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Harris Within Yards of Pipe Bomb Discovered at DNC on Jan. 6, 2021; Trump Attacks Prosecutors Investigating Him, Calls for "Biggest Protests Ever," Floats Pardons for Jan. 6th Rioters If Re-Elected; Atlanta-Based D.A. Asks FBI for Protection after Trump Comments; Jan 6th Committee Subpoenas 14 Republicans Tied to Fake Elector Scheme; Biden's New Warning for Russia as U.N. Security Council Meets. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired January 31, 2022 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

JOHN KING, CNN HOST: Thanks for your time on "Inside Politics" today. I hope to see you back here this time tomorrow.

Don't forget, you can also listen to our podcast. Download "Inside Politics" wherever you get your podcasts.

We'll see you back here tomorrow.

Ana Cabrera picks up our coverage right now.

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Hello. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York. Thank you so much for being here.

We're tracking a flurry of new developments stemming from the capitol attack.

CNN has exclusively learned a frightening new detail. On January 6th, of last year, then-Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris came within just a few yards of a pipe bomb placed outside the Democratic National Committee headquarters.

And we've learned Harris was inside that building for nearly two hours before the device was discovered and she was evacuated.

You'll recall, authorities found two viable bombs that day rigged to egg timers. Both were later robotically disabled. But more than a year later, no arrests have been made.

And if former President Trump were to have his way, the person responsible might very well be in the running for a presidential pardon.

Here's the outrageous promise Trump made to some of the capitol attackers over the weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: If I run and if I win, we will treat those people from January 6th fairly. We will treat them fairly.

(CHEERING)

TRUMP: And if it requires pardons, we will give them pardons because they are being treated so unfairly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Now during that rally, Trump also lied about the 2020 election. He called the people leading investigations into his actions and his businesses racist. And he urged his supporters to take to the streets.

We'll break down all of these headlines.

Let's start in Washington. And Whitney Wild is one of our reporters who uncovered this alarming information about Kamala Harris' close brush with the DNC pipe bomb.

Whitney, walk us through the new details you've learned. And give us a sense for why it has taken more than a year for this to become public.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Let me bring you back to January 5th, 2021. It was between 7:30 p.m. and around 8:00 p.m. that night that someone, who remains at large, put a pipe bomb right here, Ana.

Back then, there were bushes here. There were benches here. All of this was caught on video here at the Democratic National Committee headquarters.

Fast forward to January 6th, around 11:30 a.m., and Kamala Harris' detail, her motorcade pulled right around here, pulling right into this garage, which is just yards from where the pipe bomb was found.

Further, Ana, we know she entered at 11:30 a.m. The pipe bomb was discovered at 1:06 p.m. She was evacuated through an alternate route at 1:14 p.m.

We're learning all this because the reality is, while we know a lot, there are still so many outstanding details we don't know.

Simply because it was such an enormous day in terms of the amount of protectees that needed protection from various law enforcement agencies, the thousands of rioters descending on the capitol.

The degree of detail that we have about what happened at the capitol is well known but still don't know that much about what happened throughout the city.

What we've learned from law enforcement officials is that the Secret Service, which was responsible for her protection that day, did sweep the driveway, the parking deck, the entrances and exits.

So clearly, there was some advance work done but something was missed.

That same law enforcement source tells CNN that Kamala Harris was evacuated through an alternate route.

When she was evacuated, she did not come anywhere near this pipe bomb.

But, Ana, it's an example of just how much worse it could have been and, further, how many gaps in security there were throughout this city.

And the reality is the chaos of the day, the strains on law enforcement created the perfect environment for bad actors to exploit those security gaps.

Back to you.

CABRERA: Wow. Incredible reporting.

Thank you, Whitney, for giving us a look at where that is and how it all unfolded.

Let's bring in law enforcement analyst and former Secret Service agent under President Obama, Jonathan Wackrow.

Jonathan, thanks for being with us here.

We're told there was a security sweep that day. So how does a vice president-elect get that close to a bomb? Was this a security lapse?

JONATHAN WACKROW, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, no, it's not necessarily a security lapse.

And I think that what we do know is we have been told the Secret Service, who was responsible for the vice president-elect on that day, they went through their standard protocols.

They swept the interior of the building. They swept the driveway. They swept the parking deck, and the arrival and entrances of the building itself.

But the reality is there's always going to be this line of demarcation between secure and unsecure zones.

And while it's -- this device was uncomfortably close to the motorcade of the vice president, what we don't know is what type of mitigation for this type of threat was put in place by the Secret Service.

[13:05:02]

I think you have to think about the way that they conduct their protective both advances and operations. It's really with a multi- layered approach where there's no single point of failure.

