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Erin Burnett Outfront
DC Curfew In Effect, Police Brace For More Pro-Trump Riots; Multiple Officers Already Injured, Woman Shot Has Died; Lawmakers Push To Finish Electoral Vote Count Today After Pro-Trump Mob Forced House And Senate To Shut Down; Interview With Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA); Riot Police Blocking Pro-Trump Mob From Retaking Capitol; VP Mike Pence To Fulfill Constitutional Duty. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired January 06, 2021 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: The President's behavior today underscored why he lost this presidential election, why he's now a loser.
Our special coverage continues right now with Erin Burnett.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: And good evening. I am Erin Burnett and we have breaking news this hour, of course, the terror in the nation's Capitol today. A curfew is in effect as we speak in Washington. You would know it though if you just looked at the live pictures, you still have pro-Trump groups and mobs in the streets standoff with police.
We are also learning that today's insurrection has turned deadly. A woman was pronounced dead at a hospital after apparently being shot on Capitol grounds amidst this. And at this hour, we can now confirm the entire D.C. National Guard has been activated and they're going to be joined by the Virginia State Police and Maryland troopers, as well as up to 500 members of the National Guard of the State of Maryland.
The images that we all saw today in front of our eyes were unbelievable. It's not something anybody ever expected to see in the United States, anarchists breaking the glass of the United States Capitol, breaking in then entry. It the first time that the U.S. Capitol has been breached into the British attacked and burned the building in August the 14 during the war of 1812.
And then inside an armed standoff. This image I found breathtaking when I saw it on the door of the floor of the House. This image in the United States guns drawn, pointed at the door, the people's house.
And a protester on the Senate floor where just hours earlier, Vice President Mike Pence was sitting while the Senate was in the midst of counting the Electoral Votes.
And now we have just learned and a significant development here, Congress not going home for the night after all of this, after all the evacuations and the fear. They are coming back. They are set to resume that count next hour.
And then this image, Trump supporter breaking into House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's office, feet in her desk, kicking back, leaving that note, we will not back down.
Now, this violence was sparked by the President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, rallied that crowd earlier today.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're going to walk down to the Capitol and we're going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women. And we're probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them, because you'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And they listened to their leader. They marched on the Capitol. They stormed it. They broke in. And the President is even now defending the mob attack saying and I quote him, "These are things that happen when a sacred landslide victory is stripped away." It's just - right - it's crazy, it's a lie, it's untrue and this is just what happens?
No, it's never happened. As flashbangs were heard at the Capitol, Trump then released a video pouring even more gasoline on the fire, claiming that the election was stolen. That's what he did, put out a video.
Alex Marquardt is on the ground in Washington near the Capitol. And Alex, we are now an hour into the curfew and an hour ahead of Congress saying they're going to come back in session and continue with this Electoral College count. Where do things stand right now?
ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Erin, we're an hour into the curfew and we still have a lot of people who are out here. We're about five hours since this insurrection first started, since we watched rioters blow through a police line, make their way up the western steps of the Capitol and into the Capitol building just an absolutely surreal scene.
Now, in the lead up to the curfew we did see, finally, for much of the afternoon, we're asking ourselves where's the cavalry, where's the law enforcement that's going to push these rioters out. They did appear a short time ago and I'm just going to show you the law enforcement presence here.
This is a long line of officers from different agencies who have managed to push these protesters, many of them rioters, many of them not rioters, away from the western side of the Capitol. What you're looking at there, Erin, is Metropolitan Police from Washington, D.C. Those are the ones in those green vests.
You also have members of the D.C. National Guard. We have now learned that the entire D.C. National Guard has been mobilized. They are there in the middle of that crowd. You can see them right there with their tall plastic riot shields and they are engaged in what is essentially a standoff with the remnants of this protest, of this riot.
[19:05:02]
I would say it is the more hardcore element, because these are the ones who have been defying law enforcement's orders to leave, defying the mayor's orders to go home. So there is still a significant contingent of them out here now more than an hour after this curfew has gone into effect. I should also say that the FBI is out here as well.
It has been relatively peaceful since the curfew went into effect. There had been some tear gas fired, but we have not seen, we really should note, we have not seen the kind of violent reaction from the law enforcement side that we saw during the George Floyd protests, during the Black Lives Matter protest when we saw lots of tear gas fired, lots of pepper spray, those pepper balls.
And so it has been a much lighter hand put on these protesters here this afternoon. As you know well, Erin, as night falls things can often turn and get more violent. It remains to be seen whether that is going to happen now, but the curfew is fully in effect and the law and law enforcement is out here.
They have managed to clear the entire western side of the Capitol pushing these protesters away from the Capitol building that was invaded earlier today, Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Alex, thank you very much. I know so many reporters have been in other places in the world, it's amazing to see these images here. It's still just dumbfounding.
Manu Raju is OUTFRONT on Capitol Hill. And Manu, amidst this they now, you're reporting, say they're going to resume that joint session, not going to put it off till tomorrow. They're going to come back, which is important, 8 pm Eastern time. So as this started, you had Lankford objecting and all of a sudden Mitch McConnell broken and we're going in recess and now that's it, but a lot just happened.
So what's going to happen tonight? Are they just going to continue with the same planned objections and the same plan thing or could something dramatically change?
MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's the big question right now is how long these proceedings will go, Erin. There is a lot of pressure on these Republican objectors to essentially drop their objections, not move forward. Remember how this actually has to play out. One House Republican objects, one Senate Republican objects then each chamber will recess for up to two hours each. They will have a debate over these Electoral Vote results that are coming in state by state.
