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Trump Acquitted in Historic Second Impeachment Trial; McConnell Makes Case for Convicting Trump after Voting to Acquit; Louisiana GOP Censures Cassidy Following Vote to Convict Trump; Trump-McCarthy Call Shows Trump Had No Intention of Calling Off Capitol Rioters; New York Governor Cuomo Accused of Covering Up Nursing Home Deaths. Aired 12-1a ET
Aired February 14, 2021 - 00:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ANA CABRERA, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): You're live in the CNN NEWSROOM, I'm Ana Cabrera in New York and today was a day for the history books.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The yeas are 57. The nays are 43.
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CABRERA: Donald Trump acquitted in his second impeachment trial; 57 senators decided he was guilty of inciting an insurrection at the U.S. Capitol but that was not the two-thirds majority required for a conviction.
In the end, just seven Republican senators crossed the aisle. Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell was not one of them. But in a head- scratching floor speech, he nevertheless excoriated the former president for his actions on January 6th and said Trump is responsible for the violence that occurred.
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SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY), MINORITY LEADER: President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. No question about it. A mob was assaulting the Capitol in his name. These criminals were carrying his banners. Hanging his flags. And screaming their loyalty to him. It was obvious. But only president Trump could end this. He was the only one who could.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: So why did McConnell vote to acquit?
He said he doesn't believe the Senate has the power to convict a former president. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi calling McConnell a coward and a hypocrite. One House impeachment manager saying, quote, "They let him off on a technicality."
As for the former president, gloating and making it clear he's not going anywhere now, putting out this statement. "Our historic, patriotic and beautiful movement to make America great again has only just begun. In the months ahead, I have much to share with you."
CNN's Ryan Nobles is on Capitol Hill.
Ryan, what a turn of events today. We went into today thinking no witnesses, then the Senate voted for witnesses, then that plan was scrapped and the vote we all expected. Donald Trump was acquitted.
RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, you know, Ana, the conclusion to all of this drama today is basically what we expected when this process started more than a month ago.
But there were a number of twists and turns along the way, including quite a few surprises even today.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NOBLES (voice-over): For a second time, Donald Trump has escaped conviction by the U.S. Senate.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is therefore ordered and adjudged that the said Donald J. Trump be and he is hereby acquitted of the charge in said article.
NOBLES (voice-over): The final vote capped off a dramatic and unpredictable day where House impeachment managers initially announced plans to call witnesses in the trial of the former president.
REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD), LEAD IMPEACHMENT MANAGER: We would like the opportunity to subpoena Congresswoman Herrera regarding her communications with House minority leader Kevin McCarthy.
NOBLES (voice-over): Calling witnesses would have most likely sent the trial in a dramatically different direction, leading to a much longer affair.
After hours of negotiations, the two sides agreed to submit into the record a statement from Republican congresswoman Jamie Herrera Beutler, which detailed a phone call from Trump to House minority leader Kevin McCarthy on January 6th, where Trump told McCarthy the rioters cared more about election fraud than McCarthy.
Impeachment managers decided to call her as a witness following a CNN report on the call Friday.
RASKIN: The point is that no number of witnesses demonstrating that Donald Trump continued to incite the insurrectionists, even after the invasion of the Capitol, would convince them. They wouldn't be convinced.
NOBLES (voice-over): With witnesses off the table, the two sides presented their closing arguments. The prosecution arguing that the evidence made it clear the riot was incited by the former president.
RASKIN: He named the date, he named the time and he brought them here and now he must pay the price.
NOBLES (voice-over): And the Trump defense warning the constitutional questions of convicting a former president were impossible to ignore.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This has been perhaps the most unfair and flagrantly unconstitutional proceeding in the history of the United States Senate.
NOBLES (voice-over): When the votes were cast, seven Republicans joined Democrats and voted to convict Trump but fell short of the two- thirds majority necessary. Richard Burr of North Carolina and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana voted to convict, despite earlier voting the trial was unconstitutional.
