Return to Transcripts main page
CNN Newsroom
Trump Pardons Nearly All Charged With January 6 U.S. Capitol Riot; Trump Begins Slew Of Executive Actions On Immigration, Economy, Other Programs; Taliban Announce Release Of Two Americans Held In Afghanistan In A Prisoner Exchange; Trump Speaks Out On U.S.-China Ties, Potential Tariffs. Trump Speaks Out on U.S.-China Ties, Potential Tariffs; Trump Hails "Golden Age"; Trump Plans to Meet Putin, End Ukraine War Quickly; Trump Vows to Take Back Panama Canal; Prince Harry Suing Rupert Murdoch's Tabloids. Aired 1-2a ET
Aired January 21, 2025 - 01:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:00:25]
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: And so begins the next four years. I'm John Vause. Ahead here on CNN Newsroom.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: The golden age of America begins right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JOHN VAUSE: Donald Trump's inaugural address promises a thrilling new era, a greater, stronger, more exceptional nation, world peace and unity. And on the seventh day, he plans to rest.
As promised during the campaign, day one saw a flurry of executive orders and pardons.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: So this is January 6th. These are the hostages. Full pardon.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Every man and woman who stormed the Capitol four years ago, attacking and wounding police officers, more than a thousand protesters and all formally forgiven by the new president.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN Newsroom with John Vause.
VAUSE: On the first day of his second term, Donald Trump took aim at the U.S. immigration system, issuing a series of sweeping executive orders, including an attempt to end birthright citizenship, declaring a national emergency at the southern border, reshaping the federal government by removing senior officials at the Department of Justice who oversee immigration courts.
President Trump has also withdrawn the U.S. from the World Health Organization as well as the Paris Climate Accord for a second time. But perhaps most controversial of all, the incoming president granted full pardons to more than a thousand protesters, including those who assaulted police and destroyed property when they stormed the Capitol on January 6 after Trump lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden. But that's not all.
The president commuted sentences for 14 far right extremists from the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys who've been charged with or convicted of seditious conspiracy in trying to disrupt the peaceful transfer of power.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We're going to release our great hostages. That didn't do, for the most part, they didn't do stuff wrong. You see. Take a look at what went on and look what happens in other parts of the country. In Portland, where they kill people, they destroy the city, nothing happens to them. In Seattle, where they took over a big chunk of the city, nothing happened. Minneapolis, where they burned down the city, nothing happened. Essentially nothing happened. All they want to do is go after the J6 hostages.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The new administration has also ordered an immediate freeze on new or pending government regulations, also rescinding dozens of Biden era policies on sex discrimination, gender identity, government ethics and others. We get the very latest details now from CNN's Jeff Zeleny.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: President Trump stepping into the Oval Office for the first time on Monday night and delivering on campaign promises to commute the sentences of January 6th defendants and deliver a mass pardon of some 1,500 defendants and some 14 sentences. Many serious cases were commuted.
Certainly answering the question that's been hanging over his campaign really for many months and even years. Would he distinguish between the violent offenders and the nonviolent offenders on that horrific Day on January 6th? President Trump saying he would not. Delivering that blanket mass pardon and the commutation of those serious sentences as well. That was just some of the executive actions that the president did on his first full day in office, from speaking on Capitol Hill to speaking at a rally at a downtown arena.
The president arriving at the White House and stepping into the Oval Office for the first time in his second term. He said it felt great to be back. He immediately signed a large stack of executive orders, including on immigration, declaring a national emergency on the border, calling the cartels a terrorist organization. Did not rule out using special forces in Mexico. The list goes on and on, taking a series of questions on a range of topics.
But the president made clear he was very excited to be back in power. Also at one point, opening the drawer of the Resolute Desk, pulling out a private note that President Biden sent to him, it was marked 47. He joked with reporters in the Oval Office saying, should I read it aloud? He did not read it aloud.
But there is no question on the first full day back in power. President Trump doing actions on the January 6th to the defendants that certainly is going to be controversial in his own party and at the Justice Department. Jeff Zeleny, CNN, the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
[01:05:00]
VAUSE: Trump also declared America was on the eve of a new golden age and in his words, the country's decline was over. He also promised to be a global peacemaker and unifier. Notably, some of the world's wealthiest and most influential tech titans were invited to the inauguration, including Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos, as well as Tim Cook. Trump also made mention of the two assassination attempts on him and how is it his survival led to a divine calling?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Those who wish to stop our cause have tried to take my freedom and indeed to take my life. Just a few months ago in a beautiful Pennsylvania field, an assassin's bullet ripped through my ear. But I felt then and believe even more so now that my life was saved from for a reason. I was saved by God to make America great again.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: And joining us this hour from Rogers, Arkansas, is the former governor of Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson. He's now a Resident Fellow at the Institute of Politics at Harvard University. And Jamal Simmons is with us now from Essex County in New Jersey. He's a CNN political commentator and former communications director for Vice President Kamala Harris. Thank you both for being with us. It's appreciated.
