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CNN Live Event/Special

Certification Vote Paused as Protesters Breach Capitol; D.C. Mayor Ordering 6 P.M. Curfew; Capitol Police Asking for Additional Law Enforcement Help. Aired 2:30-3p ET

Aired January 06, 2021 - 14:30   ET

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

[14:30:00]

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Unfortunately, as unusual, and as terrifying, and as surprising as what we are seeing is going on, in a lot of ways it is one of the least surprising things.

What is remarkable is this kind of thing hasn't happened earlier because these protesters, who, of course, have the right to protest, but these beyond that, as John said. This is basically taking over, storming the capitol, in -- it's anarchy. It really is anarchy.

And the president has encouraged this time and time again. And they're stopping the constitutional peaceful transfer of power.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: I want to bring in Pamela Brown, who has more breaking news about the security issues at the United States capitol.

Which has now been stormed by hundreds of Trump supporters, who have been fed the lie for months by the president and others that the election was fraudulent. It was not.

They are angry, they are upset, and now there is a very real risk of violence -- Pamela?

PAMELA BROWN, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. I've heard from several sources, Jake, who tell me the situation is out of control, that it has turned insane, frankly.

And that the other law enforcement has been asked to help the capitol police. They have been reaching out to federal authorities and local authorities, asking them to come help.

I'm told by a local law enforcement source that the MPD Civil Disturbance Unit personnel have been deployed to the capitol building to help. Other federal authorities have been called to help.

Another issue they're dealing with there are several suspicious packages around the building, I'm told, that the capitol police are looking at. They are examining they suspicious packages. We know, we have already reported that we have heard flag bangs there.

I'm also told from a source on the ground that pepper spray has been deployed.

So there are multiple security situation going on, as we are seeing this unfold, this remarkable, unprecedented situation at the capitol building.

TAPPER: The definition of sedition is to try to overturn the rule of law through force. That is what we are witnessing.

Trump supporters, who have been lied to by Trump and his minions, individuals like Ted Cruz and Josh Hawley, lied to by MAGA media, have been incensed and outraged.

And they are now resorting to physically trying to storm the capitol to stop the constitutional process of electors being counted for the person who won the election, Joe Biden, the president-elect.

That is what's going on. That is what we are witnessing.

There are a lot of people who are complicit in this. It will not succeed. Joe Biden will be sworn in on January 20th.

But at some point, you have to ask yourself, if you're Josh Hawley or Ted Cruz or Matt Gaetz, or either of the Murdochs, you have to ask yourself: What am I doing? What am I creating here? What have I unleashed?

This is the United States of America, and we're watching protesters try to undermine the course of an election, a constitutional process through force, by storming the United States capitol?

BASH: Look at that. That's outside.

Jake, sorry to interrupt.

But look at those pictures. Have you ever seen anything like that? These are protesters outside on the steps of the capitol. They are physically in there.

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's a fitting end to an era that has been characterized by lawlessness.

President Trump -- the reason this is happening is because President Trump wanted Vice President Pence to act in a lawless way in his procedural duties today.

And now his supporters, in their anger, are basically breaking into the capitol, forcing members of Congress to go into hiding, because they have been, as you said, Jake, fed lies.

TAPPER: I apologize for interrupting, Abby.

I want to say the mayor of Washington, D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser, is now ordering a 6:00 p.m. curfew in Washington, D.C. Because of these protests, which have turned violent. Individuals who

have been fed lies, as you noted, now storming the capitol to try to stop the constitutional process.

Please continue.

PHILLIP: And Just to be clear. President Trump has tweeted in the last few minutes, but he's said nothing to disavow this.

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: No, he's throwing fuel on the fire.

PHILLIP: Exactly. In fact, he's been upping the rhetoric against Mike Pence. That is irresponsible -- it's beyond irresponsible.

He has a responsibility. These are his supporters. They're carrying Trump flags. So he could say to them, stop, back away, don't do this. He won't do it.

