January 6, Four Years Later
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It's Monday, January 6th, right now on CNN This Morning. And we fight. We fight like hell.

A return to power on the anniversary of the day his supporters stormed the Capitol. Congress will convene to certify Donald Trump's election victory. Plus... President Trump is going to prefer, as he likes to say, one big beautiful bill. An ambitious agenda. Republicans have big plans for Donald Trump's first 100 days in office. With their slim majority, it's going to be a major undertaking. And then... It's accumulating crazy fast.

A winter wallop, the monster snowstorm that could bring the heaviest snowfall in a decade to some areas. And later, stepping down, this just in, Canadian media reports Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is expected to resign just months before an election that he's widely predicted to lose. Right, it's 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. A live look at a very snowy Capitol Hill. Most people are staying home today in the nation's capital, but not Congress. They're expected to show up to work today.

It's a pretty important day up there. Good morning, everyone. I'm Casey Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us. January 6th, in just hours, Congress will meet to certify Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 election. This, a final step in cementing a stunning political comeback.

We will never give up. We will never concede. It doesn't happen. You don't concede when there's theft involved. All Vice President Pence has to do is send it back to the states to recertify. And we become president and you are the happiest people. Everyone here will soon be marching over to the Capitol building to peacefully and patriotically make your voices heard. And we fight.

We fight like hell. And if you don't fight like hell, you're not going to have a country anymore. Four years ago today, following a decisive loss to Joe Biden, then-President Donald Trump stood in front of the White House, urging his supporters and vice president Mike Pence to overturn the will of the American people. As you can see ahead, we have stormed the Capitol. We are to the steps of the Capitol, to the very top. And it looks like we're trying to bridge the Capitol building.

Following Trump's remarks that we just watched, his supporters did march to Capitol Hill. They pushed through barricades. They climbed the walls. They attacked police officers who were trying to protect the lawmakers inside.

We're trying to hold you up a bit. We're trying to hold you up a bit now. We need to hold the doors of the counter. Overwhelmed, those officers were unable to prevent the mob from forcing their way inside as some began to search for lawmakers that they said that they wanted to kill.

The counting of electoral votes was paused as lawmakers from both parties fled or barricaded themselves inside secure locations. Vice President Pence was taken to a loading dock, but he refused to leave the building. Cassidy Hutchinson, a top aide to then White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, later testifying that Meadows said that Trump, quote, thinks Mike deserves it. He doesn't think they're doing anything wrong.

In the violence that day, one rioter was killed by police defending the House chamber. Three others in the crowd also died. One Capitol Police officer who was attacked died the next day. And a number of other law enforcement officers would die by suicide in the months that followed. At the time, top Republicans in Congress blamed one man. All I can say is, count me out. Enough is enough. The president bears responsibility for Wednesday's attack on Congress by mob rioters.

He should have immediately denounced the mob when he saw what was unfolding. There's no question, none, that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of the day. No question about it. In the four years since that day, Donald Trump has repeatedly downplayed the violence and has said he'll pardon some of the rioters, including some who pleaded guilty.

-On January 6th, it was the largest crowd I've ever spoken to, and that was because they thought the election was rigged. And they were there proud. They were there with love in their heart. That was an unbelievable and it was a beautiful day. -That was a day of love from the standpoint of the millions. -It was love and peace. And some people went to the Capitol. And a lot of strange things happened there. But you had a peaceful -- very peaceful -- "I left."

I left the morning that I was supposed to leave. Now, as Trump prepares to once again take the oath of office on the Capitol steps, President Biden is urging Americans to resist efforts to rewrite the history of that day. He writes this in an op-ed published last night, quote, "We should commit to remembering January 6th, 2021 every year, to remember it as a day when our democracy was put to the test and prevailed, to remember that democracy, even in America, is never guaranteed."

Throughout the election, Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris both repeatedly characterized Trump and his actions on January 6th as a threat to democracy. Biden was asked about those comments yesterday. Do you still believe he's a threat to democracy? I think what he did was a genuine threat to democracy. I'm hopeful that we're beyond that.

Today, Harris becomes the first vice president since Al Gore to certify their own defeat as a presidential candidate. Our panelists here, Doug High, Republican strategist, former communications director for the RNC, Alex Thompson, CNN political analyst, national political reporter for Axios, Megan Hayes, Democratic strategist and former director of message planning for the Biden White House, and Brad Todd, Republican strategist and CNN political commentator. Welcome to all of you. Good morning. Thank you for being here, especially for braving the snow to make it all the way in today.

