Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

Jan. 6 Committee Case Trump At Center Of Election Conspiracy; Senate Gun Negotiators Working On Statement That Could Be Out Today; Biden Says Bringing Prices Down Is His "Top Economic Priority." Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired June 10, 2022 - 15:00   ET

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

DEBBIE BROOKS, AUNT OF "BABY HOLLY": Uh-uh.

DONNA CASASANTA, GRANDMOTHER OF "BABY HOLLY": Grandson?

BROOKS: You saw pictures.

CASASANTA: Oh, okay. I'm sorry.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: All right.

CASASANTA: (Inaudible) as little kid (inaudible)--

BLACKWELL: Well, listen, we're all happy that this is this chapter of this story has a happy ending. Of course, they're still looking for the killers of Tina Clouse, Harold Dean Clouse, Jr. as well, but Baby Holly there will soon be a reunion.

BROOKS: Yes.

BLACKWELL: Donna Casasanta and Debbie Brooks, thank you so much.

BROOKS: Yes. Okay. Thank you.

ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN HOST: It is the top of the hour on CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Alisyn Camerota.

VICTOR BLACKWELL, CNN HOST: I'm Victor Blackwell. Good to be with you. The House Select Committee investigating the Capitol insurrection is already looking toward its next hearing on Monday. Vice Chair Liz Cheney says the panel will shift its focus to Trump's efforts to spread his baseless lies of election fraud, although she says Trump and his advisors knew he'd lost the election. We've learned a former Fox Political Editor will be one of the witnesses called to testify.

Last night, the Committee gave a damning two-hour opening presentation that argue that the former President led a sophisticated seven-point plan to overturn the 2020 election, incite the Capitol riot and subvert American democracy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. LIZ CHENEY (R-WY): All Americans should keep, in fact, in mind this fact, on the morning of January 6th, President Donald Trump's intention was to remain President of the United States despite the lawful outcome of the 2020 election and in violation of his constitutional obligation to relinquish power.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: The Committee aired testimony from several of Trump's closest advisors who said they knew he lost the election, they told him that and showed him the evidence. The panel also revealed never before seen video of rioters storming the Capitol and attacking law enforcement officers.

CNN Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju is on Capitol Hill. So Manu, now what? Where do we go?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that was almost a general overview of everything they have found through the course of this investigation that has occurred over the past several months. Of course, they've interviewed more than a thousand witnesses, more than 100,000 pages of documents.

And after they've detailed generally what they found, they plan to have a number of hearings through the course of June, including three next month to detail that seven-point plan you just laid out. Something they allege that Donald Trump essentially orchestrated to try to overturn the results of the election. They'll drill down starting on Monday on the issue of spreading Donald Trump's false election claims they'll move on to other efforts, as well as trying to pressure the Department of Justice to move to urge states to overturn their electoral results, pressure on Vice President Mike Pence, then- vice president to try to decertify the electoral results on January 6th 2021. All those issues will be detailed to the course of this hearing.

Now in last night's hearing also there was - came out that a number of Republicans, House Republicans who had worked to overturn the election allegedly has sought pardons from then Donald Trump because of their concern, their involvement with the effort to overturn the election. That's what came out from Liz Cheney at this hearing.

And after the hearing, I asked the chairman of the Committee, Bennie Thompson, who those individuals are, he said they have documentation proving that those pardons were actually sought.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. BENNIE THOMPSON (D-MS): That will come out in our hearings. I don't want to kind of get ahead of the hearings, but we have the documentation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: So he wouldn't say how many pardons were sought by Republican members of Congress. One person who was singled out by Cheney was Congressman Scott Perry. He is the leader of the far-right faction known as the House Freedom Caucus in the House. She contended that he was one who sought a pardon.

Perry responded on Twitter today saying, "The notion that I ever sought a Presidential pardon for myself or other Members of Congress is an absolute, shameless and soulless lie."

So all of these questions presumably will be answered as the hearings continue to unfold in the days and weeks ahead, because the Committee is promising a lot more new information after their months of investigation. Guys?

CAMEROTA: Okay. Well, we'll see if they have evidence for all that. Manu Raju, thank you very much. So the hearing also revealed never before seen video of leaders, of the right wing extremist groups, the Proud Boys and the Oath Keepers. Here they are meeting in a garage on January 5th. This is the night before the Capitol riot. The video also captured the hideous violence that Proud Boy members used against police officers.