[14:35:01]

TAPPER: We are watching an attempted sedition. We are watching an attempt at a bloodless coup in the United States. Trump supporters, stopping the constitutional process, the counting of electors.

The mayor has invoked a 6:00 p.m. curfew. More police reinforcements are coming to Capitol Hill.

Let's go now to Brian Todd, who is on the scene.

Brian, where are you and what are you seeing?

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Jake, we're on the east side of the capital, the east run, the east steps. And you see the huge group of protesters on the steps.

You can also see some Capitol Hill police on the balcony to the side. They don't appear to have the numbers to deal with this right now but threw donning riot gear.

We saw some smoke deployed earlier. I'm not sure exactly how that started.

But you can see the -- there are some Capitol Hill police up there, probably awaiting orders on what to do. And we're told there are reinforcements cupping from different law enforcement up here. But they're not here yet, I can tell you that.

There was a group of D.C. police, 20 or so, who showed up a short time ago, went around the side of the building. We believe went inside, but we're not sure.

Clearly, as far as the police we're seeing on the balcony, they are not moving. They are observing right now. They have donned some riot gear. And they have not moved yet to move these protesters off the steps.

Let's have Christine, our photojournalist, pan. We have some cheers going up here. I was going to show you another set of steps. But let's see what's happening here.

I'm not sure what started the cheering. But -- clearly, it's, you know, this has gotten out of hand. They got off the steps. They breached the barricades.

(FLASH BANG)

TODD: They got up the steps. Some of them got inside.

And we did see a large group of metropolitan Washington police go inside the building we believe. So they'll be trying to deal with it from the inside first before they move out here.

But they have not shown up in huge numbers at this plaza yet.

We also know on the west side of the capitol, it's very, very tense with a lot of flash bangs going on. Protesters breached the barricades there. Someone climbed up on these risers that were set up for the inauguration.

We're just waiting to see when law enforcement shows up on what kin kind of numbers. Because right now, I can tell you, they don't have the numbers here to deal with this crowd.

TAPPER: Alex Marquardt is also on the scene.

I'm getting texts -- as I'm sure Dana and Abby you are as well -- from members of Congress, Trump supporters, Biden supporters, Democrats, Republicans, who are stunned.

They have been told by capitol police they have to shelter in place in their office.

Is it because of a terrorist attack on the United States? It's because Trump supporters are violently, in some cases, forcing themselves into the United States capitol, stopping the constitutional proceedings of the counting of the electoral votes for Joe Biden, the president- elect.

Alex Marquardt, where are you and what are you seeing?

ALEX MARQUARDT, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Jake, we're still on the western side of the capitol. It is -- (INAUDIBLE) surreal. It is -- (INAUDIBLE) -- the wall of the capitol --

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: All right, Alex -- all right, Alex, your phone's going in and out. We'll check back with you when your connection is better.

Let's go to Manu Raju, who I think is inside the capitol building.

Manu, where are you, what are you seeing?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Jake, we have been ordered to stay inside our offices, not to allowed to leave because of protesters now storming both the House and the Senate.

They are inside the building, an unprecedented situation, something that lawmakers are stunned themselves to see.

And we're getting word about how some of this was communicated to lawmakers while the debate was happening over the certification of the electoral votes in the House chamber.

According to pool reports that just came in moments ago, the officer told lawmakers, House members, that they may need to duck under their chairs.

He said that protesters -- we now -- this was what the officers said: "We now have individuals that have breached the capitol building. They are in the rotunda area."

The rotunda is, of course, the big dome that separates the House and the Senate. And inside that is just feet away from both chambers.

There were many protesters there, and that's what prompted the capitol police to warn lawmakers to cover themselves.

They said, at that point, there was no threat to the chamber. But seeing the pictures coming in, Jake and Wolf, there are so many protesters that are just feet away from where House members are and where they have been told to essentially lock down inside the chamber themselves.

[14:40:04]

If there's concern about some of these protesters getting onto the House floor, House lawmakers have been told to go into the cloak rooms.

