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Rep. Jennifer Wexton (D-VA) On Capitol Police Chief's Warning About Militia Groups' Threat To Blow Up The Capitol; Former President Trump To Speak At Conservative Conference On Sunday; Proud Boys Leader Speaks To CNN In First Interview Since Insurrection. Aired 7:30-8a ET
Aired February 26, 2021 - 07:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[07:30:00]
REP. JENNIFER WEXTON (D-VA) (via Cisco Webex): That's in place, with the National Guard presence, I do feel safe on the Capitol grounds.
But the fact that there are still threats out there makes it that much clearer that we really need to figure out what the problems were that led to January sixth and remedy them in advance of -- in advance of any future events happening.
ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: Do you have confidence in Acting Police Chief Pittman?
WEXTON: I really don't, you know. I know that she does not have the confidence of the rank and file officers, and after her performance yesterday, I don't believe that I have confidence in her either.
CAMEROTA: Why? What was the problem?
WEXTON: Well, she's not taking responsibility for anything that she did. She's not standing up for her officers. You know, Officer Liebengood, the officer who died by suicide shortly after the events of January sixth -- she would not -- she would not say that his death was a line of duty death.
And, you know, she just -- she does not seem to have a lot of insights into what went wrong and an interest in fixing them.
CAMEROTA: You also asked her, basically, about transparency and if she would commit to having the Capitol Police being more transparent, and she basically said no. So here is that exchange.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WEXTON: It's been almost two months. Will you commit to having public press briefings in the future from this point going forward?
YOGANANDA PITTMAN, ACTING U.S. CAPITOL POLICE CHIEF: No, ma'am, not at this time. As we go forward, my priorities still remain with the workforce and to the committees that provide oversight, as well as our appropriators.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CAMEROTA: So I guess her answer was that she's more committed to her workforce than having to answer questions to the press. Is that a legitimate answer?
WEXTON: Well, you know, it's important that the -- that the Capitol Police be more transparent. You know, it's a notoriously opaque agency. And given that one of the biggest news events of the -- of the past decade took place on the Capitol Police grounds, I think it's important that they -- that they brief the press and the public about what's happening.
It's crazy that there was this domestic terror attack on the Capitol grounds and the police agency in charge of guarding those grounds and then investigating the attack still hasn't spoken to the press or the public about what happened.
CAMEROTA: Are you aware that on QAnon chatrooms, et cetera -- online, the chatter is that March fourth -- March fourth is a date that they have had in their head for a long time.
So they thought that Donald Trump was going to, on January sixth, declare martial law. When that didn't happen they thought that there was some sort of plan where he would be inaugurated instead of Joe Biden on January 20th. When that didn't happen they came up with March fourth. That that's their next date when he will be rightfully reinstalled, they believe, as President of the United States.
Do you feel safe next week? Do you see -- think that there are plans to protect lawmakers?
WEXTON: I do feel safe, you know. As I pointed out, we still have the National Guard presence.
I know that there are a number of intelligence agencies monitoring chatter. They are checking for things like hotel bookings and Airbnb bookings and things of that nature. Things that kind of slipped through the cracks on January sixth.
But I do feel safe on March fourth and hopefully, we will -- we will have a regular session day.
CAMEROTA: God willing.
Congresswoman Jennifer Wexton, thank you very much. Great to talk to you.
WEXTON: Thank you, Alisyn.
JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Republican Sen. Rand Paul with what critics call a transphobic attack on Dr. Rachel Levine, President Biden's nominee for assistant health secretary who would be the first transgender person confirmed by the Senate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): Genital mutilation has been nearly universally condemned. Dr. Levine, do you believe that minors are capable of making such a life-changing decision as changing one's sex?
DR. RACHEL LEVINE, NOMINEE, ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF HEALTH: If I am fortunate enough to be confirmed as the assistant secretary of health, I would look forward to working with you and your office and coming to your office and discussing the particulars of the standards of care for transgender medicine.
PAUL: The specific question was about minors. Let's be a little more specific since you evaded the question.
