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Today, Congress to Certify Election Four Years After Jan. 6 Riot; Trump Asks to Delay Friday's Hush Money Conviction Sentencing; 55 Million Americans Under Winter Storm Warnings. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired January 06, 2025 - 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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JIM ACOSTA, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. You are live in the CNN Newsroom. I'm Jim Acosta in Washington.

Right now, we are following two major breaking news stories, regaining power and reigniting fears. In just hours, Congress will meet to certify President-elect Donald Trump's 2024 election win four years to the day after a mob of his supporters stormed the Capitol, smashing windows and doors, brutally attacking police officers and shocking the nation.

Plus, a deadly winter blast slamming the East Coast, more than 55 million people are caught in its grip here in Washington, D.C. We could get more snow than in the last two years combined. Despite the weather, though, House Speaker Mike Johnson says the election results will be certified today no matter what.

CNN chief Congressional correspondent Manu Raju is up on Capitol Hill for us. Manu, today marks exactly four years since the insurrection on January 6th. Take us what take us through what today looks like.

MANU RAJU, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it actually feels a lot different than what happened four years ago. Just walking through the Capitol four years ago, there really was not the amount of security that there is at this moment, really all over the Capitol security personnel, officers, law enforcement, as well as big steel fences all surrounding the Capitol, a much different approach, even as we are not expecting any significant demonstrations outside the Capitol.

And we'll see something happened much different on the House floor than we saw four years ago, and going back to what's been a routine event really through the history of the republic up until January 6th, 2021, when things change. And one big reason why that this is going to be more of a routine event is that in the aftermath of the violence that occurred on January 6th, 2021, Congress took steps to make it harder for Congress to overturn an election result back before then, the law allowed for one House member and one senator to vote to overturn any individual state's election results.

They could, by having one member from each chamber, actually could force a vote in both chambers of Congress to get rid of that state's certified electoral result. But, in the aftermath of 2021, Congress required now one-fifth of both the House and the Senate. That is a threshold for the number of members that have to agree to force a vote to overturn a state election result. That much higher threshold will make it much harder for anyone to try to get rid of an electoral result that was certified by individual states.

And also Congress took steps to make sure that the vice president's role is ceremonial. Vice President Harris will be presiding over her own defeat here. She can't do what Donald Trump wanted Mike Pence to do four years ago, which was simply reject the electoral results, send it back to the states as Donald Trump suggested. Of course, Pence resisted that approach. Then Congress took steps saying that that can't happen. The vice president simply cannot do that.

So all as a result, and Democrats are not expecting, Jim, to object in the House floor, which means this could go pretty quickly this afternoon when they meet, then Donald Trump will be well on his way to the White House come January 20th, Jim.

ACOSTA: Yes, a peaceful transfer of power, unlike last time around. Manu Raju up on Capitol Hill, thank you very much.

Let's discuss more now with Democratic Congresswoman Norma Torres of California. Four years ago, we should remind our viewers, she and other House members ducked for cover in the House gallery as rioters tried to break in. She recorded what was happening on her phone. Take a look at this.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God, they're going to fire on them.

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ACOSTA: And Congresswoman Torres joins us now. Congresswoman, thank you so much for being here. We appreciate it.

What goes through your mind when you recall what happened on that day and the fact that we're on the verge of another Trump term?

REP. NORMA TORRES (D-CA): Four years ago, January 6th was a much different day than it is today. Today, we're surrounded by metal barriers, a giant fence. This is like the Iron Dome here today.

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But four years ago, unfortunately, when you heard those words, oh my God, they're going to fire on them, remember, this was after we were face down in Gallery 3, where the gunshot just below us had just been fired earlier, and we had crawled all the way around that gallery on that day, 45 minutes face down in sheer terror, hearing glass breaking hearing furniture being thrown against the wall, pounding on the doors with these terrorists that came to hurt us on that day were just causing chaos. So, today, I am very thrilled to see this much security. I am so glad that the Homeland Security actually mandated that we have a full force, not just here in the Capitol, but in other areas that need to be secured from anyone wishing to do Americans harm and to undo our democratic state.

ACOSTA: And we're still looking at more of this video here. I mean, this is what members of Congress went through, including yourself at that time. You had to be hustled out of the Capitol because we weren't sure if you were going to be killed. I mean, that was a real possibility that was going through all of your minds. If there's one thing you could say to Donald Trump today, what would that be?

TORRES: What I would say to Donald Trump is that it is time for him to acknowledge that four years ago, what he did was unconscionable and undeserving of, you know, a president of the United States to send an angry mob simply because he was unhappy with the election results.

