant conspiracy theory charge related to the Capitol insurrection back on January 6th. Let's bring our Justice Correspondent CNN's Evan Perez with the details there. Evan?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Hey, John, now we're getting the picture emerging from some of these court documents that there are people who participated in the January 6th insurrection who are starting to flip, who are starting to cooperate, and they're telling on other people.

We saw a couple arrests yesterday of people associated with a group called "The Oath Keepers". This is an anti-government group that generally has various conspiracies about the government, and they're known to especially try to recruit members of the military and law enforcement.

Today there was an arrest of a man by the name of Thomas Caldwell. He's from Virginia. He's 65 years old. According to the court documents, he plays a key role in trying to help coordinate the arrival of some people coming into Washington to be part of this insurrection.

According to the court documents, he helped scope out hotels. He helped organize essentially the assault. You can see him in some videos that are out there on the internet already, the FBI refers to them in these court documents, saying that you can see that there are essentially the leaders who go into the Capitol.

There are some of them also talking about - even after the fact; they were talking on Facebook and Parler about some of what they did. Let me see if I can find a part of this document that they referred to here. I'm trying to find a quote from the document. I can't see the quote. I think the studio is going to show up that a part of what is being written about in Facebook. The image you're getting from the court documents, John, is that these people who - at least six to ten people who were participating in this conspiracy led by Thomas Caldwell.

And we anticipate there are going to be other arrests in the coming days. Again, driving home this idea that there was a command-and- control aspect, there was a planning aspect to what happened on January 6th.

KING: All right, you read in those documents, a plenty to hunt at night, hunt at night as they planned the attack. It's remarkable. Evan Perez, I'm grateful for the reporting as the investigations continue.

And up next for us, President Trump puts the finishing touches on that final list of pardons and as we go to break, the First Lady Melania Trump says farewell.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELANIA TRUMP, U.S. FIRST LADY: The past four years have been unforgettable. As Donald and I conclude our time in the White House, I think of all the people I have taken home in my heart and their incredible stories of love, patriotism and determination. Thank you. God bless you and God bless the United States of America.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:15:00]

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KING: Last-minute pardons and grants of clemency are a presidential tradition and there are often surprises. On this the last full day of the President Trump's terms, we are told to expect around 100 pardons and commutations for wide ranging group of individuals including loyalists and white-collar criminals.

And as we await the list, the process is also part of the uncertainty here. The White House has been working with pardon petitioners directly instead of using the Justice Department's pardon attorney system.

Joining me now is Attorney Kristin Hucek. He is a Former Justice Department Lawyer who worked in that pardon process.

[12:20:00]

KING: Kristin, grateful for your time on this important day, this president has broken a lot norms and worked outside the normal system a lot. Why does it matter that the White House is doing this directly and not having the system that has been set up at the Justice Department for some years involved?

KRISTIN HUCEK, FORMER ATTORNEY, DOJ OFFICE OF THE PARDON ATTORNEY: Well, John thanks for having me. I think it's really - the pardon power is a really important safety valve that we have in our justice system. It's you know one of the only way after a sentence has been handed down that, you know, a sentence can be overturned outside of the court system.

And so I think it's really important you saw President Obama do this where he saw injustices in the system to use that power to grant them. I think here, the political pardon system, really detracts from the real good that can be done through the pardon power, I think.

KING: It is interesting, but, again, welcomes to even this final 24 hours of the Trump Presidency. I'm reading note from my colleague Pam Brown. Her reporting "There are no crazy pardons". I remember I was standing across the White House at the end of Bill Clinton's term when he had a very controversial pardon in Mark Rich.

When you hear the term no crazy pardons. When you were there involved in this process there was no question President Obama didn't need to pardon himself. President Obama didn't need to pardon Sasha and Malia. There was no conversation about your presidential children during the Obama years. But where there theoretical conversations, does the president have the power to pardon himself?

HUCEK: I think, we didn't have these theoretical conversations in the Obama Justice Department, but just as a legal scholar, you know, I've discussed this issue with some friends, and, you know, it's always been a theoretical issue, nothing that I thought would actually come to pass.

KING: It is interesting if you look at some of the reporting on this. This is from "The New York Times" piece on this; the president has been cautioned against pardoning himself by Mr. Cipollone the current White House Counsel and the Former Attorney General, William P. Barr.

White House officials also believe that any consideration he is giving to granting himself a pardon could also turn more Republicans against him in the coming Senate impeachment trial. Again, so the calculations this president faces unlike anything else that not only A, you have that constitutional power but B, when Mitch McConnell says I still have an open mind when it comes to impeachment do you want to poke the bear, if you will?

HUCEK: Right. And I think something that's interesting about this situation that has just risen in the past couple of weeks is we were talking about whether President Trump has the ability to self-pardon? But it hasn't been in the context of an impeachment, and I'm sure you know and your viewers know that the pardon power has this exception in cases of impeachment.

So I think there is an open question about what that actually means? We don't have guidance from the Supreme Court on what that means, and whether any self-pardon would be effective for those reasons?

KING: Kristin Hucek, grateful for your insights on this important day. We'll wait until and see what the list looks like when it comes out. We'll get some today and as I said in the Clinton experience we have to watch those final hours tomorrow morning as well. Kristin, thank you so much for your excellent insights there.

And up next for us, a giant all at once challenge for the United States Senate, scheduling the impeachment trial, confirming the Biden cabinet and flipping from Republican to Democratic control.

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[12:25:00]

KING: Right now, the United States Senate back in session. We are in the final hours of Mitch McConnell's stay as the Majority Leader, and just moments ago he spoke about the Capitol riot.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): The last time the Senate convened, we had just reclaimed the Capitol from violent criminals who tried to stop congress from doing our duty. The mob was fed lies. They were provoked by the president and other powerful people. And they tried to use fear and violence to stop a specific proceeding of the first branch of the federal government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: Let's go straight up to Capitol Hill and CNN's Manu Raju, tough words there from the soon-to-be former Majority Leader as he swifts to the minority this week. It's a very delicate time in the United States Senate?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and we expect some of those delegate negotiations to occur this afternoon. That's when Mitch McConnell will sit down with the Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer.

Schumer will become the Majority Leader tomorrow. That's when we expect the three outstanding Democratic Senators to be sworn in from Georgia, two from Georgia, one from California replacing Kamala Harris. That swearing in ceremony we're expecting in the afternoon tomorrow.

And then when Harris becomes Vice President, she would tilt the balance of power to the Democrats. The Democrats have a 50-50 majority of sorts, so they will control and set the agenda. The question, of course, is immediately the three things that are pressing, Chuck Schumer acknowledged to reporters this morning they are trying to move quickly on those three things.

One, the impeachment trial of Donald Trump, two, a COVID relief package, and three, all of the nominees that must be confirmed by the United States Senate to give Joe Biden a functioning government. That requires cooperation from Republicans and Democrats to schedule votes on those nominees.

Will that called cooperation happen? We just don't know yet. Also they still need to sort out how that power-sharing agreement will work out between the two sides? They still need to sort out those final details today. Can they come to an agreement? Also don't know.

And the big question is how long that impeachment trial will last? When will that begin?