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Biden Awards Medal Of Honor To Three Army Soldiers; Rep. Jim Jordan Reveals He Sent Coup Plan To Mark Meadows. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired December 16, 2021 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Signed, Joseph R. Biden, the president of the United States

Master Plumlee, will you please come forward.

Attention to orders.

The president of the United States of America, authorized by act of Congress, March 3, 1863, has posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor to Staff Sergeant Earl D. Plumlee, U.S. Army, for conspicuous gallantly at the risk of his life and above and beyond the call of duty.

Staff Sergeant Earl D. Plumlee distinguished himself by acts of gallantry above and beyond the call of duty on August 28, 2013, while serving as a weapons sergeant, C Company, Fourth Battalion, First Special Forces Group Airborne in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

Sergeant Plumlee instinctively responded to an enemy attack on Forward Operating Bases Ghazni (ph), Ghazni (ph), Afghanistan, that began with an explosion that tore a 60-foot breach in the base's perimeter wall.

Ten insurgents wearing Afghan national uniforms and suicide vests poured through the breach. Sergeant Plumlee and five others mounted two vehicles and raced towards the explosion.

When his vehicle was engaged by enemy fire, Sergeant Plumlee reacted instinctively using his body to shield the driver prior to exiting the vehicle and engaging enemy insurgents 15 meters to the vehicle's right with his pistol.

Without cover and complete disregard for his own safety, he advanced on the enemy, engaging multiple insurgents with only his pistol.

Upon reaching cover, he killed two insurgents, one with a grenade and the other with by detonating the insurgent's suicide vest using precision sniper fire.

Again, disregarding his own safety, Sergeant Plumlee advanced alone against the enemy, engaging several insurgents at close range, including one whose suicide vest exploded a mere seven meters from his position. Under intense enemy fire, Sergeant Plumlee temporarily withdrew to

cover, where he had joined up with another soldier and together they mounted another counter-attack.

Under fierce enemy fire, Sergeant Plumlee again moved from cover to attack the enemy forces. Advancing within seven meters of a previously wounded insurgent, who detonated his suicide vest, blowing Sergeant Plumlee against a nearby wall.

Sergeant Plumlee ignoring his injuries, quickly regained his faculties and reengaged the enemy forces. Intense enemy fire once against forced the two soldiers to temporarily withdraw.

Undeterred, Sergeant Plumlee joined a small group of American Polish soldiers, who moved from cover once again to counter-attack the infiltrators.

As the force advanced, Sergeant Plumlee engaged with an insurgent to his front left. He then swung around and engaged another insurgent, who charged the group from the rear. The insurgent detonated the suicide vest, mortally wounding a U.S. soldier.

Sergeant Plumlee again, with complete disregard for his own safety, ran to the wounded soldier, carried him to safety and rendered first aid. He then methodically cleared the area, remained in a security posture, and continued to scan for any remaining threats.

Staff Sergeant Earl D. Plumlee's extraordinary heroism and devotion to duty are in keeping with the finest tradition of military service and reflect great credit upon himself, the Special Forces regiment, and the United States Army. Signed, Joseph R. Biden, the president of the United States.

(APPLAUSE)

[14:35:22]

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, please join me as we conclude this ceremony in prayer.

Most holy God, as we leave this ceremony, inspire us and lead us to greater acts of service. May we have the audacity to follow the examples of the warriors we honored here today.

Bless Master Sergeant Plumlee, the Cashe and Celiz families as the names of these men are etched into our nation's proud history. May they leadership and legacies mark the truest mark for us to seek.

And may we all strive to be strong and courageous in the face of challenges that life may bring.

Finally, we pray that you will give our leaders wisdom as they serve our nation and our army's people and that you will bless and protect the men and women of our armed forces as they preserve those precious freedoms.

I ask these things in your most gracious and holy name. Amen.

(MUSIC)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ladies and gentlemen, please remain in your seats as the president and first lady, and vice president and second gentleman depart.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: Oh, my gosh, what a powerful ceremony we have been watching. This Medal of Honor ceremony honoring just men of incredible valor and self-sacrifice and bravery.

Let's bring in CNN Pentagon correspondent, Oren Liebermann. He's here along with CNN military analyst, Lieutenant General Mark Hertling.

Oren, first to you.

These stories of what the soldiers put themselves through for their fellow soldiers, just the pain, the sacrifice, the bravery they went through.

I know that some of these awards were for actions back in 2005 and 2013. Their families must be so relieved that this finally happened.

