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Horrifying Video Shows Police Officer Being Crushed By Mob; House Dems On Track To Introduce Article Of Impeachment Monday; Key Lawmaker: 180 Co-Signers To Charge Of Inciting Insurrection; Lawmaker On The Terror As Pro-Trump Mob Stormed The Capitol; Manhunt Intensifies For Capitol Rioters; Sources Say Mike Pence To Attend Biden Inauguration; The Risk Of Releasing All COVID Vaccine Doses. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired January 09, 2021 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:00]

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We reached out several times to the Washington DC metropolitan police and the police union as well as the Capitol Hill police for more information on the officer in question and his current condition. They didn't get back to us. Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Yes, all those other rioters who did what they did to this police officer and the others, they should be identified. There's video of all of them, there's pictures of all of them, they should be picked up and they should be arrested for what they did. It's outrageous and unacceptable here in the United States of America and we wish this police officer only - only the best. Brian Todd, thank you very much for that report.

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

BLITZER: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. This is a Special Edition of THE SITUATION ROOM and we have breaking news on the urgent push by House Democrats right now to punish President Trump for his role in the deadly capitol riot.

Tonight, the co-author of a new impeachment resolution tells me, it's on track to be introduced on Monday which would be just nine days before the end of Trump's term. We're told 180 maybe 185 House Democrats already are co-sponsoring the articles impeachment, charging the President of the United States with inciting insurrection against the American people.

The White House is now bracing for a second impeachment. Sources say President Trump is considering Rudy Giuliani and Alan Dershowitz to serve on his potential legal defense team. Also breaking right now, at least 18 capitol riot suspects, they are facing federal criminal charges and that includes a man seeing carrying Speaker Pelosi's lectern as well as another who wore a bearskin headdress during this insurrection. Let's go to our Chief Political Correspondent Dana Bash who's standing by. Dana, so what are you hearing from your sources about how this impeachment effort will actually play out and how quickly? DANA BASH, CHIEF POLITICAL CNN CORRESPONDENT: Very quickly. As quickly

as they possibly can do it. In fact on Monday, that is the day that we're likely going to see this one article of impeachment as you said. It is to - it is about incitement of insurrection. That is the day that it will be formally introduced and we could see a vote in the House of Representatives by mid-week.

Those details, I'm told by several House democratic sources are still being worked out. The leadership of course, starting at the top with Nancy Pelosi is still trying to finalize that because they also are going to put something forward first, talking about the 25th Amendment but they understand that that is in the hands of the cabinet and the Vice President.

The point that they want to make and they have been making rhetorically but will do so in a much more formal way next week on the - on the floor of the House is the President should resign. He should be forced out by his cabinet and if not, it is up to the Congress to do that.

Listen to what Congressman Ted Lieu, Democrat of California said describing this process.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. TED LIEU (D-CA): All of us including speaker Pelosi would prefer that Donald Trump simply do the right thing and resign or that Vice President Pence actually show some spine at least for himself and his own family and invoke the 25th Amendment. If none of that happens, then on Monday we will introduce the article of impeachment which is incitement to insurrection and we do expect a for vote, this coming week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: And that same congressman says that they now have over 190 co- sponsors or co-signers on to this single article of impeachment and it was just a year ago that President Trump faced the first set of votes on at this very issue. The House voted to impeach him and then it went to trial in the Senate.

So one of the questions first and foremost of course is going to be whether or not the House Democrats have enough votes. Democrats, I talked to feel that they are pretty confident even though some Democrats who are from you know moderate districts may not want to go that far.

There could be some Republicans who cross party lines and say we experience this, enough is enough, there is no question that the president committed an impeachable offense. That as I was starting to say, it has to go to the Senate for a trial after the president is impeached assuming he is.

Mitch McConnell, the now Senate Majority Leader soon to be Senate minority leader says that if that happens, it's going to happen after Joe Biden is already president so you might wonder why would you vote to impeach a president after he's already gone and the answer is because along with impeachment comes a ban from ever running for office again.

