Transcripts For CNNW The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer 20

CNNW The Situation Room With Wolf Blitzer January 10, 2021

Not taken off the table according to sources speaking to my colleague, i want to go straight to the white house right now for more on this breaking news. Jeremy diamond is there. Whats the latest, jeremy. Reporter pam, as you said this source close to the Vice President telling our colleague that Vice President mike pence isnt taking this option of the 25th amendment which with a majority of the cabinet members and the Vice President could strip President Trump of his president ial powers, the Vice President not taking that option off the table. This source is cautionen though, that its out of concern that the president could become more unstable and that it could be required but at this point its very clear it seems that Vice President pence isnt planning to imminently invoke this 25th amendment. Instead it seems to be about preserving this as an option should the president s behavior worsen. Now, whats notable as well the fact we know already that cabinet members have been discussing amongst themselves the possibility of invoking the 25th amendment, two cabinet members in particular were calling around on thursday morning to their fellow cabinet secretaries to talk to them about a meeting with the president to confront him about his behavior and also to potentially have the threat of the 25th amendment hanging over that meeting and so whats important to note here is that, you know, you have calls for impeachment, calls for the president s resignation and clearly these discussions about the 25th amendment have not gone away entirely even if this isnt something that we should expect imminently from the Vice President or members of the cabinet. And speaking of, what im told is that the president has not reached out to mike pence since wednesday, since the mayhem there where he was in the Capitol Building under siege. There has since been threats made against the Vice President , has the white house had anything to say about that . Well, we do have a statement from Deputy Press Secretary at the white house and he says we strongly condemn all calls to violence including those against any member of this administration. That was in response to my request for comment about calls for the Vice President to be executed, not only by that mob on capitol hill but also by the prominent protrump attorney lin wood who is active on social media and made a threat saying that the Vice President should be executed by firing squad. Obviously the white house here, its notable theyre not naming mike pence directly but saying they condemn all threats of violence against any member of the administration. And, again, the president has not reached out to mike pence in the wake of all this. I asked one source close to pence what they thought and they said, call the secret service for more on this. Jeremy dime. Thank you so much. I want to bring in our senior political analyst mark preston for more. Put it in perspective, mark, about what jim acosta was told that mike pence has not ruled out invoking the 25th amendment. We also have this reporting from our jake tapper this evening that the Vice President and his family, while they were in that secure location in the Capitol Building the president did not reach out to check on his safety or condemned those who said pence should be executed. We know that there have been president s and Vice President s who didnt always get along in the past. But what does all of this tell you about the division between these two men with 11 days left . Well, its the gulf is so big between them right now, it will never be able to come back together. I dont think we should be too surprised that mike pence is sending this message out to the president. We know right now that the president is glued to the television. He is trying to find out everything thats being said about him and we understand hes extremely upset about it. Mike pence, though, does have that ace card in his back pocket and that is the ability to move forward with this. Mike pence for all the criticism that he has received and most of it is certainly fitting for what he has done and to help enable donald trump is still not donald trump and i think we have to be, you know, very careful with that is that i do think that if push comes to shove mike pence will do the right thing. Weve seen him take steps going towards that, the idea he will attend the inauguration, the idea that he is willing to reach out to the Biden Administration and to try to tell them that were able to move forward but, again, this is a very, very, very sharp message being sent to donald trump who is having all of his allies right now abandon him as we speak. If you go too far then im going to throw you out. Still, what is the significance of this gulf between them and what do you think about the fact as you point out joe biden that the Vice President will be attending joe bidens inauguration while trump will boycott it. Well, you know what i have the most fear is that theres a belief amongst folks that donald trump will not want to be impeached twice so that he will not want to go down in history as being the only president to be img peached twice so hell resign before that happens. We are so well past that right now that i dont think that donald trump cares whats going to happen. The problem with not having mike pence now in contact with donald trump