Brad, Megan, what have we learned from what happened on that day? We saw it happen. I was there at the Capitol. And now the person who, you know, many Republicans held accountable for that at the time has been reelected president of the United States.

Well, you know, most Republican voters held Donald Trump accountable for it. That's why Ron DeSantis started out the race almost 20 points ahead of him by some accounts. That's why he was still ahead of him until Alvin Bragg indicted Donald Trump in New York on what a lot of Republicans thought were trumped up charges and things that were completely

out of bounds and beyond the pale. I mean, this was a factor in the election. It's why Nikki Haley was pulling 20 percent well into the primary season after she'd stopped running. I mean, there are plenty of Republicans who still are not going to forgive Donald Trump for that day, nor probably should they. But I think when you have to give the American public credit and realize they factored a lot of other things in this election, too. Megan, how do you explain it?

I don't think you can explain it. I see what you're saying. I just think that we are forgetting and we are rewriting history like the president is saying. You can't call these people that they were invited in and call them peaceful and then say you're going to pardon them. It's a reprehensible day in our history. It's a very dark day in our history. And it is disgusting that we are trying to just sweep over it like it didn't happen. Alex, what's your view of this, especially as, I mean,

Democrats do seem to be grappling with what to take away from, I mean, Trump's victory this time was more sweeping than it was in 2016. Yeah, and if you're a Democrat, you are incredibly frustrated because you're going to see today that Democrats are going to uphold the peaceful transphobic power. You're going to see them basically do what the Constitution lays out. Donald Trump tried to upend that. He did not do that four years ago, and the American people still voted for him anyway.

Doug, you're someone who cares a lot about Congress as an institution. You've devoted a lot of your life to service in and around it. What is the...

You know, in some ways I'm having a hard time grappling. This is a big picture thing that we're grappling with, right? I mean, obviously the results of the election are what they are. But sitting there that day, it would have been almost impossible to conceive this. Oh, absolutely. And what we saw was so many steps within this campaign that really allowed Donald Trump to reemerge. For me, I was watching the first presidential Republican primary debate with a friend. And the first question was, raise your hand if you'd support Donald Trump if he's convicted of a felony.

Almost every hand went up and I turned I turned to a friend and said well this this primary is over and the reality is at that point it was over because you can't effectively campaign against somebody who you'd support if they're convicted of felony and So what we've seen is from Kevin McCarthy going down to Mar-a-Lago just after his statements condemning him is the party bending towards Trump over and over again and so part of this as shocking as it was was inevitable as well and

Megan, we heard Hakeem Jeffries in his speech after Mike Johnson was reelected Speaker of the House talk about Democrats committing to a peaceful transfer of power. And there does seem to be there is significant symbolism in this being a boring event today.

Yeah, absolutely. I mean, you heard the president say it there. We hope we're past this. They are always going to be the statesmen. They believe in these institutions. And it's unfortunate that the Republican Party does not also believe in these institutions, that they came out so strongly against it, and then they all just back turned because they're so afraid of Donald Trump. And I just, I don't understand why I don't think any of us can quite figure out how we got back to this point. But I do think that Democrats, and I do think there are a lot of Republicans who believe in the institution, these institutions that we have.

There's part of how we got here with the institution of Congress, though, happened almost immediately afterward, and Democrats are to blame for that. Nancy Pelosi refused to allow Republicans to appoint their own members of the January 6th Investigation Committee. She refused to allow the Republican staff to be hired by Republicans. She refused to allow cross-examination of witnesses. She decided that for maximum political leverage, she was going to have a partisan investigation. That's part of what polarized the whole day of January 6th.

in ways I never would have imagined. And I think you have to put the Democrats on the hook for that. I think it's a little bit of whataboutism, though. I think a lot of Republicans on the day thought that Donald Trump broke his oath of office and it was disqualifying. And if you believe that, then all this other stuff shouldn't really matter. What ended up happening is that voters didn't seem to care as much. And lawmakers then eventually, a lot of them that thought that it was disqualifying, ended up just sort of sucking up their concerns. And I also think that Democrats in the country and Republicans in the country aren't

following what's happening on the January 6th, they were seeing the big picture. I don't think that they quite knew the nuance to it. So I agree that there is something here that we are not quite figuring out as a country that we need to spend more time investigating because it is disgusting that we are back here. We've had a whole lot of bombshell events that ultimately don't resonate with voters. And we refer to so many voters as low information voters because they're not consuming whatever has been written or talked about on a given day. The reality is

They're highly informed. They're informed of what they're spending every time they go to the grocery store. They're informed on crime in their neighborhood and every issue that we report on in a major way. That's what they're focused on. It's not this event or that event, important though they may be. And that gets to Brad's first point, which is that there are a lot of Republican voters that think January 6th was awful, but not disqualifying. And they cared about other things rather than January 6th.