It's been a busy Monday. There's been a flurry of executive orders. There's no more Paris climate change accord. The U.S. is pulling out of the WHO. And we just heard the president talking about how badly the January 6 insurrectionists have been treated and why they've received this executive order.
So on that, Jamal, did Donald Trump justify that order to hold DOJ cases relating to the Capitol Hill riots by simply wildly exaggerating or making stuff up about a lot of bad stuff about liberal or progressive protesters.
JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: We spent the last few years of Donald Trump sort of claiming that he not sort of claiming that he won the 2020 election. What we know is that he didn't win the 2020 election. He brought up several lawsuits that failed along the way. And then those January 6 protesters, based on what Donald Trump had been telling them for weeks, went into the Capitol and tried to stop the rightful counting of the votes, tried to stop the certification of the president of the United States.
I think back to 1865, when Andrew Johnson was president after the Civil War and he was considering giving amnesty to the Confederate soldiers who also mounted a violent act against the United States government. They gave amnesty to those soldiers and those leaders, but they made them swear allegiance to the country.
They made them agree to the 13th Amendment. They put some conditions on them. And I think if Donald Trump was going to do it he should have at least made these folks agree that they were not going to engage in violent acts against the government or his officials.
And certainly, I think people who committed violence against police officers, like Brian Sidnick, who ultimately took his life, I don't understand why we would be letting those folks out of jail.
VAUSE: And Asa to you, as the youngest United States attorney ever appointed in this country, as a former federal prosecutors, does this way of thinking, just giving these guys a free pass, in many ways, does that raise red flags or perhaps a hair on the back of your neck?
ASA HUTCHINSON, RESIDENT FELLOW, HARVARD INSTITUTE OF POLITICS: Well, first of all, this has been a day of ups and downs. There are so many things that Donald Trump has said that the American people want. Increased border security, dealing with inflation, greater energy production. And so there's a lot of positive things today.
But whenever you look at some of his executive orders are great, but then the pardons really tips a scale in the Justice Department away from the rule of law, away from building confidence, and he makes a false comparison. You can criticize that more should have been prosecuted in Minnesota or in Portland, Oregon, you can make that case. But it doesn't change the fact that we all saw in our television sets the attack on the Capitol, attack on law enforcement that embarrassed the United States across the globe.
And sure, you can look at pardons individually, but you should not be giving a mass pardon and calling them hostages. They went through, in fact, many of these actually pled guilty, admitted their wrongdoing, and he's disregarding the working of our justice system.
VAUSE: Well, eight years ago, Trump's first inauguration speech was all about American carnage and decline and the hellscape we all lived in. Now things are looking up. You talked about some of the positives. Well, let the golden era begin. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We stand on the verge of the four greatest years in American history. With your help, we will restore America promise, and we will rebuild the nation that we love. And we love it so much.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[01:10:00]
VAUSE: But wait, there's more. There's also global peace and unity on the way. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We will be a nation like no other, full of compassion, courage and exceptionalism. Our power will stop all wars and bring a new spirit of unity to a world that has been angry, violent and totally unpredictable.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Asa, I just want to start with you. Did this sound almost like a campaign rally? Kind of a toned down version of a mega rally with all the promises which were really far beyond aspirational. Some of them just weren't even really practical.
HUTCHINSON: Well, first of all, those remarks were aspirational, consistent with what he said in the campaign. And I think it reflects the will of the American people that we not get into endless wars. Now, it gets a little bit tougher when you start looking at the individual issues. He says he's going to end the Ukraine war on day one.
Well, you know, he's got a plan. It's going to take longer for him to address that. We, it's got -- Congress has got to go along with it. But I think that his aspirational comments were the high water marks of his inaugural address. And certainly whenever you look at some of the specifics, it does remind you of some of his campaign rallies. But that's Donald Trump for you.
VAUSE: And Jamal, I guess, you know, when you look at the inauguration, it's a moment for the country to come together. The election is over. Politics should be left behind. Did we that today?
SIMMONS: Well, you know, I hope for it. I think the president -- new president Donald Trump did say some things are aspirational that, you know, I would agree with. Of course, America is a place where people want to fulfill their dreams, live the American dream and do the best they can.
I know people who I think voted for Donald Trump and when you talk to the folks who voted for Donald Trump, who were either Democrats in the past or not really very political, but they voted for Joe Biden the last time. What they'll tell you is they voted for economic reasons. They wanted to get the economy moving, they wanted to lower prices. They wanted to make sure that the priorities of the president were on their concerns and not on these niche concerns.
That maybe they were concerned the Democrats were spending too much time focused on these niche concerns. It sounds like Donald Trump is pretty focused on niche concerns, too.
