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Early Start with John Berman and Zoraida Sambolin

Senate Capitol Riot Report Catalogs Intel, Communications Failures; U.S. Recovers Millions Paid to Colonia Pipeline Ransomware Hackers; Dems Fed Up with Manchin as He Topples Party's Priorities. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired June 08, 2021 - 05:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[05:00:26]

LAURA JARRETT, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to our viewers in the United States and all around the world. This is EARLY START. I'm Laura Jarrett.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning. I'm Christine Romans. It's Tuesday, June 8th. It is 5:00 a.m. exactly in New York.

And breaking news this morning, huge intelligence failures critical miscommunications, unheeded warnings. This damning new Senate report released just moments ago reveals brand-new details about the stunning security breakdown ahead of the U.S. Capitol riot.

JARRETT: Among the top findings in this report, the main intelligence unit of the U.S. Capitol Police, quote, was aware of the potential for violence in the days and weeks ahead of January 6, but the, quote, decentralized nature of the intel operation meant some officials were out of the loop.

ROMANS: There are new details about the extent of communication among those rioters. Trump supporters posted violent threats online ahead of January 6th. Traffic spiked to a website about Washington's underground tunnels. But the report says intel officials struggled to see the differences between protected political speech and these dangerous threats, but for all the new revelations the report is also notable for what it leaves out.

CNN's Manu Raju has more this morning from Capitol Hill.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Christine and Laura. Now, this is the first authoritative report about what exactly happened on January 6 and why law enforcement was so ill- prepared for the events of that day. It really details a stunning failure among law enforcement agencies from the U.S. Capitol police as well as the FBI, the D.C. National Guard and the lack of communication both before the event, warnings that should have been issued in a better coordination that should have happened, as well as that lackluster response all on that day in this building when that Trump- inspired mob came into the Capitol leaving death and destruction in its wake.

Now, this report by two Senate committees, the Senate Rules Committee as well as the Senate Government Affairs Committee were done on a bipartisan base. There were things left out this have report that will undoubtedly become fodder for the investigation and fight going forward about whether should be more investigation.

One of the big things that was not discussed or even looked at in this report was Donald Trump's role in all of this, his role in promoting the rally, his role in trying to fire up his supporters to come to Washington to try to essentially pressure Congress to overturn the electoral results on January 6, the day that they were certifying Joe Biden's victory.

None of that was broached in this report. There's also the way that the language here in this report, it doesn't refer to the attack on January 6 as insurrection. In fact, it talks about the attack, it talks about the riot but does not refer to it as a, quote, insurrection. That term has gotten some push back by some conservatives who contend that it was not an insurrection despite all the images and all the evidence of what happened that day.

So what is very clear here is that this is only going to cause a debate about what else should be looked at going forward and what else should be done because they do recommend things that should be taken immediately in order to make changes to prevent any such action, any such attack from happening in the Capitol again, including empowering the D.C. Capitol -- U.S. Capitol police chief to actually request the national guard to come into the Capitol, requested if they need it, give them that kind of authority.

Those are the tactical changes that they proposed throughout this very expansive report but also narrowly focused on that day's events. So, significant report, a lot to chew on here but also a lot to debate about what to do going forward -- guys.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: All right, Manu.

JARRETT: All right, Manu. Thank you so much for breaking all that down for us.

Let's bring in CNN law enforcement analyst Peter Licata, a former supervisory special agent for the FBI.

Peter, thanks for getting up with us this morning.

Some of the findings --

PETER LICATA, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Good morning.

JARRETT: Good morning. Some of the findings here are extraordinary, including the D.C. metro police told the Capitol police that the hotel bookings there in D.C. they had roughly doubled compared to earlier pro-Trump rallies that we had seen, a private citizen emailed the Capitol police on December 28th, saying that there were people organizing to storm the Capitol.

The Capitol police, they activated seven special units but only four had the right special protective equipment, they didn't even have the right gear. Some of it was locked on a bus. I wonder what are your big picture takeaways with all of these failures laid out here?

LICATA: Well, good morning. So, right, a lot of failures here.

[05:05:03]

A lot of this report is based off of the Capitol police April inspector general report which it's an internal report that occurred in April and through that report they determined all those findings, which were lack of equipment, inadequate equipment, old equipment to include weaponry from the tear gas or the riot disbursement ammunition that they could have.

Officers were afraid to use it because it was outdated, shields that would shatter upon impact is what happened as the rioters tried to breach or breached the Capitol.