BLITZER: Yes, that ban would be significant especially if Trump is thinking of running in 2024. All right Dana, stand by. I'm going to get back to you in a moment. I want to go to the White House. Right now there's some more breaking news on President Trump's response to the very real threat of a second impeachment.

He would be the first president in American history to be impeached twice. White House correspondent Jeremy Diamond is joining us. President already thinking, I take it about a legal defense team. What are you hearing Jeremy?

[19:05:00]

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right Wolf. It is increasingly likely that President Trump will be the first president to be impeached not once but twice and so president Trump is beginning to think about what a Senate impeachment trial would look like and who would defend him and two sources are now telling me that the president is expected to be represented by his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani should there be a Senate impeachment trial.

And then he's also looking at hiring Alan Dershowitz, the controversial civil liberties and constitutional attorney to also represent him in that potential Senate impeachment trial. He won't however be represented we're told by Jay Sekulow or Pat Cipollone, the White House counsel or Jamie Raskin who represented the president during that first impeachment trial.

But Wolf, we need to talk about these moments where the president is because he is perhaps at his weakest, most vulnerable point in his presidency, increasingly isolated by the resignations within his own administration but also by these calls for his resignation by - including by some Republican lawmakers over on Capitol Hill.

And the President now also facing losing his Twitter account, with Twitter banning him late last night, leaving him without this avenue that he has had to vent and also to misinform his legions of supporters across the country.

The President though isn't doing must reflecting on his role in inciting that mob that rioted on Capitol Hill just a few days ago. Instead, Wolf, the president is having second thoughts about this and that is that video that he recorded after pressure from some his own advisers in which he conceded that he will not be president after January 20 and in which he called for healing and reconciliation.

Pretty remarkable that that is the thing that the president is having second thoughts about.

BLITZER: You know Jeremy, there also some new reports, very disturbing reports about how far President Trump actually went to try to overturn the election results in Georgia which were certified by the Republican governor, the Republican Secretary of State. What happened? DIAMOND: That's right Wolf. We saw the U.S. attorney for the Northern

District of Georgia. His name is Byung Pak and he resigned suddenly on Monday and now the Wall Street Journal is reporting that that resignation came up because of pressure from the White House.

White House officials directed a senior justice department official to call Pak and demand that he resign because President Trump was unhappy with his efforts to investigate voter fraud in the state of Georgia and not only that but President Trump didn't allow Pak's deputy to take over as the Acting U.S. attorney.

Instead, hand-picking the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Georgia to take over in that acting capacity but of course that's not all we know the President Trump has done in the state of Georgia. We learned last week of course of that call that he made to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, demanding that he find votes to help him flip the election that he lost in that state of Georgia.

And we've also learned today that the president also called the Secretary of State's top investigator who was investigating allegations of voter fraud in that state and asked him to not to find the votes but to find evidence of voter fraud and he told him that he would be a national hero if indeed he did so.

All pretty remarkable to see these efforts by the president to overturn an election he lost.

BLITZER: Yes, so - so awful. All right Jeremy, thank you very much. Jeremy Diamond's over at the White House. I want to bring back Dana along with our political commentator Michael Smerconish and CNN's Chief Media Correspondent Brian Stelter.

Michael, impeachment is typically a very deliberate process that usually takes weeks and weeks. Trial takes weeks and weeks but the House could potentially impeach the president within a week or so. Impeach him for insurrection. Do you think that speed in these final 11 days is warranted?

MICHAEL SMERCONISH, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I have no doubt that the House votes exist for impeachment but I'm very dubious as to whether there could be a conviction in the Senate and I think I would explain it this way Wolf. If the two of us as friends would have a beer tonight and you were to ask me Michael, do you think that the president because what happened on Wednesday, my answer would be yes.

My answer would be that through the totality of his words and actions in the last two months but especially on Wednesday right before those events went down by the Capitol, I think that he did bring it on but Wolf, if you were to ask me as a lawyer, is this a high crime or misdemeanor, I would have a different answer.

