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CNN Live Event/Special

Trump Caps Political Comeback with Second Inauguration; Pardons for January 6 Rioters. Aired 4-4:30a ET

Aired January 20, 2025 - 04:00   ET

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


[04:00:00]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It is Monday, January 20th. Right now, on this inauguration day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT, 2024 PRESIDENTIAL ELECT: We won. What a good feeling. We like winning, don't we?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Just hours from now, Donald Trump completes his return to the White House when he will take the oath of office for a second time. Plus --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: By the time the sun sets tomorrow evening, the invasion of our borders will have come to a halt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Not wasting time, the president-elect previews an aggressive plan to tackle his top priorities on his first day back in power. And back online, TikTok restores its service with a hat tip to Donald Trump.

All right, it is 5 a.m. here on the East Coast. A live look at the White House. It's in there. We promise it's not been lit yet. It is the People's House soon. Once again. I'm sorry, it's 4 a.m. It's earlier than it normally is to be Donald Trump's house.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.

In just a few hours, Donald Trump will cap one of the most stunning comebacks in U.S. political history. He will sweep back into power and take the oath of office four years after leaving Washington under a cloud of disgrace.

Isolated politically after losing the 2020 election and just weeks after the Capitol riots, he was accused of fueling. Trump flew away from the White House and he skipped the inauguration of the man who defeated him, Joe Biden. I remember watching that helicopter fly above my head over top of the Capitol after I had watched Joe Biden be inaugurated.

And instead, he delivered one final address to his supporters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: So have a good life. We will see you soon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Have a good life. From there, Trump started rebuilding. That political comeback would eventually overcome two impeachments, four criminal indictments, a felony conviction in New York. And during the campaign itself, surviving two separate assassination attempts with a would-be assassin's bullet nearly killing him in Butler, Pennsylvania.

Now, four years later, he emerges from the low point of his political career stronger than ever, speaking to a crowd of his supporters in the nation's capital Sunday night for the first time here in the district since his now infamous address on January 6th, 2021.

TRUMP: We won. We won.

(CHEERING)

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: During his Sunday night rally, the once and future president -- by future, we mean here at noon today -- declared victory and he promised a flurry of changes.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I will act with historic speed and strength and fix every single crisis facing our country. We have to do it.

Everyone is calling it the I don't want to say this is too braggadocious, but we'll say it anyway.

The Trump effect.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: The Trump effect officially taking over Washington once again, now he's armed with Republican majorities in both houses of Congress. They're filled with loyalists and allies ready to try to carry out his agenda, a conservative leaning Supreme Court with three justices he appointed and what the president elect is calling a mandate from the voters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We not only want a mandate, but we built a new American majority that will lead our country to unparalleled success for generations to come. (END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right, we have a great panel to get this day started. If you are, in fact, awake at 4 a.m. Sabrina Rodriguez, national political reporter, The Washington Post. Margaret Talev, senior contributor to Axios. Meghan Hays, former Biden, White House director of message planning. And Matt Gorman, former senior adviser for Tim Scott's presidential campaign.

Welcome to all of you.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Good morning.

HUNT: Thank you guys for being here. Good morning. Good night. But we're here, right? We're drinking coffee instead of, you know, there's no bourbon in the tea, I promise.

Look, this is a serious and significant day. And Margaret Tala, you've covered a number of these administrations, a number of presidents. And I have to say, you know, I've been spending kind of the weekend before this reflecting on, you know, four years ago today, I was covering Joe Biden's inauguration. Trump did not attend, right.

[04:05:00]

He broke that longstanding tradition of the outgoing president standing there, the peaceful transfer of power, handing over to the person who is coming in. Trump's helicopter flew over top of the Capitol, right. I mean, if you were at the inauguration, kind of as it had started to wrap up, his Marine One was taking him out, flying over the heads of all of the people there and considering what the nation had just been through a few weeks prior on January 6th, it felt like a very remarkable moment. And it was impossible then to conceive of what we are about to see today.

I'm interested in, you know, your reflections. It's obviously going to look different than most of us remember. I think Ron Brownstein was on the air a little bit earlier saying he actually attended the inauguration in 1985 that was inside the Capitol, but I will admit that was the year that I was born. So this is the first time I'm going to see it.

MARGARET TALEV, DIRECTOR INSTITUTE FOR DEMOCRACY, JOURNALISM AND CITIZENSHIP AT SYRACUSE UNIVERSITY: Yes, somewhere between you and Ron in the spectrum of 1985. But certainly Donald Trump has viewed these last few months and last -- yesterday's rally and today's inauguration as sort of a vindication, a proof of concept for himself.