VAUSE: Well, after the inauguration speech, the president talked to the, you know, the crowd, which is the overflow crowd. Listen to what he says here, especially the bit at the end. Here he is.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We fixed the border, was totally fixed. There was nothing to talk about 2020, by the way. That election was totally rigged. But these are the -- that's okay. It was a rigged election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Okay. Asa to you first very quickly, you know, I'm going to ask, do Republicans support a peaceful transfer of power when they win, but when Democrats win, it's the election must be rigged?
HUTCHINSON: Well, that should not be the case. And today, a peaceful transfer of power was showcased to America. And I saw a lot of breaks from tradition. I mean, you saw President Trump escorting President Biden to the Marine helicopter as he departed. I thought that was a good gesture.
Clearly, it was not a great day whenever he hits very hard on the Biden administration without calling them by name. But what you saw today was a break in many traditions. He spoke to American people just like he did during the campaign. He has momentum right now on the major issues that he wants to address.
And so he's going to have a honeymoon. It's interesting to see how long it will last in a second term. It's like a second wedding here. But he's off to a powerful start. He's had his ups and downs today, and he's going to have a lot of difficult road ahead with the slim margins in Congress.
But today was a day of American democracy at work. And I think Donald Trump did what Donald Trump does best, and that is lay out his agenda in words that everybody can understand.
VAUSE: Jamal, last word to you.
SIMMONS: Well, I disagree one point. I don't think that President Trump really did anything outside of protocol in terms of how he dealt with President Biden. That's pretty typical to walk out to the helicopter and that sort of thing.
But I think what he did do, which is -- which was against protocol, was he really situated himself right in the middle of the people that rally he did the arena, that was a festival. It was a circus, even. But it was something that I think people in this modern day and age, they really get into.
So the Democrats are going to have to figure out in a world where reality television and WWE wrestling and spectacle has really returned to American politics in a big way, how the Democrats are going to have big events and not just policy conversations that are, you know, loved by the eggheads at the Brookings Institution, but nobody else in the country is paying attention to. Democrats got to do a better job of how they talk to the American people.
VAUSE: Now that, Jamal Simmons, thank you for being with us. Asa Hutchinson as well. Appreciate your time.
SIMMONS: Thank you.
[01:15:00]
VAUSE: Well, part of Donald Trump's immigration reform efforts focuses on birthright citizenship, a constitutional right enshrined in the 14th Amendment. Any attempt to change the definition of birthright citizenship is already facing legal challenges. A coalition of civil and immigration rights groups suing the new administration. Now, despite that, Trump says deportation raids in major metropolitan areas will begin soon.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENATIFIED FEMALE: Can we expect ICE raids in major cities tomorrow?
TRUMP: I don't want to say when, but it's going to happen, has to happen, or we're not going to have a country left.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Well, for more now on the sweeping changes ahead to the U.S. Immigration system, here's CNN's Priscilla Alvarez.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: President Donald Trump signed a series of executive actions on immigration on Monday that will dramatically overhaul the U.S. immigration system and make it even harder for migrants who are coming to the United States trying to seek asylum.
Now, these actions included, for example, a national emergency along the U.S. southern border, which allows the admin to pool more Pentagon resources to assist along the U.S. southern border. Also, designating cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, which could preface the use of the military force on Mexican soil.
The president saying while he was signing that quote, Mexico probably doesn't want that. Then two, President Donald Trump also signing executive action that would kick off the process of ending birthright citizenship.
Of course, that will likely be challenged in the courts, which is part of the plan that Trump officials have had in mind when it comes to ending birthright citizenship. But it was also the actions that happen quietly that may have the most wide ranging effects, at least in the near term. And that is, for example, the Trump administration turning off CBP1,
essentially canceling appointments for migrants who were scheduled to come to those legal ports of entry about every single day. At least under the Biden administration, there were 1,450 appointments. So today over 1,000 migrants who had been queued up in line after scheduling their appointments were told that those were canceled.
And without other, in addition to, I should say, asylum restrictions along the U.S. southern border for those crossing illegally essentially makes asylum all but impossible for migrants who are at the U.S. Southern border.
In addition to that, sources telling me that Trump officials had fired some key leaders at the Justice Department's immigration office. That's an office that oversees the nation's immigration courts, essentially those immigration judges who decide who stays in the U.S. and who is deported. So President Donald Trump coming into office with a suite of actions that already are having implications for immigrants both in the United States and around the world. Priscilla Alvarez, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Areva Martin is a civil rights attorney and legal affairs commentator. She is with us this hour from Los Angeles. Areva, good to see you.
AREVA MARTIN, CIVIL RIGHTS ATTORNEY: Hi, John.
VAUSE: So here is the new president speaking about birthright citizenship and why it should be scrapped. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We're the only country in the world that does this with birthright, as you know, and it's just absolutely ridiculous. But, you know, we'll see. We think it. We have very good grounds. Certainly, people have wanted to do this for decades.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Well, as you know, Areva, Canada, Mexico and Argentina have birthright citizenship, as do other countries. So how can an executive order from a U.S. president repeal an amendment to the U.S. Constitution? The 14th amendment was ratified in 1868.
