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The Situation Room

U.S. Capitol A Fortress And D.C. On Lockdown As Threats Grow; Shocking New Footage From Inside The Capitol Siege; Trump Expected To Issue Around 100 Pardons Tuesday; President Trump Not Expected To Pardon Himself; America On Alert; Coronavirus Pandemic; Buffalo Bills Are One Game Away From Super Bowl. Aired 9-10p ET

Aired January 17, 2021 - 21:00   ET

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

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Before he was detained, briefly spoke to some of the reporters that were with him on that plane, he said he believes that the Russian government, that Vladimir Putin is afraid of him. One of the things that he said shows that is because air traffic into a major Moscow airport was shut down for an extended period of time, as his plane was about to land.

Now, of course, this comes months after Alexei Navalny was poisoned by the nerve agent Novichok. He believes the Russian government is behind it. Of course, the CNN and Bellingcat investigation showed that it was apparently the Russian Federal Security Service, the FSB that was behind it. The Russian government continues to deny that, but certainly tonight it does seem as though they were quite nervous about Alexei Navalny coming back here to Russia. Wolf.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington. This is a special edition to THE SITUATION ROOM.

Right now, we're just 63 hours away from Wednesday's inauguration of President-elect Joe Biden. And instead of what we usually would see unfold in the days leading up to this historic event, we see a capital, a capital building right now barricaded. We see 25,000 U.S. military troops lined up through this city and we see the majority of the nation's capitals on lockdown right now.

But it's not just Washington D.C. that's on edge. All 50 capitals were told on edge as threats of violence are emerging from coast to coast. And this is all happening as a new video filmed by a reporter from the New Yorker on January 6, shows why downtown Washington right now is a fortress. We must warn you, the video you're about to see is graphic and contains profanity.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our house. You're outnumbered.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: We're going to have more of this video and get to that in just a moment. But right now, some major breaking news is coming into THE SITUATION ROOM. I want to go to our White House Correspondent Jeremy Diamond right now. Jeremy, tell our viewers here in the U.S. and around the world, what you and your team are learning?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf. Three sources familiar with the matter of telling me and my colleagues that President Trump is expected to issue around 100 pardons on Tuesday that will be his final full day in office.

The pardons, Wolf, we're told are expected to include a mixture of some more controversial pardons to white collar criminals, some high- profile rappers as well as potentially some of the President's political allies. But there will also be in this batch, several pardons that are more criminal justice reform minded, pardons that would be more akin to those, to the one that the President gave to Alice Marie Johnson, who herself has been advocating with the president for pardons for other individuals who have been incarcerated for a long time.

Now this final batch of clemency actions, Wolf, comes, will really cap off weeks of a scramble by the President's political allies to try and secure pardons either for themselves or for other people.

In fact, the New York Times is reporting today that some of the President's allies have been paid 10s of 1000s of dollars to secure pardons or to at least lobby the president to try and secure pardons for certain convicted felons.

As of now, Wolf, though our sources are telling us that a pardon, a self-pardon for the president is not expected at this time or at least that the paperwork for a self-pardon has not yet been drawn up, that is something that we are told, President Trump has been considering in recent weeks asking some of his allies and advisors whether or not it would be wise for him to do that.

And we're told that the idea of a self-pardon really has -- the chances of that have really gone down in the wake of these riots that took place on January 6 because of the optics of the president pardoning himself for something potentially that the -- that he is now being impeached for.

So again, more than about 100 individuals expected to see pardons or commutations from the President of the United States on Tuesday, as the President winds down the final days and hours of his presidency.

BLITZER: What about family members? Do we expect that he's going to issue pardons for family members, close friends, for example? And what about the rioters up on Capitol Hill, who stormed the Capitol on January 6, so many of them are -- who have been arrested are already saying, they want a pardon from the president. They thought they were acting his orders as the commander in chief. They thought they were doing what he wanted them to do.

[21:05:16]

DIAMOND: That's right, Wolf. And as you said, we know that the President has indeed been considering these pre emptive pardons for individuals who haven't yet been charged with any crimes, including his children, and his personal attorney Rudy Giuliani. We don't yet know where the President has landed on that.

