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Surveillance Video Key to House Managers' Case; Feds Oath Keepers Leader Waited for Trump's Direction; Remembering the 2011 Arab Revolt: Ten Years On; News & Analysis Of Day 3 Of Trump's Impeachment Trial; Family Of Freed Saudi Activist Loujain Al-Hathoul Speaks Out; Why Israel's Vaccine Rollout Has Been So Successful; Myanmar Military Takes Control Of Internet And Communications; Myanmar Coup Leaders Shut Down Internet and Communication; Biden Says The U.S. Will Have Enough Vaccine For 300 Million Americans By End July. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired February 12, 2021 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[01:00:00]
JOHN VAUSE, ANCHOR, CNN NEWSROOM: Hello, everyone. I'm John Vause, you're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
Coming up here. Democrats say they don't want punishment, just prevention.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP TED LIEU, (D-CALIF), HOUSE IMPEACHMENT MANAGER: I'm not afraid of Donald Trump running again in four years; I'm afraid he's going to run again and lose. Because he can do this again.
VAUSE: Impeachment managers lay out their case why Donald Trump must never stand for public office again.
Just 13 cases of COVID-19 have led to the lockdown of almost 6 million people in the Australian state of Victoria.
And the highest profile female actress in Saudi Arabia out of prison and telling CNN her release means little without legal reform.
For two days, impeachment managers presented a compelling argument almost forensic in detail, linking Donald Trump's words to the insurrection at the Capitol last month.
Now the Trump legal team will present their case which, at best, relies on a debunked argument the trial violates the constitution -- it does not -- and an elementary school-yard argument that Democrats have said things just as bad as Donald Trump.
Thankfully, one of the lead lawyers says their presentation will be as short as possible.
Meanwhile, a source says the former president wants to see more lawyers defending him on television.
CNN's Jeff Zeleny has more on the Democrats' closing case.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD.): Senators, America, we need to exercise our common sense about what happened.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: The House impeachment team arrested its case tonight, urging senators to hold President Trump responsible for repeatedly misleading his followers and inviting them to the capital in a last-ditch effort to stop the election from being certified.
RASKIN: He knew they were coming, he brought them here. And he welcomed them with open arms.
ZELENY: On their final day of arguments, the prosecutors zeroed in on the former presidents own words and actions, saying he showed no remorse and must be held responsible for his conduct.
DIANA DEGETTE, (D-COLO), U.S. HOUSE IMPEACHMENT MANAGER: You don't have to take my word for it, that the insurrectionists acted at Donald Trump's direction. They said so.
UNKNOWN: Hey, we were invited here. We were invited by the President of the United States.
ZELENY: Colorado congresswoman, Diana DeGette, one of the impeachment managers, seized upon the stories of one rioter after another who said they breached the Capitol at Trump's direction.
UNKNOWN: Let's call Trump, yes. Dude, dude, let's tell Trump what's up.
UNKNOWN: Trump would be very upset.
UNKNOWN: He'd be like, no, just we love him. We love you, bro. He'll be happy, what do you mean? We're fighting for Trump.
JENNIFER RYAN, ARRESTED BY THE FBI: I thought I was following my president. I thought I was following what we were called to do.
DEGETTE: All of these people who've been arrested and charged, they're being held accountable for their actions. Their leader, the man who incited them, must be held accountable as well.
ZELENY: The big lie, that the election was rigged and stolen from Trump, is also on trial. And prosecutors say the senate has the power to stop it from happening again.
LIEU: I'm not afraid of Donald Trump running again in four years, I'm afraid he's going to run again and lose. Because he can do this again.
ZELENY: One day after horrific sights and harrowing sounds of the attack filled the Senate chamber --
UNKNOWN: Cruiser 50, we've lost the line. We've lost the line. All MPD, pull back -- we have been flanked and we've lost the line.
ZELENY: -- convicting the president still remains a remarkably high bar. With 17 Republicans needed to join all Democrats in finding Trump guilty.
Republican senator, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who voted with Democrats on the constitutionality issue, said Trump's lawyers must address the president's false assertions about a rigged election.
SEN. BILL CASSIDY, (R-LA): When -- the point was made, people felt as if they had no recourse because their vote was being stolen -- well, the president built that story.
So how you going to defend that, how you describe that?
ZELENY: Senator Cassidy raising a clear question there. What does the president's legal team on Friday when they present their case intend to say about the big lie, about how the president continued to insist he won the election when he did not?
That is one of the many questions that the Trump legal team is expected to address.
Now even though Senator Cassidy is one of those Republicans who said he's keeping an open mind, it's clear others have already made up their minds. In fact, many of them were not in the chamber on Thursday afternoon as the house rested its case.
Now the former president's legal team takes its turn on Friday. This trial could wrap up by the end of the weekend.
ZELENY (On Camera): Jeff Zeleny, CNN, Capitol Hill.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:05:00]
VAUSE: Joining me from Los Angeles, Loyola Law School professor and host of the "Passing Judgment" podcast, Jessica Levinson and from La Jolla, California former U.S. attorney and host of the "Talking Feds" podcast, Harry Litman -- I got to get me a podcast.
