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CNN Live Event/Special

Congress Certifies Biden Win After Deadly Riot At U.S. Capitol; Commander of U.S Forces In Africa Acknowledges Some In Force "May Be Concerned" About Events At Capitol; DC Attorney General: Federal Law Enforcement Partners "Let Us Down"; FBI & Other Law Enforcement Agencies Planning To Make Arrests & Bring Charges Against Those Who Led Insurrection. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired January 07, 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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ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, I'm Anderson Cooper.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Erin Burnett, and we have new images from inside the Capitol that show the damage left behind by the domestic terrors who struck yesterday after being of course being tired on egged on by President Trump. Overnight democracy prevailed but congress did certify Joe Biden's Electoral College victory, as you see read aloud by Vice President Mike Pence. That moment followed a statement issued by an aid that's from President Trump which promises an orderly transfer of power but also said other things, Anderson.

COOPER: Yes. That statement also contained more false claims about the 2020 elections the same ones the President has been spouting all along and we're told was in partly to stave off more resignations from within the administration. This morning we're learning more about the President's mindset during the riots, sources tell CNN that the President was borderline enthusiastic while watching the protests which led to police fatally shooting a woman, three others died after suffering medical emergencies.

BURNETT: So, among those who have resigned over the violence, the Former White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney leaving his job, Special Envoy to Northern Ireland. He spoke about it this morning.

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MICK MULVANEY, FORMER WHITE HOUSE CHIEF OF STAFF: I called Mike last night to let him know, tell him I'd be resigning. I can't do it. I can't stay. Those who choose to stay, and I have talked to a couple of them are choosing to stay because they're concerned the President might put someone in to replace them that could make things worse.

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COOPER: There are new questions whether President Trump is fit to remain in office for 13 more days. A well-placed source said some GOP cabinet members held preliminary talks on invoking the 25th amendment to remove him from office. Let's get right to White House CNN, John Harwood is there. John, let's start with the statement President Trump released early this morning. Explain why you think he did it.

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, even a really malicious child who is determined to throw firecrackers at other people may stop when he blows his own finger off. And I think the President was persuaded that's what happened. You saw the people resigning, Republicans rebelling, Mike Pence rebelling. So, the President, in the middle of the night, consented to having Dan Scavino send out the statement. Now you can tell how reluctant he was by the fact that he didn't go on live television at any point yesterday to condemn this rioting.

The notion that he was borderline enthusiastic fits entirely with his personality, because he thrives off of the angulations of others and the thought that people loved him some much that would respond to his command so much that would go and commit those kind of acts at the Capitol must have been thrilling to him. But in the end he did put out the statement and as you say it contained this continued fantasy that I don't agree with the results of the election and the facts bear me out, no, that's false but this is a President who doesn't have a sense of right and wrong, doesn't have a sense of truth and lies, doesn't have a sense of fantasy and reality.

COOPER: And then of course he ends it by saying this is just the beginning of our fight to make America great again. Talk from this President about a fight on the very day that there has been this assault on the Capitol is just stunning. That's how he ends his statement. This talk about, there's discussions to invoke the 25th amendment against the President, do you put much credence in that? I mean the political will it would take, the process of it, it seems highly impractical.

HARWOOD: Well, you could see ample reason why that step would be justified and let's keep in mind that this has been at least mused about from the beginning of the administration. Rod Rosenstein, of course, early in the Mueller investigation, there's been a lot of reporting on that. Now you have the Republican Governor Phil Scott of Vermont suggesting this step. You had others suggesting this step, talking about it at the staff level. But it is exceedingly unlikely that such a thing could be organized in short order, especially since the President himself could object to it and he would find somebody to facilitate his objection, certainly.

The same is true for the second impeachment talk. If the congress wanted to do it they could do it this morning. But I don't think they want to do it nearly enough to try to take that step and as a result what the impeachment talk and the 25th amendment talk is doing is making clear how grave the situation is in the minds of a lot of people in both parties, both within the White House and within the congress.