The cloak rooms are where the actual members from each side gather, they meet, when they go off of the House floor. So they're urging them to take cover there if necessary.

The Senate side of the capitol, also concerned, because there are many protesters around the Senate floor right now. That's why the proceedings on the Senate have gone into recess as well.

Senators are sitting inside the chamber themselves. Nobody is allowed to do go in. The reporters aren't allowed to go see what's happening.

But at the moment, a very tense situation. Police have clearly been overrun by the protesters who have stormed the building, stormed the barricades, and walked past the security and are now all over this building right now. The question is how long does it last.

But for the moment, people are being told, stay inside, stay safe, make very little noise, don't draw attention to yourself, they're saying, because they don't know who the individuals are, if they have any firearms or their intentions.

At the moment, they're struggling to get the situation under control.

TAPPER: It's an absolutely shameful, disgusting situation that we are witnessing here.

But eminently predictable, with the outgoing president refusing to accept reality, refusing to concede defeat, attacking every single Republican who gets in his way, including his own vice president.

Pamela Brown, tell us more about the security situation on Capitol Hill.

BROWN: I can tell you right now, Jake, there are discussions about evacuating the vice president, Pence, given how unwieldy the situation and potentially dangerous the situation has become.

It's unclear right now as to whether Pence has officially been evacuated from the building.

But what I can tell you is that, at the very least, Jake, there are discussions ongoing, as we speak, about getting him out of there. And if it hasn't already happened yet, it very well could soon. That's where we are.

Of course, Pence is the presiding officer there today over the certification, the electoral count.

And clearly this was not how officials planned for this to go for the vice president to potentially be evacuated from the building.

Of course, it's worth noting this is all happening as the White House has not commented. The president has not commented or said anything directly about the chaos that's going on at the White House.

TAPPER: Well, he did just tweet something. It's not -- it's not a call to stand down.

Let me go to Jim Acosta at the White House now to bring us news on that.

Just a couple of minutes ago, Jim, the president -- he did not say, please stop what you're doing, but did issue a tweet, a rather weak one, I might away.

JIM ACOSTA, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right. It is rather flaccid, Jake. But the president has broken his silence, I suppose you could say, finally, on all of this, after this has been going on for over an hour.

The president tweeting just a few moments ago, "Please support our capitol police and law enforcement. They are truly on the side of our country. Stay peaceful," with an exclamation mark.

But as you said, Jake, he's not telling these protesters to leave the capitol. In fact, earlier this afternoon, when he was down on the National Mall, he was egging on the supporters to go down to the capitol and make their voices heard.

Now they're storming the capitol in a way that looks like open rebellion in Washington, D.C., with no potentially to knock this down.

It seems at this point -- I was just talking with a Trump adviser a few moments ago, who was just outraged over this and said, shame on POTUS for throwing gasoline on this fire and not doing anything to stop it.

Jake, a few moments ago, we saw that Marines stationed outside the West Wing, that's usually an indication that the president is in the Oval Office.

You can almost take it to the bank, Jake, that the president of the United States is watching all of this unfold, watching what he egged on unfold, and is essentially watching the world burn just two weeks before he leaves office.

This is the kind of situation, Jake, where the president should be going into the briefing room -- you know this all too well, a former White House correspondent yourself -- he should be going in and telling the protesters to stop and go home. He's not doing that.

That makes him responsible for what is happening right before your eyes right now -- Jake?

TAPPER: Absolutely, Jim.

When that Trump adviser you spoke to who said, shame on POTUS for pouring fuel on the fire, I mean, President Trump has been spilling fuel like the Exxon Valdez. It's not like some new development. He has been -- he created this mess.

ACOSTA: This is a bonfire of the insanities that we're watching in the nation's capital right now. And it's all flows from Trump.

[14:45:04]

He has been lighting these matching for weeks now. He was lighting these matches down on the National Mall earlier today, telling people to go down to the capitol.