So what we don't know is what type of armored vehicle was she in. Was there any type of electronic countermeasures put into place?

And then there's the general tactics that Secret Service agents deploy when arriving to sites to literally mitigate this type of risk exposure because it is -- in the trade it's called the end of the deadly diamonds, with a known location that protects the arrivees.

The Secret Service is very keenly aware of how to protect that arrival point.

CABRERA: We're looking at video, as you were discussing there, Jonathan, of actions on January 5th. It's believed that this pipe bomb was put there the night before.

So it would have been in place prior to the then-Vice President-Elect Kamala Harris' arrival at the DNC headquarters.

And this person in the video, we believe, has not been identified or caught by law enforcement.

But going back to the moments that they discovered this device, and then there's this evacuation that takes place, we learned, after it was discovered.

Took about seven minutes for them to get the then-vice president-elect out of there. And it happened as people were beginning to descend on the capitol.

What kinds of decisions are being made in those seven minutes?

WACKROW: Listen, that is seven critical minutes where, you know, information flows are rapid. Decisions have to be made tactically on what to do next. Right?

You don't know if this is part of a multifaceted attack on that location, if it's a diversionary tactic.

What has to happen is the Secret Service, they have a known threat, what they'll do is move the protectees away from that threat. They'll create distance in shielding from that explosive device.

Then they'll go through their protocols. They're going to evacuate the protectees in a very safe and methodical fashion through a different location and then bring them to a safe environment.

This is something that Secret Service agents and officers, along with the Metropolitan Police, our law enforcement partners, they train for constantly is this type of, what they call emergency action, how to immediately identify that threat and then react to it.

Now seven minutes may seem like a long time for a lot of people. But this is the process.

You don't want to do anything hasty in these moments because what the worst thing you can do is move the vice president-elect from one hostile environment into something else.

You have to make sure that you're going into a safe environment at all times under the protective methodology.

CABRERA: Thank goodness nothing happened. Again, that device was eventually disabled but we're told it was viable. Jonathan Wackrow, really appreciate your time and expertise. Thanks so

much for being here.

WACKROW: Thanks.

CABRERA: Let's circle back to the former president's dangerous rhetoric over the weekend.

In addition to dangling pardons for those convicted of crimes tied to the capitol attack, Trump also tried to stir up some vitriol against the people investigating him or his businesses.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: If these radical, vicious, racist prosecutors do anything wrong or illegal, I hope we are going to have in this country the biggest protest we have ever had in Washington, D.C., in New York, in Atlanta and elsewhere, because our country and our elections are corrupt. They're corrupt.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: That call to action already has one district attorney asking the FBI for more security.

CNN justice correspondent, Jessica Schneider, is joining us.

Jessica, the district attorney investigating Trump's election interference scheme in Georgia is now taking new precautions following those comments. What are you learning?

JESSICA SCHNEIDER, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: This is D.A. Fannie Willis. Ana, she's asking for the FBI's help. This is a request she sent out to the FBI almost immediately after Trump's rally on Saturday night.

Where you heard him. He took aim at several of the officials, not only in Georgia but also in New York, all three of whom are black. They're all investigating him or his allies or his business.

So D.A. Fannie Willis, in Georgia, in particular, she's very concerned about Trump's rhetoric so she's asking the FBI to step in.

She's even telling the FBI that she had already heard from people unhappy with her investigation into Trump and his allies for possible election interference.

And now that he's ramped up this rhetoric against her and others, she's asking the FBI in particular for two things.

Here's what she said in the letter that she sent out to the special agent in charge of the FBI's Atlanta field office.

She said, "I'm asking that you immediately conduct a risk assessment of the Fulton County courthouse and government center. And that you provide protective resources to include intelligence and federal agents. It is imperative that these resources are in place well in advance of the convening of the special purpose grand jury."

Because, remember, as we learned, last week, that special grand jury will sit beginning May 2nd. Ana, they'll be able to subpoena people for testimony in the D.A.'s probe and compel discovery.

[13:10:07]

So obviously, the D.A. here very concerned about possible threats to anyone involved in that investigation, especially since, presumably, they'll be sitting at that courthouse beginning in May.

Potentially, that courthouse and the other federal buildings around there, the state buildings around there could be targeted.

At least that's the view of the D.A. And she wants the FBI to get involved -- Ana?

CABRERA: Especially with that rhetoric and that call to action.

Jessica Schneider, thanks so much.

Let's discuss with CNN's senior legal analyst and former federal prosecutor, Laura Coates. She has a brand-new book called "Just Pursuit, A Black Prosecutor's Fight for Fairness."

Also joining us is former Republican congressman and CNN political commentator, Charlie Dent.