You're willing to let a minor take things that prevent their puberty and you think they get that back? You give a woman testosterone enough that she grows a beard, you think she's going to go back looking like a woman when you stop the testosterone? You have permanently changed them.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BERMAN: LGBTQ advocates and health experts denounced Paul's remarks as bigoted and deeply offensive.
It is worth nothing yesterday, the House passed the landmark Equality Act, which prohibits discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.
The former president making his return to the spotlight. We have new details on what he will say. Plus, the things that Mitch McConnell is now saying about him. Get ready for some whiplash, next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:39:10]
BERMAN: The first public appearance by the former president since he was sent home from Washington is on Sunday. He speaks at the CPAC conference, which begins today.
CNN's Michael Warren is there live in Orlando. Michael, great to have you. What can we expect?
MICHAEL WARREN, CNN REPORTER: Good morning, John.
CPAC does kick off here in Orlando in just a few minutes with a speech by Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida, someone who is considered a potential 2024 Republican presidential candidate. A number of speakers here have similar ambitions, wanting to make a good impression on the conservative activists here.
But we know that this remains Donald Trump's Republican Party, Donald Trump's conservative movement. He is speaking here on Sunday.
A lot of support here -- pro-Trump paraphernalia, masks, MAGA hats. I even saw yesterday, during registration, a shirt that had two words, simply "Trump Won." And that is a reference, of course, to the big lie -- the election fraud narrative that is going to be a major theme here over the next couple of days.
[07:40:07]
A number of speakers on the main stage before Trump will be members of Congress who supported the president's effort to stop the counting of the votes last month. They'll be speaking up here throughout the next few days.
One member of Congress who did not support that effort was Mitch McConnell, the Senate minority leader who did not answer questions about whether or not he thought Donald Trump should speak at CPAC. Donald Trump issued that statement last week, calling McConnell dour and sullen.
But when asked -- Mitch McConnell was asked whether he would support Donald Trump as the 2024 Republican presidential nominee, this is what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR, "SPECIAL REPORT WITH BRET BAIER": If the president was the party's nominee, would you support him?
SEN. MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): Oh, the nominee of the party, absolutely.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
WARREN: And, John and Alisyn, that just says it all. This remains Donald Trump's party and Donald Trump's conservative movement.
CAMEROTA: Whiplash-inducing, indeed, Michael. Thank you very much.
So in his first U.S. T.V. interview since the Capitol insurrection, the leader of the Proud Boys makes a stunning revelation about his involvement with Roger Stone. He also tells CNN's Sara Sidner that he has no sympathy for members of Congress who feared for their lives that day.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ENRIQUE TARRIO, CHAIRMAN, PROUD BOYS: I'm not going to cry about a group of people that don't give a crap about their constituents. I'm not going to -- I'm not going to sympathize with them.
SARA SIDNER CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The leader of the Proud Boys is talking about the members of Congress who feared for their lives on January sixth --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everybody stay down.
SIDNER (voice-over): -- as a mob attacks the Capitol.
TARRIO: They shouldn't have breached the Capitol with violence. SIDNER (voice-over): He says that now --
CAPITOL INSURRECTIONISTS: Fight for Trump! Fight for Trump!
SIDNER (voice-over): -- but the day after the violent breach, Enrique Tarrio posted this, a picture on social media of members of Congress trying to hide as the attackers began their siege.
SIDNER (on camera): You write, "When the people fear the government there is tyranny. When the government fears the people there is liberty." Doesn't that show that you are celebrating terrorizing people?
TARRIO: I was celebrating. And I'll tell you, I'll celebrate the moment that the government does fear the people. At that point -- again, and I didn't have all the information that came in why they were carrying or anything like that.
SIDNER (on camera): Do you wish that you --
TARRIO: But I think --
SIDNER (on camera): -- that you didn't do that now that you know what happened?
TARRIO: No, I don't. Another thing is I'll never regret something that I sent.
SIDNER (on camera): They are doing the job that the people put them there to do, and if they don't like it they can vote them out. They are still Americans. They are still human beings who felt that their lives were in danger. How can you not feel any sympathy or any empathy towards someone like that?
TARRIO: I'm not going to worry about people that their only worry in life is to be reelected.