And after two hours or so there'll be a vote that could take another one to two more hours in addition to cleaning the chamber and this could go on for some time if there are several more states that will be objected to. The question is will they go forward that because given this is a completely doomed effort, it has absolutely no chance of succeeding in the Capitol, a bipartisan majority in both the House and the Senate plan to reject any efforts to throw out Electoral Votes that were awarded to Joe Biden.
After today's display, more and more Republican senators say it is time to move on. What happened in their view is the disgraceful act. They said it's time to come together and there's pressure to expedite the proceedings. Now, will those senators go along is the question.
One of the senators, Josh Hawley of Missouri, has indicated he plans to object to the State of Pennsylvania Electoral Votes uncertain if he continues to do that. Also, Georgia, Kelly Loeffler, the defeated appointed senator from Georgia indicated last night she planned to come back here and object to her State's Electoral Votes that have been awarded to Joe Biden. Will she continue with that, also uncertain.
But the hope among the Republican leaders and Democratic leaders is that they all sense that this is a moment where the country needs to come together, where the Congress needs to come together and send a message that our elections are free and fair and it's time to move forward.
Now, behind the scenes, some of those detractors did have a strategy meeting. It's unclear what has come out of that. But behind closed doors just moments ago, Erin, the senators have been briefed by top officials who are dealing with the floor proceedings, including law enforcement officials. The expectation is this process will begin potentially by next hour in the House and Senate.
Will they plow through the night, will they get it done tonight, uncertain, but both sides are making it very clear. The leaders on both side is saying the mob that came into the Capitol is not going to stop Congress from doing its work and the ultimate work will be Joe Biden's Electoral Votes will be certified by Congress, Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Manu, thank you very much.
So I want to go to Kaitlan Collins OUTFRONT near the White House. So Kaitlan, as all of this was happening, there was silence from the President even as so many started to speak out. He puts out a video eventually where he talks about the stealing of the election. And then and then his tweet, which has now been removed by Twitter, they're not even saying it's disputed they actually removed it. These are things that happened. Well, they're not things that happened, but what was happening with him today?
[19:10:00]
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, I do just want to note in light of what you just said, Erin, about them removing the President's tweet. They also just tweeted saying that his account will be locked for the next 12 hours following the removal of those tweets. That means we will not hear from the President on Twitter. It says that the tweets are not removed, the account will remain locked. That is the President of the United States' Twitter account they're talking about.
And so that means we may not hear from the President because just a few moments ago, the White House also called a lid, which means there are not going to be any more presidential appearances planned for the night. And that comes after a day where the President was wavering between telling these pro-Trump mob that breached the Capitol to go home, but Erin also defending them and saying he understands where they're coming from. And this is what's going to happen when an election has been stolen like he claims, of course, falsely that his has.
And we know this mob was fueled by the President's lies about the election and now he is defending their actions today, breaching the Capitol, something that has not happened in over 200 years. In light of what Manu just said about while we're waiting to see what these lawmakers are doing as they're getting back together, are we going to see any more of those planned objections by the President's Republican allies, I'm told the President is aware of those efforts. Those discussions going on that they may abandon this effort and he does not want them to do so.
He wants them to keep fighting, to keep trying to object to Joe Biden's win delaying, of course, the inevitable. But just the idea that the President wants that to keep happening despite what we all watched play out for the last several hours and it's still happening on Capitol Hill is remarkable. And it's coming as the President is more isolated probably than ever tonight inside the White House because his staff is disagreeing with him about his response to this. Some of his Republican allies are disagreeing with the President on what's happening with this.
His own staffers are coming out saying that they agree with the Vice President and that he took courageous actions today. So you're seeing the President incredibly isolated. Now he doesn't have access to his Twitter account till at least seven o'clock tomorrow morning and we are not expecting to see him again at the White House for tonight, Erin.
BURNETT: It's a pretty stunning development, though, for him because as Kaitlan is making clear, that's how he was going to communicate. That's how he always does communicate. He calls the lid because he can still keep communicating, so the President now blocked from Twitter for the next 12 hours.
I want to go to Donie O'Sullivan live outside the Capitol. And Donie, I know I've been speaking to protesters throughout the day and everybody wants to know who these people are, what are they doing, what are they planning to do now, what are they telling you?
DONIE O'SULLIVAN, CNN REPORTER: Yes, Erin. I mean, I guess one of the questions I've been asking people here is what is all of this for. What was all of this chaos, and destruction and violence we saw today, what is it all supposed to achieve and that goes back to conspiracy theories. It goes back to the notion that, the BS that the President of the United States is pushing, claiming that he might be able to overturn this election which, of course, he will not be able to.
So people hear and Kaitlan mentioned about the President's social media Twitter account being locked for the next 12 hours, which is an absolutely unprecedented move. We have not seen that from any social media company in the entire Trump presidency. But all of this does go back to social media and to the Trump media ecosystem.
The people here are consuming media. They want to believe that Trump did not lose the election. They don't want to believe that Biden won it. And there is echo chambers online and there are new and emerging alternative media outlets on YouTube and even new cable ostensibly posing as news networks, forwarding this election lie. And that's the basis of what we've seen here today, it's all a result of a conspiracy theory and it's playing out on the streets of the nation's Capitol, Erin.
BURNETT: All right. Donie, thank you very much. Donie's reporting, talking to people has been remarkable.
I want to go now to Democratic Congressman Adam Smith. He was inside the Capitol, of course, as this all unfolded. He is Chairman of the Armed Services Committee and I know then that means, sir, you're going to be going back in. So tell me if you can you know where you are now, what's the status of the chambers and everybody actually going back in there at eight o'clock, what do you understand is how this is going to work.
REP. ADAM SMITH (D-WA): I'm in my office now in Rayburn and we are very determined to go back in and go to work. I was in communication earlier today with leadership over at the Pentagon about the guard showing up and doing what they're doing now, which is clearing the capitol so we can get back to work. Obviously, as your reporters have well documented a very scary situation.