is that he is so alienated right now from those who could at least try to keep the train on the tracks, at least try to keep it on the track, now who is he surrounded by . Hes surrounded by a smattering of loyal family members and Rudy Giuliani who has clearly shown that he is not capable of having a very clear thought in these days. Okay, mark preston, thank you. Thanks. Meantime, congresswoman Sheila Jackson lee of texas is among the 208 at least democrats ready to move forward on impeachment. She joins us now. Congresswoman, thanks for your time. First of all, i want to get to the breaking news that Vice President has not taken the 25th amendment off the table which could essentially remove President Trump from office. What is your reaction to that . Thats good news. Hes still contemplating what is obvious is that the president is illsuited and illfit to lead the American People. Its not about any one of us who happens to be elected. Its not about the Vice President. Although, the president of the United States put the leadership of the house and senate, the third in line to the presidency, the Vice President and elected officials in danger of losing their lives, its not about us, its about the danger that he placed the American People in. Its the destruction that he caused to the peoples house, the seat of democracy and his willingness to participate in the mob behavior that he initiated or encouraged with falsehoods, with lies and, of course, the causing of five people on that day, that fateful day, the day that will live in infamy to die. I think that would be enough for the Vice President to realize how illsuited and unfit the president is, but i will give him the benefit of the doubt, mr. Pence, to deliberate as much as he might need but im concerned that he is saying he wants to watch and see if the president becomes more unstable. Hes unstable now and dangerous to the American People. Where do things stand with the impeachment efforts with the democrats . Well, i think we are gathering more and more the members of whats the latest number you have. I think were upwards of 190. Many of us submitted resolutions and there are many people who are on several of them because they have very fine points but we will rally around one impeachment resolution and i think the process is where we would like to see the president resign to initiate this himself, to realize that he is unfit. If he does not do that we would like for the Vice President to convene the cabinet and to thoughtfully deliberate on the 25th amendment. We think there is sufficient information and actions by the president again. Anyone that can be viewing television having music in the background with other compatriots, if you will, watching the mayhem that was taking place at the seat of government, the capitol of the United States, the seat of democracy, the house of representatives and the United States senate, an equal cobranch of government, to me seems to be unstable. But if that is not enough, i hope that the Vice President can think of many other things that have occurred trying to disrupt an election, trying to intimidate state elected officials to find thousands of votes but we are united in the fact that he has to be held accountable. And thats what the impeachment resolution is about. And as you pointed out youre still trying to get more democrats on board. What do you say to those who are hesitant that another impeachment proceeding could only potentially further embolden Trump Supporters and, you know, that trump could use it as a badge of honor, that it could do more harm than good, what do you say to them . The harm that the president has done is so devastating that giving him a number of days without the threat of impeachment, without holding him accountable for the loss of life, the bloodshed that occurred on january 6th, the day in infamy again, a day that was catastrophic in its possible impact, i would say to them that to the American People, to the people who this Democratic Institution belongs who this capitol belongs to, the people of the United States, the many people who remained at home and watched in horror what was happening to the place where they held in such esteem and honor that he had to be held accountable. I think its important to understand impeachment, impeachment will never be removed from a president even if theyre not convicted. Impeachment is an indictment. There has never been a president in the United States that has been impeached twice. He is well deserving of that because if anything moves you to say lets proceed with the impeachment resolution, it should be his enormous abuse of power, his failure to uphold the constitution, his perpetrating an insurrection and the fact that people died because of his actions. I will never forget that. That pain will never leave me. I offer to those families a great deal of sympathy even if they had misinformation. The officer was, of course, in the line of duty and so saddened by his loss. He was defending and fighting to protect the people that were inside and as well the institution. To those who are hesitant i would say when you think about all of those elements how can you not hold this president that really has blood on his hands to an accounting and the impeachment process is that accounting. And you mention theres different components to it, right, the house impeaches which would be an indictment, the senate would convict or not convict and would be in charge of removal. We have