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CDC Guidance On Schools; New Investigation Announced Into Capitol Hill Insurrection; Nearly Half Of U.S. Under Winter Weather Alert; Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) Announces 9/11-Type Commission To Investigate Riot; Newly Released Videos Show Extreme Levels Of Coordination By Groups Who Invaded U.S. Capitol; Cuomo Admits Mistakes On Nursing Home Data, Denies He Covered Up Deaths. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired February 15, 2021 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:54]

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

Tonight: House Speaker Nancy Pelosi isn't letting Donald Trump's Senate acquittal be the last word on the Capitol insurrection. She just announced that Congress will establish an independent commission like it did after 9/11 to investigate the facts and causes of what happened here in Washington on January 6, this as President Biden is now eager for lawmakers to focus on getting COVID relief legislation passed now that the impeachment is over.

The president is getting ready to hit the road to sell his $1.9 trillion plan, with an appearance at a town hall in Wisconsin tomorrow night.

Meantime, some Republicans are struggling to move on, as Trump's acquittal has deepened the divide the divide inside the party, and as the former president himself is facing mounting legal trouble, including the possibility of criminal prosecution for his role in the Capitol riot.

Let's start our coverage this hour with our chief White House correspondent, Kaitlan Collins.

Kaitlan after the distraction of the Trump impeachment trial, the clock is now ticking for President Biden and Democrats to pass the emergency COVID-19 relief package.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: It is, Wolf. And they are hoping to do so by next month. That is going to be the new focus in Washington, because President Biden has been in office for almost a month now.

But so much of that time has been defined by this split-screen that he was sharing with his predecessor as that trial was ongoing. But now that it's behind him, this is the big focus. And, of course, as he has pushed for bipartisanship and some of his allies still say that is something that he is trying to achieve while he is president, right now, one of his biggest priorities is this new piece of legislation, this coronavirus relief bill, and so far still no Republican support, Wolf.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS (voice-over): With the distraction of former President Trump's impeachment trial behind him, President Joe Biden is forging ahead with his agenda.

Following a weekend at Camp David, Biden returned to the White House with one item at the top of his list, getting his COVID relief bill through Congress.

CEDRIC RICHMOND, SENIOR PRESIDENTIAL ADVISER: President Biden is not willing to wait.

COLLINS: Republican lawmakers still overwhelmingly oppose Biden's 1. nine trillion-dollar plan, and his top aides say he's building support within the GOP, just not in Washington, D.C.

RICHMOND: I was looking at that the other day. We have many Republican mayors, we have Republican governors, we have more than 50 percent of Republicans in this country. There is just one place that we don't have anybody who has signed on yet, and that's in the United States Congress.

COLLINS: But Biden ran his campaign promising to bring unity to Washington. Democrat Senator Chris Coons, a close ally of his, says Biden will push for bipartisanship, even if the first piece of legislation isn't.

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): We can proceed with a Democrat-only bill. President Biden is uniting the American people. He is moving forward on relief that has the support of three-quarters of the American people.

COLLINS: Biden's top health officials are also pushing for the passage of the stimulus bill, arguing that schools need more resources to reopen.

DR. ANTHONY FAUCI, NIAID DIRECTOR: I think that the schools really do need more resources, and that's the reason why the national relief act that we're talking about getting passed, we need that. The schools need more resources.

COLLINS: On Friday, the CDC issued new guidance for reopening schools.

DR. ROCHELLE WALENSKY, CDC DIRECTOR: Most disease in school does not come from in school transmission, but outside from into the community.

COLLINS: CDC Director Dr. Walensky says they are not mandating that schools reopen, but the guidance the CDC issued appears to have created more questions than it's answered about how and when to do so.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Can you point to any scientific reasons for students in the United States not to return to in person classes tomorrow, as long as schools are taking the five steps?

WALENSKY: You know, I think if you look at what's -- as you noted, there's 90 percent of communities with this high rate of transmission going on right now. And we really don't want to bring community disease into the classroom.

[18:05:05]

COLLINS: Top White House aides said they were not involved in the making of the new guidance.

