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Erin Burnett Outfront
The Inauguration Of Donald Trump. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired January 20, 2025 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
(MUSIC)
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett, live from Washington.
OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news, the Trump presidency is in full force. President Trump just wrapping up that rally in Washington, where he signed nine executive orders promising to pardon those who attacked the Capitol on January 6th.
The president, now on his way to the White House, where he promises to sign even more executive actions. They've said there will be many more tonight. Just moments ago, he signed orders, including revoking nearly 80 of Biden's executive orders and actions. And they may count that as 80. As well as withdrawing from the Paris climate treaty, freezing all federal hiring, requiring federal workers return to the office five days a week. And that is in addition to orders Trump is expected to sign later tonight.
Those include the formal declaration of a national emergency at the southern border and ending birthright citizenship. That, of course, is a right in the Constitution that if you are born in the United States, you are a citizen. Terminating diversity programs and declaring the federal government will only recognize two genders, male and female, which reverses protections that had been put in place for transgender people.
And as I mentioned, Trump is expected to also pardon members of the mob that attacked the Capitol on January 6th, 2021, when he returns to the White House tonight. That has been something that has been at the core of all of his talk today, and there is so much to get to tonight.
Jeff Zeleny is at the rally where Trump just spoke. Kaitlan Collins is live outside the White House, and Evan Perez is in Washington. Elle Reeve is outside a Washington prison where January 6th, defendants are waiting to be released after being pardoned by Trump, all with us through the hour.
And, Jeff Zeleny, let me start with you. Just coming from that arena as I just came from where you are, you watched the signing of those executive orders. What -- walk us through exactly what Trump just did?
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Erin, it was a bit of a campaign theater meets a political promises you saw at the very end there, where President Trump threw out the black sharpies that he used to sign the executive orders. This was part of a promise that he has been talking about at virtually every campaign rally that I can think of since he started his return to power, promising what he would do on day one.
And of course, he went after the 78 Biden executive actions. That is no surprise. President Biden did basically the same thing his first day in office, reversed a lot of the executive actions that the previous president did. But then, of course, he went on through several others withdrawing from the Paris climate accords, requiring federal workers to come back to the office and then some that, of course, we will have to get a bit more detail on these in terms of instructing federal agencies to try and control prices and talking about hiring freezes.
The hiring freeze is something significant because, of course, he wants to pick up where he largely left off, and that is to restructure and reshape the federal workforce. He believes that they have largely been against him, so that is one of the things he wants to do.
But I think Erin, most notably, he talked about it here about pardoning January 6th, the defendants, he's talked about immigration all day long, but it was not something that he signed as an executive order.
So, clearly, like the first Trump administration, we often have to spend a little bit more time looking into the fine print, looking into the details of what these executive orders mean. But there is no doubt he chose this arena. You were just here. It's been, you know, a raucous afternoon and early evening for that reason. But this is governing, and we have to take a closer look at what all of these actually mean going forward, Erin.
BURNETT: That's right. What is rhetoric? What is reality? But -- but huge change, no matter where that line is drawn.
Jeff Zeleny, thank you very much.
Let's go to Kaitlan Collins. She's at the White House.
And, Kaitlan, I know Trump is about to sign more orders going back to the White House before he goes to those balls for the night. Where does he go from here?
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, this will be his first time, actually, at the White House since being sworn in earlier. Erin, I've been up inside the west wing earlier today. They've already, of course, rearranged everything. The photos on the wall are of Trump and his family and his team already. They do that pretty quickly.
[19:05:01]
They've even changed the portraits inside the Oval Office. He had Andrew Jackson up when he was here in the White House four years ago. They've since put Andrew Jackson's portrait back up inside the Oval Office, and that is where you are going to see President Trump not far from now after his motorcade, which is making its way over from Capital One to the White House, I believe we'll see it come down the driveway behind me.
Not usually where the president pulls in. He's usually on the south lawn, but typically on the day of the inauguration, the presidents pull in on the north lawn where I am standing right now. And it's once Trump gets inside that oval office that you're going to see him sign a lot of the executive actions that he has been talking about for -- for the better part of a year now. Ten of the executive actions will focus on immigration.
One of his biggest priorities and biggest campaign promises, frankly, since entering the White House. We'll see what exactly that looks like. We have a pretty good idea. Some of the moves echo what he did his first term in office, but the other one that he was very clearly so eager to talk about during those remarks just now at the Capital One Arena in front of actual hostages, I should note, was where the January 6th rioters, who Trump often refers to as the J6 hostages.
Before on the campaign trail, we had really only heard Trump talk about this or go into detail when he was asked by reporters what he planned to do. Did he plan to -- to pardon everyone or just on a case by case basis? But he is very clearly eager to pardon the January 6th criminal court convicted, I should note, individuals here because he was talking about it at length in front of all of his supporters there.
The question is what this looks like and what the scope of this is, and whether or not those convicted of the most serious crimes here, like seditious conspiracy or assault on a law enforcement officer, whether or not they are included in that. But it is very clear that Trump is angling to do this, and quite eager to do this on his first day in office. And also very clearly still fuming over the Bidens or the pardons that President Biden signed on his way out of the door this morning when he had just a few hours left in the Oval Office.
Not the ones necessarily for his family. But Trump was saying that his team was urging him not to talk about the pardons that Biden signed for Liz Cheney and the other members of the January 6th congressional committee. In his speech, he said twice now that people were urging him not to talk about January 6th in his speech today. But of course, he is going to be coming into the oval office signing those pardons for the January 6th, convicted individuals as President Biden started this morning signing the pardons for the January 6th investigative committee.
