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UCLA Student Charged for Role in Capitol Riot; Trump Calls for McConnell to be Replaced as Feud Intensifies; NYT: Pentagon Delayed Female Promotions over Fears of Trump Reaction. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired February 17, 2021 - 13:30   ET

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

[13:30:00]

TERESITA BATAYOLA, PRESIDENT & CEO, INTERNATIONAL COMMUNITY HEALTH SERVICES: I see this just as one of the 25 pilot community health centers around the country that the Biden administration will be sending direct shipments of vaccines to.

So we'll be able to help our patients a little bit faster.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: That is good news.

Teresita Batayola, thank you so much for being with us.

BATAYOLA: Thank you so much.

KEILAR: Just in, a UCLA student faces charges for his role in the capitol riot.

I want to bring in CNN's Shimon Prokupecz.

This is a person, Shimon, who was identified by tipsters. What else do you know?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME & JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, he was identified by tipsters, video and photos that were sent in by people who were watching what was happening on that day. And that is how the FBI identified him.

His name is Christian Secor. He is a UCLA student. Apparently, very known to people at the school. And that is what where -- where some of the tips -- where some of the tips originated from, Brianna.

And what the FBI says in the criminal complaint that was just released is that they have information that he is the founder of a group. There called -- a student group at the college, named "America First Bruins."

And the FBI is also saying that he's known to follow an extremist ideology. And that he invites white nationals to speak at engagements on the campus.

So this is someone that is known for perhaps certain ideology, extremist thinking. And this is the information that the FBI received. They also received photos and video of him sitting in the Senate chair

there on the floor of the Senate of the day of the insurrection.

They also say that there's a photo of him carrying a blue flag, and also a "Make America Great" hat. These are all things that they used, the FBI says, in identifying him.

The other thing, as you said here, arrested, he's charged with assaulting an officer and obviously other insurrection -- some of the crimes that we had seen related to the riots inside the capitol.

But this just shows that the FBI is also continuing to work this, continuing to work this, continuing to work and review tips and videos and photos that are still coming into them as they try to get a handle exactly on all the people that were involved -- Brianna?

KEILAR: All right, Shimon, thank you for that update, live for us here in Washington.

In the absence of Twitter, former President Trump still found a way to unleash on Senator Mitch McConnell. We'll roll the tape on how Trump contradicts himself with his own insults.

And just in, the "New York Times" reporting that promotions for female generals were delayed because of fears about how Trump would react while he was still in the White House.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:37:27]

KEILAR: Since Twitter banned Donald Trump, there has been mostly silence from the disgraced former president. No innermost thoughts, fewer insults, zero 2:00 a.m. outbursts, not even a sprinkle of cofefe.

But yesterday, the "Sound of Silence" was interrupted. Trump, apparently unable to relax into the irrelevance of post-presidential life, went full Simon and Garfunkel, saying, "Hello, darkness, my old friend, I've come to talk with you again."

On Saturday, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell ripped Trump apart for inciting the insurrection at the capitol right after voting to acquit him.

And Trump just couldn't not say something. The statement he released is pretty wild so let's dissect it.

Quote, "The Republican Party can never again be respected or strong with political leaders like Senator Mitch McConnell at its helm. McConnell's dedication to business-as-usual status-quo policies together with his lack of political insight, wisdom, skill, and personality has rapidly driven him from majority leader to minority leader, and it will only get worse."

From the political grave, Donald Trump, who didn't get re-elected, slams the guy who did. He slams the guy who helped him push his agenda, three Supreme Court justices and over 200 judicial nominees through Congress.

McConnell didn't always walk in lockstep with Trump rhetorically, all while other Republican member, who still hold leadership positions in Trump's fan club. But he diverged from Trump on rare occasion, and never with personal animus.

McConnell's time, from 2017 to 2021, may mostly be remembered for standing to the side as Trump wreaked havoc.

Whatever your opinion of Mitch McConnell, he is an astute politician and legislator. He was one of Trump's biggest assets in Washington, and Trump praised him over and over.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Thank you, Mitch. Great guy.

He's rock-ribbed, Kentucky leader. He's been a leader for a long time. There's nobody tougher. There's nobody smarter.

I know tough people. He's tough. He's Kentucky tough.

But we've been friends for a long time. We are probably now, despite what we read, we're probably now, I think, at least as far as I'm concerned, closer than ever before.

I have a feeling that Mitch McConnell in two years could do very good, very good.