But as it relates the pardons, potential pardons for those rioters who stormed the Capitol on January 6, we're told that the President has been advised against pardoning those individuals and in fact, one of the President's last remaining allies, who has been with him, who flew with him to the Texas, Mexico border, this past week, Senator Lindsey Graham, he publicly today urged the president against pardoning those rioters while appearing on Fox News earlier today.

BLITZER: All right, so the headline, the president preparing to issue what at least 100 pardons a Tuesday, sometime on Tuesdays final full day in the White House. He leaves Washington Wednesday morning just before the inauguration. Is that right?

DIAMOND: That's right, Wolf. That's right.

BLITZER: All right, stand by I'm going to get back to you.

I want to go to Shimon Prokupecz, who's also here in Washington tracking the increasingly nerve wracking security situation in the nation's capitol. Shimon, we have three days to go until the inauguration ceremony, the U.S. Capitol. What are you seeing? How are security preparations unfolded?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, it's definitely as tense as it's been, Wolf, in terms of the security stuff. There is National Guard still all over Washington D.C. and that is supposed to grow. So we are about two miles away from the Capitol over a by the White House several blocks away from the White House.

And the security here is just as tight as it is anywhere around Washington D.C. And beginning tomorrow, we expect that the city will close even more streets down here in the district, more pedestrian ways will be closed, more roadways will be closed, as the days, as we get closer to the inauguration. There will be more security, the perimeter will grow. And the ring of steel really around the Capitol where the inauguration will take place is expected to get even tighter and it's supposed to grow even larger, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, we'll watch it together with you. Shimon, thank you very much. Jeremy, thanks to you as well, excellent reporting.

As usual, let's discuss all of this and more with Senator Amy Klobuchar. Senator, thank you so much for joining us. Let me get your reaction to the breaking news we just reported, you heard Jeremy report the president is planning on issuing Tuesday, his last full day in the White House about 100 pardons. What's your reaction?

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): I keep thinking, he only has a little over 60 hours left. And he's clearly going to do some bad stuff tomorrow. There may be some meritorious pardons in the mix. But the point is so far 88% in New York Times analysis of the pardons that he's given, have involved people that he has some kind of a political relationship, some kind of a personal relationship with and it's just outrageous.

He literally appears to be burning the house of justice down on his way out the door, as if it wasn't enough that he sent a mad mob, an angry mob incited a riot and an insurrection at the Capitol. He continues to attack not just one branch of government, but both of the other equal branches of government.

BLITZER: Our understanding is that this could obviously change between now and Tuesday or Wednesday morning before noon. The President will not necessarily pardon himself. But what's your reaction to that?

KLOBUCHAR: That is untested. And I think that there could be some real issues for him. That goes to court. We know there's some precedent from what happened with the Nixon tapes. But I think he knows very well at this point with this impeachment trial looming what that would mean.

BLITZER: What about if he goes out and pardons issue some sort of blanket pardons for the rioters who stormed Capitol Hill on January 6.

KLOBUCHAR: That would be absolutely outrageous when the FBI is out there and I remind people, it's one 800 call FBI if you have tips. These people are very known to many people in the community, you've had over 100 arrests. I remind people that the penalty for sedition, not even including murder, when we lost a police officer, the penalty federal penalty for sedition is 20 years.

So these are very serious crimes that people are facing and more and more evidence is coming forward. So there's going to be a major investigation and prosecutions coming out of this, so for him to step in like that would be a complete outrage. And I would also note that for state crimes of which some of his flock is involved in and the people around him of course he can't pardon them for that.

[21:10:07]

BLITZER: Or local crimes either. So many of these individuals who've already been arrested these rioters, they say they thought they were being ordered by the president, the commander in chief to go storm Capitol Hill. They thought that's what he wanted them to do. And as a result, they think they deserve a pardon, your reaction to that?

KLOBUCHAR: I don't think Donald Trump made me do it is going to be an excuse in the court of law that there is no such defense.

BLITZER: Yeah, you see, we just showed our viewers of video of the noose being assembled up on Capitol Hill, and then some of them screaming hang Pence, hang Mike Pence, the Vice President because he went ahead and did what the Constitution requires. He's certified the Electoral College vote.