I would reflect on a case called Brandenburg from the late sixties or early seventies. A Supreme Court case that involved the clan where the standard was did the individual, the defendants specifically advocate unlawful conduct and that's less clear. So while I find culpability on the part of the president outside of a courtroom, I think it's a far different standard inside the courtroom.

And I'm not sure if they look at the law because things are very emotional right now and this might be a decision based on emotion and not based on facts and the law.

[19:10:00]

But I have my questions as to whether a conviction could be obtained.

BLITZER: Interesting. You know Brian, you know the president clearly lost yesterday his favorite social media platform, we're talking about Twitter. How's he going to respond to that as his presidency is drawing to a close while facing potentially another impeachment.

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Well, that's right most of his ways of communicating with the public have been taken away. They've been stripped away so as this impeachment process moves forward, he is without most of his megaphones. Of course he still does have the White House podium, the briefing room, those traditional forms of communication.

But in some ways Wolf, it's as if corporate America, technology firms have taken a stronger step than the House and the Senate. You know we've heard a lot of bluster, a lot of promises from House Democrats. They say they're going to get around to this process next week.

I think a lot of Americans are saying, well, you know we've seen crimes committed in the past few days. The president is MIA. He seems to be in a bunker, he is not communicating with the country and in that environment, we've seen these technology companies take away his ability to incite further violence and that's as we said before an extraordinary step.

The country's been through an extremely traumatic period in the past few days. Not only Trump is missing, Vice President Pence is missing from the picture. We've barely heard from the vice-president, we've barely heard from the cabinet members. Who's in charge? I think it's a fair question to ask right now.

BLITZER: Well, it is a fair question indeed. You know Dana, unlike the last impeachment a year or so ago, the president no longer has his social media megaphone. No Twitter, no Instagram, no Facebook. Could that be the difference between keeping Republicans in line and potentially losing significant support from his own party.

BASH: It could be. You know it is, I'm not overstating it and I'm sure you've heard the same Wolf from Republicans to say that - that there have been instances more than we can count, where they would have spoken out against something that the president did or said that was inexcusable, untoward, you know pick the way you describe it but they didn't because they didn't want to get tweeted at.

I mean as lame as that sounds, as you know lacking courage as that sounds, that's the reality and that has been going on for all this time. You know unfortunately for the - for the body politic and for society everything that the president has done to sow seeds of doubt about the election and also kind of get - foment not just protest but obviously violence, that's already out there.

That genie can't be put back in the bottle but when it comes to targeting specific members, I do think it's different. If I may just comment about what Michael said about a high crime and misdemeanor. I know Michael, you're a lawyer and you know this that the impeachment process isn't in a court of law and you mention this and it is a political process when you're talking about impeachment and what is so different about this than the Ukraine or anything else that we've seen is that it happened to these lawmakers.

They are people who would be part of a trial if it goes to trial but also in some ways victims, witnesses and victims to what happened and so it is so unusual and it is so emotional and you can't take the emotion out of that, never mind the fact that a lot of these members of Congress think that the president really was involved not just inciting violence but treasonous activity.

BLITZER: Yes Michael, I want you to discuss that but I also want you to listen to this. This is the President of the United States only minutes before those - that angry mob, they left that rally near the White House, walked up Pennsylvania Avenue to Capitol Hill. This is the President of United States. Listen to what he told his supporters just before this insurrection and listen there to one particular word, over and over again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD J. TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Now we're out here fighting. He's got guts, he fights. He fights. They're out there fighting the House guys are fighting. You have to get your people to fight and if they don't fight we have to primary the hell out of the ones that don't fight. We're going to have to fight much harder. I fight, they fight, they fight pop pop, we fight.

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

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So in retrospect Michael, does it seem obvious that his supporters would actually take you know all that, those words fight and showing them boxing as a call to action?

SMERCONISH: Wolf, on my own program this morning and I know you often get a chance to watch, I went through the TikTok.

BLITZER: I watched this morning.