I mean, a scary situation, you have the President of the United States inciting a riot. But we in Congress are determined to do our job and Joe Biden will be president on January 20th and it cannot come soon enough.
BURNETT: So the scene we did see today was sickening and disturbing, arm stand up on the House floor, drawn guns literally at the door.
[19:15:02]
I keep showing that picture. I think it's indelibly imprinted now on my mind. Officers injured, window broken outside. They forced their way in inside the chambers, somebody sitting on the desk where Pence was literally presiding as the Vice President of the United States moments before that.
Chairman, what went through your mind as you were literally in a room being evacuated like you were in some other country that - I mean, you never thought something like this would happen, did you?
SMITH: No. I mean, this morning, I did. I actually went for a walk around the Capitol and I could see the - I knew the rally was going on down at the, I think, around the Washington Monument. And I saw the barriers that were up and the limited number of Capitol Police, I could see it then but, no, I never foresaw this. And what went through my mind was two things. First of all, like I
said, to get in touch with the people I know at the Pentagon. Make sure - because I had heard what they were going to do with the guard and it was insufficient to what was happening. So number one, make sure we get the security personnel and to get this cleared, but number two, what was going through my mind is what's been going through my mind for a long time, extremism is an enormous problem in this country. And Donald Trump is just throwing matches all over the powder kegs in this country.
Look, the President, Donald Trump has a narcissistic psychopath. Let's just be clear about that. He stumbled his way into the presidency. What he believes from a policy standpoint is irrelevant. He is an egotist. He cares about himself, period.
The rest of the country that has enabled him is what we really need to work the fix. We need to understand the dangers of extremism. We've gotten to the point that we don't understand that the rule of law matters. What's important about democracy is you have you have rules, you play by those rules. It isn't that you get your way all the time and that if you don't get your way, you have to fight until you do. That's not how it works.
You play by the rules and when it's over, you accept the outcome and you govern this country. We need to push back against extremism. The President is just - you get the point. Sorry, go ahead.
BURNETT: Yes. No, no, no, I understand. I wanted to ask you this because you mentioned you talked to defense leadership and, obviously, you're Chairman of the Armed Services Committee. So I just want to ask you is the President really was silent and anything that he said included basically way to go, guys, this is what happens.
Mike Pence came out and said, this has to stop and it has to stop now. But he's the one who said that not the President. And we understand that, you talk about the National Guard being there, that Mike Pence is the one who spoke with the Acting Secretary of Defense and the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, not the President.
SMITH: Right.
BURNETT: It would ordinarily be the President of the United States who would do that, so can you tell me what you know actually happened, who made these calls and what the significance of that may be?
SMITH: Look, I can tell you exactly what happened. I know what Mike Pence his role was in it, but primarily this was the mayor of Washington, D.C. working directly with Ryan McCarthy who is the Secretary of the Army and it's complicated. But the Army is in charge of the National Guard within Washington, D.C. and so that's Secretary McCarthy. They were communicating with each other as this thing exploded.
The Acting Secretary of Defense, Mr. Miller, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Milley, both of them I spoke to got involved and then they got involved with the Justice Department. It's hard to keep track of all of the actings, but I believe the Acting Attorney General is Mr. Rosen.
Unfortunately, all of those people decided they needed to bring security to the situation. The one saving grace in all of this is that the President has totally abdicated his job. As near as I can tell, he wasn't on the phone to the same people (inaudible) ...
BURNETT: Right, as you're saying he's not in this. You're talking about all these people making these huge decisions and the President of the United States is not in that chain.
SMITH: And here's the scary part about it, Erin, that's reassuring to me, OK? Because if the President was involved in that chain, number one, I don't trust that he wouldn't use the situation to seize power in an undemocratic, well, every coup was undemocratic, I suppose.
But number two, he's incompetent. He doesn't care about making things work. He cares about his own ego and he cares about himself. And we see that with the way he handled the pandemic, with the way he's handling the vaccine right now. And here's a really important point that people understand is, he relies on lies and that's what Ted Cruz and all of these people are doing now. All these things that they say about election irregularities are complete lies, complete utter of fabrication that don't exist.
BURNETT: So Chairman, I want to just interrupt you on that and ask you one final question on that front, have you heard anything about their meetings and their thoughts right now? Are they going to continue with their planned objections or has this changed anything specifically for Sen. Cruz or Sen. Hawley?
SMITH: I have not heard. I don't have any direct information on that. I think your reporting covered the analysis perfectly, so I don't have anything to add to that.
BURNETT: All right. Well, Chairman, I appreciate your time and thank you very much for all of that information.
[19:20:04]
We're all going to be watching all of you tonight. Thank you.
SMITH: Thanks.
BURNETT: And I want to go now to Jonathan Martin. He joins me on the phone. He is the National Political Correspondent for The New York Times familiar to most of you watching inside the Capitol right now. So Jonathan, you're with lawmakers.
JONATHAN MARTIN, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes. Yes.
BURNETT: And you heard Chairman saying, look, they're planning to go back hopefully around 8 pm. We don't know if there's going to be a shift in thinking or if they're just going to continue those who are planning to object, right, Cruz, Hawley and just go ahead with their plan or if this has changed anything. What are you hearing? MARTIN: Well, I can tell you I've been with members of the Senate,
Democrat and Republican, for about the last four hours in a secure location in the Capitol Complex. I've talked to multiple senators, Democrat and Republican. Two things, they are determined to reconvene tonight. They want to show some measure of solidarity in the face of this assault on the nation's democracy and they want to effectively go on with the show.