Also there was a definite lack of decision-making from all ranks and file from the Capitol police especially the civil disturbance unit which is responsible for the riot patrol, specifically of the interior of the House and Senate. Moreover is the misinterpretation and underestimation of to your point the intelligence that was provided.

So, yes, some of the intelligence became -- was received by the Capitol police late, however, intelligence is information that is analyzed and derived and intelligence is a living document. Intelligence needs to be harnessed and matured and grown. So it's not like we just -- it's an intelligence report and we move on. Intelligence needs to be updated and assess wd some of these hotel bookings, the tweets that were going on, things on social media in order to provide a better posture for the defense of the Capitol.

JARRETT: It seems like the intel was there, it's just that they didn't act on it, right? It wasn't as if there wasn't any -- there weren't any signs it was just they didn't move on it.

ROMANS: They were warned. And it may -- honestly it may take Congress to allow the Capitol police to have the authority to mobilize the military to help in a crisis like this. There seems to be a lot of red tape. That's what this report also lays out.

You know, we've heard there Capitol police officers who were physically and people that he will scarred that day. You know, one died, two others died by suicide. The report documents one officer who saw a protester giving the Nazi salute to the Capitol. Other officers, black officers, who said that they were -- they were verbally abused and assaulted with awful racist language that day.

How should Capitol Police view this report? How do they make this actionable?

LICATA: They make it actionable by admitting their mistakes. That's the first thing with any agency. As a veteran of the FBI, for 21 years, I have lived through some down times in the FBI where we were heavily audited and the intent is for management, rank and file, especially agents like myself, supervisors like myself.

And in this case the Capitol Police to admit the mistakes, where they went wrong, to also admit their successes and capitalize and exploit those successes. It's also going to require resources. I believe this is going to be the justification, resources are going to be justified through the Senate report as well as their own internal audit that was conducted in April.

Those resources will be provided in manpower and training and updated in modern equipment, surveillance equipment as well as less than lethal type force weaponry that should prevent this act from happening again.

JARRETT: But how do you prevent this from happening again if you don't sort of face all the ugly facts head-on, right? You know, obviously, Congress voted down that bipartisan commission this, report only goes so far, it does not even mention the former president's role.

I know that you are a law enforcement analyst, right, you are not a politician, but I just wonder from your perspective how do you prevent this?

LICATA: You have to prevent it from a law enforcement perspective, it's resources, resources are going to be audited, there's going to be benchmarks that Capitol police are going to have to meet. The verbiage of who is finger-pointing in the report do not affect the officer on the ground who has to deal with this on a daily basis. The resources have to be provided. Mistakes have to be admitted as well as successes.

Law enforcement officers don't get involved in politics. We do see things as gray, or as black and white when it comes to politics. We swear an oath to uphold and support the Constitution of the United States and as well as defend the property and citizens of the United States regardless of their political beliefs and that's where law enforcement has to focus. They have to take the politics out of this in order to move forward.

JARRETT: All right. Thank you so much for your perspective this morning. Peter Licata, CNN law enforcement analyst, really appreciate it.

ROMANS: All right. Ransom recovered. Officials seized millions of cryptocurrency paid to the Colonial Pipeline hackers -- how they did it and what it means for the growing cyber threat.

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[05:12:19]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LISA MONACO, DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: Today, we turned the tables on DarkSide, by going after the entire ecosystem that fuels ransomware and digital extortion attacks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT: The Justice Department flipping the script on criminal hackers, recovering millions of dollars in cryptocurrency that was paid after the Colonial Pipeline cyberattack. This ransomware attack last month caused severe gas shortages at stations on the East Coast. The announcement comes with a warning for other companies to bolster their cybersecurity defense.

We get more on all of this from CNN's Alex Marquardt.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Laura and Christine.

The Department of justice has announced a rare win in the fight against ransomware attackers saying on Monday that they were able to recover more than half of the ransom that was recently paid to hackers who are believed to be based in Russia for their attack last month on the Colonial Pipeline.

According to the Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco, what they did, the investigators is followed the money. After Colonial was hit, the company paid a reported $4.4 million in bitcoin to get their networks back on line. Federal investigators tracked the money to a cryptocurrency wallet and managed to recover 63.7 bit coins, which is valued at around $2.3 million.

[05:15:01]

This is not something that happens often, it's the first operation of its kind from DOJ's new ransomware task force and it highlights one of the primary tactics that the Biden administration now wants to use to disrupt these ransomware networks. Follow the cryptocurrency that they use to track them down and remove their incentive for carrying out these attacks.

MONACO: No organization is immune. So, today, I want to emphasize to leaders of corporations and communities alike the threat of severe ransomware attacks pose a clear and present danger to your organization, to your company, to your customers, to your shareholders and to your long-term success.