the first sign a Senate Republican may be open to impeachment efforts. This is what pat toomey this afternoon had to say. Lets watch. I dont know what they are going to send over and i would one of the things im concerned about frankly is whether the house would completely politicize something. I do think the president committed impeachable offenses but i dont know what is going to land on the senate floor, if anything. So as you heard he stopped short of saying how he would vote if it reached the senate floor but what do you think, congresswoman when you hear republicans like him say the president committed impeachable offenses. Does that sound like a crack in the dam to you . It sounds like a thoughtful member of the United States senate who has placed patriotism over personality politics and he is right, the impeachment resolution should be as nonpolitical and nonpartisan as it can be. It should be a constitutional document and i can assure you that is what is being crafted, that is what is being supported by the members of the United States congress. We have nothing to gain by adding any hyperbole or any kind of added information. We can just go on the facts, insurrection. The provoking of the mob attack of domestic terrorism against the United States congress, house and senate. The place of democracy. We can show the abuse of power and the willful lacking of defending the laws and constitution of the United States of america. We can conspicuously show the interference in an election by calling state elected officials and asking them to perpetrate a criminal act by finding thousands of votes, so i think senator toomey is correct, we all need to be united that all the purpose that we have is to hold the president accountable on behalf of the American People, on behalf of those who did not find themselves in a moblike action. There were people in that crowd who came to support the president. They have every right to do that, who were concerned about the election. They have every right to do that but there were those who were provoked and who came motivated to kill, to maim, there were individuals who had pipe bombs in their trucks and they had ties to tie up people, some had guns. We cannot allow that to stand and you know what, we have to say to the world as a member of the Homeland Security committee that we disdain and condemn white militarism, white racism and, of course, the violence that was perpetrated by these antigovernment persons. They may have been supporting trump, but they were not supporting their nation. They were not patriots and in that we saw a possibility of opening this wonderful institution to the vulnerability of the world. That hurt me the most that we have shown others of what they might do so i dont think we can do anything else but to say to this president this behavior is unacceptable and then begin to heal this nation. I am wholeheartedly behind unifying us. I think a president elect biden and Vice President elect Kamala Harris are the right people to begin to heal this nation and to join us together as members of congress and as the people of this country to stand as one because a nation divided cannot stand. We will stand united, i believe that with all of my heart. All right, congresswoman Sheila Jackson lee, well leave it on that note. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. Well, police and federal authorities nationwide are in the process of identifying and arresting the people who smashed their way into the u. S. Capitol this week. So far at least 83 people have been arrested and charged and also this evening, were learning that the new York City Fire department is following a number of tips that some of their firefighters were involved in the riot. We are tracking that for us. Whats the latest, shimon . Reporter the fdny say they are cooperating with the fbi after the fbi went to them and said they received information that either retired members or current members of the fdny were present at the capitol. The fdny saying they released information after getting a request from the fbi. All of this comes as we learn that other people have been arrested. One of those people seen wearing horns, this ridiculous costume at the capitol, the fbi arresting him. His name is Jacob Anthony chancely. Significant with him that he told the fbi when they questioned him according to the fbi that he was present at the capitol, that he was present in washington, d. C. At the request of President Donald Trump because the president had asked that all patriots come. Also arrested a man by the name of adam johnson, he was seen in a photo with pelosis lectern. He was arrested by the fbi. Of course, this investigation is stretching all across the country, all 56 field offices of the fbi across the country involved in this investigation. Obviously they are looking for many more. They know who many of the people are. The question now is how do they get them . Theyre working with some of their lawyers and theyre also working to try and bring most of them into custody. Pam. All right. They are very busy right now. Shimon prokupecz, thank you. Still to come, sources tell me President Trump is considering Rudy Giuliani and Alan Dershowitz for his defense team in a possible second impeachment trial. When we come back ill speak to ben ginsberg, the former election lawyer for republicans. At capella university, we know the world is pretty smart. Wicked smart. 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