Violent Rioters, Far Right Extremists Freed
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It's Wednesday, January 22nd, right now on CNN This Morning. They've been given a pardon. I thought their sentences were ridiculous and excessive. Sweeping pardons, violent January 6th rioters and far-right extremists freed. Now, President Trump facing backlash from some in his own party for that day one decision. Plus... If you're in the country illegally, they have a problem. It's not okay to enter this country illegally. Immigration crackdown. President Trump rolling out new policies. Places like schools and churches no longer safe. And this.

Have mercy upon the people in our country. We're scared now. A plea from the pulpit. A bishop begs Trump to quote "have mercy." Overnight, the president demanding an apology. And later. It's a winter wonderland here in Florida. Once in a generation storm from Texas to Florida, some southern cities seeing their snowiest day on record.

All right, it is 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. A live look at snowy New Orleans. Some spots across the city saw up to 10 inches of snow shattering the city's previous record of 2.6 inches. Pretty wild. Good morning, everyone. I'm Casey Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.

We're just three days into the second Trump presidency already. Friction between the White House and Capitol Hill as Republican lawmakers grapple with Trump's decision to grant clemency to almost everyone convicted or charged in connection with the January 6th insurrection.

It's not my place. It's the president's sole decision, and he made a decision, so I stand with him on it. It was surprising to me that it was a blanket pardon. We're talking about people that were beating officers with fire hydrants, with metal batons. Is that acceptable to you? No, that's not acceptable, but I didn't see it. What do you mean you didn't see it? There were 1,600 people that were pardoned. I didn't see that. As I said, it's the president's prerogative. I do not support the pardons.

If they were given, if they were given to people who committed violent crimes. They want a mandate and fully support him in doing that. Honestly, I'm still going through the 200 different EOs and I've not even read through that one yet to be able to get the full details. The deck is cleared now. Can we just stop talking about January 6th? North Dakota Senator Kevin Cramer there asking, can we stop talking about January 6th?

It seems many of the president's allies would like to stop talking about the deadly assault on the Capitol. But Trump's sweeping pardons making that difficult as the president himself was pressed by reporters on the issue when he spoke to them yesterday. Aren't you sending the message that assaulting officers is okay with these pardons? No, the opposite. You know, I'm the friend of, I am the friend of police more than any president that's ever been in this office.

Donald Trump insisting that despite his decision to pardon hundreds of people convicted of violent felonies and a power that he alone wields, insisting he supports law enforcement more than any president ever. When asked about specific cases, including that of Metropolitan Police Officer Michael Fanone, who was attacked and injured while defending the Capitol four years ago, the president seemed to be unaware of the details of the convictions that he chose to wipe away.

You would agree that it's never acceptable to assault a police officer, right? Sure. So then if I can, among those you pardoned, DJ Rodriguez, he drove a stun gun into the neck of a DC police officer who was abducted by the mob that day. He later confessed on video to the FBI and pleaded guilty for his crimes. Why does he deserve a pardon? Well, I don't know. Was it a pardon because we're looking at commutes and we're looking at pardons? Okay, well, we'll take a look at everything.

"Was it a pardon?" he asks. Yes, one that only he has the power.

to deliver. Joining us now, Stephen Collinson, CNN senior politics reporter. Elliott Williams, CNN legal analyst, a former federal prosecutor. Congressman Jay Gawkin-Clos, Democrat of Maryland, Massachusetts. And Kristen Soltis Anderson, CNN political commentator and Republican strategist and pollster. Welcome to all of you. Thank you for being here. Congressman, this, of course, a return to the original Trump, first Trump administration, where members of the body in which you serve often repeatedly asked to defend what Donald Trump has done

This, what happened on January 6th, was something that was an absolute cataclysm for the institution. Many of your colleagues were trapped in the House chamber, had to be escorted out by law enforcement as rioters tried to breach the doors. What do you have to say to your colleagues there as they, some of them are trying, not all of them, not all of them are defending what Trump has done, but what goes through your mind when you watch that?

Congressional Republicans are all ducking and dodging, and I never want to hear them say back to blue ever again after providing political cover for this abomination. These are people who violently assaulted officers of the law while trying to insurrect our democracy. It's not just these pardons, by the way. Last Congress, the Republicans tried to defund the FBI.

