Transcripts For CNNW The Presidential Election Congress Counts The Vote 20210107

And just one followup for you, secretary mccarthy. The fencing, you said at least 30 days or no more than 30 days . At a minimum. Yes. We will work that in coordination with the city as well as the Capitol Hill Police. Thank you. Yes. Mark. Two questions for the secretary. One, i tried to follow along. Could you repeat the specifics about the fence . Will it completely surround the u. S. Capitol complex, the fencing. Yes. Could you go through the specifics one more time . Yes, constitution to independence, first, then the road in front by the pond, all the way around. How high will it be . Seven foot. Nonscaleable. Compare to what you see at the white house. This is what was available. We worked through this solution midstream yesterday. We were on the phones to get as quickly as possible a capability in place to extend the perimeter of the National Capitol complex, we could get as Many Metropolitan Police officers out into the streets so in the event that if this was to recur again or downstream, chief conte would have as much flexibility with the police force as possible, we could take over static security positions. I appreciate you said it wasnt your decision, what can you tell us about lack of preparation prior to yesterday on that part of the u. S. Capitol police, and why in months prior we saw troops surrounding the u. S. Capitol when other protesters were coming, but yesterday you didnt see anything. Why were there no troops or any other backup security there yesterday given what we all nguy knew in the public domain, you must have had better intelligence than we did, we all knew it was possible if not likely. We rely on intelligence from Law Enforcement and local Police Obviously but with respect to the precoordination to the mayors point, those things are all being looked at. There were discussions previously with the Capitol Police and others, no request of the d. C. National guard were made. Obviously it is Different Branch of government, we have to be requested to come onto the grounds. Yes. John king in washington. Welcome to viewers in the United States and around the world. You have been listening to quite a sober update from the mayor of washington, d. C. , mur yell bowser and police, Law Enforcement, security team, reacting to the horrific events that played out here in the nations capitol, capitol of the United States yesterday when supporters of President Trump staged an insurrection at the United States capitol. Four people dead because of that. One woman shot, three others dying on the Capitol Grounds. At the briefing just now, the mayor making clear that while she regrets what happened yesterday, the capitol is the purview of Capitol Police and federal authorities, not city authorities, but she says the city now working with federal authorities on extraordinary new security measures, including a seven foot fence, completely surrounding the United States capitol as we prepare now for the inauguration of joe biden as the president of the United States in 13 days. It is a momentous day in the capitol, a violent day yesterday, consequential day and the world is watching. Moments ago, the senates top democrat said the president of the United States should be removed from office now, even though there are just 13 days left in the trump term. Chuck schumer saying the president s cabinet should do that, convene, declare him unfit. If they wont do that, congress should consider impeaching and removing the president from office. Lets begin with security concerns in the capitol and the investigation into what happened yesterday. Our justice correspondent evan perez joins us now. You hear concerns voiced by the d. C. Mayor. Number one, shes trying to say this is not my fault but were going to help to try to make the city and buildings more secure place. Theres a mood in the capitol today, number one, what went wrong, how the hell did that happen at what is supposed to be one of the most secure places in the United States of america, and number two, who will be brought to justice and how quickly . John, look, i think theres a lot of embarrassment about what happened yesterday. You can see everyone on social media is commenting on the fact that there was a stark difference between what you saw, posture you saw from the police at the capitol during the summer, during the black lives matter protests, protests following the killing of george floyd, or even for instance during the hearings for Amy Coney Barrett compared to what you saw yesterday where people are just outnumbered, police were just outnumbered and overrun fairly quickly by these mobs, some of whom posted on social media ahead of time that this is what they intended to do. So the questions are going to be asked of members of congress who oversee the Capitol Police as the mayor pointed out in the press conference, thats the jurisdiction of the congress, thats separate from even the agencies that are reporting to the attorney general, acting attorney general, jeff rosen, who was coordinating the federal response. His agencies, the fbi, atf, they all were nearby. They had their Emergency Response teams there, they had them nearby but did not go there until they were asked by the Capitol Police. By the time the request came in, it was too late. So thats why you saw members of congress had to be rescued, had to be taken into secret locations to be hidden from the mobs and in the end removed from the capitol while the bomb squads came in and cleared the building for several hours. Obviously the fact that you had a Police Shooting of a woman trying to go through a window, thats now under investigation as well but theres a lot of questions still to be asked about exactly why more wasnt done before the events of yesterday. Evan perez from the Justice Department, great for the reporting and insights. Lot of questions about Law Enforcement and security, lot of questions about who is responsible here, a lot of questions about what to do now. Joining me to share reporting and insights, cnn White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins, and manu raju, and dana bash. Kaitlan collins, i want to start with you. I will get to manu and dana in a minute. Chuck schumer will be the majority leader in days in the United States senate. Moments ago, saying the president has to go, even though there are 13 days left in his term, yesterday proves to him, Chuck Schumer, and other democrats, that he is unfit for office. We know the president finally this morning, was supposed to call it progress, even though this statement was full of lies about the election, the president promised peaceful transition of power, but we know from your reporting and colleagues at the white house, that was not done to congratulate joe biden, that was done to stop conversations among his own aides about whether the cabinet should convene, declare this president unfit and remove him from office. Where are we in those conversations . I think those conversations are still happening. I dont think that theyre going to go anywhere based on the latest we heard. These things are changing pretty quickly, it still remains to be seen. I think that statement was also put out by the president overnight after congress certified bidens win, he wanted to stave off potential mass resignations coming from members of the cabinet and Senior National Security Officials that we reported yesterday were considering resigning. So i think the president realized that, he was incredibly isolated yesterday. So many people that have been the president s allies through thick and thin, defended him until the last breath came out against him yesterday in a remarkable way that we have not seen since he took office. I think thats what led to the statement we got around 4 00 a. M. This morning, notice the timing of when the white house sent that out. And it was something the president couldnt even tweet out, he was suspended from twitter because of what he had been saying about what we had been seeing on capitol hill yesterday. I think things are fluid. I think the conversations are still happening. We could see more resignations coming today. And i think people in the white house are keeping their distance from the president which is remarkable on his last days in office. And to echo the point you made, the president of the United States now can declare war. He cannot tweet or post on facebook. Thats the world we live in in the final 13 days of the trump presidency. Manu raju to you on the hill. This is a delicate moment for Chuck Schumer, he is the minority leader, in days he will be majority leader of the United States senate, making this declaration today, the president must go. If kaitlan is right, if they do not muster quorum to call the cabinet together, are democrats serious, the house would have to go first. Are they serious about trying to impeach the president with 13 days left or sending a message . Reporter i think sending a message. Going through the impeachment process is cumbersome process, takes time, you have to build a case, have hearings, presumably you can fast track that, but i dont see that happening. I think what Chuck Schumer is trying to do is send a message clearly to his republican colleagues in particular that there needs to be more pressure on President Trump in his last 13 days in office, especially if more demonstrations happen, if you refuse to leave office, if he is planning something for january 20th, inauguration day, that republicans should stand up to the possibility of him foe meanting more unrest, thats what Chuck Schumer is doing, making it clear for republicans to join him in calls for the president to back off. Havent seen republicans other than today, adam kins linger, republican from illinois, emerged as leading trump critic in aftermath of the elections, putting out a video today, the first republican on capitol hill to call for invoking the 25th amendment. No other republican is even close to there yet. Even mitt romney who is a critic of donald trump, of course, voted to remove him from office has not embraced calls for the 25th amendment. Seeing a partisan push could potentially become bipartisan in coming days. Chief Political Correspondent is a veteran of the white house and capitol hill. Every day were in a place we have never been before. Yesterday, in a dangerous place we have never been before, an attack on the United States capitol. 11 years ago, americans gave their lives to stop a plane from destroying the building. Yesterday, the president of the United States encouraged people to attack that building. It is numbing. If you get choked up about it when you think about it, today, where are we . Is isolated, angry, president of the United States and has considerable power. People around him are worried, his Vice President is angry, took a long time to get there, he is angry. On capitol hill you hear this. A republican and veteran calling on his colleagues in the administration to get together and kick this president out. Is this frustration, venting, the whole of yesterday and will it bring us anywhere . It is all of the above and the last point is tbd, will it bring us anywhere. If we were in a different time chronologically, if it wasnt 12 days before he was going to be gone anyway, perhaps, perhaps it would be a different situation, but were not. And theres so many factors that make what kaitlan was talking about real which is that at this point it doesnt look like it is going to get there and by there, i mean the 25th amendment, invoking it, actually kicking him out of office, but anything could change that because tensions are so high, frustration, anger at the president is so high, and you have seen that across the board. It has been spilling out. We cannot forget that. For everything we saw in the capitol, you said yes, i am a veteran of two decades covering congress and also covering the white house, but even being somebody who has walked those halls so many times, it doesnt prepare you for trying to read tea leaves on Something Like this because it is unprecedented. It is all new. The Law Enforcement, the breach, all of that is one important question. But the most important question now is the tul pablt of the president of the United States and the fact he went to that rally and called for incited violence. Maybe he didnt realize he was doing it, maybe he did, but he did it. He doesnt get that. Im sorry. In the first week of the trump presidency, guy never held office, he doesnt realize what he is saying. He did it. Thats long over. He has been president four years, supported conspiracy theorists, lied repeatedly, is lying repeatedly still about the election. To that point, Kaitlan Collins, the world is watching. P Vladimir Putins kremlin laughing at the United States now because of what happened yesterday. The question is will anyone inside the administration do anything. His former chief of staff, john kelly, issuing a skating statement, former attorney general bill barr saying to associated press, statement to cnn, orchestrating a mob to Pressure Congress is inexcusable. The president s conduct yesterday was betrayal of his office and his supporters. Weve seen National Security adviser publicly side with mike pence, not the president of the United States yesterday. All of them are saying damning things, but is it to protect their own reputation in final days or again are they willing to step up and do anything about it . I think these are their real thoughts. Typically in their positions, john kelly, bill barr, they didnt say things like that publicly, but i think it can be two things at once. Theyre trying to salvage their reputations, given they did work for President Trump and what he responded to yesterday, and i also think yesterday was a breaking point for a lot of people and it did genuinely unsettle people that worked for the president or currently work for him based on our conversations. For bill barr to come out, say it was betrayal of the president s office, thats a weighty statement. It has only been a few weeks since he left that job. Were watching what happens among people that are still here. Secretary pompeo, National Security adviser robert obrien, john ratcliffe, theyre getting calls from well known former National Security officials, people that work at National Security firms urging them not to resign. They recognize that pressure is there, people are genuinely considering this. They say if they did, it would leave an absence there, and concern is that the political crisis you saw play out yesterday could morph into a National Security one that a foreign adversary could try to take advantage of. It is all those things being weighed as people are genuinely, openly, not denying theyre considering resigning, a remarkable point we have gotten to in the last few days. So what is the mood among republicans, you mention adam kins linger, Mitch Mcconnell who enabled much of the presumptive presidency, refused to talk about tweets, brushed them off, dont take him literally, support for qanon, he took a hard turn yesterday saying we are ratifying joe bidens election. Sometimes it takes time as dana noted to shake off what happened yesterday, the personal horror, the fear this could have turned out much more painful and bloody than it did. What is the mood among Senior Republicans as they watch the white house . Theyre done with the president. Talking to senior republican senators, junior republican senators, rank and file members, what happened yesterday at kaitlan mentioned was a breaking point for members as well, not just the violence that occurred stoked by the president and his words analyd lies about the election, the fact that they lost the Senate Majority, something that the republicans thought they could certainly hold onto, a state that leans republican. Georgia, losing two senate seats on tuesday was really just the end of the road for most of the republicans that blame this squarely on trump himself, the things he has done, lies he said about the election, ultimately costing them the race and the majority for the next two years. Add in this, too, i wasnt going to sneak it in, we are tight on time. Does he realize the indelible stain on his legacy it is to incite people to attack one of the greatest monument of american democracy. Thats what i was going to mention. No. No. Right now what i am hearing is that the president is still on a rampage. He is isolated. He is not taking calls from people. He is talking about trying to find retribution against people who have been loyal to him that are speaking out, theyre finally doing at the 11th hour the right thing. Thats why when we talk about the 25th amendment maybe not happening now, that could change in a matter of hours because the president is not showing any remorse privately, just the opposite. He is getting more and more agitated. His latest statement he can clean up at any moment calls for people to attack that building, you see it behind me, that image behind me, great patriots. Thats what the president of the United States calls them, great patriots. Thank you all. Very important reporting and insights. We will continue to ask our sources about more and continue the conversation. Next, republicans lose the senate and fight over the best path to take now that President Trump is leaving. Your grooming business is booming. You need to hire. I need indeed. Indeed you do. The moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a shortlist of quality candidates from a resume data base. Claim your seventyfivedollar credit when you post your first job at indeed. Com groomer 2020s done a new era has begun so keep pushing forward. Because this is twenty twenty won make a different future start different at godaddy. Com what happened here today was an insurrection, incited by the president of the United States. Those who choose to continue to support his dangerous gambit by objecting to the results of a democratic election will forever be seen as being complicit in an unprecedented attack against our democracy. Fairly or not, theyll be remembered for their role in the shameful episode in American History. That will be their legacy. Republican senator mitt romney last night, planting his flag in a defining debate now for the Republican Party. What role does President Trump get to play, especially after yesterdays horror at the United States capitol. That insurrection came on a day republicans learned theyre losing the Senate Majority, which will be a flashpoint as the gop prepares for biden, a democratic presidency. Mike rogers, former republican congressman from michigan and former chairman of house intelligence committee. Mr. Chairman, grateful for your time today. Let me start by asking you to wear your republican hat. What does the party do now and how much is it complicated when you are in the minority in both chambers now. You hear senator romney there, senator from utah for massachusetts governor, son of michigan. Your state where his dad was governor. You hear senator romney saying wake up, republicans. This president is toxic. We must break from him, go back to who we were before him. You also hear debate about challenging election results, voices like this. I hope that this body will not miss the opportunity to take affirmative action to address the concerns of so many millions of americans. We do need an investigation into irregularities, fraud. We have driven this country apart through the peoples house. And we wonder what happens . The biggest loss on november 3rd was not by donald trump, it was the faith and trust of the American People lost in this voting system. What are your thoughts on the tug of war, those that say whatever trump wants we will do, those that say lets get the hell out from under his shadow . Well, i think yesterday broke the spell that so many people had about donald trump. Clearly his actions led to theres no great way to describe what happened yesterday, sedition, i mean, there were acts of domestic terrorism actually happened on the day the two pipe bombs, one at the rnc, one at the dnc, the fact that people showed up with molotov cocktails, there was Something Else going on there that was clearly designed to upset and attack american democracy, so being any way a part of that has to end, number one. So i think there was good news, putting the republican hat on in the last election. I think we lost the georgia two Republican Senate seats because of donald trump and his chaotic leadership style and his pouting and his kicking and screaming about the fact that he lost. Facts are stubborn things. It is hard to continue to maintain that. As a matter of fact, one of the members actually used polling that americans didnt believe it was fair. Thats absolutely the wrong standard to use. Let me jump in, mike, im sorry. Let me jump in. You talk about what standard to use. Number two House Republican, Steve Scalise went to the floor talking about fraud in these democrat states. At the moment, arizonas challenge is on the floor. Arizona has a republican governor and legislature, they were going to challenge, they backed off. Georgia, republican governor, republican legislature. They challenged pennsylvania, democratic governor, but republican legislature. All of these were thrown out in the court. Will republicans go back to fact as opposed to trump fantasies . Well, i think what you saw happen the last few days is the final wakeup. I hope the media picks it up. This is not the Republican Party, that is not the Republican Party, folks breaking windows, crawling in to disrupt a free and democratic process. Those arent republicans. And i would reject the fact they would call themselves republicans. My point of this is on that is yes, i think so. Yes, are we going to have tensions in the Republican Party in the next few months if not year or two years, i think we are. It will be healthy because we can get back to who we are because the unprecedented number of people who voted for donald trump, and listen, i talked to a lot of them, happened to be in michigan today talking to real people doing real things, manufacturers, and what theyre saying is i voted for trump, they thought it would help their businesses, but surely didnt like him, didnt like his direction and didnt like the chaos of it. Those are republicans that will continue to be republicans. I think circle around a better message for republicans. Listen, we increased the number of women. We increased the minority vote in the last election. And again, that wasnt because of donald trump. That was because of the policies of republicans are that much different than what the left is doing on the democrat side of the party ledger. Alls we need to do now is get our act together, be that strong force for factfinding party that presents an alternative for a free and open america where everyone has an opportunity and were going to get it back. We didnt get killed in the suburbs like we thought. As i say, i put my republican hat on, thought we did pretty well in this election because theyre republican ideas which i think are the most important things in politics were not rejected. Donald trump was rejected and i see you look at yesterday, you can understand exactly why. And hes done. That spell is broken. I talked to people in michigan that voted for donald trump who are angry, upset, embarrassed. That says it all in politics. So thats the group thats going to help rebuild. Republican brand and image, who we are, and outreach to minorities, better outreach to women, all of that i think will happen. Remember, john, right after obama got elected the first time, republicans got decimated, everyone says youre done, youre never going to be a National Party again. These things are cyclical. If we try to huddle around the Trump Supporters you saw yesterday, we will lose every election. If we go back to our roots, we will win elections in the future. That is one of the defining questions as you mention of the weeks, months, ahead, i hope youre right. We need a competitive two party system or three party system. Come in if other entries, but should be based on facts, not the president s fantasies. Grateful for the time and insights. Stunning Security Breach at the capitol. All lawmakers want to know how so many got ideas and some see a double standard in the police response. Proven ingredients that fuel 5 indicators of brain performance. Memory, focus, accuracy, learning, and concentration. Try our new gummies for 30 days and see the difference. We create high performance, crueltyfree, [announcer] were thrive causemetics. 100 vegan formulas designed to empower you and we love that you love our products. Like our Award Winning liquid lash extensions mascara, created with flake free tubing technology. Our mascara creates showstopping lashes that our community cant get enough of. Seriously, we sold one every five seconds. Plus with our bigger than beauty mission for every product you purchase, we donate to help a woman thrive. So far, youve helped us donate over 100 million in products and funds. Join our Movement Today at thrivecausemetics. Com. The breach at the capitol is raising giant security questions. Theres pressure on Law Enforcement to bring more rioters to justice. The fbi posting this notice, encouraging people to send in photos or videos of people involved in the capitol insurrection. My next guest tweeted found one. You see it there in photos of President Trump. Democratic congressman joins me now. Good to see you. I hope youre safe and well after the harrowing experience of yesterday. You tweeted a number up to ten at the end of people involved in this. Saying the fbi, you want help, arrest this man, arrest this man. You go on, arrest the people in the pictures as it went on. What have you been told about how this happened . Youre supposed to be in one of the most secure buildings in the world. I was here in town in 1998 when gunmen killed two Capitol Police bursting into the building. After 9 11, there were more security preparations. It was not a surprise the rally was coming your way yesterday, yet they marched right into the building. A lot of fellow African Americans are saying funny, the National Guard was out there, not funny, thats the wrong word, i apologize, National Guard was out there when black lives matter protesters came yesterday, where were they yesterday. What happened . All right. The congresswomans connection is having trouble. Well take a quick break. Be right back. 