MARTIN: Well, John, under normal circumstances, an executive order absolutely has no bearings on anything that's enshrined in the U.S. Constitution. But we are living through unprecedented times. We're living in a time where Donald Trump is being allowed, and I do say allowed, by the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House to act as if he has the powers of a tyrant. He told us on day one he would be acting as a dictator.
And in fact, what we saw today by those executive orders that were issued, he is living up to the promises that he made during his campaign. It's absolutely ridiculous to think that an executive order can undermine or in any way impact rights that have been afforded to individuals for decades via the Constitution. But we saw very similar conduct with respect to the TikTok debacle, called a debacle.
You have a bipartisan bill that's passed banning TikTok in the US. You have the U.S. Supreme Court upholding that ban, and then you have Donald Trump issuing an executive order again, undermining the authority of the judicial branch as well as Congress.
So we are living through unprecedented times, John, and we don't see many profiles encouraged from U.S. Senators or Congress, people speaking up against Donald Trump's violations of the rule of law.
[01:20:05]
VAUSE: Second term, same as the first. You know, when we talk about birthright here, Trump says he believes he has good grounds legally to have this repealed or altered. And CNN is reporting some immigration hardliners have argued that children of undocumented immigrants are not subject to the jurisdiction of the United States and shouldn't be considered citizens under the Constitution. OK, what's the common thinking among legal scholars about that argument?
MARTIN: That it's incredibly flawed, that it's misplaced, and that again, under normal circumstances, where we had a U.S. Supreme Court that was going to make rulings based on precedent and follow the rule of law, that would -- that argument would be dead on arrival.
But again, we have a court that has shown really a willingness to support Donald Trump even when there wasn't strong legal basis to do so. And we've seen a Congress and a Senate again unwilling to challenge him. So what's so scary about the second Trump administration, John, is the lack of guardrails.
So many of the guardrails that we saw during his first administration are essentially gone in many ways because of the cabinet that he has selected six offense people who are loyal to him, not necessarily people who are loyal to our government or to our Constitution.
VAUSE: It also seems that the President is going after those people who implement this law. CNN reports that the President is removing senior figures at the Department of Justice, in particular at the Executive Office of Review, which oversees the U.S. immigration court system. Immigration judges decide if immigrants can remain in the U.S. or if they're deported.
Many say this is actually an extraordinary move by Trump, one of the many. But this seems to be has greater implications than many other things he's doing, especially for government workers.
MARTIN: Well, one of the things that we know about Donald Trump is that today he issued just a plethora of executive orders. One of them has to do with what he calls draining the swamp and ushering in a golden age of, you know, for America.
And when you read that policy statement, what it says is he wants the Department of Justice to do a thorough investigation of all of its offices and weed out what he calls overpaid, unqualified DEI appointments. So this looking for and the firing of these judges and these personnel involved in our immigration laws is very consistent with his overarching approach to the U.S. government.
Look at the position that he's created for Elon Musk, the so called efficiency department, again, all designed to work what he has called to drain, quote, unquote, the swamp to get rid of those people essentially who are going to resist, who are going to uphold the rule of law, and who are not going to just easily roll over when there are efforts to violate the law.
So, again, I keep going back to the unprecedented times in which we're living. Very scary, but also very predictable, John. These are promises that Donald Trump made while campaigning. So for any of us who are sitting around suggesting that we're surprised or shocked or that's disingenuous because we knew what we were voting for in this country when 70 plus million people decided to return him to the White House.
VAUSE: I'm still waiting for the pivot. When he goes into that sort of more moderate stage of the presidency, it could be a while. Areva Martin, thank you. Good to see you.
MARTIN: Thanks, John.
VAUSE: Well, a prisoner exchange years in the making between the United States and the Taliban has finally been reached in the final hours of Joe Biden's presidency. Two Americans held in Afghanistan have been freed in exchange for a Taliban member serving a life sentence in the United States.
A source tells CNN Americans Ryan Corbett and William McKenty are now on their way home. At the same time, Taliban member Khan Mohammed, convicted in 2008 on narco terrorism charges, has been flown from the U.S. to Doha, Qatar.
Corbett's family released a statement moments ago saying they're profoundly grateful to President Trump and his team, along with the former Biden White House, for bringing Ryan home there. So thank the government of Qatar for facilitating the release.
We'll take a short break. Welcome back. President Trump vowed to float a wave of tariffs after he came into office. We'll take a look at what could be ahead for China when it comes to trade policy.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[01:26:27]
VAUSE: President Trump says a 25 percent tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico will begin February 1, not on day one, as he promised during the campaign. Whenever those tariffs are imposed, they will drastically change U.S. policy towards two of America's three biggest trading partners. Many economists warn U.S. tariffs will invite retaliation from other
countries, raising costs for consumers and potentially reigniting inflation. Even Trump's economic advisers are divided over how to implement these tariffs.
