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The End of the Trump Presidency; Confirmation Hearings Start in U.S. Senate; Trump to Issue Dozens of Pardons; Social Media is Still Fueling Extremism; Burial Services Overwhelmed by South Africa's Second Wave; Biden's Favorability Rises ahead of Inauguration; Trump Snubs Biden. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired January 19, 2021 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:00]
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BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): Tonight, out with the old, in with the new. America just 26 hours away from a Joe Biden presidency.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SARA SIDNER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Is that an option in your mind, a civil war?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will not fire the first shot but if it comes to that, I will fight.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON (voice-over): The effects of Donald Trump's divisive term in office will live on. America right now preparing for what could be a
violent transfer of power. We are live in Washington.
And --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a time that we never thought we'd experience in our life and it's here. It's a reality.
ANDERSON (voice-over): The race to understand South Africa's new COVID variant is on. CNN has exclusive reporting on how and when it was first
discovered.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
It is 10:00 am in D.C., 7:00 in the evening in Abu Dhabi. I'm Becky Anderson. Welcome to CONNECT THE WORLD.
What a difference a day makes. Yes, in just over a day, Joe Biden will be sworn in as America's 46th president and the Donald Trump era will end. One
of his last acts being a host of presidential pardons that could happen at any moment.
Well, over the next two hours, we'll look ahead at the massive challenges facing Joe Biden as he assumes office in the midst of a raging pandemic and
a spiraling U.S. economy.
But right now, I want to take a quick look back at how we got to this Inauguration Eve. Starting on November the 7th, 2020, four days after the
U.S. election, what seems like years ago right now.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
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WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST (voice-over): CNN projects Joseph R. Biden Jr. is elected the 46th President of the United States, winning the White House
and denying President Trump a second term.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: The victory announcement so quickly giving way to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: It's going to be a very hard thing to concede because we know there was massive fraud.
You can't ever accept when they steal and rig and rob.
This was a fraudulent election.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: And this --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Because you'll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength. And you have to be strong.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Tons of lies, denials, more lies and inflamed rhetoric from the president, his supporters, Republican sycophants in Congress and the right
wing media.
This happened just 13 days ago, the day Congress certified Biden's victory. This deadly assault on the U.S. Capitol, rioters calling for the death of
the vice president of the U.S. and others.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RIOTERS: Hang Mike Pence. Hang Mike Pence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We came this far.
What do you say?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Drag them out.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We've got a job to do.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: And that has led to this, Washington, D.C., in lockdown. More than 25,000 troops patrolling the city, charged with keeping the incoming
President and Vice President, lawmakers and everyone else safe through Inauguration Day.
Those troops themselves facing vetting, amid concerns of a possible inside job to stage an Inauguration Day attack.
Well, Donald Trump will not be part of the inauguration nor any of the usual ceremonies surrounding it, breaking longstanding tradition that sees
one American president pass the proverbial torch to the next.
He'll leave Washington tomorrow morning with his wife, Melania, and head to his home in Florida four years after saying he was elected to end, in his
words, "American carnage."
Well, four years on, he leaves office with an American carnage no one could have envisioned. Some 400,000 people in the U.S. killed by a modern-day
plague, millions more sickened.
And he leaves behind the embers of an attack on American democracy that he incited and will face trial in the U.S. Senate after becoming the first
president in history to be impeached twice.
[10:05:00]
ANDERSON: Well, the crowds that normally cover the National Mall for the inauguration event will be replaced by American flags. Trump supporters --
and there are tens of millions of them in the U.S. -- likely will feel emotions ranging from denial to sorrow to rage come noon tomorrow.
Let's take a closer look now at the extraordinary security in America's capital. As I said, 25,000 National Guard troops on the ground. That is the
maximum number approved by the Pentagon. And more than 2,700 active duty troops have also been deployed for the inauguration. CNN's Brian Todd
reporting for us from Washington, D.C.
Brian, just set the scene, if you will.
BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Becky, this city is becoming more and more of a fortress, seemingly by the hour, the security being stepped up just
dramatically. Almost every hour, as we head into Inauguration Day tomorrow, the latest measure, this morning, you're seeing it behind me.