[19:15:00]

SMERCONISH: And I established the case for culpability so this may sound contrary to what I said this morning, it's not. In the court of public opinion, I believe he lit that fuse. I'm just suggesting and Dana is absolutely right in saying that it's literally not a legal proceeding but nevertheless, it would be a different standard that would apply if the Senate were to conduct a trial in this case. And frankly Dana makes an excellent point in saying you know the

victims in this instance were some of the very individuals who would sit in judgment. I can anticipate an Alan Dershowitz in litigating this case on behalf of the president telling them that they need to recuse themselves because it wouldn't be fair for them to pass judgment because they were victimized in this case.

I'm simply suggesting it's complicated but in my gut, do I believe he's at fault, abso-blanking-lutely.

BLITZER: You know Brian, is there anything at all the president and his lawyers, let's say after he leaves office as a private citizen can do to get back on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram and some of the other social media posts.

STELTER: There's really not a formal kind of appeal process so the megaphone's been taken away. It's not going to come back. That's going to have consequences for the president's business, for his commercial interests. You know unfortunately, on these platform lies continue to spread. All day long, there's been the viral post Wolf, that says Hey, if you were at the Capitol, Trump wants to pardon you.

He's going to pardon all these people who committed crimes at the Capitol. Of course, we have no indication that that's any plan. The DOJ has just come out and said that is not a real social media post. Do not believe and that is real and that unfortunately Wolf, these lies are so delicious and people - some people prefer fictions over facts.

And that problem that treacherous ground we're on, that's not going away when Trump leaves the Oval Office. Unfortunately, I think this environment, this war on truth environment is something that is so poisonous and it's going to be with us long after the Trump years, whether Trump gets on Facebook or not, whether he gets back on YouTube or not, there are going to be these environments for mis and disinformation and frankly. That's bigger than impeachment.

It's bigger than the Trump years. I think that the number one priority right now needs to be, how can this country - how can the authorities in this country try to avoid further acts of violence between now and January 20? I'm very concerned about state Capitols. Look what we saw in Kentucky today with the militia showing up in Kentucky.

That may continue for the next 10-11-12 days and that's going to have to be the real priority right now.

BLITZER: Yes, it's a real serious threat and I know law enforcement, not just here in Washington, National Guard all over the country, they're bracing. They're getting ready. They're watching all of this so closely as we get closer and closer to January 20. Brian, thank you. Michael Smerconish, I watch "SMERCONISH" every Saturday morning 9 AM eastern.

It's really excellent, excellent.

BASH: Makes sure we're all smarter. BLITZER: Yes and we are always smarter after we listen to Smerconish

for an hour every Saturday morning.

SMERCONISH: Thank you.

BLITZER: And we also listen now to Brian every Sunday morning on Reliable Sources, airs at 11 AM eastern every Sunday morning. Best media program on television. We watch it regularly. Guys, thank you very, very much.

Just ahead, could the rush to impeach President Trump again potentially backfire on Democrats? I'll speak live Representative Abigail Spanberger. We'll discuss that and more. There she is. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Tonight, key House Democrats say they're on track to introduce an article of impeachment against President Trump on Monday, charging him with inciting the insurrection at the U.S. capitol. Let's discuss with Rep. Abigail Spanberger, Democrat of Virginia.

She was in the House chamber when rioters stormed the building. Let me quickly ask you, are you OK? How did it go for you personally? How scared were you?

REP. ABIGAIL SPANBERGER (D-VA): Thank you for having me on Wolf and thank you for focusing on this insurrection and making sure that every viewer has the ability to see the photos and hear some of the stories. I was in the House chamber. We were of course there to perform our constitutional duty of recognizing the electoral results of the 2020 election.

Things escalated very, very quickly. It became clear that there had been insurrectionists who had breached the Capitol, who had entered the building. They put the chamber on lockdown. Very quickly I said to the colleagues who were around me, take your pins off, you know we wear these congressional pins to identify ourselves throughout the Capitol.