This term, they're seeking to undermine the ATF's ability to regulate ghost guns. These are weapons that can pass through a metal detector without being detected. All of these things make officers of the law less safe and undermine our ability to enforce the law in this country. And yet they try to claim that they're the law and order party. It's no longer supportable. Kristen Soltis Anderson, you spend so much time talking to Republican voters. How

how are they going to take in? I mean, Peter Alexander over at NBC sharply said, you know, put these things at odds, right? You, he says to President Trump, would you dispute you are a law and order president, that you support police officers? And then he notes an example where clearly there was a police officer that was, you know, violently hurt by someone who was held accountable. And President Trump said, I'm not going to hold that person accountable anymore. Are voters going to react to this at all? So I think that's

Vice President Vance had a better sense of the politics of this when a week and a half ago he said, you know, I imagine it would be for the nonviolent folks. That there are some folks who were convicted of things that were far less than sticking a stun gun into someone's neck. And that there might be a distinction in the mind of many voters. That someone who gets caught up in a crowd that's entering the building unlawfully should not be treated the same as somebody who did something horrible. With that said, now a lot of these Republicans are in a tough position. That was easier for them to fall back on.

Now they've got to either embrace the whole thing or distance themselves from the president. But I would say one other thing. I think something that makes the politics of this a little easier is the way that the pardon power felt abused by Biden on the way out of the office. That there, I think, for voters in the center will be a little bit of a like a plague on both their houses. Why don't we reform the way presidents approach the pardon itself coming out of everything that went down on January 20th? The thing that I was most struck by is that

Trump had full opportunity to make these pardons in broad daylight. He had that big, beautiful ceremony with the desk at the Capital One Center, but chose not to issue the pardons then and to wait until cameras were not going to be on him in the same way. And I think they had anticipated this kind of blowback. Think about how they had aggressively teased some of the other actions they were taking, again, staging this very large ceremony.

ceremony around signing. So I just think they were aware that this was going to be a bit of a clunker with many segments of the public in it, and it's playing out right now. Yeah, that's true. But at the same time, I think it tells us that Trump is going to do exactly what he wants to do. I'm sure there are people in the White House, J.D. Vance among them,

who came up with this better solution politically. But Trump is really believing right now. You can tell in the way he addresses the camera. He's confident. He thinks he's all powerful. And it doesn't look, honestly, at least in Washington, that he's going to pay an immediate price unless he's a one-term president who doesn't have to run again. Of course, he has to worry about the midterm elections. But what we are seeing is a president who is abrogating the rule of law quite simply.

He is sending a message that violence is a legitimate tactic in politics. That's what a lot of people who are extremists will take away from this. And in fact, the Wall Street Journal editorial board, not known for their consistent liberalism, although perhaps with less influence in a Trump White House than with previous Republican administrations, they write this, Trump pardons the January 6th

cop beaters. Law and order, back the blue. What happened to the GOP? Here's a little bit of what they said. Republicans are busy denouncing President Biden's preemptive pardons for his family and political allies, and deservedly so. But then it's a shame that you don't hear many, if any, ruing President Trump's proclamation to pardon unconditionally nearly all of the people who rioted at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. This includes those convicted of bludgeoning, chemical spraying, and electroshocking police.

to try to keep Mr. Trump in power. Now he is springing them from prison. This is a rotten message from a president about political violence done on his behalf, and it's a bait and switch, Congressman. Agreed. And this is going to be a defining message for the midterms, which is, who's Donald Trump working for? We saw it as inaugural address

He brings in people with a net worth of over $1 trillion collectively to sit in front of his cabinet. He's clearly working for them with his meme coins and his TikTok inside dealing. And he's working for the January 6th rioters, we know that, issuing blanket pardons and commutations that support cop beaters.

Did he talk about lowering costs in that inaugural speech? What's his plan for housing costs, which are consuming 40% to 50% of wallet? What's his plan for health care costs, which employers now say is their number one concern? This is about who is he working for. Is he working for January 6th cop beaters and the tech oligarchy? Or is he working for people who are trying to afford child care? Kristen, do you see it that way?

Yeah, I mean, I don't think that this is helpful. I do think that if Democrats run ads that focus on January 6th, two years from now, they will not find that to be particularly successful. I think, yet again, the challenge will be there is a really strong belief within the Democratic Party that this is the message we need to use to take down Donald Trump because it is, frankly, unpopular. Pardoning the January 6th

offenders I'm sure if I throw it on a pole it's not going to turn out to be the most popular thing he did on inauguration day but with that said is it the sort of thing that is going to be defining of how people view Donald Trump's presidency I don't actually think it is. Alright Congressman Jay Gawkenkloss of Massachusetts thank you so much for joining us this morning. Good morning. Appreciate it. Alright coming up here on CNN this morning President Trump demanding an apology after the Bishop of Washington asked him to show mercy for migrants and transgender children plus

It's only day three, the Trump administration already facing a lawsuit from dozens of states over their new immigration policies. And later, frigid temperatures, nearly a foot of snow, the South, yes, the South, seeing historic amounts of snow. So I woke up and I just look outside, I'm like, dang, it feels like Christmas. Like, I'm from Texas, so it don't snow like that down here. It don't snow. It barely even snows. So seeing all this snow is something like new. It was magical to me. I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country. We're scared now.