Laura, Trump calling for massive protests, quote, "the biggest we've ever had." Specifically in the places where he's under investigation.

How do you interpret that? Does it sound like he's calling for another January 6th moment?

LAURA COATES, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: He's calling for an even bigger one. Because he called that a protest, which we know led to, including seditious conspiracy charges has been called insurrection.

So if you're talking about a bigger protest than what he initially called to action in January, then the world should brace themselves for what he's saying.

Remember, this is the former executive, head of executive branch of government, which enforces the law.

It is unconscionable that somebody would try to rile up supporters and try to get people to believe that the prosecution and investigation into matters that put our democracy in peril, that our investigations not even convictions yet or official charges, that we should be protesting that?

That's not how our system is supposed to work. And he knows that.

But, of course, he's trying to plant the seeds, trying to capitalize on what he saw back on January 6th.

And it leads him into hot water in Fulton County. And of course, there's a select committee looking into this very issue as well, and the DOJ.

CABRERA: And quickly, your reaction to this claim that all these prosecutors are racists?

COATES: It's absurd. What about them is racist? The fact that they are investigating people who are committing potential crimes against democracy?

I think they are protecting red, white and blue. Doesn't seem to have a color in mind other than preserving what we have in black and white on our Constitution through our amendments and our codified laws in this country.

That is it, Mr. Former president.

CABRERA: Congressman, at that same weekend rally, Trump also suggested that he would pardon some of these January 6th rioters if he's re- elected.

We did hear some pushback from a couple of Republican Senators over those remarks. Let's watch.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I think it's inappropriate. I don't want to reinforce that defiling the capitol was OK. I don't want to do anything that would make this more likely in the future.

I want to deter people who did what they did on January the 6th. And those who did it, I hope they go to jail and get the book thrown at them because they deserve it.

SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): I do not think the president should have made -- that President Trump should have made that pledge to do pardons. We should let the judicial process proceed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Some push back. But for the past week, Congressman, Republican lawmakers have talked about upholding the Constitution because of the looming Supreme Court vacancy.

And yet, most of those same Republicans are supporting a person who says he'll reward the people who tried to violently subvert the Constitution.

Even Susan Collins, in that interview, wouldn't fully rule out supporting Trump in 2024.

When is enough enough for your party?

CHARLIE DENT, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I think these comments by the former president are so out of bounds, so beyond the pale, that he would suggest that he would party people who assaulted police officers, desecrated the capitol, tried to obstruct the Congress from performing its official duties, tried to basically undermine the constitutional order.

This is completely out of hand. And I think that these comments -- look, Donald Trump is doing enormous damage to the Republican Party. Not to mention the country with these kinds of comments.

They are so reckless and dangerous. He is simply trying to incite -- you talked about he's threatening prosecutors and grand jurors, who are simply doing their jobs because of words that Donald Trump issued in Georgia, you know, suggesting he needed 11,870 votes or something to that effect.

If I had done that or any other elected official said that to a county election official and had been revealed publicly, of course, we'd be investigated and probably charged.

When Donald Trump does it, he says he's some kind of a victim.

So the party is well past the time where they have to step away from this guy and they realize he's just going to be a disaster in 2022 and 2024.

[13:15:01]

CABRERA: And, Laura, not only did Trump say he wants to pardon those January 6th attackers but he also issued a statement wrongly claiming that his vice president, Pence, could have overturned the election.

And, quote, "Unfortunately, he didn't exercise that power," end quote.

Now couldn't all of this be evidence to prove Trump's intent that day that he wanted the election to be overturned by Pence?

And the fact that he wants to pardon these January 6th attackers, that he supports, he condones those actions?

COATES: It does. It also undermines any statements he may have made in those videotaped statements he released, anything that might be in the National Archives, documents that were handed over.

I can imagine members of the committee almost salivating to have these missing pieces. Especially since they have not yet called for him to testify.

So this might corroborate additional information. I suspect it would corroborate or amplify statements made from even Vice President Mike Pence's inner circle.

Of course, he's also wrong about the ability, lawfully, for a vice president to overturn the Electoral College certification process or the election.

Fortunately, Vice President Mike Pence did not do that. And his calls to protest, we don't protest due process. We don't

weaponize the pardon power.

And we certainly, if you actually are following any good lawyer's advice, you would be quiet because what you say will be used against you in a select committee, I'm certain, and a court of law if it should come to that particular state of events.

It tells me he's not following anyone else's guidance but perhaps his own, which could undo him in the end.

CABRERA: Congressman, speaking of intent to subvert the will of voters, the January 6th committee just subpoenaed 14 more people connected to that fake elector's plot in seven states, including your home state, in Pennsylvania.