And that will not be happening today because Democrats are not election deniers. We value everyone's vote. We cherish elections. We want and we encourage everyone to participate, whether we agree with them or not. So, this is a much different day.

You know, Jim, I remembering that day just before we actually were ordered to put on our gas masks, I witnessed because I was sitting way at the first row at the top. One of our security officers was violently pushed into the gallery, and thank God that he was able to maneuver and balance himself and he was able to push back that aggressor back into the hall. And soon after that, they locked that door. And that is when we began looking for weapons and anything to help defend ourselves on that horrible day.

I would not wish that on anyone, but certainly not on anyone here in the United States of America.

ACOSTA: And, Congresswoman, as you know, Donald Trump has repeatedly lied about the events of January 6th. Let's listen to some of what he said about that day.

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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT-ELECT: They were there proud. They were there with love in their heart. That was an unbelievable, and it was a beautiful day.

And it was love and peace. And some people went to the Capitol and a lot of strange things happened there.

You had a peaceful, very peaceful -- I left. I left the morning that I was supposed to leave. I went to Florida, and you had a very peaceful transfer.

That was a day of love from the standpoint of the millions. It's like hundreds of thousands, it could have been.

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ACOSTA: Congresswoman, what does it mean to you that the president- elect, the soon to be president, has been able to convince so many of his supporters that that day was not what we know it to be, which was a violent insurrection, that he's been able to pull the wool over their eyes?

TORRES: I do not believe that he's been able to pull the wool over anyone's eyes. I think people have chosen to elect him and have chosen to deny the fact that the mob that came to hurt us, to hang the vice president, the Republican vice president of the United States, here in front of the U.S. Capitol, was sent by him. They did not have love in their heart. Certainly it did not feel as if they had love in their heart from the violence.

Remember, these people put feces all over the walls in the U.S. Capitol. Several -- 140 police officers were injured that day. And three of them -- one succumbed to his injuries the day after and two of them committed suicide soon after.

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So, it was not a day of love, as has been described in as the former president and president-elect would like us to believe. It was a violent day that we must remember. And we must remember because it is our duty to ensure that we do not repeat that, Democrat or Republican. We will never, we can never repeat the January 6th of four years ago.

ACOSTA: All right, Congresswoman Norma Torres, thank you very much for your time this morning. Thank you for taking the time to talk about what happened that day, what indeed happened that day. Congresswoman, thanks so much for your time.

And let's make sure we take a moment to remember the bravery of the police officers who defended the Capitol on January 6th. Their courage helped safeguard American democracy after Trump's lies about the 2020 election incited a violent insurrection, officers like Sgt. Aquilino Gonell, Harry Dunn, and Michael Fanone, who have all been on this program, they deserve all of our gratitude, as do the many, many other officers who were at the Capitol that day.

CNN Political Commentators Maria Cardona and Brad Todd join me now. Maria, today's election certification comes four years to the day after Trump supporters tried to overturn our democracy. Stephen Collinson here at CNN wrote something very interesting. He said, Trump will send a message down through the ages that a president who refuses to accept the result of a free and fair election and who incites an attack on the Capitol can get away with it and regain power. Maria, is he right?

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I think that history will certainly deem Donald Trump as one of the most violent presidents, who allowed violence, who encouraged violence. And I don't think history will judge him well. I do agree with Stephen that, clearly, voters decided to prioritize the economy before they did the dangers of democracy but I also believe, Jim, two things. First one is I'm a huge believer in that things happen for a reason, and it might very well have been that if Kamala Harris had won, there could have been violence, because Donald Trump would have promoted it, because Donald Trump would have urged it.

And the second thing is I think Americans trust Democrats to be the ones to protect that democracy. Because as we see today, we are going back to what a day like this should be not violent, not deadly, not bloody, but something that is pro forma, almost boring, right? That's what it should be. That's what Democrats are going to demonstrate today that it is. So, I think history will judge Donald Trump, not in a good light in terms of somebody who understands and supports and respects democracy. But I do think that for now, we know what voters prioritized in this election.

ACOSTA: Brad, is it time for Donald Trump to apologize for what took place four years ago?

BRAD TODD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I wouldn't expect Donald Trump would apologize. I think it nor do I expect Democrats to apologize for trying to undo his presidency by all legal and extra legal means after that.

ACOSTA: Come on, Brad. Come on.

TODD: No, Jim, look at our own polling. Look at CNN's own exit polling. Voters who'd said they voted on democracy were evenly split between Democrats and Republicans. January 6th was a dark day in the history of our country. Donald Trump bears a lot of responsibility for that. It's something that should stain his legacy forever. However, voters, they punished him for it. That's why he was behind Ron DeSantis by 20 points until Alvin Bragg indicted him. And once voters decided that Democrats were determined to prevent Donald Trump from being elected by any extra legal means, they decided maybe this wasn't as clear.