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NOBLES (voice-over): After it was all over, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, who voted to acquit, hammered Trump's actions, saying he was responsible for the riot and even suggested he could be tried in a criminal court.
MCCONNELL: Didn't get away with anything yet. Yet. We have a criminal justice system in this country. We have civil litigation. And former presidents are not immune from being accountable by either one.
NOBLES (voice-over): But majority leader Chuck Schumer argued the Republicans were using the constitutional argument as a copout. In his mind, the evidence was more than enough to convict.
SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), MAJORITY LEADER: Look at what Republicans have chosen to forgive. The former president tried to overturn the results of a legitimate election and provoked an assault on our own government.
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NOBLES: And afterwards, the House impeachment managers admitted they really had an impossible task here, to try to convince 17 Republicans to vote with Democrats to convict the former president.
But they do believe they had some success and Bill Cassidy, the senator from Louisiana, is an example of this. This is someone that wrestled with the decision as to whether or not he should convict president Trump.
He initially voted this process was unconstitutional a couple of weeks ago when senator Rand Paul brought that up as a point of order. This is what he said after the vote tonight.
He said, "Our Constitution and our country are more important than any one person. I voted to convict president Trump because he is guilty."
And Ana, he is already paying the political price for that vote. The Louisiana Republican executive committee censuring him by unanimous vote almost immediately after he cast that ballot. So it took a lot of courage for Cassidy to make that vote and he's already paying the price.
CABRERA: Ryan, I know it's been a long day after a very long week. Thank you. Excellent reporting tonight.
And with us now, White House correspondent at "The Grio" and CNN political analyst April Ryan. Also senior editor at "The Atlantic," and CNN senior political analyst, Ron Brownstein and former New Jersey attorney general and CNN legal analyst Anne Milgram.
Thank you for staying up late with us. I know it's been a busy in all of your worlds as we've been covering this historic moment.
April, I just want to play another part of what Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell said after Trump was acquitted and after McConnell himself voted not guilty.
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MCCONNELL: Former president Trump's actions preceded the riot for a disgraceful, disgraceful dereliction of duty.
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CABRERA: April, what's your reaction to McConnell's acquittal vote and then that speech?
APRIL RYAN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Hypocrisy and the fact that Mitch McConnell has to serve two gods: one, the people of Kentucky that support Donald John Trump and then he is serving the god of the Constitution. He knows it's wrong. He said it was wrong. Donald Trump is wrong.
But at the end of the day, this is about the Republican Party hoping that Donald Trump is potent enough in 2022 to help them retake the Senate, to help them take the House and to help them in the next presidential election try to win the White House again.
So this is about politics, this is not about the Constitution. And, Ana, the problem is that the next president who follows behind Donald Trump is watching what Donald Trump got away with.
CABRERA: Anne, McConnell's argument for his vote is that Trump was constitutionally not eligible for conviction.
What do you make of that?
ANNE MILGRAM, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, I think that that argument was really strongly rejected by the House managers and, look, by the vast majority of constitutional scholars as well.
I mean, there's precedent for trying someone who is not in office, who is an executive branch member. And also what we know is that the Senate voted to go forward and the Senate makes the rules under the U.S. Constitution.
So I don't think that's the correct argument. But I do think that they used it and Mitch McConnell and other Republicans used it as a way not to reach the substantive issue, to just deal with this process, procedural issue, instead of having to actually talk about whether or not Donald Trump had, in fact, incited an insurrection.
CABRERA: Yes, they hid behind that as an excuse.
Ron, the backlash against the GOP senators who voted for Trump's conviction, it's come swiftly. At least one of the senators, Bill Cassidy, we know, has, you know, been censured back at home in his home state.
What do you think happens to these seven senators, who really stuck their necks out there?
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes, can I just say first, you know, having covered Mitch McConnell for a long time, as April said, hypocrisy and cynicism. But the hypocrisy and cynicism of refusing to begin the trial while Trump was still in office.
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BROWNSTEIN: And then claiming that the reason he couldn't convict him was because the trial was after he was in office really is a new high -- or low -- for McConnell in kind of manipulating the system.