Number two, there is great uncertainty as to whether or not these renegades who were in Mitch McConnell's caucus are going to again go forward with trying to stop the certification of Electoral College. I can tell you, there's very little appetite for that in the Republican ranks among those senators who are not part of that group. We've asked them multiple times these senators, Hawley and Cruz, who are gathered - they have not indicated what their plans are, we haven't heard from their aides.
I think they're trying to figure out what their plan is. Obviously, this is a very fluid situation in the perception of going forward after the capital itself has been breached. It's pretty difficult politically to put it mildly.
BURNETT: Right. And of course, the President failing to take this on. Jonathan, as we're speaking, we're watching some of the crowd here begin to move, so we're keeping an eye on that. I'm going to go to Brian Todd who's amidst them in just a moment. But I do just want to ask you one other question.
MARTIN: Yes. Sure.
BURNETT: I know you talked to Mitt Romney.
MARTIN: Yes.
BURNETT: And he, I guess, summoned you when you go out to a secure location.
MARTIN: Yes.
BURNETT: And he said, "This is what the President has caused today, this insurrection."
MARTIN: Right.
BURNETT: Mitt Romney is not a man who throws words around without thinking about it. It is the correct word, but it is the word he chose to use.
MARTIN: It is.
BURNETT: Is that really the feeling you got among the Republicans?
MARTIN: Yes. I've never seen the kind of anger among GOP lawmakers as I saw today. The words like disgraceful, shameful, embarrassed, I have been covering Mitt Romney for about 15 years, I have never seen him so angry. His face, his voice was clear, clear fury when he approached me.
BURNETT: Wow.
MARTIN: And again, that happened, Erin, right after the Capitol was cleared, a moment of real chaos in the U.S. Capitol when a lot of these lawmakers didn't know if their lives were at risk. I think that's the issue here now with lawmakers is they felt for the first time their physical seat was threatened in the Capitol building. I think that (inaudible) dramatically.
BURNETT: All right. Well, I appreciate it. Thank you very much. OK. So as I'm speaking to Jonathan ...
MARTIN: Thanks, Erin.
BURNETT: ... as you're watching your screen as I said this is happening right now live. You see that line of riot police there with the plastic riot gear blockers up, I want to go to Brian Todd who is in the midst of this melee that we're seeing. Brian, tell me what you understand to be happening right now where you are.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Erin, some Metropolitan Washington police and members of the National Guard who have riot gear and shields have just moved in right over here by the reflecting pond just on the west side of the Capitol, about 200 yards from the Capitol. They had let the crowd stay there for several minutes and then they just move with shields and riot gear and push people out.
This crowd of law enforcement officers in the green jackets, the Metropolitan Washington police had formed a line to the left, they just push that line over and they were chanting move, move to get the protesters to leave. So this could be, we don't know, of course, but this could be the final push that they're making to try to drive these people away. And as they did that, of course, people did start to melt away.
To my right, people are just kind of leaving the area here. But actually - Eddy (ph), if you want to just walk with me over here just a little bit, we do see a bit of a stand up where some people have stopped over here and they're not pushing them further from that point but they could soon, because they've been doing this in increments pretty much.
Both on the east side of the Capitol and here on the west side of the Capitol, they'll push them a little bit further. They'll stop. They'll let them congregate a little bit. And then they'll wait a little bit and then push them even further, but the crowds are getting smaller.
And as you can see, more and more of them are starting to melt away. The show of force is right now it looks pretty significant. But we got to say as we've been saying all evening, it took them hours and hours to get here with these numbers of law enforcement.
[19:25:05]
And for hours and hours, law enforcement here was completely overwhelmed. They were outnumbered. They allowed the rioters to get up the steps of the Capitol on both sides. They allowed them to climb up on a riser that had been built for the inauguration and wave flags. Now, they're finally making this push.
Now, the key question is what is going to happen overnight and where will the security perimeter really be pushed to. One of the main streets of the - in the mall area is just over here, are they going to push them past this main street area.
So we're going to see what happens. We'll be monitoring this, of course, for the entire evening to see where the security perimeters are going to be pushed. But it's taken hours and hours for them to finally start to push people away from the main grounds of the Capitol. This is the reflecting pond beyond them and now people are starting to melt away a little bit.
So a fairly dramatic push here. Is it the final one? I doubt it, because again they've been doing this in increments and we will see if people will finally just kind of disperse. I can tell you that on the east side of the Capitol, when those protesters who had gone up the steps and gone inside and were on those steps in large masses for hours and hours, started to disperse, they did it on their own. They really didn't do it with any push from law enforcement or just until the very, very end.
So Erin, this is the situation here on the west side of the capital. And again, you can see law enforcement officers over here pushing them even further.
BURNETT: I mean, you see those ...
MARTIN: Eddy (ph), if you want to just pan to the right a little bit, we can see them. Eddy (ph) is going to - there you go, see, they're pushing them little by little even further. But, I mean, the numbers of rioters, protesters, whoever these people are at this point are diminishing and they are starting to melt away.
BURNETT: So let me ask you about that, because we see those lines, obviously, the police, law enforcement, Brian, what's your sense of where these people came from and where they are melting away to? I mean, where do they have to go? I know, some of them said they're going to stay there all night. Obviously, you have the mall full of people today, where are they going?
TODD: Erin, that's a very good question. I don't think we have a clear answer to that, whether they're going to go to other pockets of town and start small pockets of protests, resistance, what have you or whether they're going to call it a night. This has unfolded in such and unpredictable way and things have changed very dramatically, very quickly at various points of the day.
We saw how quickly it all unraveled when they breach the barricades earlier on both sides of the Capitol and got inside. So you get a sense that this is starting to diminish that they're starting to melt away, where they're going to go to, I've covered a lot of these types of events, it's almost impossible to determine where they're going to go to or whether they're going to organize anywhere.
