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CNN This Morning
Republicans Divided on Trump's January 6th Pardons; Trump Demands Apology from Bishop Who Asked Him to Show Mercy; Record- Breaking Snowfall Reported Across the South. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired January 22, 2025 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Wednesday, January 22. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING.
[05:58:40]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They've been given a pardon. I thought their sentences were ridiculous and excessive.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Sweeping pardons. Violent January 6th rioters and far-right extremists freed. Now, President Trump facing backlash from some in his own party for that day-one decision.
Plus --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM HOMAN, TRUMP'S BORDER CZAR: If they're in the country legally, they have a problem. It's not OK to enter this country illegally.
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HUNT: Immigration crackdown. President Trump rolling out new policies. Places like schools and churches no longer safe.
And this.
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BISHOP MARIANN EDGAR BUDDE, EPISCOPAL BISHOP OF WASHINGTON: Have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: A plea from the pulpit. A bishop begs Trump to, quote, "have mercy." Overnight, the president demanding an apology.
And later.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a winter wonderland here in Florida.
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HUNT: A once-in-a-generation storm from Texas to Florida. Some Southern cities seeing their snowiest day on record.
All right. It is 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. A live look at snowy New Orleans. Some spots across the city saw up to ten inches of snow, shattering the city's previous record of 2.6 inches. Pretty wild.
Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.
We're just three days into the second Trump presidency. Already, friction between the White House and Capitol Hill as Republican lawmakers grapple with Trump's decision to grant clemency to almost everyone convicted or charged in connection with the January 6th insurrection.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): It's not my place. It's the president's sole decision. And he made a decision. So, I stand with him on that.
SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): It was surprising to me that it was a blanket pardon.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We're talking about people that were beating officers with fire hydrants.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I just -- I didn't see that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Metal batons. Is that acceptable to you?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. No, that's not --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Those people were pardoned.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- acceptable, but I didn't see it. So --
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: What do you mean you didn't see it? There were 1,600 people that were a part of --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not sure. I didn't see that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As I said, it's the president's prerogative.
SEN. SUSAN COLLINS (R-ME): I do not support the pardons, if they were given -- if they were given -- to people who committed violent crimes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They won a mandate. And I fully support him in doing that.
SEN. JAMES LANKFORD (R-OK): Honestly, I'm still going through the 200 different E.O.'s, and I've not even read through that one yet to be able to get the full details. SEN. KEVIN CRAMER (R-ND): The deck is cleared now. Can we just stop
talking about January 6th?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: North Dakota Senator Kevin Cramer there, asking, can we stop talking about January 6th? It seems many of the president's allies would like to stop talking about the deadly assault on the Capitol.
But Trump's sweeping pardons making that difficult, as the president himself was pressed by reporters on the issue when he spoke to them yesterday.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Aren't you sending the message that assaulting officers is OK with these pardons?
TRUMP: No. The opposite.
You know, I'm the friend of -- I am the friend of police more than any president that's ever been in this office.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Donald Trump insisting that, despite his decision to pardon hundreds of people convicted of violent felonies and a power that he alone wields, insisting he supports law enforcement more than any president ever.
When asked about specific cases, including that of Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, who was attacked and injured while defending the Capitol four years ago, the president seemed to be unaware of the details of the convictions that he chose to wipe away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
PETER ALEXANDER, NBC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: You would agree that it's never acceptable to assault a police officer. Right?
TRUMP: Sure.
ALEXANDER: So then, if I can, among those you pardoned, D.J. Rodriguez. He drove a stun gun into the neck of a D.C. Police officer who was abducted by the mob that day. He later confessed on video to the FBI and pleaded guilty for his crimes.
Why does he deserve a pardon?
TRUMP: Well, I don't know. Was it a pardon? Because we're looking at commutes, and we're looking at pardons.
ALEXANDER: It was a pardon, sir.
TRUMP: OK, well, we'll take a look at everything.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: "Was it a pardon?" he asks. Yes. One that only he has the power to deliver.