Right now, as you know, as you know, Senator, the U.S. Capitol is locked down 1000s of National Guard's troops are stationed here already, maybe as many as 25,000 will be on the ground between now and Wednesday. What are you hearing specifically about the ongoing threats? KLOBUCHAR: Well, I'm here in Washington right now. And Senator Blunt tonight conducted a security review for the entire Senate. We had the head of the Secret Service, the Secret Service heads up the inauguration, very different than what was going on January 6. And there's huge coordination going on. One thing I want people to remember is this is about keeping everyone safe.

But there has always been major National Guard presence at a number of big inaugurations, including Barack Obama, because of the many people that were there, this inauguration is going to look very different. Because of COVID, it will be less people. But there will be major protection. And I don't want anyone to forget that this moment, that something to do with what happened on January 6, besides the security, what happened on January 6, was a group of people trying to undermine our very democracy.

This moment, the inauguration at 12:01 p.m. on January 20th, is when we claim back that democracy, it is when the next president and the next vice president take the oath of office with people from both parties, leaders, former presidents sitting behind them out of respect for them, and out of respect for our democracy. So it makes this moment as somber, as it is even more majestic. And we cannot forget that part of what's going to happen on January 20, in our discussion, understandable discussion about security.

BLITZER: Which are totally understandable, you help plan this inauguration. I know you're going to be delivering remarks during the ceremony. But Senator, are you concerned about your own safety in light of these threats?

KLOBUCHAR: I believe the Secret Service and our defense department and everyone is on top of what is happening. It is just as they have in some past integrations, they have closed off certain roads.

And by the way, I think with the impeachment trial that just happened, they extended that time to an earlier time period, not just because of the inauguration, but because of the attack on the Capitol and you also see the threats on other state capitals. So I will abide by whatever the security people recommend here. And I think right now that they have the situation they believe in a place where they believe we can go forward with the inauguration on January 20.

BLITZER: Senator, I want to play a little bit more of this New Yorker video showing the rioters inside the U.S. Capitol. And once again, I want to warn our viewers about the language. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible) fucking day. Millions of Americans are odd.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Start making a list, put all those names down, and we start hunting them down one by one.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Traitors to the guillotine!

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're outnumbered. There's a fucking million of us out there, and we are listening to Trump, your boss.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look here, look.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ted Cruz's objections to the Arizona.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: His objection, he was going to sell us out all along.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Objection to count in electoral votes on the State of Arizona.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He's with us, he's with us.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There's going to be something in here, we can fucking use against these scumbags.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is good stuff. This is incredible.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hawley, Cruz. I think Cruz would want us to do this, so.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah, absolutely.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think we're wood.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: What's your reaction, Senator, when you see these rioters on the floor of the House and the Senate?

KLOBUCHAR: My first is anger that this was allowed to happen and obviously we're going to have to look at every aspect of the security and how this was allowed to happen. My second is the safety, my own staff two have them because I led the floor debate against Ted Cruz when he made that objection. My own staff was in a closet in a room with a fork, only to defend them, as these people were running back and forth on the first floor of the Capitol.

And the third is they must be brought to justice, you cannot do this to our country, you cannot attempt to undermine our democracy in this way. And again, I want to thank the staff with the presence of mind to take the Electoral College ballots out of that Senate chamber, because otherwise, Wolf, they would have rifled through, who knows what they would have done to those Electoral College ballots that would have really destroyed them in furthering their attempt to try to undermine our democracy.

[21:15:45]

And I have to tell you, my whole and I said this to the Senate, when we were removed to another room, I stood up and said, the number one thing that we need to do is to get back there and to get back there tonight, the moment it is safe, we have to finish our job. We cannot allow these insurrectionists to take over our capitol and to take over the Senate chamber and we will return. And we did

BLITZER: Well just stay safe up there, Senator Klobuchar, and we'll stay in touch with you. Be careful, you and all your colleagues and your staff. Obviously, all of us were so, so worried about your safety. And now that we see more of this shocking video, it's clear what was going on.

KLOBUCHAR: And, Wolf, understandably I see that, but I was much more worried about America and the fragility of our democracy. And I will say again, January 20, is the day that we reclaim it in front of the world.

BLITZER: Thank you so much for joining us. Good luck. Stay safe.

KLOBUCHAR: Thank you.