BURNETT: Right.
TODD: Through social media and other means, they can organize and say, hey, we're going to get together at this place at, whatever, 10 o'clock or whatever and we'll have to figure that out when it happens. But there's no indication now where these people are going to go that we're aware of.
BURNETT: All right. So as we watch this with Brian and, of course, our reporters with these crowds throughout Washington, I want to go back to Kaitlan Collins. Because Kaitlan, you've got some new information on the Vice President. We were just talking about how he's the one who had the conversations with the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, with the Acting Secretary of Defense about the law enforcement here, not the President.
COLLINS: Yes.
BURNETT: And now you've learned more about where the Vice President is right now, what he's doing.
COLLINS: We have and I think it's raising real questions, as you just noted about who is in charge here when it comes to the White House and who has been trying to facilitate their way out of this situation and whether it's President Trump or the Vice President, because we just got our first update from his spokesperson all day. The only other thing we had heard from the Vice President was that forceful condemnation of what you're seeing happening on Capitol Hill telling those protesters, those demonstrators, those rioters to go home.
And now we have an update from his spokesperson saying that he has returned to the Senate. They said he never left the Capitol earlier today. But he's, of course, Erin, he was on the Senate floor when this pro-Trump mob breached the Capitol and then he was escorted off the floor we knew taken to a secure location, but we did not know much else about his whereabouts and so he's still remained at the Capitol.
But his spokesperson says he was in regular contact with the House and Senate leadership, Capitol police, the Justice Department and the Pentagon to facilitate efforts to secure the Capitol and reconvene Congress. They say we will finish the people's business tonight.
And Erin, that comes after that statement that we got from the Pentagon saying that they have been coordinating with the Vice President about calling in the National Guard. It did not mention Donald Trump. Neither does this statement. It does not say that the Vice President has spoken to President Trump in the last several hours.
[19:30:01]
That is notable because as we know with Vice President Pence, he does not take or miss an opportunity to praise the president, to talk about their relationship, and, of course, as it is deteriorated, we are seeing this. I think it is raising legitimate questions about the president being isolated away in the White House, talking about what he wants to see, complaining about Pence not doing his bidding on Capitol Hill about who is in charge of the federal government and who is mainline -- streamlining these efforts to restore normal in the Capitol tonight.
BURNETT: It is pretty stunning, the fact, Kaitlan, not that we can say Trump's name isn't on there, the fact they're putting out every single person that Pence spoke to is making a clear point, right? It is a purposely, loud and clear point.
COLLINS: Exactly.
BURNETT: All right. The vice president is there, he is on Capitol Hill. He never left. Now another development, a significant development, First Lady Melania Trump, her spokesperson that stood by her through thick and thin is submitting her resignation effective immediately. And White House official is telling CNN the decision was motivated by these violent protests and what we all saw, with shame today, on Capitol Hill.
I want to go to Kate Bennett who broke the news.
Kate, this is a very significant development. She has been loyal, right, an attack dog on behalf of the first lady.
KATE BENNETT, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Right, and also, Erin, she's been with the Trump administration before it was an administration. She was one of the first people on Trump's campaign press team back in 2015. You know, this is certainly a remarkable development she decided to resign, two weeks left in the administration.
However, she had a rocky few weeks. Sources say she went back and forth with the decision, today was certainly the tipping point for her to decide her time with this administration and this White House is over effective today.
BURNETT: Right, and, Kate, I actually want to make the point, right, as you say, she's been loyal. So, this is -- you know, she could have had a much longer job, et cetera, with this family, right? She's severing the ties and she's doing so, it is clear, right, because of how the president handled his election loss.
BENNETT: Yeah. This has been a very contentious few months for Stephanie Grisham. She bounced to the West Wing, Mark Meadows came in, she was back in the East Wing with Melania Trump. There were lots of back and forth with East and West Wing. She wants to spend more time with her family, there are all those reasons.
However, it is important to emphasize with just two weeks left the significance of this moment today of watching what we all watched play out on television and think that senior administration officials are watching it too. Our Kevin Liptak is reporting there are other in the West Wing, aides that are considering this is it, this is my resignation. This could be what prompts it. Stephanie Grisham, of course, being the first to make that decision, submit her letter to the first lady, who sources tell me has accepted the resignation, and it is taking part right away.
BURNETT: All right. Kate, thank you very much. As Kate and I are speaking, you see protesters, police continuing to move them back. Brian Todd explaining a little bit of what we've seen here on the perimeter. And you can see continued movement as they're trying to disburse protesters and, you know, members of this mob that are still gathered there.
I want to bring in Josh Campbell. He's a former FBI special agent and our security correspondent.
And, Josh, I have to lot to ask you from just the reporting we just have. First of all, what Kaitlan was saying, right, that the vice president spoke to, you know, leaders of the House, leaders of the Senate, the Department of Justice, to joints chiefs of staff, to the defense secretary, purposely not included he talked to the president, he hasn't talked to the president is what we're supposed to take from this.
How significant that the vice president appears to be the one running things?
JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, certainly concerning. Any time of calamity, you need national command authority in the United States to not only have visibility and have their finger on the pulse of what's going on, but they also need to be in a decision to make decisions in order to protect property, to protect lives.
And so, that is striking to hear that the vice president himself is the one who is potentially taking it on himself to reach out to agencies to remain in contact and possibly make decisions which raises a larger question, where is President Donald Trump?
You think how they started, it began with President Trump and his associates at a rally, whipping up fear among an angry crowd, and ending with multiple law enforcement officers now injured, a woman shot after the pro-Trump mob stormed the U.S. Capitol. We did hear some tepid responses from the president after that.