So pay attention now. Invest resources now. Failure to do so could be the difference between being secure now or a victim later.

MARQUARDT: DOJ also praised Colonial for alerting them quickly which allowed the FBI to get started on the case. There are many companies that just pay the attackers without telling the authorities so little is learned about the attackers or where the money went. The Biden administration wants companies to tell them so they can

better track and disrupt these networks, but they also don't want companies to pay the ransoms, which puts the companies in a very difficult position if they're trying to get their operations up and running again -- Laura, Christine.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMANS: Yeah, modern day privacy, we're going to be hearing more about this.

Brand-new this morning, the White House getting to the bottom of the supply disruptions coming out of the pandemic. Just minutes ago, the White House announcing a task force investigating semi-conductors, home building, construction, transportation, agriculture and food. It follows a February executive order signed by President Joe Biden to identify and fix cracks in supply chains.

The concern, how critical parts for American products depend on overseas suppliers like China. U.S. automakers have been hit hard by a global chip shortage. Production lines shut down so the automakers can wait for the chips to arrive from overseas. We've seen shortages and price increases from everything from lumber to gas and food.

The administration says it created a strike force to fight unfair trade practices of foreign countries.

JARRETT: It sounds like, what, chip shortages but it actually matters. They are in everything.

ROMANS: And the president has made the point that the United States invented some of these high tech categories yet has to wait on supply chains from overseas to keep the businesses running. That's got to be fixed.

JARRETT: Interesting point.

All right. Coming up, an incredible crime bust announced overnight. The FBI helped create a phony messaging app and got crime syndicates around the world to buy in.

Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:22:06]

JARRETT: Welcome back.

Democrats are no longer holding back on Senator Joe Manchin. It is all out war after Manchin torpedoed the idea of passing Democrats' priorities without GOP help which isn't coming anytime soon.

CNN's Jasmine Wright is live for us at the White House this morning.

Jasmine, while Washington bickers as usual, it's Americans paying the price.

JASMINE WRIGHT, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: That's right, Laura.

Listen, Democrats are frustrated because in part they see that their ability to pass the priorities of themselves and President Joe Biden evaporating before midterms because in large part of one person, Senator Joe Manchin, who is really digging into his long held belief that the minority party should get say in any major legislation so he has said he won't get rid of the filibuster, that 60-vote threshold that Democrats because of their majority need ten Democrats -- I mean, excuse me, ten Republicans to come to their side and that includes on that key issue of voting rights.

But he is also implicated in n. These elongated talks on infrastructure saying he wants to see a bipartisan deal. So -- but President Biden and Republicans are at a stalemate right now, they don't agree on a lot of things including the price, new spending and how to pay for it.

So, Senator Shelley Moore Capito, the Republican lead for negotiations, that President Biden will talk in a rescheduled call today. That's as another group of bipartisan senators work on their own infrastructure bill and that could be introduced anytime this week.

But the White House is kind of being proactive about this, right? As Washington really lags behind the White House is out there and is really Americans that are paying the price for these slow-walking talks. Remember, President Biden introduced this bill more than two months ago so it's Americans paying out-of-pocket to replace their tires because of those potholes, have longer wait times and honestly when it comes down to it their safety.

So, Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg he yesterday was out in Tennessee touring that big interstate bridge that was shut down because of that large real crack in that still beam, right, and it's folks that have elongated drive times because of that really trying to curry support across the country for their priorities as Washington really lags behind -- Laura.

JARRETT: All right. Jasmine, thanks so much. Appreciate it.

ROMANS: Okay. Twenty-four minutes past the hour.

A candid President Obama goes into detail about the current state of politics, voting rights, guardrails of democracy and the GOP embracing a way of thinking he calls unrecognizable and unacceptable.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: You have to worry about Sarah Palin, her brief ascendency and you talk about dark spirits that have long been lurking on the edges of the Republican Party coming center stage. Did you ever think it would get this dark?

BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT: No. (END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:29:24]

ROMANS: All right. Good morning. This is EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans.

JARRETT: And I'm Laura Jarrett. About 29 minutes past the hour here in New York.

Most presidents when they leave office, they slip off the political stage and they put the nation's future in the hands of the next person. But it hasn't been so simple for Barack Obama. American democracy has rarely faced a more serious assault rhetorically from election lies and physically from the attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Former President Obama was asked how he thinks democracy can be secured by CNN's Anderson Cooper last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

OBAMA: Our democracy is too important. We didn't see that. Now, you know, I'm still the hope and change guy.