BLITZER: We're going to have much more of this shocking new video from inside the insurrection on Capitol Hill. Also much more coming in on the breaking news we're following that President Trump is now preparing 100 maybe more 100 pardons for his last full day in office, the full day being on Tuesday, he leaves office on Wednesday, we have new information. We'll share it with you when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[21:20:43]

BLITZER: Let's get back to the breaking news right now. CNN now reporting that President Trump is expected issue around 100 pardons on his last full day in office that would be this coming Tuesday. As of right now these pardons are not, at least as of right now not expected to include a self-pardoned for the President. Let's discuss with our Legal Analyst Elie Honig, who's joining us right now.

The pardon opportunity for the President is enormous based on the Constitution. But what's your reaction when you hear he's going to do 100 right now?

ELIE HONIG, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Boy, Wolf, that is a big batch of pardons. And the thing I'm really interested to see is, who are these people? And what's their claim to a pardon because pardons are designed to promote justice and mercy and fairness. But if the reporting is correct, and if Trump's own history is correct, what we're likely to see is a bunch of pardons to well-connected people, to wealthy people, to Trump's own friends to celebrities, perhaps to family members. To me, that is a misuse of the part in power.

BLITZER: What if he goes ahead and avoids pardoning himself? Because there's been so much speculation he might do it. It's -- they would have to be reviewed. It's never happened before. What's your reaction to that?

HONIG: Yeah, so I think the idea of a self-pardoned is sort of a double-edged sword, if he does it, first of all, he'll be making history in the bad way, I think by sort of using the ultimate self- dealing through the corruption. On the other hand, if he does not pardon himself, he's in real jeopardy, potentially, from the Justice Department.

I mean, just going back to a couple weeks ago, I think there's real potential criminal exposure for his role in the capital riots. You can go back through the Mueller report through his involvement with hush money payments with the Southern District of New York. My former office has already investigated, so if he leaves himself out there without a cell pardon, there could be real criminal exposure for him.

BLITZER: Yeah, this is breaking news, Elie standby. We're going to get back to you.

HONIG: Sure.

BLITZER: I want to get some more information right now on this breaking news, sources telling CNN the White House held a meeting this evening to actually finalize its list of pardons expected to be released on Tuesday. And it's expected once again, that the President will issue around 100 pardons and commutations on Tuesday, his final full day in the White House.

David Axelrod, our Senior Political Commentator is joining us right now. So what do you think about this? What's going to be the political fallout? If the list includes white collar criminals, some rap music artists, but does not necessarily include the President himself?

DAVID AXELROD, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah, look, I think there's going to be a lot of quick forensics, as Elie mentioned, you know, his history on this has not been very good. You know, Wolf, I recall during my White House years, how assiduous the pardons process was in that the Justice Department was deeply involved in screening and making recommendations on these pardons.

President Trump hasn't followed that procedure, not surprisingly, and I doubt he is here. It'd be interesting to see what was the process by which they came about these pardons. But you can be sure that there will be controversy about them, because the history of his use of pardons, suggests as much.

BLITZER: How do you think the deadly insurrection of January 6 up on Capitol Hill and potentially changes the calculation on pardons? And do you think he might issue some pardons for those who have already been arrested?

AXELROD: You know, that would be very, very foolish. Anything that he does, that gets even near that would only inflame the situation in the Senate where he's still has to stand trial. And so I don't think that he's going to want to do that. That would be a big mistake.

But, Wolf, let me just say as you look at the scenes of what happened on the hill, you know, I was one who, you know, I believe in tradition and norms and rules. And the idea that the President isn't going to be at the inauguration on first blush is disturbing.

But imagine how -- if he did show up and sat on the steps of the same Capitol up which this insurrection that he helped stir just two weeks ago, you know, that would have been profane. I'm glad that he's not coming and now he's asking for ruffles and flourish as he leaves town. You know, I think he should organize the QAnon marching band and have them play him off of the stage here. It's really, really painful and disgraceful.

[21:25:06]

BLITZER: How worried are you right now about how divided our country is because even after he leaves office, as the loser on Wednesday, heads down to Mar-a-Lago and Palm Beach, Florida, the country will remain so deeply divided? You've seen these polls that have just come out yesterday and today.