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It was no secret the rally was going to be steps from the capitol, no secret, the president urged supporters to march on the capitol. How did it happen . How did so many people get into whats supposed to be one of the most secure buildings in the United States . Well, first of all, thank you for raising the issue. I think that there has to be absolute thorough investigation. The only information i have is anecdotal from talking to members of the Capitol Police and others around at the time. Basically they described being overwhelmed. The question is why were they overwhelmed . Everyone knew this was going to happen. Why werent they tracking social media . Why, frankly, why werent protesters, rioters, terrorists, why werent they infiltrated, why wasnt there undercover Police Officers that were there. This is the kind of thing that happens for other types of street protests. There needs to be a thorough investigation. Some of your colleagues, some activists around the country remember what happened in june. We may have photos when there were almost protesters in washington. The capitol was very well protected by police and other Law Enforcement in riot gear. Any explanation as to why that didnt happen . Well, you know, i think it is an example of the double standard. Obviously black lives matters protesters were perceived as very threatening, for some reason these werent. John, you know you cant even come into the capitol with a purse without being screened. How can you break into the capitol, walk around with flag poles, and you see the Capitol Police there, they were completely overwhelmed. Why did that happen . Why didnt they erect barriers around the capitol that are present now, the fences. I think a lot of this needs to be investigated. But it is so demoralizing that people, in particular, African Americans, other people of color who know, if you could even imagine if tens of thousands of young, old African Americans attacked the capitol like that what would have happened. I mean, it brings back memories of the boy, rittenhouse, in kenosha, wisconsin, who shot three people, walked with his gun in front of the Police Officers, they gave him something to drink, sent him home. Two of them were killed. We are sick and tired of seeing the same type of double standard and thats why i hope theres public accountability and transparency and discussion about what happened because it is not just members, yes, the Vice President of the United States, Vice President elect, 535 members and staff, democrats and republicans alike. Let me turn your attention to another question. There are 13 days left in the trump presidency, soon to be Senate Majority leader said the president mug go, doesnt want to wait 13 days. He wants the cabinet to declare him unfit, remove him. He says if not, congress should impeach the president again. One of your colleagues, ilhan omar and other House Democrats said lets do that. Other House Democrats have written a letter to the Vice President , saying get rid of the president of the United States. With 13 days left, should democrats lead an effort through pressuring the cabinet or firing new articles of impeachment to force this president out or do you just hold your breath, wait 13 days . I frankly dont think the only thing you do is hold your breath and wait. Let me just say i would love to see the president leave, be kicked out of the white house today with the 25th amendment, and thats exactly what should happen. However, i dont believe thats going to happen. I think the president has become a cult leader. Members of his cabinet are participants along with him. Why would we expect them to be courageous now when theyve stood by, been complicit, even promoted his behavior for the last four years. I thought former attorney general barr had a lot of nerve talking about how the president disrespected his office. What has barr done in the last couple of years when he has been the attorney general. In terms of impeachment, you know what would happen with impeachment. Do you expect people voted against certifying election in the senate to vote to impeach him today . I dont think that that would stand, would make any sense. I do think, and i am deeply concerned about how our country manages over the next 13 days. Congresswoman, grateful for your time. Should be a time we talk about the incoming administrations agenda, how it will fair in congress. We will get back to those conversations in days ahead. Grateful for your time. Thank you very much. Grateful that you and your colleagues are safe. President elect biden today will introduce his Justice Department team, including Appeals Court judge Merrick Garland for attorney general. Two Democratic Senate wins cleared the way for the garland pick. He was bidens favorite. Filling his slot on the federal Appeals Court would have been more difficult had republicans kept kroe kept control of the senate. More democrats are calling for the current president to be removed from office. Jeff zeleny from wilmington joining me. Again, we should be talking about the cabinet and the policy challenges for the new president , incoming president. Instead, we have the chaos of yesterday. We now have Chuck Schumer, soon to be Senate Majority leader, saying the president must go. He is asking mike pence to bring the cabinet together, if not, impeach him. You heard congresswoman bass, she is not in this camp, a number of House Democrats say impeach him again. What does the president elect think about that . Reporter john, i am told by a variety of people close to joe biden that he is not in favor immediately of adding his voice to calls for the 25th amendment to be invoked. Thats not saying he believes donald trump is fit for office. Of course we have heard the president elect talk about this for months on the campaign trail and since he won election two months ago today. That does not meanest planning at this point to add his voice, i am told, to growing calls in the congress. Im also in touch with a variety of former living president s. So far none of the former president s are adding their voices to calls for the immediate removal of President Trump from office. John, the simple answer is this, they do not believe it would be helpful, the ultimate goal is rebuilding this country. After the events of yesterday unfolded on capitol hill, joe biden was watching those very carefully. He grew up in his professional life on capitol hill in those very corridors, on the senate floor, deeply, deeply personal to him. He is angry about it, horrified about it, but does not believe invoking the 25th amendment at this point i am told is something good for the country. They are focused on going ahead. As you said, that justice announcement in wilmington is fascinating. Judge garland has a giant challenge on his hands, to a, introduce himself as the person who is ready to lead Justice Department in the post trump era, and events of the last 24 hours make it more difficult, the task facing him, john. Lots more difficult, the challenges, they grow by the day. Supposed to be a time of anticipation in washington, it is a time of anxiety. Jeff zeleny, grateful for the reporting. Coming up, fringe groups, conspiracy theorists, faces behind that trump inspired insurrection on the capitol. Youre in the right place. 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Com the world watched in horror as they climbed scaffolding, smashed windows, so who are they, what drives them in addition to their support for President Trump . Drew griffin joins me from atlanta with important reporting. Drew, in a moment like this, it is important to name names. Reporter yeah, the metropolitan police and d. C. Just put out images of instigators they want to talk to for questioning which is surprising, john. If you go to cnn. Com, we can tell you, show you who the people are from proud boys to qanon supporters, White Nationalist from alaska, progun rights activist of arkansas, just some of them. Some of the most prominent. Youve seen the images. This is qanons supporter, jake angely. He is pictured with Rudy Giuliani in illinois. He was one of those inside the senate, standing in the senate. Richard barnett, made famous by posting pictures of himself in the speakers office. He actually came outside, told a New York Times reporter he took an envelope from speaker Nancy Pelosis office. He is one of the people we added. Beyond this, john, i know you just had a big discussion about the lack of effort by the Capitol Police to keep this from happening, we saw so much of this preplanned on the internet, it is hard to believe Homeland Security was not aware this was about to take place. It is hard to believe. Go to cnn. Com for more of his reporting. Maybe the gentleman can use the envelope to write in prison. Brianna keilar picks up coverage after a quick break. Some things are good to know. Like where to find the cheapest gas in town and which supermarket gives you the most bang for your buck. Something else thats good to know . If you have medicare and medicaid you may be able to get more Healthcare Benefits through a humana Medicare Advantage plan. Call the number on your screen now and speak to a licensed humana sales agent to see if you qualify. 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The president is not accepting responsibility certainly for inciting his supporters to overrun the capitol. On the contrary, he is said to have been borderline enthusiastic, a quote, as he watched them on television yesterday. Former attorney general william barr called it betrayal of his office and supporters, orchestrating a mob to Pressure Congress is inexcusable. As the siege was under way, lawmakers scattered, some hid under desks, others barricaded themselves in their office with staff. Today, some lawmakers are calling for accountability. Well, i really want to see people being held accountable. I havent heard too much. There were people who died, a woman died from being injured on the floor of our House Chamber. Property was damaged, property was stolen. People were fearing for their lives, making calls to their families to say goodbye. A message must be sent. There must be ramifications, there must be consequences for yesterdays actions. We are learning members of President Trumps cabinet are considering what to do next. Among the options is invoking the 25th amendment which would remove the president from office. Theres also a trickle of white house officials who are resigning, including former chief of staff, Current Special envoy to northern ireland, mick mulvaney, he is not the first, likely not the last to leave the administration over these events that unfolded yesterday. The Capitol Building was cleared several hours after domestic terrorists broke through windows and doors on multiple sides of the building yesterday. After order was restored, members of the house and senate got back to their sworn duties. Early this morning shortly before 4 00 a. M. , they completed the count that officially makes joe biden the next president of the United States. Votes for president of the United States are as follows. Joseph r biden jr. Donald trump in state of florida received 232 votes. Even after the unprecedented violence that rocked the Capitol Building, eight Senate Republicans stood up to object to election results, try to overturn the will of voters. Senators ted cruz and josh hawley voiced the objections and there were six other senators that voted with them. Their unfounded claims were overwhelmingly rejected by members of the house and senate. This is a presidency that started with a relatively poorly attended inauguration. The crowd size comparisons to president obamas so embarrassing to trump, he forced his press secretary to go out and lie about it. With a bigger than anticipated crowd of Trump Supporters storming the Capitol Building, putting an indelible stain on president s legacy. Cnn is learning whats taking place behind closed doors at the white house between the president and Vice President pence, which includes a Pressure Campaign by the president to engineer a coup. I want to go to chief White House Correspondent jim acosta. What else are you learning, jim . Brianna, learning more about the Pressure Campaign that essentially the president was applying on the Vice President earlier this week, talking to a source close to the Vice President , apparently the president and Vice President were hold up in the oval office for hours on tuesday. During this meeting the president repeatedly was pressuring Vice President pence to help engineer this coup that we saw or almost saw yesterday on capitol hill during counting of the electoral votes. It was during this meeting according to the source close to the Vice President that the president made it very clear to pence that if he didnt participate in this coup attempt, there would be Major Political consequences for mike pence. In addition to that, this source close to the Vice President says the Vice President and members of his family were up on capitol hill yesterday for that official counting of the electoral votes and when the storming of the capitol was taking place, according to this source close to the Vice President , the white house, including the president , were not doing very much to check on Vice President pence to make sure that he and his family were safe, according to a source close to the Vice President. The second lady, karen pence and pences daughter were with the Vice President for portions of the ceremonial event we saw on capitol hill that was delayed by the siege in congress. Brianna, i will tell you, talking to a source close to the Vice President theyre very concerned about this. This source said to me, we can put the quote on screen about why the president , why top officials in the white house werent doing more to check on the Vice President and his family, the source says,esidents family . That coming from a source close to Vice President mike pence. In addition to that, this source said that the Vice President s aides and advisers, some of them a fall guy in all of this, that basically after the president , people like chief of staff mark meadows, personal attorney Rudy Giuliani put out this false hope that perhaps pence could engineer some sort of procedural coup, that pence is now being left out in the wind essentially in trump world that trump wont be in power january 20th, and the reason President Trump wont be in power after january 20th is he was voted out of office. Sounds like at this point, that people close to the Vice President feel he has been betrayed by the president. Keep in mind, you used to work at the white house, the relationship between a president and Vice President is a special one. What we have seen the last four years, theres hardly anybody, nobody been more loyal to the president than Vice President pence. And there are people around the Vice President now that feel like he has been thrown to the lions, that he was thrown to the lions yesterday by President Trump, brianna. The president has problems with all interpersonal relationships. Weve seen that. I mean, it is amazing that penc standing for this long. Jim, i wonder what is the president doing e the white hou. We presume the president is in the oval office. Theres going to be a ceremony today where esshe is awarding ml of freedom to professional golfers at the white house. Could not be a greater disconnect between whats happening at the white house and events that took place yesterday. The other thing white house aides are dealing with now, grappling with now is that you have multiple resignations happening around them, just about every hour theres a new resignation to deal with. In addition, the president and his team are listening to whats being said on cnn and other news outlets throughout the last 24 hours, that there is some discussion going on about invoking the 25th amendment to force the president out of office, that there is discussion on capitol hill about perhaps having some rapid impeachment conviction and removal procedures to force the president from power. All of those scenarios seem unlikely at this point, but i can tell you a source close to the Vice President has confirmed to me that yes, some inquiries are coming into the Vice President s staff about invoking the 25th amendment, that some on the Vice President s team are hearing inquiries about that, dealing with that as we speak, brianna. Well see where it goes. Jim acosta, thank you for that live report from the white house. A major, major security failure. Thats how washington, d. C. s former police chief, charles ramsey, is characterizing the assault we saw on the nations capitol yesterday. As damage is assessed and the breach is investigated, it really prompts the question will the violence intensify in the next 13 days, and if it does intensify, will Law Enforcement be ready this time . Cnn correspondent brian todd live for us on the hill. What kind of security are you seeing at the capitol today . Reporter brianna, the Capitol Grounds are a fortress. I will show you the new security measures just put up here. This is on first street northeast between the capitol and the Supreme Court. You see the fencing just put up on both the east and west front of the capitol, fencing thats metal, 8 feet high. Officials say it is unscaleable. It will be erected all around the capitol. I can walk you this way. They just pulled up a truck with more fencing here. These are Virginia State police to the left, National Guardsmen, Washington Metropolitan Police ringing the grounds. Again, all coming a day late. Christine and i can stroll this way a little bit, show you how theyre putting up the fencing. The Army Secretary says this fencing will stay up for no less than 30 days, so it will clearly extend past the inauguration and then it is an open question as to when they take it down, when this place can start to return to normal. You can see now here visually what theyre doing to try to ensure the safety of the capitol. This comes as multiple investigations are ongoing into failures that led to the breach at the capitol yesterday. Former Capitol Police police chief was on cnn earlier, heres what he said. Clear to me the police were outnumbered and apparently underestimated the strength and level of violence in the crowd and overestimated their ability to control the crowd. We failed. We did not secure the capitol. And people need to be held responsible and explain what went on. Reporter the current Capitol Police chief said his officers acted valiantly, they were attacked by people that led the insurrection and breach into the capitol, that they had to respond and they responded ve valiantly. Theyre investigating the breaches and learn why so many were able to get so deep into the capitol. Brianna . It was unprecedented. Brian todd live for us from capitol hill. Thank you. I want to talk with democratic congressman, former president ial candidate seth molton wrote a piece while sheltering. He wrote in part this is no protest, this is anarchy, it is domestic terrorism. The people who are in the building right now are traitors to our nation. Congressman molton is with us now. What you all went through yesterday was unlike anything weve ever seen. You have maybe some experience going through Something Like this, obviously not in this setting, you were a veteran, among the First Americans in baghdad in 9 11, served four tours in all. With that perspective in mind, tell us about this experience yesterday. I mean, look, brianna, what i saw in iraq was 100 times worse. But the point is that this should never happen in america. I mean, i expected a direct challenge to democracy when we were trying to bring it to a country that never experienced democracy before. We knew that we were in a war zone. I did not come to the United States congress to be in a war zone. And the fact that the capitol was breached, for the First Time Since the war of 1812, when the british were burning washington to the ground, it is truly unprecedented. Massive security failure, massive intelligence failure. Lets not lose sight of the fact this comes directly from the president of the United States. The president of the United States, just down pennsylvania avenue, called on his supporters to attack the United States capitol. He refused to call out the National Guard to protect our government. He was the one behind an attempted coup. Thats why the commander in chief needs to be relieved of duty. Right now, there are certain avenues in which that could happen. There are articles of impeachment being circulated among House Democrats. What can you tell us about that . This is the right thing to do and some people will say why are you doing this now, it is too late, the transition of power is about to happen. It is never too late to do the right thing, it is never too late in america to uphold the law. We are a country where the law applies to everyone. Thats why if the president breaks the law, he should be impeached. We should go through that. We can have debate and vote, but the process should go forward because we need to set the precedent for every future president and every person in the free world thats watching how our democracy is functioning now that the president of the United States is not above the law. I also think that his cabinet and the Vice President should invoke the 25th amendment because the commander in chiefs most fundamental responsibility is to keep us safe, to protect our government from all enemies, foreign and domestic. He not only failed to protect us, he incited the violence against us, against our government, against the American People. Is this feasible to do . Do you have the political will from democrats and republicans, do you have the time . The goal with articles of impeachment to force him to resign . Can you even really get this done . The articles are just beginning to be circulated. It is probably a little too early to answer that question politically. But i can tell you, i certainly have the political will, i can speak for myself. Im a democrat here to do the right thing. I know there are republicans thinking this as well. There is a republican lawmaker who is a veteran like myself who came up to me while we were sheltered in place. He is one that was voting against the electoral count, something im almost embarrassed to report because i think it is so unamerican, but even he as a lawmaker voting against the Electoral College count said this man needs to be relieved of duty, he is a danger to the United States. Whether or not republicans like he will have the courage to come out and say that publicly, i dont know. But theres certainly widespread concern about the safety of our nation under commander in chief donald trump. Even after the siege we saw yesterday, there were 138 Republican House members that voted against certifying pennsylvanias Electoral College votes. What kind of conversations are you having with your republican counter parts right now . Im telling them what they are doing is inciting the violence that we see outside. And how they can possibly think this is good for our democracy, because thats the argument they sometimes make, we have to do this for the sake of our democracy, to make sure the election is safe and that we instill confidence in elections in the future. Theyre doing the exact opposite. Theyre breaking trust of the American People. Theyre breaking the confidence in our democracy, not just here at home but frankly around the globe. I think about how hard it was to bring democracy to iraq. It wasnt a war i agreed with, hardest thing i had to do in my life. The only reason we even had a chance is because we and the iraqis could look at the United States of america as a shining example, a democracy, a city upon a hill we talked about for centuries in america and around the globe, but that image is being shattered right now by the images we see on tv of an attempted coup right here in the heart of washington, d. C. So the damage being done by these republican lawmakers is long lasting, it is not even just here at home, it will extend for generations, it will extend around the globe. I want to ask you as you are talking to some republican colleagues, youre known as someone especially in the ranks of veterans day on capitol hill who has friends across the aisle, privately are you hearing self reflection, any sort of remorse that it went this far, or that they didnt expect it would go this far. Are they saying anything like that to you . I am hearing that, brianna, but they dont teach you as a politician when to admit youre wrong. Whether theyll have the courage to say that, i dont know. You read president kennedys book, profiles in courage, every example of courage is someone that goes against his party. Thats whats required of republicans today. Theres a few who had courage to do that yesterday, to do it publicly. I know representative has come out and said as republican that the 25th amendment should be invoked, but we need to see more political courage in washington. People for years since i have been up here, here five or six years, asked me why is congress so stupid, how can congress not believe in Climate Change or believe in election results. And what ive always noticed is most of my colleagues are smart, it is not easy to be a member of congress. Whats lacking isnt intelligence, it is courage. It is willingness to admit the truth and be willing to sell that truth to the people you represent, to explain it to them. That should be our job as representatives of this government. But a huge part of the Republican Party is failing in that job. Failing in that duty to uphold the truth. I dont know where it is going to go. Thank you for joining us live from capitol hill. Thanks, brianna. Were glad youre safe, sir. Republicans that enabled the president s coup attempt are pretending theyre shocked. Well roll the tape why they should not be. And Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaks in moments. Will she call for the president s removal . Her counterpart in the senate just did. This is cnn live coverage. Just into cnn, the acting u. S. Attorney general says charges will be filed against some rioters that rarptd in the attack on the capitol. Evan perez is working this story. Tell us what youre learning here. Brianna, were expecting dozens of charges to be brought against some of the people involved. At least 12 to 15 cases brought in federal court. We know that the fbi spent the night, digital teams spent the night looking at surveillance from the Capitol Buildings as well as some buildings that surround that campus. Some of the social media postings by people, theyre trying to match up faces of people you see on some images we have now