SETH ABRAMSON, CO-FOUNDER, PROUD BOYS: We got a whole boatload of Proud Boys walking through here, folks.
SIDNER (voice-over): Tarrio was not there on January sixth. He was arrested in D.C. two days before for burning a Black Lives Matter flag stolen from a church and having empty weapons magazines that are illegal in D.C.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're walking with the Proud Boys to the state Capitol.
SIDNER (voice-over): But a group of Proud Boys was there. The far- right group is known across the country for brawling with members of Antifa --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: F**k Antifa.
SIDNER (voice-over): -- a left-wing antifascist movement. They are also known for throwing their support behind Donald Trump,
whose words to them in a September presidential debate exploded their popularity.
DONALD TRUMP, THEN-CANDIDATE FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.
TARRIO: I think we've doubled in numbers since the debate.
SIDNER (voice-over): Tarrio has close ties with one of Trump's longest-serving advisers and friends, Roger Stone. Stone was in D.C. on January sixth as people rallied against the election results that showed Trump lost.
Stone did not march to the Capitol and wasn't charged with a crime. Instead, Stone was seen with members of extremist groups like the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys, who have now become a central focus of law enforcement in the Capitol attack investigation.
Tarrio had such a close relationship with Roger Stone he revealed this.
SIDNER (on camera): You have access to Roger Stone's phone?
TARRIO: For a couple -- a couple of times when I went to go see him, you know, I'd help him with, like, his social media posts and things like that.
SIDNER (voice-over): Tarrio's access to that phone landed him in front of a federal grand jury, a detail not revealed until now. At the time, Stone was facing seven charges in the Russia probe, including lying to Congress and witness tampering. Trump pardoned him after he was convicted on all seven charges.
During his trial, Stone was accused of threatening the judge in the case with a social media post -- an image of the judge and what appeared to be a target behind her head.
TARRIO: Actually, I testified in front of the grand jury. But no, there was no -- that picture was brought up on a Google search, right? So you used to be able to search. Not now, obviously, because so much has happened.
[07:45:04]
SIDNER (on camera): Wait, wait, wait. Back up, back up. I just heard -- it just settled in, what you said. Did you just say you were on a grand jury panel?
TARRIO: Uh --
SIDNER (on camera): You did.
TARRIO: I did.
SIDNER (on camera): It's too late to take it back now.
TARRIO: Well, yeah, that's -- I mean, that's the story. It's not a secret. That's the story that came out that, you know -- that they wanted to see if -- who was it that posted it at that point.
The actual crosshairs isn't really a crosshairs. It's a logo of the organization that wrote the article. So it's just like a graphic.
And then that was posted. I have no idea who actually posted it, but I know that I had nothing to do with it.
CAPITOL INSURRECTIONISTS: USA! USA!
SIDNER (voice-over): Stone is one of the architects of the "Stop the Steal" rallying cry. But Tarrio does not buy into the lie that the election was stolen. He says he just wants more transparency.
SIDNER (on camera): Do you believe that the 2020 presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump?
TARRIO: No, I don't. I don't believe that the election was stolen.
SIDNER (voice-over): And yet, he encouraged his Proud Boys to show up on January sixth in record numbers.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's all the Proud Boys, guys.
SIDNER (voice-over): A group of them did show up. Here they are marching together towards the Capitol. At least eight Proud Boys Tarrio knows have been charged in the Capitol siege. This is one of them, using a police officer's shield to bust out a window in the Capitol, allowing people to flood in.
TARRIO: I condemn the actions. I don't think that he should have done that. I think it was completely wrong.
But the other seven individuals were trespassing. I think that they got caught up with the entire -- with, like, the entire crowd and they made a -- they made a poor decision to go in there.
SIDNER (on camera): Members of the Proud Boys didn't appear to just be getting caught up in this. Some of them were leading this attack.
You had -- people were moving barriers who were Proud Boys. You had someone threatening an officer, breaking the Capitol window. They weren't just following in this insurrection, it appears that some of them were leading the charge.
TARRIO: No. Those three accusations --
SIDNER (on camera): Yes.
