Transcripts For CNNW CNN Newsroom With Fredricka Whitfield 2

CNNW CNN Newsroom With Fredricka Whitfield January 17, 2021

Attack, they are heightening security across the country amid threats of more violence. Those threats continue as President Trump continues to say he won the election. Now a new cnn poll says that trumps steady drumbeat of disinformation is helping to drive his Approval Rating to new lows as he exits the white house. But first the extensive security measures in the nations capitol. Fences and fortifications are on capitol hill. Accesses are closed off to the public like nobody has ever seen leading up to an inauguration. Shimon prokupecz is on capitol hill right now. Shimon, what do you see . Reporter fred, were over by the white house. We wanted to give you a different perspective. About two miles from the capitol over by the white house. As you can see, even two miles from the capitol, we have military, the National Guard troops here at almost every intersection and every street surrounding the white house, the capitol, other federal buildings and mon uumentmonuments, this i of presence you will see. Vehicles and National Guard troops heavily armed stationed all across washington, d. C. There are almost now, i would say, 20,000 National Guards here, and as we know, the pentagon said theyre going to send in more troops, up to 25,000 of them, to help patrol the perimeter around the capitol and the white house, but i also want to show you the collection of Armed Services vehicles here. These are secret Service Agents and other Law Enforcement that have come from other parts of the country to help with the Law Enforcement activity, the intelligence gathering, to try to prevent any kind of attack here. To see this many vehicles from out of state i found striking. This is the Law Enforcement working behind the scenes trying to keep Inauguration Day safe. Thats just a stones throw away from the capitol from where you are. Shimon prokupecz, thank you so much for that. Shocking new video shot, edited and released by the new yorker shows an inside look at the siege. He enters the capitol alongside the insurrectionists to document this moment. He has spent the last ten months reporting on the radical fringe of President Trumps base. I do have to warn you this video is graphic. It includes a lot of foul language, but we want to show you exactly what happened through that lens in the halls of congress that day. Were peaceful our [ bleep ] boss is in there. We love you guys. Take it easy. Treason treason treason treason treason treason treason treason defend your constitution, defend your liberty. Defend your constitution, defend your liberty. 1776 guess what . America showed up were here where the [ bleep ] are they . Where are they . Were here, we might as well set up a government. Lets take a seat, people lets take a seat where the [ bleep ] is nancy pelosi . Where the [ bleep ] is nancy . We pay for it. This is our house. Get out of our chair. No, this is our chair. I agree with you, brother, but its not ours. It belongs to the Vice President of the United States when hes in here. Its not our chair. I love you guys, youre brothers, but we cant be disrespectful. They can steal an election and we cant sit in their chair . No, were not putting up with that, either. Its a pr war, okay . We cant lose the i. O. War. Information operation. We cant do it. Just get a snap of that. Look here, look. Ted cruzs objection to the arizona he was going to sell us out all along. Objection to counting electoral votes on the state of arizona. All right, all right, thats actually good. This is all good. I think cruz would want us to do this, so i think were good. [ bleep ]a, man. Good to see you guys. You guys are [ bleep ] patriots. God bless you. Do you immediate medical attention . Im good. I got shot in the face. I got shot in the face with some kind of plastic bullet. Any chance i could get you guys to leave the senate wing . Im making sure theyre not disrespecting the place. Okay, its just this is the most sacred place. Mike pence is a [ bleep ] cheat. Im not one to usually take pictures of myself, but in this case i think ill make an exception. Can you take a picture for me . Theres half a Million People here. Hes doing the right thing. Hes obeying his oath. Im making sure you guys dont do anything else. Now that youve done that, can i get you guys to walk out of this room, please . Yes, sir. I feel like youre pushing the limit. Come on, man. This is our capitol. Lets be respectful to it. Theres 4 Million People coming in so theres a lot of control. We love you guys. We love the cops. Its only a matter of time. Justice is coming. All right, again, this video coming from the new yorker. The reporter shot it, edited it and we are airing a portion of it. Here to discuss, sean turner is a cnn analyst, and john locken, former security agent for president obama. Good to see both of you. All of this kind of exemplifies the mayhem, anarchy. Sean, you first. You see theyre in the senate chambers, the last images there, and while they talk about we love you guys, meaning, you know, those in blue, at the same time outside, some of those in blue are getting beaten. You know, how do you evaluate this and see, you know, how that one officer clearly hes outnumbered. Hes by himself in there. But then later you see officers who were outside. Why not shut the door, lock them in for their immediate arrest . What is going through the minds of your