Good to see you both. Thank you for being with us.
OK. In about 17 seconds, maybe a little less, Democrat Jamie Raskin, one of the impeachment managers, explained not just the significance and the importance of the trial but why it was important to have a guilty verdict at the end.
Here he is.
RASKIN: President Trump declared his conduct totally appropriate. So if he gets back into office and it happens again, we'll have no one to blame but ourselves.
So Harry, first you for the legal insight here. They say the trial was not about punishment but prevention, preventing Trump from running again. So how did they do in your assessment?
HARRY LITMAN, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: They were splendid. They were succinct, as you say, 17 seconds. They were comprehensive, they were methodical. And it was even better than it looked in a way.
Their sort of dynamics, the way they divided things between Raskin and the other managers, the way they went analytical for a while and then sort of lifted to emotional high notes for a time.
It was really -- all the mistakes that a prosecution team could make, they made none of them. They were completely both methodical but also, appropriately emotional at certain points like the one that you just played.
VAUSE: And Jessica, when you look at both of Trump's impeachment trials and everything behind them, they are strikingly similar.
The first one had Trump threatening the president of Ukraine demanding help to beat Joe Biden. This one too had a wild mob directed by Trump threatening lawmakers and others to overturn the election result.
He got off once, chances are he'll get off twice. And that means..?
JESSICA LEVINSON, PROFESSOR, LOYOLA LAW SCHOOL: Exactly. But I would quibble a little bit -- and you can talk about this on your new podcast, John -- but I would quibble a bit with the idea that the two impeachments are similar.
Now it's similarly President Trump engaging in what I believe are impeachable offenses. But it's so different because of what we just talked about.
The first impeachment trial, which you and I also were able to discuss, it was kind of hard to describe exactly what happened and why it was a problem. This is so straightforward.
And I think this is part of what -- the magic of what the house managers did. They said here's what happened.
There was a speech and the speech was not just a one-off. People were told time and time again, the election will be stolen and then after the election, the election was stolen. And then they did exactly what they were told to do which is don't let this happen, stop the steal, go fight.
And they told the senators, the jurors, you were in danger here. This was not a rally gone awry. You faced real, imminent harm.
So for that reason, I think, actually, it is different. The senators, the jurors, are part of the story. And it's a very easy story to understand.
But to get back to your point. Similarities; President Trump behaving badly, President Trump being acquitted.
VAUSE: That's what I was getting to. And for all the praise the Democrats have received for this legal
presentation, in some ways it was pearls before swine.
CNN's Manu Raju counted at least 15 empty desks on the Republican side at one point. Those who were there like Jordan (ph) Hawley sat with his feet on a chair in front of him. Others looked disinterested or were, in fact, asleep.
Add to that, the Republican senators Ted Cruz, Lindsey Graham and Mike Lee met privately with Trump's defense team on Thursday.
So Harry, what happened to that oath that all senators made about being impartial jurors?
HARRY LITMAN, FORMER U.S. ATTORNEY: They broke it.
VAUSE: Yes.
LITMAN: And they're going to break it again on Saturday. And they -- nobody can stop them, but that doesn't mean they haven't broken it.
In the same way, Senator Blunt (ph) says this evening, I don't have to listen to 56 senators telling me whether there's jurisdiction. Oh, yes. But yes, you do. That's what the oath means.
And certainly, the oath to be -- and we saw this in the first impeachment trial -- to be open minded.
And not only were they not, but they were in no small measure, contemptuous of the proceedings. At a minimum, if you're not from Mars, this was an extraordinarily grave event presented with great earnestness and clarity.
And for people like Lindsey Graham to dismiss it as absurd and offensive and for the kind of -- for them not to be in the room, I just can't understand it. Even from their own political self interest, it seems so contemptuous and crass.
And it's right. Pearls before swine is accurate.
[01:10:00]
VAUSE: Well -- and Jessica, on the political side of things here. If the Republicans, as expected, are likely to defend Trump yet again and make sure that he survives to live another day, should the Republican Party just simply now admit what they have become? Which is a party of old white people, mostly racists and bigots, a lot more like George Wallace and George Washington?
LEVINSON: Well, I don't know -- I guess I would say I don't know if you have to admit it because actions speak louder than words.
And this is going to sound so naive and so overly optimistic and therefore, so not like me. But somewhere, I think that a lot of Republican voters actually are not like this. That this is not what the entire Republican party has become but this is what many Republican senators have become.
And what I fail to understand still, and I know it sounds so naive, is what on earth your view of the constitution when it comes to what's impeachable, what on earth your view of whether or not this was incitement for an insurrection has to do with your partisan political views on things like tax policy, environmental policy, criminal justice?
There's no overlay here except we support President Trump and that's the beginning, middle, and end of the story.
The really interesting thing, of course, will be, will the Republican party break apart? Which short-term, that would be a huge win for the Democrats.