He does view it as a mandate and you'll hear him say that. But a mandate for what? You know, I think is the big question.

His election came amid, you know, a few years pile up of inflation, which had massively upset Americans across party lines. And many Americans are concerned about undocumented migration, our ability to control our borders. But it was really only a top issue for a minority of Americans. And so the question is, what does he do with that mandate? How far does he interpret that mandate? And will that be what people want?

He has all the levers in place to carry out a lot of these actions in the opening days. He's got Congress. He has a sort of relatively friendly Supreme Court.

But how far and how fast will he go? And will that be what people thought they were voting for?

HUNT: Matt Gorman, it does seem as though he has plans. His advisor, Stephen Miller, was up on the Hill over the weekend laying out for Congress what these initial plans are going to be. You obviously ran -- worked on a campaign against Donald Trump in the primary, the Republican primary.

You have a conception of whether this is a mandate. And, you know, we see it all the time in politics. Right. People come in with a mandate. Sometimes they overreach. And this applies. This is not a partisan thing. Both sides do it. What is your sort of understanding of where Trump is right now?

The plans that he has and whether the American people are going to continue to stick with him?

MATT GORMAN, FORMER TIM SCOTT PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN SENIOR ADVISER: Look, we can we can discuss whether it's a mandate. I could say yes. Megan could say no. And it doesn't change one thing.

I think what really what it is about is when you come into office, how do you use it? Right. Do you use the kind of propulsion that you get, especially in those first hundred days, whether it's an election or a re-election or whatever this unique scenario is with him going to power a second time to go after the issues that you were elected on, right?

One of the, I think, mistakes that I always point to was in 2005, Bush comes to power in a second term. And after running and winning on keeping America safe and homeland security and really going after John Kerry's war record, he suddenly kind of goes to Social Security. And it really came out of nowhere. And that was before Katrina, before a lot of the issues that plagued the second term.

The one thing that really kind of got his approved numbers down precipitously didn't stay down, but they started going down quickly. All of that to say is Trump is empowered and the polls go on this on immigration and the economy. I think he is rightly empowered on that and him going forward on those issues are winning issues for him.

And I think they'll continue, you know, rise approval rating extra astronomically, but keep them where they are.

MEGHAN HAYS, FORMER BIDEN WHITE HOUSE DIRECTOR OF MESSAGE PLANNING: Until he decides to pardon January 6 people. And then they start to plummet again because that's not what the American people want. And I don't think that the American people want those people who participate in January 6 to overthrow our government to be pardoned. And I think if he does that in the first week, it's going to be really detrimental for him.

And also, how far can he go on immigration? Right. Like is mass deportation really what the American people voted for or is it violent criminals?

So it's like we'll see how far -- I don't think people voted for mass deportation.

HUNT: But Sabrina Rodriguez, you covered Trump on the campaign trail. And over the years, you've also covered immigration. There is this line in his borders are Tom Homan has been out there saying that they're going to deport criminals. There seems to be wide support in the country for that.

But then this question that Meghan raises of the, you know, tens of thousands of mixed status families who live together here in the United States and who now are not sure what this will mean for them.

What is the -- what are we expecting from the Trump administration in the initial days here? And what are you hearing from voters and in your reporting?

SABRINA RODRIGUEZ, NATIONAL POLITICAL REPORTER, THE WASHINGTON POST: The plan right now is to move swiftly on mass deportation. I mean, that is what Trump, any campaign rally and even hearing him yesterday. I mean, he talks about immigration so much.

[04:10:00]

That is a huge focus for the base that he, you know, loves to focus on and loves to amp up. I mean, this is a top issue. But I think there are still so many questions around how this is going to be executed.

You know, one day we're talking about, oh, are they going to quickly do raids in Chicago or where is it they're going to start? How exactly are they're going to execute this? And I think that is really going to be the question when the American people see, you know, how much money this costs or when the optics of it.

Is this going to be something where the day one we're going to see, you know, the image of the border and the image of them trying to control the border? Are we going to see images of raids in workplaces or at schools or houses? And I think like what the American people see from this is going to shape some of, you know, their perception of this in the months to come.

TALEV: We just polled this question with our partners in Ipsos, and there is wide support for, quote, unquote, mass deportations. When you just ask people, do you want to move large numbers of American people who are in the United States without legal predicate to be here? People say yes. Half of Democrats or almost half of Democrats say yes.

But when you start to drill down on how to do it, do you want to separate children and families in the interest of moving fast? Do you want to use the U.S. military? Do you want to use U.S. military funding that was targeted originally for military use? That support drops like by half or more and becomes essentially core base Republican support.

HUNT: Interesting. All right. We've got a lot more to talk about today.