AXELROD: Yeah, there is -- no, it's deeply, deeply disturbing. I think most Americans want some unity, they want some calm, they want some cooperation. But obviously, the fact that 70% of Republicans say they don't believe that Joe Biden was legitimately elected, is really, really disturbing.

And the fact that Joe Biden is going to give his inaugural address, hurting unity, and offering hope, inside a green zone that will be patrolled by 10s of 1000s of National Guardsmen, and guard members. I mean, that is really, Wolf, you've covered events all over the world, that is not an image that we expect to see in the United States of America. And that's part of Donald Trump's legacy.

BLITZER: Yeah, people all over the world are taking -- you look and seeing what's happening here in Washington, D.C, and they're wondering what has happened to the United States of America, they're finding it so hard to believe. How worried are you, David, that violence, even after the inauguration of the new president, how worried are you that the violence will continue?

AXELROD: Well, look, you look at the reporting, that's been done on January 6, and you realize that, in many ways, this was long in the making, there was planning, there are networks of people who are communicating, there are financiers, who help finance some of this. And, you know, I don't think this is going to be resolved on January 20, Wolf.

Sadly, I think domestic terrorism has to be a priority for law enforcement for some time to come. And one hopes that the manner in which President Biden leads this country will help reduce those tensions, but we got people who are living in a different world in a different, you know, with a different what they believe are facts, who are being inflamed in ways that provoke them to think they're committing acts of patriotism that are actually acts of treachery, and insurrection. And I don't think that ends on January 20, unfortunately.

BLITZER: Yeah, I suspect the president, then soon to be the private citizen, the former President is going to continue to allege that the election was stolen. All right, David Axelrod, thank you so much for joining us. Good luck to you. Good luck to everyone.

We're going to have much more coming in into THE SITUATION ROOM, the breaking news about 100 pardons coming from President Trump on his last full day in office that would be Tuesday. And this comes as capitals across the United States are beefing up security just ahead of Inauguration Day. That's Wednesday after very, very worrisome warnings from the FBI. CNN speaks with a self-described member of the far-right Boogaloo movement, about the potential of violence.

[21:30:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: It's all across the United States this weekend, in every state capitol, police and mobilized National Guard troops are on high alert warned by the FBI that armed, possibly violent, protests could erupt at any time leading up to the inauguration on Wednesday. A relatively small demonstration gathered on State Capitol grounds today in Lansing, Michigan. CNN's Sara Sidner spoke to a man. They're openly carrying a gun who claims to be a member of the armed anti-government so-called Boogaloo movement. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CORRESPONDENT: Let me ask you about fighting. People see you with that weapon, and they think the fight is going to be a violent one.

This is not -- this is for a show of force. If we come out here without this, we will be run off. I guarantee you by some people over there.

SIDNER: Who is that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: National Guard or the police. If we come out here unarmed, they'll come after us. If we do -- if we have this with us, they won't touch us because we have equal power. This is nothing more than just even the playing field.

SIDNER: I want to ask you about that. Black folks would say if they came out here with this, they might get a lot of trouble. What do you think about the difference between the way black protesters are often treated and the way you are.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I wish for the black people would protest with firearms. They would -- I got -- my brother, my soon to be brother in law is black. I wish they would all protest with firearms. They would get less harassed by the cops or anyone.

SIDNER: When you talk about fighting, are you talking about fighting by voting? Are you talking about fighting by violence? Are you talking about fighting in a different way?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Fighting is just a general term. There are many ways to achieve what you want. There are some way -- we do not want a civil war or anything. We want to exercise every possible way before that comes an option.

SIDNER: Is that an option in your mind?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will not -- I will not fire the first shot. But if it comes to that I will fight.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: Let's discuss what's going on with Charles Ramsey, CNN Law Enforcement Analyst, a former Philadelphia Police Commissioner, also the former Washington, DC Police Chief. Chief Ramsey, thanks so much for joining us.

When you hear the words of someone like that in the Michigan State Capitol, he's talking about a show of force, about civil war, about fighting. As someone who once ran an entire city police force, what should cities right now be bracing for?

CHARLES RAMSEY, LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, they have to use all precautions. I mean, you do have a lot of people out there, right now. The temperature is very, very high. They're armed. You could hear what he was saying that he feels like he needs it for protection. He didn't mention the first amendment at all, but he feels like he needs to have that firearm to protect himself. Otherwise, he won't be able to protest which is ridiculous.