I understand you had a bit of a run-in with one of these members subpoenaed.

What was your experience? And are you surprised about their involvement in something like this?

DENT: I'm not particularly surprised.

But what happened in Pennsylvania, we should note, is the Republican leaders of the Pennsylvania general assembly said that they did not, should not and did not have any authority whatsoever to offer alternative slate of electors under Pennsylvania law and the Pennsylvania Constitution.

So what happened is these people took it upon themselves to issue this false slate of electors. They also had hedging language in there that might protect them legally.

But one of them, Bill Blackenberg (ph), he's the chairman. And he threw me out of his gun club because he was unhappy because I was not sufficiently sycophantic to Donald Trump. Told me how upset he was with me in a letter sent to my campaign. That we couldn't have events there anymore.

I'm not surprised. This was a guy who was a supporter at one time. And when Trump became a president, he came much more extreme. And it's manifested itself by him becoming the chairman of this false slate of electors.

CABRERA: Wow. That is just wild.

Thank you so much for sharing.

Charlie Dent and Laura Coates, thank you

Pick up Laura's book, "Just Pursuit." Now a "New York Times" best seller.

Congratulations, Laura. I don't know when you sleep. All your hard work. COATES: Oh, you're so sweet. Thank you. I sleep when you do. What are

you talking about?

(LAUGHTER)

COATES: What's sleep, mom, what do you mean? Thank you.

CABRERA: You are one busy and amazing woman. And your book is fantastic.

(CROSSTALK)

CABRERA: Yes, exactly.

Thanks all. Appreciate you all.

COATES: You're so sweet. Thank you both of you.

CABRERA: OK. Let's talk about Russia now. President Biden delivering a new warning to Russia as American and Russian officials face off today in a high-stakes meeting over Ukraine. But still no sign that Moscow is backing down.

Plus, "I'm sorry, I'll change, but I'm not going anywhere." That from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson today as the long-awaited report shines new light on his team's booze-fueled lockdown parties. What happens now?

And Spotify and Joe Rogan are both feeling the heat and vowing changes amid a growing outcry over Rogan's COVID misinformation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[13:19:17]

JOE ROGAN, PODCAST HOST, "THE JOE ROGAN EXPERIENCE": I think if there's anything that I've done that I could do better is have more experts with differing opinions right after I have the controversial ones.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CABRERA: Happening today at the United Nations, the U.S. and Russia going face-to-face in a Security Council emergency session.

This meeting was called by the U.S. as it tries to put pressure on Russia to carve out a diplomatic solution to the crisis involving Ukraine.

But President Biden also warned Russia this morning in a statement saying, "If Russia chooses to walk away from diplomacy and attack Ukraine, Russia will bear the responsibility and it will face swift and severe consequences." A senior White House official tells CNN the U.S. has identified

specific Russian people and businesses that it will sanction if Russia invades Ukraine.

CNN's Kylie Atwood is on top of all of this. She joins us from the United Nations.

Kylie, this was going to be a contentious meeting right from the start, wasn't it?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right, Ana. And it was clear from the beginning, right, that the U.S. and Russia are on completely different ends of the spectrum when it comes to the Russian military build-up along Ukraine's border.

But after this meeting today, those divisions are perhaps even more divided than before.

You had the United States coming out and saying that the -- this is an urgent, a very serious situation along the border, saying the consequences would be massive if Russia were to invade Ukraine.

[13:25:08]

And then, on the flip side, you had the Russians essentially claiming that the United States is full of it here, that they are the ones who are drumming up all of this paranoia. They are creating hysteria, saying they have no intentions to invade Ukraine.

But the bottom line from the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, she was saying this isn't about U.S. and Russia. This is about the stability of Europe.

Listen to what she had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LINDA THOMAS-GREENFIELD, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: You have heard from our Russian colleagues that we're calling for this meeting to make you all feel uncomfortable.

Imagine how uncomfortable you would be if you had 100,000 troops sitting on your border in the way that these troops are sitting on the border with Ukraine.

So this is not about antics. It's not about rhetoric. It's not about U.S. and Russia. What this is about is the peace and security of one of our member states.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ATWOOD: Now she also said the United States has information that Russia is planning to expand its troop presence in Belarus to more than 30,000 troops by early February.

Ana, that is over just the next few weeks here. So that is something to watch.

There are only about 5,000 Russian troops there. And, of course, that border is extremely important because it's just two hours from the capital city of Ukraine -- Ana?

CABRERA: Kylie Atwood, thank you so much for your reporting.

Coming up, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson apologizes after a scathing report about allowing lockdown parties while the rest of the country was under strict COVID restrictions. A live report from London next.

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