Telling them, at one point, misleading them into thinking he was going to join them down on the capitol. So it was an invitation to join the president of the United States down at the capitol to give these lawmakers a piece of their minds.

And now this is what we're left with. This is the ugly aftermath of what we're left with.

Jake, what is the plan to get these people out of there?

My goodness, on June 1st, the president said federal law enforcement forces, National Guard, they tear gassed, they pummeled people to get people out of the Lafayette Park, keep people away from the church, so he could hold a Bible in front of a church. There appears to be no plan in place at this point to clear all of

these protesters away from the capitol. This is just bedlam on the streets of the nation's capital.

This is Trump's rebellion.

TAPPER: Absolutely. It is the natural development of all of this. So many cowardly Republican congressmen in that building appeasing -- trying to appease the president and his angry base by rebelling and committing an attempted act of sedition. And here is the physical manifestation of it.

Manu Raju, you have news?

RAJU: Yes, it seems to be very, very tense and very serious outside the House floor.

There's a report that is coming from the pool reporters who are on that side of the capitol, saying there's an armed standoff at the House front door.

The police officers have their guns drawn at someone who is trying to reach the front door. They tried to reach the main doors, but there was a heavy barricade and police presence.

But according to the House pool reports we're getting in right now, there's an armed standoff at the House front door. Police officers have their guns drawn at someone who is trying to reach the front door.

We are also told the how lawmakers, who have been sheltering in place inside the House chamber while this was all unfolding, as they were debating the election certification, they have been told to evacuate. They're being evacuated. That's what we've been told.

We've also been told that Mike Pence, the vice president of the United States, who was presiding over the Senate chamber, he's also been evacuated.

It's unclear where all the Senators are at the moment. But a lot of the protesters, they're all over this building. They have breached the barricades. They have breached of the security. There are many of them outside the House chamber.

But at the moment, a serious situation of an armed standoff outside of the House floor. We'll see.

Hopefully, this gets resolved peacefully. But police are overrun by these protesters. They have asked for reinforcements to deal with the situation that's escalating and growing out-of-control here -- guys?

TAPPER: It sounds absolutely awful.

Dana Bash, you just got news from Congressman Gerry Connolly, Democrat of Virginia. BASH: Yes, just to add to what Manu was saying, who is reporting that

the House members are being evacuated from the House chamber, one member, Gerry Connolly said, they were given gas masks on the House floor.

These are members of Congress. They're doing their constitutional duty to try to certify the next president of the United States, given gas masks.

The reason is because tear gas was used in the rotunda, probably as a response to -- I wouldn't even call them protesters -- anarchists.

TAPPER: Let me bring in former police commissioner of the police force in both D.C. and Philadelphia, Charles Ramsey.

Chief Ramsey, I guess the first question I have for you is, how would one try to get control of the situation so the House and Senate can resume their constitutional duty that has to happen today, according to law.

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I mean, they're going to need to get reinforcements, no question. Start by clearing the outside, get the people outside away from the building, get that secured, and once inside.

You have to force them out. This is absolutely ridiculous. You cannot allow this to continue. They're overwhelmed right now.

There's are MOUs in place, with the metropolitan police, the park police, the national capital region, agencies from both Virginia as well as Maryland.

I don't know who they're calling. I'm trying to reach out to get more information.

But they need to bring in more resources and get this thing settled down, get it cleared out. It's time for them to just get people cleared out. It's not going to look pretty, but they've got to get it done.

TAPPER: They are telling members of Congress to shelter in place. They are evacuating members of the House and Senate, from doing their constitutionally prescribed duties.

[14:50:08]

There are fights. There are people breaching police lines. There are people climbing up walls.

Have you ever seen anything like this?

RAMSEY: No. And I don't think anybody else has, either. In fact, I know they haven't, not in the United States. Maybe in some third-world country.

But here you got a situation where the president is stirring the pot. He's got his allies in there. They have unleashed something they cannot control. And they need to understand that.

