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CNN Live Event/Special

Congress Certifies Biden Win after Deadly Riot at U.S. Capitol; Interview with Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY); Interview with Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-IL); Facebook Extending Block on Trump's Account "Indefinitely". Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired January 07, 2021 - 11:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:00:35]

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: Hi, good morning. I'm Anderson Cooper.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm Erin Burnett.

And just in, President Trump's Former Attorney General Bill Barr speaking out and ripping the president's conduct. He just spoke to "The Associated Press" and he said Trump's actions were quote, "A betrayal of his office and supporters."

Pretty incredible thing to come out of Bill Barr, who have been such a loyal lieutenant and it comes after that last-ditch violent crusade by domestic terrorists on the Capitol yesterday to stop Joe Biden's victory from being certified.

The Democratic process though prevailed. Shocking the world this -- what we saw on the Capitol, the Vice President Pence though did oversee that yesterday making Joe Biden's win official there on Capitol Hill very early this morning, Anderson.

COOPER: A short time later, President Trump promised an orderly transfer of power, but the president's statement contained more lies about the 2020 election. Sources said it was issued at least partly to prevent more administration officials from resigning. Several including Mick Mulvaney have already announced that they're quitting in the wake of yesterday's violence some just within this last hour.

BURNETT: And meantime, sources are telling us at this hour that the president was borderline enthusiastic while he watched what was happening at the Capitol, the riots borderline enthusiastic. The rest of us, of course, felt shame, humiliation, anger.

Three people died after suffering after medical emergencies and a woman was fatally shot four dead in all. New pictures of the damage of the rioters were left behind came out this morning, images from inside the Capitol, inside offices, we are just seeing the destruction.

And this hour, the Mayor of Washington D.C. will hold a news conference on the failed law enforcement response to yesterday's violence and we're going to watch that as we get headlines from the briefing. Of course, Anderson, we're going to bring them to everyone watching.

COOPER: Yes, a lot of questions only about the D.C. police, the Capitol police, the federal law enforcement response from the Department of Homeland Security. Now the real question is whether the nation can survive 13 more days with President Trump in the White House?

A well-placed GOP source some in terms cabinet held preliminary talks about invoking the 25th Amendment to remove him from office.

CNN has reporters it's covering this huge story from every angle.

BURNETT: All right. So, I want to start with CNN's Lauren Fox live at the Capitol. Lauren, you know, just for the Former Attorney General coming out and excoriating the president for his actions, the certification process is complete where you are, Congress back in session.

Now, you know, Anderson just mentioned that there had been preliminary talks among some in the cabinet of the 25th Amendment. I just saw the first Republican Adam Kinzinger come out and say he supported the 25th Amendment.

What are you hearing about right now on the Hill about what happens next?

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL REPORTER: Well, obviously this is a very significant development, the fact that Kinzinger is saying publicly on Twitter that he does support moving forward with that 25th Amendment. And I want to read you his tweet.

He said, quote, "It's with a heavy heart I am calling for the sake of our democracy that the 25th Amendment be invoked. My statement."

And then of course he attaches a video statement of him talking a little more about why he thinks it is crucial for the country to be protected against President Donald Trump.

Now, I think one of the key questions up here is, is there just time? Remember, the Senate is gaveled out until the 19th of January, that's more than a week away from Washington. We also, of course, know that right now most calls are coming from Democrats saying that the president should either be impeached again, or they should move forward with the 25th Amendment.

That of course very different than hearing a ground swell of Republicans. That doesn't mean Republicans aren't concerned. You saw some Republicans in the certification process last night including Kelly Loeffler who just lost her race in the State of Georgia saying that she no longer last night could vote to overturn the results of the election from the State of Georgia, from the State of Pennsylvania, from the State of Arizona. That is a significant development and there were others.

You also had some Republicans meanwhile saying that they still had concerns about the state of the election. You had seven Republican Senators voting to uphold the objection to the Electoral College certification, Erin. Obviously, a party still very divided about what to do about the president. What to do about their future. Erin?

[11:05:03]

BURNETT: All right. Lauren Fox, thank you very much.

COOPER: Hours after inciting a deadly riot President Trump says there will be an orderly transition of power on the 20th. He also says that the fight isn't over.

CNN's John Harwood joins us with more. Do we know much about what is going on inside the White House at this point?

JOHN HARWOOD, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the White House is filled with disorder at the time Anderson. What is happening is the administration is collapsing in on itself. The president has even had his Twitter account taken away. He is long since abandoned the pretense of trying to do his job as president.