OREN LIEBERMANN, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: This is a long time coming for two of these families. The family of Master Sergeant Earl Plumlee, who has waited, as you pointed out, since 2013 for this, and, of course, for Sergeant First Class Alwyn Cashe.

They were both award Silver Starts but there was a push by the families, by the men they served with and others to make these Medal of Honor awards. And that is what we saw before us today.

I don't want to go over the stories again. We heard them there first from President Joe Biden and then, as the award itself was honored, we heard the stories once again.

But I had a chance to speak with both Plumlee as well as the sister of Cashe and the wife of Celiz. And I'll say the short anecdotes for the moments I had to sit down with them because they are all incredible stories.

Master Sergeant Plumlee said he always looked with awe upon those who wore the Medal of Honor. And I made a point of asking him, that he is now one of those people. His story is now etched into American history along with those other stories.

He said it hadn't really hit him yet. Perhaps most impressive, he came back from deployment for the ceremony. He will go back on deployment in just a few weeks.

For him, it's a day in the office, and if another soldier were in his shoes on that day, it would be that soldier standing up there for the Medal of Honor.

His humility was impressive as I had a chance to speak with him. For Casanole (ph) Cashe, the sister of Sergeant First Class Alwyn Cashe, I asked her if the way Christmas-come-early. She said this was better than that, it's like winning the lottery. She has waited for this day, sometimes patiently, sometimes less patiently for a long time.

Her brother had been on deployment before, and she had told him, "Duck and come home." Through tears, she was able to sort of smile and tell me that was an assignment he didn't quite get right, he didn't quite follow that assignment.

He always took care of his men that first, as he did on that day, as he pulled them out of that burning Bradley fighting vehicle. And that's why his name has also now been etched into American history.

And for Sergeant First Class Christopher Celiz, I sat down with his wife and she said the same thing. She told her husband, "Don't be a hero, come home." He said that was a promise he wasn't sure he could keep.

When he was given a tremendous opportunity to save his men, even at the cost was his own life, he took that opportunity and made sure the men he was serving with had a chance to be evacuated on a helicopter.

Putting his own life at risk, his own life in the line of fire to make sure others could come home.

That's why we watched that ceremony, a very powerful ceremony that concluded just moments ago.

CAMEROTA: Oh, my gosh, Oren, so powerful, so effecting. They're just the best among us.

General, what was your takeaway from listening to all of this?

LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING, CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Alisyn, it's interesting. I want to reinforce what Oren just said because, you know, a lot of people ask the question, why do soldiers fight? They fight for each other.

[14:40:03]

The fact that, as they read these citations -- the citations don't really describe the action.

Sergeant Cashe, it wasn't talked about during the citation, but as he went back and forth to the Bradley fighting vehicle -- and by the way, being a tanker, and having worked in armored warfare, I know the number-one concern of any Army crewman is fire.

When he went back and forth three different times with a soaked uniform in jet fuel that they put inside these vehicles to make sure they run correctly, it was so intense, the vehicle was burning so deeply, the second time he went back, he took all his clothes off.

The description of him saving individuals just wearing his helmet and his flack vest and his boots is just something that comes in further in the description of his citation.

You know, and the continued comments throughout his hospitalization at Brook Medical Center, where they take all the burn patients. He repeatedly woke up and said, with 72 percent of his body burned, are my guys OK? That was his only interest.

When you talk about Sergeant First Class Celiz, a member of the First of the 75th Ranger, the storied unit. The things he did to protect a helicopter that was taking away his fellow wounded soldiers, and he stayed next to the helicopter to ensure the pilot wasn't shot. It's phenomenal.

And then Plumlee, you know, basically diving into an attack where all of the enemy were wearing suicide vests. So they were not only shooting at them but the potential of torching off those vests.

You know, the courage, the selflessness. Each one of these individuals placing themselves in extreme danger to save their fellow soldiers while adhering to their oath, that's what happens in the military.

By the way, I need to say this. While all three of them were soldiers in different types of organizations, Master Sergeant Plumlee spent most of his career in the Marine Corps before transferring to Special Forces in the Army.

I think we have to give the Marines a bit of credit for training him to be the kind of soldier he is.

CAMEROTA: General Hertling, I always appreciate talking to about all of this. I know how emotional it is for you as it is for all of us who just listened to that ceremony.

Oren Liebermann, thank you for telling us more about their families.

We really appreciate both of you.

Now to other news. We now know more about the texts between sitting lawmakers and the White House around the January 6th insurrection. Will those lawmakers face any consequences? The latest on the investigation, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:47:25]

CAMEROTA: We now know the identity of one of the lawmakers who was texting with Mark Meadows before the January 6th insurrection.