During last year's run for the White House, Trump also talked about imposing punishing 60 percent tariffs on imports from China. But on day one, Trump delayed a hike in Chinese tariffs while continuing his public criticism of Beijing trade policy.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: China charges U.S. tariffs, and we charge them very little. Except for what I did. I put a lot of we took in hundreds of billions of dollars, but until I came along, China never paid 10 cents to this country. They ripped us off and they never paid anything.
But like if we wanted to make a deal with TikTok and it was a good deal. And China wouldn't approve it, then I think ultimately they'd approve it because it would put tariffs on China. Maybe. I'm not saying I would, but you certainly could do that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Officials in Beijing say they're willing to work with the new administration while urging a fair and non-discriminatory business environment. CNN's Beijing bureau chief, Steven Jiang, live with us now for more on this.
OK, so the talk seems to be publicly the same as what we've heard before. But if you look at what's actually happening, the tariff hike has been delayed. The force sale or ban on TikTok has been delayed by 75 days. There's talk of, you know, a visit to China by Trump to meet with Xi Jinping. The actual behind the scenes things, it just seems to be warming quite nicely in many ways.
STEVEN JIANG, CNN BEIJING BUREAU CHIEF: That's right, John. That's why I think if you were Xi Jinping, you probably feel quite comforted by the events of the last few days. As I mentioned, there was no announcement of day one tariffs targeting China, despite all the campaign promises and threats.
And then of course, China did send an unprecedented high level delegation to attend Trump's inauguration, led by their vice president, who in D.C. not only met with J.D. Vance, his U.S. counterpart, but also a lot of U.S. business leaders, including, you guessed it, Elon Musk. And then of course, there is that Trump-Xi Jinping phone call on Friday.
Now, the Chinese readout, of course, is filled with a lot of these platitudes, win-win cooperation, mutual respect. But the line that's worth noting is both leaders agreed to establish strategic communication channels and remain in regular contact about major issues of common concern.
So at least there is this indication that are willing to have dialogues and talks to potentially resolve some of the most contentious issues, at least in Trump's mind. But the thing here, of course, is from the perspective a lot of frontline Chinese officials, they were still anxious about dealing with Trump because of his unpredictable nature. They still have nightmares about that.
But on the other hand, they also feel because of his transactional nature, in their mind, there could be some sort of potential deals to be worked out in the next few months.
[01:30:05]
But also remember, the Trump 1.0 trade deal was never fully implemented. So the Trump 2.0 team, what kind of lessons they're drawing from that remains to be seen.
But at least for now, as you mentioned, Trump reportedly has instructed federal agencies to study trade policies before giving him policy recommendations. So that process could take months.
So the Chinese really they do have this sense of some breathing room at a time when their economy is still struggling and the growth is sluggish.
Now on social media here, though, the Chinese are watching all of this with a sense of bewilderment, amazement, and probably a sense of schadenfreude even.
Because even though Trump has a fan base here, because a lot of people here tend to have this admiration for strongmen leaders, he does have that nickname, Nation-Building Trump, because a lot of people here think his divisive remarks and actions ultimately is propping up China on the global stage, John.
JOHN VAUSE, CNN ANCHOR: Interesting theory. Steven Jiang, thank you, live in Beijing. Appreciate it.
President Donald Trump also mentioned the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release deal Monday. He reiterated his promise to bring the hostages being held in Gaza home and said the October 7th attack should never have happened.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As you know, Israel would have never been hit on October 7th and you would -- none of you would be up here. None of you would even know anything about this tragedy that you're going through right now.
But Iran was broke. Anybody that bought oil from Iran, they couldn't do any business with us. You're not going to do business with America.
China passed. Everybody passed. They were broke. They didn't have money for Hamas. They didn't have money for Hezbollah. And your sons would be alive and they certainly wouldn't be incarcerated like they are.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: An Israeli official says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is planning to meet with President Trump in the coming weeks in Washington. They're expected to discuss Israeli-Saudi relations, Iran's nuclear program and the ongoing ceasefire and hostage deal.
South Korea's impeached president, Yoon Suk-yeol attended a constitutional court hearing for his impeachment trial today. He's accused of leading an insurrection with his short-lived attempt to impose martial law in December.
The court will decide whether he'll be removed from office permanently or reinstated. Yoon told the court he's committed to a free democracy. He's been jailed since last week in a separate criminal investigation.
Cooperation will also be key to ending the Ukraine war. President Donald Trump says he wants a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. Those details ahead.
[01:32:39]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Welcome back, everyone. I'm John Vause. You're watching CNN NEWSROOM.
On Monday, Donald Trump portrayed himself and his second term as a peacemaker and unifier, ending wars and bringing prosperity. There was also a flurry of executive orders.