He's simply trying to reward his friends with ceremonial things like giving medals of freedom or substantive things like pardoning people. He may increasingly focus on trying to pardon himself and those closest to him. He lost his influence because more and more people are seeing recognizing the danger of his instability, mental illness.

You heard Lauren reporting Adam Kinzinger and more and more White House aides are choosing to resign as not to associate themselves with his dysfunction. Here's Mick Mulvaney, former White House chief of staff, more recently Special Envoy to Northern Ireland.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICK MULVANEY, RESIGNING AS U.S. ENVOY FOR NORTHERN IRELAND: I called Mike Bail last night -- to tell him that he was resigning from that. I can't do it. I can't say that those who choose to stay, I have talked to couple of them, are choosing to stay because they are concerned that the president might put someone in to replace them which could make things even worse.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HARWOOD: And is worth noting in that regard that we have reporting that more and more of the National Security officials in the government are being urged to remain in their posts to keep President Trump from doing more dangerous things in his remaining 13 days in office.

We saw the other day former Defense secretaries in both parties issue a warning letter against concern that the president might pose some sort of National Security threat, a threat to American democracy and that recognition, I think, is meant to signal to the parts of the government that remain, especially the civilian, civil servants within the government, to try to stay on their jobs and prevent the president from doing damage in the last 13 days.

COOPER: John Harwood, appreciate it. Thanks.

Moments ago, Republican House Member Congressman Adam Kinzinger with this statement, "It's with a heavy heart I am calling for the sake of our democracy that the 25th Amendment be invoked." He is the first sitting Republican member of Congress to make this statement.

With me now, Republican Congressman Tom Reed of New York. He was inside the U.S. Capitol yesterday. Congressman Reed, you wrote on Twitter that what you saw was "Mob rule that spat upon the blood of my father." Walk us through exactly what you mean, what you saw?

REP. TOM REED (R-NY): So obviously what I saw yesterday was something that brought tears to my eyes. My heart was broken. In America as we were going through the transition of power folks stormed the Capitol and engaged in mob rule and rather than -- what my father shed blood as a 20-year current military officer to preserve the Constitution in Europe and Korea and fight for the Constitution in our country. I saw not being honored.

I will tell you, last night democracy won. Democracy won. Not the mob rule. And that's what I come here today with this message that as I was disheartened yesterday, I am reinvigorated today that America is going to be strong and we are going to get through this together and on January 20th President Biden will be our president.

COOPER: You know, many of the people who or some of the people who stormed the Capitol yesterday, they were followers of QAnon conspiracy theory, there is now a serving member of Congress, Republican, who is a QAnon conspiracy theorist who has been praised by the president as the future of the Republican Party, future star of the Republican Party. What needs to happen in the Republican Party moving forward?

REED: You know, as I'm a proud Republican. And I went on the floor of the House yesterday to the Democratic side is what we need to do is put our ideas. And we need to win the hearts and minds of the American people. And I will tell you, if colleagues in the Republican Party want to embrace those more extreme ideologies that's their right. That is their right to embrace that ideology. But I will reject that.

I will offer a competing vision for what I believe should be the Republican Party of tomorrow and that's a Republican Party based on the power of the people and the power not that the government is going to guarantee you outcome in life that is positive but that you have an opportunity - that you have an opportunity to succeed on your own merits.

COOPER: Is the Republican Party still the party of Trump? That's what the Donald Trump Jr. said yesterday morning in front of this mob that this is Trump's Republican Party and has certainly seen that way over the last four years.

REED: I think the Republican Party is a broad party.

[11:10:00]

I will tell you I have been proud to be a Republican Party since Ronald Reagan and I watched that sea of red across the country on that election night and that's when I became a Republican Party.

I'm a Ronald Reagan Republican. And I will tell you, it is not one individual president, it is not one. It is not President Trump. It is not President Reagan. It is an ideology that we believe in.

And all we have to do is lead with it and what we have to does it embrace it and people want to corrupt it. We challenge them and say that's not the party or that's not what we stand for and we put it up against the Democratic side and who ultimately makes the decision and that's the beauty of America is the people.

COOPER: A lot of people, who saw, watched what happened yesterday and compared it to -- from the police response and the police preparations to demonstrations that had taken place this summer by Black Lives Matter and other organizations.

