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CNN Live Event/Special

Today, Donald Trump Sworn in as 47th U.S. President; Biden Has Issued Preemptive Pardons for Gen. Milley, Dr. Fauci and Members and Staff of Jan. 6 Committee; Crowds Line Up Outside of Arena Ahead of Trump Parade. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired January 20, 2025 - 07:00   ET

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


[07:00:00]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: And welcome to Inauguration Day on this bitterly cold morning in the nation's capital. We are about to witness Donald J. Trump's return to the presidency, one of the most seismic transitions of power in modern American history. The president-elect just a few hours away from taking the oath of office at the U.S. Capitol. The ceremony moved from the west front of the building to the capital of Rotunda because of the frigid weather, the first indoor inaugural celebration in 40 years.

This is CNN's special live coverage of the inauguration of Donald Trump. I'm Anderson Cooper in our studio in Washington, D.C.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Jake Tapper overlooking the White House that will soon be the Trump White House once again. The president-elect on the verge of sealing his unprecedented political comeback, opening the door to radical and immediate change here in Washington, D.C. and across the country.

Right now, President-elect Donald Trump and his wife, soon to be first lady again, Melania Trump, are at the presidential guest quarters at Blair House, across the street from the White House, where they spent the night. They will depart from Blair House soon and take a quick drive around the corner to St. John's Episcopal Church, where they will attend a private service, an inauguration tradition.

Later, the Trumps will head to the White House, where President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden will welcome them for tea and coffee. The Biden's upholding a ritual that we would be remiss if we did not note the Trumps did not honor in 2021, when they skipped President Biden's inauguration.

Today, it is the cold that is derailing some traditions. Crowds will soon be heading into a D.C. arena for a live viewing of the swearing in ceremony and the inaugural address, followed by an indoor version of the inaugural parade instead of the usual outdoor events.

All of this focused on the return of a president with a uniquely influential, and in some ways polarizing history, a moment with huge consequences for the nation and the world. Our anchors and correspondents are fanned out across the city to cover it all, including at the White House and at the U.S. Capitol, where Donald Trump will take the oath of office and become the 47th president of the United States at noon.

Let's go first to the U.S. Capitol where we find CNN's Kaitlan Collins. And, Kaitlan, you have some new information about what President Trump will say in his inaugural address.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, Jake. That's when he heads over here to the Capitol. He doesn't have a very long commute this morning going across the street to the St. John's Church. It's really just a walk from the Blair House and then, of course, having that coffee with President Biden and the first lady, Jill Biden, in just a matter of time. And then, of course, he will come here to where I am on Capitol Hill, where for that inauguration for the first time in decades is going to be happening indoors.

That's why I'm inside here at Emancipation Hall. This is really kind of the overflow area where a lot of the dignitaries and guests that are in town for Trump's inauguration will be watching him deliver that address from the rotunda here at the Capitol. That's where he'll be sworn in by, of course, Chief Justice John Roberts, and then he will come here to Emancipation Hall where there's about 1,800 chairs behind me, Jake, they've kind of been crammed in here as really his aides have been scrambling and trying to figure out a place to put everyone this morning so they can get a good sight of Trump as he is sworn in and takes the oath of office, Jake.

And we're getting a little bit more of what we are going to hear from Trump this time around. Everyone remembers his speech from eight years ago when he talked about American carnage and that inaugural address his first time here in Washington in 2017. He's viewing things much differently this time around and I'm told that that will be reflected in his speech that is focused on restoring confidence in the United States.

We have a few excerpts of what the president will say after he is sworn in and no longer the president-elect, and part of that, Jake, is he'll say, quote, I returned to the presidency, confident and optimistic that we are at the start of a thrilling new era of national success. A tide of change is sweeping the country. And he says, today, I will sign a series of historic executive orders. And with these actions, we will begin the complete restoration of America and the revolution of common sense.

The final part of this, Jake, that we've gotten some insight is where you'll say my message to Americans today is that it is time for us to once again act with courage, vigor, and the vitality of history's greatest civilization, so kind of obviously a sweeping view there, Jake.

[07:05:06]

But him saying that he's going to sign those executive orders is key, because he's doing it in several different locations today. And part of that is because he's signing so many different executive orders today. He'll start here at the Capitol with the vice president-elect, J.D. Vance, in the room with him. He'll sign more at the Capitol One Arena where his supporters will be. And then, again, once he is back in the Oval Office and it's his again, we expect more executive orders there, Jake.