colleagues up there . Yeah. I have to say that this video puts in perspective just how serious what happened on january 6th is. I mean, the images are absolutely startling. I can tell you that as a retired marine, what really concerns me about this video is that i see toomas pecu many aspects of mil training at what this mob is doing, and as we look at the officers you talked about, i think they recognize the same thing. There were a couple things we saw here. When we were looking at that video, we saw individuals who were looking to gather and to photograph documents. In the military context, every time there is a raid, we have collection teams, and thats what they do. You believe something is going to happen, or theres evidence something is going to happen, you collect information that you can take away to later build up your story. That very much speaks to a sort of military approach. We also saw clear evidence of people who understand psychological operations. Look, there were not hundreds of thousands, there were not millions of people outside, but when you say that to those Law Enforcement officers, youre trying to send a very clear message that theres absolutely nothing you can do, so just stay out of our way. Thats a psychological approach. The last thing i saw there was there was a serious attempt at command and control. This was not an out of control mob in the sense that there was no direction. These people were being told where to go, they were being pushed in certain directions, so there was an understanding that they needed to have some order, some sense of cohesion. Fred, i just have to say that we heard people in that video saying, where are they, where are they . I absolutely cringe to think about what might have happened if that mob had actually been able to find members of congress. I think we would be having a very different conversation today. Oh, my goodness. I mean, jonathan, i would love to hear your thoughts on what youre seeing. If youre looking at anything differently now having gotten this point of view, and we know Capitol Police and others, they worked valiantly, and we know so many lives were saved, but it also looks like theyre as stunned as we are in that moment about exactly what sean was saying, that there was a mission, there was, you know, this experience of some who have been in the military, and they demonstrated that. Yeah, fred, thank you. I mean, this is textbook mob mentality. And to put a finer point on it, psychologists label what were witnessing as contagion theory where crowds and mobs become f frenzied that they enter an almost hypnotic state and changes their behavior. While that does not absolve them of the consequences of their behavior for engaging in these criminal acts, of which there were thousands of criminal acts ongoing at the same time, it speaks to the fact that what ive said before was that Capitol Police experienced the acute shock of the moment. They didnt realize or didnt understand the likelihood that this group could engage in that type of behavior. So when we see this video of officers that are, you know, some have accused him of being too passive or accommodating, they were in the shock of the moment. They obviously didnt have an internal command structure to address how to deal with this mob as they essentially took over the u. S. Capitol, and that shock of the moment combined with the force of this mob into confusion that was in the moment led to just an absolutely terrible situation. And, sean, you have said in so many interviews that youve done, the precursor to all this was how people armed, stormed the michigan capitol in search of governor gretchen whitmer. Then you had said that was the tip of the iceberg, and then we have this. Are you concerned about what potentially is next . There has been a lot of chatter, but now what . I am, fred, when i say that was the tip of the iceberg, this is what i was referring to. We have to remember that at the center of whats happening, what we saw at the capitol, what we saw happen in michigan at the capitol when the mobs went after gretchen whitmer, at the center of that is the Misinformation Campaign that donald trump has been running for most of his presidency. While donald trump is heading out of office and hes been banned from twitter, what were seeing here is a situation in which as long as there are other platforms, as long as there are news organizations that will give donald trump and those who support him an opportunity to communicate with these groups, with these mobs in a way they have in the past, well continue to see this happen. So we have to dpaddress that sie the Misinformation Campaign, as long as these groups have a leader, theyll continue to do this. I really do believe for the next administration, its going to be a question of what do we do to silence whats getting these people riled up, and thats a misinformation over a fraudulent claim that the election was stolen. Jonathan, house intelligence chairman adam schiff said he would urge the current Biden Administration to cut off Intelligence Briefings after he leaves office. How influential could that be . I think it will have a measured impact, but what we have to address now is the problem that has manifested and really metastasized over so many years. Unlike foreign terror groups, the violent domestic extremes were talking about are literally hiding in plain sight. We have to stop that activity, we have to stop the hate and the engagement of violent acts