Do you see a discrepancy, a double standard in the preparations that were made and even frankly the treatment of some of these terrorists who attacked? There weren't a ton of arrests yesterdays. A lot of people were just allowed to leave and wander off.

REED: We have a competing issue on the Capitol all the time. We are the people's House. We try to keep it open. That is something in democracy that we are proud of and we see it all the time.

But at the end of the day, what should happen is those people that came on to the House floor that came in to the Senate chamber, who came into the Capitol, mob rule and broke and damaged they need to be held to account.

Justice needs to be done to those individuals and I will tell you what -- whenever mob rule occurs whenever violence occurs, accountability is what we should unite as Democrats and Republicans to condemn. But at the end of the day, we also need to respect folks' right to protest and that is American also.

And at the end of the day, I think we'll get back to those principles that violence is not the solution and the ability to persuade and debate is an American principle we can all be proud of.

COOPER: Congressman Reed, I appreciate your time. Thank you.

REED: Thank you Anderson.

BURNETT: All right. And coming up, we are just learning Facebook is extending restrictions on President Trump's account indefinitely. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg issuing a statement moment ago saying the risks are quote, "Simply too great." We have more on that next.

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[11:16:45]

BURNETT: Republican Congressman Adam Kinzinger moments ago saying this. I quote him.

"It's with a heavy heart I am calling for the sake of our democracy that the 25th Amendment be invoked."

And he joins me now on the phone. Congressman, literally as we were coming out of this commercial break, I am watching your video in full.

You say with heavy heart. Tell us how you came to this decision that you are ready to make this move?

REP. ADAM KINZINGER (R-IL) (via telephone): Yes. Look, this isn't easy obviously. But you know as I woke up this morning, you know, I went to bed pondering this question at 3:00 a.m. and woke up this morning and saw that even some members of Congress are continuing to try to push now conspiracy narratives that in fact it wasn't Trump supporters that stormed the Capitol.

And we just came to realize you know the 25th Amendment has been voluntarily invoked in the past as presidents gone under anesthesia and it was created to ensure that the government could continue to function. And for the next two weeks, we in essence have a president that seems unmoored from reality.

We are getting indications of staff leaving in droves and I think just for the sake and survival of this moment it is far bigger than politics and the 25th Amendment putting Vice President Pence in charge until the president can lead again which obviously in a short amount of time probably will not happen is the right thing to do for our democracy.

BURNETT: So, you have not been afraid to say what you think, to stand up to people you know you talk about the baseless conspiracy theories. You've called it out from the beginning, Congressman. But this isn't easy to do to be sort of a first one out of the gate. Have you talked to any of your Republican colleagues? What are they saying to you?

KINZINGER: Yes. I mean, I have talked. I don't know if I'll end up standing alone or if others will join me. That obviously doesn't come into my -- you know my cross-check on that but I certainly hope that others at least hear what I'm saying and put aside the political moment and realize, you know, that history will never judge how we did in the politics but it will judge how we did in managing the people's business.

And yesterday, when the president seemed to stir people up at a rally when he tweeted after the occupation of the Capitol things that were obviously meant not to fully stop this from happening it became quite obvious that he is not -- he cannot be in the position to protect the American people Republicans, Democrats, everybody in between and outside on the extreme. That is his job. That is our job.

BURNETT: And you know, when he put out that statement, well, Dan Scavino put it out on his behalf right because he is banned from Twitter you know still standing by that the election was stolen but that he was supported an orderly transition of power. Obviously, that is way too little too late doesn't add up to you. Do you see any others though trying to use that as an excuse to stand by here?

KINZINGER: Yes, look. I see, you know like I said, I've seen you know one particular member of Congress, I don't like to get in the business of calling out alone, but who has a pretty viral tweet with quote/unquote evidence of this is actually Antifa. And you know it's the same kind of stuff that we have been dealing with when it comes to even the quote/unquote evidence of a stolen election.

[11:20:00]

All it is debunked but the accusation is what catches fire and there's so much information that people don't know what to believe. The bottom line is this everybody I think would feel safer if Mike Pence was at the helm for two weeks. It is not a political decision. May be a really bad political decision for me. But that doesn't come into account at all because I have sworn on an oath twice both as a military officer and as a member of Congress and I take that seriously.

BURNETT: Congressman Kinzinger, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much.

KINZINGER: Thank you. You bet.

COOPER: Also breaking this morning, Facebook restrictions on President Trump's account will continue at least the next two weeks and perhaps indefinitely according to Facebook.

