Managed to do that and managed to get President Biden to talk about impeachment the way he hasnt before. He thinks the trial has to happen for the country but also says he does not think there are enough votes to convict the former president. Breaking overnight, at least one person is dead, Dozens Injured after a large tornado tore through the birmingham, alabama, area. You can see some of the power stations there exploding. Some of the damage that has been done there. These are some of our first images as the light comes up there. A live report from the scene in just a few minutes. Well begin with cnns Jeremy Diamond live at the white house as we are now in the very first stages of this historic new impeachment trial. Good morning, john. Delivering that article of impeachment to the senate last night, those house impeachment managers triggered the first ever impeachment trial of a former president. Now this trial wont begin for another two weeks, but it will give President Trump, former President Trump, two weeks to prepare his defense and give current President Joe Biden time to confirm more of his cabinet nominees. Now white house officials have told us, theyve made this very clear, that they are not focused on this impeachment trial. Theyd much rather focus on the Coronavirus Relief bill theyre pushing through congress. Focus on the executive actions theyre rolling out every day. But President Biden caught up with our colleague Kaitlan Collins just last night in the halls of the west wing and he made very clear he sees this impeachment trial as inevitable and necessary. He said, quote, i think it has to happen. He acknowledged there could be some impact on his legislative attempts here, but he said he thinks there will be a worse effect if it didnt happen. Now those senators will be sworn in today, even though the trial doesnt start for another two weeks. Patrick leahy will preside over the trial instead of the chief Justice John Roberts. Whats still unclear, a couple of questions. Will there be witnesses in this trial and how long this trial will take. Those are questions that have yet to be fully answered but well find out in the coming weeks. In the meantime, though, more time for joe biden to get more of his cabinet nominees confirmed. We expect his secretary of state nominee tony blinken to be confirmed at some point today and then you also have some action in Senate Committees on bidens nominees for commerce secretary and dhs as well. Yesterday, though, already, janet yellen becoming the first woman to be confirmed as treasury secretary. Alisyn . Jeremy, thank you very much for all of that reporting. Joining us to talk about this and more, Michigan Democratic senator gary peters. Hell be sworn in later today as impeachment juror. Thanks for being here. What do you think is the most compelling piece of evidence to convict former President Trump . I think the most compelling evidence is something we all witnessed on live tv across the country. I was in the building with my colleagues in the United States senate when we had a violent mob attack the capitol. We know that the president incited that earlier. Not just earlier, but actually over two months by constantly lying about the election, saying that it was stolen and that folks needed to take action. He tweeted a come to washington. Its going to be wild on january 6th, and interfere with the constitutional process of counting the electoral votes that were cast across the country but really reflecting the will of the American People. So it is very clear and the entire country saw it with their own eyes. So do you think there will be a need for live witnesses, or is this the tale of the videotape . Well, well have to see. I dont know. I dont want to speculate. Thats going to be the house managers that will put their case together. Im sure it will be a strong case, but as i mentioned, its one that we all lived as well. And its something that we cannot tolerate. We have to hold the president accountable. Weve never had a United States president in the history of this country incite a violent mob to attack the United States capitol and disrupt a constitutional process of Going Forward, which is the peaceful transfer of power. It is absolutely essential that there is accountability for us to move forward. And senator, what about what President Biden told our Kaitlan Collins last night when she was able to pull him aside in the white house. He said, like you, i think it has to happen, but he went on to say, biden told cnn he believed the outcome would be different if trump had six months left in his term. But said he doesnt think 17 republican senators will vote to convict trump. So if its a fait accompli and you wont get 17 republican senators, whats the i mean, does that take some of the steam out of even going through this exercise . I dont think so at all. Lets wait to see where senators are when they actually vote. The evidence is very clear. Its interesting some of the arguments theyre making right now are not about the merits of the case. Clearly the merits of the case are overwhelming. And i think this is really about future president s. We need to send a strong signal to future prts that this type of behavior will never be tolerated. It will be called out and the American People will condemn a president of the United States that incites a violent mob to attack the very core pillars of our democracy. Its not something you can sweep underneath the rug. You have to bring it forward. You have to prosecute it aggressively. And then we move forward. But it can never happen again. Do you agree with President Biden that you wont get 17 republican senators . Well, i wont say that yet. Lets hope that our my colleagues will rise above partisanship and do whats right for the country and for the future of this nation. So