Among them, a near blanket pardon for about 1500. January 6th rioters. He also withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accords and declared a national emergency at the southern U.S. Border.
After taking the oath of office, Trump described his vision of America's future.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: My recent election is a mandate to completely and totally reverse a horrible betrayal, and all of these many betrayals that have taken place, and to give the people back their faith, their wealth, their democracy, and indeed their freedom.
From this moment on, Americas decline is over.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: To Los Angeles now and Ron Brownstein, a CNN senior political analyst as well as a senior editor for "The Atlantic". Ron, good to see you.
RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Hey John, good to be with you.
VAUSE: Yes, it was a big day. There was a lot going on. Trump made good on a lot of his campaign promises. In particular, the executive orders for the J6 hostages, as he calls them, or the insurrectionists from 2021.
So now the DOJ or the Department of Justice has been instructed to drop the case or outright. What does this actually mean? What are the implications of this in the big picture?
BROWNSTEIN: Yes. I mean, you think about everything that happened today. I mean, signing an executive order that attempts to repeal the 14th amendment and end birthright citizenship; designating cartels as a terrorist organization in a way that basically sets the predicate for unilateral military action in Mexico; threatening Panama; Elon Musk's strange Nazi echo salutes.
And all of that is relegated, I think, to basically a footnote to what happened at the end of the day when Trump issued blanket clemency for essentially everyone involved in the January 6th riot, including people who beat and attacked police officers who later died either by suicide or stroke. Donald Trump is releasing from prison people who violently attacked police officers who later died.
It's hard to overstate the implications of this for the American criminal justice system, for American democracy, for American society. You know, it extends what he has been doing for several years, which is to reinterpret January 6th in a way that normalizes and excuses and perhaps even encourages political violence.
VAUSE: Then there comes foreign policy. I think this was foreign policy. Here's what the president said about his global view.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We will measure our success not only by the battles we win, but also by the wars that we end. And perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.
My proudest legacy will be that of a peacemaker and unifier. Thats what I want to be -- a peacemaker and a unifier.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Let the isolationism begin. An absence of war is not peace. And while the president seems to be embracing what seems to be an anti-war policy, is the reality is that he's just a pro-autocrat, pro-dictator agenda here?
BROWNSTEIN: Well, I think he views allies and adversaries and dictators as essentially indistinguishable. I mean, he basically approaches all other nations with a single-minded kind of focus on what can you know, what -- transactional, a transactional approach to foreign policy, which is about what can we get out of it? And maybe in many cases, what can he get out of it?
And of course, you know that all of that peacemaking rhetoric was kind of dissonant against threatening Panama over the canal, everything he's been saying about Greenland and then this new reality of him designating the Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, which could be the predicate for unilateral military action inside Mexico over the objections of the Mexican government, which is something that he wanted to do in his first term, but was resisted by some of his appointees.
And that really goes to a larger point we should mention right here on day one, as demonstrated by these pardons and commutations of the J6 rioters.
You know, Trump, when he was first elected, was compelled to make concessions to other power centers in the Republican Party by appointing senior officials who are not really part of his MAGA movement, particularly in the Defense area and National Security. And they ultimately resisted many of the more extreme things he wanted to do.
[01:39:48]
BROWNSTEIN: Well, that just didn't happen this time. Trump has conquered every other power center in the Republican Party. And he's staffing the government with loyalists, which I think in some ways will make his life easier, but also means there are fewer barriers between him and his most excessive (ph) instincts, as I think today demonstrated.
VAUSE: We also know what to expect this time around from Trump -- the lies, the exaggerations, the untruths, the alternative facts, self- aggrandizing.
What you're about to hear, though, seems to be at a whole new level. Here he is.
BROWNSTEIN: Yes.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Over the past eight years, I have been tested and challenged more than any president in our 250-year history. And I've learned a lot along the way.
The journey to reclaim our republic has not been an easy one, that I can tell you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: The 16th president ended slavery, kept the union together, and won the Civil War. If Abraham Lincoln was alive today and heard that, he'd probably drop dead.
In the grand scheme of things, though, does that stuff matter? Are there far more serious issues that we should be looking at?
BROWNSTEIN: Yes, it only matters in the sense of revealing his mindset. As I tweeted today, Lincoln and FDR, who dealt with the Depression and World War II, would both like a word on the presidents that have been most tested and challenged.
But I think, you know, that was kind of a crystallization of a larger theme throughout the day that Trump's resentments and his grievances are still front and center for him.
As I said, there is no question he has a bigger, broader opportunity than he did in 2017. He improved compared to 2020 in this last election, among virtually every demographic group and in every part of the country.
There were a lot of people who were disappointed in what they got out of Biden, and that caused them to be more open to Trump.