shown with some of the stuff that was on social media even before the rally, as you know, there are a lot of these folks participating that are telling everyone, the world, ahead of time that they plan to storm the capitol. Thats something thats going to play into the efforts by prosecutors to be able to bring charges. Im told to expect more federal charges coming in the coming days. The big question that remains, that everyone is asking, why the federal response was what it was. Why the posture was more relaxed than you saw during the summer when we had black lives matter protests and during the Amy Coney Barrett hearings when you had a lot more armed presence to protect the capitol. Theres a lot of failure that happened yesterday. The question is why did the u. S. Capitol police not expect this kind of onslaught when they new a lot of this stuff was happening in the city yesterday. Yeah. It is huge questions there that hopefully well get answers to soon. We know youll be tracking that. Evan perez from the Justice Department. As calls grow louder to remove President Trump, soon well hear from house Speaker Nancy Pelosi, after domestic terrorists stormed her office. Well bring you that live. Next, well roll the tape on all of the president s enablers who helped to fuel the deadly insurrection at the us capitol. More motivation with ondemand workout classes. More freedom with over 300 zero point foods. And new tools to boost your mood and help keep you hydrated get more of what you need to help you lose weight. The new myww . More holistic. More personalized. More weight loss. Kickstart your weight loss with the ww triple play offer ends january eleventh new projects means you need to hire. Gers. Y i need indeed. Indeed you do. The moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a short list of quality candidates from our resume database. Claim your seventy five dollar credit, when you post your first job at indeed. Com home. Asked about the sergeantatarms. I have not talked to a senator or staff member who was not really angry at the sergeantatarms for not being more prepared. So that is not surprising at all. Also, you know, bri, we covered the hill together, the tradition, not always the case, tradition is for the party in charge to put their own sergeantatarms in place, so that might have already happened. There have been holdovers, but that might have already happened. Regardless, he is trying to make a point and say this should not have happened, this is out of bounds, out of control, and we need to make that clear. With regard to new reporting, that is with regard to whats going on inside the white house, and that is i am told that there are Top Republicans in congress on the phone begging some of the president s senior advisers not to quit, and people like pat cippolone, the president s counsel, white House Counsel, robert obrien, the National Security adviser. My colleagues at the white house and elsewhere reported that kind of begging has been going on from other corners, please dont leave. I am told thats also pressure coming from republicans on capitol hill, and the reason is National Security and also even though it is hard to almost say this with a straight face because we have seen a president completely out of control, but even in that context, the belief is the senior advisers can keep him even remotely at bay, even though it seems pretty hard to do, given what weve seen the last 24 to 48 hours, never mind the past two months. Im going to have you stay with me. I want to go to Kaitlan Collins to brieak out of the conversation. Kaitlan, you have new reporting. Reporter cnn just confirmed the transition secretary alain chow is resigning from the cabinet, resigned yesterday, tying it to President Trumps response to the mop of loyalists descending on capitol hill, breaching halls of federal government, and this is significant because shes the first cabinet second so far to resign as a result of what the president did yesterday. We heard other people are considering it. We have seen some significant figures, including the deputy National Security adviser resign in wake of that, but now this is alain chow, transportation secretary who has been here almost every day of his presidency, serving with him, working with him, defending him, now is resigning as a direct result of what he did yesterday. She worked closely with the president , she was obviously in the cabinet, top ranking official in the administration, also notable for another reason, shes married to Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell. You saw how mcconnell turned on the president in a remarkable way that we havent seen in four years donald trump has been in office. So now we are learning shes the first person from the cabinet to resign as a result of what the president did yesterday, but the question of course thats on everyones mind, including inside the white house, is whether or not shes going to be the last. We should remind viewers, this is likely the reason the president put out the statement overnight, saying there will be an orderly transition of power january 20th. Theres real concerns that youre going to see a series of high profile mass resignations coming out of the top ranking officials. Shes one of the first. Wow. We just have never seen anything like this. I wonder, kaitlan, if you can explain to us how this would one of the things thats been discussed is the 25th amendment, and cabinet members are considering that as an option on the table for a way to remove President Trump from office. Obviously if you have cabinet members who are resigning, that will change this calculation or perhaps maybe was something that didnt have feet, if you will. Reporter yeah. I think theres definitely been serious conversation about it. The question is whether or not it is serious enough to put into practice because thats something that would involve the Vice President and several other officials. Im not sure if even acting cabinet officials can play a role in that. There are several acting officials including the Justice Department department, pentagon, department of Homeland Security, all over the cabinet. Those are questions being raised. This is definitely a conversation. We talked about the 25th amendment during the russia investigation, that didnt seem to have a tight grasp on reality as something that could happen. This seems closer to it. People think were more likely to see mass resignations like with alain chow than something of that nature. There are republicans, like adam kin slinger calling for it. People hear we only have two weeks left, whats the point. What we saw yesterday, the way the president responded, was reluctant to send out National Guard as his loyalists were descending on capitol hill, it concerned people for what the next 13 days could look like, given that the president is in a desperate state of mind, more so than he has been given the election loss. I think thats the concern. Thats whats driving the conversations and playing a role in resignations that we could be seeing. All right. Kaitlan, thank you for sharing breaking news with us. I want to get back to the panel. Carl bernstein, to you. What is your reaction learning of the first cabinet resignation, transportation secretary, alain chow, Mitch Mcconnells wife as well chlts. I think there is rats on the sinking ship, at the same time the concern of mcconnell, his wife about the instability and madness of the president of the United States is real. Whats really called for is yes, the 25th amendment ought to be invoked. If it cant be, i think theres growing view what has to be done is somehow donald trump in the last two weeks of his presidency must be put in some kind of constitutional straight jacket so that he cannot further endanger the National Security of this country, that legal mechanisms as well as pressure from mcconnell, from perhaps the joint leadership of both parties of Congress Calling on the president of the United States for either his resignation, for him to be isolated with mike pence, the Vice President , participating in some kind of consensus that says we have safely isolated the president of the United States so that he can no longer undermine the stability and National Security interests of the United States. Look, he has been acting like a madman, the word has been used to me for weeks and weeks. This has been well known. There was a kind of inevitability, not necessarily breaching the capitol yesterday and getting inside the capitol but he has been trying to provoke his followers, this cult, to cause some kind of provocation indeed that would let him stage a coup and stay in office. He must be restrained. Theres recognition by mcconnell, by the Vice President , by members of the cabinet that he must be restrained in the interest of National Security and the people of this country, especially at this moment. I am in a moment going to ask about the 25th amendment requirements and sort of how that might work. I want to get danas reaction to the reporting on elaine chao resigning. Listen, it is huge. Carl makes a very fair point that chao as other cabinet members that have been there since the start, and shes one of them, have had to suck it up, turn the other cheek. People might be even more critical saying they were complicit. When youre transportation secretary, perhaps youre a little further removed from the crazy and from the madman but being a trump cabinet official is something that will always be with her. She was the longest serving cabinet member for george w. Bush. She has been in this town a very long time, very loyal republican, even separate and apart from the fact that she happens to be married to Mitch Mcconnell. She is an immigrant. She came here to the United States when she was very young and she has that sensibility and, you know, certainly would be wonderful to be able to talk to her about why this was the final straw but there is a message being sent, no question about it. One of the issues, one of the questions i had going as we were looking at the 25th amendment and whether or not it would be invoked is whether or not someone like her because of her deep roots in washington and in the traditional Republican Party, never mind public service, whether she would be one of those that would try to rally the cabinet for the 25th amendment. She clearly decided better for her to resign. Clearly. So walk us through. I see you shaking your head, laura, because you see obviously the ramifications of her stepping aside as theres discussion bou discussion about the 25th amendment. Walk us through the requirements of the 25th amendment and obstacles to executing this. The reason im shaking my head, of course, if theres one less cabinet member, thats one less person who could band together with the Vice President of the United States which is who needs to actually initiate the 25th amendment. Remember, it came to be after the assassination of jfk when congress was wondering what do we do in the event a president is not deceased but is somehow incapacitated, who would we delegate power to in the line of succession. What we came up to, the Vice President of the United States along with either majority of cabinet members or with a commission that was created with with wi in congress to decide whether or not the president was incapacitated, they had to band together to decide to delegate power to him. The commission was never created, brianna, yet another indication how those in case of emergency break glass things we think are part of our constitution were exposed as not being there, but he still could go with the cabinet. Then what happens next is if they decide, majority of the cabinet and Vice President , that President Trump should no longer be in office, the power would go to pence. Then President Trump would be able to appeal that and say actually thank you for your concern, but i still retain my f faculties, i am still the president of the United States. Then back to a volley to the Vice President and the cabinet, appeal to congress and allow them to make the determination. They have 48 hours to have a hearing, but 21 days to render final decision. Today is less than 21 days from the inauguration. So they could run out the clock because the entire time that congress would evaluate and deliberate, mike pence would be the president of the United States of america. The reason i am shaking my head thinking about the transportation secretary is that she has diluted in some fashion the ability of members of the cabinet to band together with the Vice President , but shes also lessened the requirement for what a majority would now be. I am left ultimately to wonder this question, brianna. What was her motivation . Is the reason shes resigned is because the rest of the cabinet was unable to come to consensus . It seems very contradictory to me, counterintuitive, she would think it is time to leave washington, but the reason she chose to do so, the president of the United States, should remain there. And carl, in addition to this talk of the 25th amendment which i mean, that seems almost like shooting the moon, seems very unlikely that this is going to proceed, House Democrats are circulating articles of impeachment, another avenue it is hard to imagine it is working. It is very difficult to imagine how you can have impeachment and senate trial within the allotted time left for the trump presidency. It is very unlikely, the same hurdles for the 25th amendment. I want to get back to the idea of a constitutional straightjacket on the president because theres right now at this moment the moral force that the Vice President of the United States has, the leadership of both parties, Chuck Schumer and mcconnell and pelosi, of the congress of the United States, they are terribly worried and understand that the president is not mentally stable, unable to discharge his responsibilities in a safe manner that defends the constitution and people of the United States. So there are means. If they were to use their moral authority and particularly Vice President to say out loud we are making sure the president is isolated, he remains the president , but we are going to make sure nothing, orders he gives, that we regard as dangerous to interest of the United States, he needs to be isolated in a way he can no longer do the kind of damage and danger to this country that he has been doing for months actually, so this notion of a constitutional straight jacket, using the moral as weighs, if he combines with congressional leadership, theres a necessity to isolate and keep this president from further actions such as we saw yesterday. I wonder what you think about that, dana, and what about possibility of censure . Thats also, sure. A real possibility. Thats a real possibility of censure. More and more you are seeing republicans trying to figure out if theres a way to punish the president beyond just rhetoric. And thats a really good question. One question i dont know the answer to, maybe laura does, is whether or not he can be censured after he is gone just to prove a point, whether thats something to get in the history books that what the president has done, particularly yesterday, inciting that crowd to do exactly what they did, to go to the capitol and do the unthinkable, there are only two weeks left in the trump presidency. What do you think, laura . Well, you know, censure is a symbolic action. I think the idea of a president of the United States inciting insurrection requires something far more tangible. This goes back to words of even president elect joe biden in response. At times, the words of the president can inspire, at times the words of the president can incite, we saw that very thing happen. I think with the two weeks we have left, it is incumbent on members of congress to respond in a holistic, not merely symbolic way, to the idea that for the First Time Since the 1800s, there was a breach of the peoples house. I want to make it clear to everyone because that seems to always get lost here. Look at the damage across the capitol, i wonder whose tax dollars are going to replace that. I also wonder to what extent they recognize it was a breach on the United States of america and the people of the United States of america. So symbolic censure might be a possibility. But also need to look at the idea of what could possibly be the federal and state level charges could be levied against those that carried out perhaps the incitement, those that have pretended to be patriots and the pretext of failed election in their minds, but instead have actually committed crimes. Thats where we go. I have to tell you, there are a lot of laws on the books with statute of limitations. Federal destruction of property, sedition, conspiracy, the idea of those do not have short statutory periods. They will outlast into january 20th. I think that will be the renewed forecast in a far less symbolic way. I need to get in a quick break here. Ahead, we have joe biden as well as nancy pelosi, who may speak to some of these issues that we have been talking about. What is the future for the president . What will congress do . Well be right back with that. Look, this isnt my first rodeo and let me tell you something, i wouldnt be here if i thought reverse mortgages took advantage of any american senior, or worse, that it was some way to take your home. Its just a loan designed for older homeowners, and, its helped over a million americans. A reverse Mortgage Loan isnt some kind of trick to take your home. Its a loan, like any other. Big difference is how you pay it back. Find out how reverse mortgages really work with aags free, noobligation reverse mortgage guide. 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Look, reverse mortgages arent for everyone but i think ive been round long enough i know you will have a lot of questions, but i want to focus on the issue today on the judiciary, as well as were talking about the attorney generals office. I know, from the 25th amendment on. I will not speak to that today. I want this to be the issue that we focus on, because i think its so important. Yesterday yesterday, in my view, one of the darkest days in the history of our nation. An unprecedented assault on our democracy, an assault literally on the citadel of liberty, the United States capitol itself. An assault on the rule of law. An assault on the most sacred of american undertakings, ratifying the will of the people in choosing the leadership of their government. All of us here grieve the loss of life, grieve the desecration of the peoples house, but we what we witnessed yesterday was not dissent, it was not disorder, it was not protest. It was chaos. They werent protesters. Dont dare call them protesters. They were a riotous mob, insurrectionists, domestic terrorists. Its that basic, that simple. I wish we could say we couldnt see it coming, but that isnt true. We could see it coming. The past four years weve had a position who has made his contempt for our democracy, our constitution, the rule of law clear in everything he has done. He unleashed an allout assault on our institutions of democracy. Yesterday was what the culmination of that unrelending attack. He had the free pressure who dared to question his power. Repeatedly calling the free press then my of the people. Language that i and others have said language thats been yew by autocrats around the world to hold onto power, the enemy of the people. Language being used by autocrats and dictators across the world, but this time with the imprimatur of he attacked choosing instead to believe the word of Vladimir Putin over the word of those who have sworn their allegiance to this nation, many of whom have risked their lives in the service of this nation he deployed the United States military, tear gassing Peaceful Protesters in pursuit of a photo opportunity in the service of his reelection, even holding the bible upsidedown. The action that led to an apology from the chairman of the joint chiefs of staff and an outspoken denunciation of the use of military for domestic political purposes, from scores of former military leaders and secretaries of defense, let by secretary cheney he thought he could stack the court with friendly judges. They were trump judges, his judges. He went so far to say he needed nine judges on the Supreme Court, because he thought the election would end up in the Supreme Court and they would hand him the election he was stunned, truly stunned, when the judges he appointed didnt do his bidding, instead acted with integrity, following the constitution, upholding the rule of law. Not just once or twice or three times, but over 60 times. Let me say it, over 60 times. The more than 60 cases in state after state after state, and then at the Supreme Court as judges including people considered, quote, his judges, trump judges, to use his words, looked at the allegations that trump was making, and determined they were without any merit knowledge was judged to put this election in doubt by any of these judges. You want to understand the importance of the Democratic Institutions . Take a look at the judiciary in this nation. Take a look at the pressure it was just subjected to by a sitting president of the United States of america at every level, the judiciary rose in the moment, did its job, acted with complete fairness and impartiality, with complete honor and integrity. When history looks back at this moment we just passed through, i believe it will say our democracy survived in no small part because of the men and women who represent an independent judiciary in this nation. We owe them a deep, deep debt of gratitude. Then theres the attack on the department of justice, treating the attorney general as his personal lawyer and the department as his personal law firm. Through it all, weve been hearing the same thing from this president my generals, my judges, my attorney general. And then yesterday a culmination of attack on our institutions of democracy, this time the congress itself, inciting a mob to attack the capitol, to threaten elected representatives of the people of this nation, and even the Vice President , to stop the congress from ratifying the will of the American People and the just completed free and fair election. Trying to use a mob to silence the voices of nearly 160 million americans, who summoned the courage in the face of a pandemic, that threatened their health and their lives to cast that sacred ballot. I made it clear from the moment i entered this race that what i believe was at stake, i said there was nothing less at stake than who we are as a nation, what we stand for, what we believe, what we will be. At the center of that belief is one of the oldest principles this nation has long held were a government of laws, not of men, not of the people. Of laws. Ive said it many times in the campaign. Our Democratic Institution is not relics of another age. Theyre what sets this nation apart. Theyre the guardrails of our democracy, and theres no present thats why there is no president who is a king. No congress thats a house of lords. A judiciary doesnt serve the will of the president or exist to protect him or her. We have three coequal branches of government. Coequal. Our president is not above the law. Justice serves the people. It doesnt protect the powerful. Justice is blind. What we saw yesterday in plain view was another violation of the fundamental tenet of this nation. Not only did we see the failure to protect one of the three branches of our government, we also saw a clear failure to carry out equal justice. They used to say in the senate, excuse a point of personal privilege. A little over an hour and a half after the chaos started, i got a text from my granddaughter fin i gan biden, a senior in her last semester at the university of pennsylvania. She sent me a photo of military people in full military gear, scores of them, lining the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, because of a protest of black lives matter. She said, pop, this isnt fair. No one can tell me that if it had been a group of black lives matter protesting yesterday there wouldnt they wouldnt have been treated very, very differently in t lly than the m thugs that stormed the capitol. We all know that is true, and it is unacceptable. Totally unacceptable. The American People saw it in plain view, and i hope it sensitizes them to what we have to do. Not many people know it. When justice kacarlyn and i wer talking, the reason for the Justice Department formed in the first place was ban in 1970. We didnt have a Justice Department before that in the cabinet. It was formed in 1870. , to enforce the civil rights amendment that grew out of the civil war. The 13th, 14th and 15th amendments, to stand up to the klan, to stand up to racism, to take on domestic terrorism. This original spirit must again guide and animate its work. So as we stand here today, we do so in the wake of yesterdays events, events that could not have more vividly demonstrated some of the most important work we have to do in this nation, committing ourselves to the rule of law in this nation, invigorating or our democratic a institutions. Theres no more important place for us to do this work than the department of justice that has been so politicized. Theres no more important people to carry out this work than the people im announcing today. More than anything, we need to restore the honor, the integrity, the independence of the department of justice in this nation thats been so badly damaged. And so many former leaders of that department and both parties have so testified and stated that. I want to be clear to those who lead this department who you will serve. You wont work for me. You are not the president or the Vice President s lawyer. Your loyalty is not to me. Its to the law, the constitution, the people of this nation, to guarantee justice. For the attorney general of the United States, i nominate a man of impeccable integrity, judge m Merrick Garland, brilliant yet humble, distinguished yet modest, full of character and decency. The Supreme Court clerk served in the Justice Department during the carter, bush 41, and clinton administrations, where he embraced the departments core values of independence and integrity. A federal prosecutor, who took on terrorism and corruption and violent crime, with the utmost professionalism and duty to the oath he swore. Nominated by president clinton to be a judge on the d. C. Circuit court of appeals, considered the second most powerful court in america, with such a long and distinguished career as garland has earned the praise and admiration of the bench and