BURNETT: Yeah, I mean, certainly the center of the day in terms of what he has spent his time on. Kaitlan, thank you very much.
And everyone is here with me.
So, Ashley, look, he's going to be doing more tonight. So we will see what the meat on the bones is of who gets what on those January 6th pardons versus commuting sentences. But undoing 80 or 78 of President Biden's policies in literally one fell swoop of the pen. That's exactly what happened.
ASHLEY ETIENNE, FORMER COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR FOR VP HARRIS: Yeah, I mean, that's politics. That's how it works, right? Your team wins. You get the power of the pen and you make these kinds of decisions.
But, you know, I've not heard any talk about him signing an EO on price gouging or lowering prices. I mean, the president, the new president, said that he had a mandate. Two issues he won on, one was a border. The other was on, as he said, the price of groceries.
So I find it very interesting that his priorities are not that, that he's giving red meat to his base, but he's not doing what -- he's not fulfilling the commitments and the promises that he made to lower prices. And I think that creates an opportunity for Democrats.
I continually say this, that Democrats are going to have to call his bluff on advancing this populist agenda. It was J.D. Vance who said that he failed to do that in his first term. Now he's got another at bat. So I think this creates an opportunity for Democrats to really paint Donald Trump as someone who really cares mostly about himself. First, pardons January 6th. Folks that went to the -- to the Capitol and tried to burn it down at his behest.
BURNETT: As you're speaking here, Ashley, the president is coming up here on the north lawn of the White House, entering for the first time as president, right? Coming in. He's going to be changing, getting ready to go to the balls. Kaitlan is obviously standing there.
And I know -- Kaitlan, can you see them from where you are coming in?
COLLINS: Yeah. The first police car, Erin, has just made its way into the north lawn of the White House. You're seeing the entire motorcade come in, and I just want to say this is unusual. You know, I've covered the White House for a long time.
Typically, presidents come in through the south lawn. There's more privacy and security. But on the day of the inauguration, there's The Beast pulling into the White House. Two of the presidential limos that are pulling in. And there is president Trump riding in that one right there. We can see his outline as he makes his way.
This is his first time being back at the White House since January 2021. A lot of his staff, I should note, has been here for a few hours, Erin, including the chief of staff Susie Wiles, who orchestrated his campaign, Elon Musk, was seen here on the White House grounds earlier, actually going inside the West Wing at one point earlier.
[19:10:04]
But this is the first time that President Trump himself has returned to the White House since he was here, obviously briefly earlier for that meeting with President Biden, the coffee and tea that they had. But this is the first time he's been back since it's his White House and he has been sworn in again.
BURNETT: Yeah. And watching him get out of that car, The Beast, and walk in, you will get, Kristen, the -- he will get the salute. He will -- he is back.
KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: He is back.
BURNETT: He is back. And that is the -- you see that here. This is the visual manifestation of it. But that has been the tone and the feeling. I spent the day in that capitol arena. That is the way that his supporters feel they are back. He is back now literally.
ANDERSON: In his speech, one of the lines that really stuck out to me was, he said, I returned to the presidency confident and optimistic. It does feel different than eight years ago, when it sort of felt like Washington was befuddled by what is this going to look like? And frankly, even Trump may not have known what levers of power do I have, and how do I pull them to get what I want? He comes back in now knowing exactly how to get what he wants, and he's using those sharpies on the first day to try to do it.
BURNETT: And, Shermichael, he is going to -- he's going in, he will greet staff. He will see his staff. He will have that that homecoming which -- which interestingly was it was former President Biden this morning who reached out and said, welcome home.
SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah. I mean, look, this is this is the process. And I'm happy to see it. The American people had an opportunity between two candidates.
And I noticed something that Ashley said about this potential opportunity for Democrats to paint the president as being selfish. Well, they had an opportunity to make that argument to the American people, and they failed. The American people made a decision, including many Democrats, including many groups that typically vote for Democrats, Hispanics, Black men in certain states like Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Texas. And they resoundingly rejected the argument coming from the Democratic Party.
Now, my advice to my Democratic friends here would be to have a little humility, understand why you lost. Understand why the American people overwhelmingly rejected the message coming from former President Biden, then Vice President Harris, once she became the nominee for the Democratic Party. And I have yet to see that from any single Democrat thus far.
All I have seen is the constant contrasting of why they think Trump would be terrible and Harris would have been better, or why Trump is only about his own self perseverance or self-preservation and self- interest.
ETIENNE: Can I respond? I think the one thing that we don't have an appreciation for is Donald Trump ran for four years against Joe Biden, right? Kamala Harris had 100 days. Donald Trump ran for four years.
I was just talking to my friend Paul over here and I said, well, how do you beat someone who's such an incredible showman, who has a penchant for lying, lying for four years to the American people? I would take your argument if he played fair and was honest with the American people, but the reality is he spent time not just today in his speech, but for four years lying about his record and lying about Joe Biden. SINGLETON: You guys had an equal opportunity, though, to make your
case to the American people. You did.
BURNETT: In the arena today during his speech --
ETIENNE: It's hard to win --
BURNETT: -- the things that got the most rousing response to genders. Okay, went okay. You expect that because that had been a part of DEI, ESG, all of the acronyms, as Kellyanne Conway got up in that arena and spoke about.
But then it was the Gulf of America. We're taking it back, the Panama Canal, and Mars, the American flag on Mars.
PAUL BEGALA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Right.
BURNETT: Now, Paul, I say those things because none of those things came up during the campaign. They all came up after the campaign. And he still has a carte blanche and an incredible and I understand that's his base, but they didn't care that that wasn't what they voted for. They care that that's what he's about now.