Joining us now: Stephen Collinson, CNN senior politics reporter; Elliot Williams, CNN legal analyst, a former federal prosecutor; Congressman Jake Auchincloss, Democrat of Maryland [SIC] -- Massachusetts; and Kristen Soltis Anderson, CNN political commentator and Republican strateger [SIC] -- strategist and pollster.
Welcome to all of you. Thank you for being here.
Congressman, this, of course, a return to the original Trump -- first Trump administration, where members of the body in which you serve often repeatedly asked to defend what Donald Trump has done.
This -- What happened on January 6th was something that was an absolute cataclysm for the institution. Many of your colleagues were trapped in the House chamber, had to be escorted out by law enforcement as rioters tried to breach the doors.
What do you have to say to -- to your colleagues there as they -- some of them are trying? Not all of them. Not all of them are defending what Trump has done. But what goes through your mind when you watch that?
REP. JAKE AUCHINCLOSS (D-MA): Congressional Republicans are all ducking and dodging, and I never want to hear them say, "Back the blue" ever again after providing political cover for this abomination.
These are people who violently assaulted officers of the law while trying to insurrect our democracy.
It's not just these pardons, by the way. Last Congress, the Republicans tried to defund the FBI. This term, they're seeking to undermine the ATF's ability to regulate ghost guns. These are weapons that can pass through a metal detector without being detected.
All of these things make officers of the law less safe and undermine our ability to enforce the law in this country. And yet, they try to claim that they're the law-and-order party. It's no longer supportable.
HUNT: Kristen Soltis Anderson, you spend so much time talking to Republican voters. How are they going to take in -- I mean, Peter Alexander over at NBC sharply said, you know, put these things at odds, right? You -- he says to President Trump -- would you dispute you are a law-and-order president, that you support police officers.
And then he notes what's an example where clearly there was a police officer that was, you know, violently hurt by someone who was held accountable.
And President Trump said, I'm not going to hold that person accountable any more.
Are voters going to -- going to react to this at all?
KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: So, I think Vice President Vance had a better sense of the politics of this when, a week and a half ago, he said, you know, I imagine it would be for the nonviolent folks; that there are some folks who were convicted of things that were far less than sticking a stun gun into someone's neck. And that there might be a distinction in the mind of many voters: that someone who gets caught up in a crowd that's entering the building unlawfully should not be treated the same as somebody who did something horrible.
[06:05:10]
With that said, now a lot of these Republicans are in a tough position. That was easier for them to fall back on. Now, they've got to either embrace the whole thing or distance themselves from the president.
But I would say one other thing. I think something that makes the politics of this a little easier is the way that the pardon power felt abused by Biden on the way out of the office, that there, I think for voters in the center will be a little bit of, like, a plague on both their houses. Why don't we reform the way presidents approach the pardon itself, coming out of everything that went down on January 20th.
ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: The thing that I was most struck by is that Trump had full opportunity to make these pardons in broad daylight; could have -- you know, he had that big, beautiful ceremony with the desk at the Capital One Center, but chose not to issue the pardons then and to wait until cameras were not going to be on him in the same way.
And I think they had anticipated this kind of blowback.
Think about how they had aggressively teased some of the other actions they were taking. Again, staging this very large ceremony around signing.
So, I just think they were aware that this was going to be a bit of a clunker with many segments of the public, and it's playing out right now.
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's true. But at the same time, I think it tells us that Trump is going to do exactly what he wants to do.
I'm sure there are people in the White House -- J.D. Vance among them -- who came up with this better solution, politically. But Trump is really believing right now -- you can tell in the way he addresses the camera. He's confident. He thinks he's all-powerful.
And it doesn't look, honestly, at least in Washington, that he's going to pay an immediate price. And this is a one-term president who doesn't have to run again. Of course, he has to worry about the midterm elections. But what we are seeing is a president who is abrogating the rule of
law, quite simply. He is sending a message that violence is a legitimate tactic in politics. That's what a lot of people who are extremists will take away from this.