All right. Coming up here on CNN this morning, extra precautions, the efforts underway today to ensure that it looks nothing like it did four years ago. Later, Congressman Jake Auchincloss is going to join us live to talk about certifying the 2024 election. Plus, a mandate with slim majorities, how Republicans plan to push their agenda through. And snow, wind and ice, dangerous travel conditions this Monday morning where the massive winter storm is heading next.

I need a waffle and the streets aren't that bad because there's nobody on them. There's nothing to hit. If you just go slow, you'll be fine because there's nobody dumb enough to be out on the road but me. On day one, I will launch the largest deportation program of criminals.

in American history. I will sign a historic slate of executive orders to close our border to illegal aliens. We're going to put the tariffs on your products coming in from China. When I get to office, we are going to not charge taxes on tips. I will terminate the green news scam, one of the great scams in history. We will frack, frack, frack, and drill, baby, drill.

All of Donald Trump's campaign promises rolled into one bill. That's what the president-elect and his congressional allies are eyeing as they roll out an ambitious agenda for Trump's first 100 days in office.

Trump reiterating in a post last night his desire to pass, quote, one powerful bill that would combine legislative priorities like extending his 2017 tax cuts, his border security plans and raising the debt limit. The move will require near unity within the GOP's razor thin House majority. But after huddling with Trump over the weekend, House Speaker Mike Johnson seemed unfazed. He says he's aiming for a vote on the bill in the first week of April.

I think at the end of the day, President Trump is going to prefer, as he likes to say, one big beautiful bill. And there's a lot of merit to that because we can put it all together, one big up or down vote, which can save the country quite literally because there are so many elements to it. And it'll give us a little bit more time to negotiate that and get it right.

All right, so Brad Todd, the reason we're talking about one bill and why one matters is because in the Senate they want to do two. It's all very down in the weeds, but the weeds actually mask important differences between the chambers that could determine whether or not this actually happens. It seems like they've convinced Trump to do one big reconciliation package. Is that how it's going to go down? I think it will, because I think passing anything in the House is really hard, because you have people like Tom Massey and Chip Roy who want to vote no even on loving puppies.

And so therefore, I think that attempting to do as much as you can in one bill, and a bill, by the way, that Democrats, some Democrats who are in marginal seats are going to have a hard time voting no on. I think that's the thing we're not talking about enough is there are a dozen or so Democrats who are in districts Trump carried, and they're going to have to vote to raise taxes on every American who pays taxes. They're going to have to vote to not secure the border. They're going to have to vote for a lot of really unpopular things if they oppose it.

If Mike Johnson's able to do everything popular, loving puppies and one bill, and pull even a handful of Democrats over, then Chip Roy and Tom Massey and the other clowns don't matter. Doug, what do you think? Yeah, I think that's right. And ultimately, what Johnson's trying to do is also protect his members. Better to have one sort of bad vote than two sort of bad votes. It's also easier, potentially, to do that. The challenge that he faces, Brad's right, there are Democrats who certainly could support this, is...

One of the arguments, and this is what we saw play out last week, is the Chip Roy's and the Thomas Massey's are against one big beautiful bill on anything. That's why they talk about omnibus appropriations. They'd also be against two of them. And the reality for this Republican majority is, you know, as you're trying to do these things and you're being told leadership has to change,

Those members don't want to change. And they want to go through this process still voting against no against every appropriations bill and so forth and just somehow think that leadership will bend to them. And this is where Trump's going to have to weigh in too. If this is Donald Trump's Republican Party, it's also his Republican majority. So he's not going to just have to make statements and speeches. He's going to have to work the phones on this a lot. We could look back at this a year from now. And yesterday could have been one of the most important days of the Trump presidency.

Because the thing is that they are now putting this on, like first week of April, you always pick the over on how long a bill is going to make its way through Congress. By making it bigger, it's going to delay this process. A lot of people in Capitol Hill were expecting the tax cuts to be done next December. Now you're trying to get all the tax, like all the tax code all done by the first week of April.