TARRIO: -- I do want to touch on those.
The breaking of the window we've already hit. The threatening --
SIDNER (on camera): You think that's wrong?
TARRIO: Yes, definitely. Unequivocally, I think that's wrong.
But the threatening of police officers, I didn't -- I didn't see that.
SIDNER (on camera): The Feds have. They have video of William Chrestman yelling "You shoot and I'll take your f***ing ass out."
TARRIO: As of right now, I can't tell you about Chrestman.
SIDNER (on camera): Why?
TARRIO: -- because I can't locate who he's affiliated with. Like, if he's even a Proud Boy.
SIDNER (voice-over): Chrestman's defense attorney said he was just following Trump's orders that day. But, Tarrio says some of his Proud Boys who did breach the Capitol are unfairly being charged with conspiracy.
SIDNER (on camera): Did the Proud Boys have a plan to go --
TARRIO: Into the Capitol?
SIDNER (on camera): -- into the Capitol?
TARRIO: Absolutely not.
SIDNER (voice-over): Tarrio put some of the blame for what happened on January sixth on police for being unprepared to thwart the mob.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, s**t, we're tearing it down.
SIDNER (voice-over): And he claims some of the Proud Boys simply walked in to record history.
TARRIO: There's nobody that told them -- that stopped them from going in. You feel like it's something that's wrong that you shouldn't do.
SIDNER (on camera): But are you blaming the police for telling people not to break the law?
TARRIO: No, I'm not blaming the cops at all.
SIDNER (on camera): So what are you saying?
TARRIO: No, no. I can blame -- I can blame the police officers and the feds for their inability to respond to this. So was it a mistake to even go into the Capitol?
SIDNER (on camera): Was it?
TARRIO: Yes.
SIDNER (on camera): Do you condemn those people? Can you say that right now? TARRIO: OK, I can't say that because I think condemn is --
SIDNER (on camera): Why not?
TARRIO: -- a very strong word and I think it's a little bit too strong.
SIDNER (voice-over): He thinks the FBI is trying to make an example of the Proud Boys. But, Tarrio also has a history with the FBI after being sentenced to federal prison for fraud in 2012.
SIDNER (on camera): Were you ever an informant for the FBI?
TARRIO: I was -- to put it simply, I was put in a very tough situation where the federal government had wanted me to testify against my brothers.
SIDNER (voice-over): He said he refused. And instead, his defense attorney said Tarrio cooperated with the FBI and other law enforcement on many cases, one involving prescription drugs; another, a marijuana raid, an illegal gambling bust, and more. But, Tarrio would only admit to cooperating on one case.
TARRIO: The only thing that I actually gave them was the human trafficking ring. And again, I'm not going to apologize for it.
SIDNER (voice-over): What is next for the Proud Boys and the country? Tarrio has already made a plan.
TARRIO: I think right now is the time to go ahead and overthrow the government by becoming the new government and running for office.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CAMEROTA: Oh my gosh, Sara. Just stellar reporting, as always, that gives us such a window into this world that we wouldn't otherwise have.
[07:50:06]
So, just help us understand that logic. He hates the establishment, I assume, and hates the government but is going to run for office to be in it.
SIDNER: That's basically it. You've got it in a nutshell, Alisyn.
He is himself, considering a run, seriously. He did so, by the way, in 2020 but said that because he was dropped by, sort of, online companies that take in money for donations, partly because of some of the things that he's said, that he was unable to do large fundraising, for example. But he is seriously considering running for office.
And it just sort of goes to show you he has a very, very strong opinion about those who are already serving and wants to replace them. But you -- the wording that he uses is really -- it sounds violent, right? Overthrow the government by becoming the government. And once you become the government you also are really responsible for helping the country grow, not breaking it down.
So it would be very, very interesting to see where he goes from here and interesting to see his platform. But he believes that if he runs, as many politicians would, that he will win -- Alisyn.
CAMEROTA: Look, there's a QAnon follower who was elected to Congress, so anything's possible.
Sara, thank you very much. That was really interesting to see your conversation with him.