BEGALA: Yes. But those folks are we welcome them. We hope they have a good time. They're not analytically interesting to me because they're totally for Trump. And that's fine. Just like people are totally for the Democrats, not very analytically interesting.
What's interesting is that, as you said, he got elected. He didn't get elected because people want to buy Greenland. He got elected because people want to buy groceries, and he'd best be about the business of cutting the price of groceries, gas and rent. Okay?
Not all this other stuff. And my party actually is exactly right. My party instead of the donkey, we shouldn't be the donkey. Democrats should be the largemouth bass. We chase every shiny object, wham! We hit it. And then, oh, my God, we're surprised --
BURNETT: There's no offense to donkeys, but I could understand why one would say I'm done being a donkey.
BEGALA: But a largemouth bass -- at least a donkey is smart. Largemouth bass never --
SINGLETON: Wasn't going to go there, Erin.
BURNETT: I didn't go there.
BEGALA: -- when they hit that hook.
But here's my point: He -- he has a mandate to cut the cost of groceries, gas and rent. He promised to cut the cost of energy in half. Okay, I spent some time today in the real world, a lot of time.
You've probably done this a lot. But the St. Louis Fed has the best economic data. It's really accessible. And so I spent a lot of time on the St. Louis Fed website.
Just looking gas is $2.95 a gallon now. He's got to cut that in half. He promised us, right?
Eggs are $4.14 a carton, he said -- and these are his words -- he promised pretty dramatic price reductions at the grocery store. Pretty dramatic price reductions, it's just a few days ago he said this.
[19:15:01]
So he's got -- he's got to cut those costs. I'm skep -- I hope he does. I'm skeptical because I don't think he gives a rip snort about those blue collar guys who voted for him. I think he only cares about those billionaires who he surrounded himself with today, and this opportunity for the Democrats.
BURNETT: And they were there, of course, Carrie, close with the family, right. You saw Mark Zuckerberg, Tim Cook, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, all with -- with the family, the Trump family at the actual inauguration itself. But the theme that has gone through the entire day that they were, you know, there for has been January 6th in these pardons.
Does it -- when do you think were going to find out what the details are on this?
CARRIE CORDERO, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: On the January 6th pardon?
BURNETT: It's been there throughout the day and yet we don't have those.
CORDERO: Well, I think the difficulty with it is that it has to be specific. Well, it doesn't have to be. But one would hope that it would be specific to each individual case. And it could be that he has to sign the orders for a whole bunch of different individuals.
When we break down the January 6th cases, when I think about how he might apply his pardon power, I am looking to see whether he does it in sort of different categories. So there are individuals who were prosecuted for nonviolent offenses, trespassing, things like that. Most of those people have already been through their legal process. They may have already served whatever sentence or consequences that they had under the justice system. And so, then that would be one category of people and one whole list of names.
Then there's individuals who were involved in violence. And so, I have a question as to whether or not he really will pardon or commute sentences of individuals involved in violence, particularly given the number of law enforcement personnel who were injured and then several who later died.
And then there's the seditious conspiracy cases, as Kaitlan referred to earlier, which is a very, very serious charge, jury guilty, finding long sentences. And so, I think those take he can't just do one order. I don't expect that he would do one order for all of them.
BURNETT: Right. And you've got all the individuals.
All right. All stay with me. Thank you very much. Are all going to stay with us through this hour, as President Trump is expected to part -- make those pardons and those distinctions that Kerry is talking about are so crucial. We have some new details on that from Evan Perez on what he's hearing.
We're also outside live outside the jail, where many defendants are held and anxiously awaiting word. Elle Reeve, incredibly, is there. Plus, breaking news Trump's crackdown on immigration. We're just learning. Senior leaders at the Justice Department's immigration office have been removed, as Trump is expected to imminently declare a formal national emergency at the southern border.
Democratic Senator Alex Padilla of California responds and Trump about to sign even more executive orders in the White House tonight before going to those balls. What are those?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:21:18]
BURNETT: Breaking news. President Trump is just announcing those sweeping pardons for January 6th defendants.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Tonight, I'm going to be signing on the J6 hostages pardons to get them out. And as soon as I leave, I'm going to the oval office and we'll be signing pardons for a lot of people.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Trump making good on a campaign promise that his supporters are expecting him to deliver on and pretty much right away, he did telegraph the move during his inauguration in the same room where the violence unfolded just four years ago. So let's just start with the breaking news here of what we know is about to happen.
Evan Perez is OUTFRONT in Washington.
And, Evan, the bottom line here is that this means a whole bunch of people could be literally getting out of getting, you know, get out, get out of jail card pretty much right now.
EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Right, exactly, Erin.
Look, what we know is this, that were hearing from some of the lawyers who represent some of these folks who are still in prison. And what they're saying is that they're being their clients are being processed. The possibility is that they could be released as soon as tonight.
And so how does that happen? Well, we do know this. We know that the White House has not officially made any announcements about who's getting pardoned, who's getting commutations. We know that at least some of the people who were prosecuted under these January 6th cases are getting commutations and some are getting pardons. Who gets what? We are still not clear on.
But clearly, the staff at the Bureau of Prisons are being told to prepare to release some of these people. So there is some paperwork, perhaps that's already been sent. Again, we don't know exactly what has been done, but the president has said just now, as you as you saw in that clip, he's saying that when he gets to the oval office, he is going to sign pardons. And again, I'll remind people that of the 1,600 people that are that have been prosecuted, being prosecuted under this, 1,200 have already been convicted and 700 of them have already completed their sentences. So presumably that would be people would be probably more subject to pardons, right?