VAUSE: Well, the Trump legal team, they have 16 hours, equal time, they're unlikely to use it -- it starts Friday -- to mount a defense of the former president.
Attorney David Schoen appeared on "Fox News," lashing out at the Democrat's case. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DAVID SCHOEN, TRUMP DEFENSE ATTORNEY: This is what you get when you bring in a movie company and hire a large law firm to make a professional product that takes things out of context and presents it as an entertainment package.
And what I said from the start is this isn't a blood sport, it's not about entertainment. It's about reporting the facts to the American people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Harry, if anything, the Democrats have been straight down the line, it was be the Republicans who have been out of context and using dramatic effects for video, right?
LITMAN: Completely. And of course, we're going to see now some irrelevant video tomorrow where Democrats say somewhat passionate words but, of course, with a mob ready to storm.
Schoen is a solo practitioner defense attorney and I think, for those folks, when there's no real facts or law, you just try to put the government on trial.
I think it's actually a mistake in tone. Again, that kind of vitriol but that's what you can see what will be happening.
But I think any fair-minded person, even a Trump advocate, who saw the last two days understand that it was a compelling case. And for him to get up and try to be sort of contemptuous and dismissive, I think will be a mistake.
But, of course, they don't have much to play, they don't have much of a hand. And probably, the less said the better.
What will be really, really interesting is whether the Raskin gambit of saying the jurisdictional issue is decided, whether he will try to fly into the teeth of that by saying you can ignore anything that's come before, ignore your oath and decide whatever you want.
That would be cheeky, but we're in the law of the jungle.
VAUSE: And, Jessica, it seems like there's also a standard for negligence cases, the 'but for' standard here.
'But for' for the words of Donald Trump, would the Capitol Hill police officers still be alive? And the answer, after listening to everything that we've heard in the last few days, is yes -- which is a very simple basic legal test.
A lot of these senators would be aware of that, they're lawyers and yet they are still determined to push on with this acquittal of Donald Trump. It flies in the face of every kind of legal logic, even political logic as well.
LEVINSON: Well, this isn't, of course, about the law. We've had a discussion about whether or not, for instance, the House managers have shown that the president did in fact incite violence even though we know in an impeachment trial you don't have to prove a crime, you don't have to prove that you satisfy a Federal statute.
We've talked about the fact that there's a first amendment defense here which I think completely falls flat.
But in the end, John, you know this better than I do. It's not a courtroom and it doesn't matter how good the lawyers are on either side and it doesn't matter how good the legal arguments are on either side because these are political actors making this determination. These are not real jurors in any conventional sense, these are not judges.
And this is why this looks so much different from the post-election litigation where basically every Trump lawsuit was tossed out. Because this isn't a court of law. And it's so distressing to talk about that in these terms but I think that's why we will see a favorable outcome for the president.
VAUSE: Jessica Levinson and Harry Litman, great to have you both with us. Thank you.
LITTMAN: Thanks. Thanks, Jessica.
LEVINSON: Thank you.
[01:15:00]
VAUSE: Protests continue in Myanmar, now into the seventh day.
Tens of thousands of demonstrators are demanding the military restore the democratically elected civilian government which was overthrown in a coup less than two weeks ago.
CNN's Paula Hancocks following developments for us in Seoul.
As we have these demonstrators continuing to turn out, we now look at what the military is doing online. Some very tough new cyber laws demanding essentially that service providers hand over all user data to the military.
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, yes. And John, this is a real concern, as you can imagine, to many people within Myanmar.
Now more than 150 civil groups immediately rejected this bill. But realistically, if the military government wants to push it through then it can push it through, it can force the telecom companies to cooperate.
But what it effectively means -- I spoke to an activist within the country on Thursday and asked about this -- is that they believe they can take down any text, any media that they believe is not fit or could be jeopardizing stability in the country.
So, clearly, that is in the eyes of the beholder and that is up to the military to decide what it doesn't want to be seen.
And there is also a concern, as I spoke to this activist, that the military could go one further and shut the internet down completely. We did see it shortly after the coup more than a week ago, week and-a- half ago.
And they're concerned that they could stop the SMS, stop phone calls, stop all social media as they have been on and off because the belief at this point is that while the eyes of the world are on Myanmar, there is a hope there won't be a brutal crackdown on these thousands of protesters on the streets by the military.
But, of course, if all that is shut down then this activist was saying there is a serious concern, as many people can't even leave the country at this point due to COVID-19 restrictions.
HANCOCKS (On Camera): And they feel that they would be isolated and they would be on their own. John.
VAUSE: Paula, thank you. Paula Hancocks, live for us in Seoul. Thank you.
Just ahead on CNN NEWSROOM.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SAM KILEY, CNN SNR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The striking thing about this is that they make it look pretty straightforward. But this is a distribution system that has eluded much of the rest of the world.
(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: What is that secret sauce that makes Israel's immunization program one of the most successful in the world? We'll tell you when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: After a slow start, the vaccine rollout in the U.S. is now picking up speed. And the chief White House medical adviser says vaccinations could be available without restrictions for everyone by April. That should see most Americans vaccinated by September.