This is the 14th Street Bridge from Virginia into Washington. This lane coming in here. They have shut down all the traffic on this bridge coming
from Virginia into Washington, D.C. There's traffic being allowed from D.C. into Virginia but you cannot come this way from Virginia, where those
buildings are over there, this way, or on that bridge over there, which is another commuter bridge considered the 14th Street Bridge.
They're blocking that. The only people allowed to get by are people with identification proving they live in this area or security vehicles. They
are letting vehicles go from D.C. to Virginia over here.
But it's really extraordinary to see this bridge completely shut down because it is one of the most heavily trafficked bridges in the entire
region, in the entire mid-Atlantic region. There are four bridges in Washington shut down.
These two here, plus the Memorial Bridge just to the west and the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge to the west. Between those four bridges, about 800,000
cars a day pass over them. That gives you an idea of the extraordinary nature of the security here.
It's almost unprecedented for them to shut down that many bridges to Washington, D.C. Here's another illustration of the security here.
You see the Jefferson Memorial there, the Washington Monument in the background. The National Mall is also shut down. People are not being
allowed even to walk in that area.
So they're sending an extraordinary message to the people in and around this region. don't come into Washington for the inauguration. Don't even
try it.
And we mentioned -- I think you mentioned the National Guard presence, 25,000 National Guards troops deployed in addition to thousands upon
thousands of law enforcement officers from many jurisdictions.
They have fenced off the Capitol with razor wire. They have fenced off many, many areas and streets in Washington to vehicular and foot traffic.
The Guards troops are another story.
We're told by officials that National Guards troops are going through more and more layers of vetting because they're concerned about possible insider
threats from people in the National Guard.
Military officials have told CNN they don't have any intelligence that there's a specific insider threat within the National Guard. But you did
have a "Washington Post" report this morning, saying that FBI officials have relayed to the military that people who follow the QAnon conspiracy
theory have discussed posing as National Guards men to try to maybe breach security.
They've discussed it but, again, no specific threat there. So that gives you a sense of the jitters around Washington, D.C., this morning as we head
into Inauguration Day -- Becky.
ANDERSON: Absolutely. Brian Todd with that sense of the security story on the ground in D.C., Brian, thank you.
Meantime, the Senate is today back in session, ahead of a change in party control. Democrats will become the majority as soon as the two senators
from Georgia are sworn in, which could happen in the coming hours.
Meantime, confirmation hearings are starting for five Biden cabinet nominees. We should point out, incoming presidents usually have several key
positions filled by Inauguration Day and Senate leaders also may announce how they plan to juggle the business of the new administration and, indeed,
the Trump impeachment trial.
So let's get you to Manu Raju, who has had a ringside seat from the very start of what has been this roller coaster presidency and indeed the
transition.
Manu, connecting us to Capitol Hill this morning, arguably, one of Joe Biden's most important nominees, Janet Yellen as Treasury Secretary, is on
the Hill as we speak.
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ANDERSON: There is nothing more important than getting this pandemic under control in the U.S. and the economy up and running again.
What can we expect Janet Yellen to say as she speaks in front of senators this morning?
MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: She's going to make the case for something big, robust on the economy, a new stimulus package. We
saw Joe Biden, the President-Elect put out a $1.9 trillion economic relief proposal he announced just a few days ago.
That's going to be a top priority for the Biden administration and for Democratic leaders in Congress in the aftermath of approving $900 billion,
the Congress did late last year. There are calls already for much, much more, including a new round of relief checks for individuals, providing
money for jobless benefits that are set to expire just in a matter of weeks and help for small businesses and the like as well as money for state and
local governments, which was largely left out of the last package.
But Democrats have been demanding. Expect Janet Yellen to make the case pretty aggressively for such a robust package. And expect Republicans to
ask her some pointed questions about those proposals.
But I can tell you, in talking to Republican senators, she is one of the nominees that was expected to get bipartisan support in the Senate Finance
Committee and will get support on the Senate floor if and when that vote is scheduled this week, potentially to get pushed into next week.
But that's one of several key nominations the Biden team is pushing forward, hoping to get someone confirmed quickly. The question is how
quickly? That still needs to get worked out between the two leaders of the Senate.