And what Donald Trump is asking for or what he wants to do is to show on day one some impact of what of his election. And so we anticipate that a lot of people, including some of the big names that you've seen in those videos, the violent videos, and people who got really lengthy sentences they could be receiving at least at the very least, a commutation which would allow them to get out of prison perhaps as soon as tonight or in the next day or so.
BURNETT: I mean, incredible as soon as tonight. Evan, I'm curious, though, what your understanding is. Your reporting is on why the lack of clarity. I mean, its something he wanted to do right away.
PEREZ: Yeah.
BURNETT: But yet we don't know who's in what category. We don't know, literally, if there's jail cells, opening places for the 500 people who are still serving, even the nonviolent offenders terms. Why is that?
PEREZ: Yeah. Look, I think that reflects a little bit of the uncertainty that the president himself has injected into this process.
Look, people behind the scenes, some of his advisers have talked to me and Paula and others, you know, as part of our reporting in the last few weeks. And they were really pushing for the president to have a process whereby they could review some of the cases and, and the people that you're talking about, some of the people who committed violence against police officers, that perhaps they would be treated differently.
The president, though, has resisted this all along. He has pushed for more of a broad approach whereby he wants people out of prison as soon as he takes office. And so that's really what you're seeing play out. There's a bit of a bit of an opaqueness and a bit of a -- of unsure about exactly how, what, what path he's going to take.
[19:25:02]
Because again, part of this is a little bit of a Trump production, right? He wants a little bit of a show and we're all watching to see exactly how he does it. BURNETT: Right. Well, and perhaps this is exactly the show he wanted.
Evan, thank you very much.
PEREZ: Sure.
So all eyes now on the prisons, right. And there is a prison in Washington where January 6th, defendants are waiting to be released, many of them being held there.
Elle Reeve, if you watched the show, knows you know. She has been doing extensive reporting on the defendants and their supporters and spent a lot of time with their families.
And, Elle, what are you hearing tonight? You're right outside that prison.
ELLE REEVE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So they were so emotional. They were almost in tears. I spoke to a lot of people here who just -- I mean, it was almost like some kind of holiday. One father, he's had kids who's been in this prison -- in this jail for a year, and he spoke with a lot of emotion. Take a look.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REEVE: Your kids, are they charged with felonies?
BEN POLLOCK, FATHER OF TWO JANUARY 6 DEFENDANTS: Yeah, they're charged with everything in the book. They were. They -- they wanted to destroy our family. They don't do bank robbers like they've done our family. They don't do rapists like they've done our family.
DERRICK STORMS, CHIEF LEGAL COUNSEL, J6 ASSOCIATION: We personally would like a full pardon on everybody. And we believe the justification for that is this was a big entrapment operation. We're viewing this day as in American history equivalent as the release of the Iranian hostages. We believe it's that momentous for what is occurring today.
MICKI WITTHOEFT, MOTHER OF ASHLI BABBITT: We're hopeful. We're happy. Today is our day.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
REEVE: So just a few minutes ago, I was on a bus that a group that J6 vets association chartered to bring Jan 6 to a hotel, which they called an undisclosed location. Other Jan Sixers are going to a rented house they call the eagles nest here on Capitol Hill. There's a lot of money available to the people. There's a lot of financing to help people get their feet back on the ground and get their lives back together.
BURNETT: All right. Elie, thank you very much.
Elie has done such incredible reporting. And to be there to actually watch those -- those moments, I mean, it is pretty incredible the moment this country is in watching this happen today and it might happen tonight.
OUTFRONT now is Jackson Reffitt, he turned his father, Guy Reffitt, into the FBI for participating in the insurrection. And Guy Reffitt is currently in prison, serving a six and a half year sentence for rioting at the U.S. capitol on January 6th. So obviously convicted and serving his sentence.
Jackson, I appreciate your time.
So here we are. And Trump is announcing pardons for January 6th defendants that this could include your father, who's serving a six- year sentence or six and a half year sentence as we speak. What's your reaction?
JACKSON REFFITT, SON OF CONVICTED JANUARY 6TH CAPITOL RIOTER: Well, I'm honestly flabbergasted that we've gotten to this point. I mean, I'm terrified. I don't know what I'm going to do. I've taken as many precautions as I could recently.
I've -- I've picked up a gun. Ive moved, and I've -- I've gotten myself away from what I thought would be a dangerous situation. And staying where I thought my dad could find me, or other people, you know, people that are going to feel so validated by these actions, by -- by this pardon is -- it -- I'm just so filled with paranoia about what could happen.
I've been waiting all day from a call from the DOJ to just figure it out. And know what to do next, because right now I don't, other than just to, you know, sit around and you know, talk about it.
BURNETT: I mean, you -- I mean, you're scared. I mean, you're right -- I mean, you're -- you're scared about what could happen from -- from your father specifically or someone else.
REFFITT: Yeah. The -- I don't know what other people I think. I don't even know what my father's thinking. I mean, I've talked to my father before, but it -- I had thought it gotten better, and it really hadn't. My dad is still involved with these militias. He still talks with, you know, a martyr status. He has no change. He's more galvanized than ever that I've seen.
My mom, too. My sisters are waiting outside the jail cell right now. And, you know, I feel for them, and I -- I know, I know who they are, and I love them, but I can't feel safe. And I'm sure hundreds of other families, thousands of other people that have been affected by these people and their actions and what could happen when they're released. I mean, who knows? I mean, you know, my dad once called me a traitor and, you know, he said, traitors get shot. So I have -- I -- that's, you know, all I can think about recently and just -- yeah.
BURNETT: I'm sorry, Jackson.