COOPER: Yes. John Harwood, appreciate it. It is stunning just that video we were just playing for you.

[10:05:00] The visuals of that mob of people in red hats, law enforcement overwhelmed, falling back. I mean, it is just a stunning iconic image of what happened yesterday. And for those who, you know, we heard (inaudible) interviewing two women who were part of this mob saying it wasn't violent. That is a mob that is out of control and anything could have happened yesterday. On Capitol Hill, the damage is still being assessed from yesterday's attack. But overnight congress did fulfill its constitutional duty and certify the election results not without objection from some Republicans.

CNN's Lauren Fox is live at the Capitol. She joins us now. You know, for all the violence we saw yesterday and the horror and the tragedy of it, there were still a lot of House Republicans, some Senate Republicans who were pushing these lies and pushing to not have Vice President - not have President-Elect Biden take office. Talk about the vote and the early morning certification.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Well, Anderson, you know it was very important to leadership to get lawmakers back in the chamber for that joint session so they could actually certify the results of the election. They did not want what occurred yesterday to deter them from essentially fulfilling democracy's duty, right. So lawmakers got back in the chamber last night. But like you said, there were still some Republicans who brought forth challenges. If you remember, when we left the scene and everything broke down yesterday afternoon, they were debating the prospects of Arizona and whether or not they should certify that Electoral College result.

What they ended up doing is coming back, finishing that debate and then there were still senators who objected to the State of Pennsylvania. Senator Josh Hawley brought that objection later in the early morning, I should say. And I think one of the things to remember is that there were seven Republican senators who voted with Hawley on that objection. Including new members like Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming. Then in the House of Representatives you had more than 100 Republicans voting to overturn the results of a free and fair election. Now there were some members who changed their minds.

If you remember Kelly Loeffler, she lost in her reelection in the State of Georgia she was still planning to bring a challenge as of yesterday morning what ended happening as she went to the floor and she said in good conscience she couldn't go forward with that objection. There were others who joined like Senator Mike Braun reporters asking him before the vote are you going to vote to uphold this election? He said, at this point I think we all just need to move on. When asked why that was the case, he said, look at the events of what happened today, Anderson.

COOPER: What are hearing for lawmakers particularly Republicans about the attacks and President Trump's role in them?

FOX: Well, certainly Republicans are not been shy about the fact that they think that the President played a role in this, essentially asking his supporters to come to the Capitol. And I want to read you a couple of interviews that we got from lawmakers yesterday and early this morning, Senator John Thune, The Majority Whip said, "had we not have senators who decided to object, we probably wouldn't have had that many people in town, if the President hadn't encouraged them all to come to town.

Now there were others Republican lawmakers like Senator Kevin Kramer, Republican from North Dakota who voted against these objections he said Trump "bears some responsibility". And Senate - Representative Liz Cheney, who is in house leadership, she said there are serious questions about the President's involvement and his responsibility. Anderson, saw you some members take to the floor last night. Senator Lindsey Graham, somebody who's been at the President's side time and time again saying, look, I'm done. Count me out. Enough is enough.

COOPER: Lauren Fox, appreciate it. Thanks.

BURNETT: So, President Trump's Deputy National Security Advisor has now stepped down over the violent assault on the U.S. Capitol. More resignations could be coming. There was a deputy over at commerce in security who resigned just moments ago. You're seeing it play out this morning. Let's get to Barbara Starr at the Pentagon. Barbara, you have covered the Pentagon for a long time, and we have seen an unprecedented event. What more are you learning?

BARBARA STARR, CNN PENTAGON CORRESPONDENT: Well, actually Erin, we have had quite an interesting development in the last few minutes. A part of the uniform U.S. Military Called Africa command, this is headed by Four Star General Stephen Townsend and they oversee all troops and operations in Africa. A short time General Thornton forced our General posted on his twitter account, what I would say is an unprecedented message to the troops saying, and let me just "that he knows some may be concerned about the events we saw unfold back home in the U.S. Capitol yesterday".