There are gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and Independent families, some who fear for their lives. President Trump is calling on the Episcopal Bishop of Washington, who you saw right there, to apologize to the American people for those remarks. The Reverend Marion Edgar Budde delivering that plea to the President at Tuesday's National Cathedral prayer service. As Trump looked on, she also pled for mercy for immigrants.

The vast majority of immigrants are not criminals. They pay taxes and are good neighbors. I ask you to have mercy, Mr. President, on those in our communities whose children fear that their parents will be taken away. After the service, Trump voiced his displeasure with her. Not too exciting, was it? I didn't think it was a good service. They can do much better.

Shortly after midnight, the president escalated his criticism of the bishop with this Truth Social post, quote, The so-called bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday morning was a radical left hardline Trump hater. She brought her church into the world of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone and not compelling or smart. Trump goes on to say, Reverend Buddy owes the public an apology.

Joining our panel, Hema Moore, former chief of staff to DNC chair. Jamie Harrison, former regional comms director for Biden in 2020. Stephen Collinson, the big picture here, this reverend, the bishop, Buddy, using the pulpit to make this plea for mercy and, of course, Trump's response. What does it all say to you?

Well, Trump has been feted by internet billionaires, foreign leaders, his entire party for like two days during this whole inaugural ceremonies. That was the first time that he's seen any kind of dissent at all. I think it's a reminder that there is opposition and fear to what Trump is doing.

In the interest of balance, to his point that the bishop had pulled the church into politics, I did think that some of the speakers, some of the preachers that were at the inaugural ceremony

were quite politicized as well. So it's not just coming from one side. But I think the president is going to get quite a limited amount of pushback publicly just because of the way these presidential events work. So it was very interesting whether that will be a rallying point for opposition, which we haven't seen this time around. We're going to have to wait and see.

- Oh, sorry. We just gotta get off this fantasy that members of the clergy are not political. And I will go even further. Look at Franklin Graham's remarks from the inauguration. And with Joe Biden sitting there watching on, talking about the dark times of the last several years and how Donald Trump was sent here by God or whatever, I don't wanna misquote. The point is it had political undertones too. And it happens all the time.

and it should not shock anybody. The Pope recently weighed in on deportations. Now, many people have their views about this particular Pope, but just this idea that we ought to rend our garments and be so shocked every time somebody is on a pulpit and says something political is just sort of silly. - It's worth noting, I think, that the idea of mercy, and I mean, look, your point is well taken.

People pick and choose which scripture they would like to focus on. A reminder that Jesus talked about mercy. Let's watch. We had a reminder of that from the grandson of Jimmy Carter at the recent funeral when he, in the pulpit at the National Cathedral, read from the Beatitudes. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Blessed are the merciful,

for they will be shown mercy. Of course, that is not Donald Trump's favorite Bible verse. He was asked what is his favorite Bible verse, and he answered with, it's a little more Old Testament than new, shall we say. Watch.

Is there a favorite Bible verse or Bible story that has informed your thinking or your character through life, sir? Well, I think many. I mean, you know, when we get into the Bible, I think many, so many. And some people talk an eye for an eye. You can almost say that. That's not a particularly nice thing.

A plea for mercy and a response from Trump that is basically an eye for an eye. I mean, look, this is the United States of America. No parishioner, no pastor, no preacher had to ask their president for mercy. That's just the bottom line. And so I think the fact that we're here right now asking our president for mercy on us is a testament to what Donald Trump ran on and what we think he will govern as president. And so that's just very sad.

Kristen, there is this idea and this reality that Donald Trump, any president of the United States should be the president for all Americans. Are we leaving that behind?

think that we're leaving that behind. I don't think a conflict between a president and a religious figure is actually all that new. President Obama famously clashed with bishops over a number of different issues. And I just am trying to always think of what would happen if the shoe was on the other foot. If you had a Democratic president in the audience and a Catholic bishop had gotten up and made a plea for the unborn, would we be having the same kind of conversation? The reason why we're having a different conversation is because of the midnight tweets.