Look, I think Republicans are in a very challenging position at this point, because there is about three-quarters to four-fifths of the party believes that Donald Trump did nothing wrong.
And beyond that, as there's new polling this week, there's almost a third of the party that says it believes in the QAnon conspiracy.
Over half of Republicans said the American way of life is disappearing so fast, we may have to use force to save it; 40 percent said that people may have to take violent action to protect kind of the country that they -- that they believe in.
And if you look at this vote, 43 out of 50 Republican senators refusing to sanction Trump, coming just after House Republicans welcomed Marjorie Taylor Greene into their caucus, you have to ask, has the extremist wing of the Republican Party become too big for mainstream conservatives to confront?
And the fact that the people who voted to sanction Trump are the ones who are being censured and not Trump is pretty indicative of where the current is running in the GOP at this point.
CABRERA: In fact, Trump seems pretty emboldened right now.
He said this, in part, "Our historic, patriotic and beautiful movement to make America great again has only just begun. In the months ahead, I have much to share with you and I look forward to continuing our incredible journey together to achieve American greatness for all of our people."
April, what do you think this statement is teasing?
RYAN: More to come. It's teasing more to come and we don't know how far he will go. Remember after the last -- well, actually, the first impeachment, where he was acquitted, he got worse.
So this will give him a license, once again, to go in deeper, not being politically correct. But this is a man who doesn't have necessarily a social media platform that he was king of. So we'll see how -- how much of an effect he has and what news organizations will cover him.
Remember, Donald Trump grew in political popularity because he was on the news every day. He could pick up the phone and call anyone and they would put him on the air. Now it's a different day. Let's see if it actually works this time.
So -- and he is also using the same words, witch hunt, that kept that anger going in the basement of his base, some of those who went out on January 6th and had the security breach at the U.S. Capitol, the deadly security breach at the U.S. Capitol.
CABRERA: Yes, that witch hunt phrase definitely caught my eye, as well, in his statement.
Anne, I want to play something else real fast that senator McConnell said today.
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MCCONNELL: President Trump is still liable for everything he did while he was in office. As an ordinary citizen. Unless the statute of limitations has run, still liable for everything he did while he was in office. Didn't get away with anything yet.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: Senator McConnell seems suggesting that Trump could be criminally charged.
Anne, is that legally viable?
MILGRAM: Well, we know there are a number of investigations into Donald Trump that are going on. We know there's been public reporting about the Atlanta, Georgia, prosecutor, who is looking at the call to the Georgia secretary of state.
So that's an indication of, we know that that's already happening. I also believe that the evidence this week will strengthen that potential prosecution or at least that investigation.
I still think that the jury is very much out on whether or not Trump will be charged with insurrection and seditious conspiracy.
What I will say is that there was evidence that came out this week that was very important for that, a lot of evidence has to how Trump worked to plan the rally on January 6th; the evidence about the permit which we hadn't known before, there was money being spent by Trump's political team, millions of dollars to get folks there on January 6th. And then what Trump himself did on January 6th.
So I think there's a lot more evidence, as we sit here today, for people who are thinking about doing those investigations than there was five days ago.
CABRERA: Ron, there's accountability in the courts. But when it comes to any political consequences, I think it was telling that the House minority leader, Kevin McCarthy, even after, you know, that heated phone call, that was reported this weekend, with Trump during the attack, he still went down to Mar-a-lago to meet with him and to take this picture, where they're smiling and apparently he also was, you know, trying to seek his donor list.
Is the GOP still the party of Trump?
BROWNSTEIN: Absolutely.
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BROWNSTEIN: I mean, look, this was their moment, as Mitch McConnell suggested in the immediate aftermath of the attack. This was their moment. If they were going to try to roll back Trump's influence in the party, separate themselves from him, take themselves out from under his thumb, this was their opportunity.
And only seven of the 50 Republican senators chose to do so. And I think, in effect, they have voted to remain under his thumb for years to come. Mitch McConnell kind of desperately hoping that someone, anyone else, civil suits, criminal investigations, would undertake what he blinked at doing himself, which is taking a strong stand against Trump.