ACOSTA: I mean, shouldn't your party have just rejected him, just flat out rejected him, from Kevin McCarthy to Mitch McConnell to the whole lot of them? How could your party let him be the nominee again? Isn't that the question?

TODD: Watch what Kevin McCarthy and Mitch McConnell said in the aftermath of that. They absolutely did condemn him. Mitch McConnell was still condemning him months afterward on the floor. Nancy Pelosi decided to use January 6th for partisan gain, though. She appointed (INAUDIBLE).

CARDONA: That's not true, Brad.

TODD: She refused to let Kevin McCarthy appoint Republicans to the committee. She didn't let Republicans hire staff to the January 6th Oversight Committee. They didn't allow cross-examination.

ACOSTA: The January 6th Committee had the Republican of all Republicans, Liz Cheney, on it. She was booted out of your party.

TODD: She wasn't appointed by her conference, like every other committee.

ACOSTA: Dick Cheney's daughter, she was a good Republican.

I mean, let me ask you this, Maria. I mean, Attorney General Merrick Garland put out a statement this morning saying he's proud of the Justice Department's prosecution of the Capitol rioters, saying, quote, put this up on screen, the public servants of the Justice Department have sought to hold accountable those criminally 6th attack on our democracy with unrelenting integrity. They have conducted themselves in a manner that adheres to the rule of law and honors our obligation to protect the civil rights and civil liberties of everyone in this country.

But, you know, Maria, and I don't have to tell you this, a lot of Democrats are just totally disappointed in Merrick Garland and think that he botched this. Did he botch this?

CARDONA: I think that way too much time went past.

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And I think that that led to people perhaps not remembering, perhaps not understanding the importance and, frankly, letting other issues become the priority because, you know, voters are concerned with what is happening to them that day, right?

And so I do think that a lot of time Merrick Garland allowed too much time to go past, but we don't know what it was that they were looking, at what facts were in front of them. I do think that he obviously had the obligation if he's going to bring this to the justice process to have the facts be as strong as they could be. And to go back to what you said, I do think that Republicans, not just Trump, but Republican leaders are going to bear a lot of responsibility and history is not going to be kind to them. Because while what you said is true that they were against him, that lasted like a nanosecond and then -- no. It's not -- the fact or the facts, Brad, you saw those images that we just redid on the television. That doesn't change --

TODD: It deserved a full bipartisan investigation.

CARDONA: But you can't have a full bipartisan investigation when your party initially said, yes, Donald Trump is in the wrong and then completely capitulated. Everyone went down. Everyone went down to Mar- a-Lago to kiss the ring and everything changed after that.

ACOSTA: And the knee bending continues. That's certainly the case. So, Brad, Maria, thank you very much.

We do have breaking news to tell you. President-elect Donald Trump is asking a New York court to delay his sentencing for his hush money conviction that's scheduled for Friday.

CNN's Kara Scannell joins us now. Kara, what's he arguing?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So, Trump's lawyers have asked the judge who has been overseeing this trial to now postpone the sentencing that he just set for this Friday. The reasons, they say they're going to appeal the judge's two previous decisions. One was issued on Friday where the judge dismissed Trump's claims to have the whole case thrown out because he's president-elect, claiming that he had immunity, and also a decision last month where the judge said that the Supreme Court's decision on immunity did not have the same impact on the trial that Trump had wanted because the judge said that all of the acts during the trial and that made up the allegations, the criminal allegations, were official acts. So, because they are moving to appeal that, they're saying that a stay, a postponement of the sentencing should automatically happen.

Now, they're saying if the judge doesn't view it that way, they're still asking him to put the sentencing on hold so that they can make these legal challenges, these appellate challenges. And in part, they're saying that the Supreme Court's decision issued over the summer actually includes that in that.

Now, it remains to be seen how the judge is going to view that, so they are moving simultaneously filing these appeals with the appellate courts and also asking the trial judge to now postpone the sentencing that he had just scheduled. Trump's team writing in a statement today, President Trump's legal team moved to stop the unlawful sentencing in the Manhattan D.A.'s witch hunt, the Supreme Court's historic decision on immunity, the state Constitution of New York and other established legal precedent mandate that this meritless hoax be immediately dismissed.

They're also arguing to the judge that there's no reason to rush this sentencing. You'll remember on Friday, the judge said that he would sentence Trump on Friday. He also said at the time it would be an unconditional discharge, meaning that there would be no legal punishment for Trump, even though the sentencing would happen just about ten days before his inauguration. Jim?

ACOSTA: All right. Kara Scannell, thank you.