JEN PSAKI, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I can assure you the White House is not directing the CDC on how they're to determine their guidelines.

COLLINS: Meanwhile, starting today, Biden reopened the Affordable Care Act's federal insurance marketplaces for three months. The White House says it will give millions of Americans affected by the pandemic another chance to buy health care plans.

RICHMOND: We just want to use every tool in the toolkit to make sure that people are covered in the middle of this pandemic.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COLLINS: Now, Wolf, Biden's top health officials are going to be pressed this week on what the clarity of that CDC guidance is, given just, of course, how crucial reopening the schools are.

But, right now, the focus is going to be on this COVID-19 legislation. The House is drafting it. It is going to go to the Senate next. And they're hoping to have a final version of it on President Biden's desk by as soon as next month.

And then, of course, they will take the turn to his other priorities while in office, but, first, it's that bill. And he's going to be hitting the road this week to sell it starting with the CNN town hall tomorrow night.

BLITZER: Clearly, that's a top, top, top priority. Kaitlan, thank you very much.

We're going to hear much more from President Biden when he takes part in CNN's exclusive town hall, the first since he took office. It airs live from Milwaukee, Wisconsin, tomorrow night at 9:00 p.m. Eastern only on CNN.

Now to the aftermath of the impeachment trial and plans for an independent commission of inquiry to investigate the Capitol insurrection.

Our congressional correspondent, Ryan Nobles, is working the story for us.

So, Ryan, what could this commission be all about? Tell us about it. RYAN NOBLES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this news came this after -- or

this morning, I should say, when Speaker Pelosi sent a letter to her colleagues saying that she'd like to take the next step in forming a 9/11-style commission that looks into everything that led to and the aftermath of the January 6 Capitol insurrection.

And Pelosi said this came out of the ongoing conversations and the investigation that Lieutenant General Russel Honore has been conducting at Pelosi's request. And Pelosi said -- quote -- "It is clear from his findings and from the impeachment trial that we must get to the truth of how this happened."

Now, this commission would be set up by statute. That means it would be a law that would be passed by both the House and Senate and then signed by President Biden. The goal would be for this to be a completely independent commission with no sitting members of Congress or the government involved. Instead, these will all be outside, nonpartisan observers, experts in their field that would look into exactly what happened.

The other thing that the speaker has said that she would like this commission to be is much more diverse than the 9/11 Commission was, which was only one woman. Every single person the committee back then was white. She'd like to commit this version of it to be much more diverse, and feature both men and women.

This process of course, though, Wolf, just beginning.

BLITZER: Yes, this is so, so important. They have got to learn the lessons of what happened on that dark day in American history to make sure it doesn't ever happen again.

Even after Trump's acquittal, Ryan, he could still face some very serious criminal charges related to the Capitol riot. Tell us about that.

NOBLES: Yes, that's right, Wolf.

When we pressed Republican senators about their decision not to convict the former president, they often did not talk about his actions. It was much more of a process question, because they said that the impeachment process could not continue in the U.S. Senate because the former president was no longer in office.

And many Republicans, including the Senate minority leader, Mitch McConnell, suggested that he could still be subject to criminal charges. And there are a number of avenues for that to happen. Of course, Washington, D.C.'s attorney general has said that they may be looking into criminal charges as a result of how the president conducted himself on that day.

And there's also other legal problems that Trump could be facing, multiple criminal and civil investigations into his conduct in a number of states. Of course, the Georgia secretary of state has said that they are looking into that phone call that he made right after the presidential election, asking the Georgia secretary of state to essentially find votes to declare him the winner there.

And then, of course, there are also fraud investigations into his business dealings with the Trump Organization that are happening in New York, specifically through the Manhattan district attorney's office.

And what's important to point out about this, Wolf, is that many of these investigations were stalled to a certain extent, because Trump was president of the United States. He's no longer president of the United States. He is a private citizen. And so that means that many of these investigations can now push forward.

BLITZER: Yes, he presumably is going to need a lot of lawyers, a lot of legal fees to deal with all these investigations.