But still, you know, I can tell you, in the law enforcement world when you're trying to deal with a mob, there are two main overarching things you need to deal with.
[19:35:00]
There's the tactical aspect on the ground. You have law enforcement as you see on the screen trying to push the crowd back, try to identify any type of agitators in order to try to call them to lower the temperature. But there's also the larger issue, Erin, what is motivating a violent mob to exist to begin with, and that goes back to President Trump, who has continued to whip up fear even in his call for folks to go home, he still says the election was stolen, which is what is driving the anger to begin with.
BURNETT: And there's a lot that we don't know, Josh, in terms of the exact timeline of who called whom and at what point. One thing we do know, right, is that law enforcement was not prepared for what happened, okay? We all saw that happen. And then we have to figure out who called whom, what caused delays, et cetera. Tell me what you know.
CAMPBELL: Well, there are a lot of questions for the United States Capitol police at this hour and some of the other law enforcement in Washington, D.C., and it pains me to say that because I can tell you having worked for the Capitol Police, they're among the most highly trained, most effective of anyone in and around D.C. knows about their presence. You see Capitol police officers staged on Independence, staged on Constitution, constantly looking outward for threats in order to protect that building.
And for them to see the crowd coming and essentially it was a period of time today, we saw the crowd storming the stairs, storming the building, you didn't see a law enforcement presence. There are going to be a lot of people needing to answer questions about what type of threat assessment was done and then how do you respond to that.
As our colleague, Alex Marquardt mentioned earlier, can't help but reflect upon, as you look at these images compared to what we saw over the summer with some of these protests --
BURNETT: Yeah.
CAMPBELL: -- during the Black Lives Matter protests, when you saw law enforcement very forcefully out there, you didn't see that today, that allowed these rioters, this mob, and groups of this mob to come into the building and cause destruction. A lot of unanswered questions for law enforcement.
BURNETT: OK. Thank you, Josh. And, Josh, obviously, we're going to keep going back to you.
I want to go to Evan Perez, our senior justice correspondent.
So, Evan, on these points, what do you know about why it took so long, frankly hours, we have seen the videos that are embarrassing, right, wasn't any police presence, when there was, it was one person and people rushed by. Why did it take so long to get this under control?
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, look, I think the capitol police were overwhelmed, and should have been more prepared. I think from talking to law enforcement officials, Erin, I can tell you there were a lot of conversations going on in the days before today's rally, and according to people I have been talking to, according to law enforcement officials I have been talking to, the Capitol Police, Metropolitan Police here in Washington, everybody said they were ready and prepared.
But there was also an overhang of what happened over the summer. And so, there was a little bit of concern about having too muscular presence on the streets. So, that appears to have played a role in what was frankly just inadequate response, inadequate preparation.
I can tell you, you know, I run through the capitol multiple times a week. During the summer when George Floyd protests went on, even when they were getting ready to confirm the Supreme Court justice, there was a lot more heavy police presence. You couldn't get close to the building.
BURNETT: Yeah.
PEREZ: Today, there was none of that. And so, the contrast was striking. And so, I think in coming days, we're going to hear more fingerprinting about what went on here.
What I am told is that federal agencies, Justice Department agencies that were coordinating this, they can't just go to the Capitol because that's a separate branch of government. They need to be asked to go there and by the time they were asked to go, the mob was already inside the building.
BURNETT: Yeah.
PEREZ: That's what happened today. There will be a lot of recommendations, not clear who should have been making that request. They can't send the National Guard, they have to be requested.
BURNETT: Look, it exposed a lot of things that you wouldn't want any foe of the country to see exposed. Evan, you know the Justice Department so well, do you have any sense of who is running things? I say this in the context of the vice president's office has now said who he was in touch with, and it is basically he that's been running everything, talking to joint chiefs, talking to defense, talking to Department of Justice.
PEREZ: Yeah.
BURNETT: What can you add to that? Do you have any better sense, is Pence the one who ran things today?
PEREZ: It appears that he is first of all the one who's running the government. The president stopped being president some time ago. So, that much is clear, certainly for weeks, the president is not interested in doing the job that he claims, he really, really wants.
[19:40:04]
So, the acting attorney general, Jeffrey Rosen, has been hold up at the FBI command center just a few blocks away here in downtown Washington, helping coordinate response with National Guard, with the Homeland Security Department. There were hundreds of FBI, ATF, DEA, Marshals, waiting to be deployed. And once the order came, once the request came from the Capitol, they headed to the building to protect lawmakers and staff.
But, again, none of that happened until the request came in. So the question is, was more, could more have been done before today, before the emergency actually happened? Was there somebody who could have made some of the preparations take place?
Again, the president is not really doing the job. He is no longer president. He is not acting as president. Everyone is sort of gingerly trying to tip toe around Donald Trump and his feelings as they try to respond to what's one of the most astonishing things that happened.
BURNETT: Astonishing.
OK. Evan, thank you.
I want to go back to Donie O'Sullivan. As you say, he's been talking to people who are on the streets and what have you just heard, Donie?
O'SULLIVAN: Hey, Erin, that's right. The crowd is starting to dwindle here a bit. There was some movement from police in the past few minutes and there are still some Trump supporters up in that area. Just before you came to us, we heard phones all around playing an emergency alert going out to people's iPhones, reminding them of the 6:00 p.m. curfew tonight.
Of course, we are now almost two hours beyond that curfew. This emergency alert went out earlier today, obviously somebody has seen the need to push it out again. These folks don't seem to be going anywhere. And, you know, to Josh's and Evan's earlier point, for supporters of the so-called law and order president, we have heard a lot of vitriol thrown at the police here.