So, obviously a very busy day as the Trumps are about to get started here in Washington. A very different one than he came to eight years ago.

TAPPER: All right. Thanks so much, Kaitlan Collins on Capitol Hill. It looks cozy over there.

Now, let's go to CNN. This is Alayna Treene at Blair House, awaiting the Trump's departure. And, Alayna, what are you hearing from the Trump team about what the president elect is doing, and what he's thinking on this historic day?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: Right. Well, I spoke with one Trump advisor this morning, Jake, who told me that essentially he's really excited to finally get back to work. This is a moment that both he and his team have been really looking forward to for several weeks now, of course, since he won the election in November, but really over the past several years. And this idea of Donald Trump's big return to the White House, they're trying to dub it as his triumphant return to the White House.

And that's part of why from what Kaitlan was speaking about just all of these executive orders, when I talked to them about, you know, the breath of them, the sweeping nature of them, they said that, really, they want this to be like a shock to the system, trying to get into, you know, exactly really showing the country how serious he was about living into these promises on day one.

Now, as for his mood today, you know, just looking at some of the excerpts we have of his speech and what I'm being told about what he's going to be talking about, he does want it to be more unifying is what they have said, that he wants to try to talk about bringing the country together. Obviously, he wants this event today, the inauguration, to be on the world stage. That's why you've seen him invite so many global leaders, very different from what we heard eight years ago during that kind of American carnage-like speech. Jake?

TAPPER: All right. Alayna Treene, thanks so much.

Let's go a few yards away. Pamela Brown is at St. John's Church. And, Pamela, what are you hearing about the service that the Trumps will be attending and who else might be there?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, I spoke to a Trump adviser familiar with the plans this morning, Jake, and I'm told by the source that soon to be President Trump and soon to be First Lady Melania Trump and their entire family will be arriving here around 8:30 this morning along with some of the Trump's most senior advisers, Susie Wiles, the incoming chief of staff, Karoline Leavitt, the incoming press secretary, Stephen Miller, of course, a top adviser on immigration. So, they will be coming here this morning, and I'm told that soon to be President Trump will be sitting in the front pew of the church for this quick service this morning from 8:30 to 9:00. And this is apparently the first time that President Trump has elected to sit in the front pew 92 years when this tradition first started on inauguration day. I confirmed that with the Reverend Fisher here of St. John's church. And I'm told by a source familiar that this was what Donald Trump wanted. He wanted to sit in the front pew, not the presidential pew, which is in the middle of the church.

And I'm told that this will be a very simple service, very traditional. The reverend confirmed that he had been working with the Trump team on this. There will be no sermon, which is a break from what we saw eight years ago when Donald Trump came here. There will be some prayers and hymns.

And the reverend confirmed that this will actually be Donald Trump's first time back here since that very controversial photo op, as you'll recall, Jake, when then-President Trump came here with the Bible during the George Floyd Black Lives Matter protests. And before that, as you know, the protesters were cleared away with tear gas. It was very controversial and the reverend says, who was here, by the way, at that time, says this will be Donald Trump's first time returning here since then.

But, you know, we have been talking about in many ways today. Is it with the norm, with tradition, with the fact that his inauguration ceremony will be held in the Capitol Rotunda? But starting the day here at St. John's Episcopal Church to kick things off is very much in keeping with tradition over the last 92 years. Back to you.

TAPPER: All right. Pamela Brown, thank you so much. I really appreciate it.

And I'm here, of course. In our cozy little area, it's -- I'm joking, it's freezing -- with Dana Bash and Abby Phillip. And, Dana, it's definitely a different mood than the last couple inaugurations we covered, the last one with President Biden being sworn in right after the January 6th attack.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: We were six feet apart.

TAPPER: And right in the middle of COVID, of course. And then in 2017, the first Trump inaugural, very different vibes.

BASH: There was so much shock after the 2016 election when Donald Trump won, not just among Democrats, but Donald Trump himself, who really did not expect to win, neither did the people who were around him.

[07:10:09]

As we heard from Alayna and Kaitlan, and we just have to remember, as much as we're going to be focused, as we should, on what he's going to say in his speech, the tone he's going to set, all of the executive orders he will sign right off the bat, that this has been an eight- year project. And it is an eight-year era.