[13:40:02]

You know, he goes down as the greatest leader in my opinion in history.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: But then McConnell, despite acquitting Trump, called a spade a spade, placing responsibility for inciting the January 6th riot firmly on Trump's shoulders.

And for Donald Trump, the truth does not set you a free. It makes him a target.

He goes on in his letter, quote, "The Democrats and Chuck Schumer play McConnell like a fiddle. They've never had it so good and they want to keep it that way."

Trump didn't even use the energy to conjure an original insult of McConnell. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I love our country. And our country has taken second fiddle.

The United States has been played beautifully like a fiddle because you had a different kind of a leader. We're not going to be played, OK?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Trump continues, quote, "In 2020, I received the most votes of any sitting president in history, almost 75 million."

Sure, but how it works is you also need to receive more votes than the person that you're running against. And Trump lost the popular vote to Joe Biden by more than seven million votes. And in the Electoral College, he lost by 74 votes.

Another paragraph in this letter, quote, "And then came the Georgia disaster where we should have won both U.S. Senate seats, but McConnell matched the Democrat offer of $2,000 stimulus checks with $600. How does that work? It became the Democrats' principal advertisement and a big winner for them, it was."

That's what Trump is blaming for the loss. This is interesting spin. Because by all accounts, Trump was MIA from the "Art of the Deal" on the COVID negotiations.

He chimed in every so often when the issue was in the headlines. And his $2,000 check push came out of nowhere in the 11th hour after the bill had passed. Trump blew up the entire thing on it.

And it wasn't just McConnell who was against that check size. It was pretty much across a large section of the Republican caucus.

Also on Georgia, Trump says, quote, "Many Republicans in Georgia voted Democrat or just didn't vote because of their anguish at their inept Governor Brian Kemp, Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, and the Republican Party for not doing its job on election integrity during the 2020 presidential race."

No. No. That is not what happened. The reason that some Republicans didn't vote in Georgia is because Donald Trump told them over and over that it was rigged.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: Mr. President, if you don't think that the presidential election was legitimate, if you think that it was stolen, what confidence do you expect voters in Georgia to have when they go to the polls to vote for, say, Loeffler or Perdue?

TRUMP: Well, I told them today, I think you're dealing with a very fraudulent system. I'm think -- I'm very worried about that.

Let them steal Georgia again, you'll never be able to look yourself in the mirror.

There's no way we lost Georgia. There's no way.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Keep in mind, McConnell is furious, according to sources. He blames Trump for the runoff losses in Georgia, which lost Republicans' control of the Senate. And of course, he got a demotion for it.

Trump says, quote, "It's was a complete election disaster in Georgia and certain other swing states. McConnell did nothing and will never do what needs to be done in order to secure a fair and just electoral system in the future."

Translation here, McConnell wouldn't overturn the will of the voters. Because that is what Trump wanted. He still can't handle the truth that, in Georgia and other swing states, they just weren't that into you.

Of course, McConnell is not innocent in the propagation of the big lie that the election was stolen from Trump, when it was not.

McConnell refused to acknowledge Biden as president-elect until December. McConnell didn't speak out against Trump's lies about the election until he did so tepidly days before the insurrection.

Trump goes on in his letter, quote, "Likewise, McConnell has no credibility on China because of his family's substantial Chinese business holdings. He does nothing on this tremendous economic and military threat."

Now this is actually perhaps the wildest part of the letter. It seems that Trump is saying out loud that a member of his own cabinet, for all but a week of his entire presidency, was compromised by China.

Of course, he's referring here to Elaine Chao, the former transportation secretary.

Chao has not responded to Trump's attack. McConnell is her husband. Her family has a U.S. shipping business with ties to China.

The House launched an ethics investigation into those ties in 2019, but it's unclear if it ever went anywhere.

At the time, her spokesman blamed it all on media attacks, which undermined her long career of public service. That was the line.

Chao resigned just after the insurrection. But investigations and ethics was certainly not disqualifying in a Trump administration.

And this part of Trump's statement is a straight-up throwback to the olden days of Twitter, before Trump got the boot on the platform in early January.

[13:44:59]

Quote, "Mitch is a dour, sullen, and unsmiling political hack. And if Republican Senators are going to stay with him, they will not win again."

But he forgets that McConnell does smile, and he does win. And not only that, he smiles when he wins, as he did when he used Trump to get his own political agenda across the finish line.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): He's really happy we still have a Republican majority. And we look forward to working with him. I think most of the things that he's likely to advocate, we're going to be enthusiastic for.

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: If a Supreme Court justice was to die next year, what would you do?