[19:30:02]
You mentioned your sisters, and I know you're one of three, and your sisters are there. And you mentioned your mom, too. And your mom and your sisters are fully on board with your father, and you talk about -- it really sounds like January 6th broke your family apart. Is there any way that this.
Yeah. Go ahead.
REFFITT: -- destroy it. Like, seriously. I mean, my father's actions coming from the Trump presidency and what he thought what he was doing was right. It just destroyed it.
And I -- I made a -- you know, a very, very disgusting decision to inform authorities about what he was doing. And I still feel horrible about it every day. And, you know, my sisters are out there right now and they're -- they're rooting for him. And, you know, I understand that. I come with a point of love towards that. Like I want to be there for them, but I can't.
It's -- it just isn't safe for people like me that are that, you know, have done the same things I have done to do what I thought to do to protect my family. And, you know, it's -- it's hard.
BURNETT: But you still love your father?
REFFITT: Of course, I love him, I love him. I just cannot feel safe around him. I cannot feel safe around people he knows. I cannot feel safe around the people my mother knows. You know, my mom has, you know, used my name to sit in front of a crowded room of these far right Trump supporters. And whenever she brings up my name and what I've done, the crowd will just roar and just anger about, like, what the hell did that kid do?
And I -- watching, being away from all this and just spectating what they're doing is just terrifying. And I can't do anything but just spectate. And I don't know.
BURNETT: Well, Jackson, I appreciate your talking. It matters is good people can hear it and I know it. It comes not without risk and it comes at cost for you. Thank you.
REFFITT: Thank you. Good bye.
BURNETT: President Trump is about to enter the Oval Office to sign more executive orders, and perhaps more information on those pardons. We're going to bring you that live.
Plus, some of the wealthiest and biggest names in corporate America and technology specifically, were there front and center at Trump's inauguration, mixed in with his family members. So what does this what message does this send?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:35:53]
BURNETT: Breaking news: you're looking at live pictures of the White House, where President Trump is expected to sign more executive orders any minute in the Oval Office. Just moments ago, Marco Rubio became Trump's first cabinet secretary to get confirmed by the Senate. Secretary of State Rubio, an overwhelmingly bipartisan and unanimous vote, 99 to 0. It's a good way to start. It's not going to continue that way.
It comes amid an extraordinary development. Trump removing senior leaders at the Justice Department who oversee the nation's immigration court system.
OUTFRONT now, Democratic Senator Alex Padilla of California.
And, Senator, I appreciate your time and its good to see you in person here. Marco Rubio, 99 to 0. It's good to see something like that in Washington, a widely respected colleague of yours. And he will be secretary of state, bipartisan.
SEN. ALEX PADILLA (D-CA): Absolutely.
BURNETT: And then you have this DOJ move. Basically, this is career DOJ officials who have served there for decades. So that means in administrations Democrat, and Republican.
What is this that we're here -- we're learning senior letters -- leaders of the Justice Department who oversee the nation's immigration court system?
PADILLA: Look, it's a power grab by the by the new President Trump and his administration. They're going to try to bend the agencies and the Department of Justice, for that matter, to their will. He comes in with an aggressive agenda. He hasn't signed the executive orders that we're expecting, but from what we've heard --
BURNETT: Yeah.
PADILLA: -- some -- some that are legally dubious, some that are outright unconstitutional.
BURNETT: Birthright citizenship.
PADILLA: Exactly. It's written into the Constitution, literally the 14th Amendment. He cannot unilaterally change that. But that's the conversation and the chaos. He wants to create.
BURNETT: He'll sign the executive order we anticipate, right? Then it gets challenged in the courts, goes through that process. That's what you're talking about.
So birthright citizenship, we expect to be signed national emergency on the southern border, U.S. troops going to the southern border, remain in Mexico, deportations using the Alien Enemies Act of 1798, cartels as terrorist organizations.
Some of these things a lot of people could get behind, say, cartels -- terrorists or cartels as terrorist organizations. Are there things in there you can get behind?
PADILLA: So here's the deal -- I agree. We need to modernize our immigration system as a whole. Democrats agree we need a secure, orderly and humane southern border to end asylum. First of all, it's contrary to federal law, but it's also contrary to international obligations that we have as a country.
I think if you ask the general public, if you ask the Democrats, we agree we should make sure we prioritize the detention and deportation of violent criminals. But that's not what Trump is talking about. The largest deportation operation in our country's history is going to carry a lot of innocent people and a lot of people who are critical to the economy, to our communities, and to our national security.
BURNETT: I don't want to be backwards looking about it, but do you have a frustration at the Democratic Party that says, look, if you had deported and made a big effort to deport violent criminals before, if situations like Laken Riley tragic death were taken were taken differently by the Democratic Party, that maybe you wouldn't be sitting here having this conversation right now.
PADILLA: Yeah, well, I think part messaging, but part I don't think Democrats have ever said no, no, no, no, lets not deport violent criminals. We've always been for that. But we've all we there's that element of the conversation. There's people coming to the United States seeking asylum that needs to be addressed.
But the people who have been here for years, if not decades, like Dreamers, like farmers, like other essential workers that make our country tick, that's a whole different population. And they deserve better than the chaos that is coming back to their families and to their communities under these threats by President Trump.
BURNETT: Well, Senator Padilla, I very much appreciate your time and thoughts are with you, with what you're going through in your state, with those fires that are continuing to rage even as we speak.
PADILLA: Thank you very much. A lot of immigrants are going to help rebuild.
BURNETT: They are, right, and there's going to be a lot of need for FEMA, which I know is also part of this conversation. Thank you very much, Senator Padilla. I appreciate it.