And again -- and the way in which he has opened the party to these extremist influences, again just see this in the context of what House Republicans did with Marjorie Taylor Greene. They are opening the door for wider influence in the party of these extremist elements, even aware that they have seen over the past four years that going down this road weakens their support among the white-collar voters that used to support them.
They have become addicted to the massive turnout of the Trump base that he promotes and they still seem very, very wary of crossing him.
CABRERA: Everyone stand by. If you're with me on the East Coast, it is late, 12:15 in the morning. We are rolling with this breaking news because even though the impeachment trial is over, former president Trump's legal problems might not be.
And according to our reporting, he knows it. We'll discuss more about that next in this special midnight hour of CNN NEWSROOM.
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CABRERA: Tonight, former president Trump released a statement on his acquittal that was so full of hypocrisy, we need to take a moment to call out one line in particular.
He writes, "I always have and always will be a champion for the unwavering rule of law. The heroes of law enforcement. And the right of Americans to peacefully and honorably debate the issues of the day without malice and without hate."
"A champion for the unwavering rule of law and heroes of law enforcement," he says. When CNN's reporting is that he initially resisted mobilizing the National Guard to the U.S. Capitol and had to be convinced, even to tweet the words "stay peaceful" as officers battled a violent mob.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Help!
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CABRERA: Officers were crushed. Suffered brain damage. Had their eyes gouged. And one lost three fingers. And officer Brian Sicknick died from his injuries, possibly suffering a fatal reaction from being hit with bear spray.
And when Trump says he's the champion of the right of Americans to peaceful and honorably debate the issues of the day, where was that when he teargassed peaceful protesters in Lafayette Park so he could have a photo-op?
Where was that when he was slamming NFL players for taking a knee to protest racism?
It's just more spin from a disgraced former president, twice impeached now and kicked off Twitter, desperate to maintain his hold on a party he no longer deserves. Don't take my word for it. Listen to Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell this afternoon.
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MCCONNELL: He didn't call right away for the riot to end. He did not tell the mob to depart until even later. And even then, with police officers bleeding and broken glass covering Capitol floors, he kept repeating election lies and praising the criminals.
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CABRERA: Back with us now, April, Ron and Anne.
April, what's your reaction to Trump claiming he is a champion for the unwavering rule of law and heroes of law enforcement?
RYAN: You know, Ana, you brought out some very poignant moments and examples but he is a walking contradiction, as he's probably having a maskless party tonight at Mar-a-lago. Donald Trump was a president who said he supported the blue.
But did he ever give any commendation or say anything to officer Eugene Goodman?
Did he ever say anything at the very beginning, when we found out that the officer who died passed away?
He was begrudgingly lowering the flag when he did for the officer who died.
And when you think about Donald Trump from the very beginning, even before he became president, I'm thinking back to that Billy Bush tape. We have been talking about his words from the very beginning.
What he meant, did he mean it this way, oh, he would say, but, that's not what I meant. He is a walking contradiction.
And one thing I will say, covering presidents for 24 years -- and this is my fifth president, a full hand of presidents now -- words matter, Ana. You can shape the market, you can shake a market by your words. You can bring life and death and speak it with your tongue from the White House.
We should never have to worry about parsing words, what the president meant. He's supposed to be the moral leader, the leader of values. Donald Trump is a walking contradiction of everything a president should be and would be.
CABRERA: Ron, after the acquittal of Trump, his son, Don Jr., is tweeting that it was a great week. And that MAGA is ascending again.
What does this mean now for uniting the country?
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BROWNSTEIN: Well, first of all, I think law and order had a very specific meaning for Trump all the way through his political career. It meant using law enforcement to, quote, "protect white suburbanites from Black people."
That was the clear underlying message that he was sending, when they brought that St. Louis couple to the convention. And when law enforcement was not in that role, it was much more dispensable to his supporters, who rampaged and tortured and ultimately killed a member of law enforcement.