bar, politicians of both parties. And despite his busy schedule and prestigious positions, he still makes time to volunteer regularly, tutoring students in northeast d. C. , as hes done for 20 years. Its about character. Its about character. Its no surprise why president obama nominated him, judge garland, to the Supreme Court. As i said, he embodies honor, decently, integrity, fidelity to the rule of law and judicial independence. To those same traits, he will now bring as attorney general of the United States, not as a personal attorney to the president , but as the peoples lawyer. Hell restore trust in the rule of law, and equal justice under the law. And i fully expect, with the discussions ive had, he will receive a fair hearing and swift confirmation. Once he is confirmed, i will move promptly to nominate his replacement on the d. C. Circuit court of appeals. I expect that the distinguished nominee will receive a prompt and fair hearing as well. For Deputy Attorney general, i nominate one of the most selfless people i have worked with, one of the brightest i worked with. I worked with her during the last administration, a 15year veteran of the Justice Department, lisa monaco. She knows the department inside and out. Shes the definition of what a Public Servant should be decent, trusted, honorable, and i might add i embarrassed her a moment ago with her colleagues, selfless, i offered her other positions with greater consequence, quote unquote, more prestige. She wanted to work with you, judge. She wanted to go back to the Justice Department. Topflight prosecutor, took on public corruption, corporate fraud and violent crime. Chief of staff for the director of the fbi, the first woman ever confirmed as assistant attorney general for National Security, where she elevated cybersecurity to the top priority, and where its even more consequential today than it was then. And at the white house, she was a top Homeland Security and counterterrorism adviser to president obama and me and every one of the National Security meetings. She coordinated or fight against al qaeda and isis. She helped lead our response to the ebola crisis. When the bombs went off at the finish line on patriots day in boston, her hometown, she coordinated the federal governments response with local and state Law Enforcement to get to the bottom of the horrible tragedy. Lisa, i know i know you will help restore integrity and independence to the department of justice that you so revere. As associate attorney general, the number three job at the department, i nominate anita gupta, a woman i have known for some time, one of the most respected civil rights lawyers in america. She started her career at the naacp Legal Defense fund, then on to the aclu. Both organizations to which i belong, and then to the Justice Department during the obama biden administration, where she led the civil rights division. With every step, every case, she fought for greater equity and the right to right the wrongs in the Justice System, where they existed. And shes done so by bringing people together, earning praise from across the ideological spectrum to her approach to dealing with the thorniest problems we fate. During the obama administration, she was put in pourer to investigation the Police Departments in ferguson, missouri, and other communities torn apart. She helped institute commonsense Police Reforms to build greater equity, safety and trust. She was committed for her work by both Law Enforcement and those advocating for changes in the criminal Justice System. Thats a rare achievement. It speaks volumes about her capacity to unite people in common purpose, which is what this is all about. Uniting the American People. Born in philadelphia, a proud daughter of immigrants from india does that sound familiar . If confirmed, she will be the first woman of color to serve as associate attorney general. Im grateful, im grateful that she is leaving her current job, leading one of the premier civil rights organizations in the world, and she answers the call to serve once again to ensure that our Justice System is even more fair and more equitable. Thank you. For assistant attorney general for civil rights, i nominate kristin clark, who has spent her career advocating for greater equality and equity in our Justice System. The daughter of jamaican immigrants now dont think this has been designed here. [ laughter ] im still looking for an irishman. All kidding aside, the daughter of jamaican immigrants, kristin is also one of the most distinguished civil rights attorney general in america, a proud native of brooklyn, new york. She began her career in the very same office shes now nominated to lead. Her previous tenure with the Justice Department saw her take on some of the most complex civil rights cases from voting rights, to redistricting challenges, to prosecuting hate crimes and human trafficking. Shes earn accolades throughout her career, including as the head of the Civil Rights Bureau for her home state of new york, where shes led the charge to end the schooltoprison pipeline and root out discrimination in housing and in Law Enforcement. She currently leads one of the nations top civil rights organizations, where she promotes greater equity in voting rights, in our education system, in our housing system, in our Justice System, and so much more. Now shell return full circle to pursue the vital work where her career began, the civil rights division, represents the more center of the department of justice, and the heart of that fundamental american ideal that were all created equal, and all deserve to be treated equally. Im honored she accepted the call to return to make real the promise for all americans. To each of you, i thank you for your service and to your families, and to the American People, this is a team that will restore your trust and faith in our institutions, democracy. I chaired the Judiciary Committee for many years. One of my goals in running in the first place, you may recall, i said when i saw those people coming out of the fields in charlottesville shouting hate, a young woman killed, and when asked, the president said there are good people on both sides. Thats literally why i ran. Theres no more important and heartfelt effort on my part than restoring restoring the independence and integrity of our Justice Department. So may god bless you all, may god protect our troops and those who have sworn to protect the American People. Now i will turn it over to the team, starting with the next attorney general of the United States, judge Merrick Garland. Thank you. Thank you, president elect biden, Vice President elect harris, for asking me to serve. Thanks always to my wife, children, sisters, late parents, without whose unending support i would not be standing here today. Thanks also for my grandparents whose decision to undertake the different journey to america made all things possible for my family. If confirmed, i look forward to working with these wonderful doj veterans, lisa monaco, nita gupa and kristin clark. It would be a kind of homecoming for me. My very first job after serving as a judicial law clerk was to work as a special assistant to then attorney general ben civ civiletti, the first attorneys general appointed after watergate had enunciated the norms that would ensure the departments adherence to the civil law. They continued their work of crafting those norms into written policies. Those policies included guaranteeing the independence of the department from partisan influence in Law Enforcement investigations, regulating communications with the white house, establishing guidelines for fbi investigations, ensuring respect for the professional limit i of dojs lawrence, and setting on you the principles to guide prosecutorial discretion. Those policies became part of the dna of every career lawyer and agent. If confirmed, my mission as attorney general will be to reaffirm those policies as the principles upon which the department operates. As ed levy said at his own swearing in, nothing can more weaken the quality of life or more imperil the realization of the goals we all hold dear than our failure to make clear by words and deed that our law is not the instrument of partisan purpose. In the decades that followed my first tour of duty at the department, i returned again and again in different roles. As a career line assistant u. S. Attorney, as a criminal divisions supervisor, and finally as a senior official in the office of the Deputy Attorney general. In the latter role, i worked with every component of the department on issues ranging from civil rights and antitrust, to domestic terrorism and National Security. I also worked directly with line prosecutors and agents in offices from Oklahoma City to billings, montana, from sacramento, california, to new york city. Attorney general, later Supreme Court Justice Robert jackson, famously said, the citizens safety lies in the prosecutor who tempers zeal with human kindness, who seeks truth, not and who approaches his job with humility. That was the kind of prosecutor i fridayed to be in my years of service at doj. In 1987, i left the department to serve the cause of justice in another role, as a judge. I have loved being a judge, but to serve as attorney general at this critical time, to lead the more than 113,000 dedicated men and women who work at the department to ensure the rule of law, is a calling i am honored and eager to answer. As everyone who watched yesterdays events in washington now understands, if they did not understand before, the rule of law is not just some lawyers turn of phrase. It is the very foundation of our democracy. The essence of the rule of law is that like cases are treated alike. Not one rule for democrats and another for republicans, one rule for friends, another for foes, one rule for the powerful, another for the powerless, one rule for the rich, and another for the poor, or different rules, depends on ones race or ethnicity. The essence of its great corollary, equal justice until law, all citizens are protected in the exercise of their civil rights. Those ideals have animated the department of justice since the very moment of its inception. As president elect biden just recounted, the department was founded in the midst of reconstruction following the civil war, with its first Principal Task to ensure compliance with the 13th, 14th, and 15th amendments. As a historian wrote, quote, the new Justice Department would forge its identity in the battle to slay of first incarnation of the ku klux klan and its offshoots. In that battle, the department successfully deployed its considerable resources to ensure civil rights which were under militant attack. These principles, ensuring the rule of law and mace the promise of justice under law real, are the great principles upon which the department of justice was founded and for which it must always stand. They echo today in the priorities that lie before us, from ensuring equality, to meeting the evolving threat of violent extremism. If confirmed, those are the principles to which i will be devoted as attorney general. President elect biden understands this. As he said today, and as he has publicly said before, quote its not my Justice Department, its the peoples Justice Department. He promised that the person he chose to lead the department would have, quote, the independent capacity to decide who gets prosecuted and who doesnt. Vice president elect harris has also publicly stated, quote, any decision coming out of the Justice Department should be based on facts, should be based on the law, it should not be based on politics, period. I could not agree more. I would not have agreed to be considered for attorney general under any other conditions. So thank you both for giving me the opportunity to serve. All right. We have just watched president elect joe biden nominate Merrick Garland. Of course, you are likely familiar with him. He was in march of 2016 former president obamas pick to replace ant anyone scalia on the Supreme Court, which was blocked by republicans. That never came to fruition. He will not be the attorney general for joe biden if joe biden gets his way. I do want to bring our panel back in to talk about this. Specifically carl bernstein, i want to ask you about what the president elect said at the top of his remarks here, which was just a scorches rebuke of President Trump. He said that yesterday was also a clear failure to carry out equal justice. He said dont dare call them protesters. They were a riotous mob. What dunk . I think it was an absolutely great speech that the nation needs at just this moment from the incoming president of the United States about fundamental values, about what has occurred during his predecessors presidency, which has been a lawless presidency, undermined faith in our Democratic Institutions. I think with all of this that we have just seen, including the nom assassination of judge garland to be the attorney general is about restoration s and the theme perhaps for today is restoration of the principles that include, incidentally the ability for bipartisan work. We listened to judge garland talk about his mentor, ed levy, a republican, a great attorney general. So what we saw here today is restoration of fundamental values, what our government is for, what donald trump and trumpism have done to america, and that stain must be removed as we move forward. A total repudiation of trump, his values, if there are values there, and trumpism. We have a very significant statement from house Speaker Nancy Pelosi that we just got in. This is about she says that President Trump should be removed from office. Lets listen. Good afternoon. I dont know if good is a way to describe it, but because yesterday the president of the United States incited an armed insurrection against america. The gleeful desecration of the u. S. Capitol, which is the temple of our american democracy, and the violence targeting congress are horrors that will forever stain our nations history. Instigated by the president of the United States. Thats why its such a stain. In calling for this seditious act, the president has committed an assault on our nation and our people. I joined the Democratic Senate leader to have the president removed. If the president and cvice pres cabinet do not act, the congress will be prepared to go forward with impeachment. Dana bash, those are i mean, that is a big deal, coming from the House Speaker. [ inaudible ] maybe were numb to sort of the politics of people going back and forth, particularly in the era of donald trump. Nancy pelosi has a constitutional role. She is speaker of the house, second in line to be the president of the United States, so by her doing what she just did, saying what she just said, that holds a lot of sway. She is not somebody who takes that lightly. You go back to impeachment, it took a while, despite the frustration of many democratic rankandfile members for her to go forward with the articles of impeachment. Lets be clear, and laura can speak to this, unless it gets to the end of a process, congress doesnt have much of a role in the 25th amendment, if that happens, but its the moral authority, the rhetorical authority, the constitutional relevance of her role that gives such importance to what she said. You know, youre hearing a lot of that now from other democrats, more rank and file, also the top democrat in the senate. Only one that i know of republican, Adam Kinzinger, a military veteran, as well as now an outspoken trump critic, has said they should go on within the cabinet, the 25th amendment. The idea right now, as we speak, that were hearing, i know jamey, kaitlan and others and i are talking to republicans, to contain the president as much as possible, and this kind of threat theyre hoping will do that, because theyre not sure the 25th amendment is that viable, given all of the realities, not the least of which is the calendar, and the fact theres only about two weeks left. But it is very significant what we just heard from the speaker of the house. That should not be overlooked because were in very partisan times. Laura, what is your reaction to what we just heard from nancy pelosi. What an historic moment in history, the same speaker of the outs who was almost begged by her caucus and the court of Public Opinion to launch impeachment the first time, has essentially said if you do not act the 25th amendment, congress has a role, and we will do something about it. What is different right now from, say, last year we were talking about an impeachment based in part on that ukrainian phone call, but also the withholding of military aid, you have the numbers in the senate suddenly shifting. What everybody those before was the house could bring articles of impeachment, but it would be d. O. A. When it reached somebody lie Mitch Mcconnell. Now the tide has changed. Balance of power has shifted. What otherwise might have been a pipe dream might now be expeditiously executed. The problem, of course is one,ed idea of a tolerant of the electorate, and the idea of what this does in terms of those members of those caucus who might be looking forward to the transition of power to president elect joe biden and harris, and not want to give all of this air. But at the ends of the day you have the idea, look what happened, the amount of time the president made a statement to confront what he called weak republicans. It took all of marching down pennsylvania avenue for there to be an insurrection. 13 days suddenly becomes an extraordinary amount of time, given what the president can still do in power. It will be very interesting to see how, now that people are starting to change their minds about even to object last night in the wee small hours of the this morning about the Electoral College, will this shift tides. Will mitt romney still remain alone, if in fact articles of impeachment are drafted . Frankly theres even less blurred lines here than there was perhaps thinking about the whole quid pro quo. You have a Straight Line from the president to insurrection. I wonder, carl, what is trump legacy . Its going to be as an autocratic president of the United States who was mentally unstable and that instability has demonstrable through much, if not all of his presidency, who undermined our most Democratic Institutions, who was willing to do things that no president has ever done to corrupt our system of government for his own ends. The question politically, he still is powerful, in the sense his Movement Still exists, that he has a cult. That cult is huge. Whether or not the cult and the socalled altright will maintain a viability in our political culture, we dont know yet. But it will be identified with him. His presidency is a shameful episode in our National Life and history of this country, such as nothing as we have experienced in our history, and i would be pretty confident that it is going to be in the history books as a dark, dark stain, unlike any presidency in the history of the United States. Dana, what do you think . Agree. I was talking to a republican ally of the president on capitol hill, who has taken a lot of, you know, probably welldeserved arrows for standing up for the president , who kind of in a fit of rage said to me said the president will probably go down as the worst president of the United States of america, and rightly so, for a lot of reasons, but especially the capstone event of yesterday. There is just just so much rage. Maybe this is just stating the obvious, but, you know, part of the issue is that there has been so much that has gone on that these lawmakers have been silent about. It took something that was unthinkable, but not just to generically unthinkable. It happened to them. It happened in the peoples house where they serve. It was a traumatic human event for them. So that is unfortunately what it took for a lot of these republicans, who to quote i think former congressman mike rogers, under the political spell of donald trump, for that spell to be broken. Its unfortunate it took something that dramatic and traumatic for it to happen. I want to bring Brian Stelter into our conversation here. You make a very good point. Here we have on this pivotal day, and we have not heard from the president or Vice President once today. Partly thats because the president s megaphones are being taken away, Big Technology companies do not trust the president to use their platforms in a responsible way. Facebook has banned him for the remainder of his presidency. The twitter suspension may be over at this point, but the president has not tweeted, said a worth. Its 2 30 in the afternoon. Where is the Vice President . Its been almost 12 hours since weve seen the Vice President. A member of the cabinet has resigned. Where are the other cabinet members . They all have our numbers, by the way. The president could call into fox news or cnn at any time. It will be interesting about what he would say and how he would say it. But its striking we have not heard from the Trump Administration today. President elect biden is acting an president already. I think rhetorically his address 30 minutes ago, he is assuming the role already, because he has to fill the leadership void, brianna. Brian, if you could stand by for us, we heard joe biden mention he said this was a clear failure to carry out equal justice. He was recounting a story from one of his grandkids, who said if these rioters had been black, they thought the situation would be different. He clearly agreed. Im joined by the cow founder of patrice coolers, one of the cofounders of the black lives matter. I want to hear your reaction about, this very different reaction for people coming into the capitol versus the response when it came to protests this summer, especially in d. C. Thank you so much for having me. I think hearing president elect joe biden really speak to the dire situation that happened yesterday, and clarify that black lives matter protesters have been and continue to be treated differently than white supremacist terrorists was huge. Hes speaking not just to the country, but speaking on a global stage. And, you know, one of the things i thought of yesterday watching this was that the comments we heard, even, you know we saw a lot of protests and also some violence during the protests. We saw some looting. There were comments the president had made about, you know, lootling and shooting. Part he me thought this sunday a Department Store or a shoe store. This is the capitol, right . Where the Vice President is. I wonder what you think about some of the comparisons, this sort of false equivalence that we have heard about these two things. I mean, what we know is that black leaders, black organizers, black protesters are treated completely different. We spent an entire summer last summer fighting for people like george floyd and breonna taylor, and we are met with rubber bullets, people in louisville, kentucky, were met with riot gear. Here in los angeles we were met with tear gas and brutalized by a militarized police force. What was probably most shocking for me yesterday was watching Law Enforcement either run away or open the gates for white supremacist terrorists to damage the nations capitol. That was disturbing. What did you think about you spoke to it a bit there, but when you watched the reaction, how surprised were you that they were not prepared more, that Law Enforcement was not prepared more to have a perimeter enforced and rioters got this close and into the capitol . I was very surprised. We all know there is white privilege, and on large part white terrorists in particular, domestic terrorists, have been able to do anything they want with very little accountability, but i think it was so surprising that for weeks the police knew the secret service knew that there was going to be a protest. They also know that many of these White Supremacists have been violent in their own towns. Ive been the subject of that violence as have so many other black leaders. To which nor on very little security yesterday was disgusting. You were clearly surprised by the lack of security, but you werent surprised by the sentiment behind it that appeared to be motivating people who broke into the capitol . Thats exactly right, because black lives matter leadership, and so many of our organizer have experienced Death Threats by many of the people who are just like the people who stormed the capitol yesterday. I want to thank you so much for being with us, patrisse cullcull ors. Thank you so much for joining us. Alex, the speaker just called for the resignation of the Capitol Police chief. Reporter thats right. And they have called it a massive failure in terms of security, so the speaker of the house nancy pelosi has called for the resignation of the chief of the Capitol Police, and the sergeantatarms has also submitted his resignation. We had heard from the chief of the Capitol Police earlier defenses his officers. He said they responded valiantly. He said they had never seen anything like this in the 30 years he worked in Law Enforcement, but brianna, if you read between the lines of the statement, essentially it said they were overwhelmed. Thats really the question. Why is it that what should be one of the most protected landmarks, why were the officers overwhelmed, when we knew this event was going to take place. It was weeks in the making. The president himself had talked about it. Why were the overs overwhelmed . Weve been asked to be moved back by the metropolitan police, and that really does speak, brianna, to the level of security that there is around the capitol today, one day after this insurrection. You can see right around the edge of the Capitol Campus is a new eightfoothigh fence, that is going to be built or has been built around the company complex. Its the same fencing we traditionally see during gnaw raise, but we have also seen around the white house most notably since the protests at lafayette park. Brianna, the protesters were not pushed back last night. They were not pushed back away from the capitol until the Capitol Police got reinforcement from these officers from here, from metropolitan police, from fbi, and from the d. C. National guard. Now the entire guard has been called up and theres six other states that also will be spending troops to reinforce them. More than 6,000 National Guard are going to be arriving and active here in targd. C. A lot of people were asking about arrested d. C. Police say overnight there earp some 63 arrests, the Capitol Police said that there were 14 more. The mayor of washington, d. C. , as so many are laying what we have seen at the feet of