Ryan, stay with us.

I also want to bring in our chief political correspondent, Dana Bash, our senior legal analyst, Laura Coates, and CNN political commentator Mia Love, a former Republican member of Congress.

Dana, what does the House speaker's plan to create this 9/11-type commission to investigate the January 6 attack on the Capitol mean for the current president? We know the Biden administration was actually pretty eager to leave the Trump impeachment trial in the past and move on with its own agenda.

[18:10:06]

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, and I still think that's the case when it comes to the former president and punishing him by way of the impeachment process.

But when it comes to understanding all of the failings in and around January 6, that is not something that my impression from talking to people in the administration that they're worried about at all, I mean, in fact, just the opposite. They want those answers to come forward for lots of reasons, for history, for prevention in the future, never mind the fact that Joe Biden is a creature of the U.S. Senate.

He served there for 36 years. And he understands that you need to find out why, just one example, the police were caught so flat-footed, why there weren't National Guard troops called in ahead of time, given the fact that there were all of these law enforcement red flags going up.

So I think that those are two separate issues when it comes to the perception of the Biden administration.

BLITZER: Laura, the -- we just heard from Ryan. He just explained that the former president is actually facing multiple potential criminal investigations.

What do you think, what's the likelihood that Trump will face criminal charges? LAURA COATES, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, as it comes to the

insurrection, this introduction of a commission might actually have a bit of a cooling effect on those criminal charges, not because they are state level or federal level, because, if you're talking about them deriving from the same factual predicate of his statements about the insurrection, leading up to it pre-rally, during the insurrection and afterwards, I could foresee a circumstance where that commission's investigations could have an impact on the willingness of those who were going to testify in other cases, about there being a bit of a conflict of who is going to be the priority and who's not.

But for the state level prosecutions that are separate and apart from his own statements about the insurrection, things like in Manhattan, things happening in Georgia about that now infamous Raffensperger call, all of those things can go autonomously and separately from the overall commission investigation.

And so you have to think about parsing them out, the insurrection conduct as one thing, the civil liability of Summer Zervos or E. Jean Carroll and defamation suits, and then, separately, the ideas about the Trump Organization, and, of course, the election interference.

Those are all separate buckets that could go forward without having to interfere with the commission whatsoever.

BLITZER: Mia, Trump is clearly emboldened, though, following his acquittal, his second acquittal in an impeachment trial in the Senate.

What does this mean for the future of your party? We're talking about the Republican Party.

MIA LOVE, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, well, Wolf, thank you.

First of all, I want to say that Republicans have a challenge that they haven't had in a very long time, and certainly not at this magnitude. One of the things that Republicans are going to have to deal with, especially on the campaign trail, is not just Democrats going after Republicans, but also Republicans going after Republicans.

What you saw with Representative Matt Gaetz going into Liz Cheney's, Representative Cheney's district is something that is going to happen. And for (AUDIO GAP) president, he is going to do everything he can possibly can to get into these races, not to hurt Democrats, but to actually go after Republicans who voted against him in impeachment, who weren't -- not just weren't with him, against them.

And it's not just those who were against him in impeachment, but those who actually weren't with him 100 percent of the time.

So, I think that that's a challenge that Republicans are going to face, and they really should get together, get ready for that.

BLITZER: Yes.

Ryan, Republicans, as you well know, the Republicans who voted to convict Trump are already facing backlash in their home states. Is that further evidence of just how solid the former president's grip

is on the Republican Party? And could looming legal issues change that?

NOBLES: Well, I don't think there's any doubt, Wolf, it shows that active Republicans, those who volunteer for state committees, who show up at conventions, the die-hard members of the Republican Party remain entrenched in Donald Trump's camp.

And these are the members of the executive committees, the party chairmen. You're seeing centers happening in places like Louisiana and North Carolina, where Bill Cassidy and Richard Burr cast votes to convict President Trump.

I think the question that Republicans, though, have to ask themselves is, what about just rank-and-file Republicans, people that don't have their identity completely wrapped up in the Republican Party, but are pretty consistent Republican voters? We use North Carolina as an example. And there is a quite a bit of evidence that there are Republican voters that are leaving the party in droves.

