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Chaos in Congress as Rep. Kevin McCarthy's (R-CA) Bid for Speaker Fails for 11th Time; House Lawmakers Mark Two Years Since Deadly Capitol Insurrection; Law Enforcement Source Says, Kohberger Cleaned His Car, Wore Surgical Gloves, Put Trash in Neighbors Garbage. Aired 10-10:30a ET
Aired January 06, 2023 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: Top of the hour here in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Erica Hill.
JIM SCIUTTO, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Jim Sciutto.
We are watching Capitol Hill closely, as at any moment lawmakers are going to hold a ceremony on the House steps there to mark the second anniversary of the January 6 insurrection. And then a few hours later, President Biden is expected to recognize the anniversary by honoring 12 people at the White House, including police officers injured in the Capitol attack. We're going to take to you to both events live.
HILL: Also just a few moments from now, House Republicans set to hold a conference call as the standoff over who will be House speaker continues. This, of course, after Kevin McCarthy failed to get the votes needed after three days and 11 rounds of votes. McCarthy's allies continuing to negotiate with those hardliner holdouts. The situation at this point, we're told, fluid, McCarthy, though, remains confident this morning.
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REP. KEVIN MCCARTHY (R-CA): We're going to get it done.
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HILL: Let's go straight to CNN' Chief Congressional Correspondent Manu Raju live there on Capitol Hill. So, this meeting, just about 15 minutes from now, as I understand it, is about to begin. Where do the negotiations stand going into that meeting, Manu?
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is a critical moment for Kevin McCarthy because he needs to demonstrate to his conference that the deal-cutting that has been going on behind the scenes for the last couple of days has yielded progress. And so far, we have not seen support moving in his direction. He needs to only lose four Republican votes on the floor to become the next speaker of the House. He has lost 20 so far. So, where will he -- where will this deal that has close to being reached ultimately lead him?
Now, this conference call will occur at about 10:15 A.M. Eastern Time. McCarthy and his team will lay out what essentially has been reached with a handful of holdouts who asked for more power, essentially, give them more sway over the legislative process, more ability to influence things going forward, the ability to oust a sitting speaker by having one member call for such a vote, something McCarthy resisted --
SCIUTTO: Sorry to interrupt. We do want to go to Capitol Hill now because lawmakers are gathering on the steps of the Capitol, this to hold a ceremony marking two years, the second anniversary of the January 6th insurrection, when we saw all of those hundreds of people violently assault the Capitol building. Let's listen in on the lawmakers as they take a moment to mark the day.
Okay. Stand by there. It looks like they're waiting for members to assemble on the steps there. You could see them still walking down behind the podium for this moment. Hard to believe, Erica, it has been two years since we saw the violent attack on the Capitol.
HILL: It is.
SCIUTTO: And you could see in the front row there, many members of leadership, of course, that day, including the now former Speaker Nancy Pelosi there on the left.
HILL: That is right. We know it was organized by the House Democratic leadership, that all House members were invited we were told. And we should point out here in the studio with us in New York is Steven Sund, former U.S. Capitol police chief and the author of Courage Under Fire. Sir, it is good to have you with us here. We were just talking just briefly in the break and I asked you are how you feeling in this moment two years later?
STEVEN SUND, FORMER CHIEF OF THE UNITED STATES CAPITOL POLICE: It is a very tough day. I sit back and look back on it. And it's okay, Erica, I would just to take a quick opportunity to say thank you. I've had numerous Capitol police, current, retired, have reached out to me this morning with very good well wishes and appreciation kind regards. I am with you today. Love you, stay safe, keep up the good fight, keep up the good work.
It's a tough day. It really is. To see what my officers went through that day was heartbreaking for a chief. I just hope it never happens again.
HILL: What would you like to hear from leaders in Washington today?
SUND: A lot of people ask me how the Capitol police learned their lesson. The big question is those that have oversight over the Capitol Police Department learned their lesson. It is too political. They have these different political games and the chief -- the police officers get caught in the middle.
They need to stop politicizing oversight. Oversight should be above the police department. It should be hands in -- hands on operation. They should let the chief do his job and not put the police in the middle of political fighting.
SCIUTTO: You see, as we're watching here, that is Hakeem Jeffries behind the podium, the Democratic leader. Let's listen in as he marks the moment.
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REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): Good morning. Please welcome me in a pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and just for all.
Today, members of the House of Representatives in a bipartisan way pause in solemn recognition of the violent attack on the Capitol that occurred two years ago on January 6th, 2021. We are joined by the families of several heroic police officers who gave their lives protecting the Congress, the Constitution and the country. We are gathered here to honor their memory and acknowledge with deep gratitude the tremendous bravery of the hundreds of officers who defended us at this citadel of democracy that fateful day.
As a result of the events on January 6th, the lives of five heroic officers were lost. Another brave Capitol police officer lost his life defending the Capitol on April 2nd, 2021. 140 officers were seriously injured that day. Many more will forever be scarred by the blood thirsty violence of the insurrectionist mob. We stand here today with our democracy intact because of those officers.