But when there are potential terrorists about you certainly don't want to be identified as the member of Congress, potentially their targets. From there, there were reports that chemical irritants had been deployed so we got out our gas masks and ready to try and find an escape route.

The folks who were on the floor of the House were able to evacuate out in relative quick order. Those of us who were on the gallery were there for about 45 minutes longer, crawling between chairs, over bars to get to a place where we could evacuate but to me, one of the most searing memories that I have of that day was when Capitol police officers began stocking up benches and tables in front of the main entrance to the floor because there were rioters, insurrectionists, other Americans who were seeking to do harm and damage to the United States Capitol, to our democracy overall.

Who were banging on the doors, breaking the glass, trying to get through and the frantic and focused efforts of those police officers trying to ensure that everyone got out of there OK is the most compelling memory that I have of that afternoon.

BLITZER: Yes and you used to work at the CIA so you you're familiar with what has been going on in third world countries and in despotic regimes. Did you ever think you would be in danger? Your colleagues would be in danger? Young staffers would be in danger, not from foreign terrorists but from domestic terrorists who were storming the United States capitol?

SPANBERGER: So Wolf, you made the perfect distinction. I am always you know focused on what threats exist in the world.

[19:25:00]

That's my background as a former CIA officer. Certainly we know the United States Capitol has been a target in the past. It was on 911 when brave Americans on Flight 93 chose to sacrifice themselves rather than see the heart of democracy attacked and yet on the 6th, what we saw were our fellow Americans displeased with the results of an election, spun up by conspiracy theories, lied to by people who grift and shame and benefit frankly from these lies including the president, the Commander-in-Chief.

We saw those fellow Americans attack the United States Capitol, attack the heart of our democracy on a day when we were holding a joint session of Congress resulting in the death of the capitol police officer and a National Guard veteran along with four other individuals.

While I've always known that there were some security challenges and potentially the Capitol could be a target, the idea that it would be a target of seditionist insurrectionists, terrorists fellow Americans is the part that is most shocking and deeply, deeply heart-breaking to me.

BLITZER: You say it's now necessary for every member of Congress to take further action in your words to defend our democracy. Your fellow Democrat Congressman Ted Lieu, he told CNN that there will be some House Republicans who support the impeachment of President Trump.

What's your message to your Republican colleagues who are weighing whether or not they should support this effort?

SPANBERGER: So I think what's truly sad here is the reason impeachment is even up for discussion is because we do not see my - frankly my Republican colleagues stepping forward either quietly and privately or publicly and there are some, there are there are exceptions urging the president to resign.

Nixon was never impeached and he was never impeached because principled Republicans who recognized what he had done wrong put the good of the country first and wanted to ensure that that man did not stay in the presidency.

They urged him to resign and he did and so right now we're only talking about impeachment because Republicans in the House of Representatives and the United States Senate, Republicans who know that he is unfit to serve are not - in groups or not - en masse calling on this president to resign either publicly or privately, calling on the vice president either publicly or privately to invoke the 25th Amendment.

And we must pursue any option necessary to protect our democracy. It is most regretful to me that it is not happening through the resignation of an unfit president who would provoke an insurrectionist attack but if it is not through his resignation, if it is not through the 25th amendment, then I do believe that we are left no choice but to file articles of impeachment.

BLITZER: And very quickly before I let you go, Representative Spanberger, our Manu Raju, our congressional correspondent, he's getting some new information right now that you and other members of Congress have already been notified that you will be getting increased security, especially at airports after what we saw with Senator Lindsey Graham when he was walking through Reagan national airport here the other day and he had security fortunately but a crowd was screaming at him, yelling at him, traitor - traitor - traitor.

Mitt Romney, senator from Utah also faced a similar situation at the airport. Tell us about this notification you got that you will be getting additional security given the awful situation.

SPANBERGER: So you know there's been some circumstances that have been broadcast widely on other colleagues - is traveling just you know person to person told me the story that he would confronted in the airport by people, a crowd of about 30.