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And he goes on to say that the constitution remains our bedrock, our government is strong, resilient and will prevail. But what you have this morning, for the first time is a Four-Star General. We have not seen this before nobody in the Pentagon in a uniform has come out publicly and said anything like this. Saying to the troops I know you may be concerned about what you saw yesterday. Look, the U.S. military, led by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Mark Milley has been concerned for weeks behind the scenes, no secret concerned that the President could turn to the insurrection act, and turn to marshal law that this something that they absolutely do not want to see happen.

And now we have the first Four Star General in uniform addressing what he sees concerns of the troops and leading to reassure them that the country is strong and will prevail, quite a statement. Coming as you just said as we are now seeing some political appointees resign from office. We had the Former Chief of Staff, Mick Mulvaney, who was an envoy to Ireland, he earlier today he made clear that he had resigned, that he simply could not stay, could not see a stain on the job given everything that's happened and we have also seen that Deputy National Security Advisor Matt Pottinger do the same, Erin. BURNETT: All right. Barbara, thank you very much. Of course, Mick Mulvaney very interesting because he said not only is he stepping aside but he talked to others who are not, and the only reason they are not is to prevent the President from doing more harm in the next two weeks of his - the final two weeks of his administration. So, the Washington D.C. Attorney General says Federal Law Enforcement partners, "let us down". I want to go to our Chief National Security Correspondent Anchor Jim Sciutto who is on Capitol Hill. And Jim, you've been there now seeing the difference in the law enforcement presence this morning versus what we all saw the lack of yesterday. What are you learning now? I know you literally have been seriously speaking to sources over the past 18 hours here to try to get answers.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, before I do that, I just want to put something here in the category of closing the barn door after the horse has bolted, because here's the security we're seeing now. Just in the last few minutes these trucks have started dropped off the stacks of new fencing. So they're going to put in a big new fence now. And you can see the uniformed members of the D.C. National Guard here, these particular soldiers coming from Joint Base Andrews.

Why weren't they here yesterday, Erin? Why? I mean you had a direct path from down here on the mall where the protesters, encouraged by the President, marched up here. And as you can see, made it up to what's going to be the days for the inauguration, they tore down a lot of the siding there and then entered the Capitol building. You got all the security now, why wasn't it here yesterday. And it is a gross failure of National Security. The date was circled on the calendar for week. The President encouraged them to come as you said the D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine is now assigning blame here. It's a first time we're starting to see this directly on law enforcement from his mouth, directly on Federal Law Enforcement. Have a listen to what he had to say.

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KARL RACINE, WASHINGTON DC ATTORNEY GENERAL: D.C. Law Enforcement officers, frankly they did their jobs. They went out, and afterwards they helped the Capitol police restore order and arrested folks pursuant to the curfew order that Mayor Bowser invoked. Our federal partners let us down.

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SCIUTTO: Now here is how people advising the Biden transition view this. I spoke to a National Security official advising the Biden transition. And listen to his description of what we saw yesterday in terms of the failure of security preparations. Looks like another catastrophe. You know they're coming. You know their only potential target is this date. And you didn't make plans to secure the Capitol? What are they planning to do? If they got weapons in, we could have been had dozens or hundreds of members of congress killed. How could they not have anticipated this?

Now I'm told the Biden transition would certainly be expected to do a soup to nuts investigation of how this happened, because to be clear Erin these groups haven't gone anywhere. My Producer is staying in a hotel in D.C. last night said protesters were in the lobby smoking cigars last night, why won't they arrest. Here is the statistic to keep in mind, last night there were 52 arrests in total around this protest, 26 on the Capitol grounds. Going back to the June at the height of the BLM protests here in D.C., there were 430 arrests in a single night, 88 at one protest. Why is that?