They're either removing their party registration as a Republican, becoming independent, or even becoming Democrats. So, even though there is -- still remains a very solid and fervent base of support for President Trump within the Republican Party, the bigger question for Republicans as we move into 2022 and then 2024 is, can you still win elections with Donald Trump as the leader of your party?

[18:15:13]

And 2020 is an example, and places you could win with him at the top of the ticket, but, obviously, the presidential campaign didn't turn out the way Republicans wanted. So, that is going to be the big question that they're going to have to ask themselves over the next two years.

BLITZER: Yes, and Republicans lost those two seats, the Senate seats in Georgia. And a lot of folks in Georgia are blaming Trump for that down.

Dana, the Biden White House is focusing in on getting coronavirus relief through Congress. Will the president, who ran on unity, and certainly in his 36 years as a U.S. senator wanted to bring Republicans and Democrats together on these kinds of issues, will he be able to gain any significant bipartisan support for this, his first big legislative package?

BASH: If he is determined to keep it at the number that it is, $1.9 trillion, or even in that neighborhood, if he is determined to keep -- at least find a way to put some of the policy prescriptions, like $15 minimum wage, even though it's not clear whether or not they will be able to do that as part of this package because of the procedural challenges, if he doesn't move from that, it's going to be very hard to see many, if not any Republicans going on to that bill.

And that seems to be just OK, just fine with President Biden and his administration, because every bit of rhetoric, whether it is public or private on phone calls with members of Congress and so forth, it is that they see the promise that he made to deal with coronavirus, to deal with the economy as more important, if need be, than the promise to tackle things in a bipartisan way, arguing that the bipartisanship is possible, just not on this, if Republicans aren't willing to come forward.

It's not to say that there aren't people in Congress, where Ryan is standing, moderate Democrats, Republicans who are willing to talk, who might not come up with something that is lower than the $1.9 trillion and try to push it to the White House. It's just a question of whether -- your question is whether Republicans will come on board with his. Unlikely.

BLITZER: Yes, if, in fact, there are going to be no Republicans who support this $1.9 trillion package, he's going to have to make sure that all of the Democrats -- he can't lose any of them in the Senate.

BASH: Right.

BLITZER: All of them vote in favor. We will see how this unfolds.

Guys, stick around. There's more news we're following just ahead.

After Trump's Senate acquittal, is censuring the former president still an option?

And newly released videos from the Capitol riot are offering more chilling looks at just how much the attack was coordinated and how badly police officers were overwhelmed.

This is a SITUATION ROOM special report.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:21:55]

BLITZER: Tonight the United States is approaching half-a-million deaths from the coronavirus, even as the nation makes new progress against the pandemic, with cases sharply declining.

At the same time, we're facing a more troubling questions about schools reopening, the spread of variants and the vaccine supply.

CNN national correspondent Jason Carroll has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Health experts expressing cautious optimism, as coronavirus cases and hospitalizations in the country show signs of improvement.

Johns Hopkins University indicating daily cases falling from more than 300,000 in January to less than 100,000 now. However, there's some grave concern over the spread of variants, including seven homegrown just identified in the United States. DR. ASHISH JHA, DEAN, BROWN UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF PUBLIC HEALTH: I'm

concerned about these variants because we're not doing enough surveillance, so we don't know how widespread they are We don't really have any information right now.

But are they more contagious? Are they more deadly? And we also don't know if they're going to work against our vaccines.

CARROLL: Facing unknowns with the variants, health experts warn it's too early to loosen restrictions or for people to let their guard down.

DR. CARLOS DEL RIO, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: We're seeing a lot of this -- variants in states like Florida, California and New York. So I would be very concerned. And my advice is to continue masking, to continue socially distanced, and to avoid crowded environments.

CARROLL: Despite warnings, this past weekend one of the busiest for air travel during the pandemic, more than four million people flying since Thursday. States, including Montana, have lifted mask mandates, New York now allowing limited indoor dining, while the demand for available vaccines still outweighing the supply.