A lot of Trump supporters are not happy that the police are moving them on, moving them from beyond the barricades that they broke down earlier. We've heard them call the police traitors. One man walked away pushed away from police saying next time, we're coming back with rifles -- Erin.
BURNETT: OK, all right, Donie, thank you very much. Let me go to the Washington, D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine.
Attorney General, I just want to give you a chance to respond, what we just heard Donie reporting, you know?
KARL RACINE (D), ATTORNEY GENERAL, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA: Well, it is extraordinary reporting. And I commend CNN and our journalists for being out there. It's not been reported that journalists themselves have been threatened, pushed, and assaulted.
BURNETT: Yeah.
RACINE: So I appreciate what you're doing.
There are a couple of things I'd like to just comment on. One is the notion that the authorities, federal authorities were concerned about too much of a muscular presence. Erin, I would ask you to show the picture during the Black Lives Matter protests of the hordes of law enforcement from Bureau of Prisons, Homeland Security, nearly two dozen National Guard states.
Look at the presence they had in front of the United States capitol when there was absolutely zero intelligence that Black Lives Matter protesters in multi-racial, multi-ethnic, multi-generational group of protesters were going to, quote, storm the Capitol. Then juxtapose that with what we saw today, with hate groups, militia and others who clearly had no concern for the rule of law go up to the Capitol and essentially get in.
There will be other days and recriminations and oversight to see exactly what happened, but that dichotomy is shocking.
If you could tonight, please show the juxtaposition of those two responses to protect the United States Capitol.
BURNETT: So then what to do, right now what you've seen, you saw people storm the Capitol, break windows, you know, what we saw was disturbing, it was shameful, it was embarrassing, and it was -- it was a national security threat on many levels, and yet as far as we know, these people have just left. They're dispersing.
So, Richard Grenell who obviously is under a lot of criticism by people on the left, but he was the former director of national intelligence under President Trump, he tweeted, anyone participating in violence must be arrested immediately.
[19:45:00]
This is unacceptable, and un-American.
I would imagine you agree with Richard Grenell, in this case, Attorney General, or do you not?
RACINE: I totally agree.
Look, what occurred was an assault on the symbol of our democracy, Congress. That's where the House of Representatives and the Senate actually is, elected by the people, in the jurisdictions of our 50 states, and represented by some territories, including represented by District of Columbia.
We had a day today where members of the Congress and Senate were seen pictured on the floor huddled, scared, having gas masks, being ushered into the basement, and taken to secret locations. Even Vice President Pence was ushered out of the Capitol.
I think now is the time for us to have a serious discussion and action. I'm calling on Vice President Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment. That requires Vice President Pence to move and get a majority of the cabinet or majority of the Congress to immediately remove the president because he so clearly is not fit for office.
BURNETT: Now, you heard what we've heard, Attorney General, and you may know a lot more. But we know, right, that Pence never left the Capitol, he stayed there all day, he is there now, he will be back in the joint session. We know he was going to fulfill his constitutional duty and certify the win of Joe Biden.
We know he is the one in touch with law enforcement and Department of Defense, everybody today. They didn't put the president on the list.
But I guess what I'm getting at is do you understand for all intents and purposes that he is the one running the government today? And the president is now banned from Twitter. So, we can't even hear from him right now. But it's a serious question. Is Vice President Pence essentially the president right now?
RACINE: Well, you know, I don't know. But if he is not, or even if he is, there's one way to formalize this and make it clear to every single person, that whether you like Vice President Pence or not, the fact is he is more fit for office for these last two weeks because an election occurred and President Trump lost and there's a president- elect named Biden, vice president-elect named Harris, but we need a commander in chief that's going to fulfill his constitutional responsibilities.
So, I would ask the Vice President, please go the next step. Do your constitutional duty, protect America, stand up for democracy, and invoke the 25th Amendment.
I would note, all kinds of groups, including National Manufacturers Association, that is not a group of progressive or liberals, are calling for the invocation of the 25th Amendment. And I think it's a serious issue, and I'm calling on the vice president to act.
BURNETT: All right. Attorney General, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much. We are watching the law enforcement gathering here, dispersing this crowd.
And we are a few minutes away from Congress, right, planning to resume, after all this, after having to evacuate, coming back to resume the electoral count. The big question is, though, has something dramatic changed? I mean, this is an incredible moment and we just don't know. We'll be right back.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:50:43]
BURNETT: I want to bring in constitutional law professor of Harvard Law School, Laurence Tribe. He was member of Al Gore's legal team in Bush v. Gore.
And, of course, Professor, we are moments away from Congress resuming and coming back after this and continuing with the certification of the Electoral College results. And we still do not know if something has changed dramatically. Like, are we going to pick up with the objections in the hours and hours of debate or are we going to see a dramatic change of how things are going to be handled by some of the key Republican senators.
You know, Professor, what are you expecting to happen tonight? It is -- it's hard to say this now but it is now even that much more important than it was earlier today.
LAURENCE TRIBE, CONSTITUTIONAL LAW PROFESSOR, HARVARD LAW SCHOOL: I do think that the leadership of the House and Senate will pursue responsibility, Mitch McConnell in his statement before the insurrection that the president fomented took place made clear that he thinks enough is enough. The president not had just his days in court but months in court. There is no reason the House and Senate need to proceed at a stately pace. The Electoral Count Act passed in an early century is not the binding
procedure for this Congress. On January 3, Congress passed a concurrent resolution under which I am glad they have not let the mobs prevent them from presuming the processes of government later on this evening, and I think people should calm down.
What's gone on is horrific. The president essentially engaged in in citing seditions. I don't use the word "treason" lightly, but he's essentially waged war against the United States' government. Whether he should be sidelined in the 25th Amendment or in some other way is yet to be seen. But it's clear that the government can't allow itself to be taken hostage by domestic terrorists even when the chief terrorist of all seems to be the president of the United States.