i havent given up hope yet. Last night, mitch mcconnell, Senate Minority leader, relented in his demand for a guarantee for keeping the filibuster. Did that surprise you . Well, to me, it was very straightforward. This was an organizing resolution, just for us to go about the business of the senate to be able to form our committees, assign committee members, to be able to move forward with the business. And certainly, this is something thats never been controversial in the past. The fact that senator mcconnell brought this as a controversy doesnt bode well for the future, but im pleased were able to move forward. You are on the Senate Homeland security committee, so what is the hold up with President Bidens nominee, his pick to run dhs . Right now we have a hold up, one senator that has a hold but we are going to be moving forward later today in committee. We have mr. Mayorkas to be secretary of the department of Homeland Security, which is absolutely critical. The fact theres any hold up on this appointment and confirmation is simply outrageous. When you think about what people expect of the federal government and there are a lot of different views of what the federal government should do and should not do, the one thing all americans agree on is that it should keep us safe. That means the department of Homeland Security. It means the department of defense. We now have a defense secretary. We need a secretary of Homeland Security as well. Especially given the attack that we saw on the capitol, the rise of extremist groups and white supremacy, the cyberattack we saw, one of the most damaging cyberattacks weve ever had in this country. The department of Homeland Security needs steady leadership and needs that leadership now and hopefully we can move it forward as quickly as possible. Is it a coincidence that that one senator, senator josh hawley, seen raising his fist in seeming solidarity with the mob that invaded the capitol, just as domestic terrorism is spiking in this country, extremism, why do you think senator josh hawley was the one person who block this . I dont know what that is. Youre best asking him as to why he would block the secretary of Homeland Security, which is a person entrusted to make sure that he can keep us safe and to deal with the rise of what were seeing, extremist groups and white spremmist groups. To me, it makes no sense and we need to get this confirmation through. We have a department that over the last four years has really suffered from the lack of steady leadership. We have now former secretaries of Homeland Security coming out in a bipartisan way saying get this through quickly. Make this confirmation. You have a highly qualified candidate. We need to have him at the has of that department so we can focus on these threats to our Homeland Security and, frankly, i think any senator that blocks an actual vote is not thinking about the best interest of our country. Well see what happens today. Senator gary peters, thank you for your time. Great to have you on new day. We have breaking news. At least one person is dead, more than two dozen hurt after a powerful tornado ripped through parts of alabama overnight. You can see some of the images now. The storm caused significant damage in the birmingham area. Buildings collapsed there. We do understand there are still people trapped in their homes. Joining us is stoney sharp, a reporter for cnn affiliate wbma. What can you tell us about what youre seeing and the situation on the ground. Good morning, john. Right now in alabama, the sun is rising so we can see the depth of the damage here in fultondale, alabama. Were located off new castle road here right against oak street. Thats where all the damage is pretty much. Three houses in a row have been damaged. 20 altogether in this area but you can see three houses here. This is a kitchen. You can see the rooster clock here that used to be hanging on a wall right up here in this area. We also see some plates, pots and pans and personal items that were on in this house here. Beyond that, right down the strip here, you can see a second house, a bedroom there. A mattress, a fan that has fallen. You can see straight into that house. And then the third house is up above that, all damaged. You can see straight through. Now as my photographer pans around and shows you the rest of the damage in this area, we know right now, according to the fire chief, one person has been confirmed dead. They say that there could be more. 17 people altogether have been rushed to the hospital and 11 people were treated here at the scene. The tornado pushed through fultondale around 10 30 last night. So again, a lot has been going on. This is the back of oak street that hes looking at right now. Thats where the majority of the damage occurred. And were told that search and rescue operations in that area were halted overnight because fire crews didnt know which power lines were on, which power lines were turned off. So pretty much they had to stop search and rescue in that area, but they plan to return within this hour to start searching for more people. They say more people could be trapped in their homes in fultondale, alabama. According to the firefighters, they say that 20 homes altogether in this area were reduced to the subfloor. They plan to find many more homes damaged as they come out in about an hour. Live in fultondale, alabama, im stoney sharp. All right. Our thanks to stoney sharp for that. The news that more people could be trapped inside those buildings, stoney, please keep us posted if you hear more. Were also getting new reporting this morning on what the former president is doing. How he intends to wield his political power. Exactly who is being targeted . This is very interesting. He apparently wants to punish people. Who . Thats next. Brandnew reporting this