HUNT: And in fact, the "Wall Street Journal" editorial board, not known for their consistent liberalism, although perhaps with less of a -- less influence in a -- in a Trump White House than with previous Republican administrations.
They write this: "Trump Pardons the January 6th Cop Beaters. Law and order? Back the blue? What happened to the GOP?" Here's a little bit of what they said: "Republicans are busy denouncing President Biden's preemptive pardons for his family and political allies, and deservedly so. But then it's a shame that you don't hear many, if any, ruing President Trump's proclamation to pardon unconditionally nearly all of the people who rioted at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. This includes those convicted of bludgeoning, chemical spraying, and electroshocking police to try to keep Mr. Trump in power. Now he is springing them from prison. This is a rotten message from a president about political violence done on his behalf, and it's a bait and switch." Congressman.
AUCHINCLOSS: Agreed. And this is going to be a defining message for the midterms, which is who's Donald Trump working for? Right?
We saw it in his inaugural address. He brings in people with a net worth of over $1 trillion collectively to sit in front of his cabinet. He's clearly working for them, with his meme coins and his TikTok inside dealing.
And he's working for the January 6th rioters. We know that: issuing blanket pardons and commutations that support cop beaters.
Did he talk about lowering costs in that inaugural speech? What's his plan for housing costs, which are consuming 40 to 50 percent of wallet? What's his plan for healthcare costs, which employers now say is their No. 1 concern?
This is about who is he working for? Is he working for January 6th cop beaters and the tech oligarchy? Or is he working for people who are trying to afford childcare?
HUNT: Kristen, do you see it that way?
ANDERSON: Yes, I mean, I don't think that this is helpful. I do think that, if Democrats run ads that focus on January 6th two years from now, they will not find that to be particularly successful.
I think yet again, the challenge will be there is a really strong belief within the Democratic Party that this is the message we need to use to take down Donald Trump, because it is, frankly, unpopular. Pardoning the January 6th offenders. I'm sure if I throw it on a poll, it's not going to turn out to be the most popular thing he did on -- on inauguration day. But with that said, is it the sort of thing that is going to be
defining of how people view Donald Trump's presidency? I don't actually think it is.
HUNT: All right. Congressman Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts, thank you so much for joining us this morning.
AUCHINCLOSS: Good morning.
HUNT: Appreciate it.
All right. Coming up here on CNN THIS MORNING, President Trump demanding an apology after the bishop of Washington asked him to show mercy for migrants and transgender children.
Plus, its only day three. The Trump administration already facing a lawsuit from dozens of states over their new immigration policies.
And later, frigid temperatures, nearly a foot of snow. The South -- yes, the South -- seeing historic amounts of snow.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So, I woke up, and I just looked outside. I'm like, dang, it feels like Christmas. Like I'm from Texas, so it don't snow like that down here. It don't snow. It barely even snows. So, seeing all this snow is something like new. It's magical to me.
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[06:14:32]
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BUDDE: I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and independent families. Some who fear for their lives.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: President Trump is calling on the Episcopal bishop of Washington -- you saw right there -- to apologize to the American people for those remarks.
The Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde delivering that plea to the president at Tuesday's National Cathedral prayer service. As Trump looked on, she also plead for mercy for immigrants.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BUDDE: The vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors.
I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: After the service, Trump voiced his displeasure with her.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Not too exciting, was it? I didn't think it was a good service, no.
They can do much better.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Shortly after midnight, the president escalated his criticism of the bishop with this Truth Social post: quote, "The so-called Bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday morning was a Radical Left hard line Trump hater. She brought her church into the World of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone, and not compelling or smart."
Trump goes on to say Reverend Budde "owes the public an apology!"
Joining our panel, Hyma Moore, former chief of staff to DNC chair Jaime Harrison, former regional comms director for Biden in 2020.
Stephen Collinson, the big picture here, this reverend, the Bishop Budde using the pulpit to make this plea for mercy. And of course, Trump's response. What does it -- what does it all say to you?
COLLINSON: Well, Trump has been feted by Internet billionaires, foreign leaders, his entire party for like two days during this whole inaugural ceremonies. That was the first time that he's seen any kind of dissent at all.