In New York, the state system crashed over the weekend, as people with certain underlying conditions now eligible for the vaccine flooded the Web site.

DR. MEGAN RANNEY, CNN MEDICAL ANALYST: I know the Biden administration is hard at work at getting states more accurate information about how many vaccines are out there. But it's got to be done real quickly, because it's impossible for states to plan.

CARROLL: The CDC rolled out its guidelines for reopening schools, much to the frustration of some stressed-out parents and students, who have been looking for a way back to in person learning.

Here's why. The CDC guidelines focus on five strategies for in person learning, including universal mask-wearing, physical distancing, handwashing, cleaning, and contact tracing. But the CDC also recommended full in person learning return only in places where levels of community transmission are low.

The problem? Right now, almost 90 percent of American children attend schools located in high community spread areas, so-called red zones.

WALENSKY: If there's more disease in the community, there will be more in school, and that most disease in school does not come from in school transmission, but comes from outside into from into the community. So, what we would advocate for is to have more kids in school as our community spread comes down.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL: And, Wolf, an update when it comes to those schools in those so-called red zones.

[18:25:00]

Today, a spokesman for the CDC reached out to CNN specifically about the issue dealing with schools in red zones, and says that their recommendation is that schools in those areas can provide in person learning, as long as they're -- quote -- "strictly implementing mitigation and monitoring cases in the community."

Part of the problem with that, Wolf, is, some of these schools simply just don't have the resources to do that -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Jason Carroll reporting for us, excellent report.

Thank you very much.

Let's get some more on all of this.

Our chief medical correspondent, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, is joining us.

Sanjay, thanks, as usual.

Given that more than, what, 52 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine have now been administered here in the United States, when will we start seeing an impact on coronavirus case rates?

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN SENIOR MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, that might still take a little bit of time, Wolf.

I mean, we all often talk about this herd immunity, where you think 75, 80 percent of the country will need to be vaccinated. But we will see impact when we look at these models earlier than that.

But, interestingly, Wolf, we have always talked about seeing cases go up and then hospitalizations and then deaths. When we talk about the vaccine and impact, likely, it'll have impact on death rates first. Hospitalizations and cases may be sort of the last to be impacted. We're not sure how much vaccines actually prevent people from actually potentially still carrying the virus.

So -- but the important measures, deaths and hospitalizations, I think we will start to see impact earlier on.

BLITZER: Well, that's encouraging, very encouraging.

As you know, Novavax tells CNN is actually testing a new version of its COVID-19 vaccine -- it hasn't yet been authorized here in the United States -- that specifically targets the coronavirus variant first identified in South Africa.

When you look at the vaccines in the pipeline right now, are we in a good position to be able to combat these new variants, let's say?

GUPTA: Yes, Wolf, I think this is potentially good news as well.

I mean, let's look at the Johnson & Johnson one, for example. And as you look at this data, I think, whenever you look at data, anyone who's looking at this should be asking themselves, what is the question I'm really trying to answer here? What is the vaccine going to do for me?

If I told you the vaccine, whether you're in an area where the variants are circulating or the more dominant coronavirus is circulating, if I told you that it's 85 percent protective against you getting severely ill, requiring no hospitalizations or deaths in people who receive that Johnson & Johnson vaccine, that's pretty good. It's pretty good protection.

I mean, might you still have symptoms? Yes, we know that these vaccines have been less effective for the more moderate symptoms as compared to the coronavirus that has been circulating.

But against the things that we care about the most, not getting really sick, not requiring hospitalizations, not dying, they seem to work pretty well. But we're going to have to keep an eye on them, because the mutations will continue to occur and new strains will continue to emerge.

BLITZER: The CDC guidance on reopening schools, which clearly is so, so important, describes vaccinating teachers as an additional layer of coronavirus protection, but not necessarily a key strategy.

Do you agree with that thinking?

GUPTA: Well, this is a tough one, Wolf.

I mean, and I have written a lot about this. And it's so personal, I think. I have kids, and we deal with this all the time, talk about this all the time.