Why were those protesters allowed to walk out of the building after taking pictures at Nancy Pelosi's desk? Why is the FBI looking now for folks that had been talking about this widely on social media prior to their plans?

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This is a big national security failure. Many questions need to be answered. And the reasons you see these preparations now though, I will say Erin, these groups have not disappeared. They're still present. And the question is when do they come back?

BURNETT: Right. And of course, you've got inauguration coming back. And as you point out all kinds of questions, right, some of these selfies that people are putting out there, that some of the police appeared to have taken with protests. And there are a lot of questions that need answers. Jim thank you and Jim was speaking another administration official has resigned, Ryan Tully, Senior Director for European and Russian Affairs. He is out. We'll be right back.

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BURNETT: This morning we have learned that a growing number of Republicans and Trump cabinet members are considering having the President removed from office. Some on Capitol Hill are talking impeachment; others in the cabinet have privately discussed invoking the 25th amendment. So, I want to talk now to Steve Vladeck Professor of Law at the University of Texas, School of Law. And Steve you know more about this than anyone.

So, let me just ask you on the 25th amendment process now that we're hearing there's discussion among cabinet members, obviously fill with several acting secretaries right now. How would it actually work? If they were going to do it, how would you do it? Is it even feasible at this point?

STEVE VLADECK, PROFESSOR OF LAW, UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS SCHOOL OF LAW: Yes. I mean Erin it's feasible. The question is whether the numbers are there. And so if we assume that acting secretaries count, and there are some debate about this, but at least I can put at the better of the argument, you would need a majority of the acting secretaries plus the Vice President to submit a letter to Speaker Pelosi and leader McConnell explaining that they don't think the President is fit to serve. The President then has a right to submit a counter letter saying I'm fine. And then the same folks, Vice President Mike Pence and The Majority of the Cabinet would have to send a second letter to speaker Pelosi to leader McConnell.

It's at that point the President would be temporarily removed from power while they congress would sort it out. And Eris I think, the reason why you're hearing folk talk about it a lot today is not just the events of yesterday but the timing. Even though, a year ago the 25th amendment didn't seem viable for lots of reasons including that it would take a while, didn't seem to be that different from impeachment. Here the critical point is that while the house and senate were debating what to do about this competing letters, Mike Pence would be the acting President and I think that's why you see a lot of people gravitating toward this argument after what happened yesterday.

BURNETT: Which is interesting, and certainly to your point we should emphasize that Mike Pence essentially was running the government yesterday. He was the one who dealt with the National Guard, he was the one who talked to the leadership, he dealt with the Department of Justice I mean it was clear who was running the country. But to your point about the cabinet, Chad Wolf is the Acting Secretary for the DHS, so your point about acting Steve.

He just put out a statement, "I implore the President to strongly condemn the violence", all right, clearly calling out the President. He then added that he vowed to remain in office until January 20th, presumably for continuity, that he sees serious threats facing the country and he doesn't want to, basically, drop the ball. What do you read into that when you look at a secretary like that? I mean would that preclude Secretary Wolf from supporting the 25th amendment or not?

VLADECK: No. I mean leaving aside the question whether acting Secretary Wolf is even lawfully servicing his acting secretary, which is an open question still, no I mean Erin, I think we're seeing a little late, but finally some folks who have leverage over the President trying to use that leverage to coerce him into the right thing. And that it's become a bundled clear that he has no interest in doing the right thing on his own.

And so I think the question is going to be weather further conduct by the President, today, tomorrow, you know, in the remaining 13 days between now and the inauguration is going to incentivize acting Secretary Wolf, acting Secretary Miller at the Defense Department, Secretary Pompeo, I mean these are the people with the most influence over the President. The question is whether they're going to exercise it.

BURNETT: Right. A big question, now. All right Steve Vladeck, thank You.

VLADECK: Thank you.

COOPER: So the question, what's next? What's the next move for the Republican Party following this violent attempted coupe? Joining me now is Former Republican Congress, Charlie Dent, Congressman good to see you. Can the country handle 13 more days of President Trump?