But the fact that some people actually are believing that now and when you look at January 6th and what happened at the Capitol, I mean these are very, very dangerous times we're in right now.

[21:35:00]

BLITZER: Let me show you a, Chief Ramsey, another little bit of the footage that just emerged of what happened, what happened up on Capitol Hill on January 6th. In this footage, one lone police, Capitol Police officer outnumbered by the intruders is talking to them on the Senate floor. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We will, I mean like (inaudible) the place.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: OK. I just want to let you guys know, this is like the sacredest place.

(Inaudible)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm not the one who usually take pictures of myself, but in this case I can make an exemption. Hey, can you take a picture of me?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: What do you think, Chief Ramsey, of the way that police officer handled that situation?

RAMSEY: Well, he's doing the best he can under the circumstances. I mean, they are terribly outnumbered. He's trying to kind of persuade them to leave. He did mention, you know, just how sacred that chamber really is, not that it mattered to most of them. But, you know, I think he was doing the best he could. On an earlier program, I had mentioned another piece of that tape where it sounded to me as if a police officer was saying, you know, we love you guys. It turns out that was a person, a member of the mob, that was in the Capitol itself that actually said those words, not the Capitol Police officer.

They were just simply overwhelmed. That's not to say that there doesn't need to be an investigation into the Capitol Police. But in this instance, I think that officer in particular, was really doing what he could just try to bring some order to the situation.

BLITZER: We've now seen, Chief Ramsey, this domestic terror, white supremacy, exploding into violence, how does law enforcement try to get a handle on this threat that's unfolding in our country?

RAMSEY: You're going to have to really monitor very closely, you know, the social media programs, platforms rather, are now taking these guys off the platform that makes it more difficult to really track them. There may need to be some infiltration of some of these groups. But we have to pay a close attention to them. Domestic terrorism is the number one threat. It's not foreign terrorism. It is domestic terrorism. That is the biggest threat facing us right now.

And it's not going to go away on January 20th. We're going to be in this for a very long period of time. I'm glad to see the FBI beginning to round up a lot of those people involved on January 6th. I think that took a little wind out of the sails for today's supposed activities that were taking place around country. But it's very, very important that we stay on top of this.

BLITZER: It certainly is. Chief Ramsey, thank you so much for joining us. Always good to have you here in THE SITUATION ROOM, appreciate it.

RAMSEY: Thank you.

BLITZER: We're going to have much more on the heightened security across the United States in just a moment. We're also following the latest developments, and they are not good, involving the coronavirus pandemic. The US is now on the verge of hitting a new horrific record. We'll have details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[21:41:45]

BLITZER: Dr. Rochelle Walensky has been chosen to head the CDC in the incoming Biden administration. Today, she said America could see half a million lives lost by mid-February. Dr. Peter Hotez is joining us right now. He's the Dean of Tropical Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine. He's working on another version of a COVID vaccine at the same time, he's a busy guy. Dr. Hotez, thank you so much for joining us.

So Dr. Walensky is warning of dark weeks ahead. Do enough people in America get that? Are you seeing any indication that people all over the country, Dr. Hotez, are being more careful? DR. PETER HOTEZ, PROFESSOR AND DEAN, TROPICAL MEDICINE, BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE: Well, you know, some are and some aren't. It really depends on what part of the country but the numbers are quite dire. We're going to hit 400,000 Americans have lost their lives from COVID- 19. That's the same number of Americans who sacrifice their lives fighting for the United States and World War II, a horrible number 400,000.

And we're looking at 250,000 confirmed cases a day, which we know is an underestimate by at least a factor of four. That's a million new cases a day. So, this is a screaming level of transmission across the United States and people are scared people are upset. And there's an enormous amount of work that's going to have to happen starting January 20.

BLITZER: You're absolutely right. In the past week, we learned this very disturbing that the Trump administration has no vaccine stockpile. But we also learned that nationwide, less than 40% of the available doses that have already been distributed, are not yet being able to go into the arms of Americans, at least so far. Do you have faith that the incoming Biden administration can turn things around?