ANDERSON: Very briefly, Janet Yellen looking to the new Biden era, as we close out this Trump era.
What do we know about impeachment 2.0 at this point?
RAJU: We don't have a good sense of the timing yet because Nancy Pelosi, the House Speaker, has to formally transmit the article from the House to
the Senate to begin the trial. She has not said when she'll do just that. There's some expectation it would happen by the end of this week to
kickstart the trial.
That's problematic potentially for the Biden administration as they try to schedule votes in the Senate, get cabinet nominees confirmed and maybe get
legislation on the floor.
If there's a trial dominating the action in the Senate, it could distract from those key issues. So the Democrats and the Republicans are trying to
sort that out but questions still when that trial will actually begin here.
ANDERSON: Manu Raju is on the Hill for us. Manu, thank you.
Right, this is the day when we could see the outgoing president's pardon wave because, even after the Capitol siege and this upcoming second
impeachment -- well, second impeachment trial -- Donald Trump knows he's still got the power of clemency.
The big question is, how will he wield it?
Sources tell CNN a major batch of pardons and commutations covering white collar criminals, high-profile rappers and others is expected to be
released in the coming hour.
Mr. Trump still in Washington at this hour. And so is our White House correspondent, Jeremy Diamond, connecting us to everything that is going on
in the building behind him.
These pardons, we do know that, you know, Donald Trump's schedule basically says he'll be making many calls and having many meetings. His schedule has
looked like that for days and we haven't seen him outside of the White House.
What do we know about this long list of pardons at this point and who is likely to get commuted?
JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, well, President Trump has been out of sight for the last week now. And he has been quiet, of
course, because he's been silenced on social media. But that doesn't mean he's going to be ending his presidency on a quiet note.
Instead, the president today is expected to issue more than 100 pardons and commutations. And what you're going to see is a mix of more controversial
pardons, some to white collar criminals; a pair of prominent rappers. Lil Wayne and Kodak Black are expected to receive pardons.
And also some potentially to political allies. As we've seen over the last several weeks, President Trump is more willing than other presidents to
dole out controversial pardons and political favors to Republicans who have supported him during his four years in office.
What we are also going to see is likely a batch of more criminal justice reform-minded pardons. I'm told several people who were given life
sentences for minor drug offenses are likely to receive pardons. That's more in the vein of what we saw President Trump do with Alice Marie
Johnson, who was serving a life sentence and has since been advocating for some of these people to receive pardons.
Certainly the president will be doing some action as he leaves office. And then tomorrow, though, he will be leaving Washington just hours before Joe
Biden is set to be inaugurated, becoming the first president in 152 years of American history not to attend his successor's inauguration.
[10:15:00]
DIAMOND: It will be anything but the dignified and peaceful transfer of power that has defined American democracy for so many years.
ANDERSON: That's the story from the White House. Thank you.
It's not just Washington clamping down for Inauguration Day; state capitals are on high alert across America. Experts who track extremism fear the
attack on the Capitol was just the beginning of a surge of violence. They are raising concern about increasing chatter on fringe social media by far
right figures and those who believe the election was stolen.
CNN's Sara Sidner has been following the threads of extremism online and on the street. She joins us from Lansing in Michigan -- Sara?
SIDNER: Yes, so far, so good, if you will. There were no extremist incidents, no violence across the United States. And part of that may have
been because there was a huge presence of law enforcement, including the National Guard.
But every single expert that tracks extremism in this country, that's been tracking it for decades, has told us that what you saw January 6th in the
Capitol, that is just the beginning of what could be a very rocky road for the United States.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SIDNER (voice-over): The conspiracy-fueled deadly Capitol attack on January 6th may be just the beginning of an explosion of far-right
violence.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The plots of tomorrow, the activities of tomorrow, the efforts for them to maintain this movement and create threats in the future
are literally being planned today.
SIDNER (voice-over): Far right radicalization has been building in America for years. Evidence of it all over the largest social media platforms on
Earth. And even after megasites like Facebook said they were cracking down, the Tech Transparency Project, a nonprofit watchdog group, found it still
is easy to find extremist content calling for violence on the site.
Three days after the attack, this post.