It is incredibly complicated. There are a lot of people in the Republican Party that just really wanted to put points on the board and actually dare Democrats to vote against border and energy stuff and just keep it confined to that. Now you're lumping this all in, and it has a chance to really drag this whole thing out. Yeah, although really the reality is they can't, you know, they have to do it individually.

under reconciliation budget rules so that they can get it through the Senate without a filibuster. The reality is kind of meeting the road. Megan, to Brad's point, do you think there will be Democrats who will feel pressure to vote for this? I think there will be depending on what's in the bill, but I think it's going to be very few people. And I think that the Republicans are learning very quickly that they are going to have to work with these Democrats to get stuff done, and therefore they are going to have to make compromise. So this bill is probably going to be a little bit more watered down than what Trump would want. They will have to do things that Democrats want.

Yeah, I mean, look, the reality is the farther away we get from, the closer we get to the midterms, the farther we get away from the Republican victories. This time around, the harder it's going to be for them to do anything at all. All right, straight ahead here on CNN This Morning. A snow emergency, major winter storm bringing potentially historic snowfall to parts of the U.S. Plus, what's behind the new sense of urgency in confirming Donald Trump's cabinet? Friend of the show, Mark McKinnon, will be here to discuss.

All right, welcome back. A brutal winter storm sweeping the nation this morning. Winter weather alerts impacting more than 55 million people from the central U.S. to the East Coast. This is a live look at a snowy street here in D.C. More than 1,200 flights already canceled this morning, including hundreds of flights in and out of Washington, D.C., as our region prepares for up to 16 inches of snow in some parts. Oh, good.

Our city's mayor already declaring a snow emergency. Federal offices in D.C. closed today because of snow. The closures will notably not impact Congress. They are set to certify the 2024 election results later today. For the West, conditions knocking out power for more than 250,000 customers from Missouri to Kentucky.

There are some really bad conditions out here. There's a lot of snow, significant amount of snow. You can see that about two to three inches right now and it's rapidly coming down, getting worse. I'm glad to see there's not many vehicles out here. I hope that stays the trend because you don't want to be out in this time. It's not good. It's better to stay home, allow road workers, KDOT people to get the roadways as clear as we can and let first responders hand those critical calls.

Let's get to our meteorologist, our weatherman, Derek Van Dam. Derek, good morning. Our panel all made it in. I made it in. But everyone else should really stay home if they can, I think. Yeah. Snow emergency, right? In D.C., schools are canceled. They get that extra day of winter vacation. Good for them. But take it from this Midwesterner who's no foreigner to snow. This is about as bad as it gets. This is a video coming out of

Kansas. Look at the sheath of ice on the tar there and then the snow covering over it. That's about a slippery and as dangerous as it comes right. And this storm system, even though it's wrapping up across Kansas, it does stretch a good 800 miles from ST Louis to our nation's capital, where winter storm warnings and advisories are firmly in place. It's that I 70 corridor interstate 95 that is going to be really tricky, tricky travel conditions, especially on the roads

but also at the airports as well. You can see temperatures supportive of snowfall somewhere in this live earth cam is the Lincoln Memorial. I promise you and we all remember back in 2016 January 2016 we had snow Zilla in Washington DC. That's what they coined it as.

Well, I don't think we'll see that much snow, but that's the last time we saw over a foot of snow in D. C. Some of the high end probabilities bring a foot of snow in D. C. But I don't think that's likely considering the latest trends in the radar. But nonetheless, a impressive storm system that will bring several inches of snowfall to the nation's capital and the surrounding areas. So Baltimore also further south. But we can't forget about the ice that is ongoing across parts of Virginia already knocking over 250,000 customers without power

across these several states. Casey, quite a story. All right. Derek, unfortunately, I do have to take issue with Snowzilla. I don't think we ever had a Snowzilla. We had a Snowmageddon and a Snowpocalypse. Snowzilla. I believe. Google it. It's there. I just took it.

I believe you. I believe you. I just, you know, in our little, anyway, political corners of the universe, we have different names for it. We're terrible at snow. I'll just put that out there. Like, this city is horrific at snow. So, yes, everyone should stay home. Derek, thank you. I really appreciate it. All right, coming up after the break here on CNN This Morning, President Biden reflecting on five decades in politics, giving a small piece of advice to newcomers. Reach across the aisle. Congressman Jake Auchincloss here to discuss up next. Plus...