The U.S. president says contracts have been signed for the delivery of hundreds of millions of more doses.
[01:20:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And in further good news, both companies agreed and are now contractually obligated to expedite delivery of 100 million doses that were promised by the end of June, to deliver them by the end of May. That's a month faster, that means lives will be saved.
That means we're now on track to have enough supply for 300 million Americans by the end of July.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Joe Biden says it has been a struggle because the previous administration had no real rollout plan.
So far, more than 46 million vaccine doses have been administered. That's according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control & Prevention.
South Africa has now secured millions of vaccine doses from both Johnson & Johnson and Pfizer.
The country had originally been eyeing AstraZeneca's vaccine, which is cheaper but early studies raised doubts about its efficacy against the new virus strain there which is now dominant.
South Africa has been dealing with a second wave of infections since that new variant was found. The country's death toll pandemic -- or the pandemic death toll, rather, is approaching 50,000.
No country has vaccinated more of its population than Israel. So how exactly did this country pull it off?
CNN's Sam Kiley has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SAM KILEY, CNN SNR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: This is the race to herd immunity, and Israel is in the lead. Close to 40 percent of the population have had their first COVID shot,
nearly 70 percent of people in their fifties, and 94 percent in their seventies.
The vaccines are rushed from nearby Ben-Gurion airport to here, an office and warehouse complex more than a mile long.
The urgency here is palpable. They've just got five minutes which is being carefully timed to get the doses from the dry-ice packed transportation systems into the ultra-low freezers.
Now the striking thing about this is that they make it look pretty straightforward. But this is a distribution system that has eluded much of the rest of the world.
The aim here is to vaccinate the target population, all Israeli citizens over 16, by the end of next month.
Each of these freezers store enough vaccine doses for 200,000 people. They were installed in a few days after the government secured supplies early on.
Distribution is efficient largely because Israel also has a national health service with computerized medical records linked to IDs.
And Israelis are good in a crisis.
URI GAT-PALASH, CEO, SLE: The Israeli, by nature, is pretty much experiencing emergency cases. So it's a matter of mindset. The people know how to approach and how to improvise, how to adapt themselves to the changing situation. I think this is the key.
KILEY: Because of the military experiences you've had?
GAT-PALASH: Whatever. I would say the general situation that Israel is constantly in.
KILEY: Almost all Israelis complete national military service. The nation has been involved in numerous conflicts since its foundation in 1948. Beating COVID seen as just another battle for national survival.
The vaccines are moved into cold storage, repacked overnight, ready for national distribution through hundreds of clinics, mobile units and rented buildings like this basketball stadium in Tel Aviv.
IDO HADARL, COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR MACCABI HEALTHCARE SERVICES: The fact that the managers and most of the staff here did military, it helps.
KILEY: Israel remains under lockdown. Its infection rates are falling but officials fear that they could climb again after a mass turnout by ultra-orthodox Jews at recent funerals in Jerusalem.
But for most Israelis, the national score for vaccinations..?
UNKNOWN (Speaking in Foreign Language)
KILEY: Ten.
KILEY (Voice Over): Sam Kiley, CNN, Tel Aviv.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: The highest profile female dissident in Saudi Arabia is out of prison, but her family says she remains far from free and have issued a scathing rebuke of the Saudi crown prince.
CNN's Nic Robertson has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Activist Loujain Hathloul, home from 1,001 nights in Saudi jail, weak but mentally strong, according to her family. And craving ice cream.
ALIA AL-HATHLOUL, SISTER: She didn't have ice cream for three years so she really was desperate to get it.
ROBERTSON: In Washington, D.C., her release a celebration of sorts too.
NED PRICE, SPOKESMAN, U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE: It is something we have pressed for.
BIDEN: Releasing her was the right thing to do.
ROBERTSON: But Loujain, who was arrested May 2018 for campaigning for women to be allowed to drive is not fully free, not allowed to leave the country for five years or speak publicly.
But her sisters who live outside Saudi can and are.
ALIA AL-HATHLOUL: We should not be satisfied with the release only. And that as long as she's still on a travel ban and that her torturers are not sentenced, we shouldn't be happy.
[01:25:00]
ROBERTSON: Yet, even so, they admit this could be President Joe Biden's first foreign policy win.
BIDEN: Respecting the rule of law.
ALIA AL-HATHLOUL: It is a fact that she was released few days, few weeks, after Biden's arrival to power. So -- and I have to say, yes, without international pressure, we cannot obtain something.
ROBERTSON: For an hour, the pair answered reporters' questions. Has Biden really changed Saudi's powerful crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, MBS?
The Saudi government has not responded to any of the sisters' comments.
ALIA AL-HATHLOUL: Everything he's doing is for his image and to be legitimate. To be the one the West chooses, basically, to be the ally.
And inside of the country as well, he did a coup. He's not the one who was supposed to be crown prince.
ROBERTSON: The Saudi government has not responded to any of the sisters' comments.