Coming up, schools closed, flights canceled, roads covered, a massive winter storm is hitting millions of Americans. CNN's Gabe Cohen is live in one of the cities in the thick of it right here in Washington D.C. Gabe, how's it looking?

GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jim Snow really piling up here in the nation's capital. We're going to have more on the impacts to this region and those certifying the presidential election. It's coming up.

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ACOSTA: All right, some breaking news for you. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to resign as leader of the ruling Liberal Party in Canada. That's according to a source close to the prime minister. Trudeau has scheduled a news conference a short time from now. This means a major shake up for the party that has been running Canada for nearly a decade.

CNN's Paula Newton is in Ottawa for us. Paula, this is a huge, huge earthquake up in Canada. What can you tell us?

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we can say that for weeks now, months even, it's not just that Canadians, according to polls, have soured on Justin Trudeau and his government, but his own members of parliament, Jim, think about this, really encouraged him to resign.

Given the plummeting polls, they did not believe that he could lead him to victory in an election that has to happen by the end of the year. And for that reason, I guess, after a holiday break, the prime minister has decided to resign as party leader. What does that mean, Jim? That means in the next hour, we'll hear that he will step aside as party leader, but continue as prime minister in the next few months. And that will set off what I'm sure will be a fierce contest to lead the Liberal Party into the next election.

I will say that Pierre Poilievre, the conservative leader, is saying pretty much bring it on. He has found resonance in the MAGA base. And, you know, Donald Trump, the president-elect, has been trolling Justin Trudeau, even though he went down there to Mar-a-Lago to try and settle some issues. He's been calling Justin Trudeau the governor of the 51st state of Canada and threatening to impose 25 percent tariffs on all imports from Canada into the United States.

Given all that and some political scandals, the fact that his deputy prime minister and his finance minister quit in the last few weeks with a scathing resignation letter, you get the picture here, Jim. He was definitely, how shall we say, pushed to jump. And we will be awaiting an historic news conference from him in the coming hours.

ACOSTA: All right, Paula Newton in Ottawa for us. Thank you very much.

In the meantime, back here in the U.

S. More than 55 million Americans are on alert because of the deadly winter storm. Right now, emergencies have been declared across six states. At least three deaths have been blamed on the storm because of treacherous road conditions, like this one in Missouri.

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You can see that big rig losing control on an ice covered highway. Take a look at that, wow. In Bowling Green, Kentucky, one driver walked out to find the entire car completely covered in ice. Over the weekend, nearly two feet of snow triggered an avalanche in Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah, just outside of Park City. Look at that video right there, stunning stuff. And people in Kansas and Missouri are saying they've never seen a winter storm this bad.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I've lived here pretty much all my life off, but, no, I don't remember anything like this in a minute.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All my properties have gone through at least two rounds of plowing already. It's accumulating crazy fast. This is -- I've been doing snow removal for 15 years and this is the heaviest storm I've seen.

ACOSTA: And CNN's Gabe Cohen is in Washington for us. Gabe, I was just driving in a little while ago. It's some nasty stuff. What's happening out there?

COHEN: Yes, Jim. And I hope you're driving carefully because it is treacherous out here. It has been heavy snowfall since we have been out here this morning. You can see it's really piling up out here and it's only expected to get worse throughout the day. This really is shaping up to be the worst snowstorm here in D.C. in at least three years, maybe even longer than that. And so there is this snow warning in effect until well into tonight.

There are also emergency declarations across at least six states impacting tens of millions of people. You mentioned all the way west of Missouri, east out here to Virginia, Maryland and here in D.C. It really feels like this region now, as the snow starts accumulating, it's sort of frozen. We know almost all schools are shut down right now across this region. Federal government offices are closed right now. Streets are quiet. People aren't commuting. Most of what we're seeing around here outside the U.S. Capitol are law enforcement vehicles, dozens, if not hundreds of them. And that is because, as we know, Congress getting ready to certify the presidential election a little bit later today.

And law enforcement, both local and federal, Jim, really on high alert right now, not just because of what happened four years ago on January 6th, but also that recent attack in New Orleans. The local police department, MPB Metropolitan Police, they're fully deployed right now, fully activated. Every officer in the city on the street working 12 hour shifts every single day.

And so it will be interesting to see how does the storm affect that. We know it is not expected to affect what Congress is doing, but certainly making things a little bit trickier for the many, many law enforcement officers who are here today.

ACOSTA: All right, Gabe Cohen, stay warm out there. Thank you so much, Gabe. I really appreciate it.

Coming up, ahead of President Biden's arrival in New Orleans today, new details are emerging about how the New Year's Day attacker wore high tech glasses to help plan his attack. That's next.

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