president donald trump, saying that he is responsible for inflaming these crowds and for getting them to do what they did. Brianna, this is exactly where the inauguration of president elect joe biden will be happening in just 13 days time. Given what we have seen in the past 24 hours, the big question is what will the Security Posture of the city, of the federal agencies look like to defend that inauguration in just untwo weeks, brianna . Alex, such a good point. Thank you so much. Alex marquardt live for us. I want to bring in druew griffi, who has new information on the search for suspects. What can you tell us . I can tell you people put in a list of people who are interested in finding. We found them overnight on the internet and have identified many of the instigators. Take a looks at this rogues gallery. These are memories of qanon groups, proud boys. They come from all over the country. These are people that police are interested in talking to. Im going to single out two in particular. One, jake an angeli, he is known as the qanon shaman from arizona, one of the conspiratorial believers that theres some kind of cult that runs washington, d. C. We also have him pictured with Rudy Giuliani, one of his selfies on his post. Also this man, richard barnett, hes from arkansas, gun rights advocate. He is the person who spoke into Speaker Pelosis office, put feet on her desk and later bragged and talked about how he stole an envelope from her office. Hes one of the People Police are looking for. What is very interesting to us is the amount of offguardness that Capitol Police have, even though there was so much warning about this prior to this happening. One of the groups we use to monitor hate and violence on the enter net said there was some 1480 qanon posts on twitter prior to january 6th, that contained messages of violence, tiktok videos, 279,000 views promoting violence, one actually advocating bringing guns to d. C. For this protest. It is just very hard to understand why the fbi, why Homeland Security and eventually why Capitol Hill Police werent prepared for this when so much of the advanced preplanning by these rioters was going on in plain sight on the internet. So important and we hope those questions are answered soon. Drew griffin, thank you so much. I want to have all of my colleagues stand by. For the last several weeks, and years for that matter, many of the republican establishment here in washington fed and nurtured a monster that was growing in their midst. Conspiracy theories, white supremacy, nationalism, violent political rhetoric, and the bastardization of the constitution. They tried to harness the power of this monster, insisting it wasnt a monster at all, as if our eyes were deceiving us, even as the monster grew out of control. Yesterday that monster overcame republicans. Trump supporters stormed the capitol. They injured several Police Officers. They threatened the safety of the Vice President and the entire senate, the entire house, as well as 9 thousands of staffers and journalists who worked there. While congress was certifies joe bidens Electoral College win. Four people died. The Capitol Police say an officer shod one woman as protesters were seen trying to break a door down inside the building. Police are investigatic that. Now many republicans are trying to rewrite history to cover their asses, like senator josh hawley, one of the ring leaders, missouris junior senator became the first to object to joe bidens win. His basis for doing so lies and conspiracy theories. Shortly before the attack, he appeared for a photo op for his expected 2024 run for president , raising a fist outside the capitol for Trump Supporters there. There he is. The same senator hawley, who the night before appeared on fox, to say how furious he was that liberal protesters showed up outside his home with bullhorns. This antifa group now says it was a candlelight vigil, we are singing songs, like its a church choir or something, screaming at my wife to come owl out. If it can happen to my family, it can happen to any family in america. He tweeted that, quote, were not going to sit back and take it. You can imagine how upsetting it would be to have protesters show up at your house, right . He said he wasnt home, but his wife was with their newborn and she was shaking. During the siege, he blasted out a fundraising appeal to supporters. After the attack, he continued his team to overturn a democratic election, going on his merry way, like an attack on the capitol that made the protest at his house look quaint this is the place where the issues are to be finally resolved, in this lawful means, peacefully, without violence, without attacks, without bullets. So, mr. President let me say briefly, in lieu of speaking about it later, a word about pennsylvania senator ted cruz, another architect of the coup attempt, he stood before a crowd in georgia over the weekend and said this. I am inspired. Each of you look around, the men and women who are gathered here, you are patriots just like the patriots gathered at bunker hill, just like the patriots gathered at valley forge. Just like the patriots who forged this nation, the men and women gathered here to cross the state of georgia are fighting for the United States of america. Bunker hill . Valley forge . Fighting for the fate of the United States of america . When domestic terrorists were inspired to storm the capitol like a scene off braveheart this is how they explained it. Im excited that from 1776, we the People Movement is moving forward. One man i talked to had described the police macing him and fight back. And i said, whats the point . And he said, whats the point . This is our only choice. This is the only option we have. The Supreme Court doesnt have our backs. This is 1776. Now where would they have gotten that idea . Maybe from ted who me, couldnt be cruz who made a fundraising pitch during the attack that his office later blamed on an outside firm. Ted cruz who said this, after the attack. But i would urge to both sides perhaps a bit less certitude and a bit more recognition that we are gathered at a time when democracy is in crisis. Recent polling shows that 39 of americans believe the election that just occurred, quote, was rigged. No duh because leaders like cruz are spoonfeeding them lies that the election was rigged and urging them to fight the result by comparing the rejection of joe bidens win in the year 2020 to opposing british rule during the American Revolutionary war. Then theres outgoing senator kelly loeffler, who just the night before lost her Runoff Election against senatorelect raphael warnock. She, too, was objecting to joe bidens win, planning to challenge it on the senate floor. But after the attack, she backed off. I cannot now in good conscience object to the certification of these electors. 24 hours earlier, when she still had a political future, she fueled the opposition to bidens win. On january 6th, i will object to the Electoral College vote and then there is senator Lindsey Graham, one of the president s most famous apologists and enablers. Here he is, speaking on the floor after the attack. From my point of view, hes been a consequential president. But today, first thing youll see, all i can say is, uh, count me out. Enough is enough. Ive tried to be helpful. Hes out, huh . 13 days to go in the Trump Administration and now enough is enough . When the monster that he helped create threatened his life, the holdup, wait a minute, because as Lindsey Graham came to jesus on the extent to which he would endure this nonpresident ial behavior from the president yesterday, he also tried to rewrite history, lambasting voter fraud claims from the trump campaign. They say there are 66,000 people in georgia under 18 voted. How many people believe that . I ask, give me ten havent had one they said 8,000 felons in prison in arizona voted. Give me ten. I havent gotten one that would be commendable from a senator who had not allegedly called up georgias secretary of state to pressure him to find ways to exclude or invalidate legally cast absentee ballots in an attempt to reverse trumps loss in georgia. Now, that claim from the states republican secretary of state sparked an ethics complaint, but graham says the claim is ridiculous and he just wanted to know more about signature verification. And then theres the Conspiracy Theory that is out there right now, in rightwing circles that wasnt actually trump supporter who is perpetrated this attack. Yeah, that is what is being talked about in rightwing media right now. And theyre getting an assist from some of the most powerful republican lawmakers in washington, as they try to blame liberal extremists for the failed coup at the capitol. People came here to do some damage. I dont know who they were with, but they came here to do some damage. We knew this big crowd was coming, right . We knew they were coming. Whether antifa was in there or not, well find out more. That was the House Minority leader, Kevin Mccarthy, breathing life into the Conspiracy Theory that this was a false flag operation, leftists pretending to be Trump Supporters storming the capitol, even though it was the president who summoned these crowds to d. C. , who spoke at their rally, who offered to walk them over to the capitol and then defended them after the attack. Many of the people shown in video entering the capitol were Trump Supporters who appear publicly a lot, which makes them easily identifiable. The guy with the horns and the hat with the fur who got to the senate floor, that is a known qanon conspiracy theorist and trump supporter. Capitol Police Released his photo. They say hes a person of interest that they want to talk to as part of their probe. Then this guy in Nancy Pelosis office with his feet up on her desk is a trump supporter who leads that Gun Rights Group in arkansas. And there are so many others. One of the most wellknown conservative activists who is critical of antifa told the rightleaning Washington Examiner that the perpetrators did not look like antifa and he didnt think antifa was capable of organizing on that scale and that there had been no chatter about antifas involvement, which there would be if they were involved. But sure leader mccarthy and fox, antifa. Next, theres senator james langford, a trump loyalist among the senators who were planning to object. In fact, he was on the floor, speaking when the senate was evacuated. But after the siege, he backpedaled, saying this. In oklahoma, we would say Something Like, why in gods name would someone think attacking Law Enforcement and occupying the United States capitol is the best way to show that youre right . Why would you do that . Why, senator, would they do that . If you werent paying attention to what was happening in washington yesterday morning, if you were willfully ignorant of what was going on just down pennsylvania avenue, of the huge gatherings that were making travel to and from the capitol, where senator langford was difficult, it might be a decent question. Not far from the hill, the president s lawyer was saying this to the angry crowd just before their attack. And if were wrong, we will be made fools of. But if were right, a lot of them will go to jail so lets have trial by combat. This morning, giuliani tried acting like he is stunned by what happened. Called the riot shameful, criminal, and he tried to play whataboutism with liberals. His logic melting as quickly as sprayed on hair on a warm day in philadelphia. But his client, the president , was, of course, the chief instigator here. He called them to washington to demonstrate. He spoke at the rally, knowing that he was appearing before a crowd that included a large contingent of White Supremacists and extremists. He had lied to his supporters for years. And as he told them to move on the capitol, he told them another. That he would be going with them. And after this, were going to walk down, and ill be there with you, were going to walk down, were going to walk down, anyone you want, but i think right here, were going to walk down to the capitol, and were going to cheer on our brave senators and congressmen and women, and were probably not going to be cheering so much for some of them. Because youll never take back our country with our weakness. You have to show strength and you have to be strong. He said, quote, i will be there with you. He said those words in front of a bulletproof piece of glass. He told his supporters to, quote, fight like hell, to overturn an election. And then, as trumps army of supporters marched to capitol hill to confront his enemies, trump got back in his hermetically sealed army limousine and drove literally in the opposite direction, returning to the safety of the white house, where he watched it all go down on tv. White house staffers who probably thought that they had seen it all by this point were visibly shaken by President Trumps response, according to cnns Kaitlan Collins. Trump was, quote, borderline enthusiastic about the siege of the capitol and he didnt want to condemn the perpetrators, according to multiple sources. Trumps republican enablers, they have blood on their hands. And they want to pretend they had no idea this could happen. They seemed baffled that the monster they nurtured and stroked turned on them. Theyve sold their souls. For what . For ambition. And they act like they dont know that when you sell your soul, at some point, there is a debt to settle. Our special coverage will continue now with jake tapper. Announcer this is cnn breaking news. And welcome to the lead. Im jake tapper. The deadly domestic terrorist attack on the u. S. Capitol incited by President Trump and members of the Republican Party has caused at least four deaths and is now prompting a bipartisan push to remove trump from office as soon as possible, even though his presidency only has 13 days left. Moments ago, democratic speaker, nancy pelosi, joined Chuck Schumer, the Senate Minority leader, in saying that the 25th amendment to the constitution should be inevacuate e invoked t to remove the president. If not, pelosi saying, congress may decide to impeach the president. They made their announcement after Adam Kinzinger of illinois called to invoke the amendment for the sake of our democracy. Fed lies by President Trump, republicans in congress, including senators ted cruz and josh hawley and the House Republican leader, Kevin Mccarthy, plus the maga media, an angry mob was whipped into a frenzy yesterday. President trump, donald trump jr. , Rudy Giuliani incited the crowd before they went to storm and terrorize the capitol. Going to try and give them the kind of pride and boldness that they need to take back our country. So lets walk down pennsylvania avenue. Youll never take back our country with weakness. You have to show strength. And you have to be strong. Stand up and fight stand up and hold your representatives accountable and if were wrong, we will be made fools of. But if were right, a lot of them will go to jail so lets have trial by combat trial by combat. Take back our country. You have to show strength. Stand up and fight. Those are the words the terrorist mob heard from President Trump and his allies before they followed the president s instruction and walked down pennsylvania avenue to the capitol and began doing this, storming the capitol of the United States of america. A violent insurrection, under the false pretenses that the election was stolen. It, of course, was not. Spotted in the crowd, amongst the trump flags, several shirts and tattoos suggesting neonazi beliefs. President trump has not only not condemned the violence or the nazis, yesterday in a video he told supporters, quote, we love you. Lost a bit in the news of the insurrection yesterday, democratic senatorelect jon ossoff won his georgia runoff race, giving democrats control of the senate and the house and the presidency. Yet another indication that the Republican Partys embrace of trump has turned off many americans. In the small hours of the morning, congress affirmed that president elect joe biden won, though not before 138 members of the house, all republicans, and 7 republican senators, objected. Aligning themselves with the very same disgraceful conspiracy theories and lies that inspired the bloodshed at the capitol. Hawley, cruz, mccarthy, and 142 other republicans. This ugly chapter in American History is hopefully coming to a close, but this will forever stain their legacies, indeed, it will stain it and stain them with blood. Lets start with cnns White House Correspondent, Kaitlan Collins, and cnn congressional correspondent, manu raju. Speaker pelosi, manu, seems to think that there may actually be enough support in the Democratic Caucus to possibly impeach President Trump again . Thats what she just indicated to a group of reporters when we were in the room with her, in a press conference just moments ago, saying that the house would be prepared to impeach President Trump for the second time, which would, of course, be the first time in American History that Something Like that would occur. But she said that theyre willing to go down that road with just 13 days left and Donald Trumps time in office, if Vice President mike pence and the president s cabinet does not invoke the 25th amendment of the United States to push donald trump out of office. She said, if pence does not go down that road, the congress may be prepared to act. She didnt say explicitly that she would do it, but she threatened to do just that, because she warned, she said the president has committed what she called a seditious act. In calling for this seditious act, the president has committed an unspeakable assault on our nation and our people. I join the Senate Democratic leader in calling on the Vice President to remove this president by immediately invoking the 25th amendment. If the Vice President and cabinet do not act, the congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment. That is the overwhelming sentiment of my caucus, and the American People, by the way. Reporter now, theres still a lot of questions about the timing of all of this, given that theres so little time left in Donald Trumps time in office. She said that she wanted an answer from mike pence soon. She didnt say exactly how soon. She said she hoped to get an answer by the end of today, about whether or not they would move forward with the 25th amendment, but then the question is, how quickly can they actually move on impeachment proceedings in the house. Recall when donald trump was impeached back in 2019, that occurred over a period of several months, but presumably, they could move very quickly, she suggested, perhaps go straight to the house floor, some time next week to vote on articles of impeachment, which would be a remarkable move by this house. But she contended, jake, that democrats are onboard. She said her phone is blowing up from Text Messages and phone calls and the like and she says theyre ready to do just that, so well see how the Vice President and the cabinet respond, jake. Of course, theres also the senate that has to get involved. Manu, the terrorist mob is responsible for the violence that happened yesterday, but theres no way around the fact that the u. S. Capitol police, this is a huge failure by them to protect the capitol. What repercussions, if any, are there from that . Were seeing the top democratic Leadership Call for the top Law Enforcement officials to essentially step down. The two key officials, the house sergeant at arms and the Senate Sergeant at arms are essentially being pushed out by the democratic leadership. The one on the house side has submitted his resignation. The senate side, Chuck Schumer, has called for the senate Law Enforcement, Senate Sergeant at arms to resign. Those people are in charge of security in the complex. But also, the u. S. Capitol police are kurncoming under a tf criticism, including from pelosi, and she has called on stephen chun to resign. She said she has not got an briefing or any details about exactly what went wrong yesterday. And it wasnt until this morning that we learned about what happened on the ground with Capitol Police. They said that more than 50 of their officers had been injured. They said that their officers had been struck by weapons and the like, by these protrump rioters. But, the police chief acknowledging how difficult it was to maintain, ensure that the First Amendment could be carried out by these demonstrators, but he didnt provide many more details, but pelosi wants him out, jake. Manu, lets bring in kaitlan here. Kaitlan, what about the president s cabinet . Is there any indication that they might invoke the 25th amendment . And what about any resignations . Reporter whats notable about those 25th amendment conversations is no ones denying that theyre actually happening. Before, weve brought this up in the past, people have said, thats ridiculous, were not talking about it. No one saying that now. They are opening admitting that, yes, these conversations have been happening. Whether or not theyre actually going to go anywhere remains to be seen. But we are seeing some members of the cabinet resign as a direct result of how the president handled yesterday and what he did to incite what happened yesterday, by fueling those loyalists who descended on capitol hill with all of those lies about the election. And thats elaine chao, the transportation secretary, who we should also note is married to the Senate Majority leader, Mitch Mcconnell, has resigned. She sent an email to her staff tying it directly to the way that the president responded yesterday, saying it was a traumatic and entirely avoidable event and she said it has deeply troubled me in a way that i simply cannot set aside. Now, there will be critics who say, yeah, well, shes resigning with two weeks left of the donald trump presidency. But elaine chao has been here since day one. Shes one of the lodngest servig cabinet members weve seen. Shes stood by the president. So this is a real breaking point. She is the first cabinet member were seeing. Well wait to see if there are others. But she is joining a list of more than half a dozen people who have now resigned. And a lot of them are either people who have been there since day one or people who are incredibly loyal to the president that youre now seeing resign. Another one who has been there since the early days is matt pottinger, the deputy National Security adviser. He played a Critical Role in the early response to the pandemic and trying to, you know, really wake people up in the administration. So thats significant, as well. But jake, its also the criticism the president is getting not just from people inside, but people outside the administration, as well. Including his own former attorney general, bill barr, of course, a trump loyalist in the early days. And he is saying that the president orchestrated this mob and betrayed his office by his actions yesterday. All right, Kaitlan Collins, thanks so much. Joining me now to discuss, john bolton, the former National Security adviser for President Trump, former ambassador to the united nations, author of the book, the room where it happened. Ambassador bolton, thanks so much for joining us. President trump has 13 more days in office. I know you have reservations about invoking the 25th amendment. I dont know your feelings on impeachment. But what about those who say that President Trump right now poses a clear and present danger to the United States . Zblf we well, i dont think we should exaggerate. Im not saying that hes not a danger. I do believe that theres grave risk there. But weve got 13 days left. And i think those who advocate either the invocation of the 25th amendment, which has never been used, section 4 of the 25th amendment is what were talking about here, has never been used before, for very good reason, because its probably the worstwritten provision soft constitution, or impeachment, either one, have to make the argument that that would leave us better off than simply gritting our teeth and trying to make it through the next seven business days, which is all weve got left until noon on the 20th of january. And i find it hard to believe that they can make that case. Well, thats one argument, but let me ask you, 13 days in trump world is, first of all, like six years. And second of all, weve seen the havoc that he can wreak. You know, attorney general barr, who is not an outspoken critical of President Trump, he publicly accused President Trump of, quote, orchestrating a mob to Pressure Congress and violating his oath. Let me just ask you, do you think President Trump has blood on his hands . I think he does. Look, i agree with bill barr. I think he did incite this mob, with the clear intention of having them disrupt the Electoral College certification. And delay it to give him more time. I dont think theres any question about it. But lets just take the 25th amendment for a second. It says that if the Vice President can round up a majority of the cabinet, they can write saying that the president is unable to fulfill the duties of his office. In response, this is the 25th amendment itself. Section 4 says the president can then write a letter saying, i can, too. And if the Vice President and this majority of the cabinet write back again and say, well, we still disagree, congress then has 21 days to decide the issue. So, imagine this. In the last 13 days of the Trump Administration, you could have two people both claiming to hold the powers of the presidency. Do you think donald trump will write will back down when he gets a letter from mike pence . Think again. So are we better off with two president s competing with each other in the last 13 days . I think you risk making the situation which is as bad as it is, far worse. Interesting. What duo you think about the members of congress who have been pushing these lies about the election . Ted cruz, josh hawley, Kevin Mccarthy. How much blood do you think they have on their hands . Well, i think this has been a real abuse of the constitution here by people who should know better, lawyers who should know better. Theres no constitutional basis for these challenges. The framers expressly created the Electoral College to minimize Congress Role in president ial elections. Thats why they created the separation of powers to have executive, legislative, and judicial powers separately. They gave the states responsibility for the elections primarily. Thats the principle of federalism. So to hear republicans object to the certification violates the separation of powers and federalism. Not only two fundamental preceps of