BLACKWELL: And one of the Capitol police officers who suffered a traumatic brain injury when she was attacked during the riot testified before the panel about that harrowing ordeal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CAROLINE EDWARDS, CAPITOL POLICE OFFICER: There were officers on the ground. They were bleeding. They were throwing up.

[15:05:00]

They were - they had - I mean, I saw friends with blood all over their faces. I was slipping in people's blood. I was catching people as they fell. I was - it was carnage. It was chaos.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: CNN's Katelyn Polantz is with us now. So what more do we know about these extremist groups' role in the riot?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Well, one of the Proud Boys is on tape breaking a window to get inside the Capitol allegedly. And last night in this hearing, the Committee was characterizing this group as the people who were leading the mob into the building.

So the Proud Boys have been one of the central groups the Justice Department has pursued in prosecuting these cases and now we have the House Committee showing these videos that they have this scene and from the night before showing how that first breach of a barricade where Officer Edwards was injured, initiating a chain of events on the afternoon of January 6th, this descent into chaos and violence on Capitol Hill as the day went on.

So of course, this wasn't condemned by Donald Trump while it was going on and at times the Committee was arguing last night that the President was condoning the actions of his supporters. Here's one clip played last night as part of a larger video that the Committee showed. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Mike Pence didn't have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country our, our Constitution, giving States a chance to certify a corrected set of facts, not the fraudulent or inaccurate ones which they were asked to previously certify. U.S. demands the truth.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bring him out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bring out Pence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bring him out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bring out Pence.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bring him out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Bring out Pence.

CROWD: Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

POLANTZ: Bennie Thompson also had a documentarian testify about following the mobs, specifically the Proud Boys and their mob toward the Capitol. Thompson at the hearing said that this was what a coordinated and planned effort would look like. Of course, some of the Proud Boys leaders are charged in court with seditious conspiracy and hundreds of others are charged with other crimes during this riot.

And officials with - around Donald Trump have not been charged with crimes related to the riot. Yet there are known connections between this group and the political sphere and also the Oath Keepers leaders trying to get in touch with or trying to get in touch with people around Donald Trump, back to you.

BLACKWELL: Katelyn Polantz, thank you.

CAMEROTA: Let's bring in CNN Political Commentators Charlie Dent, he's a former Republican Congressman and CNN Political Commentator, Alyssa Farah Griffin, she's the former White House Director of Strategic Communications under President Trump. Great to see both of you.

Alyssa, I want to start with you because you worked in the Trump White House, some of these players who were brought up last night, some of the advisers. Did you learn anything new last night?

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, thank you for having me. One of the most striking moments which you actually just aired was the gentleman with the bullhorn basically reading Donald Trump's tweet about Mike Pence aloud to the mob. This is significant for a number of reasons, but it shows how closely these rioters, these insurrectionists were monitoring Trump's Twitter.

So imagine if he had actually tweeted something saying, stand down, leave the Capitol, be peaceful hours earlier, we may not have had hundreds of injured officers, dead police officers and of course Ashli Babbitt and others who lost their lives that day.

So it just goes to show he could have stopped this and they were waiting from the word for Donald Trump. I think that was one of the most significant moments.

BLACKWELL: Yeah. And there was also the evidence of notes written what they wanted the president to do or what he could do to potentially stop what was happening at the Capitol.

Congressman, let me come to you on - we just heard in Katelyn's reports the chants of hang Mike Pence, hang Mike Pence. What we heard from Vice Chair Cheney, though, is that once President Trump heard about that, he had what I think most people would describe as a remarkable kind of disappointing reaction. Let's play it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHENEY: ... and aware of the rioters' chants to hang Mike Pence, the President responded with this sentiment, "Maybe our supporters have the right idea." Mike Pence "deserves it."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Mike Pence was maybe the most loyal member of that administration, but if he wasn't going to go along with the big lie he deserved, potentially to die for that?

CHARLIE DENT, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, Victor. Really what we learned last night was that Donald Trump was derelict in his duty and you juxtapose that next to the police officer, Officer Edwards, who has demonstrated devotion to duty.

[15:09:59]

And for Mike Pence, I mean, to see what loyalty means to Donald Trump. It means absolutely nothing. Pence could not have been, Mike Pence could not have been more loyal to Donald Trump only that in his moment of need Donald Trump turned on him and it was just seem to be encouraging, this mob, stick the mob on the Capitol where Pence was and these people were chanting hang Mike Pence.