MCCONNELL: We'd fill it.

(LAUGHTER)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: And in Trump's final paragraph of his middle-school roasting of McConnell, quote, "Prior to the pandemic, we produced the greatest economy and jobs numbers in the history of our country. And, likewise, our economic recovery after COVID was the best in the world."

You notice that there? The keyword in that sentence, "after" COVID? Does he mean after he had COVID? Because we're still knee deep in it. We, being America.

That is thanks in part to Trump. He didn't have a vaccine rollout plan. He didn't have a mitigation plan that could open the economy safely. And he constantly mocked mask wearing and rejected science.

But since only seven Republicans voted to convict Donald Trump in his impeachment trial, he can enjoy his role as the lying insult machine that keeps on giving from the comfort of Mar-a-Lago or the golf course.

Mitch McConnell, who voted to acquit Trump, can't just take this letter and return to sender. Trump is sending it from the political graveyard right now but there's no guarantee he doesn't rise from the dead in four years.

And just in, Pentagon leaders delayed promotions for two generals out of fear that former President Trump wouldn't approve them because they weren't white men. The "New York Times" reporter who broke the story is going to join us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:51:25] KEILAR: This just in, the "New York Times" reporting today that near the end of the Trump administration, top Pentagon brass delayed promotion of female generals because they were afraid how Trump would react.

According to "The Times," then-Defense Secretary Mark Esper and General Mark Milley, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, agreed to an unusual strategy, which was holding back on recommending the promotions until after the election.

I want so to discuss this with our Pentagon correspondent, Barbara Starr, and the co-author of "The Times" piece, Eric Schmidt, who is with us. He covers national security and terrorism for "The Times."

Eric, first things first here. Why did Esper and Milley do this?

ERIC SCHMIDT, SENIOR WRITER FOR NATIONAL SECURITY & TERRORISM, "THE NEW YORK TIMES": Brianna, as you said, they were very concerned. They had two very accomplished general officers they wanted to promote to elite four-star commands.

But they feared if they sent the recommendations to the White House, either President Trump or some of his top aides would reject them.

These are jobs traditionally held by white men. And they feared, because of President Trump's disparaging comments about women and about his kind of soured feelings towards both Mr. Esper and General Milley, he would reject the two recommendations and replace them with less-qualified candidates before he left office.

KEILAR: So they were actually trying to protect the careers of these women, which I think is the saddest part that they had to here.

You got pushback from some former Trump administration officials saying the promotions were held up by timing and not gender. Does that stack up with your reporting?

SCHMIDT: That's right. This was a pushback. They are pushing back against the notion there would have been any discrimination against women, against these two senior officers, Lieutenant General Laura Richardson, of the Army, and General Jacqueline Van Ovost, of the Air Force.

It's true that there was a very short amount of time left in the administration to try to get this over to the White House and up to the Senate for approval. But the Pentagon did push through some top male officers, including one very highly Special Operations command.

So the concern of General Milley and Mr. Esper were, let's wait this one out, hope President Biden wins the election, and we'll get a better shake, a better look at these nominations and these two accomplished officers then.

KEILAR: How's is the Pentagon, Barbara, responding to this now?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: There's been no public comment from the Pentagon. But I think for anybody, including my colleagues at the "New York Times," who were observers of this, it really doesn't come as any surprise.

I mean, what is so sad, you had two incredibly accomplished military officers, beginning and end of story, accomplished, highly qualified military officers.

And the two-top officials here at the Pentagon were apparently so afraid of the president of the United States and his attitude about women that they would not proceed.

They would have had to have proceeded, found their courage and done it, after the election, had Mr. Trump won.

With Mr. Biden now president of the United States, presumably, they feel much more at ease pushing for promotions and nominations to be confirmed by the Senate of the most qualified people that they can find.

I think, really, one of the underlying all of this, one of the issues is military women everywhere who serve will have to decide what they think about this.

Was it a good idea to hope to hold back and hope you could get these women through under a different president, or should Esper and Milley have openly pushed for these women and not set them aside, because they were worried about Trump?

[13:55:10]

KEILAR: Yes. I mean, this is a sad story. Women are essential in the military. And these women are very accomplished.

Barbara, thank you so much.

Eric, great reporting. Thank you for sharing it with us.

There are millions who are struggling without power across Texas. Officials say the problem is man-made. It's not Mother Nature. It's not just mother nature. I'm going to talk to a mother who has had to sleep in her car with her 2-year-old just to say warm enough.

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