the constitution, but two fundamental preceps of conservatism. So i take your point on all of that. But in addition to that, this lie, the big lie that there was election fraud, even though court after court, election board after election board, has found no evidence of widespread fraud that has made any difference in the election. This lie incited these this mob that this this insurrection. And im wondering how much responsibility people like hawley and cruz and mccarthy, you think they have. Well, i think a lot of people in the party who were intimidated by trump and who didnt speak up to say that the president is not speaking the truth, there is responsibility. And i think the responsibility going forward, i think, mitt romney said this very well yesterday, as republicans, we now have an obligation to tell people what the truth was. I think we can do that. I think people can be convinced of it. I think its critical that we do so. But its i lay the responsibility primarily at the door of donald trump. Do you have concerns about an orderly transition of power on january 20th . Do you think the secret service is going to have to escort President Trump out of the building . No, i think hell go to maralago. And i think thats the real secret of the next 13 days. Put him on air force one and let him go play golf. Let me just come back to the 25th amendment and section 4. Mike pence, you know, mr. Conspiracy as hes known in washington, to make this work, would have to get a majority of the cabinet to sign up in secret. Why . Because if donald trump finds out that his secretary of fillintheblank has signed this letter, hes going to fire the person. Then the signature on the letter wont have any force or effect. This is simply not workable. Not only is it dubious constitutionally, to create the risk of two competing presidencies, its not going to work. Let me just ask you, because i hear your objections on a logistical basis, and i hear the idea of what youre saying about how this might actually make things worse. What about the principle . What about if in a different world, if there were an easier process and less of a risk of there becoming two competing president s, then, just as a matter of, boy, i really wish that he was no longer president and there was some easy way to do this, like, right now, would you support that, just as an idea . Well, i think its possible, but lets also talk about what the purpose of section 4 was. It contemplated a president who had had a stroke or a heart attack, who was unconscious, flat on his back, at walter r d reed like woodrow wilson. Exactly, exactly. Unlike section 3 of article 25, where the president himself signs over power, has had happened several times when president s undergo operations. Section 4 is not a license for a coup. It says that the letter has to say the president is unable to fulfill the powers and duties of his office. What youre complaining about and theres a risk that its right is that he is able to fulfill the duties and the powers of the office. So youve got to be very careful here about delegitimizing the constitution any further than weve already seen. And thats why the calculation has to be, are you better off pursuing the 25th amendment or impeachment . And i dont think that case can be made. A source tells cnn that President Trump initially resisted deploying the National Guard to try to get control of this maga terrorist insurrection. Sources tell cnn that he was borderline enthusiastic about what was going on. Mick mulvaney is saying that hes different now than he was eight months ago. Do you agree or does this sound like the donald trump that you always knew . This is another day at the office for donald trump. And anybody says to the contrary just wasnt paying attention to him. I do think to come back, though, to the department of defense here, and i know the Capitol Police are taking the blunt of the blame for the catastrophic failure of security that occurred yesterday. I have got to believe this question is much more conflicted. The Justice Department, Homeland Security, the department of defense, the secret service were all involved or should have been behind the scenes. And i think this is not a question just of blaming the two sergeants at arms in the house and the senate. They may be bear a heavy share of the responsibility, but a lot more went wrong here. And i think one thing congress can and should do immediately is try and assess what happened, because that catastrophe could have been averted, i think. All right. Ambassador john bolton, good to see you again, sir. Thanks so much for being with us. Thank you for having me. Among the shattered glass and debris, questions about how these terrorists were so easily able to breach security at the normally locked down u. S. Capitol. A look at whats now being done to change that. Then, facebook bans President Trump, for a little bit, but is this too little too late . Stick around. Chuckles ] whoo. Im gogonna grow big and strong. Yes, you are. Im gogonna get this place all clean. Iill give you a hand. And im gonna put lisa on crutches wait, what . Said shes gonna need crutches. She fell pretty hard. You might want to clean that up, girl. Excuse us. When owning a Small Business gets real, progressive helps protect what you built with customizable coverage. And im gonna eh, eh, eh. Donny, no. Oh. And im gonna eh, eh, eh. Without the Commission Fees so you can start investing today, wherever you are even hanging with your dog. So, what are you waiting for . Download now and get your first stock on us. Robinhood. And were back with our politics lead. Minutes ago, house Speaker Nancy Pelosi called for the resignation of the u. S. Capitol police chief, steven sunday, saying she has received notice that he will submit his resignation. Plus, republican and democratic lawmakers are demanding an investigation into how this protrump terrorist mob was able to overtake Capitol Police and storm the u. S. Capitol. The chief of u. S. Capitol police is defending his officers, saying they responded, quote, valiantly, and that they were, quote, actively attacked with metal pipes and other weapons. The chief did not explain how the mob managed to get inside the capitol and smash windows, destroy property, freely mill about in secure spaces, force members of congress to shelter in place. One officer appears to have posed for a selfie with one of these rioters and well after the breach, cell phone video appears to show officers outside, opening gates, allowing even more of the mob to storm in. Lets bring in cnns shimon prokupecz. And shimon, fewer than a hundred people so far have been arrested between d. C. And Capitol Police. Why not more arrests at the very least, at this point . Yeah, well, one of the things, jake, that were hearing is that the fbi, the police here are actually looking for some of these people. They know who they are, they have photos of them obviously from social media. And one of the things, theyre out there looking for them. Actively looking for them. We also know that the u. S. Attorney here is about to announce charges of up to about a dozen people or so, in connection with yesterdays activity. And i also want to show you whats going on here outside the capitol, jake. Its basically been fortified here now. We have barriers everywhere, fencing, but there are still Trump Supporters out here. Some of them still remain here in washington, d. C. Also, what the police have said, jake, many of the people who came here yesterday were not from washington, d. C. A lot of them from out of town, not from nearby towns, even. And so whats going on now is that the police are just basically trying to find them. For now, these protesters were pushed further back. These Trump Supporters, so theyre standing behind here. You can see the Capitol Police, but theyre pushing them and keeping them further back from the steps of the capitol. Shimon, in addition to the questions about how they were able to get inside the capitol. We saw a lot of these Trump Supporters, this mob, physically attacking police. And several officers, were told, were injured in this insurrecti insurrection. What do we know about that . Yeah, some of them seriously. One of the officers, at least, is still in the hospital. He was beaten by this group of mobsters that entered capitol hill. He was tased and beaten pretty severely by them. So he is still hospitalized. Others officers also injured. You know, the bottom line is, i think all of this really caught, as we know, by now, the police by surprise. I think most of these Trump Supporters have been propolice. Weve seen them at rallies and sign them at other places supporting the police. And i think one of the things that we saw yesterday in their response and why there was such a lack of a response is because i think what happened was, for so long, a lot of them have supported the police and to see them going against the police, attacking the police, breaking police lines, i think caught a lot of the officers by surprise. They were not prepared and i think thats partially also what led to a lot of their injuries, jake. Well, i dont think this mob care honors the police. I think they just dont like black lives matter. Shimon, thank you so much. Joining me now is democratic congressman Hakeem Jeffries, the chairman of the Democratic Caucus. Congressman, thanks so much for being with us. A short time ago, Speaker Pelosi called for the 25th amendment to be invoked. She said if the Vice President do not act, congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment. Just a second ago, i heard from a former republican congressman, paul mitchell, who said to me, hes now an independent and he didnt run for reelection. He said President Trump should step down or the 25th amendment should be invoked. What do you think . Impeachment, 25th amendment . What do you want . The most important thing, jake, is that the president should be removed from office. Hes a clear and present danger to the health, safety, and wellbeing of the American People. We saw that in quite vivid and violent ways yesterday. This was a mob that was incited and directed by eed to attack capitol, attack our democracy, attack the rule of law and attack the constitution, in order to subvert the peaceful transition and transfer of power. Thats what it was all about. And this is a logical consequence of the corrupt behavior that we have seen from this president from the moment that he was sworn into office. Now, ive indicated that i believe all options should be on the table, including the impeachment, conviction, and removal of donald trump. That is something that congress has in our control, in both the house and the senate. We would need to do it, of course, in a bipartisan and bicob bicameral way, given the constraints in the United States senate. But the most important thing is to end this nightmare before he can do anymore damage to our country. Tell us about your experience at the capitol yesterday, both when the mob was terrorizing the building and the individuals there. And also, when you came back. What was the scene . Well, i happen to be on the floor of the house of representatives at the time that the socalled objections were being debated in connection with the state of arizona. And that debate was interrupted by the sergeant at arms, i believe, who indicated that there were individuals who were trying to break into the capitol and that for the moment, things were under control. But that he wanted to brief us as to where things stood. Shortly thereafter, after the constitutional officers were removed, he came back and indicated to us that the mob had breached the capitol, was on the second floor, and was en route to the house of representatives chamber, urged us to secure the gas masks that were underneath our seats in the event that tear gas was disseminated, and that things could escalate from there. And tell us about when you came back, what you saw. I heard that you saw that somebody had urinated in the hall of congress or something. Well, thats correct, in front of my capitol hill office, there was urination. And i was informed about it based on the fact that a staff member of mine, who was sheltering in place in that office as the mob riots were taking place, was able to hear what was occurring, as part of the desecration that was the clear intent of what was occurring, as well as the assaults on the officers, the rummaging through the different offices. It was just a disgraceful display of insurrection, which is why this is such a serious issue for us to address and address decisively. The Capitol Police, a lot of them worked really hard to try to get the mob under control. Many of them are injured. But as an institution, its inescapable the conclusion that the Capitol Police failed to protect the capitol yesterday. Speaker pelosi said that the chief, steven sund, has not even called her to talk about what happened. Shes calling on him to resign. Who do you think should be held accountable for the failings yesterday . Obviously, the mob is responsible for the terrorism they wreaked, but Law Enforcement failed. There was definitely a failure of leadership at the Law Enforcement level. I know for a fact that Speaker Pelosi made clear to the sergeant at arms and the Capitol Police chief in advance, be prepared for the worst. And that is something that they were clearly not prepared for. And its deeply troubling that you had the violent mob individuals who were in some cases ushered into the United States capitol. And then ushered out or allowed to leave almost with red carpetlike treatment, with no arrests being made with the exception of a hand fful as of e evening yesterday. So i think we need a complete and total review. Ive got great confidence in the committees of jurisdiction, including the House Administration committee and also congressman tim ryan, who sits on the relevant committee, with respect to the appropriations of resources to the Capitol Police. Were going to get to the bottom of this and were going to make sure that it is fixed, so this never happens again. We all knew this day was coming. And President Trump was inciting his supporters. Last question for you, congressman. If that had been hundreds, if not thousands of black lives matter protesters storming the capitol violently, committing acts of domestic terrorism, do you think the response from the Capitol Police would have been the same . No. And i think thats just clear. We understand, listen, this is a country thats an exceptional country. Weve come a long way, but we still have a long way to go. One of the challenges that we continue to grapple with is the systemic racism that has been in the soil of america for approximately 401 years. And sometimes it manifests itself in different ways, whether thats explicit or implicit. And its clear to many of us, both africanamerican members of congress as well as colleagues who ive spoken to on both sides of the aisle, that there appear to have been differential treatment and that is one of the reasons why the insurrection escalated and was so successful. But let me also say in closing, jake, we came back to congress. We completed our work. We certified the election of joe biden as the 46th president of the United States of america, because we understood that their effort as domestic terrorists was to try to strop us from being who we are as a democratic republic and we did not allow that to happen. Democratic congressman and Democratic Caucus chair, Hakeem Jeffries, thank you so much and so glad youre okay and safe. Thanks for being with us today. Thanks, jake. Were learning exactly who some of the rioters who stormed the capitol, the insurrection t insurrectionists, the terrorists, who they are. One of them is a state lawmaker. Stay with us. Introducing Career Services for life. Learn more at phoenix. Edu on all the food that makes you boogie. [narrator] grubhub perks give you deals upbeat music get the food you love with perks from [crowd] grubhub. Grub what you love. My hygienist cleans with a round head, so does my oralb. My hygienist personalizes my cleaning, so does my oralb. My hygienist uses just the right pressure, and so does my oralb. Oralb combines a dentistinspired brush head with the gentle energy of microvibrations for the wow of a professional clean feel every day. My mouth says wow and so does my oralb. 2020s done a new era has begun so keep pushing forward. Because this is twenty twenty won make a different future start different at godaddy. Com and if we win, we get to tell you how Liberty Mutual customizes Car Insurance so you only pay for what you need. Isnt that what you just did . Service stand back, im gonna show ya how doug and limu roll, ya you know you got to live it if you wanna wi. [ music stops ] time out only pay for what you need. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. Liberty. We have some breaking news for you. President elect joe biden today slammed the protrump terrorist mob that stormed the Capitol Building. He called them domestic terrorists during his announcement of his Justice Department nominees. Take a listen. Dont dare call them protesters. They were a riotous mob, insurrectionists, domestic terrorists. Its that basic, its that simple. Fact check, true. Lets bring in cnns arlette saenz. Arlette, president truelect bi did not hold back on his criticism and he said something Hakeem Jeffries just said to us, the caucus chairman of the democrats, he said, black protesters would have been treated differentlied that they done the same thing . Yeah, jake, president elect biden was very blunt in his assessment of the response to that riotous mob up on capitol hill compared to black lives matter protesters. He pointed out that his own granddaughter sent him a picture of the National Guard guarding the Lincoln Memorial over the summer amid a peaceful demonstration among black lives matter protesters. And both biden and Vice President elect Kamala Harris talked about these different systems of justice that are being played out. And you also heard this disdain in the president elects voice as he condemned that mob, saying that they were not protesters, but domestic terrorists that were incited by the president. And he very forcefully laid the blame on inciting the violence on President Trump. He talked about how the president has pursued these attacks on the Democratic Institutions of this country, and yesterday was simply the culmination of those attacks. This is also personnel for biden. He served in those halls of congress for 36 years. And this is an unimaginable scene that he has seen play out. But you have heard him repeatedly, from the start of the campaign, warning about this division that the president has stoked, that you really saw amplified in yesterdays attack. Arlette, biden also named his attorney general pick during that speech, Merrick Garland. What do we know about how biden wants garland to run the Justice Department . Well, the president elect was very clear that he is going to take a departure from the way that the president has approached the Justice Department. He said that the job of this Justice Department will not be to serve as the president or the Vice President s lawyer, but the peoples lawyer. That is something, a sentiment that he has echoed throughout his campaign. And he insists that the Justice Department will be run independently. Now, you saw him roll out some of those top positions, including his announcement for attorney general Merrick Garland, who also spoke of his own views of justice and the rule of law and how people need to be treated equally. But the president elect making it very clear that the Justice Department will not be operating under his orders, but rather, independently. Jake . All right. Arlette saenz in wilmington, delaware, thanks so much. Appreciate it. The fbi is now asking for help identifying rioters and terrorists who breached the Capitol Building yesterday. And while we may not know the names of every person who stormed through every door yesterday, we do know that some of the folks there were conspiracy theorists and qanon followers. One is even an elected official. This man, derek evans, hes a republican west Virginia State lawmaker and obviously a trump supporter. Lets bring in cnns drew griffin, whos looking into all of this for us. Drew, youre learning more about who some of these people are. Tell us. Yeah, very identifiable on the internet, which is where were getting most of our information, like you said, members of qanon, members of hate group like proud boys, White Nationalists from alaska, gun right advocates from arkansas. We identified four instigators, many of these people are people that the fbi, that the police want to talk to. And while theyre trying to scrub their social media accounts today, jake, they cant erase the video that is racing across the internet. This man, dressed in buffalo horns shirtless, that is jake angelee. Hes known as the qanon shamman. That bizarre group of conspiracy theorist who think that satan worshippers are running d. C. He recently posed for a selfie with Rudy Giuliani during one of those sham vote fraud hearings that giuliani was involved with. This man here, richt bard barne, a gun rights activist from arkansas. He is the man who broke into Speaker Pelosis office, put his foot up on the desk, stole an envelope from her office and said he left a quarter, that he didnt steal it. He is now one of the people that police are wanting to look for. Prior to him posting this video of himself, there was a video apparently posted by him outside the capitol, waving a flag saying, it is time to, which brings us to the final kind of point on all of this, jake, that so much of this conversation about what took place yesterday was preplanned and talked about on the internet amongst these groups in advance, explicitly spelling out what they were going to do to storm the capitol. Several groups who monitor the internet for us, including adi, bellingcat, and other groups bhor were monitoring the situation, looking at, for instance, 480 qanon posts talking about january 6th that contained terms of violence. On tiktok, 279,000 views of video promoting violence, one advocating bringing guns to d. C. And on parlor, threats, specifically threats to nancy pelosi, john roberts, and mike pence, telling them that it was time for them to quote unquote be dispatched. All of which raises questions by us of, if we could see all of this, if these groups that monitor this could see all of this, where were the Security Officials of the United States . Were they not aware that all of this was being planned on the internet prior to yesterdays march . Not to mention, drew, that President Trump was tweeting, ill see you in washington january 6th, and during his speech when he incited this mob, he said, were going to go down to capitol hill, and they made it very clear, him and don jr. And giuliani were going to pressure the lawmakers. Drew, thanks so much. Appreciate it. Lets discuss with my Political Panel now. Scott jennings and karen finney. Karen, let me start with you. I think its pretty clear at this point, this isnt just one maga rally that got out of control. This is the result of years and years of lies, of sterrorism, o just blatant, unfounded conspiracy theories from President Trump, culminating in these unfounded conspiracy theories about the election. Right. I mean, jake, look, i think there are two parts that if we failed to acknowledge and accept, we will fail this moment in history. And we are all on trial as to whether or not we will step up to this moment. One is i mean, you can draw a Straight Line from donald trump placing an ad in the New York Times against the exonerated the exonerated five, right, to who he is. We have known all along who he is. I hate to do the we told you so, but Hillary Clinton tried to she did speeches and trootried to talk about the rise of this radical white supremacist and right wing, and instead we talked about her emails. So theres a piece of this that is about trump and what he has done and trying to coddle and cajole and contain him, that clearly failed. But there is also the truth of yesterday holding up the mirror for all of us to say, you know, i disagree with those who say this isnt who we are. This is who we are, but this isnt who we have to be. We have to embrace that moment and embrace that duality. Scott, you wrote a very well and brave oped. Ill tweet it during the commercial break, talking about how this needs to be decried and how every republican needs to do so. Republican senator tom cotton, who has been a longtime trump ally, but didnt go in wall of these conspiracy theories, hes faulting some of his colleagues. I want you to take a listen. You have some senators who, for a political advantage, were giving false hope to their spotters. Misleading them into thinking that somehow yesterdays actions in congress could reverse the results of the election, or even get some kind of emergency audit of the election results. That was never going to happen. Yet these senators, as insurrectionists literally stormed the capitol, were sending out fundraising emails. Hes presumably referring to senator ted cruz, who was sending out some automated texts asking for money and also senator hawley. I guess, heres the divide of the Republican Party, is it the mcconnell Republican Party or is it the cruz hawley Republican Party . Well, yesterday in the Senate Republican conference, it was the mcconnell party. Just a handful of people joined the disgraceful cruz hawley effort. What i was most ashamed of, frankly, was that the people who were objecting before the insurrection had every opportunity to go down to the senate floor when the capitol was finally cleared and apologize to their colleagues, apologize to the American People, and put an end to it at that moment. And they continued to plow down this disgraceful path. They are going to pay for it in the future. I think theyve stained their careers. They certainly have stained their party. And we ought not never forget that, okay, fine, you wanted to object before, you thought it was all fun and games. It was not fun and games when people launch an insurrection against the u. S. Government. And to have gone to the floor and stuck with it was terrible, terrible, terrible. I know when you say pay for it, i know you say politically, and your party is paying for this craziness already, because youre going to be the minority, you lost those two senate races in georgia, in no small part because trump was spewing all of this crap. Republican, farright media and republican lawmakers, and obviously scott is an exception, and thats why he appears on this show, even though hes a very conservative republican, but farright republicans and media people continue to lie. First, they were praising the patriots storming the capitol, saying, oh, they didnt know, and it was only just a handful, and, you know, and now republicans are actually attempting to say that it was antifa that did this, even though as you saw from drews report, these are wellknown Trump Supporters who were there. Congressman mo brooks, a republican of alabama, mainstream in his party in the house, he tweeted, quote, dont rush to judgment, an assault on capitol, wait for an investigation, evidence growing that fascist antifa orchestrated Capitol Attack with clever mob control tactics. Just to make it clear, that is absolute crap. That is not true. We know who these people were. Theres evidence of them. But this is a reminder, this isnt going away when trump goes away. Thats right. And it is a reminder that these people are playing with fire in a country where people, as we saw, are willing to mobilize. They were better armed and prepared than the Capitol Hill Police, my god, as we saw yesterday. So, i mean, it is treasonous to continue these lies and to try to peddle this. And as i say, you know, jake, i have to say, i mean, i applaud scott more what he said, but i want us all as a country, i want to implore, you know, white people who joined peaceful protests, by the way, this to continue to join to say this is a reckoning, to stop. As voter, we have to hold all of these republican members of congress accountable, because they are literally trying to they are traitors to our democracy. As we saw yesterday, if we dont get this right, if we dont stop it can break us. Thank god, congress was able to reconvene and continue with their business, but, you know, with people who are dead and injured, and the reckoning that has to happen both between Holding People accountable, both the perpetrators of the violence and frankly the republicans like hawley and cruz and those who continue to peddle these lies and the dangers that causes. Scott, i know that Donald Trumps facebook posts and tweets have been the bane of your existence the past four years. Theyve restricted his account on facebook, banned him for week weeks. I think its good he wont be able to say stupid and inciteful things. One of the tweets taken down yesterday, this is what you get. Thats how it started. No, no, this is not what you get in america. I think its helpful they did it. I assume he will continue to become rageful the next couple of weeks and will have no outlet for that. I worry about how that will manifest itself. But its good for the country if hes not able to say extraordinarily violent things that would incite violence through his normal channels. I look forward to having you back on to talk about policies and proposals and legislation. That would be a nice change. Yes scott and karen, thank you so much. In our health lead today in the midst of all of this there is another immense crisis in this country, of course, one that maybe were getting used to. We marked the deadliest day of the entire pandemic and Record Number of hospitalizations yesterday, more than 132,000 hospitalizati hospitalizations. That broke records that were set the day before. As nick watts reports, Vaccine Distribution is still far behind what was promised by the Trump Administration. Reporter bottom line, this vaccine rollout is nowhere near as fast or efficient as promise ed or projected. This and other sites are going to have to really ramp up to get this done. Reporter now more than three weeks since the first shots. As of wednesday morning, the cdc reports just 5. 