And that is where I think things get a little bit, this isn't just about a president running into conflict with a religious leader who has found pieces of scripture that may differ or they believe differ with the president's agenda. It's the, is Donald Trump gonna pick every single fight? We've got a long four years ahead of us

Donald Trump may well pick every single fight. I see you smiling, Elliot. He very well may. But this is the picking of every single fight. Is it going to be the kind of thing that will exhaust Americans and take the focus away from the popular things in his agenda that he would like to do? I mean, I think to your point, Nancy Pelosi has been called a lot of things by some other Catholics, including a baby killer. Nancy Pelosi has never handled...

those remarks like Donald Trump did. So I think the difference is people feel like they have to ask Donald Trump for mercy. Nancy Pelosi and other people, other members of the Democratic Party do not treat people like that when they disagree with them, including clergy.

- Elliot? - I was looking at Kristen who, I just don't think we ought to both sides how people respond to religious leaders they don't agree with. 'Cause like to Kristen's point, everybody's a little bit guilty, but I just get back to the original point.

members of the clergy have been saying spicy things from the pulpit for millennia. Martin Luther King, there were political undertones to his comments as well. I think it's a fair point that is Donald Trump going to spend these four years when he ought to be fixing the economy picking fights with Episcopal bishops? And again, it's...

It's an Episcopal bishop. If there's anybody who's going to go off from the pulpit, you ought not be surprised. Sorry, this is a Catholic talk. I don't know that go off is like the right. Right, I know. Like Episcopalians typically don't go off. I would not say that anger was the eminent emotion there. As an Episcopalian myself. Through clenched waspy reserve from the pulpit.

- Closely aware. - What going off entails if your Episcopalian is fairly restrained? - I'm gonna be canceled from this, all right. - You want the last word, Stephen? - Donald Trump is gonna spend the next four years fighting every fight 'cause he thinks that is what's good for him. So this is just the start.

All right, coming up here on CNN this morning, cars, semis stranded on the road after all that snow fell across the South. The dangerous conditions not over yet. Plus, President Trump announcing a major investment in AI, what he says it will do for the economy.

This morning, Houston police telling people stay off the roads. The historic winter storm that brought so much snow to the south also made things very dangerous. Semis getting stranded or overturned, cars getting stuck. Yikes. In New Orleans alone, they saw eight inches of snowfall. Some people did have some fun with it. I just look outside. I'm like, dang, it feels like Christmas. Like, I'm from Texas, so it don't snow like that down here. Who needs Vail Resorts? We can do this in NOLA.

Okay, let's get to our meteorologist, Elisa Raffa. I am not someone who thinks cross-country skiing is fun at all, but clearly they're having some fun with it in New Orleans. Elisa, what are you seeing? What else are you going to do when it snows on Bourbon Street, right? Snowball fights, snowmen, anything. Cross-country skiing is like, no, no. Downhill skiing is great. Sorry, continue. Just...

I mean incredible to see the snow in the places that it was. I mean you're looking at a welcome to Florida sign at the state line with snow piling on palm trees. Just incredible things that we have never really seen before. Something like this hasn't happened in decades. This is a live look at Bourbon Street. We can see snow piles up on the sidewalks. Looks like they attempted to plow but it iced over. I mean a lot of these cities aren't prepared for this. They don't get snow like this. They don't have

the plows and the soul tr New Orleans shattered the almost three times eight was 2.7 inches set back i

of these totals Alabama 11 inches Lafayette ten and a half Pensacola more than seven inches mobile seven and a half again just incredible a lot of these places got more snow than places up north looks like Milton Florida will break the state's record 8.8 inches the most snow that Florida has ever seen Casey I believe that Elisa Rafa thank you very much really appreciate it

All right, still coming up after the break, Prince Harry settles his legal claims against a British newspaper. We're going to bring you the latest details after the break. Plus, the president already facing roadblocks in his sweeping immigration reform plans. That's unconstitutional, what he issued, the executive order. And we will not follow an unconstitutional executive order.

All right, welcome back. One of President Trump's immediate actions to tackle immigration issues now facing a lawsuit. Within hours of retaking the oath of office, the president signed a wave of executive actions, many of them targeting migrants, among them a bid to end birthright citizenship. Now, 24 states are suing the administration. I have one message for President Trump. I'll see you in court. It violates our U.S. Constitution. The president has overstepped his authority by a mile, and we will hold him accountable.

The Department of Homeland Security is now also changing policy to allow for immigration enforcement raids in more places like schools and churches nationwide. In a statement rolling out the guidelines, a department spokesman writes this, quote, Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America's schools and churches to avoid arrest. The Trump administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement and instead trusts them to use common sense.

The Trump administration's border czar, Tom Homan, says the new actions could now lead to even more arrests. That means we got to go to the neighborhood and find him. And we will find him. But when we find him, he may be with others. Others that don't have a criminal conviction are in the country illegally. They will be arrested too. There's going to be more collateral arrests in sanctuary cities because they forced us to go in the community and find the guy we're looking for.