New York City's new congestion pricing faces its first big hurdle, Monday morning traffic. Its second test will be Donald Trump. Donald Trump is a New Yorker. His office buildings, and he still owns a few, are filled with people who take mass transit. And I think he understands what traffic is doing to our city. The epic story. She was going to kill everybody. Do I look like a monster to you? Concludes. The man's are a cult. We need to get her out of there. With one eye.

Oh, there she is. Blast. I hear like moaning. Like a porno. Twist. What are you hiding? Can we cut? The Curious Case of Natalia Grace, the final chapter. An ID documentary event. Starts Monday, January 6th at 9.

I feel very strongly that we have made major shifts. What happened last time were an officer's words haunt me forever on the police line said, does anyone have a plan? Does anyone have a plan? And the answer from the leadership back then was no. Now we have clear leadership in place. Lawmakers and security officials taking extra precautions to ensure that today will not be a repeat of January 6th, 2021 here in Washington.

The snowy capital this morning equipped with extra fencing and law enforcement as Congress convenes to certify the 2024 presidential election. For some lawmakers, like our next guest, January 6th, 2021 was the first day undertaking official acts as a new member of Congress. Many of them arrived in Washington bright-eyed about enacting change for their constituents, only to be met by scenes like this.

Four members, the doors barricade, there's people flooded the hallways outside. We have no way out. To all the Taiwanese, the communists in the globe, that this is our nation. In light of the four-year anniversary of the violent Capitol attack, President Joe Biden offered this piece of advice to this Congress's new members. We gather to certify the results of a free and fair presidential election and ensure a peaceful transfer of power.

It's a day that most of our history we took for granted the 6th, but I hope we never take it for granted again. My advice to you is embrace the institution you serve. I really mean it. Improve it. Don't tear it down. Joining us now to discuss, Democratic Congressman Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts. Congressman, good morning. Wonderful to see you. Good morning, Casey.

So this was January 6th, 2021. You had been sworn in a handful of days earlier as a brand new member of Congress. Could you have imagined on that day, on January 6th, 2021, that we would be here today certifying Donald Trump being reelected as president of the United States? No. It was a devastating day for our democracy. And what Joe Biden said, I think are wise words. When George Washington first handed off power, it shocked the world.

And when John Adams, after the country's first contested election, handed off power to Thomas Jefferson, it shocked the world and impressed the world all over again. And I grew up with pictures of those founding fathers on my bedroom wall. I swore an oath to the Constitution as a Marine officer. And I came to Congress really worshiping those hallowed halls. And to see them defiled by those insurrectionists was a terrible day.

And now I'm back here four years later on a snowstorm because I'm going to watch Kamala Harris certify her own defeat in an act of patriotism that Donald Trump just could never understand. What does it say about our country in your view that it has played out this way? I think that the country takes for granted that members of Congress walked back into those

chambers on January 6th and certified the election results. And it allowed Americans to move on to concerns about the economy, to concerns about border security, because they are able to presume that our institutional and constitutional order has been taken care of. And that's a good thing. Today should be boring. But as Joe Biden said, we should also remember that

that we have to protect that transfer of power every four years. And we also need to remember those officers who lost their lives on January 6th because the next president aided and abetted their murder and their families have not gotten the justice they deserve.

What is it, do you think, that convinced Americans that this shouldn't be their top of mind voting issue or even a top of mind voting issue? Was it, you know, efforts by President Trump, President-elect Trump to re-explain it to people or was it something else?

No, I think January 6th remains unpopular. I think the attempted insurrection on January 6th is a mark of dishonor upon the American Republic. And actually a majority of voters recognize that and a significant number of Republicans recognize that. It just was overshadowed by other more pressing and salient issues. And the reason that it became less salient is that the American electorate has confidence that frankly Democrats are going to protect the peaceful transfer of power. They know that we'll respect the rules of the game, win or lose.

Do you think that the country, this of course is set to be Donald Trump's last term, right, constitutionally speaking, it would be his second term. What level of risk is there still to the country, to the peaceful transfer of power? Clearly Democrats today want to make, to demonstrate that you all are willing to and able to continue the peaceful transfer of power. But do you have questions about whether it will remain that way in the future?