HOTEZ: Well, let's look at the numbers. We're going to have, our estimates are we're going to have to vaccinate 240 million Americans by later in the summer. And most of the vaccines are two doses, that's roughly half a billion doses have to be administered. And the number that's been given so far, depending on whose estimate you look at is 10 million to 14 million. Wolf, that's basically a rounding error.

For all practical purposes, we haven't even started yet. And people are worried, people are scared. I can't tell you my inbox, my email inboxes just flooded with emails from people 60, 65, 70. How do I get my vaccine, doc? I go to the Web site, the password doesn't work. I get a list of when it does work. I get a list of pharmacies, none of the pharmacies are near my home. I call the pharmacies, they don't know what I'm talking about. This is total chaos right now.

BLITZER: Yes, it's a mess.

HOTEZ: So, it's a total mess. So we're going -- so the -- that has to be the top priority for the Biden administration right now is to, one, reassure the American people that they're going to get their vaccines and come up with a plan by which they -- that people know when they're going to get vaccinated.

And, you know, I put out a plan in the Washington Post last week, and there are pieces of that that looks like they're following. But this is where we have to put the emphasis right now.

BLITZER: I know you received your second dose of the Pfizer vaccine, but that doesn't necessarily mean you'll stop wearing a mask or avoiding social distancing, social situations. Tell us about that.

[21:45:00]

HOTEZ: Yes. For now, anyway, we know the way the studies were done. We know these vaccines stop symptomatic transmission and symptomatic infection. And most importantly, they're going to keep you out of the hospital. I know now with getting those two doses of the vaccine, that I'm not going to go into a hospital or Intensive Care Unit because of COVID-19. That's the good news.

What we don't know is, whether you can still get the infection transmitted to others. So until we sort that out, people are still going to need to wear masks, at least for the first few months of vaccinations. But again, the big worry now is the country is between angry, frustrated and scared that they're not getting vaccinated. And that, and for that to happen, we're going to have to expand the number of hubs where we're vaccinating. And I know the Biden team put out a pretty good plan articulating how that's going to happen.

We're going to need more vaccines as well. I don't think we're going to be able to do this with the two mRNA vaccines. We've got to get up the two adenovirus vaccines from AstraZeneca-Oxford and J&J in order to meet that supply. Also particle vaccines, we have a vaccine. So all of this has to happen in the first few weeks, so as not to erode all the goodwill and erode public confidence in the administration.

BLITZER: Let's hope it happens. Dr. Hotez, as usual, thanks so much for joining us. Thanks for what you're doing.

HOTEZ: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: Coming up, we'll switch gears a little bit. We have a story very, very dear to my heart, and that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[21:50:30]

BLITZER: We're learning more about our top story. The pardons that President Trump is planning to issue on his last full day in office, that would be Tuesday. Three sources now telling CNN that one will go to Dr. Salomon Melgen, a prominent eye doctor from Palm Beach, Florida. He's in prison after being convicted on dozens of counts of healthcare fraud. We're going bring you more details on this story as we learn them.

If you're like me, you spent last night on the edge of your seat watching plays like this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Flaking Jackson, stays in the block. Jackson fires and that will be intercepted in the end zone by Johnson, Taron Johnson. And only Jackson can stop him now, too late. To the end zone, touchdown.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right. That was Taron Johnson intercepting Ravens' quarterback Lamar Jackson and running 101 yards for a touchdown. And I'm going to aside my anchor hat for just a few moments, and admit that I am an unabashed fan of my hometown Buffalo Bills. And as I often say, you can take the kid out of Buffalo, but you can't take Buffalo out of the kid.

The Bills went to four straight Super Bowls in the 1990s but never won one, and sadly they haven't had much to celebrate over the past couple decades. But they are now just one game away this coming Sunday from heading to a Super Bowl.

Let's talk about what all this means to Buffalo with another fan of the Bills, CNN's Sports Correspondent Coy Wire, who actually played safety for the Bills for six seasons. Coy, thanks so much for joining us. I don't know how excited you are. You can tell I'm pretty excited. So what does this mean? Do you think, you played for the Bills, what do you think this means to my hometown?