3 million first doses of actually been administered. At that rate, it could take nearly three years for this country to reach herd immunity. Early hiccups were expected. The holidays didnt help. I think it would be fair to just observe what happens in the next couple of weeks. If we dont catch up on what the original goal was, then we really need to make some changes. The pace will pick up, but by how much . All of this speaks to a failed leadership from the very top of american government. Here we are, in january, breaking records. Yesterday, 3,865 lives reported lost. The deadliest day so far. This past week more than 1. 5 million new cases confirmed. The worst week so far. And more than 50 cases of that more contagious variant first found in the uk now confirmed in at least eight states. There will be many more. We have to Pay Attention to it. We cant just blow it off. Reporter the cdc just released a study, detailing how College Parties fueled that fall surge, 54 gatherings at the university of arkansas connected to covid cases. And today, dr. Fauci gave axios some factors that hindered our early response, lack of transparency from china and political divisiveness at home. It doesnt make any difference what happens. The governor of washington no. You know what . If they dont treat you right, i dont call. Reporter and, jake, while all eyes are on him and whats happening in washington, d. C. , this virus, obviously, is still rampant. Here in los angeles county, someone is dying from covid19 every eight minutes. Jake . All right, nick, thank you so much. Stick around. Well ask retired marine general john kelly if he thinks the time has come for the cabinet to invoke the 25th amendment. Thats next. With so many new pet owners, your groomers cant keep up. You need to hire. I need indeed. Indeed you do. The moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a shortlist of quality candidates from a resume data base. So, you can start hiring right away. Claim your seventyfivedollar credit when you post your first job at indeed. Com groomer welcome to the lead. Im jake tapper. We begin this hour with break nugs. The violent insurrection incited by President Trump and his team, a siege on the capitol thats left dead bodies in its wake. It now calls for the removal of President Trump from office. President trumps supporters after he encouraged them to, quote, walk down pennsylvania avenue and, quote, take back our country. Thats what this group of domestic terrorists attempted to do. In this video captured by blaze tv you can see members of this mob descending on the capitol, violently shoving police, breaking through barriers, a mob fueled by President Trumps lies and conspiracy theories. President trump so far has refused to condemn the violence by his supporters. Now there are serious discussions about removing him from office. This afternoon, speaker of the house nancy pelosi said the 25th amendment should be used to remove President Trump from office. And if not, democrats may pursue impeachment. Pell osy joins congressman Adam Kinsinger of illinois, all because of grave concerns of what trump might do in these last 13 days before he leaves office. Congress confirmed what we have known to be true for months. President elect biden won the 2020 president ial election. That confirmation came only after 138 members of the house and eight senators objected. They aligned themselves from the same disgraceful conspiracy theories that incited the violence at the capitol. This is their legacy. In many ways, each one of them has blood on his hands. And now a member of President Trumps cabinet has joined the Administration Resignations following this attack on the u. S. Capitol. Transportation secretary elaine chao. Now Speaker Pelosi is saying that the president must be removed using the twechlt. Is anyone on board . We do know that the House Speaker tried to call the Vice President earlier today. She did not successfully get through to him. Its not clear whether he will call her back, knowing what shes calling about, given shes made it so clear. About moving the president from power in the final days in office given the chaos we saw play out yesterday. They are now being led by the house Speaker Nancy Pelosi, jake, who held this remarkable press conference, who was calling out members of the cabinet, asking if they would really let the president stay in office the next 13 days and she said, quote, assault democracy while doing so. This comes as one of those key cabinet officials, who could have played a role in this, Just Announced she is going to resign because of what the president did yesterday. Washington is still reeling today, after a mob of President Trumps supporters incited by his lies breached the capitol and wreaked havoc on a sacred constitutional process. President trump didnt appear publicly today, as aides who were shaken by his behavior headed for the exits. Transportation secretary elaine chao became the first member of trumps cabinet to resign in protest today, telling staff in an email that what happened in washington was a, quote, traumatic and entirely avoidable event. Adding, it has deeply troubled me in a way i simply cannot set aside. Ch chao, married to Senate Majority leader Mitch Mcconnell, joins over half a dozen officials who have now resigned, including Trumps Deputy National Security adviser and his former chief of staff, who was serving as a special envoy. I cant stay here. Not after yesterday. We cant look at that yesterday and think i want to be part of that in any way, shape or form. Even those who used to work with President Trump are breaking from him. Bill barr wrote orchestrating a mob, a betrayal of his office. Trump committed to a peaceful transition of power overnight in a statement that had to be posted to an aides twitter account because his was suspended. Trump said even though i totally disagree with the outcome and the facts bear me out, nonetheless there will be an orderly transition on january 20th. We love you. Youre very special. Reporter his words had less to do with a change in heart after sympathizing with those on capitol hill and more to do with growing conversations about removing him from office, using the 25th amendment. If the Vice President and the cabinet do not act, congress may be prepared to move forward with impeachment. My members are very much interested, as are my phone is exploding with impeach, impeach, impeach. Reporter house Speaker Nancy Pelosi calling trump a very dangerous person. This is urgent. This is emergency of the highest magnitude. Reporter though invoking the 25th amendment is unlikely to happen, at least one republican is joining in on the call. The president is unfit and the president is unwell. And the president must now relinquish control of the executive branch voluntarily or involuntarily. Reporter sources tell cnn that former National Security officials are urging the secretary of state, director of National Intelligence and the National Security adviser not to resign so a political crisis doesnt become a National Security one. Trumps relationship with the Vice President is also at an alltime low as cnn has learned he called him a vulgarity once pence made clear that he wouldnt do the president s bidding and would comply with the constitution. The votes are as follows. Joseph r. Biden jr. Of the state of delaware has received 306 votes. Donald j. Trump of the state of florida has received 232 votes. The chair declares the joint session dissolved. [ applause ] reporter now, jake, what plays out between the president and the Vice President over the next two weeks will be fascinating to watch. We do not believe theyve spoken since what happened yesterday. Pence is not the only one that the president is on the outs with. There are several more cabinet members coming forward to express displeasure with how he acted yesterday. Another is a trump favorite, the ag secretary, sonny purdue, who came out and said hes disappointed in the president s actions yesterday and does not believe he should have supported those who were, of course, not in support of a peaceful transfer of power in a few weeks from now. Kaitlan collins, thank you very much. Appreciate that support. Retired marine general john kelly, former chief of staff and former secretary of the department of Homeland Security. Gener general, thank you so much for joining us. I know youve been distressed by a lot of the things youve seen since leaving the white house. What was your reaction to what you saw yesterday . Well, i was horrified. Its an unbelievable scene at the capitol. Frankly, the president s action, his words didnt surprise me at all. But i was very surprised that those people would assault the peoples house, do the damage they did and embarrass us all. Attorney general barr has accused President Trump of, quote, orchestrating a mob to Pressure Congress. Do you agree . And do you think that President Trump has blood on his hands . There were four People Killed yesterday. You know, the president knows who hes talking to when he tweets or when he makes statements. He knows who hes talking to. He knows what he wants them to do. And the fact that he said the things he has been saying the things he has been saying since the election, and encouraging people, no surprise again at what happened yesterday. How much blame do you lay at the feet of those who, along with the president , have pushed these deranged election lice, senator cruz or Kevin Mccarthy . Well, you know, my strong feeling is so long as there was a possibility, you know, in the courts that the election could be proven to be inaccurate or fraudulent or something, the process is designed to work and was working. Im just surprised that members of congress that were encouraging not necessarily the behavior yesterday but encouraging the president. There are very, very few. This is two years ago this month i left the white house. Very, very few of them were looking the president in the eye and telling him what he was considering was wrong or whatever. As i say, they have to live with themselves. I dont believe they were encouraging that action at the capitol yesterday. No, i guess not. But the point is when you see this angry mob, they have been fed these lies now for years, but specifically about the election since november. And they were obviously they believed them. They believed these lies. Its not just President Trump telling them. Its anchors at other news channels. I shouldnt say news. Anchors at other channels and Kevin Mccarthy, and hawley and 126 members of the House Republicans signed on to the crazy lawsuit from the attorney general of texas. Do they bear some responsibility . This mob was angry because they believed these lies. I mean, at some level, some responsibility for sure. But again, it is the president over these weeks and months that has been stirring these folks up. And what happened yesterday was probably somewhat predictable. Again, his response yesterday afternoon was just totally ridiculous. I watched president bidens speech yesterday afternoon. I saw Mitch Mcconnells comments before the riot. There are two men talking to the country in the way the country needs to be spoken to. And the president , in my view, has never spoken to the country. He has just spoken to his base. Theres now talk of invoking the 25th amendment to try to get the cabinet to remove the president from office. Its not just democrats but republicans, too, Adam Kinzinger, of illinois, former congressman paul mitchell. Do you support such an action . Should he be removed by the cabinet . I think, jake, the cabinet should meet and have a discussion. I dont think it will happen. But i think the cabinet should meet and discuss this. The behavior yesterday and in the weeks and months before that has been outrageous from the president. And what happened on capitol hill yesterday is a direct result of his poisoning the minds of people with the lies and the frauds. You were a former member of the cabinet, in addition to being white house chief of staff. If you were in the cabinet right now, would you vote to remove him from office . I yes, i would. One thing we have going for us here, jake, its only 13 more days. No one, as indicated yesterday by our Vice President , no one around him anymore is going to break the law. He can give all the orders he wants. No one is going to break the law. We saw mike pence, Vice President pence stand his ground yesterday. Nobody around him will, but he has this mob of arden supporters who are willing to break the law. Are you worried about what he might do in these last 13 days . You know, no longer. Again, this has so enraged what happened yesterday has so enraged the country and turned most of the country back on the right course. Sure there will be the core of the core, but i wouldnt worry too much about it. And we have magnificent police, federal agents. Everyone is on heightened alert. I wouldnt worry about it. I know you have people like chris wray at the fbi and all the leadership in Law Enforcement and the intel working to prevent anything that he might want to do in the next 13 days. And i would also argue, jake, for these people, particularly the people in our National Security, Homeland Security, d. O. D. , chris wray, to stay on the job. Dont resign. We need people to see this thing through. Its only 13 more days. Do you worry what it might mean for the nation if there end up being no consequences for President Trump beyond his losing the election . Im not a lawyer, but i think his actions yesterday, and before that his phone calls to georgia officials, i think these things have to be looked into. But most importantly, hes gone in 13 days. Multiple people told cnn that President Trump was borderline enthusiastic over the riots. Does that surprise you . Not at all. Again, i worked very, very closely, every day, for 18 months with the president. And from a distance, you have its impossible to understand who he actually is. But when you work closely with him, you understand. Hes a very, very flawed human being. It doesnt surprise me. In fact, when i left the white house, i really implored the president to hire the right guy to be his chief of staff, someone who will tell him the truth, someone who will try to keep him on the straight and narrow. I said please dont hire a boot liquor or yes man because you will be impeached. Toward the end of my time there, all i ever heard from these devotees in the white house is you have to let trump be trump. Let trump be trump. My replacement well, let me just say, this is what happens. Yesterday and other things he has done in the last two years comes as a result of letting trump be trump. Your replacement was mick mulvaney, one of trumps biggest enablers as chief of staff. He has now resigned from the Trump Administration. He had some position. He wasnt chief of staff before. He explained in the oped President Trump, in his view is, quo quote, not the same as he was eight months ago, unquote. Is that true or is mulvaney engaging in some revisionism to try to save his reputation or whats left of it . Well, yeah. I go back 3 1 2 years. I didnt know the president before i took the job at dhs. I was there for six months. I very seldom saw the president. Mostly because what i was seeing in the white house was pretty chaotic. And, again, i dont need to be too close to the flagpole. When i took over, when i was drafted into the chiefs position, i got to know the president very, very, very well. I dont think he has changed one little bit. You know, when the guardrails are off, its very predictable he will do the kind of things he has been doing. Of course, hes enraged because he has lost an election. Hes a laughing stock now. And hes strike iing out. But, again, someone needs to help manage him. And, you know, i dont think those people took up the task when i left. It was hard enough when i was there. Right. Right. As i used to say to the president , you can fire me. Ill be a hero. I can quit. Ill be a hero. You need to listen to me, sir. You need to listen to me. You need to listen to the cabinet and the experts we bring in here and make the best decisions for our country, not well, for our country. I guess one of the big mysteries of the not mysteries, but one of the big debates i always have when it comes to his completely unacceptable behavior and the disgraceful day we had in American History, just an absolute just a black eye for this country, does he believe these lies he tells about the election . Does he not understand that all the information hes getting from the breitbarts and alex jones of the world are false or does he have a psychological issue i cant diagnose . What do you think . Well, i would just tell you that, you know, he believes what he believes. He will go and find people that will give him the opinion hes looking for and then carry that ball, hopefully, across some goal line. As i say, hes a very, very flawed man. Im not a psychiatrist. I could never address anything that has to do with mental health. I would just say very flawed man who has got some serious character issues. But, again, you know, if he had had staff and people around him that could help manage and not control but help manage him so he could make the right decisions, but he doesnt like that. And you dont survive by telling this president the truth for very long anyway. I do want to ask you, as a former secretary of the department of Homeland Security, what we saw yesterday, are you concerned that these rioters, insurrectionists were able to breach the capitol walls . The mob is responsible for the violence and they were incited by the president and his son and his lawyer, but to what degree was this a failure by the u. S. Capitol police and other Law Enforcement agencies . Well, i was just reading something on one of the websites, you know, that the mayor of the city had asked the federal government not to deploy in the way that they had done before. Ill take that as reporting ill take it as truthful. One of the things you do in cases like that, you worse case them. You gather sufficient force. In this case, police force, so in my opinion, they should have had hundreds of police. Not only around the capitol but Quick Reaction group that could then in their hundreds that could deploy if things got out of hand. I can remember as a kid during the vietnam riots. They moved hundreds of thousands of u. S. Troops up from north carolina, marines and soldiers from the air force base, just in case. There was no just in case force there yesterday, and there should have been. And, again, there should be investigations as to why. And people who made the wrong call should be dealt w there was insufficient force there to deal with those people. And my hat is off to the police. I love the police, but the leadership somewhere above them all, the uniformed men and women, let us down. It pay have been the mayor. It may have been the Capitol Police. I dont know. But it needs to be looked into. Lastly, sir, we appreciate your calling in. This is a rare interview. I do have to ask you, though, some people have criticized you and others, like general mattis and the rest, for working for President Trump to begin with. And then after you left for not decrying him publicly, more forcefully or sooner. Why not . What do you say to them . Well, i would tell you, when you first meet or start working with him in my case at least no idea of the flaws. When you start working for him, you begin to understand how flawed he is. Then its a matter of staying in the job as long as you can stand it to try to prevent some disaster. So when i went to work for him, i spent my entire life and service to the country. This was another opportunity to serve my country. And once in, i stood it as long as i could, until i left. And, again, as a retired military officer, particularly a senior military officer, to try to preserve the Civil Military relationship thats so important to our country, our democracy is very unusual for senior military officers to speak out against elected officials. Now, in my view, the reason im on the phone with you now, the election is over and i wanted to try to put some perspective into what took place yesterday. As all of us look at what happened yesterday we really need to step back and decide how do we fix ourselves . Listen to the words of joe biden and Mitch Mcconnell yesterday. We need to start this healing process. But thats why ive not spoken out forcefully against him. I think its not been appropriate for a senior military officer to do so, particularly when theres an election pending. Retired marine general and former white house chief of staff john kelly, thank you very much for your time. As always, sir, thank you for your service and best to you and your family. Yes, let us have some healing now. Thanks. The fbi Homeland Security Capitol Hill Police, theyre all in d. C. How did these domestic terrorists storm the nations capitol . Growing questions about bungled security. Shattered windows, weapons. Cnn goes inside as the mob stormed the capitol. Stay with us. In our politics lead today, house Speaker Nancy Pelosi is demanding the resignation of the u. S. Capitol police chief after proTrump Supporters and insurrectionists were able to breach the capitol. After both sides of the aisle have demanded an investigation into how things have unfolded, the house sergeant at arms will also be resigning. Reporter lawmakers were still struggling to comprehend how one of the nations most fortified buildings could be breached and their lives put in danger. The damage still visible through the corridors of the capitol where protrump rioters broke windows, forced their way in. Even House Speaker Nancy Pelosis suite, usually typically guarded, was vandalized, shattering a mirror and leaving behind a threatening note all while demonstrators removed her name plate. Justice will be done to those who carried out these acts, which were acts of sedition and acts of cowardice. Forcing both the senate and the house to go on lockdown as congress was preparing to verify joe bidens Electoral College win over President Trump. But the riledup protrump crowd instead tried to break into the House Chamber where lawmakers were sheltering in place. One woman was shot and killed by u. S. Capitol police. Another rioter broke a window on the chambers door, prompting an armed standoff with Capitol Police and many frightened lawmakers inside. Theres a possibility i could die. At any moment, somebody could have rushed in the door with a semi automatic. I had a pen in my pocket i could use as a weapon. I was looking for other weapons as well. I was coordinating with Capitol Police to find a way out for us. Reporter in both chambers bipartisan call to condemn the violence, which trump has been trying to stop. We will not bow to lawlessness or intimidation. Reporter in the halls of the capitol, republicans and democrats placing the blame