BURNETT: So, we have right now, Congresswoman Cathy McMorris-Rogers, she was the former chair of the House Republican Caucus. She has changed where she stands on this. She said she will no longer challenge the election results. She gave a reason and I quote her, professor, she said, what we have seen today is unlawful and unacceptable. I decided I will uphold the Electoral College results and I encourage Donald Trump condemn and put an end to this madness. Of course, he's not going to do that.
Do you think any other Republicans will follow suit. You knew Ted Cruz a long time ago, right, when he was a young talented law student and he of course the face of this. He's the front of this, he and Josh Hawley. Do you think that they'll change what they are doing?
TRIBE: I can't get inside Ted Cruz's head. He was a smart kid, but obviously, he is not exactly lost his mind but decided to put into evil use.
Josh Hawley, similarly. He went to Yale Law School.
These people have had adequate education. The problem isn't that they didn't learn about the Constitution, is that they don't give a damn about it. They want power. They want influence.
I would suggest to them if they want any future in American politics, they better break up and realize that the American people do not like chaos. They don't like anarchy. They want to have, as some call it, law and order.
We can disagree profoundly about matters of policy. But we can agree that for an angry, armed mob to enter the Capitol, leave at least one person dead, that that's beyond unacceptable. They crossed the line and they have to pull back.
I can't get inside their heads but if they have any concern for their own future, that's all they care about. If they have any concern for their own future, I think they better pull back.
BURNETT: Professor Tribe, thank you very much.
[19:55:00]
TRIBE: Thank you.
BURNETT: I want to go to Wilmington now. Jeff Zeleny is OUTFRONT there.
We, of course, heard the president-elect speak very genuinely and emotionally not long ago, and I know you, Jeff, you have some new reporting from the Biden team.
What are you learning?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN SENIOR WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, we are learning tonight that President-elect Biden is going to appear here in Wilmington tomorrow with his attorney general nominee as well as other senior members of the Justice Department leadership team.
Of course, we reported today that Federal Judge Merrick Garland is going to be the nominee to be the attorney general and everything that we have seen unfolded all day long in Washington is certainly going to be on their plates. So, tomorrow, we will have an opportunity to hear from Mr. Biden who called this out of the most direct terms possible.
He was a sign of leadership today on this issue and we did not see any from the White House. We'll, of course, hear from him tomorrow we are told as well as judge garland who we have not gotten his view of the role of the DOJ in the post-Trump's era. That's one of the reasons he's chosen here to oversee all of this without political influence, and oversee everything at the Justice Department in the post-Trump era.
Erin, everything we saw here certainly just adds to that message. But one thing that Mr. Biden is trying to do, he says leaders can inspire or leaders can also incite, he, of course, blames President Trump for that.
BURNETT: Calling him out directly, telling him to address the American people.
Thank you, Jeff Zeleny.
I want to go to Lieutenant General Mark Hertling and David Gergen, who, of course, advised four presidents.
Lieutenant General Hertling, you know, President Trump's first secretary defense, James Mattis, just released a statement, saying, quote, today's violent assault in our capitol, an effort to subjugated American democracy by mob rule was fomented by Mr. Trump, very loud and clear. No beating around the bush here.
What happens then? You are saying the president of the United States fomented a violent attack in the Capitol, this person can remain for 14 days, General?
LT. GEN. MARK HERTLING (RET), CNN MILITARY ANALYST: Yeah, I think, too, Erin, you might want to mention former chairman of the Joint Chiefs, General Dunford, also released a statement basically saying the same thing. So, you are talking about two people who normally would not knock the administration they came from. They're keeping quiet. But for two of them to step forward, it's significant.
And this was not a protest. This was not a riot. This was a shameful attack on our democracy and our democratic processes by a bunch of thugs and punks. And I think both Secretary Mattis and General Dunford wanted to make those comments to ensure that the military saw this for exactly what it was. It was just shameful across the board.
And, you know, when we talk about that they're speaking out, David, so is President George W. Bush. He released a statement before I came on the air saying: This is how election results disputed in a banana republic, not our democratic republic, not mincing any words from the last Republican president of this country.
DAVID GERGEN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: No, George W. Bush has zero respect for the current president, and I do think that George W. Bush's language sort of brings back a lot of memory from his dad and his granddad. They all come from the tradition that politics should be a noble undertaking, and they get really angry seeing people like Trump even in office.
I don't think anybody knows the right solution how he ought to punish for this. I do think a lot of people think he should be.
You know, Jim Acosta reported earlier that there is someone very close to rump in the White House was saying Trump is out of his mind. So I still think the 25th amendment is very unlikely. I think impeachment, there's almost zero time for that.
But I do think they ought to consider a vote of censure by both chambers. I think you can get a lot of Republicans on that. In 1954, that's what Congress did to Joe McCarthy, Senator Joe McCarthy, and it basically destroyed his career.
BURNETT: You know, it is interesting when you give the possibility of something else. It is clear that the vice president is the one who was handling things today and not the president.
GERGEN: Yeah.
BURNETT: All right. I appreciate both of your time very much. Thank you.
GERGEN: Thank you.
BURNETT: All right. Now we are getting ready for that joint session to resume. History continues tonight to be made, our breaking coverage continues with Anderson.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: And good evening.
If you are joining us, the Capitol of the longest standing democracy on earth is reeling right now, the entire city under curfew. The National Guard out of force, at least three pipe bombs or suspected pipe bombs, found and dealt with today. One woman has been shot and killed in the Capitol. It is important to -- impossible to overstate the significance of this moment. For the first time in generations, the Capitol building was invaded.