So again, if anybody should feel burned right now, it's Mike Pence and, again, this further demonstrates Donald Trump's dereliction of duty.

CAMEROTA: Alyssa, to your point the president could have done something and he could have done something during those hours that he was missing in action. And so that's what Liz Cheney was talking about last night. In fact, we now know he didn't want to, he was very resistant. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHENEY: You will hear testimony that 'the President did not really want to put anything out', calling off the riot or asking his supporters to leave. You will hear that President Trump was yelling and 'really angry at advisors who told him he needed to be doing something more'.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMEROTA: That's interesting, Alyssa, because we had heard he was watching TV, he seemed almost gleeful. He liked what he was seeing in terms of this rioting. But I guess I just didn't know that he was really angry at advisors who were suggesting it.

GRIFFIN: Yes. And by the way, I can confirm I heard from somebody with firsthand knowledge that he was - he agreed with the sentiment that they should hang Mike Pence. And just to underscore further, though, these chants and the push from him that Mike Pence was an enemy, this wasn't just an attack on a vice president for being disloyal, what he was truly instigating with this Capitol riot was a potential attack on the line of succession. It wasn't just Mike Pence, it's also Speaker Pelosi whose life was at risk that day.

But I mean, if one thing was truly exposed yesterday is that this man is wholly unfit to serve an office. And there's been a lot of kind of pushback from conservatives - I'm still a Republican, but saying we - people care about gas prices, they care about inflation, no one cares about this.

Well, they should and I think these hearings will move the needle with people who are not Ultra MAGA, who are good, hardworking Americans who may lean right and they watch this and they say, what has this party become, what is the future of the country going to look like if this man's in power, again.

BLACKWELL: More hearings next week, Congressman. Do you agree with that?

DENT: More - about more hearings? Absolutely. And by the way, to further amplify Alyssa's point, people do need to be concerned about this whole incident, because what's happened is now there are many people around this country who are trying to get into positions as secretary of state or county election officials, people who have predetermined outcomes in mind for elections. They want these jobs.

The former president, because of all this has undermined so much of the public's faith and confidence in our election system, so that's why people need to be concerned. Hey, you know what, we just fill up with gas and bought groceries, I mean, the dollars are staggering, really, and I think that's what's hitting people. But I think most people do acknowledge that preserving these institutions, preserving our democratic way of life is not a small thing and I hope we don't take it for granted.

CAMEROTA: Alyssa, let's talk about what we're going to see on Monday. So we know a little bit more than we did this morning and that is that the former Fox Political Editor, Chris Stirewalt, has been called to testify. And he's an interesting person and player in all this, because he lost his job in January after he called Arizona, for Biden, because President Biden won Arizona.

And it's also interesting, because he's a long - he was a long time Fox employee and now Fox is too scared to play the hearings and that's just going to be interesting to hear what he has to say on Monday.

GRIFFIN: Yes, absolutely.

Next week is really going to focus on dismantling the big lie and talking about how it was constructed within the West Wing at Rosslyn (ph), the campaign headquarters. And what I've said from the outset when I first spoke out about January 6th was most of the people amplifying the big lie know is in fact untrue.

I thought it was extremely powerful that the Committee has on video people like Jason Miller, a Trump senior adviser, admitting that the President lost, that he came up short and that the President knew that. I would expect to see more footage of senior aides admitting behind the scenes when they're under oath and on camera, that the big lie is bogus and that I hope breaks through to the American people.

Because, again, you see all this video footage of people who stormed the Capitol saying, well, it was stolen. Trump told me they - they're trying to steal our election. When they start to see one by one people like Bill Barr admitting this is not true, I think that's going to sway some opinions.

BLACKWELL: Congressman, I apologize my question wasn't clear, I wasn't asking if you agree with there being more hearings, but did you agree with Alyssa's sentiment that this will change minds of those people who are potentially still persuadable.

[15:15:07]

DENT: Yes, I do think it will have an impact being on prime-time, absolutely. And I think what's so effective about these hearings is that it's - I've said this from the beginning, they need Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger out there prosecuting the case publicly talking about what other Republicans who supported Donald Trump said that the - that they knew the election wasn't stolen.