PADILLA: Thank you. President Trump earlier today did promise to usher in a, quote, golden age for America quickly, though, portraying a declining country that's failing its citizens, a failure that Trump says he'll reverse.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[19:40:01]
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: As we gather today, our government confronts a crisis of trust. For many years, a radical and corrupt establishment has extracted power and wealth from our citizens, while the pillars of our society lay broken and seemingly in complete disrepair. We now have a government that cannot manage even a simple crisis at home, while at the same time stumbling into a continuing catalog of catastrophic events abroad.
It fails to protect our magnificent, law abiding American citizens, but provides sanctuary and protection for dangerous criminals. From this moment on, America's decline is over.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: All right. OUTFRONT now, the Republican Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota.
And, Senator, it is a pleasure to see you.
And people can see the magic switch that we just did. The Senator Padilla and yourself, anybody look at the shot would notice. That's what we did. We did. That's what sound bites are for.
All right. So I know you have praised President Trump's energy policy. And he's talked about a lot more drilling. Obviously --
SEN. MIKE ROUNDS (R-SD): Drill, baby, drill, is the way he put it today.
BURNETT: It's where he put it today, filling the strategic petroleum reserve.
But there -- I know you've also said there were parts of his speech that you would have written differently. Like what?
ROUNDS: I think what I said was, is that I would have done it a little bit differently than he did, but he wanted to focus on energy and about fulfilling the promises that he's been making on the campaign trail.
And I agree with him in that respect. I wanted to see the same thing in terms of sending a message about a safe southern border. I wanted to see a message about the deportations that he said would happen, and he has to honor that.
He also talking --
BURNETT: We're looking at the Oval Office. Senator, while you and I are speaking, Trump is at the -- at the desk, and these are the executive orders it looks like now, many of these are the ones we had anticipated earlier. We didn't we did not have all of those yet but birthright citizenship, for example, crisis at the southern border, a whole list of executive orders.
Let's listen to him.
TRUMP: -- for a pardon.
REPORTER: Yes.
TRUMP: Full pardon.
REPORTER: Full pardon or commutation? TRUMP: Full pardon. We have about six commutations in there where
we're doing further research.
Nice to see you again.
So this is a big one. Anything you want to explain about this. We hope they get him -- we hope they come out tonight. Frankly. They're expecting it. Approximately 1,500 people, six -- six commutations.
REPORTER: Are there any cases you did not commute or pardon of people?
TRUMP: We're looking at different things, but the commutations would be the ones that well take a look and maybe it'll stay that way or it'll go to a full pardon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And the order does require the Bureau of Prisons to act immediately on receipt of the pardons and commutations orders.
Sir, this is an executive --
TRUMP: Why don't we get that down so they can get them going right now?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.
TRUMP: Is that okay?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yep, absolutely.
This is a proclamation guaranteeing the states protection against invasion based on the current crisis at the southern border. It invokes various executive powers relating to the ongoing invasion at the southern border.
REPORTER: What makes you confident that those who are not going to be blocked by the courts?
TRUMP: I don't think they will. I don't think they can be. They're very straight up.
Why don't you take that and go over here? Can you get him over here? Not on the side angle. Do you mind? Just go right over here with your friends.
Okay.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, this is an executive order realigning the United States refugee admission program to better align with American principles and American interests.
TRUMP: Okay.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, sir.
This next executive order is about protecting America from foreign terrorists and other national security and public safety threats. Again, crisis at the border, but it goes beyond that. And it implicates other executive powers as well.
TRUMP: OK.
REPORTER: President Trump, the cartels are now going to be seen as foreign terror organizations, would you think about ordering U.S. Special Forces into Mexico to take them out?
TRUMP: Could happen. Stranger things have happened.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And that was actually --
REPORTER: Mr. President, how will you make sure that Maduro would accept Venezuelans?
[19:45:01]
TRUMP: Say it.
REPORTER: How would how will you make sure that Maduro will accept Venezuelans?
TRUMP: Well, we're going to see in Venezuela. We're looking at Venezuela very strongly. It's a country I know very well for a lot of reasons. And it's -- boy, it was a great country 20 years ago and now it's a mess right, sir.
REPORTER: Sir, can we expect ICE raids starting tomorrow in major cities?
TRUMP: What does that mean?
REPORTER: Can we expect ICE raids in major cities?
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.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is actually an executive order designating the cartels and other organizations to be foreign terrorist organizations.
TRUMP: That's a big one.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, sir.
TRUMP: People have wanted to do this for years. So they are now designated as terrorist organizations, foreign. And Mexico probably doesn't want that. But we have to do what's right.
They're killing our people. They're killing 250,000, 300,000 American people a year, not 100 like has been reported for 15 years. It's probably 300,000.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is an executive --
REPORTER: Sir, if Mexico doesn't want that. How are you going to deal with this?
TRUMP: I don't know, you'll have to ask them.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, this is an executive order entitled protecting the American people against invasion, which again deals with the southern border and the unprecedented admission of illegal -- illegal aliens across the southern border.
REPORTER: What do you think the biggest national security threat to the U.S., Mr. President? What's going to be your priority on foreign policy?
TRUMP: Say?
REPORTER: What's going to be your priority on foreign policy? What you see is the biggest --
TRUMP: Foreign policy is a big statement. I mean, my priority on foreign policy, it's going to keep -- it's going to be to keep America safe. Very simple. It's a big question, though. That's a very big question.
REPORTER: Who is going to be the first foreign leader that you plan to meet or who are you going to call tomorrow in your first day?
TRUMP: I've already been meeting people. I've been meeting them. I've been talking to him. He's a -- I met with Prime Minister Trudeau, like all Governor Trudeau. I met with numerous foreign leaders.