squarely on trumps refusal to acknowledge reality and his lies about election loss. Had we not had senators who decided to object, we probably wouldnt have had. If the president hadnt encouraged them all to come to town, if the president hadnt encouraged them all to come to town. Theres a lot of anger and a lot of emotion based upon, in most cases, just a lot of false information. House side sergeant of arms has submitted his resignation on the senate side. Chuck schumer has demanded he resign. If not he will be fired once schumer becomes the majority leader. Nancy pelosi is asking for the residencition nation of the Capitol Police chief. She has not gotten briefed or details of what exactly has happened here. Theres demand for a deep investigation on capitol hill by these senators and house members to figure out whats happening here. And Mitch Mcconnell Senate Majority leader is on board with that probe. Jake . Manu raju, thanks. Philadelphia police commissioner, you both worked together here in d. C. Chief gainor, let me start with you. First, let me say obviously the mob is responsible for the violence. The police are not responsible for the violence. Obviously, there was some sort of issue here. Chief gainor, im showing right now a clip of video showing an officer in the capitol posing for a selfie with one of these rioters. Youve worked with the current capitol chief of police, who said his officers responded valently. How would you describe how they responded . In many of the videos and pictures that have been shown, individual officers were engaged in battle with the protesters. But overall, the responsibility does lie with the chief and the house and Senate Sergeant of arms. Jake, as you and chuck ramsay knows i was once the sergeant of arms. The ultimate responsibility lies with them and clearly as can be, there was a major problem, and security problem up there because of decisions that were made or not made. Chief ramsay, you heard joe biden and maybe earlier in the show hakee m jeffries about how the response to these rioters are very different from what weve seen to black lives matter protests. D. C. National guard lined the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, and that was to protect the statue. We didnt see this kind of aggressiveness or planning at the capitol, even though i have to say for weeks we knew that this date was coming. Trump had called for them to come, based on all these conspiracy theories. What do you think happened . Well, i mean, first of all, the response is unacceptable. And i dont disagree with the comparisons that people are making. I mean, when you take a look at the heavy Police Presence during the summer. Im not disagreeing with the fact that there should have been heavy Police Presence. There should have been equally heavy Police Presence yesterday, if not more. Certainly when you take a look at it, there is a difference. Why that is, i dont know. You cant rule out bias as being one of the issues. Personally, i believe that, you know, this is a group yesterday that is supposedly conservative. Although theyre really not conservative. Theyre terrorists as far as im concerned. They portray themselves as conservatives, as loving of police. They are predominantly white. And i do think that may have figured into it in terms of people letting their guard down a little bit. I dont think they thought these guys would do what they did but they certainly did. Chief gainer, acting u. S. Attorney Michael Sherwin says the charges for those involved in the domestic terrorist attack on the capitol could include sedititious conspiracy, rioting. Theyre not ruling out anything. Whats do you think . Chief gainer . Oh, im sorry, i didnt know you were talking to me. You cut out. I think thats good news. Sometimes you dont always make arrests on the scene when youre in the middle of battle. Right. When youre behind the eight ball because you dont have enough people. There are enough cameras up there, enough video and picture s being taken and fortunately these terrorists are on social media, bragging about it. It is very easy to do afteraction investigations, and thats being done across the United States. But, jake, i want to make one thing perfectly clear. I led one agency up there for four years. I was the Senate Sergeant of arms for seven years. You would have never convinced me that this was racially motivated on the part of the police, not to take their appropriate role. There are failures in the Capitol Police, underestimated the number of protesters coming from the elipse. They underestimated how angry they were and violent they were. They underestimated the fact how the president could rile them up, or the former mayor of new york could say go down there and lets fight. And they were ill prepared. They did not have enough people. Chief ramsay and they should have called for the backup from the d. C. Police much sooner. Chief ramsay, acting u. S. Attorney also said when asked about President Trumps role in all of this, he said, quote, were looking at all actors here, not only the people who went into the building but command and control, others who facilitated or played some ancillary role in this but that doesnt mention inciting. Incitement is a crime. Charles manson actually didnt kill anybody. His creepy crawlies, his followers did. Manson went to prison nonetheless. Do you think President Trump was inciting this crowd and should there be charges against him . No question in my mind he incited the crowd. His fingerprints are all over this. They have been for a while. It kind of came to a head yesterday. He has been doing this throughout his presidency. He stirs the pot constantly. He gets other people to do their dirty work. Hes at this rally and telling them march on the capitol. Im going to be there with him. Yeah, right. He sticks his feet up and turned on the television set. He got them to do what i dont think he would have had the courage to personally do anything like that anyway. But he stirs the pot. He incites. He does all these kinds of things. This guy is a cancer on democracy. We cant get rid of him soon enough as far as im concerned. Chief gainer, do you think i agree. There should be criminal charges against those who incited, either President Trump or Rudy Giuliani, who talked about trial by combat, or donald trump jr. . Should there be incitement charges . I do believe that should be investigated and looked at by the United States attorney. They definitely lit the match that started this. Unfortunately the Capitol Police wasnt able to control the fire once it got there. But they began this. As chuck ramsay just said, this has been fo mechlt menting for of weeks and the last four years, as this guy has not led by example. That doesnt abdicate the police. We failed up there and we need to be held responsible for that. Of course, and i know you both agree there are a number of officers who did their level best. Yep. And a number of officers who are injured right now, one even in the hospital. And our thoughts and prayers go out to them and their families. Chief ramsay, chief gainer, thanks to both of you. Appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you. More breaking news now. Moments ago white house chief of staff john kelly unleashed on his former boss. You heard it live, saying the cabinet should meet to discuss removing President Trump from office using the 25th amendment. He said he would vote fo remove him from office were he still in the cabinet. And he said the acts at the capitol were the direct result of the president s words, quote poisoning the minds of the people with the lies and the frauds. If you were in the cabinet right now, would you vote to remove him from office . I yes, i would. One thing we have going for us, jake, its only 13 more days. No one, as indicated yesterday by Vice President , no one around him anymore is going to break the law. He can give all the orders he wants and no one is going to break the law. We saw mike pence, Vice President pence stand his ground yesterday. Lets discuss with two of the best reporters in the country. Abby philip and maggie haberman. Whats your reaction to former chief of staff kellys comments . Its obviously not something that john kelly has been willing to do up to this point. Jake and abmaggie, you know joh kelly has not been a fan of President Trump but he isnt willing to do this type of interview frankly. He doesnt talk about his time in the white house. People are legitimately asking if this is how you feel, how could you have harbored these views and kept them from the public, especially since there was a president ial election last fall . I did think it was interesting that kelly told you, jake, that the reason, in his view, that that happened is because when he decided to come into the administration and serve as chief of staff, which was actually his second post, he felt like he didnt really know that this was who trump was. And when he learned that this was who trump was, he felt like he had to stay to prevent more harm from being done. Thats a pretty familiar theme but thats the explanation for those out there who were wondering. Maggie, john kelly said that he didnt speak ill of President Trump because hes a retired senior military officer and he thought it would be inappropriate to do so about the commander in chief and is doing so now because theres a new president. What did you make of the interview . Look, i do think that that is certainly part of why john kelly has not talked. I was very struck by that sentence that he said about how trump had poisoned the minds of people with his lies and used the word fraud. That was a very that was different than just this man is flawed. That was very pronounced. That was very specific to the fact that the president has been lying to his supporters for many weeks now about what was going on but specifically about what Vice President mike pence was able to do yesterday in terms of certifying the vote and whether he could toss the actual results, which were for joe biden. I do think there is some revisionist history. I understand abbys point about people wonder why dont people say things until now . Theres been lots of criticisms of people. Every administration official, except for the diehard people who came in with this president during the campaign have all been stunned to discover what hes like, who he is. They have told themselves theyre make a difference. Theyve been disoriented by him. John kelly knew who the president was. The president would call him about things when he was dhs secretary and john kelly was involved in the child separation policies. So, i dont think that [ poor audio ] what he was saying about the impact of what the president has done was really important. Maggie, the times since the new reporting you work for the New York Times for anybody out there who tonight know. New reporting, President Trump has suggested to his aides that he wants to pardon himself before leaving office. Its not clear if thats constitutional or allowed. Tell us more, though. So the president has been having conversations with advisers, suggesting that he wants to pardon himself before he leaves office. These conversations took place prior to what happened yesterday. Its just important to note that. At least the ones were aware of took place prior to yesterday. This appears to be more than just idle musings, which he is prone to. This was be precedent setting. Its not clear if a court would uphold it. One thing said yesterday by the white House Counsel [ poor audio ] hold on one second, maggie. Were having problems with your cisco. Say that again. One thing mentioned by the white House Counsels office . Sure. Just so one thing that the white House Counsel Pat Cippilone said to him as they were trying to get the president to stop saying things on twitter or in his video that were further inflaming the situation yesterday as the capitol complex was engulfed by his supporters was that the president could face legal exposure over what had happened and over the violence that took place yesterday. Theres a lot of factors at play. The president is considering pardoning a number of people. He has been offering pardons to a variety of aides, some of whom were genuinely asking, what crime does he think i have committed . I think well see a bunch of this in the coming days. Incitement. We were just talking about that with chief ramsay and chief gainer. Incitement. Im not a lawyer but it seems something worth pursuing. I want you to listen to what john kelly will to say about President Trumps behavior. When the guardrails are off its very predictable he will do the kinds of things he has been doing. Of course, hes enraged because he lost an election. Hes a laughing stock now. And hes striking out. Again, someone needs to help manage him. You know, i dont think those people took up the task when i left. I mean, i think one of the things kelly says there that really struck home is that he wasnt particularly surprised. This is who truch mp is. Maggie, you and i have been talking about this for weeks about concerns that things would get this bad. Abby, your thoughts . Yeah. I mean, it also cuts against, to maggies point actually, it cuts against kellys own explanation for why he stuck around for so long. This is who President Trump is. And it has always been. And ultimately, you know, i think that so many of these officials, john kelly included, those who have left in recent days, those who are considering leaving, they really do bear responsibility for enabling this kind of behavior. It is not true that, you know, donald trump is somehow of a different character today than he might have been a week ago or two weeks ago or a month ago. So all of that, i think, makes them a little bit culpable for whats happened here. Beyond that, john kelly speaking about the president as if hes a child is really extraordinary. That is how many of his aides view the president. As we come to the close of the trump era, let me just say, abby and maggie, President Trump has attacked both of you personally, repeatedly, for being excellent reporters and clear eyed about who he is. Thank you for what you have done. Thank you for your journalism. And thanks for being tough. Likewise, jake. President elect biden today condemning the mob that stormed the Capitol Building, called it one of the darkest days in American History, saying those rioters were american terrorists. The incoming president laid the blame squarely at the feet of his predecessor. Wish we could say we couldnt see it coming, but that isnt true. We could see it coming. Reporter a day after the assault on the u. S. Capitol and american democracy, president elect joe biden delivering one of his most powerful rebukes of President Trump. The past four years weve had a president who has made his contempt for our democracy, our constitution the rule of law clear in everything he has done. He unleashed an allout assault on our institutions of our democracy from the outset. And yesterday was but the culmination of that unrelenting attack. Yet biden not adding his voice to the rising calls to remove trump from office immediately. For now, biden has little appetite for invoking the 25th amendment or impeachment. The activities at the capitol wednesday, he said, were unacceptable. No one can tell me had that been a group of black lives matter protesting yesterday, they wouldnt have been treated very, very differently than the mob of thugs that stormed the capitol. Pledging to restore justice, biden introducing Merrick Garland as his attorney general to lead the Justice Department in the posttrump era. Your loyalty is not to me. Its to the law, the constitution, the people of this nation, to guarantee justice. In selecting garland, whose nomination to the Supreme Court by obama was blocked by republicans. These times demand a leader at the Justice Department who is beyond reproach of politics. Our law is not the instrument of partisan purpose. Reporter garland, who recalled his early days in the Justice Department just after watergate, said he would restore americas rule of law. As everyone who watched yesterdays events in washington now understands, if they did not understand before, the rule of law is not just some lawyers turn of phrase. It is the very foundation of our democracy. He will be joined by top deputy lisa monaco, longtime veteran of the department and obamas Homeland Security adviser, vanita gupta. Of course now biden will be taking office in just 13 days and coming into a washington that is entirely different than he thought as this week began. Of course, that senate controlled by democrats, which will ease all of his confirmations. Were also learning that he has also settled on his choice to lead the commerce department, Labor Department and Small Business administration. That rounds out his cabinet. Jake . And he will have a much easier time getting them confirmed now that democrats control the senate. Jeff zeleny, thank you very much. Police are trying to piece together what happened at the u. S. Capitol yesterday. D. C. Police releasing these photos calling the persons in them people of interest during the domestic terror attack. Ellie reed was in the middle of it all yesterday. [ bleep ] [ crowd noise ] [ bleep ] [ bleep ] [ bleep ] what are we supposed to do, okay . The Supreme Court is not helping us. No one is helping us. Only us can help us. Only we can do it. Reporter a mass group of Trump Supporters stormed the capitol to stop the certification of what they believe was a fraudulent election. Unquestionable that our votes were stolen. Its unquestionable. Theres so much proof. Come on out and tell nancy pelosi what you think. We want our representatives to do the right thing and decertify the seven swing states. [ crowd chanting usa ] reporter the rally started peacefully as tens of thousands gather gathered outside the white house. Thee cheered donald trump and his allies as they continued to lie that the election was stolen. Lets have trial by combat. He just said trial by combat. Im ready. Im ready. Reporter people marched down two avenues to the capitol. Once they got there, some broke through barricades. Once a few rioters broke into the building, the mob followed. This guy started breaking in with a cane. Obviously theres a power struggle. There were peaceful guys who were like, no, no, we dont want to do that. There was that guy who said oh, well, im breaking it in. Broke down the barriers and we rushed them. We charged them. We got all the way to the steps. And made a line. We stood there and tried to push them back a little bit until finally they started getting rough with us so we had to push them back. Thats what we did. We pushed them back. We tried to get up the steps. They wouldnt let us up. They started macing everybody. Thank you. Are you okay . They pushed me out and maced me. Reporter we spoke to some people who broke into the capitol. Literally what happened in there . Tell us what happened. We went in there, walked in and some people laying in the oregon room, smoking a bunch of weed in there. So many statues. Its like, hey, guys, have a good night. Its crazy. Some of them are on our side. Reporter we reached out to Capitol Hill Police for comment but have not heard back. Long time now. Long time. A huge group of us stormed inside. We were basically shouting at the cops and there were people arguing. Reporter clashes with police happened sporadically throughout the day and waves of tear gas wafted into the crowd. They said they felt like they were do iing something good. Theres a bunch of really, really pissed off, regular folks. Ive got a job. This is wednesday. Im supposed to be at work. Yeah. Shhh. Thats what were doing. Fighting back. Reporter whats the point . Whats the end game . Whats the point . Reporter yeah. Were losing our freedoms. What do you mean whats the point . Locking us down and turning this country into a blasted socialist republic and that is is not right thats what im doing here. Reporter ellie reed, cnn, washington, d. C. Thanks to cnns ellie reed with that firsthand look at the assault perpetrated by the maga terrorists on the heart of american democracy, as you heard. Many of those who stormed the capitol did so motivated by all kinds of false beliefs, including conspiracy theories, yet another considerable challenge facing america in the days, weeks, months and years ahead. Let us not forget the horror that unfolded yesterday took place on a recordbreaking day of death and hospitalization. The u. S. Nearing a daily average of 4,000 dead americans every day. Hospitals across the country are overrun. Despite the once promising Silver Lining of this vaccine, distribution issues continue to plague the entire nation. Theyre proving this pandemic is far from over as cnns erica hill reports. Reporter the vaccine is making it into arms. Couldnt come soon enough in my mind. Yeah. Reporter but not nearly as soon as promised. In the month of december between the two vaccines, pfizer and moderna vaccine, we expect to have immunized 20 million. Reporter that didnt happen. Of the 21. 4 million doses distributed, less than 30 , 5. 9 million, have been administered. If we dont catch up on what the original goal was, then we really need to make some changes about what were doing. Reporter the federal government now offering 3 billion to help states with the rollout. Hhs telling them to expand eligibility as the American Hospital association calls on secretary alex azar to coordinate the National Efforts among all of the states and resolve barriers to rapid deployment. Even if a Million People were vaccinated every day, it would take nearly six months to reach just half the u. S. Population. All of this speaks to a failed leadership from the very top of american government. And here we are in january, breaking records. Reporter four hot spots among the ten states posting their highest cases since the pandemic began. The numbers continue to grow in the wrong direction. Reporter in california where hospitals are reaching a breaking point, lncht a. Countys Public Health director noting bluntly this is a Health Crisis of epic proportions. Southern california, one of two regions in the state where there are zero icu beds available. Daily reported deaths in the u. S. Topping 3800 wednesday, another record. This funeral home in nevada added refrigerated trailers to handle the increased need. Something i never would have ever believed in my career i would ever have to be dealing with this. Reporter at least 52 cases of the new variant of the virus first identified in the uk are now been documented in the u. S. And a new study from the cdc finds hundreds of cases identified late last summer over a twoweek period at an unnamed Arkansas University were linked to fraternities and sororities. That was before the School Banned gatherings of more than ten people. Jake, one more note on that variant first discovered in the uk. As of today, it has now been identified in eight states around the country. Erica hill, thanks so much. Dr. Sanjay gupta joins us now. Yesterday the u. S. Reported a record 3,865 deaths and more than 132,000 hospitalizations, also record breaking. Have we even hit the peak, do you think . No, i dont think so, jake. I can just show you quickly the models that were looking at here. I mean, its important to note that theres these different trajectories based on do states put into plan these mitigation measures in if they do, it could make the peak come a little bit earlier and last a little bit shorter. I dont know if we have the image. Basically were sort of in worst Case Scenario territory. If you look at the peak there, i think it really is going to be sort of end of january, early february when you see that peak and lasting a few weeks. Thats the number of people getting infected, as you know, jake. Hospitalizations and deaths follow in the weeks after, sadly. Republicans like to decry rationing health care whenever people talk about medicare for all. I have to note in the system we have right now, health care is being rationed right now. Right. My wife and i have friends who are very, very sick with covid. And they cannot get into a hospital because their oxygen levels are not quite low enough. I mean, jake, this is a heartbreaking situation. I mean, we saw some of this earlier last year, you know, in the northeast, where emts were being forced to make decisions for the very reasons youre saying, trying to basically ration resources on the fly. This isnt policy. This is fly by the seat of your pants rationing where its heartbreaking decisions these paramedics are having to make. In your friends case, im sorry to hear about them, theyre being told at the outset that they cant possibly get into a hospital right now. Its tough. Look, you dont want to say told you so, but this is the dire situation thats been predicted. This isnt about just the number of cases. This is about stressing the current medical system in this country to its very limits. And its happening. Yeah. Weve been talking about it since february, you and i. Sanjay, were running out of time. The cdc dodged answering the question when they thought the vaccine would begin to make a difference in this pandemic. Is that because they dont know or because the answer is far later than we would expect, maybe even not until 2022 . I was confused, frankly, as to why they dodged that question. Theres data and evidence around this. Theres no question the vaccine rollout is going slowly, but you can look at the models and predict when its going to have an impact. And if theres good news in this obviously the rollout is going slowly. The good news is that the death rates should come down first even before the number of people becoming nearly infected, hospitalization rates should come down after that. I still think, jake and i hope im not the only one saying this. I still think within the next few months we are going to see the impact of these vaccines on the metrics that matter most. Dr. Sanjay gupta, thank you very much. Ill have you back on tomorrow. Well talk about this and your excellent new book. Thank you so much for being with us, and our coverage on cnn continues right now. Thank you so much for watching. Xxx. Were following breaking news. Fresh fallout from one of the most shameful days in u. S. History. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi is among a rapidly growing number of lawmakers and officials calling for President Trumps removal from office in the wake of the domestic terror attack on the u. S. Capitol that he incited. Pelosi saying congress may impeach the president unless