Straight ahead, celebrations in Tel Aviv. Three Israeli hostages united with their families as the Gaza ceasefire begins to take effect.

Plus, Donald Trump drafts his day one pardons for people convicted during the January 6th Capitol attack.

And the president elects immediate plans to reshape government policy around his sweeping campaign promises.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Somebody said yesterday, sir, don't sign so many in one day. Let's do it over a period of weeks. I said, like hell we're going to do it over weeks. We're going to sign them at the beginning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[04:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

HUNT: All right, welcome back. As Donald Trump prepares to retake the presidential oath of office in the coming hours, Washington bracing itself for a flurry of executive actions that Trump has vowed to implement on day one. That is going to be later today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We're inheriting a nation faced with crisis at home and abroad. It's been a nasty four years.

My administration will take immediate and decisive action to confront every single problem America faces and put our nation back on the path to success and greatness. Within hours of taking office, I will sign dozens of executive orders close to 100, to be exact.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Trump's incoming deputy chief of staff for policy, Stephen Miller, shared a preview of all of this in a call with senior congressional Republicans yesterday. His plans include action on some of Trump's biggest campaign promises, including changes to immigration and energy policy, as well as what they're calling government operations.

CNN's Stephen Collinson points out that beyond day one, Trump has a number of other daunting challenges ahead. There's the war in Ukraine. They're slashing grocery prices. Collinson writes this, quote: Even accomplishing a few of these goals

would mark Trump's second term as a miraculous success by modern standards. But he has to do all this as a lame duck hampered by a minuscule GOP majority in the House of Representatives and the constant threat of a Democratic rebound in the 2026 midterm elections.

Meghan Hays, clearly the quote unquote, Democratic rebound. It's very likely Democrats have a shot to retake the House in 2026 that is going to be looming over things.

But I also think it's worth, you know, reflecting on the fact that this is Joe Biden's swan song. He'll be leaving Washington today. And it's really not clear who the leaders of the party are going to be.

And Maureen Dowd over the weekend, she wrote this column under the headline Trump's Trump brings a chill to Washington -- obviously, a reference to the weather. But she also writes this: The mood in Washington very different this time around instead of a rowdy resistance and a woman's march that drew nearly five hundred thousand here, five million across the globe, an international swath of pink hats. We have Republicans who've gotten more sheeplike and Democrats who still seem deflated and flummoxed with no compelling ideas or polls to lead them out of the wilderness.

HAYS: Yes, that seems about right.

HUNT: Some candor here in the 4 a.m. hour on CNN.

HAYS: I think that the Democratic Party is really struggling for who is going to be the leader, and I'm not sure that we've met the person who's going to run for president yet. I don't think that we know exactly who that's going to be. You have some Midwestern governors, but I do think that we are lacking sort of that North Star that we've had for so long.

And, you know, it's reminiscent to the Bush years. And then Obama came to lead the party. And I just, you know, we don't have the Clintons. We don't have a Biden's. We don't have the Obamas that are going to take. So I think, you know, the Democrats are looking for a voice.

Are we going to move more to the middle? Are we going to continue to move further left? I think that we're really trying to figure that out. And I'll be interesting to see how the next hundred days play out and how the House reacts to some of the Trump policy. So, it's --

HUNT: Yes, the mood really is noticeably different, partly for this reason, partly because people are approaching Trump a little bit differently this time. Of all people, Dave Chappelle was rather reflective about this. Let's take a look at what he had to say in his monologue recently.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DAVE CHAPPELLE, COMEDIAN: Donald Trump, I know you watch the show. Man, remember, whether people voted for you or not, they're all counting on you. Whether they like you or not, they're all counting on you.

The whole world is counting on you. I mean, this when I say this, good luck, please do better next time. Please, all of us do better next time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Matt Gorman, kind of a remarkable moment from SNL this weekend.

GORMAN: It was and they were making fun of MSNBC too. The conservatives were firing that around the group chats. But I will say, you talk about difference between four years ago.

[04:20:00]

For me, being in this town it's such a difference from eight years ago. I mean, in 2017, you're absolutely right. You had the resistance marches, people pouring into the streets a day after Inauguration Day.

And in many ways, there was anger. You almost felt, you know, it was very almost a subtle inauguration.

Here I think conservatives are very much ambulant. It's far more of a party atmosphere for our party than it was eight years ago. That was also a really struck me, too.

HUNT: Yes, we're grateful that after you spent the weekend partying.

(CROSSTALK)

GORMAN: Cheers.

HUNT: Margaret.