Look, there is a fight coming over the direction of the Republican Party. But the problem, the kind of more traditional conservatives have, is that Trump, right now, is in the ascendance because many of the voters, who are the most uncomfortable with his transformation of the party into essentially a vehicle for racial nationalism, have left.
And what's left behind is more Trumpy. And that's why you see Mitch McConnell, I thought, as we said in the last segment, in this kind of desperate situation of hoping that someone, anyone, a civil suit, a criminal investigation, will do what he lacked the courage to do, which was to stand up to that dominant force and say, this is going in the wrong direction.
I think if you look at everything that's happening in the Republican Party, as I've written, compared to the Republicans of the 1950s, the current Republicans stood up less to Donald Trump's lies than Republicans stood up to Joe McCarthy's lies.
And compared to the Republicans in the 1960s, today's GOP is standing up less to the infiltration of extremists into the party than people did in the '60s in the John Birch Society.
So in all of these ways they are losing ground to extremism and this was their opportunity to really make a stand and the vast majority of them chose to send precisely the opposite signal.
CABRERA: Anne, I think there's still a big question of whether Democrats should just move on or there was a suggestion about, you know, for pursuing a censure resolution and incorporating part of the 14th Amendment to keep Trump from running for office again.
What do you think about that avenue?
MILGRAM: It's an interesting question. I don't think any of us are quite sure of the 14th Amendment and whether or not, I mean, the reporting has been and the constitutional scholars have said that it could be just a majority vote.
But it does feel sort of as though we would want to be very careful with just having a majority to be able to sell, to basically say to a president, you can no longer run for office.
And so, it does feel to me like it made sense to have it be part of the impeachment drive, which it was included in that article of impeachment, the portion of the 14th Amendment that would disqualify the president.
I think it's a different question as to whether or not that is something that can be done by a majority of Congress now and I also think that there is a pretty strong argument that Congress has now taken the ultimate power that Congress has, to sanction a president or former president.
And I believe the Constitution allows this, is impeachment and so that opportunity has now happened. And now I do think that the likelihood that this goes to the courts in some ways and that it could be -- it could be resolved through investigations and civil and criminal procedures, is a lot more likely.
So, you know, I don't know, I mean, I think censure is something we could see people talk about but my own instinct is that in some ways Congress has now spoken.
CABRERA: Well, great conversation. Thank you, all, Anne, Ron, April, always a pleasure.
MILGRAM: Thank you.
CABRERA: Today's events, well, it's a little after midnight, guess it's yesterday's events but they will go down in history.
How will history remember the seven GOP senators who put their political lives on the line to convict former president Donald J. Trump?
That's next.
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CABRERA: Something extraordinary happened a few hours ago. The most powerful Republican in the United States Senate, minority leader Mitch McConnell, said Donald Trump was directly responsible for last month's deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol. But he still voted not guilty at the end of Trump's impeachment trial.
That contradiction shines a light on a puzzle really facing Republicans today.
How much of Donald Trump do they carry with them going forward for political reasons?
And how much of his disgraceful legacy do they run away from?
I want to get Evan McMullin. He runs a watchdog group called Stand Up Republic and is a former chief policy director for the House Republican Conference.
Evan, thank you for taking the time with us at this hour. Senate Republicans, they let Donald Trump off the hook today.
What's your response?
EVAN MCMULLIN, STAND UP REPUBLIC: Well, it's obviously disappointing. You know, in some ways, Ana, I think we've all become desensitized to Senate and most Senate, most House Republicans in just their not doing the right thing, even when the right thing is obvious and necessary for the protection of our democratic republic.
But it really is tragic. We had a president who cultivated, who -- who brought -- who created a base of support in the American electorate that didn't believe in our democracy anymore, that thought it was rigged and then he urged them to come to Washington eventually, having cultivated them to make them more violent or open to violence, political violence over the years.
And then he rallied them and then he sent them, believing the lie that the election had been stolen, to carry out a violent insurrection for the purposes of a coup to overthrow the will -- to overturn the will of the American people so he could stay in office illegitimately.