But the question of whether he is capable of addressing, you know, speaking to that larger audience, addressing their needs, or is he focused on really pursuing the kind of idiosyncratic priorities of his base and his own personal grievances? Today, like much of the transition, has leaned you more toward the latter than the former.
I mean, you know, people are still going to give him a lot of room if they think he's going to bring their cost of living down and maybe get control of the border.
But I think if you're a Republican looking at 2026 and 2028, what you saw today was again, at age 78, there is no new Donald Trump on offer for a second term, and you are going to get all the -- all the tumult and turmoil that comes with it, as well as the powerful ability to control the message in the national dialog.
VAUSE: So there will be no pivot.
Ron, thank you for being with us. Appreciate it.
BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.
VAUSE: The Russia-Ukraine war didn't rate a direct mention during Trump's inauguration in Washington, but the president made it known efforts are underway to end the war.
Trump says he plans to meet Putin, and he also wants the conflict over as quickly as possible.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: He's told me he wants to make a deal. I mean, he wants to make -- Zelenskyy wants to make a deal. I don't know if Putin does. He might not. I don't know.
He should make a deal. I think he's destroying Russia by not making a deal. I think Russia's going to be in big trouble. You take a look at their economy. You take a look at the inflation in Russia.
So I would I would hope -- I got along with him great. And you know, I would hope he wants to make a deal.
(END VIDEO CLIP) VAUSE: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is remaining hopeful the incoming U.S. administration will be successful at ending the war.
On X, Zelenskyy described Donald Trump's inauguration as a day of change and hope. While praising President Trump, the Ukrainian president says he's ready to work with him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): He is a strong person. I wish President Trump and all of America success.
Ukrainians are ready to work together with Americans to achieve peace, real peace. This is an opportunity that must be seized.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Russian President Vladimir Putin says he's also ready to work with the new U.S. administration, and is open to talks over the Ukraine war.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VLADIMIR PUTIN, RUSSIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): The pre- election period has been difficult for Mr. Trump in every way. He and even members of his family were constantly under severe pressure.
There were even attempts on his life, but he showed the courage to win in a convincing manner. We hear his statement about the need to do everything possible to prevent World War III.
We certainly welcome this attitude and congratulate the president- elect of the United States of America on his assumption of office.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Putin also stressed the importance of achieving long-term peace, while reaffirming Russia's commitment to protecting its interests.
NATO Secretary-General also offered an optimistic view of working with the Trump administration. In a post on X, Mark Rutte said NATO will turbocharge defense spending and production with President Donald Trump now back in office. And repeated the Trump campaign pledge of achieving peace through strength.
[01:44:51]
VAUSE: Well, in his inaugural address Monday, President Trump promised again to take back the Panama Canal.
Coming up, what Panama's president has to say about that.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: Well, for a second time Donald Trump has withdrawn the U.S. from the Paris Climate Accords. But unlike the first time he did this, the global warming crisis is now at a critical moment.
According to climate scientists, the planet for the first time breached 1.5 degrees Celsius last year. That's the warming threshold governments have set to avoid the most severe impacts of climate change.
The executive action, signed by Trump on Monday, also seeks to double down on fossil fuels and expanding mineral mining, which then, of course, produces more of those carbon emissions, which forces the temperatures up. Environmental groups say they plan to fight that.
Well, Trump repeated his pledge also to take back the Panama canal in his inauguration speech.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We have been treated very badly from this foolish gift that should have never been made. And Panama's promise to us has been broken. The purpose of our deal and the spirit of our treaty has been totally violated.
China is operating the Panama Canal and we didn't give it to China. We gave it to Panama, and we're taking it back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Let's talk more about this with CNN's Patrick Oppmann who joins us now from Havana.
Let the fact-checking begin. So what is the situation with the Panama Canal? And how accurate are those claims by Donald Trump?
PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, I was just in Panama a few weeks ago and people were celebrating the anniversary -- the 25th anniversary of the Panama Canal being turned over to Panamanians.
And they've expanded that canal. They make much more money than the U.S. ever did running off it. And we should point out that Panama is a stalwart ally of the U.S. and is also kind of a bastion of prosperity in a region that otherwise has problems with drug cartels and migration that is heading to the U.S. border. So Panama would seem to be an ideal U.S. ally.
And then you have these claims by Donald Trump that the rates to go -- for U.S. ships to go through the Panama Canal are too much, or they're out of whack with international prices elsewhere, which Panamanian officials have pushed back very hard against.
They say that operating the canal, of course, is very expensive, particularly when you've had a couple of years of droughts, which has meant that the number of crossings, transits that happen every day are so much fewer.
And then you have this other issue that somehow China is secretly running the Panama Canal, something that would seem impossible because you have to be a Panamanian ship pilot to actually take any of the ships to go through the Panamanian -- the Panama canal.
And while there are ports that belong to this Hong Kong company that, of course, has relations with China, you know, that company has been doing business in Panama since the 1990s, when the U.S. helped run the canal.