I think really what's critical for these hearings coming up next week and beyond is that they make - they show that this was not - that this attack was not some sort of a spontaneous eruption that just kind of got out of hand that day, but there was actual premeditation. This is a planned, orchestrated event over several weeks leading right up to that day, culminating in that were - again, were the President of the United States, Article Two, seeking an angry, violent mob on Article One, the Congress in an attempt to prevent the peaceful transfer of power and the certification of a legal and lawful clean election. That's what we need to keep pounding and I hope the American public pays close attention to it, because it's consequential.

In my state right now, we've nominated a person for governor who sell on this big lie all the time and has made even suggestions that he would appoint a Secretary of State who would not probably honor an outcome in 2024, so the stakes are really high here.

CAMEROTA: Charlie, Alyssa, thank you.

BLACKWELL: Senate negotiations continue today on gun reform. We are live on Capitol Hill on whether any progress is being made.

CAMEROTA: Plus, a big change for international travelers, the CDC will no longer require a COVID test to enter the U.S.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:21:06]

CAMEROTA: The bipartisan group of lawmakers trying to come up with a framework for gun safety measures are moving closer to a deal we're told. Sources tell CNN the senators could detail their progress as soon as today.

BLACKWELL: CNN Congressional Correspondent Lauren Fox has been following this very closely, so what do you know about this progress?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Well, this group of four Senate negotiators, two Republicans, two Democrats, they met virtually today, even though lawmakers have left Washington, they continue their negotiations. And what sources have told CNN is that they could release a statement on their progress as soon as today.

Now we do know what has been on the table in these negotiations and we expect that any statement will really highlight where these negotiations are moving. One of the areas they've been looking at is including juvenile records and any background check that's done on someone between the ages of 18 and 21, who wants to buy a gun like an AR-15.

They're also looking at more money for mental health as well as more money for school security and they have not forgotten and continue to try and negotiate a way forward on incentivizing states to pass red flag laws. That continues to be a key sticking point for some Republicans who have argued they don't even want to give any states incentives to pass laws they argue could take away due process of gun owners.

So that's where the negotiations stand at this moment. I talked to a senator just a few moments ago who told me they are going to continue these discussions. They are going to continue having these talks and formally over the weekend because when they return on Monday, they only have two weeks left in this session before they go on another recess. Victor and Alisyn?

BLACKWELL: Lauren Fox on Capitol Hill, thank you.

CAMEROTA: So starting this Sunday, travelers coming into the U.S. will not have to show proof of a negative COVID test. CNN was first to report that the Biden administration is expected to announce the CDC will lift its testing requirements.

BLACKWELL: In a statement, the agency said vaccines and medical treatments for COVID have shifted the pandemic to a new phase and the CDC will reassess the decision in 90 days.

The White House says inflation is uncomfortably high and a new report out today backs that up. We'll speak to one of the President's key economic advisors next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:28:02]

CAMEROTA: Let's take a look at what the Dow is doing. Right now, it's down about 570 points and investors are reacting to this new government inflation report showing prices are rising at the fastest rate in 40 years. Since last May, the cost of groceries has jumped 10 percent gas prices are up almost 50 percent.

BLACKWELL: Despite those figures, President Biden just, last hour, argued that the economy is still in a position of strength.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We've never seen anything like Putin's tax on both food and gas. America should also understand our economy has unique strengths that we can build on. The job market is the strongest as it's been since World War II. American can tackle inflation from a position of strength unlike any other country in the world, because every country in the world is getting a big bite and piece of this inflation.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLACKWELL: Joining me now from the White House is Brian Deese. He's the Director of President Biden's National Economic Council. Brian, welcome back. Good to have you.

BRIAN DEESE, DIRECTOR, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL: It's good to be here.

BLACKWELL: So the President says that things are going well except for inflation. The American people don't feel that way. The new consumer sentiment number is out today. The lowest level since the University of Michigan started keeping track in 1952. The American people haven't been this disappointed in the economy and 70 years. So what do you have to tell the American people who are just overwhelmed by inflation?

DEESE: Well, we start with what the President said today, which is he gets it and that he grew up in a family where when the price of gas went up, it was a conversation around the kitchen table and we absolutely understand that those high prices are causing anxiety and concern around the country.

And what the President also said though is that we are uniquely positioned to take on this issue and to identify tackling inflation as our top priority because of the unique strengths that we have that other countries don't have. Inflation right now around the world is elevated.

[15:30:01]

Highest levels in 40 years in Europe, highest levels on record in the U.K.