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House Holds Hearing on Insurrection; Gas Demand Spikes; Worst Fighting in Seven Years. Aired 9:30-10a ET.

Aired May 12, 2021 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Jamie Gangel, final thoughts as someone who has reported so deeply, like Dana and Manu, on this and spoken to Liz Cheney.

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Someone asked me yesterday if I thought she planned to run for president. I don't know the answer. But I think it's a possibility. I think that her words today about, I will do everything to make sure that the former president never gets close to the Oval Office, that's the battle cry.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. Yes. Yes. I mean the question is, does everything include running against him, right? And can she effectively, given the way the primaries are set up by the Republican Party?

GANGEL: Correct.

SCIUTTO: Dana Bash, Jamie Gangel, Manu Raju, thanks so much to all of you.

POPPY HARLOW, CNN ANCHOR: Still to come, more breaking news.

At the top of the next hour, and tied to what we just saw happen, by the way, former members of the Trump administration, leaders there, will testify on Capitol Hill. The former acting defense secretary is said to explain why he was reluctant to send troops to the Capitol during the insurrection on January 6th. Details ahead.

SCIUTTO: Plus, the cyberattack on a major pipeline has sparked fears of a gas shortage. A number of gas stations now out of fuel. I mean is this a result of actual shortages or are they being created by that fear? We're going to have the latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:35:44]

HARLOW: Well, in just a few minutes, a highly anticipated and really important moment on Capitol Hill. Former top Trump officials will testify before Congress, will defend the administration's actions before and during the January 6th insurrection.

SCIUTTO: Can they? Will they answer honestly?

CNN's Whitney Wild joins us now.

And, Whitney, three of the key witnesses testifying today, to the House Oversight Committee, they have firsthand knowledge of communications with the White House and the president, if any, in those key moments on January 6th. Former Acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen. That is a key question, is it not, today? Did they communicate to the White House they needed help? What was the response? They've danced around this issue. Will we get an answer today?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is the first time we're hearing from them publicly testify. So the hope is that, yes, we do get an answer.

Both men are going to be pressed, not only on their roles leading up to and the reaction to the insurrection on January 6th, but they will also be pressed on what they observed from the White House. And we know this because the House Overnight Committee, six weeks ago, requested communications between the White House and the Department of Justice, between the White House and the Department of Defense.

We at CNN have been trying to figure out what those documents might show. We might get some insight on that today.

Let's go quickly to just a couple excerpts from their opening remarks.

Former Secretary of Defense Christopher Miller, again testifying for the first time, is expected to say, according to prepared remarks, my concerns regarding the appropriate and limited use of the military in domestic matters were heightened by commentary in the media about the possibility of a military coup or that advisers to the president were advocating the declaration of martial law.

His prepared remarks indicate he was hyperaware of this concern, what he calls hysteria, that President Trump was going to try to utilize the military to decertify the election. That is a critical moment. We'll likely hear a lot from Christopher Miller on that.

Additionally, former Acting Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen is going to double down on the DOJ position that there was no widespread election fraud. He's an excerpt from his opening remarks.

During my tenure, DOJ maintained the position publicly announced previously that the department had presented with -- had been presented with no evidence of widespread voter fraud at a scale sufficient to change the outcome of the 2020 election, that it would not participate in any campaigns or political party's legal challenges to the certification of the Electoral College votes, and that there would be an orderly and peaceful transfer of power under the Constitution.

Both men thrusting former President Donald Trump right into the very center of this hearing on a stunning day on Capitol Hill, just minutes after House Republicans oust Liz Cheney for telling the truth about the big lie. So while this is on its face a fact-finding mission about what happened, both men are offering a firsthand account of what they observed. This is going to be an opportunity for House Democrats to score political points against former President Donald Trump and they will seize on that, Jim and Poppy.

SCIUTTO: Yes, can there be fact finding when the party has just decided to endorse a big lie? That's a question.

Whitney Wild, thanks very much.

Joining us now to discuss, former Secret Service agent and CNN law enforcement analyst Jonathan Wackrow.

Jonathan, good have you on.

I mean the counterpoint today could not be more sharp, right? I mean you have a party kicking out a leader because she was willing to tell the truth about January 6th. And you have a hearing trying to get to the bottom of it, right? I don't know how those two things are possible.

But I want to get to this point, because I asked Adam Kinzinger about this a short time ago. By continuing to endorse the big lie, is the party laying the groundwork for more violence? I want to play you his answer and get your thoughts.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): When you tell, you know, 74 million Americans that the election was stolen, that their vote didn't count, that democracy doesn't work and in some cases, you know, the QAnon lie of Satanist pedophiles running the government, if you truly believe that, by the way, what happened on January 6th isn't that far of a stretch. I mean because if that's truly the case, it's logical. And that's what happens when you continue to push the big lie because something like that could happen again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[09:40:00]

SCIUTTO: Is the party, are the leaders, Jonathan Wackrow, laying the ground for more violence by continuing not to stand up for the truth?