[01:49:48]
OPPMANN: And there's just no evidence that they have the ability to shut the canal at all, or that they are in charge of the canal. Panama consistently says and shows that Panama is in charge of the canal.
So Panamanian President Jose Raul Mulino who's called for better relations with the U.S. has pushed back very, very hard.
But we should point out, John, that the Panama after the 1989 U.S. invasion does not have a military anymore. So Donald Trump followed through on these threats to essentially take back the Panama Canal, legally or not, there would be very little to stop him.
Of course, 5 percent of the world's maritime trade runs through the Panama Canal. So certainly if you're trying to lower prices, stabilize the world economy, this is not the way to do it.
VAUSE: Our thanks to Patrick Oppmann there.
When we come back, a new legal battle for Prince Harry, this time against Rupert Murdoch's tabloids. All those details in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
VAUSE: On Monday, Joe Biden spoke for the first time as a former U.S. President, and it was a gesture he made which perhaps said the most.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JOE BIDEN, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We have a lot more to do. We heard the inaugural address today. We've got a lot more to do.
Look, I know from many years of experience there are ups and down, but we have to stay with it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VAUSE: Biden was there making the sign of the cross before boarding a special helicopter flight out of Washington.
He told the crowd he's leaving office but not leaving the fight, and called on supporters to stay engaged.
Well, the richest person on earth could soon graduate from billionaire to trillionaire, according to Oxfam's annual Inequity Report, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk will likely be worth at least $1 trillion in the next five years, and could be followed by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, among others. Oxfam warns the growing wealth inequality comes as the ultra-rich are
exerting more political influence.
Musk himself spent nearly $300 million on Trump's presidential campaign, and will now lead the newly-created Department of Government Efficiency.
Prince Harry's highly-anticipated lawsuit against Britain's tabloid press will soon begin in London. The prince is suing Rupert Murdoch's newspaper group, accusing the publisher of using unlawful means to gather news.
CNN's Max Foster has details.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MAX FOSTER, CNN ROYAL CORRESPONDENT: From making the papers to suing them. After reaching a legal settlement with the Mirror Group of newspapers, Prince Harry's now engaging in another legal battle. This time
involving Rupert Murdoch's tabloid newspapers, in a trial that could stretch on for months.
EMMA JONES, HACKED OFF: This is about newspaper wrongdoing that goes back a long time, but it's about finally bringing them to account.
So really, it's more about the murky business of newspapers rather than Prince Harry himself. He just happens to be somebody who had the money and the power to take it this far.
FOSTER: That alleged murky business is said to go back years, with Harry's complaint claiming the group illegally obtained private information about him and his family between 1996 and 2011, using it to write headlines and sell papers.
The group has robustly denied the allegations, and its lawyers have previously told the court that the new claims were a scurrilous and cynical attack.
[01:54:47]
FOSTER: His mother, famously had a turbulent relationship with the press. She died in a car crash in 1997 whilst being chased by paparazzi.
20 years later, Harry publicly criticized them in an interview with the BBC.
He blames not just the photographers for his mother's death, but also the news desks that were driving the demand for those pictures.
JONES: Well, absolutely. You cannot separate the fact that, you know, news had a huge part to do with that and that drive for information about her.
It really was a moment of shock. And I think at the time there was a great outpouring of anger towards the tabloid newspapers in this country.
FOSTER: But the Royals haven't been the only alleged targets of the tabloids. Ordinary civilians say they were subject to claimed invasions of privacy, sometimes using very questionable tactics.
And in a criminal trial starting in 2013, one editor of the Murdoch- owned "News of the World" was found guilty of conspiracy to hack phones. He was sentenced to 18 months.
JONES: We're talking about Rupert Murdoch's culture here and anybody who has worked --
FOSTER: Because he created the tabloid culture?
JONES: I think Rupert Murdoch certainly embraced the British tabloid culture and ran with it. And set it on fire, let's say, in a way that nobody else has ever done.
FOSTER: A number of high-profile names are set to take to the stand during the weeks' long trial, and many will be watching and hoping the case will bring about change.
Max Foster, CNN -- London.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VAUSE: Well, it seems many around the world are in no mood for celebrations, and we know this from the champagne index.
The number of champagne shipments from France fell last year by nearly 10 percent, the second straight decline for sales. The Champagne Trade Association says people are not partying as much because of inflation, wars, political uncertainty, a whole lot of other stuff.
Ok.
In U.S. college football, the Ohio State's Buckeyes are national champions for the first time in ten years after defeating Notre Dame. Ohio State built a commanding lead early in the second half, then held off a late rally by the Fighting Irish for 34 to 23 victory. First championship game played in college football's new 12-team playoff format.
Well, thank you for watching. I'm John Vause.
Please stay with us. My friend and colleague Rosemary Church is up next with CNN NEWSROOM.
See you tomorrow.
[01:57:16]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)