I mean, it is hard to imagine that that sort of thing could happen in the United States but it did happen. And you'd think that our members of Congress, Republicans, Democrats, independents, would be able, would say to themselves, this is a -- a 9/11 scale or level tragedy for our country.
We've got to respond in the most responsible sort of way and do the right thing and hold those accountable those who need to be held accountable and protect the republic.
But that's not what's happened. I think what did happen I think speaks to the rot inside the Republican Party. I think it speaks to the rot at the leadership level and clearly something has to change.
CABRERA: Senator Lindsey Graham says he's planning to meet with Trump in the coming weeks. He told "Politico," quote, "I'm going to try and convince him that we can't get there without you."
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CABRERA: "But you can't keep the Trump movement going without the GOP united. If we come back in 2022, then it's an affirmation of your policies. But if we lose again in 2022, then it's going to be -- the narrative is going to continue that not only you lost the White House but the Republican Party is in a bad spot."
Evan, any chance the Trump movement, in your wing of the GOP, can unite going forward?
MCMULLIN: Not a chance. Not a chance. I mean, there's no way you can take an authoritarian, anti-democracy wing of any party, now the Republican Party, that's the challenge we face and then a pro- democracy wing of that party and put them together. There's just no way.
Either they'll win and they'll control the party outright -- obviously they've got the upper hand now or over time, we will win or we will just have to split. But there is not a chance.
I mean, you hear senators Graham and others talking about how we need unity and that's the way forward -- they understand that, in order for them to ever have a Senate majority again or House majority again, that unity has to be there. They may need it to win re-election in the future as individual members of Congress.
So I understand why they're advocating for it. And by the way, let me say that I want unity, too. But there are things that are even more important than unity. Those things are commitment to our democracy, commitment to our founding values. And if we're to have any unity, it has to be built around that. It
can't be unity, strange, weird unity around a man, one person. It doesn't make sense. It has to be around principles. Has to be around the interests of the country and, until then, no, there cannot be unity.
CABRERA: So that being said, you know, CNN has reported president Trump has talked about potentially starting his own political party, something that would split the, you know, Republican Party in two, essentially.
Is that more or less a reality today?
MCMULLIN: Well, look, I would say I think it's very unlikely that he starts another party. Right now, he controls the Republican Party and we just saw very strong evidence of it today and in the days that led up to today.
And there's just not a reason for him to split away from the party. I think that was his threat to keep senators especially in line behind him, even though I think many of them probably wanted to convict him. That was his threat.
But I just, especially now that he's been acquitted, I just don't see it. I think what's likely to happen is we're going to see more Republicans leave the party, we're seeing that happen by the thousands, the tens of thousands right now.
The Republican Party will struggle in its current direction to win elections. It will therefore -- it will then become more radical and more anti-democracy because it will tell itself that it's being cheated and in the whole country will suffer as a result of that. That's the likely scenario.
The rest of us have to decide what we want to do and, thankfully now, 25 percent to 30 percent of the party wants to go in a new direction. That is meager and modest. but I'm somebody who has been fighting for a new direction for the party for the last five years and before that but especially during the last five years.
And people like me have gotten used to fighting with 10 percent to 15 percent of the party. Now I think it's more like, a fourth to 30 percent of the party wants a new direction, so, we're making progress. It's slow, it may not be possible.
We may have to challenge it from outside but I think most of us want to find a way, perhaps acting more independently, not only inside the GOP but outside of it, to compel the party to change course.
CABRERA: Evan McMullin, appreciate your thoughts. Thank you, again, for being up late. Really appreciate your time.
MCMULLIN: My pleasure. Thank you.
CABRERA: How is Mr. Trump someone who values total loyalty going to receive Mitch McConnell's speech today? We'll ask one of Trump's biographers in our special midnight coverage right after this.
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CABRERA: Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, historically an ally to former president Trump, did not mince words on the Senate floor today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MCCONNELL: Former president Trump's actions that preceded the riot were a disgraceful, disgraceful dereliction of duty.