Here's what I would say. And this is after lots of conversations with people over the last several weeks. It, in part, depends on how much how risk-tolerant you are. Vaccinating would obviously be fantastic to be able to vaccinate people and give them a great deal of confidence that they're not going to get sick from this.

What we have also seen is data from school districts around the country, where, even without vaccinations, certain school districts have been able to keep transmission low within schools and far lower than in the surrounding communities.

So, it can be done in schools, keeping them safe without vaccination. But it may be challenging. I think there's two things. One is, can your school actually do the basic mitigation things that we have been talking about? Do they have enough square footage to allow people to physically distance, masks, all the things we have been talking about?

And what is the status of community spread right now? Ninety-nine percent of kids right now, Wolf, are living in communities where there is significant community spread still. Luckily, the numbers are coming down, but they're still very, very high.

And it may be a few weeks before they stop -- they get out of the sort of red level transmission before they can think about opening.

BLITZER: The kids, the teachers, they can all wear masks, as we know. But what about the schools were physical distancing, improving

ventilation is incredibly difficult, may be too expensive, could be impossible? When and how can those schools safely resume in person education?

GUPTA: Yes. No, I think you're absolutely right.

And so it may not be a binary thing. You may have situations where kids may have a bifurcated schedule, so, you have half the population in at one particular time, half at another time. That's how you can keep people still physically distant.

[18:30:04]

It might be that, you know, some districts simply cannot do the mitigation strategies and then leave the vaccines as that layer of protection.

And another thing we don't talk about enough, Wolf, I think is just testing. We know that there is going to be a lot more testing supposedly in schools but there was an analysis from the Rockefeller Foundation, it came out and said, if widespread testing is available at schools, you would also decrease likely the transmission significantly.

So, you want to have all the basics, you know, the distancing, the masks, the ventilation and it's hard if you don't have those things to open safely without adding in these other things, like testing and vaccines.

BLITZER: Yes, it's complicated, obviously, but so critically important. Sanjay, thank you very, very much.

Meanwhile, about half of the population here in the United States is under some kind of winter weather alert right now, causing delays in the COVID-19 vaccination drive, as Americans struggled with icy roads, power outages and dangerously low temperatures.

Texas, for example, they're among the hardest hit, with a series of deadly multiple car crashes and widespread power outages affecting millions of customers. Severe winter weather has prompted emergency declarations in at least seven states right now mostly, get this, across the south.

But travel delays across much of the United States, all throughout. Just drive carefully.

Just ahead, I'll speak live with House Impeachment Manager David Cicilline, there you see him. We've got lots to discuss about plans for an independent investigation of the Capitol insurrection and potential punishment for Donald Trump despite his acquittal. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:35:00] BLITZER: About 48 hours after Donald Trump's Senate acquittal, House Democrats are now moving forward with the creation of an independent commission to investigate the Capitol insurrection on January 6th, similar to the panel formed right after 9/11.

Joining us now, one of the House impeachment managers during Trump's trial, Congressman David Cicilline. Congressman, thank you so much for joining us.

You laid out the case in the Senate trial but are there more questions you think this independent 9/11-type commission will need to explore?

REP. DAVID CICILLINE (D-RI): Absolutely. Our purpose of the trial was to focus on the culpability of the defendant, the former president of the United States. We collected and presented overwhelming evidence that the former president incited a violent insurrection against the government of the United States by a vote of 57-43, the largest and most bipartisan presidential impeachment in the history of our country. We didn't make it to the two-thirds but we established his guilty.

But there are a lot of question about the planning and about the response and about what additional security measures might need to be put into place so that we can ensure this never happens again. I think the speaker is absolutely right. The kind of approach ought to be an independent commission, like we did after September 11, so we can learn the other actors that were involved in inciting and participating in this grave constitutional crime against our republic.

BLITZER: You make the correct point, this was the most bipartisan impeachment in American history, 57 for a guilty verdict, 43 not guilty. But that's not enough. You need 67, two-thirds majority to convict.