While Loujain was in jail, MBS repealed laws she had campaigned against that banned women from driving and controlled their movements through male guardianship, which helped win the king-in-waiting wide support.
But Loujain's sisters say she has experienced another side of MBS.
One of his top aides, Saoud Al-Qahtani, whom Turkish authorities claimed had a lead role organizing Washington post columnist Jamal Kasogi's murder in 2018 but didn't face trial in Saudi, was present, her sisters say, during her torture. Torture the government denies.
ALIA AL-HATHLOUL: She knew him. He was there during that torture session, he was attending that torture session. So we are sure about him, about his name.
ROBERTSON: For the Hathlouls, Loujain's jailing has become an awakening.
LINA AL-HATHLOUL, SISTER: With the experience I gained, I can also help a lot of other families, I would say. And I don't think I have the heart to not -- to just ignore everything I know now.
ROBERTSON (Voice Over): Saudi's most high-profile female activist released. Possibly a beginning.
Nic Robertson, CNN, London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Still to come. The link between far-right extremists in the U.S. and Donald Trump.
New court filings show one paramilitary group waiting for his order to be activated.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:30:12]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the Trump legal team will begin their defense in the coming hours in the former president's Senate impeachment trial. They say they will keep their argument short and direct. Most likely wrapping by day's and.
Meantime, House managers relied heavily on video evidence to try and prove Donald Trump incited the attack on Capitol Hill.
CNN's Brian Todd reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): From the first moments, Capitol police suffered casualties.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Multiple Capitol injuries, multiple Capitol injurie.
TODD: From the first moments, police seemingly knew they could be overrun.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You got a group of 50 charging up the Hill in the West Front, just north of the stairs. They're approaching the wall now.
TODD: Officers voices calling for reinforcements, get more panicked and desperate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're throwing metal poles at us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cruiser 50 give me DSO up here now. DSO. Multiple Law Enforcement Injuries. DSO get up here.
TODD: Never before seen surveillance footage and audio clips of the January 6th assault on the Capitol, played at former President Donald Trump's impeachment trial by Democratic House impeachment managers, drive home the brutality, the sheer terror of the attack.
They showed footage of then Vice President Mike Pence, being evacuated down a flight of stairs after hiding in a room near the Senate chamber with his family. A "Washington Post" analysis found that rioters came within 100 feet of Pence at one point.
STACEY PLASKETT, U.S. HOUSE IMPEACHMENT MANAGER: Extremists, reportedly coordinated online, and discussed how they could hunt down the Vice President.
Journalists in the Capitol reported they heard rioters say they were looking for Pence in order to execute him.
TODD: The impeachment managers played this footage of staffers for House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, scrambling to get into a conference room, and shelter in place.
They close an outer door, enter through an inner door, and barricade it. Just a few minutes later rioters stream down the hall and one slams his shoulder into that same entrance three times.
He broke through the outer door, managers said, but couldn't breach the inner door. Managers played a cell phone call, a Pelosi, aide whispering into the phone, as rioters were at that door.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're pounding on doors, trying to find her. TODD: Meanwhile on police dispatch radio officers were sounding more and more like they were on a battlefield at war.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: At least the scaffold we can defend. We got to hold what we have.
TODD: And it became horribly clear they were losing that battle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Cruiser 50, we've lost the line. We've lost the line. All MPD, pull back.
TODD: Footage showed then-Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and others reversing course and being rushed down a hallway. And Republican Senator Mitt Romney, exiting the Senate chamber toward what he said was his hideaway.
But heroic Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman quickly directs Romney back into the chamber saying he would be safer there. Romney later said his family didn't understand how close he was to real danger. And he credits Officer Goodman with saving him.
SENATOR MITT ROMNEY (R-UT): I was very fortunate, indeed that Officer Goodman was there to get me in the right direction.
TODD: Lawmakers were shown how close they came to rioters beyond the next hallway doors to a rioter held at gunpoint on the floor or as they left the Senate chamber to a violent mob coming after them.
ERIC SWALWELL, HOUSE IMPEACHMENT MANAGER: As you were moving through that hallway, I paced it off. You were just 58 steps away from where the mob was amassing.
TODD (on camera): Impeachment manager Eric Swalwell said that around that same moment, it was again, Capitol Police Officer Eugene Goodman who encountered the mob and steered them away from lawmakers.
Just as that very same Officer Goodman had steered Senator Mitt Romney to safety.
Brian Todd, CNN -- Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: CNN national security analyst and Harvard professor Juliette Kayyem is with us this hour from Boston. Juliette also served in the Obama administration as assistant secretary for homeland security. And it's good to see you.
JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Good to see you.
VAUSE: Ok. Well, the Oath Keepers, they are a homegrown paramilitary group. One of several groups under investigation for the role they played in the insurrection at the Capitol.
Part of the evidence submitted to the court by the Justice Department on Thursday, are text messages from the leader of the Oath Keepers, Jessica Watkins.
The first was sent November 9, just about a week after the election, and she was unsure about doing anything, you know, without Trump's approval.