I think we always have to be on guard. I'm watching two things in particular. One, I am watching the politicization of the military. Of course, the commander in chief has important latitude to establish officers who he thinks are fit for service. But if he's trying to politicize the promotion process, we're going to undo a really important 250 year tradition of a nonpartisan military. And number two,

I'm watching his sons. Donald Trump Jr., I think, wants to build a dynasty on the back of his father and is going to be looking for opportunities of nepotism to establish himself as the heir apparent.

So you think that Donald Trump Jr. may try to take advantage of his father's name potentially outside of our political system, inside our political system? What are you saying? I don't know how they're going to connive it. What I do know is that the Trump family views politics as a family business and one in which they want to reward each other, their spouses, their friends. I mean, J.D. Vance got into the position he's in because he befriended Donald Trump's sons.

And I think what we want to avoid is what we see happen in other countries, including other democracies, where one family captures political institutions and it starts to become dynastic. That's unhealthy. We want competition and choice in all of our elections. All right. Congressman Jake Auchincloss, thanks for being here this morning. Appreciate your time. Good morning.

All right, after the break here on CNN This Morning, a possible political shakeup coming to America's neighbor to the north. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reportedly set to step down. Plus, with two weeks to Inauguration Day, Donald Trump's allies trying to fast track his nominees. Why some say getting the confirmations done is now more urgent than ever. Mark McKinnon joins us next to discuss. The confirmations, do them now, do them quick. Get them all done in January, February. We need our team on the field.

The bear, the penguin, baby reindeer. These are not just things found in RFK's freezer. These are TV shows nominated tonight.

Trump's pick for Health and Human Services Secretary getting, shall we say, a shout out from comedian Nikki Glaser at the Golden Globes last night. Kennedy is among the Trump cabinet nominees expected to meet with senators on Capitol Hill soon in preparation for confirmation hearings that could begin as early as next week. Though several of Trump's nominees remain embroiled in partisan controversy, some of Trump's Senate allies say that the New Year's Day terror attack in New Orleans has added a sense of urgency to the confirmation process.

I want to do them sooner rather than later. When President Trump left office, we had the most secure border in American history. The caliphate was destroyed. ISIS was destroyed and Iran was in a box. We killed Soleimani, Soleimani, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard leader. The last four years have been a frigging disaster. We need them all. Get it done. We got to get it done. We're under attack here. We're at war.

All right, joining us now, former advisor George W. Bush and John McCain, Mark McKinnon. He is also the creator of Paramount's The Circus. Mark, happy new year. Always great to see you. Let's start on the nominees. I also want to talk to you about January 6th and everything that that means. But this argument that what we saw in New Orleans is going to put pressure on them to get these national security nominees. Do you think that's true when the rubber meets the road politically? I think that's true, but I also think there was a sense of urgency anyway, Casey.

There's such a market difference between now and eight years ago. I was at the Hotel Victory Night in New York with Trump, and among the surprised people in the room was Donald Trump. It reminded me of the old Robert Redford movie, The Candidate, where at the end after he's elected, he turns and says, what do we do now? Well, he knows what he wants to do now. He's coming in with a team and a plan, and he's been through the drill before. And I think the Matt Gaetz disaster really helped

clear the debris and give everybody, Republicans anyway, to say, listen, we took care of the bad company, but now we've got business to do. And the terrorist attack just, again, gives people like Lindsey Graham and others more urgency to get this thing done.

So, Mark, let's talk about January 6th. I am interested in your kind of reflections on where we've come to. You know, we've been playing images from that day in 2021 and talking about it through the morning. Obviously, now Donald Trump's election is set to be certified. He'll then stand on the Capitol steps and be inaugurated on January 20th. When you think about that arc of

of history. What goes through your mind and how do you think we ended up here? Well, I'll tell you what goes through my mind is the 2000 election with George W. Bush and Al Gore when an election was decided by less than a thousand votes, 450 something votes.

And we had a peaceful transfer of power then. I mean, imagine if an election today were really down to that number of votes. And so people like Al Gore and others upheld the Constitution. And we saw--.

I'm really struck by the notion that Kamala Harris will be serving in that position that Mike Pence did and upheld the Constitution. And so, you know, it's a marked reminder of how important this peaceful transfer of power is. We've had it through history. You know, I saw it in 2000. We're seeing it today. But we didn't see it four years ago. And so I hope that this will just remind everybody that this is how it's supposed to work.