With police officers bleeding and broken glass covering Capitol floors, he kept repeating election lies and praising the criminals.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CABRERA: And yet, despite that review and full acknowledgement that Trump bears responsibility for the deadly riot, he still, still voted to acquit.
Michael D'Antonio is a CNN contributor and the author of "The Truth about Trump."
Michael, thank you for being here.
Trump is someone we know who cares so deeply about loyalty and how he is perceived, is he going to care more about McConnell's acquittal vote or that floor speech?
MICHAEL D'ANTONIO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Oh, I think he's focused 100 percent on the acquittal vote. You know, what's amazing to me, even after listening to senator McConnell, is to see that Donald Trump still has his number.
You know, the only thing that Donald Trump cared about was that vote total and so the fact that there were 57 votes against him and not 58, counting McConnell's, if he had done the right thing, certainly pleased the former president. So you know, this is really quite pathetic, you know?
Donald Trump came to office because he identified the latent corruption in the Republican Party. He exploited it. McConnell demonstrated to him over and over again that he was willing to join him in that corruption.
And now McConnell, at the very last moment, wants us to think that he sees what the right thing is but he can't bring himself to do it. CABRERA: CNN reporting is now part of the historical record in this
trial, that the leader of the House Republicans, Kevin McCarthy, is looking for Donald Trump to call off the riot.
And Trump doesn't say, my god, what can I do?
Instead he says, quote, "Well, Kevin, I guess these people are more upset about the election than you are."
And yet once again, the story of Donald Trump today is, he has escaped conviction.
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CABRERA: He -- I guess, put this acquittal into context of Donald Trump's ability to avoid being held accountable throughout his life.
D'ANTONIO: Well, you're right, Ana. He's been able to avoid accountability his entire life. In the beginning, it was because his father was just so darn rich he could buy him out of any jam.
And then later in life, Donald himself was so wealthy that he could buy the representation and grease the right palms and do the right favors and always, in the end, escape accountability.
And now, you know, Kevin McCarthy is proving that he can buy -- that Donald Trump can buy the House Republicans as well.
You know, how stunning is it to hear how Donald Trump treated Kevin McCarthy, on the day that the Capitol was being overrun, and know that, just a few days later, McCarthy was down at Mar-a-lago --
CABRERA: I know.
D'ANTONIO: -- kissing the ring, desperate to get the mailing list for the Trump donor base. So --
CABRERA: Yes.
D'ANTONIO: You know, Donald Trump came to office talking about how corrupt politicians are and, in some ways, when you look at the Republican Party, he really proved that he was right about that.
CABRERA: Hmm.
What do you think is next for Donald Trump, both when it comes to his immediate future and the big question, does he run again in 2024?
D'ANTONIO: Well, there are early signs that he's planning a big international trip to give speeches. I wouldn't be surprised that the first one is in Saudi Arabia or someplace in the Gulf, someplace where they have a lot of money to pay him.
And then he'll come back to the United States and focus intently on his super PAC, because that's the next revenue stream for him. You know, he has to be concerned facing all of these legal problems
that will continue in Georgia, the District of Columbia and New York. He's got to pay those lawyers. And he's got these financial problems looming as his loans come due.
So he's got to focus on making money. And one way or another, he'll do it through politics or media. But we won't be rid of him. You know, he will be as present as he can make himself.
CABRERA: But I wonder if he'll still be as bombastic or kind of in your face as he's been, because he doesn't have Twitter anymore, right?
He doesn't have, like, the power of the presidency to just command the camera to him.
What do you think?
Will this quieter Donald Trump be here to stay?
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CABRERA: We only have about 30 seconds, Michael.
D'ANTONIO: Well, you're right, it will be very different. We won't be able to flood the zone, as Steve Bannon taught him and command our attention all the time. But his performances, as he goes out across the country, will be very bombastic. I think he's going to crave the attention and really gin up the crowd again to cheer, "Fight for Trump. Fight for Trump."
CABRERA: Michael, good to have you here.