Sure, Joe Biden was successful in stopping -- putting a speed bump on the Donald Trump era. He thought he was going to be the bridge to change things and to end Donald Trump and Trumpism, and instead it was a four-year pause. And in those four years, Trump has been campaigning for president the entire time and preparing for this moment of not just day one, but governance and what he wants to do.

We don't have specifics on how he's going to execute all of that, but we certainly know what his goals are.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. I mean, there's some subtle differences now compared to eight years ago. I was actually looking back at a picture of me on a CNN set eight years ago on inauguration day. I mean --

TAPPER: Looking at the exact same, I'm sure.

PHILLIP: Not so much. I mean, we've all aged a little bit, including Trump, but there are some subtle changes. I mean, eight years ago, Trump was trying to shock the system. He was really trying to sort of demonstrate, and as vividly as he could, and including in his words and his speech, that he was going to change Washington, that he was not playing by anybody else's rules.

To me, the subtle difference in Trump, and also how he's conducting himself, is that he now is -- he's the establishment.

BASH: Yes.

PHILLIP: Okay. He is part of the club that he's always wanted to be a part of. There's a part of him that that all of these traditions are things that he has wanted. He kept them after he lost in 2020, he had people calling him President Trump in, created a mini White House for him himself at Mar-a-Lago. He wanted the trappings of the office back, and now he has them.

I also think with Trump, it is always about projecting strength, maybe more than anything else. The executive orders, honestly, what we're going to see based on our reporting are things that he promised. So, I don't think they should be entirely surprising, but he wants to project strength. And that's what his speech is going to be about this era of almost American dominance that he wants to usher back in. It's challenging though because he moved the inauguration indoors.

And I think that's going to change the sense of grandeur that the event itself can have. But I think we might be looking for other ways that they'll try to accomplish that throughout the day.

BASH: The other thing that I think we -- maybe it's easy to forget because it was a long time ago and a lot has happened in eight years, but the resistance, if you will, wasn't just coming from Democrats eight years ago, from a lot of Republicans who thought that he was totally taking over the party and did, and pushed back on a lot of what he was doing. It is the opposite.

PHILLIP: Totally gone.

TAPPER: And one of the other things that we should note is fairly standard. I'm not saying that it's good or bad, but fairly standard is the executive orders. That's a normal thing that we're used to, that there are a bunch of executive orders that the new president signs. Biden did it. Obama did it. Trump did it, et cetera, et cetera. And then there are the last-minute pardons. And for that, let's go to M.J. Lee who has some breaking news from the White House.

M.J., tell us what's going on, what President Biden is doing on his way out the door.

M.J. LEE, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Breaking news from the White House, a statement from President Joe Biden issuing preemptive pardons for a number of individuals that he said he is fearful will be persecuted, politically persecuted.

I just want to tick through for you the list of people that the president says he is pardoning preemptively today. They include General Mark Milley, Dr. Anthony Fauci. We also have members and staff of the committee that investigated the January 6th insurrection. He also said that that group would include the U.S. Capitol and D.C. Metropolitan Police officers who testified before this committee.

You know, Jake, this was a possibility that we had anticipated and that we reported was something that President Biden was considering. And in all of our reporting, we anticipated that if he were to take this action, it was very possible that it would happen at the very last minute. And here we are just hours before President Biden is set to leave the White House. The president is announcing this very controversial decision.

You know, and in this lengthy statement that he just released, he says, I believe in the rule of law and I am optimistic that the strength of our legal institutions will ultimately prevail over politics.

[07:15:04]

But he says, these are exceptional circumstances and I cannot in good conscience do nothing.

Now, when he is talking about exceptional circumstances, of course, he is referring to the incoming president, Donald Trump, who has made very clear in all of his public statements that he is focused on taking revenge on people, on individuals who he sees as having done him wrong. These specific people, and particularly if you think about, you know, the members who served on the January 6th committee, the staffers who served to work on that committee, these are people that the president obviously was worried would face a lot of legal troubles, knew that there was just a lot of hardships coming their way and this is why he is taking this action to make sure that he can save them from all of that, even though he makes clear he does not believe that they did anything wrong, Jake.

TAPPER: All right. M.J. Lee, thanks so much. Let's go to Jamie Gangel now for more on, on this. And, Jamie Gangel, a lot of the members of the January 6th committee said that they didn't want preemptive pardons. They hadn't committed any crimes. They didn't think it was necessary. But there is always just the question of even a prosecution that isn't going anywhere is still going to cost potential defendants up to millions and millions of dollars to just defend themselves.