The violent insurrectionists stormed the Capitol and attempted to halt the peaceful transfer of power, a cornerstone of our republic. They failed. They failed because of the bravery and valor of the United States Capitol police and the Metropolitan Police Department officers who fought heroically to defend our democracy. We will never forget their sacrifice and we will never forget this day.
It is now my honor to yield to our speaker emerita who led the House of Representatives on that fateful day with strength, courage and resilience, Nancy D'Alesandro Pelosi.
REP. NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): Thank you very much, Mr. Leader. Thank you for having your first official public act be one to be a moment of reflection, a time of reflection and gratitude to our heroes. I associate myself with all of our colleagues gathered here with your remarks and in singing their praises.
The January 6th insurrection shook our republic to the core. For many in the Congress and across our country, the physical, psychological and emotional scars are still raw. Yet from the unspeakable horror spreading extraordinary heroism, law enforcement heroes confronted the insurrectionists to protect the Capitol, the Congress and our Constitution. And it is with great respect and admiration that we are joined by the families this morning. Thank you to the families for considering us worthy to share your grief, to honor your loss.
When we had the gold medal ceremony, the highest honor the Congress can bestow, I said at that time, your acceptance of that gold medal in honor of your family member's courage brought luster to the medal. We always pray for God to bless America, and he certainly did with the heroism of these heroes.
As we mark this solemn day, let us draw strength and inspiration from the timeless words of President Lincoln. In his message to Congress, he offered in the heat of civil war, he said, we cannot escape history, and he called upon Congress to honor our sacred duty to nobly save our meanly lose the last best hope on Earth, which he believed was American democracy. That is our task today too, so help us God.
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And then now we will in short order hear from the families of our heroes. And we thank them for their sacrifice, for their patriotism. We will always carry the memory of their family members in our hearts. And our tribute is also to those who suffered psychologically and otherwise protecting our democracy.
I thank all of our colleagues for joining us here on the steps of the Capitol. But we always carry this memory in our hearts. Thank you.
REV. MARGARET KIBBEN, HOUSE CHAPLAIN: Would you pray with me? God is our refuge and our strength and ever present help in trouble. Though the earth should move and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, we will not fear. Though as waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging, there is a river whose streams make glad the city of God.
Almighty God, we know that we are called to be still and to know that you are God and that you have hallowed this place with those who serve in both elected positions and those who have chosen to serve to defend the people, the building and the purpose of this Capitol.
Holy God, you have anointed this land with the blood of the fallen and the wounded and we ask now that as we honor those sacrifices, that we would recognize that you surround us, uphold us and in all of these things that seek to threaten us, in all of these things, may we always call on you knowing that you are our God and ever present and ever present in our times of trouble. We pray these things in your most holy name. Amen.
JEFFRIES: Now, I invite the families and loved ones of the officers who are no longer with us to read their names.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Brian David Sicknick.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Howard Charles Liebengood.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Metropolitan Police Department Officers Gunther Hashida, Kyle deFreytag and Jeffrey Smith.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Officer Billy Evans.
JEFFRIES: Please join me now in a 142nd moment of silence, an acknowledgment of the 140 officers who were seriously injured defending the Capitol on January 6th, January 6th, 2021. May God continue to bless America.
HILL: A closing of that ceremony there honoring, of course, remembering the second anniversary honoring those who were killed, who were injured.
SCIUTTO: Yes.
HILL: Powerful words, Jim, and powerful moments, too. I was struck by the announcement of the names, the tolling of that bell. And it reminds me so much of what we see every year on the anniversary of 9/11 as we mark that fateful moment in this nation's history, so powerful and so powerful, Jim, as well in those silent moments.
SCIUTTO: No questions. Seeing those little kids march up to the microphone and say that name.
I did see Democratic leadership there. I did not see Republican leadership. We'll continue to cover events as they are marked throughout the day.
We still have Steven Sund with us, who was Capitol Hill police chief. You blamed intelligence failures. You blamed intelligence failures leading up to January 6th for lack of preparations. I wonder, has intelligence-gathering on potential threats to the Capitol or to members and intelligence sharing, has that changed in the last two years to make something like this less likely to happen in the future?
SUND: You certainly hope so. I can't say I'm completely convinced. When you look at the stuff that went on at DHS, and I honestly believe that intelligence for January 6th seemed to be handled a little bit differently. I've handled a number of major events in Washington, D.C. with far less threat streams against it and the FBI would have been doing intelligence briefings, it would have been doing executive briefing and at least a conference call. But no joint intelligence bulletin, no conference call.
You hope they've learned their lesson. You hope they're going to do things a little bit better this time, follow your policies, follow your directives. Even internal to the Capitol police, I know they have done some restructuring there to make sure the information gets into those hands that need it to make critical conditions. So, you hope that has been corrected. I believe they're taking measures too but you hope the intelligence community does what they need to do.
HILL: And there is so much of that that should be rightfully be this focus as we look at what has or has not been changed, what has or has not been addressed.