"We need to organize our militia. Wars are won with guns. And when they silence your commander in chief, you are in a war."
Another posted January 14th, "Patriots, January 20th, 2021, is your Tiananmen Square moment."
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Social media to extremism is like oxygen for fire. It's required. It has shown itself to be one of the organizing factors for
extremists.
SIDNER (voice-over): Facebook removed the posts from the site and the public group calling itself the Patriot Party. But the poison has already
set in.
In Michigan, after an armed rally at the capital against the governor last year, federal and state authorities thwarted an alleged violent plot to
kidnap the governor. A few of the same men, who say they stood by some of those alleged plotters, returned yesterday.
And as with the Capitol Hill terrorists, these guys are out in the open, sharing their extreme views.
SIDNER: And tell me about your patch.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Patch?
This one is a Boogaloo.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We do not want a civil war or anything. We want to exercise every possible way before that comes an option.
SIDNER: Is that an option in your mind, a civil war?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I will not fire the first shot. But if it comes to that, I will fight.
SIDNER (voice-over): The Boogaloo bois are a burgeoning anti-government group which started online. Some of its members are pushing for civil war.
At least one Michigan Boogaloo boi was arrested this fall in the plot to kidnap the governor, a plan for violence that law enforcement thankfully
prevented and yet those who support the plan are all right out in the open.
SIDNER: Would you have supported them if they had kidnapped the governor?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I would have supported a citizen's arrest on a felony because that is what the law states. If a felony is committed, a citizen
can arrest another citizen.
SIDNER (voice-over): The governor has not committed a crime but, instead, was a potential victim of a violent crime. And yet the lie persists among
extremists, threatening Michigan legislators' safety.
They brought their weapons. They do have the right to open carry but some see their firearms as clear threats.
This guy said he does not support violence and would only use his AR-15 to save an innocent life.
SIDNER: That's a weapon you hear a lot of times that are used a lot in attacks that are not to save innocent people.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.
SIDNER: Why carry it?
I mean, have you been in the armed forces?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was in the National Guard, yes. This right here is not dangerous unless the person behind it is dangerous. I would say that
this ain't any different than the muskets the Minutemen carried back in the Revolution.
SIDNER (voice-over): While he stood outside the Capitol, current National Guards troops stood nearby at the ready to protect Michigan's seat of
government, much like Guards are doing across the country in case the next wave of violence erupts.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
SIDNER: You hear him talking about the Minutemen and muskets versus his AR-15. We should mention, you know, he's not a Minuteman. We're not in war
but he did talk about revolution. And that's the way he thinks of things.
[10:20:00]
SIDNER: And that's the way a lot of these groups think of things. But a lot of the stuff they're basing their anger is literally conspiracy
theories that they're reading online. The online social media companies have a lot of responsibility in helping gin up this kind of violence --
Becky.
ANDERSON: A story we'll follow. Sara Sidner reporting. Thank you.
Some of President Trump's closest allies are also responsible for stoking the flames of insurrection at the Capitol. That's according to a CNN
analysis. Drew Griffin talked with an international expert on hate groups, who says Mr. Trump has been influenced by those around him.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HEIDI BERICH, GLOBAL PROJECT AGAINST HATE AND EXTREMISM: He's listening to them and he is then broadcasting these ideas out to his millions of
followers. What we end up doing is having a dangerous feedback loop, growing a radicalized population in the United States that, some of whom,
are prone to violence.
DREW GRIFFIN, CNN SR. INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Those behind it now say they were all speaking metaphorically for all these four years.
Do you buy that?
BERICH: I absolutely don't believe that they were speaking metaphorically. This is a social movement that has been building, has been organizing since
Trump came into office, that we're getting more and more extremists, more and more people angry and it just exploded on the 6th.
GRIFFIN (voice-over): It was building for months in social media, podcasts and dozens of Stop the Steal protests across the country.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: We'll have that full report just ahead on this show.
You're watching CONNECT THE WORLD. Remember, our special inauguration coverage kicks off on CNN in just a few hours from now. We'll have all the
action for you right here, as we move through the next 24-30 hours or so.