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: I think I was just texting with some people who would be covered by this. And as you know, Jake, there was a lot of discussion back and forth about this, because members of the committee are covered by speech and debate, technically. Witnesses, Capitol Hill Police, D.C. Police, members of the committee, everybody I spoke to who was involved with the January 6th committee hearings felt very strongly they all said exactly the same words, we didn't do anything wrong, so we don't need a pardon.

But, and this is the but, it's the extraordinary circumstances. It's the fact that President Biden felt that there would be this political retribution, political revenge that did not have any bearing in the facts but that he was giving members, committee staffers, witnesses, sort of a blanket of protection to try to send a message more than anything else, these people should not -- nobody should go after these people. Jake?

TAPPER: All right. Jamie Gangel, thank you so much.

We're standing by for President elect Trump's departure from Blair House, right across the street from the White House, beginning the final leg of his journey back to the White House. We will also see how crowds of Trump supporters are lining up for the limited indoor seating to witness it all.

CNN's live coverage of the inauguration of Donald Trump is just getting started. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

COOPER: It is a very cold morning here in Washington, D.C., just hours before President-elect Trump takes the oath of office in a rare indoor ceremony at the U.S. Capitol. Just moments ago, we had some breaking news from the White House, President Biden issuing preemptive pardons for General Mark Milley, Dr. Anthony Fauci, a member of the January 6th house select committee.

I want to go to CNN's Boris Sanchez outside the arena hosting an official inauguration viewing event, as well as an indoor version of the inaugural parade. So, Boris, I know you've been talking with some of the people lining up to get in. What have you been hearing?

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, Jake, folks here are very excited and they are braving some cold temperatures. It's about 20 degrees right now. The high today only expected to be about 25. And to say that I'm outside the arena isn't exactly accurate. I'm actually a few blocks down because, I'll get out of the way so you can see this line is enormous, it stretches for several blocks across downtown D.C. You see over to the left of me as well there is an enormous security presence. There's a lot of people down here, a lot of moving parts.

As you can imagine, folks have come from all over the country, even internationally, to hear Donald Trump speak and to be inaugurated at this makeshift indoor inaugural parade. I've heard from folks from Florida, Kansas, California, Montana as well.

Let's go this way, Adrian (ph). And, again, the excitement in the air is palpable. This is yet another line. This is like a special access line to get in. I do want to actually catch up with two folks that I spoke with a moment ago, Trey and Willie. They are military veterans who came all the way from Arizona, from the West Coast, to be here. And they are super excited, the retired military, to hear from Donald Trump.

Let's actually come this way. Trey and Willie, thank you so much for being with me. We are live on the air on CNN. What brought you all the way from Arizona to 20 degree weather here in D.C. to watch Donald Trump get inaugurated?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, retired military, did 26 years, 24 years in the military. And so, man, listening to Donald Trump, we're like that's our guy. And plus, man, we love Jesus. So, we came out to support the president.

SANCHEZ: And, Willie, what does a day like this mean to you?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It means a lot because what it shows us is unity. A lot of the things that we've been seeing and been talking about, a lot of times you just need to get here and stop just listening to what everyone else is saying. In America, we are all better together than we are apart. So, it means a lot to me.

SANCHEZ: As a guy from Florida, real quick, I have to ask, how are you staying warm in here?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, I got some hand warmers, plus we're excited. So, man, it's good to be here.

SANCHEZ: Excellent. Thank you both so much. I appreciate it. Anderson, I'll send it back to you.

COOPER: All right, Boris. A lot of excitement out there in the crowd here with the team in the Washington Bureau. John King, I want to ask you about these pardons early this morning from President Biden.

JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, the president and his team obviously think it is necessary. I think the result of it will be, A, it'd be a really interesting limousine ride and tea at the White House between President Biden, who decided this was necessary because of what he thinks about Donald Trump. So, they're going to be sitting as close as we are, even closer, and this is to the very end, Biden versus Trump. Trump versus Biden. That has been the last four years of American life. It's been longer than that, actually, if you think about it.

And so the President thinks this is necessary because of everything Donald Trump said during the campaign about retribution, about getting back at the people he thinks have been disloyal to him. Is it necessary? I'll leave that to smarter people than me. But what it does, it will continue the polarization and the fights, and it will put a burr in Donald Trump's saddle.