Joining me now with more CNN's chief media correspondent Brian Stelter. Brian, I'm not sure if Facebook has done this to any other major leader in the world but certainly it's quite stunning.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it is unprecedented. I saw a tech reporter on Twitter just now saying that the dam is finally breaking, whether that's regarding the 25th Amendment or now Facebook's action.

Here's the statement from Mark Zuckerberg explaining this decision saying, "We believe the risks of allowing the president to continue to use our service during this period are simply too great. Therefore, we are extending the block we have placed on his Facebook and Instagram accounts indefinitely and for at least the next two weeks until the peaceful transfer of power is complete."

Let's just think about what that means?

Facebook, one of the biggest companies in the world, is afraid that the outgoing president will use its platforms to continue to incite violence and riots. And so, it is taking away his megaphone. That is an extraordinary step. Many people will say this is too little too late that Facebook should have done this months ago.

When Trump talked about -- looting starts, the shooting starts Trump has posted other incendiary tweets and basically posts in the past but finally these tech companies are stepping up. We know that he has been blocked on Twitter for 12 hours. We don't know exactly when that Twitter block will end and what Twitter will do to enforce its rules. But we know he only as more strike on Twitter.

We are seeing Corporate America take extraordinary steps, Anderson, to try to protect the public from the president.

COOPER: What's also stunning is Corporate America is taking steps that the U.S. government is not actually taking. I mean, Vice President Pence --

STELTER: It's not taking.

COOPER: --the cabinet.

STELTER: That's right.

COOPER: The Facebook has been more aggressive, and Twitter has been more aggressive in the last 12 hours and 24 hours than, you know the cabinet of the United States and there's talk that some have been discussing the 25th Amendment. That could be done. It could be done quickly.

STELTER: We have just heard from the CEO of AT&T, CNN's parent company. Again, one of the biggest companies in the world.

AT&T CEO John Stankey saying, "We applaud all those who stood strong to thwart an appalling insurrection bent on blocking the peaceful transfer of power." He went on to say, "Freedom, democracy and rule of law are America's bedrock."

These are basic statements CEOs are making them of Fortune 500 companies. We've seen associations call for the president's removal from office. You're right, this is one of those cases where companies are actually leading the way in some regards.

COOPER: Also, you have been following QAnon as much as anybody and reporting on it. You know we're seeing a number of the people involved yesterday were QAnon conspiracy theorists and this is the danger of these ridiculous conspiracy theories actually ending up with real-life violent action.

STELTER: That's right. Tech platforms had responsibility. I had to take my daughter. I'm sitting here at home Anderson. I had to take my daughter's iPad away because she ended up on a crazy some conspiracy YouTube channel today. These platforms say they're trying to do the right thing including Facebook, but they have still more they need to do.

I think what we are seeing in this country is a poisoning of many millions of minds. QAnon is a big example of this. Jeffrey Goldberg of "The Atlantic" said it really well this morning. What happened in Washington was a mass delusion event. It is not just a security failure. It is a failure of us understand how deeply these lies are penetrating the psyche of our fellow Americans. It is a delusion and perhaps a word we start using is the word cult.

COOPER: And that's still out there, the delusion. Brian Stelter, appreciate it. Thanks.

Coming up, a lot more this morning at least seven members of the Trump Administration have now resigned today. Their concerns others or there is belief that others in critical positions may also step down.

Coming up next, we'll talk to a former adviser to Vice President Pence.

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[11:29:15]

BURNETT: At least seven members of the Trump Administration are resigning from their roles effective immediately and there could be more resignations coming. Some top aides reportedly considering quitting in the wake of the president's violence inducing actions.

With me now, former adviser to Mike Pence and former homeland security official, Olivia Troye. You know we heard you know Representative Kinzinger just talking a few moments ago now supporting the 25th Amendment. The first Republican in Congress to do so.

I want to start with these resignations though Olivia and all the people you're talking to, so many of these coming from National Security. What are you hearing? Are there going to be more?

OK. It is not just me. I'm sorry. I can see your lips moving, Olivia, but I can't hear you. So, let's give her a second to see if she can fix it.

OLIVIA TROYE, FORMER HOMELAND SECURITY OFFICIAL: (INAUDIBLE)

You got it. You got it.

TROYE: There you go.

BURNETT: It's good. I'm sorry. So, go ahead. I know you heard my question but again, are there more resignations coming?