The text read, "I am concerned this is an elaborate trap. Unless the POTUS (President of the United States" himself activates us, it's not legit. The POTUS has the right to activate units too.
If Trump asked me to come, I will otherwise, I can't trust it.
But after almost two months of Trump's claims about a stolen election and fraud, Watkins was ready, texting in December 29, "We plan on going to D.C. on the 6th because Trump wants all able-bodied patriots to come.
[01:35:03]
VAUSE: Ok. So to cut (ph) all things here, she's clearly responding to Trump's incitement and his false claims. But just speak to the sort of language being used here.
KAYYEM: Yes.
VAUSE: Activating units, able bodied patriots. It's like some kind of Bosnia insurgency or something.
KAYYEM: Exactly. So the Oath Keepers sort of align themselves with former military and former law enforcement. So they like talking the lingo and there's a sense of mission orientation, you know, ss sort of an incident command like we are -- we're going to go in and they're just look for leadership.
So her texts are interesting, not only because they do view themselves as the paramilitary, violent organization, right. So this is not about the First Amendment, and no moment that she speaks of the First Amendment. She's talking about. She's talking about violence, and action.
But also, she's clearly, waiting for Donald Trump to get to the incitement issue, but there are groups of people, most of the people that went there, that believe not only that Trump wanted than to do that based on the big lie, but that what they were doing wasn't wrong because Trump told them to do it.
VAUSE: Exactly. And impeachment managers brought this up what Watkins and two others from the Oath Keepers have been saying to each other. They have also been charged, the three of them so.
During the impeachment hearings, there is detail on the attempts to gas U.S. lawmakers. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. DAVID CICILLINE (D-RI): They discussed trapping us inside the underground tunnels. The indictment quotes social media chatter with Karl Rove (ph), quote, "All members are in the tunnel under Capitol, seal them in, turn on gas. All legislators down in the tunnels, three floors down. Do like we had to do when I was in the Corps and start tearing out floors, go from top to bottom. End quote.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: So there is this, there is the other charges of allegedly attempting to get weapons into the Capitol by boat up the Potomac as well as the other insurgents who were recording talking about, you know, killing Mike Pence and Nancy Pelosi.
Allegations of possible coordination among these right wing groups leading up to the attack, takes -- makes it sort of even more ominous now, when you look back at everything that happened.
KAYYEM: Yes. So the -- and it's true. When you look at the charges against the insurgents, they fall into two camps.
The large majority are individuals who are in search of something, I don't want -- I'm not defending them, but they have no formal ties to everything, except for Donald Trump. so that is the group that is being charged for things like trespassing and you know, with destruction of property.
You then have a core group of about 20, or 25 so far, out of about 180 indictments that are the conspiracy charges. These are the leaders of the Proud Boys, and the other organizations, that were coordinating, funding, organizing, sharing information, and that had an intent to create harm.
Why is that relevant? Because of the charges of conspiracy, mean that the FBI has every intention of looking into where did they get their funding. How did they get organized? Who are the people who maybe weren't on the Hill, who were supporting them -- transportation, money hotels -- whatever else.
But these cases are not going away, and I think they're going to show a vast organization of planning money, and even at one stage in one of the indictments, a bunch of them were wearing sort of stickers to identify themselves to each other.
So this was fully planned, and executed, and orchestrated, at least as the impeachment managers were saying, orchestrated by the president of the United States.
VAUSE: Almost 17 years ago, the RAND Corporation did an analysis of the messages sent to the world by the al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, and here's a small part of that.
He demonstrates his continued relevance by provoking reactions, public commentary, threat alerts, condemnations from world leaders. Bin Laden's followers see his mere survival as proof of his divine protection. Sounds almost Trumpian.
KAYYEM: Yes. Yes. So this is why it is so important that if there are any Republicans still on the fence, or even for the public looking, we really shouldn't view the impeachment vote as about past conduct, but about future conduct.
That really the only way that Trump will continue hopefully, to remain irrelevant is de-platforming, the isolation and that sort of, you know, is he just a crazy man in Florida with his rantings? Right.
But as you know, the monetary isolation, the banks abandoning him, the criminal charges against him and his family. So I really view the impeachment as a little bit about what happens in terror organizations. That isolation and the lack of winning by the leader, as the RAND reports suggests, makes it difficult to recruit, makes it difficult for these organizations to survive.
[01:40:01]
KAYYEM: We really have to view -- the American public has to view the impeachment vote as about future vulnerability to this domestic terror threat that was unleashed by Donald Trump.
VAUSE: In other words, it is like a counter-terrorism operation in many ways.
KAYYEM: I think there's no other way to look at it at this stage. He has unleashed something that he has incredible control over. Look, there's going to be a court group that will need to be prosecuted, need to be investigated and the vast majority of his supporters don't fall into violent extremism. But of that group that does, we need to make sure that he is not able to recruit, nurture, or organize in the future.
(CROSSTALK)
KAYYEM: No more oxygen. Thank you.