America's growing problem with extremism, deep divisions in the country, will be on Joe Biden's shoulders starting tomorrow. We'll talk about that
just ahead and all that faces Mr. Biden with CNN's very own Van Jones. That's coming up.
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ANDERSON (voice-over): And we'll also have a lot more on America's big day, including details on the President-Elect's much-anticipated inaugural
address.
Plus --
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was very concerned. But for us, this is our job, right?
We're here only for one thing and that's to do the research.
ANDERSON (voice-over): Scientists in South Africa race to understand a new variant of COVID-19. Why they are concerned that may impact how well
vaccines work.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON (voice-over): And a dire situation in the United Kingdom as the country reports the highest COVID-19 death rate in the world. We'll have
that in the next hour. Do stay with us.
You are watching CONNECT THE WORLD out of our Middle East broadcasting hub here in Abu Dhabi, where the time is just after 20 past 7:00.
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ANDERSON: The virus that causes COVID-19 has been mutating ever since the pandemic began and new variants are appearing in several places around the
world. Right now there's a race to understand a highly contagious version first discovered by a lab in Durban in South Africa about two months ago.
It's now been found in at least 13 other countries.
This virus has several mutations that scientists fear may lower the efficacy of vaccines. South Africa's researchers should release study
results in the coming hours. CNN's David McKenzie is in Johannesburg with some exclusive reporting on this.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID MCKENZIE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. This variant is really stripping (sic) through South Africa and causing a very dramatic second
wave. And scientists are running against the clock to try and understand what this all means. And it could have global implications.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): A new year, a new level of sadness. A new level of fatigue.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a time we never thought we'd experience in our life. And it's here. It's a reality.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): A second wave of COVID-19 is devastating South Africa. Saleem Kazi's organization was once averaging two COVID-19 funerals
per day. Now it's 12, sometimes 14.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People have to take lessons from this. It's -- I don't know. God is testing everybody.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): A country that defied the odds in fighting against COVID-19 most of last year finds itself being tested like never before by
what was discovered in this very lab, a troubling new variant of the virus that is much more contagious than the original strain.
For Tulio de Oliveira, the first clue were the panicked calls from the doctors whose hospitals were overrun. Using samples from newly infected
COVID patients across South Africa, it was his team's sequencing that revealed the variant's exact mutations.
ALEX SIGAL, AFRICAN HEALTH RESEARCH INSTITUTE: So we can actually see what's going on. These cells actually are quite happy and they grow in the
body (ph).
MCKENZIE (voice-over): COVID-19 targets those cells.
SIGAL: The same thing as if you would actually mug someone, I think.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): The South African variant has three mutations at key sites the virus uses to bind to human receptors, meaning it targets
those cells more efficiently.
SIGAL: So it has to close distance. It has to get in. And it has to get out before the cell dies because the virus has no life of its own.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): Thanks to de Oliveira sounding the alarm, British scientists discovered a separate variant sharing one of the same key
mutations.
TULIO DE OLIVEIRA, NELSON MANDELA SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: What's not normal is when one variant dominated across a very large geographic region and that's
associated with the first increase of cases. That's exactly what we saw in South Africa and the U.K.
MCKENZIE: This is a level three biosafety lab because (INAUDIBLE) is growing live versions of this troubling new COVID-19 variant discovered
here in South Africa. The work he's and the team is doing is critical to understanding where this pandemic goes next.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): The team's final results, expected later today, will help answer whether COVID-19 vaccines will hold up against the variant
and its three mutations. Preliminary results suggest that antibodies from the first wave of infections are less effective against the new variant.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As somebody with a family and parents, I was very concerned.
But for us, this is our job, right?
We're here only for one thing and that's to do the research.
MCKENZIE (voice-over): Research done at a record pace because the consequence of not knowing is all too clear. And the costs of the pandemic
already too high.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
MCKENZIE: Scientists here in South Africa and around the world aren't just worried about this variant but others emerging across the globe. Whatever
the results of their experiments are, they certainly believe that the planet, frankly, is in a race between these vaccines and the mutations that
could come with COVID-19, that could make them ineffective. Becky?
ANDERSON: David McKenzie is in Johannesburg for you. David, thank you.