morning on what the former president is doing. More specifically, how he intends to wield whatever political power he has, and the key word might be punish. Cnn political analyst Maggie Haberman prbroke this story. Shes a washington correspondent. The former president has a list of people he wants to punish now. Who is on that list, and how will he do it . John, thats right. The former president , as we know, has often been focused on retribution and this moment in time is no exception, although hes taking a few months off or has told people hes taking a few months off to lay low. Chief among those targets is governor ryan kemp of georgia. The president has considered the original sin kemp committed against him after trump helped him win to be picking senator Kelly Loeffler as the replacement for an open seat in georgia. The president wanted doug collins to be chosen. That did not happen. Sen since then, the president has been blaming him and the secretary of state in georgia for not throwing the election has way. Next up is liz cheney. Congresswoman from wyoming and number three in house gop leadership. Not clear what hed like to see her lose, her seat or leadership position but he plans on doing what he can to try to impact that. And then there are a bunch of house targets. Theres representative gonzales in ohio, representative upton in michigan. These are people who voted in favor of impeachment and who were very, very critical of the president in his mind of the actions he took on january 6th. The list goes on, john. Its not clear what infrastructure the president is even going to have to make good on these threats, but this is the message that hes sending out to the lieutenants who are still around him. Thats his hit list and what are his plans to remain relevant . If hes taking a couple or a few months off and hes off twitter, whats his plan to still be in the mix . Listen, alisyn, its a great question. Ill say, and i said this when he was president , too theres a difference between being silenced and deplatformed. He has not been silenced. Hes the form prert. He can give an interview tomorrow if he wanted to. Hes facing this impeachment trial and other potential legal exposure roelated not just to te january 6th riot but in his business. I think he wants to take some scope and measure of what exactly is out there in the first place. He doesnt want to do himself harm or his advisers have urged himself not to do himself harm by trying to talk. Whether he can sustain that is a question. He has had some form of attention in the form of media or contacts, who hed work the phones with. Theres none of that right now. How does he stay relevant . I think what will happen is some kind of spending the money he has in his superpac and potentially getting back on social media in some form which his aides are talking about. Theyre also talking about starting a social media platform of his own. Im a little skeptical that will happen but you cant rule anything out. Something happened yesterday in the midst of all your reporting on what the former president will do that i think fits nicely into the puzzle which is ohio senator rob portman announced hes not running for reelection, which is interesting. Heres a guy who has been a Public Servant for decades at this point and he said, i cant do it anymore. Ive had enough of the bickering. And the subtext there is in this world where donald trump is running the republican party, im not sure exactly where i fit in that party. How do you see this move by rob portman . What does it mean for jim jordan . What will the president do for jim jordan . I take rob portman at his word that the senate is not a particularly happy place to be for a lot of folks, particularly republicans right now. They have lost their majority. They are a bit at sea as to what the posttrump world looks like. Theyre facing this impeachment trial that a bunch of them are ambivalent about, even if privately many of them acknowledge theyre unhappy about how the president acted. The president will try to have influence in that race but whether he gets behind jim jordan who has been a vocal ally of the president or tries to get behind another potential candidate like jane timken. We saw him do it last week in the arizona county state gop chairs race where he pushed for kelly ward to get reelected. I think youll see him doing things like that as related to ohio and a couple of other races. Maggie, do you have any reporting on what President Trumps mindset is . Is he worried about this Upcoming Senate trial that more information will come out about what he did before and during the insurrection and why he was m. I. A. For all of those hours when people were calling him, begging for some sort of intervention and help . I dont think he is worried about that. I think his advisers are worried about that because even though, as i reported and i think Kaitlan Collinss reported at the time, he was resisting efforts to get him to call in the National Guard or make an effort to push for National Guard to arrive on the scene that he was not moving quickly to do that at all. I dont think the president sees himself in peril. Some of his advisers are worried about what could end up showing up. This is where their belief there are not enough republicans to convict is going to help them, they think, because they dont see at the moment more than five, maybe six senators voting along with democrats to convict the president. What they care about at the end of the day is what the outcome is, not what additional evidence might come out. If additional evidence comes out that could be reflected in civil cases filed against the president or potential criminal charges by the washington attorney, thats something to consider, but i dont think thats what the president himself is focused on. Maggie, to