One of the things we've heard, Mark, from Donald Trump is that he plans to pardon some of the people who were at the Capitol that day. Let's listen to what he said about this in December. Take a look.

You promised to pardon those who attacked the Capitol on January 6th. Are you still vowing to follow through with that promise? We're looking at it right now, most likely, yeah. These people are living in hell. Let me just... And I think it's very unfair. But let me... Most likely, I'll do it very quickly. I'm going to be acting very quickly. Within your first 100 days? First day? First day.

First day, he says, Mark, what do you think the politics of this are for him? I mean, there are a range of offenses, right, that people were charged with and convicted of or pled guilty to from violence to trespassing. If Donald Trump goes through with this, is he going to pay a political price? Will Republicans pay a political price?

Listen, I think he's going to try a hybrid. The politics are fraught both ways. I mean, his base--.

you know, believes him when he said that he's going to do the pardon. So he's got to make good on that promise. On the other hand, it's only going to drag up those violent images of people attacking police, Casey. And so I think what's going to happen is he's going to find the lesser offenders, pardon those people, and the people who, you know, where there was clear evidence of attacking or assaulting officers at the Capitol would be a whole different story, I believe.

Yeah. Mark, the other, of course, aspect of this is those who then went on to investigate what happened that day, the January 6th committee. Trump has also talked about what he wants to do there, what those people deserve. Let's watch what he said about that. Everybody on that committee

We're going to for what they did. Yeah. Honestly, they should go to jail. I think everybody, anybody that voted in favor. Are you going to direct your FBI director and your attorney general to send them to jail? Not at all. I think that they'll have to look at that. So what about this particular piece of it? If he moves forward with some of the things he suggested that he wants to, what does that mean for the country? And what is the political impact? Two different things, I would say.

Yeah, this is Casey. This is where I don't think he'll be able to resist his impulse. He wants to punish his opponents and his enemies, including and especially people like Liz Cheney. And this is something where the Constitution is very clear. But this is also something where people like Kash Patel are being appointed because Donald Trump thinks that's what they're going to do. Remember, he said, I am your retribution. So stand by. And so that's what I expect to see happen on that front.

All right. Mark McKinnon, always grateful to have you on the show, sir. Thanks for being here. See you next week, I hope. And remember, Donald Trump, what Mike Tyson said, everybody has a plan to get punched in the face. You know what? Good life advice, generally speaking. Mark, this is why we love you. Thank you.

Brad Todd, I want to briefly ask you about the pardon question and what Donald Trump may do next on that. And sort of same question as the one that I had for Mark. Is there a political price that he will pay for that? And is there a distinction among those who have been convicted of something here? I think people like Enrique Terrio, Stuart Rhodes, people who were convicted of seditious conspiracy and of prostitution,

plotting and encouraging actual violence, I think there is a line there. I think if it's people who plead guilty to one count of trespassing in the U.S. Capitol or parading without a permit, I think that pardoning those people will not cause them a political problem and probably shouldn't. But I think the deeper you go into the worst of the offenders, the oath keepers, the proud boys, that's when Donald Trump will have a political problem if he pardons them.

Alex, what's your sense going forward on going after members of the January 6th

committee, how Democrats might respond to that and whether Republicans would be willing to go along with it. I think you could. I mean, there's pressure on Joe Biden to pardon some of those people for this exact reason. Now, Trump is saying, I'm not going to direct people. But in his first term, he often directed them on Twitter. So who knows if he's actually going to restrain himself? But also these nominees probably don't have to be instructed to start investigating those people. That's the reason why he picked them, because they are an

ideological alignment. Doug, what would it mean, do you think? Well, Donald Trump has a pretty aggressive legislative agenda, right? And we're talking about doing tax cuts and a big reconciliation bill in April as opposed to June or September, December. So things like this get in the way of that. If you want to have a successful legislative agenda, don't get in your own way. That's a good point. It's a trap. It is a trap to get stuck in the past. And Donald Trump's already overcome a lot of these things politically in his past. And

He'll be more successful if he focuses on legislation. And that's it. How many times in politics do we hear, you know, voters want to look forward, not backwards? Yeah, consistently.

Consistently we hear that. Okay, 54 minutes past the hour. Here's your morning roundup. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau expected to announce he's stepping down, according to Canadian media reports. The announcement could come as soon as today. Sources said he hasn't made a final decision. Trudeau has been Prime Minister for nine years, but has seen his support slide in recent polls. The resignation would leave Trudeau's Liberal Party without a permanent leader ahead of elections set for later this year.