VAUSE: Yes. No more twitter. Good to see you. Thank you.
KAYYEM: Good to see you.
VAUSE: It has been 10 years since mass protests erupted across the Arab world, at first filled with promise and hope that dictators and strongmen from Egypt to Syria to Yemen, and beyond will to finally be forced from power.
But in the years since, expectations have faded in the face of internal divisions, foreign interventions, and authoritarian's clinging to power.
One of the few journalists to cover the story from beginning to end is CNN's Ben Wedeman. He takes us back now to where it all began. But first a warning, some viewers will find images in his report disturbing.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice over): It began in Tunisia. The people toppled the aging dictator, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. ALI OUESLATI, RETIRED POLICEMAN: I am afraid that the anger of the
other regions of the Arabic countries, they will, they will and they will -- they are afraid that this revolution will succeed.
WEDEMAN: The revolt spread to Egypt, to Libya.
(on camera): This demonstration in Benghazi gives you an idea of the passion of the people of this city, of the passion of so many Libyans.
(voice over): People rose up in Bahrain, in Syria, and in Yemen. Egypt's Hosne Mobarak resigned after 29 years in power and the army power, and the army moved in. Applauded as savior. But the illusion that the people, and the army, are one, didn't last.
The men in uniform, soon reverting to their old ways, the boot, and the club. Year
After a year of rule by Egypt's first ever Democratically-elected government led by the Muslim Brotherhood, the military rode a wave of discontent, and ceased the power. Killing almost a thousand of the ousted government supporters, and imprisoning tens of thousands more.
General, now president, Abdel Fata al Sisi has crushed event he mildest forms of dissent, spending hundreds of billions of dollars on mega projects reminiscent of his Pharaonic predecessors.
In Bahrain, the autocrats of the Gulf led by Saudi Arabia, joined to crush the uprising.
Yemen is now a civil war and a regional warrior, all in one. Among with the worst humanitarian disasters of the 21st century, so far.
In Libya, the rebels killed Moammar Gadhafi but the uprising split the country between still warring rival governments.
In Syria, the revolt morphed into a sectarian blood bath, a macabre theater of regional and international rivalries, killing more than 400k people and driving millions into exile opening the door to extremists like ISIS and others.
In the end, the foreign powers that cheered on the uprising turned away, going back to the old formula of better the devil you know. The so-called Arab Spring, like Pandora's Box, released pain, suffering, and sorrow.
But the hope it also released lives on. The memory of those heady days has not vanished, says Amnesty International's Heba Morayef.
HEBA MORAYEF, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: There are entire generations who saw these Arab autocrats fall in 2011. One after
another and that's an incredibly powerful idea in terms of what can be achieved through people power.
[01:44:55]
WEDEMAN: The struggle for dignity and freedom in the Arab World, is long and bloody. But it may eventually bend toward justice.
Ben Wedeman, CNN -- Beirut.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, a new outbreak of COVID-19 has set an entire Australian state into lockdown. What this means for the Australian Open. We'll have the very latest in a live report when we come back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: A COVID-19 cluster in Melbourne is forcing fans to stay away from the Australian Open for the next five days.
Journalist Angus Watson, live in Sydney with more on this.
It's not just the Australian Open which is being hit by this. The entire state has pretty much gone under lockdown, almost six million people.
ANGUS WATSON, JOURNALIST: That's right, John.
You will remember last year, the state underwent 111 days of strict lockdowns to try to get on top of the coronavirus. They are right back there now.
The circuit breaker lockdown announced today until Thursday local time here to try to get on top of the U.K. variant of the coronavirus. This time, 13 cases of that U.K. variant detected in the city of Melbourne since Monday, creeping back into the country via that hotel quarantine system where people are forced to spend 14 days on arrival into the country
Again, we've had leak from that system. That's just how the second wave in Victoria began last year which caused hundreds of deaths, John. So they don't want that to happen again. They got put in this circuit breaker lockdown to try to stop that, but they are just worried about the cause of the cases now being that U.K. variant and how quickly it spreads through the community.
This is what's Daniel Andrews, the premier of Victoria said about that on Monday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANIEL ANDREWS, PREMIER OF VICTORIA: We must assume that there are further cases in the community than we have positive results for and that it is moving at a velocity that has not been seen anywhere in our country over the course of these last 12 months.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WATSON: So this comes at a time when Melbourne is trying to host the Australian Open tennis tournament. Over a thousand people have come into the country, just for that.
But that's going to continue, despite this lockdown that's happening here in Victoria at the moment.
What's going to happen is the players are going to have to play behind closed doors. They're entering a security bubble, and that crowds won't be allowed to attend those matches between Saturday and Thursday.
So about 75,000 people have come to the Australian Open thus far, joining this experiment of holding a global tennis tournament in the middle of a pandemic. Some hiccups, though, John.
VAUSE: Yes. Absolutely.
As you say, to be expected, but obviously not to be welcomed.
Angus, thank you. Angus Watson there in Sydney.