Just moments after his acquittal though, Trump said in a statement that his movement, in his words, has only just begun. What impact could an emboldened Trump have on Congress and the country for that matter over the next few years?

CICILLINE: Well, I think the former president was badly damaged as a result of this impeachment trial. Even the Republicans who voted to acquit him almost to a person acknowledged that the evidence that was presented established his guilt overwhelmingly, that he incited this insurrection, this attack, that they then completely failed to honor his responsibilities, his oath of office to protect Congress, to protect his own vice president and was derelict in his duty.

They rested their hat on some bogus constitutional claim, either we're not allowed to impeach formal officials, which is completely not true, or he had some First Amendment claim or some due process, right? So they looked for some kind of bogus constitutional argument to avoid the overwhelming evidence of the former president's guilt.

So I think the former president is significantly damaged by the entire country seeing, hearing and understanding the gravity of his offense. And, of course, there are investigations now under way in the state of Georgia, in the state of New York and some have suggested that the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia has a responsibility to look at these events. So I think that there's much more accountable to come for the former president.

BLITZER: Well, we'll see what happens. Congressman Cicilline, thank you so much for joining us.

CICILLINE: My pleasure.

BLITZER: Just ahead, disturbing new security footage of the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol reveals the extreme level of coordination among those extremist groups that day.

Plus, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo responds to the accusations of an alleged cover-up of nursing home coronavirus deaths.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:40:00]

BLITZER: We're following the latest developments tonight in the investigation into the deadly attack on the U.S. Capitol. CNN's Brian Todd reports a very, very disturbing new video and audio of the riot.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): The security footage shows the sheer volume of rioters who streamed into the Capitol, even taunting police officers. During the height of the lawlessness on January 6th, the desperation in the officer's voices on dispatch calls was chilling.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): We've lost the line. We've lost the line. All MPD pull back. All MPD pull back up to the upper deck.

TODD: CNN has reviewed more than 800 files, including radio calls from police, security system videos and police body cam images, which were assembled by the House impeachment managers but which were not all shown at the trial.

[18:45:07]

They show how quickly police were overwhelmed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice over): Fifty-four, they're trying to snatch officers on the South Side.

TODD: In this video, police are quickly driven back in a corridor. Officers engaging in hand to hand combat but their numbers are no match for the rioters.

In this security footage, several people are shown in seemingly matching tactical gear, appearing to move inside the Capitol in a coordinated fashion. This matches the time when the FBI says a group from the far right militant group the Oath Keepers made it inside the Capitol. The level of coordination among extremist groups that day is now the focus of more intense scrutiny by federal prosecutors.

NICHOLAS OCHS, PROUD BOYS: Hello from the Capitol.

TODD: This is Nicholas Ochs, the founder of the Hawaii chapter of the far right pro-Trump group, the Proud Boys. Ochs, along with another Proud Boys associate, Nicholas DeCarlo, have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy charges related to the Capitol.

Prosecutors say they conspired to block Congress certification of President Joe Biden's win. But they planned and fund-raised with the effort, then joined with the violent mob inside the Capitol. Ochs and DeCarlo are alleged to have inscribed the words "murder the media" on a prominent door into the Capitol.

Their plea comes on the heels of a Justice Department unsealing conspiracy charges against five other people associated with the Proud Boys, alleging they coordinated their movements during the assault, led crowds of rioters, wore tactical gear and wore fluorescent orange tape on their clothing to identify themselves.

KATHLEEN BELEW, HISTORIAN OF RIGHT-WING EXTREMIST MOVEMENTS: This was planned action that was meant to be a public facing display and was meant to work as a recruitment moment.

TODD: New court filings show federal prosecutors are looking closely at the communications used by extremist groups like text message, messaging apps, virtual walkie-talkies and other memes. Officials have found one text message from Thomas Caldwell, an alleged organizer of the Oath Keepers, discussing an idea to bring weapons across the Potomac River on a boat on or before January 6th.