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, Jim, just think about -- it's been 126 days since this Capitol insurrection really. That was the manifestation of the big lie, right? That's when, you know, everything became -- went from theoretical to physical. And, you know, perpetrating that absolutely fuels the risk environment that, you know, surrounds the Capitol and the government as a whole.

And I think part of the problem is we've yet to hear the full narrative arc, from beginning to end regarding January 6th. Only the siloed (ph), you know, perspectives from witness testimony that, quite frankly, has only led to further confusion.

And as time goes on, we're going to see, you know, more finger pointing and excuses rather than a full understanding. So to -- you know, unfortunately today, expectations should be really low on seeing any type of measured results that will further clarify what preparations were made in advance based upon the known intelligence. And we know that intelligence was out there. And how these various groups actually responded to the day.

And there's one point that I want to make. It's very easy to blame the former president for the January 6th incident. And questions should be asked as to his involvement on that day in the response to the incident.

But remember, the National Guard was -- in calls for the National Guard, assistance in response was the contingency plan, right? That was plan b. The standing plan a, the security plan of the U.S. Capitol failed. The baseline security structure and everything else that is predicated upon that fell apart in the moments that a threat materialized. And this is why the formation of a separate, independent, bipartisan national commission investigating everything is so important.

HARLOW: So Christopher Miller is going to say this, quote, I want to address questions that have been raised in regard to the president's involvement in the response. He had none with respect to the Department of Defense efforts on January 6th. He had none.

Now, Miller will say he talked to the president for less than a minute on the day before, the 5th of January. But the fact that he's testifying under oath that he didn't talk to the president the entire day, this is, you know, the head of the DOD, on the day of the insurrection, what does it tell you, Jonathan?

WACKROW: Well, it tells me a lack of command and control. When the head of the Department of Defense, the acting head of the Department of Defense, in the moments of a crisis, can't turn to the commander in chief, the one that should be making the play call in response to this, that just shows that we have greater problems, you know, from that administration than we really ever had known before.

I mean I think that the, you know, the comments that there was a fear that, you know, the U.S. military would lead to fears of a military coup, I mean, quite frankly, that just undermines the credibility of the U.S. military, right?

They are -- they are a U.S. fighting force that's trained for all different types of operating environments. The National Guard does policing, you know -- you know, better than anybody else in terms of -- in moments of a crisis. And to marginalize them like that in his testimony, I find it absolutely stunning and, you know, I just am at a loss for words.

HARLOW: People will hear it all from him directly in, you know, 20 minutes' time when this starts.

Jonathan, thanks very much.

WACKROW: Thank you.

HARLOW: Also, for all of you watching who drive vehicles, you're thinking about gas prices right now, right? Panic at the pump as a critical pipeline remains largely shut after a cyberattack. Long lines, many gas stations actually running out of gas.

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[09:48:16]

SCIUTTO: Inflation rose more than 4 percent over the last 12 months. That's the largest increase since the year 2008. Just about everything is getting more expensive in the U.S.

This as there's a panic out there over possible supply shortages, really, and the fear that the panic is actually leading to more gas supply shortages than there actually are.

The White House will brief a bipartisan group of lawmakers on Colonial Pipeline cyberattack that sparked this run on gas. The company says they are making forward progress as they work to fully bring their pipeline back online.

HARLOW: Let's bring in our chief business correspondent, Christine Romans, and also our correspondent, Nick Valencia.

Nick, just start with us on what you're seeing there.

NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is the definition, Poppy and Jim, of panic buying here behind me in Smyrna. It was yesterday in Atlanta that we heard residents here that there was a possibility that there would be a gas shortage. That led to a lot of people going to the pumps. Some neighborhood gas stations actually ran out of gas. They were expecting to run out of gas here at about 9:00 a.m.

Alejandro Alvarado-Yanez, you came here. What -- you said the gas, this situation is actually affected your company?

ALEJANDRO ALVARADO-YANEZ, TRYING TO BUY GAS: Yes. Yes, (INAUDIBLE) gas yesterday for (INAUDIBLE). Nobody (INAUDIBLE).

VALENCIA: Yes, but your company has stopped (INAUDIBLE).

ALVARADO-YANEZ: Yes, my boss -- my boss has stopped yesterday, the company, yes.

VALENCIA: And what do you think when you showed up here, the line? (Speaking in foreign language).

ALVARADO-YANEZ : That's crazy, bro. That's crazy. You never -- you never see the (INAUDIBLE) no gas. It's crazy. Yes.

VALENCIA: Yes. Well, we wish you a lot of luck the rest of the day. We know it's been a situation here that a lot of residents are dealing with. Panic buying causing lines here. People were waiting ten minutes. And it was just a little while ago that I talked to some people that were filling up their gas tank and they said they're no longer able to take credit card here, only cash. I mean the situation, though, is, who carries cash around in their wallet these days, right?