[01:49:50]
VAUSE: Well, just moments ago, the chief of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics Organizing Committee announced he is resigning. He's faced a backlash for sexist remarks he made that were leaked to the media. The committee is now meeting at the moment to figure out what it will do next.
CNN's Blake Essig is in Tokyo, live.
Ok, so now it's official. I guess the question is, who takes his place and what does this mean for the games which have already had a bit of a rough time considering they were meant to be staged last year.
BLAKE ESSIG, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, John. That's a good question, and that's part of what this meeting of the Tokyo 2020 executive board is going to be focused on today is trying to figure out, put a committee together to look into who the potential candidates might that could be the now former president of the Tokyo 20 Olympic organizing committees replacement.
No, Yoshiro Mori, now former prime minister and again, now former president of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Organizing committee.
Address the board and the media for about 10 minutes right off the of that executive board meeting today. And you know, he offered his second apology in the past John, that's a good question. But it didn't exactly feel like that.
Now, he Takeda about his highlights. What he's accomplished over the past seven years and again, as I said, well, he did offer a second apology. Didn't exactly seem like he took much responsibility for what he said. He said I didn't mean for it to neglect women but I guess it was it's what that way again. Of course, that's referring to his statements that women serving in executive positions when it comes to meetings often in the 10 to (INAUDIBLE) those meetings to drag on a bit John.
So at this point, you know, they're meeting. They've got the next hour or so to start discussing in forming that committee we'll have to see how that develops. VAUSE: Ok. And you will tell us.
VAUSE: Ok. And you'll tell us. Blake Thank you.
Blake Essig there in Tokyo. And we'll be right back after a short break. You're watching CNN.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Welcome back, everybody.
Well, China has banned the airing of BBC News just one week after the U.K. withdrew a license to broadcast China's Global Television Network. Beijing says the BBC World News, quote, infringed on the principles of truthfulness and impartiality in journalism.
China has been upset with BBC reporting on issues like the pandemic response and the treatment of Uyghurs. The BBC defends those reports as accurate and fair.
Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex has won a legal fight against a British tabloid and its publisher. She sued "Associated" newspapers limited. After the mail on Sunday further precautions of a hand written letter she sent to her father in 2018.
A judge issued a summary judgment on her privacy claim calling the disclosures manifestly excessive and awful. He also wrote that Meghan Markle had a reasonable expectation that the lettuce content would remain private.
She welcomed that ruling saying the damage the tabloids do and have done runs deep.
Well, a two and a half long-kilometer car pileup in Texas has left at least 6 people dead, 65 others were taken to the hospital.
Authorities say roads were icy, the weather dangerous when more than 130 vehicles collided near Fort Worth.
Scientists say a stone age musical instrument has been played again for the first time in 18,000 years.
This conch shell was discovered in 1931 in a stone age cave dwelling in France. The original archaeologists thought it was used as a decorative cup or something, but a modern CT Scan revealed it was modified to produce musical notes like this.
[01:55:04]
VAUSE: Waited 18,000 years to hear that. Researchers say they found traces of resin around one of the shells openings. They believe that was probably where a mouthpiece was once attached.
Well, he is the biggest movie star in the world, but Dwayne The Rock Johnson knows went to take a backseat to mom.
CNN's Jeanne Moos has the story.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JEANNE MOOS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: After Jimmy Fallon's introduction --
JIMMY FALLON, TV HOST: The Rock himself, Dwayne Johnson, is here.
MOOS: Fallon found himself between a rock and a sweet spot.
FALLON: Your mom plays the ukulele?
DWAYNE THE ROCK JOHNSON, ACTOR: Yes. Get my mom, really quickly and tell her to bring the ukulele. It's right there.
Come here, I want you to say hello to somebody.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Who?
JOHNSON: It's Jimmy Fallon.
MOOS: The Rock's 72 year old mom started strumming.
Achieving the impossible, overshadowing the Rock.
Online, Ada (ph) Johnson's performance got all lays for adorable. Fallon knew to ask about her ukulele playing, because he had seen a video posted by the Rock of the two of them singing at the grave of Dwayne's grandparents in Hawaii.
Here is young Dwayne dancing with his grandmother. His grandfather was a pro wrestler and Samoan chief.
Jimmy Fallon wasn't whispering.
FALLON: Come on. Are you joking me?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've got one more.
JOHNSON: Now, we don't have on more, what are you going --
MOOS: Oh yes, they did.
The Rock later tweeted, my mom clearly loves Jimmy Fallon, I think more than me as she has sung some this song to me.
MOOS: No one was blue by the end of this segment.
FALLON: You just stole the interview here. Unbelievable.
JOHNSON: I LIVE IT TAKE A LOOK, We've got one more.
MOOS: And after one last mock attempt to make her leave, scene stealer mom planted a kiss on her son's bald but maybe not so swelled head.
Jeanne Moos, CNN -- New York.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: We have one more, one more hour and that's with Michael Holmes coming up after the break.
I am John Vause. See you next week. Thanks. Have a good weekend.
[01:57:45]
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