So, on Thursday, I sat down with a group of former QAnon believers and family members of others whose lives have been totally upended by falling into this conspiracy theory. So please tune in on Monday because you will hear a lot about what they have to say, including what they think is coming next.
And tonight, Anderson Cooper takes a closer look at the QAnon conspiracy. The CNN special report "THE CULT OF QANON" airs tonight at 11:00.
OK, so getting a vaccine appointment, as you know, can be a struggle, especially for seniors in rural areas. What one Ohio police officer decided to do about that. That's next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[07:56:33]
BERMAN: For a lot of Americans, it's been hard to get a vaccine appointment. It's a greater challenge for seniors. So a police officer in Ohio has made it his mission to help.
CNN's Jason Carroll tells us how he went beyond the call of duty.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For months, Jan Newell has been looking at family pictures and wondering when the day would come when she could safely see them again in person. It's been over a year.
Newell says her hopes grew once the state of Ohio opened up vaccine shots to those in her age group -- she's 74. But her excitement quickly turned to frustration after trying for days to get an appointment.
JAN NEWELL, RESIDENT OF MILLBURY, OHIO: As you get older, things frustrate you more. And when you're not familiar with computers and then when you call on the phone and, of course, you can't get ahold of anybody, you get to the point where it's like I give up -- I've had it.
CARROLL (voice-over): But then she got a call from this man.
OFFICER RON CRAIG, LAKE TOWNSHIP, OHIO, HELPED NEARLY 200 SENIORS GET VACCINATED: Hi, Jan.
NEWELL: Hey, Ron. How are you?
CRAIG: Since March of last year, a big part of my job has been reaching out to the seniors in the township to try to see what kind of needs they have.
CARROLL (voice-over): Ron Craig is a community policing officer in Lake Township, a rural area located just outside Toledo, Ohio. People living in rural areas like this already face added challenges getting access to coronavirus vaccines. For seniors, those challenges are multiplied -- a point Officer Craig realized while making calls checking in on seniors in his community.
CRAIG: A lot of the seniors in the township were having difficulties trying to arrange an appointment.
CARROLL (voice-over): He decided to help. First, he called those he knew who were having trouble and tried signing people up himself.
CRAIG: In that two-week period, I only got one person an appointment for their first shot.
CARROLL (on camera): Just one in two weeks.
CRAIG: Just one.
CARROLL (on camera): Two weeks.
CRAIG: One person.
I thought to myself well, we've got to switch gears here because this isn't working.
CARROLL (voice-over): He got an idea. Why not directly call a pharmacist he knew in town and see if that person could help. That quickly led to getting 30 seniors vaccine appointments -- then, 50.
CRAIG: But the list was growing daily, you know. We just -- you know, it was outpacing everything I was doing.
CARROLL (voice-over): But that didn't stop him. He called the Wood County Health Department and suggested setting up a pop-up vaccine site at a local church.
CRAIG: And we got about 100 people into that.
CARROLL (voice-over): So far, the county's health department credits Officer Craig in getting some 200 seniors vaccinated in his community.
BENJAMIN ROBISON, HEALTH COMMISSIONERS, WOOD COUNTY, OHIO: He's helped to identify people that might be under the radar and helped to bring them to our attention. So his work has helped us to ensure that we are reaching the people that we're intending to reach.
CARROLL (voice-over): That included helping people such as local resident Ken Gilsdorf.
KEN GILSDORF, GOT COVID-19 VACCINE THROUGH HELP OF LOCAL OFFICER: I would take a police officer like Ron Craig any day of the -- of the week. He's one of our best and he's one of the nicest guys I've ever met in my whole life.
CARROLL (voice-over): And, of course, there's Jan Newell, who on this day --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Three, two, one.
NEWELL: Easy -- it was easy.
CARROLL (voice-over): -- got her second vaccine shot and gave us a sign about how she felt.
NEWELL: Fantastic.
CARROLL (voice-over): Now feeling better about soon seeing her family again in person.
NEWELL: He was a tremendous help. I wouldn't have my shots right now if it wasn't for him.
CARROLL (voice-over): As for Officer Craig, he says much of this has been a group effort.
CRAIG: It's everybody just kind of working together.