Republican Congressman Jim Jordan forwarded a text message to then- White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, outlining a legal strategy for how the Trump team could overturn the will of the voters and falsely claim victory in the 2020 election.

CNN congressional correspondent, Ryan Nobles, is live for us on Capitol Hill.

Ryan, what did Congressman Jordan's texts say?

RYAN NOBLES, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Alisyn, we saw a portion of this text read on Monday night during the business meeting the Select Committee held as they were outlining the contempt report against Mark Meadows.

What this text revealed was a legal strategy that Jim Jordan forwarded on to Mark Meadows suggesting that Vice President Mike Pence had the ability to essentially decide which electors were cast constitutionally and which ones weren't and just toss out the ones that he didn't agree with.

This is what the full test read. It said, "On January 6, 2021, Vice President Mike Pence, as president of the Senate, should call out all electoral votes that he believes are unconstitutional and no electoral votes at all."

That was the only portion that was read Monday night.

This is the rest of it that we've obtained.

It said, "In accordance with guidance from founding father, Alexander Hamilton, and judicial precedence, no legislative act, wrote Alexander Hamilton in Federalist Number 28, contrary to the Constitution, can be valid."

There's some other legal cases that they cite. We're not going to read all of them.

But essentially, the premise here was that Pence, all by himself, could stand in the way of the certification of those electoral votes on January 6th.

Now that was received, this text from Jim Jordon on January 5th, the day before the certification process took place.

His office did confirm that he forwarded that text, but they tried to make it seem as though Jordan wasn't necessarily endorsing this plan, that he was just passing along the information.

This was a statement from his staff to us: It said, quote, "Mr. Jordan forwarded the text to Mr. Meadows, and Mr. Meadows certainly knew it was a forward."

But he still presented that information and included a word document that had more extensive theories about this questionable legal tactic.

It shows, again, Alisyn, the intense pressure campaign that was on Vice President Mike Pence at the time that Mark Meadows was apparently a big part of.

CAMEROTA: OK. Ryan Nobles, thank you very much.

Let's find out what all of this means.

Joining us now is CNN political commentator, Alyssa Farah-Griffin. She's the former White House director of strategic communications under Trump. And CNN legal analyst, Jennifer Rodgers. She's a former federal prosecutor.

[14:50:01]

Ladies, great to see you.

Alyssa, I want to start with you, because I know you've talked before, you texted Mark Meadows on that day, trying to get him to do the right thing, as so many people were.

And I just want to read your text to him that we now know thanks to the committee. "You guys have to say something. Even if the president is not willing to put out a statement, you should go to the cameras and say we condemn this, please stand down. If you don't, people are going to die."

And of course, Alyssa, as you pointed out, that came true, sadly.

Did you hear back from Mark Meadows after that text?

ALYSSA FARAH-GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I did not hear back from Mark Meadows and actually haven't spoken to him since that text.

But it echoes what a number of, as you all have reported, FOX News hosts were imploring him to do, the president's own son was imploring him and the president to do it, which was condemn the violence in real time.

But, no, I didn't hear back. And I suspect many of those other text messages went unanswered.

CAMEROTA: Were you texting Mark Meadows that day, Alyssa, because you thought he was with the president? Were they in the same room when this was all unfolding?

FARAH-GRIFFIN: I wasn't aware if he was or wasn't. It was my hope that he could get the message or get the counsel to President Trump.

As I also noted, I tried calling the White House through Signal, which is a system to reach the president because I also hoped to counsel him as well.

I certainly did not reach Donald Trump. But I just thought anyone who had a platform or a voice to condemn the violence while it was happening and to try to stop it had an obligation to do so.

CAMEROTA: So, Jen, now that we know from the committee that there were lawmakers that day who were communicating with Mark Meadows but not to try to stop what was happening -- actually, the Mark Meadows text you read was the day before, and it was basically a blueprint, he thought, for how to overturn the election results.

And I just want to play for you something that Congressman Kinzinger, who is on the committee, now says his hunch is about some lawmakers, sitting lawmakers. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL): I certainly believe -- and again, this is not based on anything I know from the committee yet. But I certainly believe members of Congress knew what was going to happen. Some members knew. I certainly believe some members instigated this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: If that turns out to be true, what are the consequences? Legally, what are the consequences if they somehow had prior knowledge or were even in cahoots with some of the violent insurrectionists?

JENNIFER RODGERS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: There are a couple issues here. If they are found to have known about the possibility of violence to push those people to march through the capitol, that's a whole new ball game, right?