COY WIRE, SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: It means the world, Wolf. And I'll set aside my AFC East championship hat for a moment while we chat. It's a great time to be a Bills fan and a former player. And a lot of it has to do with people like you, Wolf, the super fans who've been there through a quarter century of not making it this far.

One in particular, Bills Mafia as they're called member, Pinto -- Ken Johnson, Pinto Man, as he so affectionately known, I'm sure you've heard of him. We may have some pictures of him. He's seen at games with the ketchup being splashed all over on the grills, on the hood of his old Pinto. He actually had a special message just for you, Wolf.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEN "PINTO RON" JOHNSON, BILLS SUPERFAN: Hey, Wolf, it's Ken Johnson a.k.a. Pinto Ron. I know the Bills Mafia are thrilled, you're in our ranks as a true Bills superfan. This has been a magical season. I hope you're enjoying it as much as we are. So now we just got to get through Kansas City onto the Super Bowl. Go Bills.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: Go Bills, indeed. Magical season because of, again, those fans, Wolf, that banner that you see behind me, "Let's go Buffalo." I saw you posting a picture with one proceeds from that or going to a children's hospital. You had a season where their star quarterback Josh Allen lost his grandmother. She passed away. So what do Bills fans do? They rally and donate over a million dollars, mostly in $17 increments, his jersey number, to a charity that he loves.

And that Ravens game we're seeing now, Lamar Jackson, left that game with an injury. What to Bill's fans do? They rally for Lamar Jackson to try to make him feel better. They start donating to Blessings in a Backpack, one of his favorite charities. They've told us now that it's over $200,000 that they've donated. And that's who Bills Mafia is. That's what Buffalo is. And that's what makes this team so special.

BLITZER: Yes, I know. Look, I'm a whole -- my whole life, I've been a Bills fan ever since I was a little boy. My dad, may he rest in peace, he used to take me to Bills games in the old days. And I remember sitting there with him. We only have seats in the end zone, but I loved every single moment of that.

Buffalo, as you know, has such a special, special place in my heart and we're all rooting for the Bills and as we say, "Go Bills." You have a prediction, you have a thought, Coy? You're the expert.

Wire: You know, I don't want to jinx anything. I'm just going to enjoy it. I'm going to continue to knock the dust off my old jersey, Wolf. I might send you one of my old jerseys as well so we can just say "Go Bills" together and enjoy the ride.

BLITZER: Now, let me just repeat. I'm not going to predict anything either. I'm afraid of the jinx. I will simply reiterate what I've been saying a lot lately, "Go Bills."

WIRE: "Go Bills."

BLITZER: Coy, thank you very, very much. And we'll be right back.

[21:55:05]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BLITZER: Before I go, I want to thank you for watching. And notice this, it was nearly a year ago, on March 21st, that we did our first weekend special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM. When CNN first asked me to do this, it was supposed to be for only a few weekends, maybe two or three weekends, instead given all the news this past year.

We've been doing THE SITUATION ROOM seven days a week for some 10 months. And with all that we've seen, it's really amazing, amazing to listen to the words I spoke on that first night back in March.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer in Washington for a special edition of THE SITUATION ROOM.

Here's what we know right now, we're following breaking news. In the United States, there are more than 22,000 cases of coronavirus and nearly 300 deaths worldwide. The number of cases has now topped 300,000 with nearly 13,000 confirmed deaths.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: From a death toll of 281 in the United States that day, to the unthinkable number it is now more than 397,000 deaths, above the death toll of that Saturday in March. Remember, these are not just numbers. They are mothers and fathers, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters.

Over these months, we've brought so many important stories to you, the pandemic spiraling out of control, the protests for racial justice, and the presidential election and its ugly aftermath. Also, a special thanks to my weekend executive producer Peter Kaplan and his entire truly excellent team for making me look good every weekend. Of course, I'll still be here five days a week, Monday through Friday, in THE SITUATION ROOM. I'll see you tomorrow at 5:00 pm Eastern. And here are some very important good news.

Starting next Saturday, my good friend and colleague Pamela Brown will be anchoring the CNN NEWSROOM every Saturday and Sunday from 6:00 to 9:00 pm Eastern as you know. She's a truly fabulous journalists. Thanks very much for watching. Have a good night.

The CNN Special Report, "KAMALA HARRIS: MAKING HISTORY starts right now.