I think it's a reminder that there is opposition and fear to what Trump is doing.
In the interests of balance, to his point that the bishop had pulled the church into politics, I did think that some of the speakers, some of the preachers that were at the inaugural ceremony, were quite politicized, as well. So, it's not just coming from one side.
But I think the president is going to get quite a limited amount of pushback publicly, just because of the way these presidential events work. So, it was very interesting.
Whether that will be a rallying point for opposition, which we haven't seen this time around, we're going to have to wait and see.
WILLIAMS: You know, I'm sorry, we've just got to get off this fantasy that members of the clergy are not political. And I will go even further.
You know, look at Franklin Graham's remarks from the inauguration. And with Joe Biden sitting there, talk -- watching on, talking about the dark times of the last several years and how Donald Trump was sent here by God or whatever. You know, I don't want to paraphrase. I don't want to misquote.
The point is, it had political undertones, too. And it happens all the time. And it should not shock anybody.
Pope -- the pope recently weighed in on deportations. Now, many people, you know, have their views about this particular pope.
But just this idea that we ought to rend our garments and be so shocked every time somebody is on a pulpit and says something political is just sort of silly.
HUNT: It's worth noting, I think, that the idea of mercy -- and I mean, look, you --- your point is well taken. People -- people pick and choose which scripture they would like to focus on.
I reminder that Jesus talked about mercy. Let's watch. We had a reminder of that from the grandson of Jimmy Carter at the recent funeral, when he, in the pulpit at the National Cathedral, read from the Beatitudes.
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JAMES CARTER, GRANDSON OF JIMMY CARTER: Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: Of course, that is not Donald Trump's favorite Bible verse. He was asked, what is his favorite Bible verse? And he answered with -- it's a little more Old Testament than New, shall we say? Watch.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there a favorite Bible verse or Bible story that has informed your thinking or your character through life, sir?
TRUMP: Well, I think many. I mean, you know, when we get into the Bible, I think many, so many. And, you tell people, look, an eye for an eye. You can almost say that. That's not a particularly nice thing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: A plea for mercy and a response from Trump that is basically an eye for an eye.
HYMA MOORE, FORMER CHIEF OF STAFF TO DNC CHAIR JAIME HARRISON: I mean, look, this is the United States of America. No parishioner, no pastor, no priest should have to ask their president for mercy. That's just the bottom line.
And so, I think the fact that we're here right now, asking our president for mercy on us is a testament to what Donald Trump ran on and what we think he will govern as president. And so, that's just very sad.
HUNT: Kristen, there is this idea and this reality that Donald Trump, any president of the United States, should be the president for all Americans.
[06:20:05]
MOORE: Yes.
HUNT: Are we leaving that behind?
ANDERSON: I don't think that we're leaving that behind. I don't think a conflict between a president and a religious figure is actually all that new.
President Obama famously clashed with bishops over a number of different issues.
And I just -- trying to always think of what would happen if the shoe was on the other foot. If you had a Democratic president in the audience, and a Catholic bishop had gotten up and made a plea for the unborn, would we be having the same kind of conversation?
The reason why we're having a different conversation is because of the midnight tweets. And that is where, I think, things get a little bit -- this isn't just about a president, you know, running into conflict with a religious leader who has found pieces of scripture that may differ, or they believe differ, with the president's agenda.
It's the -- is Donald Trump going to pick every single fight? We've got a long four years ahead of us. Donald Trump may well pick every single fight. I see you smiling, Elliot. He very well may.
But this is the picking of every single fight. Is it going to be the kind of thing that will exhaust Americans and take the focus away from the popular things in his agenda that he would like to?
MOORE: I think to your point, Nancy Pelosi has been called a lot of things by -- by some other Catholics, including -- including baby killer.
Nancy Pelosi, has never handled those remarks like Donald Trump did.
So, I think the difference is people feel like they have to ask Donald Trump for mercy. Nancy Pelosi and other people, other members of the Democratic Party, do not treat people like that when they disagree with them, including clergy.