People who were heckling and yelling, making all sorts of accusations and you know the work of members of Congress is to travel back and forth. We live in our districts and the places we represent, the places we're raising our families, where in many cases, we grew up and we travel back and forth to Washington.

And for the majority of members of Congress, that is on airplanes and so this is their commute to work and the idea that people are being heckled and we've seen some videos of it. I'm aware of other circumstances where it occurred rather aggressively and quite dangerous you know frankly.

What - what the notification we received is that, we should make sure that airport security is aware of our travel itinerary.

[19:30:00]

SPANBERGER: My understanding is there will be some level of an escort upon arrival to the airport. I think that will vary a bit, airport to airport. It is still a preliminary first step. But unfortunately, you know, many of my colleagues and I'm a

Virginian, so I do not fly back and forth to Washington, D.C. Many of my colleagues actually speak so positively of the time that they bump into constituents in the airport or the time that they see people and they're able to connect and have those really human moments in, you know, whether people agree with them or not, but these recent tensions are just at a fever pitch that are absolutely dangerous, and we're seeing it, you know, readily across the country.

BLITZER: As I keep saying, hard to believe this is all happening here in the United States of America.

Representative Spanberger. Be careful out there. Thanks so much for joining us. Stay safe.

SPANBERGER: Thank you so much, Wolf.

BLITZER: Just ahead, the manhunt for the rioters. It's a nationwide manhunt right now as more suspects are arrested. We are learning the F.B.I. is asking questions about New York City firefighters who may also -- get this -- they may have been involved in those riots as well. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:35:36]

BLITZER: To breaking news we're following. The F.B.I. nationwide, looking into allegations that active or retired members of the New York City Fire Department may have been at the U.S. Capitol on the day of the riot. I want to bring in our crime and justice correspondent Shimon Prokupecz.

So Shimon, update our viewers are what you're learning.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE REPORTER: Yes. So the FDNY telling CNN that the F.B.I. came to them today seeking information about retired members or current members who may have been at the Capitol. The F.B.I. saying they received anonymous allegations and based on those allegations, they went to the Fire Department to ask for this information. The FDNY complied and they handed over that information. That is in New York.

This investigation, Wolf, is going on all over the country. From Hawaii to Arkansas, many places outside of Washington, D.C. where so many who were inside the Capitol during this entire mob attack, they are looking for them and it stretches all across the country.

Some of the people the F.B.I. has already taken into custody are well known. These are photos we have seen. One person that they have arrested a man by the name of Adam Johnson. He was seen inside the Capitol carrying on his side there, you can see Pelosi's lectern. He was taken into custody by the F.B.I.

Another individuals was wearing this ridiculous outfit with the horns over his head, a man by the name of Jacob Anthony Chansley, he was arrested by the F.B.I. The F.B.I. interviewing him, and they say that he told them that he came to Washington, D.C. at the request of the President, that the President wanted the Patriots to come and that is why he came here -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Shimon, thanks for very much for the update. We know the F.B.I. has this nationwide manhunt underway right now. A lot of closed circuit video cameras up on the Capitol, so they have pictures, they have names. They're going after these individuals. There are going to be a lot more arrests.

Thanks very much, Shimon for that report.

I want to bring in former Republican Senator and now CNN political commentator, Jeff Flake. Senator, thanks so much for joining us.

The President, he is urging his supporters to come -- he was urging his supporters, as you know, before this riot developed to fight the election results. He directed them to march up to the Capitol after the speech. He told them, and I'm quoting now, "We love you. You're very special." Do you believe this amounts to an impeachable offense?

JEFF FLAKE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Oh, yes, I believe it is. Given the timing, though, I don't believe that there's time, obviously for the House -- the House can do it quickly enough, but for the Senate to have a trial, I don't believe that that will happen.

And my fear is that the House will impeach again, the Senate won't indict. The President is already removed from office by that point and the President takes some badge of honor from this, that this doesn't diminish him in the eyes of his supporters. Whereas now, I think he is quite diminished, and so I don't want to see this go forward.