[07:25:02]

We know that. We know that when things like this happen, he tends to react to them.

The bigger picture here is, you know, it's an old cliche that elections have consequences. I mean, he's going to sign his first order at the Capitol, President Trump is, when he's president again. And then it's going to go through this evening, and you're going to see just a night and day shift in American politics, both in how these two men, Biden and Trump, conduct themselves personally, and what they think about policy, whether it's taxes, whether it's immigration, whether it's regulation, whether it's using the government to look at your critics. This is night and day.

One other point, it has been 21 years since a majority of Americans thought the country was on the right track. That's Gallipoli. 21 years. And so Donald Trump inherits that. He has a mandate to do immigration. He won the election. He won all the swing states. He has a remarkable opportunity in his return to the White House. But when he takes his hand off that Bible, he inherits that, a country that has been in a funk for a very long time.

COOPER: David?

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, I certainly agree with that. And the word mandate shouldn't be overused because he did win 49.8 percent of the votes in the country. It was a relatively narrow election. It is a mandate in the sense that he won. He won fair and square. We all should acknowledge that, accept that, embrace that. He's the president of the United States. But he also made some promises. And you traveled the country and you heard what people wanted. They wanted him to bring prices down. They wanted him to take care of the border. They wanted him to fill all of these very grand promises that he made that would affect their lives. And so that's a lot of pressure.

But on this issue of the pardons, you know, this day is really interesting because you have all these customs that are going to be observed, these constitutional norms in a day of norm-busting, in an era of norm-busting. So, even as they ride to the capital. We now see these pardons after. Right after the swearing in, President Trump is going to sign some executive orders, many of which will be tested in court because they challenge the constitutional separation of powers. So, it's a day of customs and a day of customs-busting.

COOPER: Yes, and we're going to talk to Anita Brink McBride, who's next to me, former chief of staff for First Lady Laura Bush, in just a moment about customs of the day and that transition. It's fascinating, the details of it.

I do want to stick with the pardons, though. Tim Naftali, a historian, talk about the nature of these parties, just in sort of the scope of history.

TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN : Well, we're going to see pardons today from both sides of the story on January 6th, right? President Biden surprised us by preemptively pardoning those who tried to investigate the insurrection. And later in the day, it is anticipated and that President-elect Trump has told us he'll do this. We will see pardons for some of those who participated in the insurrection on January 6th.

This is unprecedented in the sense that two presidents have done this. What isn't unprecedented, however, is for people who participate in an insurrection to get a pardon. On Christmas Day in 1868, Andrew Johnson did just that. He pardoned the Confederate leaders. He pardoned anyone who had been indicted or tried for treason. So, we've done this in the past.

The difference, however, is that for all his flaws, and Andrew Johnson was a very flawed president, Andrew Johnson actually opposed the Confederacy. He supported the unity of the United States, which is why Andrew -- that's why Abraham Lincoln chose him as his running mate. But today, we're going to see likely a president pardoning people who participated in an insurrection that he supported. That will be a first.

COOPER: Alyssa, did these surprise you?

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: The pardons didn't surprise me, but I actually think Joe Biden might have done Donald Trump quite a favor with this. Listen, the American people elected Donald Trump to deal with the border, to deal with the cost of living, to deal with, you know, restoring American leadership abroad, not to be going after Tony Fauci and prosecuting four star generals.

And as much as some of his base may have liked that, most of the country would hate that sideshow. And this kind of allows him to focus on the things that he's good at, that he was elected to do, not get distracted with what would end up being something that I think kind of feeds to his worst instincts. That said, I think he's going to be mad about this. I think it is going to be an awkward car ride over, and I could see it changing some of the remarks that he gives later today. He's going to be speaking twice. I'm almost certain he'll end up addressing this in some form.

DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: And, look, what I thought is most amazing is going to step back to bore Sanchez's interview, in a day, you know, we press rewind to the Trump's last inauguration. And there's all the resistance and the pink pussy hats, right? And now that's like capitulation and black and brown men in MAGA hats, right? That is an amazing thing to see.

[07:30:00]

That's an amazing turn of events.

And let's not -- I don't want to minimize the coalition that Trump put together. I was looking at Van, and I know Van was thinking when that interview was happening, damn.