PETER LICATA, FORMER FBI SUPERVISORY SPECIAL AGENT: Those are all things law enforcement use to show the intent, in order to see how coordinated, in fact, they were.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (on camera): That alleged member of the Oath Keepers, Thomas Caldwell, has been charged with conspiracy. He's pleaded not guilty and his lawyer denies he was a member of the Oath Keepers. But a federal judge has ordered that Caldwell should be kept in jail ahead of his trial, saying he's a, quote, real danger to the public -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Brian Todd, reporting for us, very, very scary stuff indeed. Thank you.

Just ahead, the New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is under fire right now over allegations his administration covered up coronavirus nursing home deaths.

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BLITZER: Tonight, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo is responding to the growing scandal his administration's handling of COVID-19 deaths at nursing homes. He's admitting mistakes but denying a cover-up.

CNN national correspondent Brynn Gingras has our report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GOV. ANDREW CUOMO (D), NEW YORK: We made a mistake.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): New York Governor Andrew Cuomo finally speaking out days after his top aide admitted their office withheld data for months about COVID-19 deaths of nursing home deaths.

Cuomo acknowledging on Monday that the data was not provided soon enough.

CUOMO: In retrospect, we should have prioritized providing more information.

GINGRAS: But arguing that the state's death counts were accurate and that information was not hidden.

CUOMO: To be clear, all the deaths in the nursing homes and in the hospitals were always fully, publicly and accurately reported.

GINGRAS: Until late last month, New York only accounted separately for people who died from COVID-19 separately for those in nursing homes but the data didn't include the number of residents from those facilities who died after they were transferred to a hospital or elsewhere.

CUOMO: The public had many questions and concerns, and the press had many questions about nursing homes primarily. And I understand that they were not answered quickly enough.

GINGRAS: The tipping point came when in a private video call, the governor's top aide, Melissa DeRosa, told Democratic state lawmakers they delayed giving updated information to them after then-President Trump's Department of Justice sent an inquiry about nursing home deaths in the state because, quote, basically we froze, because then we were in a position where we weren't sure of what we were going to give to the Department of Justice or what we give to you guys. What we start saying was going to be used against us.

Her words, an admission that the administration stalled on showing a true picture of just how many nursing home residents died, just as the governor was lauded globally for his pandemic response.

EMILY MUNSON, ALBANY TIMES: Between his Emmy for his coronavirus press briefings, to Governor Cuomo's book, to his speech at the Democratic National Convention, Governor Cuomo has been held up as the model governor in his coronavirus response, even though New York was so hard hit by the virus early on.

GINGRAS: Cuomo arguing today much as the same as his top aide, that the request for data from former President Trump's Department of Justice was politically motivated but took priority over the state legislature's request.

CUOMO: Everybody was working 24 hours a day. Everybody was overwhelmed. We were in the midst of dealing with a pandemic and trying to save lives. They were answering DOJ.

GINGRAS: He's now taking heat from both sides of the New York legislature.

[18:55:00]

NICK LANGWORTHY, NY GOP CHAIRMAN: The gravity of this cover-up cannot be overstated.

GINGRAS: Republicans declaring he should be investigated, some even using the word "impeachment."

LANGWORTHY: Andrew Cuomo must be prosecuted and Andrew Cuomo must be impeached if this evidence exists.

GINGRAS: And Democrats are actively discussing drafting a bill to strip Cuomo of his emergency powers.

"You're only sorry that you all got caught," tweeted Democratic Senator Alessandra Biaggi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GINGRAS (on camera): And the big question here is, will what the governor said today be enough to satisfy all of his critics right now? You got to remember Wolf, one of the things he mentioned in these news conference is that his administration didn't have time to give numbers to both the DOJ and to state lawmakers. But we've already seen from critics, then, how did he have time to write a 300-plus page book about his response to the pandemic?

These are sort of the things that we'll probably likely continue to hear possibly plague the governor even as he is up for re-election next year -- Wolf.

BLITZER: Brynn Gingras in Albany for us, thank you very much.

And we'll have more news right after this.

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BLITZER: Stay with us CNN for an exclusive town hall event with President Biden tomorrow night, 9:00 p.m. Easter, live from Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.

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