BLITZER: It's interesting. We're just getting this in from our Kaitlan Collins, our White House correspondent, and I'll be very precise and I want your reaction, Senator, Vice President Mike Pence will attend the inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden, according to a source. CNN's Jim Acosta and Sarah Westwood, they reported on Thursday that Pence was planning to attend the inauguration, but was waiting for an invitation.

President Trump announced on Twitter before his account was suspended, he would not be attending the inauguration. What's your reaction to the fact that this President won't be attending but the Vice President will?

FLAKE: Well, this is par for the course. Obviously, Joe Biden had quite the reaction saying that's the one thing that they agree on. I think it's a shame that you don't have a President welcoming the new President. But given the circumstances, I don't think anybody expected the President to be there.

I'm glad that Mike Pence will and that speaks well for him. He has obviously broken with the President in the last couple of days and that speaks well for him. It will be good for the country to have Mike Pence there.

BLITZER: Yes, it will be, indeed, January, 20th, 11 days from now.

Republican Senator Ben Sasse, a man you know well says he will consider impeachment. Senator Toomey and other republicans says he does believe the President committed impeachable offenses. Lisa Murkowski and other Republican senators calling on the President to resign. What advice would you give to your fellow Republicans in Congress right now?

[19:40:18]

FLAKE: Well, like I said, what I don't want to see is for another impeachment to happen without a conviction. And given that the President will already be removed, by this time, by the time the Senate gets to the trial, I simply don't think it will happen. And I think that that will probably, for the President, you know, give him a boost, frankly, in the eyes of many of his supporters.

So if you're going to go through with impeachment, make sure you're going to convict as well, and then also have a bar for never running for office again. But I'm very concerned that we'll have an impeachment, but no conviction.

BLITZER: Former Republican Senator Jeff Flake, now a CNN political commentator, thanks very much for joining us, and welcome to CNN by the way.

FLAKE: You bet.

BLITZER: Appreciate it very much.

FLAKE: Glad to be here.

BLITZER: Just ahead, will a fight over impeaching President Trump derail President-elect Joe Biden's plans for getting his own presidency off to a quick start.

Plus, as COVID-19 cases are surging and vaccinations are lagging, Biden's advisers are considering changing the priorities for who gets to the front of the line for a shot. We have new information and we'll update you when we come back.

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[19:45:04]

BLITZER: Breaking news. House Democrats are firmly on track to introduce a single Article of Impeachment on Monday charging the President of the United States with inciting insurrection against the American people.

So far, President-elect Biden has been sidestepping questions about impeachment. He waved at reporters on his way to and from church earlier this afternoon, but did not take reporters' questions.

CNN's Athena Jones is covering the transition for us in Delaware. Athena, is Biden trying to put the actual brakes on the push to impeach?

ATHENA JONES, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Wolf. President- elect Biden isn't putting on the brakes in any sort of public way, but neither is he, you know, banging the drum for impeachment. And there are two competing themes here. One is holding President Trump accountable for inciting that attack on the Capitol on Wednesday; the other is healing and bringing the country together and unifying the country is one of the central themes of Biden's argument all along during the election.

So it's clear that he is not eager to add his voice to those calling for impeachment. And in fact, when he was asked about this, whether impeachment is a good idea at his press conference here in Wilmington on Friday, he didn't answer it directly. Here's what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOE BIDEN (D), PRESIDENT ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: If we were six months out, we should be doing everything to get him out of office. Impeaching him again, invoke -- trying to invoke the 25th Amendment, whatever it took to get him out of office.

But I am focused now on us taking control as President and Vice President on the 20th and to get our agenda moving as quickly as we can.

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JONES: So there you heard that a very strong suggestion that Biden is looking ahead, not back and he stressed during that press conference that he is focused on the virus, the vaccine and economic growth, and that he wants Congress to be ready to hit the ground running on his ambitious legislative agenda.