Go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, this -- this next order relates to the definition of birthright citizenship under the 14th Amendment of the United States.
TRUMP: And that's a good one. Birthright. That's a big one.
REPORTER: What about that one in the courts? That one is likely to be challenged.
TRUMP: Could be, we think we have good grounds. But you could be, right. I mean, you'll find out. It's ridiculous. 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. People have wanted to do this for decades.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, this is a proclamation declaring a national emergency at the southern border of the United States.
TRUMP: That's a big one. A lot of big ones, huh? You know what that means, right?
REPORTER: President Trump, did President Biden leave you a letter?
TRUMP: He may have. Don't they leave it in the desk? I don't know.
Oh!
REPORTER: What's in there?
TRUMP: Thank you, Peter. It could have been years before we found this.
Wow. Thank you.
REPORTER: What did he say on the outside?
TRUMP: Maybe we should all read it together.
REPORTER: Let's read it.
TRUMP: Well, maybe I'll read it first and then make that determination.
REPORTER: That's great.
TRUMP: Peter, thank you very much. I may not have seen this for months.
REPORTER: Happy to help with the passing of the torch.
TRUMP: I did. I left him one in the desk just like this.
REPORTER: What are you talking about with him on?
TRUMP: Unification of our country. You know, I didn't know that he gave a pardon to his family because he did it during my speech.
REPORTER: He didn't tell you that in the limo?
TRUMP: No, he didn't tell me. No, no. He did it. They released it during my speech. I mean, during my speech.
So all I could do was say, excuse me, I'd like to come back and speak some more. So now, we were surprised by that.
REPORTER: Mr. President --
TRUMP: It's bad precedent, obviously.
REPORTER: Where are you thinking on tariffs on Mexico given these actions you're signing on the border?
TRUMP: Well, were thinking in terms of 25 percent on Mexico and Canada because they're allowing vast numbers of people. Canada is very bad abuser also, vast numbers of people to come in and fentanyl to come in.
REPORTER: When do you think you would enact those?
TRUMP: I think February 1st. REPORTER: Are you planning on giving notice of that?
TRUMP: I think -- I think we'll do it February 1st.
REPORTER: Twenty-five percent on both, sir?
[19:50:00]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir --
TRUMP: On each.
REPORTER: On each. Yeah.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is an executive order taking a large number of executive actions to secure our southern border.
TRUMP: Okay, sounds reasonable.
REPORTER: President Trump, we remember four years ago, Barack Obama had told you that the top threat to the country was going to be North Korea. Did Joe Biden tell you what he thinks the top threat to the country is?
TRUMP: No, no.
REPORTER: Why not?
TRUMP: I think we have a lot of them right now. We really I think we have a lot. I think North Korea turned out to be good. I was very friendly with him. He liked me, I liked him. We got along very well.
They thought that was a tremendous threat. Now he is a nuclear power, but we -- we got along. I think he'll be happy to see him coming back. And I think he has tremendous condo capability. He's got a lot of shoreline.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, sir.
REPORTER: Are you willing to work with countries from South America to coordinate on immigration?
TRUMP: About who?
REPORTER: About immigration in general.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is an executive order. Sorry, sir.
TRUMP: I'm fine with legal immigration, I like it. We need people, and I'm absolutely fine with it. We want to have it. We need it because were going to have a lot of companies coming in to avoid tariffs. You know, if -- if you don't want tariffs, all you have to do is build your plant in the U.S.
So we're going to have a lot of workers coming in. But we have to have legal immigration. REPORTER: Do you have any -- do you have a date in mind for when you
want to put him on the China tariffs that you talked?
TRUMP: Which one?
REPORTER: Sixty percent.
TRUMP: No. You're talking about which. Say it again.
REPORTER: China, China tariffs. Oh China tariffs.
TRUMP: Well, as you know I put on large tariffs on China. And they've really been forced to leave them. And if we didn't leave them you wouldn't have one steel mill that's open in this country because they were dumping massive amounts of steel. We've taken in hundreds of billions of dollars from China because and they were unable to terminate the tariffs I put on China because it was too much money and the budgets didn't work. And other reasons, too.
No, I mean, we're going to have meetings and calls with President Xi. I spoke to President Xi last week, as you know. Did you know that? I had a very good phone call, a long --
(CROSSTALK)
REPORTER: -- NATO this morning. Are you planning to meet with NATO allies?
TRUMP: No, NATO has to pay more money. NATO has to pay 5 percent. We are -- we're in the Ukraine war by $200 billion more than NATO. It's ridiculous because it affects them a lot more. We have an ocean in between, and we're -- we've spent $200 billion more on Ukraine than NATO has spent. And they've got to equalize.
REPORTER: Did you talk about -- did you talk to me about the Ukraine war?
TRUMP: Yeah.
REPORTER: Because China and Brazil together has a proposal to bring Russia and Ukraine to talk.
TRUMP: That's good. That's fine. I'm -- I'm ready.
REPORTER: When are you going to talk with the Brazilian president?
TRUMP: How did Brazil get involved? This is a new one.
REPORTER: When are you going to talk to?
TRUMP: Are you from Brazil?
REPORTER: From Brazil.
TRUMP: Ah.
REPORTER: When are you talking?
TRUMP: That's why they're involved, I guess.
REPORTER: When are you going to talk with the Brazilian president? How do you see your relationship with Latin America and Brazil?
TRUMP: Great. Should be great. They need us much more than we need them. We don't need them. They need us. Everybody needs us.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is a --
REPORTER: It sounds like you will not receive an additional China tariff necessarily, depending on how talks go with President Xi. Is that correct?
TRUMP: What does that -- define that?