in the individuals who feel like they can engage in this type of activity literally with impunity. Thats going to be a challenge with the Incoming Administration, is how do you address these domestic terrorist groups . Its not just a single answer. You cant apply a control measure such as legislation. It has to be very comprehensive and it has to be done from the federal, state and local level to bring together really a holistic approach to suppressing and stopping the hate. Well leave it there for now. Jonathan wackrow, sean turner, thanks to you both. Appreciate it. Coming up, State Capitols across the country bracing for potential protests before president elect joe bidens inauguration. Were ready with protection security. Plus the United States on the verge of reporting 400,000 coronavirus deaths. Why First Responders in los angeles are calling the situation a nightmare. Hey, dad hey, son no dad, its a video call. You got to move the phone in front of you like. Like its a mirror, dad. You know . Alright, okay. Hows that . Is that how you hold a mirror . [ding] power e trade gives you an awardwinning mobile app with powerful, easytouse tools and interactive charts to give you an edge, 24 7 support when you need it the most and 0 commissions for online u. S. Listed stocks. Dont get mad. Get e trade and start trading today. [narrator] grubhub perks give you deals on all the food that makes you boogie. upbeat music get the food you love with perks from [crowd] grubhub. Dont want to wait weeks for your tax refund . Visit Jackson Hewitt today. 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Com promo were just now three days away from the inauguration of president elect biden. There are threats across the country in all 50 states ahead of wednesdays handover of power, transition of power. A short time ago in ohio, a few supporters of President Trump could be seen at the State Capitol. Some supporters of president elect biden was there as well. And they could be seen putting on their riot gear as they beef up security in the capitol. We have omar jimenez in ohio. Omar, where do things stand . Reporter while there arent many demonstrators, the concern, and the reason you see this show of force, is tied to that fbi report that says there were armed protests being planned in all 50 United States capitols reportedly with specific threats in michigan and here in minnesota. We heard from the department of Public Safety in minnesota who pushed back a little bit saying that report was from late december, and at this point that information is a little dated, and at this point they have no credible, immediate local threat here at the United States United States capitol. However, they are being cautiously optimistic. They could see the amount of concern as people were storming the United States capitol, there was also a local storming the capitol here in minnesota at one point that prompted the governor to be evacuated from the Governors Mansion as the rally spilled from the capitol over to the mansion itself. What you see behind me with this heavy Law Enforcement presence is part of the game plan here in this show of force. Minnesota is one of more than a dozen states to deploy their National Guard as well as to assist with what were seeing behind me. State officials have stressed that at this point there is nothing left undone to keep minnesota and this capitol safe, fred. Omar, thank you so much. Kyung lah is in california. Are they expecting violence as the inauguration approaches . Reporter youre seeing this vehicle from the california highway patrol. It is pulling into a perimeter where you see a lot of Law Enforcement. This is the State Capitol. This is sacramento. And it is fenced by this 6foothigh fence. You can see some of this incredible show of force. This is a california highway patrol. There are vehicles ringing this capitol. They have more officers here than i have ever seen here at the capitol before. As far as that tefencing, it go all the way down around the capitol, and then well have my cameraman ty walk this yway, an as you look to the left, you can see this street is completely closed off. It is not opening up for any more traffic, again, personnel. And over here you can see the National Guard. There are 1400 National Guard members who have been activated. The chp, fbi, local agencies and the state all working together activated at the highest level. One other thing, fredricka, there was a planned protest here, but they could not get the permit. The governor says that no one is getting approved permits here around the capitol or in this immediate area. Theyre trying to keep the public out of this and trying to really squash any sort of organized protests around the capitol because of concerns for what might happen here. Fredricka . Kyung lah, thank you so much in sacramento. Diane in nashville, tennessee, that is a city still recovering from the bombing on christmas day. What preparations are being made there . Reporter thats right, fred, and look, were here at the State Capitol. There was just a shift change, it appears, with the Tennessee State police who were out here guarding the State Capitol grounds. At this point theyve been mobilized to come out here, theyve been out here all day. They have these barriers up to make sure no one is going to get into this particular building, but there is a planned protest planned here today. Uts its called the Nashville Free

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