And be sure to check out Michael's book, "The Truth about Trump."
Thanks again, Michael D'Antonio.
We're also following other news tonight. New York's governor Andrew Cuomo facing accusations that his administration covered up thousands of coronavirus deaths in nursing homes. Our special midnight hour of NEWSROOM continues after a quick break.
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CABRERA: New York governor Andrew Cuomo is facing accusations that his administration undercounted thousands of COVID deaths in the state's nursing homes at the height of the pandemic. Comments from Governor Cuomo's top aide are now fueling this controversy. CNN's Athena Jones has more.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The gravity of this coverup cannot be overstated.
ATHENA JONES, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New York governor Andrew Cuomo is under fire after his top aide admitted to withholding data for months that revealed thousands more confirmed and presumed COVID-19 deaths of long-term care facility residents than previously disclosed.
According to a transcript of a private video call, Melissa Derosa, who often appeared at press conferences with the governor, told Democratic state lawmakers, "Basically we froze because then we were in a position where we weren't sure if what we were going to give to the Department of Justice or what we give to you guys, what we start saying, was going to be used against us."
Cuomo arguing at the time the threat of an inquiry from the Trump administration was politically motivated.
GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D-NY): They have played politics on this from day one.
JONES (voice-over): The "New York Post" first reported the story, citing a recording of the call. State lawmakers from both parties slamming Derosa's admission; 14 Democratic state senators saying in a statement, Cuomo should be stripped of his emergency powers.
Among them, a senator tweeted, "You are only sorry that you all got caught."
State Republicans echoing their call and going further.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Cuomo administration purposely lied and withheld evidence and information to avoid prosecution. Andrew Cuomo must be prosecuted and Andrew Cuomo must be impeached if this evidence exists.
JONES (voice-over): Residents of long term care facilities have accounted for a significant percentage of COVID deaths in many states. In New York, some 15,000 residents at facilities like nursing homes died, according to the Department of Health, about a third of all COVID deaths statewide.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The COVID crisis in New York's nursing homes was a preventable crisis.
JONES (voice-over): The true death toll was revealed after New York attorney general and Cuomo ally Letitia James issued a scathing report last month, accusing the state of undercounting deaths in these facilities by some 50 percent.
By only publicly reporting those who died onsite, not residents who were admitted to hospitals and died there or elsewhere. The deaths were counted in the state's overall death toll but were not attributed to long-term care facilities.
CUOMO: Whether a person died in the hospital or died in a nursing home, it's -- the people died. I wish none of it happened.
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CUOMO: I wish there was no COVID. I wish no old people died.
JONES (voice-over): The Associated Press reporting more than 9,000 recovering coronavirus patients in New York were transferred to nursing homes from hospitals early in the pandemic, including more than 6,300 previously disclosed admissions directly from hospitals and more than 2,700 readmissions of patients sent back to nursing homes from hospitals.
Cuomo, who was among the governors meeting with President Joe Biden, has faced criticism over a March 2020 state Health Department advisory that required nursing homes to admit and readmit patients with COVID- 19, something critics say may have further fueled the outbreak in those facilities.
Cuomo has said the policy was in line with federal guidance. Cuomo's administration has pushed back. State health commissioner Howard Zucker argued that 98 percent of New York nursing homes had COVID-19 cases before admitting a positive patient from a hospital and that the major driver of infections appears to be from asymptomatic staff.
The controversial directive was scrapped in May.
JONES: This latest controversy comes after Governor Cuomo was praised initially for his handling of the pandemic. He even wrote a best- selling book about leadership in a pandemic. His daily COVID briefings became appointment viewing during the worst of the outbreak here in New York.
And he was even award an international Emmy Founders Award for his use of television to inform and calm the public. Some people were even talking about how he should run for president. Well, now he faces a real crisis-- Athena Jones, CNN, New York.
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CABRERA: That does it for me. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. I will be live in the CNN NEWSROOM later today. I hope you will join me. Michael Holmes picks up CNN coverage right after the break. Good night.