I was struck by the words from Nancy Pelosi in referencing President Lincoln noting we cannot escape history. And yet, I think we have seen in this country there can be a pretty broad effort sometimes to try to escape history, to try to ignore what happened, to sweep it under the rug, not to acknowledge it. Do you feel that there is, two years on, enough of an acknowledgment of what happened in those moments? SUND: Well, that is part of the reason I spent so much effort to try and write this book. And I write the book in a very apolitical fact- based manner because so many things in Washington, D.C., come out with a political slam (ph). Whether it's the House Republicans J6 committee report, the J6 committee's report, we had to look at what really happened, what happened that day to affect and impact the Department of Defense, and the intelligent community, the oversight of the Capitol police that creates such a political structure over the security of the Capitol that it impacted January 6th. So, that is why I wrote the book.
Do I think that some of the committees will -- I think they'll try to look at it and hopefully look at this and take some recommendations from it, but we just have got to look at it from an apolitical standpoint.
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SCIUTTO: Yes. Steven Sund, thanks you so much.
As we look at that ceremony, our Kristin Wilson, who was there, says that there was one Republican, Brian Fitzpatrick, present, otherwise those present at least at that ceremony largely Democrats.
Still to come, another story we're following this morning, chilling new details coming out about the suspect in the case in the Idaho killings. I had the chance to speak to the father of one the victims, Kaylee Goncalves, he is Steve Goncalves, and he described a whole bunch of things, including his reaction to seeing that suspect in the courtroom.
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STEVE GONCALVES, FATHER OF KAYLEE GONCALVES: I wanted him to look me in the eye. He knows I wanted him to look me in the eye. So, he's -- he did. I sense somebody shocked and scared and not prepared.
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HILL: This morning, information pouring in about Bryan Kohberger. He, of course, is the man charged in the brutal murders of four University of Idaho students. A law enforcement source telling CNN Kohberger meticulously cleaned his car inside and out, was seen in Pennsylvania wearing surgical gloves outside of his parents' home before his arrest and was also seen placing bags of garbage in the neighbor's trash bins there.
SCIUTTO: All of this comes because officials unsealed the affidavit for probable cause allowing the arrest, detailing how officials linked Kohberger to the murders. Last night, I spoke with Steve Goncalves. He's the father of one of the victims, Kaylee Goncalves, you can see her there, and got his reaction to the news that his daughter's roommate came face-to-face, according to that affidavit, with the killer who she said was wearing black and a mask.
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SCIUTTO: Do we know why police were not called until several hours after that?
GONCALVES: I think we don't have those details. I do know that she was petrified and I think people respond a little bit different. I don't want to make her a victim and people are mean. They'll go after people and I say don't do it in my name, not in my family name. I think she was just scared, very scared. And it is not like Hollywood where everyone behaves like people think they would.
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SCIUTTO: Understandably scared, petrified, he said.
CNN Correspondent Veronica Miracle, she is in Moscow, Idaho. Veronica, give us a sense of all the new details that we learned from this affidavit.
VERONICA MIRACLE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So much. Just a massive amount of information, Jim and Erica, including some DNA evidence that police say they found on the sheath of a knife that was left in one of the victim's beds. It was apparently lying next to one of the beds. Well, apparently, police were also able to match that to some trash collected from the family home.
Erica, as you mentioned, a source has told CNN that they were monitoring, police were -- authorities were monitoring the Pennsylvania family home and they saw Bryan Kohberger at around 4:00 A.M. in one instance taking garbage bags and placing them in the neighbor's bins. That DNA collected from the trash was apparently from the father of Bryan Kohberger and it was a similar enough match to the sheath found on the bed.
That is just one key item that we learned in addition to that roommate who also saw the suspect. Apparently, he was around -- she described him in that affidavit as around 5'10, had bushy eyebrows, but he was covered in a mask. His nose and mouth were covered in a mask and he was wearing all black and he walked right past her at around 4:00 A.M. when she heard activity in the home and had heard a voice saying something to the effect, I'm going to help you, coming from another room.
We also understand that Kohberger's cell phone activity kind of placed him in the area of the home around 12 times from June until present day. And police also believe that cell phone activity shows that he actually may have gone back to the crime scene hours after the murder took place. Jim and Erica?
HILL: Veronica Miracle with the latest for us, thank you.
SCIUTTO: Joining us now to talk about all of this, Senior Law Enforcement Analyst Charles Ramsey, of course, longtime head of the police departments in Philadelphia as well as here in D.C. Reading this affidavit yesterday, when it came out, Chief Ramsey, I have to say, I was shocked. I mean, it is chilling, some chilling details in there, but also the level of information they have connecting Kohberger to this case, including that his cell phone pinged in and around that house where the murders took place 12 times in the days leading up to it. Also, other steps he seemed to take to -- it seems turning off his phone, at other times, as he came close to the house and then turning it back on.
When you look at this and you also add in details we learned about what he was studying as a criminology student, what kind of suspect are we looking at here?
CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I think they have a pretty strong case just based on that. At least circumstantial, they still don't have a murder weapon. It would be great if they found it. They may never find the murder weapon. But this is clearly an event that was well-planned out.
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The fact that he was there several times, that he was turning his phone on and off because he was aware that cellular tracking can occur. He cleaned.