CHARLIE DENT (R) FORMER PENNSYLVANIA CONGRESSMAN: Boy, Anderson, I answer, I don't think so. It would be merciful right now if he just simply resigned. Yes, it would be great if the cabinet would step up, better late than never. Where have they been, I guess, I mean, they just discovered now that he's unfit and we've known it for some time. So where the Republican Party goes, I think what we saw yesterday, maybe there's a foundation of new leadership.

I mean I saw Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger and Pat Toomey, Ben Sasse, Mitt Romney and others have spoken up about a future Republican Party without Donald Trump. And with this national nightmare it needs to end and out of the ashes needs to come a party that's much more socially inclusive and tolerant, one that is constructively engage on the international stage. And there has to be the national stage not all this protectionism. I think that's where we need to go and address the substantive issues. But right now, we have to get through this crisis.

COOPER: Watching the proceedings continue, I mean thank goodness, Congress reconvened, and they went ahead and did their business and didn't allow these thugs to stop democracy from moving forward. But I mean it certainly feels, even with an attack on the Capitol, you had dozens and dozens of members of congress.

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Republicans in the house and, sure, dwindling number of Senators but Ted Cruz, Hawley, Rick Scott and a couple of others, three others, continuing to push these lies and continuing to - you know - clearly they see some sort of political advantage for their future Presidential ambitions in sticking with the - you know, the President's supporters.

DENT: You would think, Anderson the two senators you just named, you know, who fancy themselves as constitutional scholars, would recognize an assault, a frontal assault on the constitutional order that the President of the United States, he sacked the mob on congress yesterday. And to see the desecration, the people, you know, running through the capitol, carrying confederate flags. I mean it is so upsetting to watch this as an American and certainly as a Republican.

I mean so I just come to the conclusion, I mean, one's ambition, that blind that they cannot see what is right before them, and how this mayhem, is, you know, shaking the foundations of our government. And, you know, they're more concerned about their political ambitions. I mean it's time to put their country first over their ambition. So, I mean, I think it's disqualifying for them if they hope to seek higher office.

COOPER: What do you think of Mick Mulvaney resigning, Stephanie Grisham one of the biggest liars when she was a spokesperson for the White House, pushing the President's agenda. Is it too little too late?

DENT: Mick Mulvaney, Anderson I got to tell you story about this. Mick and I have been friends, we know each other. I have talked to him twice since he was in the administration. During the Obama administration, I tell you what, I was running a bill at 1:00 a.m. in the morning on the appropriations for the veteran's administration. And he came down to the floor I had my hand over the microphone he said I need to talk to you immediately. And he had an amendment to make it easier to display the confederate flag at a veteran's cemetery. And he asked if I would support it, and I said this is problematic. I was getting cranky at that hour.

He said I can't believe you won't support me. I said, no, it's a problem Mick. He went to the leadership. They said you told Mick you didn't need his vote. I said it's going to pass. He came back and said I can't believe you're going to help me. I said, my district is nearly 50 miles from Gettysburg, I'm from Pennsylvania we won that war, the answer is no, OK. But I mean this is the kind of stuff, and I see the flag - the confederate flag going through the Capitol, near the plaque, where there's a beautiful flag by a big bust of Abraham Lincoln.

It's dedicated to the owner very first defender, my hometown of Allentown who answered Abraham Lincoln's call to defend the Capitol when the confederate rebelled, right at the beginning of the civil war and I sat there and I looked at that and I said this is not the America that I believe in and that so many of us believe in. So, I mean, so Mick wants to recover his reputation a little bit, I hope he can. But they all have to accept some responsibility for what happened here.

COOPER: Yes. Charlie Dent, I appreciate it. Thank you very much. The federal response to the Capitol Hill riots now under intense criticism. Now CNN has learned that the FBI and other law enforcement agencies are planning to push to make arrests and charge those who led the insurrection, in details next.

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