[09:50:01]

If you're lucky enough, a guy said he had $20, was able to fill up his gas tank. There was another person who said they were out of premium gas. She was filling up her luxury car with regular gas, but that's what she had to do, she said, to get home.

Again, though, it is not really about the gas shortage as much as it is about the panic buying here in Atlanta and the Atlanta suburbs. A gas station owner says they're pumping about 1,000 gallons per hour. If you do the math, a 14-gallon tank, that's 71 cars per hour. And all day long, Jim and Poppy, we've seen that steady stream of cars come through here in the Atlanta suburbs.

Jim. Poppy.

SCIUTTO: Please keep that in mind, folks. This is panic buying. It does not reflect the actual state of the gas supply.

But, Christine, to these inflation numbers.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: Yes.

SCIUTTO: The inflation rate higher than expected at 4.2 percent in the last 12 months. This has been a concern, particularly with all the stimulus funding going into the economy. What does it mean for average Americans?

ROMANS: You know, it confirms what all of you have been feeling, right, the price of just about everything has been going up. From March to April, consumer prices, what you pay, up 0.8 percent. That's a big one-month move. We usually don't see that. And for the year, you're right, the hottest inflation rate that we've seen since 2008.

You look at a bar chart that we made for you. You can see the trend. It's not just one month out of the blue. You can see that month over month prices have been rising a little bit faster.

A few things going on here. You've got supply bottlenecks like in the gas market right now. But in all kinds of other things, a chip shortage has disrupted kind of production in the auto industry. You have used cars up 10 percent, prices up 10 percent in the month. We've never seen that before. The average price of a new car, above $25,000. We've never seen that before.

Airfares, those are also going up. Just in this report you can see how the disruption from COVID, and as we're reopening, is sort of rippling through all these different categories.

So what a lot of you have been feeling, you know, it confirms that your dollar is not going as far as it did last year or even a few months ago.

SCIUTTO: Yes.

HARLOW: Christine, you know, the White House has been asked about this over and over again. So, you know, we'll see where the number goes.

ROMANS: Is it temporary or is it the beginning of something? That's the big question.

HARLOW: Right. Transitory, as economists say (ph). We'll see.

Thanks, Romans.

SCIUTTO: Well, the death toll is climbing as Israelis and Palestinians exchange rocket fire. It is the worst violence there in nearly a decade. What's behind it? We're going to take you there live.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:56:58]

SCIUTTO: Attorneys say that police body cam video of Andrew Brown Jr.'s death shows an unjustified shooting in their view. Officers shot and killed Brown while trying to execute a warrant for his arrest in North Carolina just last month. Attorneys and prosecutors disagree about whether Brown was driving toward officers or away from them when they opened fire.

A family lawyer and two of Brown's sons watched about 20 minutes of the video Tuesday after a judge issued an order granting some limited access. They were not allowed to see the complete, unedited footage. Body camera video is not a public record, cannot be released without a court order under North Carolina law. Lawyers for the family say they will continue pushing to get all the video evidence released, not just to them, but the public.

HARLOW: Also this morning, a judge in Georgia is set to hear pretrial motions in the case against these three men charged in the murder of Ahmaud Arbery. You'll remember him, an unarmed black man shot while he -- shot and killed while he was jogging.

On Tuesday, Travis McMichael, Gregory McMichael and William Bryan appeared in person in federal court for the first time where they pleaded not guilty to federal hate crime charges and attempted kidnapping. The suspects claimed to be -- claimed to be conducting a citizen's arrest and say they acted in self-defense when they chased and then fatally shot Arbery in February of last year.

Well, a warning this morning from the United Nations. Israelis and Palestinians are, the U.N. says, on the verge of a full-scale war. Dozens are dead in the region as tensions continue to escalate. Palestinians militants in Gaza firing more rockets towards Israel overnight and Israel, with their air strikes continuing and now sending re-enforcement to several cities with mixed Israeli and Palestinian populations. It's really anyone's guess where this goes from here. SCIUTTO: CNN's Ben Wedeman joins us now from Jerusalem.

And, Ben, you have covered the conflict there well, for decades now. Tell us how this began and is there a path forward to reduce the hostilities?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it began a few weeks ago with tensions around the old city in Jerusalem about access to the Damascus Gate to Palestinians. Then it moved on to the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, where Israeli settlers are trying to forcibly evict Palestinians from their homes.

And it has quickly escalated from what was essentially a rising tensions in Jerusalem, to involve Hamas and Islamic jihad firing rockets into Israel. Israel responding with massive air strikes. And certainly, as the U.N. pointed out, it does appear to be heading toward full-scale war at a rate I've never seen before. Back in 2014, during the last buildup to a major war between Israel and Gaza, it took weeks.

[10:00:04]

This has basically just taken days.