Commuters taking a car into Manhattan now facing another toll. A new congestion pricing fee now in effect. It will charge drivers $9 for driving in certain parts of the city at peak hours. President-elect Donald Trump vowed last year to terminate the toll in his first week in office. I guess we'll see about that.

the golden globes kicking off hollywood's awards season full of glitz and glamour but the standout moment of the night demi moore winning her first award for acting for her performance in the substance i've been doing this a long time like over 45 years and this is the first time i've ever won anything as an actor um

And I'm just so humbled and so grateful. Amelia Perez took home the most wins of the night with four trophies.

All right, let's turn now to this story. The Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Ann Telness resigning from the Washington Post after the newspaper refused to publish this satirical cartoon depicting post owner Jeff Bezos on bended knee in front of President-elect Trump handing over bags of cash. Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg and OpenAI chief Sam Altman also in the cartoon with a lipstick-holding Los Angeles Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong and a bowing Mickey Mouse.

of course Disney, Telness had been with the paper since 2008. In a post announcing her resignation, she wrote this, quote, "I have had editorial feedback and productive conversations and some differences about cartoons that I have submitted for publication. But in all that time, I've never had a cartoon killed because of who or what I chose to aim my pen at, until now."

Last month, Bezos dined with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida after Amazon announced they'd donate $1 million to his inauguration. He also personally made the decision to kill an endorsement of Vice President Harris for president that the newspaper's editorial board had drafted. The CEOs of Google, Apple, TikTok and Meta have also made the trek to Mar-a-Lago, which has prompted this reaction from the president-elect. In the first term, everybody was fighting me.

In this term, everybody wants to be my friend. I don't know. My personality changed or something. Everybody wants to be my friend.

Doug High, this, of course, decision of this cartoonist, perhaps more people have seen this cartoon now than would have absent them killing this and her making this decision. What does it say about the new world that we're living in? Look, I think it tells exactly where the media conversation is. And I admire anybody who says, this is unacceptable to me. I'm out.

but also editorial cartooning is probably not a growth industry in American media right now. So as we see some journalists do this, what do you do after this? And sure, your cartoon is famous right now, but what happens next week? I don't think we know. - Well, one thing, A, great cartoon.

And second, I also think it really shows what a different place the Washington Post is in comparison to the first Trump term. The Washington Post, this was a, you know, honestly, the first Trump administration was rocket fuel for the Washington Post. And now you are seeing them sort of in disarray, not only the decision not to endorse, but now this, you've had a lot of people leave the Post. And I think

this Washington institution is in a very different place. The people who left the Post first were the readers, the conservative readers left the Post. And I don't want to vilify and give anybody credit for courage here because what would be real courage is if she quit because she had a conservative cartoon that was denied publication by her bosses. That would cause real courage. She's going to be lionized by journalists everywhere unless she'll get an award from Columbia for this. Well, I mean, this seems to me to be about the owner. I mean, this is about the owner.

of the paper who, yes, okay, it's about Trump, but I mean, there does seem to be something there. Did Jeff Bezos, did she decide it was, when Jeff Bezos, Mark Zuckerberg, all those people were giving money to Joe Biden in the last administration, was that a subject of a cartoon? No, it was not. It was not. This is an ideological problem. Nice.

The Post deserves it. I just think we're running close and I don't want to sound dramatic about state-run media. We have Elon Musk who's putting stuff out on X and we have a lot of different things and I just think we're getting dangerously close to it not being objective and I understand where you're coming from that everyone's going to say it's always been left, it's always been more Democratic leaning, but I think when we start censoring these things, this is where we're going to get into trouble with our democracy.

We talked a lot in this election about, say, suburban moms and other voting demographic groups. None of them are talking about editorial cartoons. We should remember that. This is a very D.C. conversation. But I think it goes more than just editorial cartoons, and it goes into the coverage. When you have all these people leaving and going to different publications, and you have Elon Musk doing things on X, I just think we're running into a place that's the censorship piece of this. And, again, I understand the argument's always been to the left. I totally hear what you're saying, or what I see Republicans say. I just think that we're running dangerously close.

All right, we are running up against 7 a.m. Thank you guys for being here. Thanks to all of you at home for joining us as well. Stay safe in the snow if that's where you are. I'm Casey Hunt. Don't go anywhere. CNN News Central starts right now.