First among them or chief among what he wants to do is to be able to give most Americans that $2,000.00 in direct relief stimulus checks and also getting help to states for vaccine distribution. And the other issue here is that because no matter what happens in the House, there is not a lot of expectation that a trial can get underway in the Republican controlled Senate before Biden is sworn in.

And so the thinking is that it will be left to the Democrat controlled Senate to conduct this trial at the same time that a newly sworn-in Biden is trying to get his Cabinet nominees confirmed by the Senate and to try to get this ambitious agenda through.

So that's the thinking there -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Well, there are lots going on, indeed, critically important issues. Athena, thank you very, very much.

Just ahead, we'll take a closer look at the incoming Biden administration's plans to release all doses of the COVID vaccine. Is this idea too risky?

We'll be right back. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:52:04]

BLITZER: Tonight, there's also breaking news in the coronavirus pandemic and it's not good news.

We're only nine days into the New Year and the United States has seen over two million new confirmed cases and 24,000 deaths that makes the need to speed up vaccinations even more urgent.

Joining us now is Dr. Leana Wen. She is an emergency room physician, as well as the former City Health Commissioner of Baltimore.

Dr. Wen, thanks so much for joining us. As you know, the President- elect Joe Biden, he plans to release nearly every available dose of the coronavirus vaccine when he takes office in 11 days. You've written a new op-ed in "The Washington Post" about this policy change.

Tell us why you're concerned this potentially could cause even more problems.

DR. LEANA WEN, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: Well, Wolf, I do applaud the President-elect for infusing much needed urgency into this because this vaccination campaign has to be an all-hands-on-deck, really a wartime mobilization effort.

The concern though, is I don't want us to be creating more problems and solving for the wrong ones. Because right now, the major bottleneck is not supply of the vaccine, it is distribution and administration.

More than 22 million doses of vaccine have been distributed to the States, but only six and a half million have actually been given to people. That's less than a third.

So we really need to solve that last mile problem. Otherwise, you're just going to flood states with more supply, but they're not going to be able to give it out to the people who need them.

And then I also fear that if we cannot get the second doses to individuals in time; that could be really tragic I think when it comes to further fueling vaccine hesitancy and undermining trust when we most need it.

BLITZER: What, in your view, Dr. Wen, would be a better way to increase urgency in the Federal government's vaccine distribution plan without risking the negative consequences that you just laid out?

WEN: We need to solve the administration problem, the administration of the vaccine. And so the Federal government can be for example, setting clear parameters that at the time that they distribute to the states that they have to be used within a certain period of time.

They should be asking the states, what is it that you need in order to achieve the targets that are set? And then also doing things like recruiting an army of vaccinators? Why is it that every state has to figure out licensing and how to recruit retired nurses or pharmacists on their own, there should be a Federal process for doing so.

The Federal government can also help with setting up mass vaccination sites, converting stadiums to vaccinate thousands of people in different locales every day, and also streamlining processes. Why is it again that states and locales are using Survey Monkey or Eventbrite to figure out how to schedule appointments?

One of the reasons Israel is so efficient in doing this is they have an app that everybody can go to and sign up in advance and find out exactly where to go and when to go. That's something the Federal government can do here as well.

BLITZER: There's a lot that needs to be done. And as I keep saying, I don't understand why if there's a hurricane or a tornado, F.E.M.A. is activated. The National Guard all over the country is activated. Why not get everyone involved. This is a life and death issue and begin vaccinating so many more millions of Americans to save lives.

[19:55:10]

BLITZER: Dr. Leana Wen, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it very much.

WEN: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: We have an important programming note for our viewers. Be sure to join me for an in-depth special report on the Capitol riot, "The Trump Insurrection: 24 Hours that Shook America" that airs tomorrow night 10:00 p.m. Eastern.

I'll also be back for a special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM earlier in the evening, 7:00 p.m. Eastern tomorrow.

To our viewers here in the United States and around the world, thanks very much for watching. You can always follow me on Twitter and Instagram @WolfBlitzer. You can tweet the show @CNNSitRoom. "CNN NEWSROOM" begins right after a quick break. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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