TALEV: You know, there's always like two sides to a coin. And I think Stephen gets to some of that in his analysis that you were mentioning, which is that on the one hand, President-elect Trump will take office for the second time really empowered. I mean, it's to have come back after everything that he did and every way that the institutions responded and every way then that the voters responded is a major political feat. And he does come in with strength behind him.

And at the same time, the minute you arrive in your second term, you are a lame duck. It's usually back to back terms. But either way, it's still two terms. That's the rule in this country. And so he'll take office as a lame duck. He'll take office again with -- when you control both chambers, you have nowhere to go but down.

And the public backlash against the way people perceive the economy or the U.S. place in the world or all of these aspects of the Biden administration. All of that now becomes Donald Trump's burden and record and an agenda to carry. And so he may still be on an upward trajectory or this may be the most popular day of his second term.

And he knows all of that. And that's part of, I think, why he not only wants to, but needs to move quickly, because the clock will start in whatever, eight hours.

HUNT: The reality is that honeymoon lasts a lot, a lot less time than a lot of people feel like it will.

All right. Coming up next, Donald Trump's pledge to pardon January 6th defendants, what some of his top allies are saying about just how far the pardons may go.

Plus how narrow GOP margins in Congress are going to create roadblocks for Trump's -- Trump's top priorities in his second term.

[04:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: We will never give up. We will never concede. It doesn't happen. You don't concede when there's death involved.

Everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically --

And we fight. We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: In just a matter of hours, President Trump expected to take executive action to pardon an unknown number of January 6 convicts. More than 1,200 people have been convicted. The mass majority of those defendants pleaded guilty to crimes committed on this day.

Trump's allies are refusing to rule out the possibility of violent offenders being freed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JIM JORDAN (R-OH): People who didn't engage in violence should be pardoned. I think that's where the American people are. I think that's where the president is.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What about those who did engage in violence?

JORDON: I think that's, you go case by case. And if they've done some violent activity against some police officer, maybe not. Maybe they shouldn't be. And I think J.D. pointed that out. But I think the way pardons work, it's a power solely with the president, case by case, person by person. And the president has complete authority to pardon who he wants to pardon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: About 700 people have been charged with serious felony offenses, like assaulting police or using a weapon. At his rally last night, Trump refused to rule out pardons for them. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Tomorrow, everybody in this very large arena will be very happy with my decision on the J6 hostages. Very happy. I think you'll be very, very happy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Matt Gorman, if you told me that our incoming Republican president was leaving open the possibility of pardoning people who had assaulted police officers, I would have told you, you were absolutely crazy. But this is where we are. Do you think Trump is going to pardon people who pled guilty to or were convicted of assaulting police?

GORMAN: Well, to be fair, J.D. Vance did say on Fox News Sunday he does not anticipate those violent folks getting pardoned. I think that was a noticeable shift I did hear.

Now, number two, look, I think, honestly, that they should leave 2021 in 2021. I think I've been saying this consistently for both parties throughout the entire campaign and continuing on now. I think people, if you're talking about 2020 or 2021, you are not winning this debate or just getting the ball forward on this.

I also think, from a political point of view, what Biden did with Hunter made this so much easier for Republicans to defend. With how he abused the pardon process for his son last month, it made it so much easier for Republicans to then talk about this in a way that didn't have to be solely defensive. And in many ways, that was a gift.

So expect, as we hear about this over the next 48 to 72 hours -- if this thing comes down -- you're going to be hearing a lot about that.

HUNT: Yes, Sabrina Rodriguez, this is something that Trump talked about repeatedly on the campaign trail. You know, there's a moment that we have played often in this time slot of Trump standing and the loudspeaker plays, let's rise for the unfairly treated January 6th hostages. There's a version of the Star Spangled Banner that Mark Zuckerberg stood up for that was recently played again at Mar-a-Lago.

This is something you would have heard over and over again on the campaign trail. Clearly his base of support is on board with this, but how far does that go?

RODRIGUEZ: The vast majority of Americans do not care about this. And like Matt said, they feel strongly that we need to leave the past in the past. You know, if you talk to the average voter in the months and weeks leading up to the election, again, like Margaret said earlier, it was them talking about inflation, them talking about the economy, them talking about immigration.

If you brought up January 6th, it was, that happened so long ago, can we just let that go? Even if you feel strongly about it, would say that's not the priority issue, that's not necessarily what I'm voting on. You know, the bigger picture about the democracy, sure, people have thoughts about it, but that was not what ultimately drove a lot of people to vote for Donald Trump.

[04:30:00]

But I think where the slippery slope for him is if a week from now what we are talking about is the part is that he did on January 6 and we're not talking about the executive orders or the first moves he's made on the economy and that he's made on immigration, that is a problem for Donald Trump and I think that will be a problem that that he will have to face with the public in those first days.