Up next a new report commissioned by the WHO criticizes its -- the health body's response to the pandemic. Its missteps are what we will look at just
ahead.
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ANDERSON: We're just hours away from the most contentious transfer of power in modern American history. President Trump will leave office
tomorrow with a nation deeply divided and the lowest approval rating of his term and the lowest average approval of any president in modern history.
But a new CNN poll shows Joe Biden's favorability on the rise a day before his inauguration. We've also learned the President-Elect will speak about
the challenges of trying to unify the American people in his address on Wednesday.
Now this transition of power will be unlike any that we've seen before and a break from tradition. Mr. Trump has not invited the Bidens to the White
House nor urged his supporters to accept the incoming president. Of course, he has outright refused to participate in Biden's inauguration.
Let's discuss all of this with CNN's presidential historian Tim Naftali, live in New York for you.
In a recent op-ed you said, "If Trump is now the worst president we have ever had, it is up to every American to ensure that no future chief
executive ever exceeds him."
America has had some pretty bad presidents over the years. Just describe why it is that so many are now calling Trump the worst that has ever been.
TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, in a piece I just wrote for "The Atlantic," Becky, I argued that there were three main reasons that he
became the worst of the worst.
One is the fact that he subordinated national security policy to his own political needs. There is a connection between foreign and domestic policy.
There's a connection between the political interest of a president and foreign policy.
But Donald Trump is the first in American history to, in general, follow a policy of thinking of himself first when engaging the United States abroad.
The second reason is his dereliction of duty with regard to the pandemic, his denigration of science, his desire to encourage civil disobedience
against governors that were trying to impose public health mandates, his encouragement of risky behavior, his pretending to the American people that
the experimental treatment he received as president was available to everybody and, therefore, they shouldn't take this virus seriously, pitting
state governors against each other for PPE.
[10:35:00]
NAFTALI: And, yes, supporting the development of vaccines but never thinking through how to deliver those vaccines to American arms.
Third reason, January 6th: all of the demagoguing against our electoral system that preceded it, efforts at the state level, then in courts, to try
to overturn the election and, finally, when he was out of every constitutional option and the vice president wouldn't do his bidding during
the electoral count, he unleashed a mob.
And when the mob invaded the Capitol, he was silent when he could have pulled them back.
And for those three reasons it puts him in a class different from the very worst of our history. Warren Harding of the 20th century, Richard Nixon of
the 20th century, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan and Andrew Johnson of the 19th century.
ANDERSON: Tim, had it not been for what happened last Wednesday -- and I hear your argument about the way Donald Trump and his team have dealt with
the pandemic and many people will agree with you on that.
But had it not been for what happened last Wednesday, might he have gotten away with a legacy of policies that certainly suited some 80 million
Americans?
NAFTALI: Well, I would put it this way. I think that January 6th was long in coming but I agree that, were it not for January 6th, there would be a
debate about how much of a failure this presidency was. January 6th settled the issue, at least for this historian.
ANDERSON: I just want our viewers to -- a reminder of the president before Donald Trump, Barack Obama. I want them to hear his final press conference
and then some of Donald Trump's inauguration address. Let's have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: Every four years, we gather on these steps to carry out the orderly and peaceful transfer of power. And we are grateful to President Obama and
first lady Michelle Obama, for their gracious aid throughout this transition. They have been magnificent. Thank you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Let's hear some of what President Obama said in his address. Let's have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BARACK OBAMA, FORMER PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: You're not supposed to be sycophants. You're supposed to be skeptics. You're supposed to ask me
tough questions. You're not supposed to be complimentary but you're supposed to cast a critical eye on folks who hold enormous power.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: And that was his final press conference, of course.
So we had Donald Trump there, four years ago, praising a peaceful transfer of power and a president outgoing, who talked about the importance of the
press and holding truth to power. It seems that that never happened under a Trump administration. We know that for sure.
And then we hear Donald Trump praising that peaceful transition of power four years ago.
What happened?
NAFTALI: Well, what happened was the votes weren't there for Donald Trump. And he was worried he wouldn't have the votes. He was beginning the process
of poisoning American minds about the fairness of the 2020 election even before Election Day.
And when those votes didn't come in, rather than do what his predecessors did, all of them, which was to accept the results, he decided to attack the
system.