Control can be regained. And again, I'm telling you now, it's not going to be pretty. And if I was there, I guarantee you, we would do whatever we had to do to get them the hell out of there.

It never should have gotten this far. Never should have gotten this far.

TAPPER: President Trump tweeted a comment, not what I think you would want if you were the police chief right now.

He wrote, "Please support our capitol police and law enforcement. They are truly on our side. Stay peaceful."

It's odd that he said stay peaceful, given this crowd is not peaceful. So there's no way they can stay peaceful. They have already stormed the capitol.

What would you want President Trump to tweet right now to de-escalate this?

RAMSEY: I want the president to do is shut the hell up and get out of the way. The guy is like -- he's like a cancer. How much more can you give me.

You know, it's the point in time, if he's not going to do the right thing and tell them to get the hell out of the capitol and act like they've got some sense, then just shut up.

He stirred them up. He got this whole thing going.

This is as close to a coup attempt as this country has ever seen. That's what you're looking at, folks. That's what you're looking at.

And it's absolutely ridiculous. Absolutely ridiculous. And a lot of people are responsible for this.

TAPPER: Absolutely, this is sedition. We have been saying this now for weeks. This is sedition. This is attempting to undermine the rule of law through use of force.

(CROSSTALK)

RAMSEY: They're not attempting. They have done it.

TAPPER: Right. Right. Right.

Is there any way President --

(CROSSTALK)

RAMSEY: This is just crazy.

TAPPER: Go ahead.

RAMSEY: They've got to gain control. They've got to gain control quickly or it's going to get worse. This is not even nightfall yet and you still got to deal with that.

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: Right, you need to get them out of there before night. Before night. That's an excellent observation.

RAMSEY: It's going to get worse. It's not going to get better. It's going to get worse.

TAPPER: Why haven't they? We knew this day was coming. We knew that President Trump likes to stir the pot. That's how you put it.

I would say he likes to create domestic terrorism. He likes to demonize and incentivize bad actions.

RAMSEY: We knew that they was coming.

TAPPER: Right?

RAMSEY: We knew that they was coming. But I don't think anybody could have anticipated that people would have gone this far to seriously overrun the United States capitol.

And I'm sure the capitol police had extra people on duty but with 12- hour shifts, all days off canceled. Every department in that region has activated their emergency plans.

Who could have anticipated this? I'm watching it and it's like watching a bad "D" movie. I just haven't seen anything like it.

If I seem a little upset, it's because I am. This is the United States of America. That's our United States capitol.

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: I think we all feel this way.

RAMSEY: -- protect and defend it.

TAPPER: I think we all feel that way.

You might feel, also, something different because you were once the police chief of the Metropolitan Police Department here in D.C.

RAMSEY: Yes.

TAPPER: And so this is, in many ways, I would think, your worst nightmare and something that you worked very hard with all of your police officers to make sure never happened.

RAMSEY: Exactly right. I mean, we had major demonstrations. If you remember back in the IMF bank days, we had major demonstrations in the city and some of them got pretty close to losing it.

But we never had anything even come close to coming this far.

Again, they have to gain control. Take the gloves off, do what they have to do, but take the control back, please.

TAPPER: The capitol police are asking for additional law enforcement assistance. I imagine that would be the Metropolitan Police Department, the U.S. Secret Service, perhaps even the National Guard, U.S. park police, of course.

RAMSEY: Yes, park police, National Guard.

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: And what do you do? How do you clear it out?

Obviously, people have a right to peacefully protest. But that's not what this is because they have stormed the capitol and stopped congressional action.

I don't know that anything like this has happened since the days of the Vietnam War, frankly, when people and protesters for the Vietnam War used to go in there and block the halls of Congress to try to stop proceedings.

[14:55:01]

RAMSEY: Yes, they're going to have to really get enough resources there so they can start to move the crowd. And they're going to have to push. They're going to have to push.

I don't know if they're going to use gas or not but, you know, as far as I'm concerned, you do what you have to do to clear the capitol.