HUNT: Elliott.
WILLIAMS: I -- no. I was looking at Kristen, who -- I just don't think we ought to "both sides" how people respond to religious leaders they don't agree with, because to Kristen's point, everybody is a little bit guilty.
But, you know, I just get back to the original point. Members of the clergy have been saying spicy things from the pulpit for millennia. Martin Luther King, there were political undertones to his comments, as well.
I think it's a fair point that is Donald Trump going to spend these four years -- when he ought to be fixing the economy -- picking fights with Episcopal bishop?
And again, it's an Episcopal bishop. If there's anybody who's going to go off from the pulpit, you ought not be surprised. Sorry. This is a Catholic --
HUNT: I don't know that "go off" is, like, the right --
WILLIAMS: Right. I know.
HUNT: Like, Episcopalians typically don't go off.
WILLIAMS: OK.
HUNT: I would not say that the -- that anger was the eminent emotion there.
WILLIAMS: Through --
HUNT: As an Episcopalian.
WILLIAMS: Through clenched, Waspy reserve from the pulpit.
MOORE: Socially aware.
HUNT: What -- what -- what going off entails, if you're Episcopalian, is fairly restrained.
WILLIAMS: I'm -- I'm going to be canceled from this.
All right.
MOORE: It's going to be just fine.
HUNT: You want the last word, Stephen?
COLLINSON: Donald Trump is going to spend the next four years fighting every fight, because he thinks that is what is good for him. So, this is just the start.
HUNT: All right. Coming up here on CNN THIS MORNING, cars, semis stranded on the road after all that snow fell across the South. The dangerous conditions not over yet.
Plus, President Trump announcing a major investment in A.I. What he says it will do for the economy.
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[06:27:24] HUNT: This morning, Houston police telling people, stay off the roads. The historic winter storm that brought so much snow to the South also made things very dangerous. Semis getting stranded or overturned, cars getting stuck. Yikes.
In New Orleans alone, they saw eight inches of snowfall. Some people did have some fun with it.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And I just look outside. I'm like, dang, it feels like Christmas. Like I'm from Texas, so it don't snow like that down here.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Who needs Vail Resorts? We can do this in NOLA!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNT: OK, let's get to our meteorologist, Elisa Raffa.
I am not someone who thinks cross-country skiing is fun at all, but clearly, they're having some fun with it in New Orleans. Elisa, what are you seeing?
ELISA RAFFA, CNN METEOROLOGIST: What else are you going to do when it snows on Bourbon Street? Right?
HUNT: Snowball fights, snowmen, anything. Cross-country skiing is like no, no. Downhill skiing is great.
Sorry. Continue.
RAFFA: Just, I mean, incredible to see the snow in the places that it was. I mean, you're looking at a "Welcome to Florida" sign at the state line with snow piling on palm trees. Just incredible things that we have never really seen before.
Something like this hasn't happened in decades.
This is a live look at Bourbon Street, where you can see snow piled up on the sidewalks. Looks like they attempted to plow, but it iced over. I mean, a lot of these cities aren't prepared for this. They don't get snow like this. They don't have the plows and the salt trucks and things like that.
New Orleans shattered their record for snowiest day by almost three times: eight inches. The previous record was 2.7 inches, set back in 1963.
I mean, look at some of these totals. Alabama, 11 inches. Lafayette, ten and a half. Pensacola, more than seven inches. Mobile, seven and a half. Again, just incredible.
A lot of these places got more snow than places up North. Looks like Milton, Florida, will break the state's record: 8.8 inches, the most snow that Florida has ever seen -- Kasie. HUNT: I believe that. Elisa Raffa, thank you very much. Really
appreciate it.
All right. Still coming up after the break, Prince Harry settles his legal claims against a British newspaper. We're going to bring you the latest details after the break.
Plus, the president already facing roadblocks in his sweeping immigration reform plans.
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GOV. J.B. PRITZKER (D-IL): That's unconstitutional, what he issued, the executive order. And we -- we will not follow an unconstitutional executive order.
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