In theory, they could be charged with the obstruction of the Congress and --

(CROSSTALK)

CAMEROTA: And who would charge them?

RODGERS: The DOJ would have to charge them.

That's the wrinkle here. We haven't seen a lot of appetite by the DOJ to actually look to the inner circle of Trump and to the higher ups. They charged nearly 700 people but those are the low-level people. So we'll see about that.

The other thing is what they were doing was certainly an attempted coup.

But what these texts are about is the legal part of it. In other words, they're actually trying, within the processes set up to certify the voters, to stop that from happening.

So they won't be charged based on that. They would have to, instead, know about the illegal way to do the attack.

CAMEROTA: OK. But are there legal underpinnings? What Jim Jordan forwarded, that founding fathers world salad, that he forwarded on to Mark Meadows, is there something legitimate there?

RODGERS: No, that memo was a piece of garbage. No one with a passing acquaintance with the law -- and Jim Jordan, as far as I can tell, I don't think he's a lawyer. I was told he went to law school but never passed the bar.

But he's a lawmaker so should have a passing acquaintance, could bypass that. I mean, he basically quotes the most-impressive part, which is that Alexander Hamilton, at some point, said something that is unquestionably true: An unconstitutional statute is no statute at all.

That doesn't mean the memo says anything worthwhile. They give absolutely not a shred of evidence for why the statute says how electors are selected and how the vote is certified is unconstitutional.

CAMEROTA: Alyssa, I don't want to sound cynical but should any of us be surprised at this point that, the day before January 6th, Congressman Jim Jordan was still trying to turn over the election?

FARAH-GRIFFIN: I think it underscores two things. A is the incredible pressure that was put on Vice President Pence to overturn the democratic process, but also how willing some lawmakers were willing to go to just not accept the results of the election and find some other path of recourse.

What I think will be interesting in the coming days is to find out which set of lawmakers sent the January 7th text, which is the one that seems to indicate to me some sort of intent and involvement.

It basically says, you know, he expresses disappointment that things didn't go the way they planned on January 6th, meaning they couldn't overturn 80-plus million votes for Joe Biden.

That to me is something where I would be curious if there could be some kind of criminal prosecution.

[14:55:01]

Whereas, the Jim Jordan text is really sharing a conspiracy theory. I don't know that it necessarily shows involvement.

CAMEROTA: Any thoughts on that, Jen?

RODGERS: Well, it is interesting because, by January 7th, of course, we know that the very last-ditch effort, right, sending the mob to the capitol to actually physically stop that from happening, and thereby putting physical pressure on Mike Pence and the others to just throw over the whole thing, that didn't work.

That is a different ball game. You're still going to have to show that link of they knew it could happen, they were pushing for it to happen.

But I also want to know who sent that text.

CAMEROTA: But what about President Trump, I mean, who did nothing, as far as we can tell thus far from the investigation, while police officers were being maimed. Will there be legal consequences?

RODGERS: It depends on the Department of Justice. We just have not seen them be interested in investigating Trump and his close allies on this. Maybe they will.

I think the Select Committee is trying to head toward a criminal referral for the actual -- not just the criminal contempt but the actual crime itself. But Merrick Garland doesn't seem to want to go there.

If they were investigating this, Alisyn, they would not let the Select Committee proceed the way they have. They are stepping out of the way. And that, to me, says they really just don't want to do it.

CAMEROTA: Alyssa, as someone who was so close to this and who was trying to stop January 6th as it was happening, and as who saw the inner workings, as you did, of the White House, I mean, now that some of this is coming to light, what are your thoughts?

FARAH-GRIFFIN: I think it's deeply disturbing. Listen, I worked for Donald Trump and agreed with probably 75 percent of his policies.

But the fact that people around him thought they had the right to disenfranchise 80-million-plus voters because they didn't get their way in the election is horrifying.

I think we'll see the repercussions for year to come of basically just, you know, questioning the democratic process, writ large.

I worry, honestly, for midterms to see other smaller candidates try to emulate this if they don't win. It sets a terrible precedent.

And many people around Donald Trump know he didn't actually win the election. They just decided they're going to stick around for the grift. They're going to continue to tell him what he wants to hear. Many of the lawmakers as well.

So I'm just hoping people start being honest because this is a terrible path for our country to go down.

CAMEROTA: Alyssa Farah-Griffin, Jennifer Rodgers, thank you both.

FARAH-GRIFFIN: Thank you.

CAMEROTA: Great to talk to you.

So in minutes, the president and vice president will meet with members of the White House COVID team on the Omicron variant. What's the plan? We'll bring that to you.

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