TAPPER: Let me make clear --

RAMSEY: We just can't have this.

TAPPER: Let me make clear, I'm not comparing what is going on here to Vietnam War protesters. Those people were trying to stop a war and these people are --

(CROSSTALK)

TAPPER: -- and these people trying to start one.

RAMSEY: But I think what you're saying, because we're both old enough to remember, those are protesters that did get out of hand. It got very violent on both sides, both from law enforcement and from protesters.

So I haven't seen anything like it since then. But this is unprecedented even for that era. It didn't go far even in that era.

TAPPER: No, and those were generally peaceful protesters. And storming the capitol in not --

RAMSEY: Right.

TAPPER: -- a peaceful protest. Chief Ramsey, thanks so much. Stay there. We want to come back to you.

I want to go back to Manu Raju who is in Capitol Hill.

Manu, I'm hearing from a lot of Democrats and Republican congress people who are, frankly, disgusted, shocked. And some of them are even scared.

RAMSEY: Yes, a lot of people are scared, Jake, because this is an escalating chaotic situation. Police do not have it under control.

There is, we're told, an armed standoff outside the House floor. It's unclear exactly how that has been resolved at the moment.

There are members outside the House chamber. It's been locked. Other members have been evacuated to various parts of the capitol complex.

Senators have also been evacuated as well. And many locking themselves in their offices and told not to leave.

We're also just told that the members who are in the House, they have been told that there's tear gas in the rotunda, and to push back against any of these protesters, there's tear gas. So potentially, that could become an issue here as this situation develops.

And they have been told there are masks under their seats in the House chamber that they can certainly put on if they need to.

So there are members who have been told to go shelter in place. Everybody has been told to shelter in place in this building. We've all been told we cannot leave this building because of the fact there are protesters in all parts of the capitol.

The House side and the Senate side through all levels, there have been reports of violent clashes between protesters and demonstrators, protesters and police.

Police trying to arrest some of these demonstrators. We've seen violent activity, violent interactions between the two sides.

And just feet from where the House was just gathering to debate the certification of Joe Biden's election victory, that armed standoff occurring. Again, that is unclear how that is resolved.

But they've been told there's tear gas that's ready to be deployed if necessary as this escalating situation continues here -- Jake?

TAPPER: If you're just joining us, it is almost 3:00. And normally, the House and Senate would be counting the electoral votes for the president-elect, Joe Biden, in this case.

But that has stopped. The proceedings have stopped because Trump supporters have stormed the U.S. capitol. There are violent confrontations going on.

Members of Congress have been told to shelter in place. Many members of Congress, Trump supporters and Biden supporters alike, are appalled and scared.

And frankly, it is appalling and it is frightening. We are witnessing an attempt at sedition. We are witnessing an attempt at a forceful overthrow of the U.S. government, or at least of the proceedings, the U.S. constitutionally prescribed proceedings of the counting of the electoral votes.

Let's go to Brian Todd, who is amidst the chaos.

Brian, what are you witnessing?

TODD: Jake, if you can see our photojournalist, Christine, is going to zoom into this flag as they go by. You can see protesters standing on some government vehicles that are parked at the foot of the stairs here on the east side.

Now, in the last couple of minutes, we have seen some protesters make their way down the stairs. They're taking their time going down. So they really do not believe they're being pushed away by any law enforcement.

And, Christine, if you can pan to your left there.

You can see the Capitol Hill police on the left side of the balcony there. They've been standing there for several minutes waiting for orders, seemingly. Some of them have donned riot gear but they are observers to this situation.

Again, the crowd, some of them have left the stairs. But there's still, clearly, as you can see, a lot of protesters on the stairs.

We can also tell you that they have made their way up three sets of stairs here on the east side of the capitol, two on either side of us but not as dense on the other side, on the other stairways as it is here.

[15:00:02]

But these people clearly are emboldened. They don't feel any urgency to move.

And the real question here, Jake, is, when is law enforcement going to show up in force to try to get these people out.