Look, Donald Trump is the first president in 232 years of the American presidency not to support a peaceful transfer of power and to obstruct it.
No predecessor did that -- our -- not just for the United States but any democratic country requires a commitment and an understanding between the
people and their government and there has to be respect for the institutions, every one, including the leadership elite have to respect the
institutions.
When that respect disappears, the foundation of the republic, of the democracy disappears. Donald Trump is the first president ever to sic the
American people on our constitutional institutions because he wasn't elected or re-elected.
[10:40:00]
ANDERSON: Tim, it's a pleasure having you on, sir.
We are in the death throes as it were of the Donald Trump presidency. It is an historic week. I feel like that's a hackneyed phrase these days in
Washington but it is. It's an historic we know in Washington, a busy one for you and our colleagues in Washington. We wish you the very best. It's
an absolute pleasure having you on.
One world leader stripped off and braved freezing temperatures to take part in what is an annual ritual in Russia. President Vladimir Putin plunging
into this icy pool to mark the Feast of Epiphany. Orthodox Christians commemorate the baptism of Jesus by immersing themselves in rivers or, in
Mr. Putin's case, this cross-shaped bath.
Certainly not for the faint hearted. Temperatures hovering around 8 degrees Fahrenheit or minus 12 degrees Celsius in Moscow today.
President-Elect Joe Biden's picks for some major cabinet positions are on Capitol Hill today for Senate confirmation hearings. Right now, Janet
Yellen appearing before the Finance Committee to be considered for Treasury Secretary. Possibly no more important job at this point in American
history. Let's listen in.
Ah, ok. We will get to Janet Yellen. I can see just on one of my monitors that that shot has frozen. That is Janet Yellen coming to committee.
And she's back. Let's have a listen.
JANET YELLEN, U.S. TREASURY SECRETARY NOMINEE: -- back on the pandemic, I expect they'll conclude that Congress' actions averted a lot of suffering.
But more must be done. Economists don't always agree but I think there is a consensus now: without further action, we risk a longer, more painful
recession now -- and long-term scarring of the economy later.
The pandemic has caused widespread devastation. Whole industries have paused their work. Eighteen million unemployment insurance claims are being
paid every week. Food bank shelves are going empty. The damage has been sweeping and as the President-Elect said last Thursday, our response must
be, too.
Over the next few months, we are going to need more aid to distribute the vaccine; to reopen schools; to help states keep firefighters and teachers
on the job.
We'll need more funding to make sure unemployment insurance checks still go out; and to help families who are at risk of going hungry or losing the
roof over their heads.
Neither the President-Elect nor I propose this relief package without an appreciation for the country's debt burden. But right now, with interest
rates at historic lows, the smartest thing we can do is act big. In the long run, I believe the benefits will far outweigh the costs, especially if
we care about helping people who have been struggling for a very long time.
People worry about a K-shaped recovery; but well before COVID-19 infected a single American, we were living in a K-shaped economy, one where wealth
built on wealth while working families fell further and further behind. This is especially true for people of color.
At the Fed, I became accustomed to the institution's dual mandate: to promote stable prices and maximum employment.
As Treasury Secretary, I think there will be a dual mission, too: helping Americans endure the final months of this pandemic; keeping people safe
while getting them back to work. That's our first task.
But then there is the longer-term project. We have to rebuild our economy so that it creates more prosperity for more people and ensures that
American workers can compete in an increasingly competitive global economy.
Members of the committee, these are very ambitious goals and I know we will need to work together. You can count on me to do that in a bipartisan way.
My husband and son are watching us on C-SPAN from the other room.
ANDERSON: You have just been listening to Janet Yellen, who is Joe Biden's pick for Treasury Secretary.
[10:45:00]
ANDERSON: Speaking virtually there at a hearing on her appointment. There are five such hearings happening today on the Hill. We'll get you updates
on all of them.
Let's just get the top line from what Janet Yellen says here. She says we have to think big. We have to go big as far as stimulus is concerned in the
States, as America faces a spiraling pandemic economy.
We're going to take a very short break. After this, "WORLD SPORT."
(WORLD SPORT)
[11:00:00]
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