REPORTER: Well, we are asking you to pledge in the campaign potentially a 10 percent tariff on China as much --
TRUMP: Because of fentanyl.
REPORTER: Right. So I'm asking --
TRUMP: That's only because of fentanyl. There are other things, too.
REPORTER: Are an additional --
TRUMP: And a very big thing is the Panama Canal. China controls the Panama Canal. What's that all about? They're not supposed to be -- when Jimmy Carter gave it, which was a terrible mistake. A terrible mistake.
He didn't do it -- he didn't give it to China. He gave it to Panama. And China controls the Panama Canal and we're not going to allow that to happen.
REPORTER: China tariffs (INAUDIBLE) are they still on the table or is that --
TRUMP: We're not -- no, we're not going to allow that to happen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you, sir.
REPORTER: What can we expect of the countries in NATO that spend the least amount of money like Spain, France below the 5 percent?
TRUMP: Spain is very low. And yet are they a BRICS nation? They're a BRICS nation. Spain. You know what a BRICS nation is?
Well, you'll figure it out. But -- and if the BRICS nations want to do that, that's okay. But were going to put at least a 100 percent tariff on the business they do with the United States. Do you know what the BRICS is? Right? You guys know.
You know what I'm saying, right? You know what I'm saying? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, this is --
TRUMP: So it's not even a threat. In fact, since I made that statement, Biden said, well, they have us over a barrel.
[19:55:03]
I said, no, we have them over a barrel. And there's no way they're going to be able to do that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is an executive order relating to --
(CROSSTALK)
REPORTER: -- tariffs to those countries like Spain.
TRUMP: As a BRICS nation, yes, they'll have a 100 percent tariff, if they so much as even think about doing what they thought.
REPORTER: Can you explain how --
TRUMP: Which and therefore they'll give it up immediately. So will China give it up.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sir, this is about reforming the system of hiring in the federal government to ensure that merit is the lodestar of hiring decisions.
TRUMP: As for the Supreme Court.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Other matters. Yes, sir.
REPORTER: Mr. President --
TRUMP: This is a big deal, merit.
Our country is going to be based on merit again. Can you -- can you believe it?
REPORTER: Mr. President, you would say you would end the Russia- Ukraine war on your first day in office. Where do things stand right now? How do you --
TRUMP: Well, this is only a half a day. I have another half a day left. We'll see. We want to get it done.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is an order creating and implementing the Department of Governmental Efficiency known as DOGE.
TRUMP: Okay, that's a big one.
REPORTER: Is Elon Musk going to get a West Wing office?
TRUMP: No, he's getting an office for about 20 people that we're hiring to make sure that these get implemented. We have a problem in this country. You signed an executive order. It doesn't get done for six months.
As an example, when we allow the J6 hostages to go out, it might not be approved under the old days by for two weeks, three weeks, six months. You know, they had a good ruling from the Supreme Court and it's like nothing happened. That ruling was six months ago, you know that.
And it was like they didn't have a ruling. They've been treated very unfair -- the judges have been absolutely brutal. The prosecutors have been brutal. Nobody's ever treated people in this country like that.
REPORTER: Mr. President, are you commuting the sentences of anyone who assaulted a police officer on January 6th?
TRUMP: Well, we're looking at two police officers actually, that -- Washington police officer who went after an illegal. And things happened and they ended up putting them in jail. They got five-year jail sentences. You know, the case.
And we're looking at that in order to give them a -- we got to give them a break.
REPORTER: But is it clemency in your actions today for anybody who assaulted --
TRUMP: What would be a pardon, that would be a pardon. The one I'm talking about would be a pardon.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There you go, sir.
REPORTER: Should there be punishment for the people who assaulted law enforcement officers that day?
TRUMP: Well, I will say this. They've been in jail for a long time already. I see murderers in this country get two years, one year, and maybe no time. So they've already been in jail for a long time.
These people have been destroyed. What they've done to these people is outrageous. There's rarely been anything like it in history, in the history of our country.
And even people that were aggressive and in many cases, I believe they happened to be outside agitators. But, you know, what do I know, right? But I think they were -- I think they were outside agitators. There were outside agitators involved.
And obviously, the FBI was involved because Wray admitted the FBI was involved. Didn't he say 23 people indirectly or directly were involved? And it was then 26? That's a lot of people.
Now, we have we got to take care of -- these people have been treated so badly. It's never happened before. What happened in Seattle where they took over a big portion of the city? What happened in Portland where they burned down the city every day and people die? Nothing happened to anybody. But they go after these people violently -- I mean, they're still
going after brand new people. They found somebody else with a picture. There's never been anything like this. And, you know, its almost 100 percent think of this. Almost 100 percent of the people are convicted, 100 percent. It's Washington, D.C.
People go into a trial and they say, oh, I have a wonderful lawyer, and I didn't do anything wrong. And they end up in shackles almost immediately and jail. No, we're not going to let it happen.
REPORTER: How about Greenland? You have shown interest in buying it, but is there any other option that would satisfy you?
TRUMP: About what?
REPORTER: Greenland. Instead of buying it.
TRUMP: Finland?
REPORTER: Greenland.
REPORTER: Greenland.
TRUMP: Oh, Greenland. Greenland is a wonderful place. We need it for international security. And I'm sure that Denmark will come along. I think it's costing them a lot of money to maintain it, to keep it.
The people of Greenland are not happy with Denmark, as you know. I think they're happy with us. We had representatives -- my son and representatives went up there two weeks ago and they like us. So we'll see what happens.
But Greenland is necessary. Not for us -- it's necessary for international security. You have Russian boats all over the place. You have China boats --