All right. Joining us now to discuss is Chad Wolf. He's former acting Homeland Security Secretary under Donald Trump. Sir, thanks for being on the show today. Thanks for having me.

So, of course, there are some local officials who have reacted to this most recent order. And this is what the Denver mayor had to say. Denver's mayor said this is CNN reporting. Excuse me. Denver's mayor said they wouldn't aid or support ICE operations in the city. They'll take the agency to court if it targets people in sensitive locations such as schools and churches. The Denver Police Department also has policies in place that prevent officers from asking witnesses or victims of a crime about their immigration concerns.

status. We also of course heard from Tom Homan, the president's border czar on this. He spoke about the Denver mayor. I wanna play that for you. We'll talk about it on the other side. Watch me in the Denver mayor. We agree on one thing. He's willing to go to jail. I'm willing to put him in jail. We're gonna enforce the law period and they're not gonna stop us. So is the Trump administration going to target local officials and law enforcement if they don't go along with this?

Well, here's what I think they're going to do. They're going to continue to enforce the law. They're going to continue to go after criminal aliens and communities and remove those criminal aliens from those communities with all of their power, with all of the authorities that they have. You know, talking about, you know, this change, what we're talking about is targeted enforcement operations. And if you have a criminal alien that is, you know, near a school, near a church, near a courthouse,

What I think the Trump administration is saying is that it's okay to arrest that individual, to remove them out of that community, to remove them out of that situation and deport them. So I think it's important. Again, we're not talking about raids here. We're not talking about just wandering through neighborhoods. It's not how ICE conducts their operations. They're targeted operations. They will remove those targets from communities to ensure that those communities are safer.

Sir, what onus does this put on people in those institutions who may be aware of the immigration status of their students or their parishioners? Does this place a burden on teachers and clergy?

No, it places no burden on that. Again, ICE doesn't conduct operations by talking to teachers and by talking to others in the community. They have information. They have a targeting center where they understand where these individuals are. Again, the majority of these individuals that we're talking about have come into the country illegally. They've committed another crime here in the United States.

Sanctuary jurisdictions have released them from jail and so ICE has to go into these communities and find these individuals. So they have ways to understand who they are and they will surveil them and target them. They're not looking to reach out to pastors or to teachers to verify immigration status. That's not how the system works.

Sir, one of the early executive orders we saw from President Trump looks at using military resources for functionally detention camps.

for migrants who cross the border as they need a place to hold them. This is actually something that the Biden administration looked at doing early in Biden's term. And there was, in fact, some resistance from the Pentagon considering the scale of resources that would need to be applied, the amount of Pentagon money that would need to go toward it.

How does the Trump administration plan to solve that problem? And from your time in the department, I mean, what do you know about how feasible something like that is?

Well, here's what I would say is the Biden administration did exactly this. They didn't use it, do it using DOD resources, but they built any number of what we call soft-sided facilities outside of El Paso in South Texas and elsewhere to house the overwhelming number of migrants that have coming in. I think what the Trump administration is looking at is not only what do you do with those facilities, but are there additional facilities that the Department of Defense can help either ascertain or build on?

on DOD property and elsewhere. And so it's gonna be a challenge, obviously that national emergency that the president issued helps to free up some of those resources. But a lot of these individuals that are gonna be removed from the country and deported need to be put in some type of facility in a, what we call a detention bed in order to get onto the flight line to be removed from the country. So there's gonna be a need for additional resources and additional detention capability.

All right, Chad Wolf for us this morning. Thanks very much for joining us, sir. I appreciate your time. All right. Thank you. All right, this just in. Prince Harry is now settling his long-running lawsuit against The Sun newspaper. The trial, the fight between the British royal and the Rupert Murdoch-owned newspaper group, was due to begin today. Harry was suing, claiming the paper violated his privacy with their phone hacking scheme.

But now this last minute settlement has avoided the trial, the paper agreeing to pay substantial damages and is offering a quote, unequivocal apology, end quote, to Prince Harry, his lawyer issuing a statement after the settlement. - News UK is finally held to account for its illegal actions and its blatant disregard for the law.

CNN's Max Foster joins us live now from London. Max, I'm going to refrain from commenting on the clothes that barristers wear in the UK, which, of course, you all are very familiar with, but which are jarring to American eyes. Max, I've got to say, I'm really surprised by this. I mean, this settlement had been on the table for a while. No, I mean, why did they do this now?

Yeah, it's gone on for years. So this is a wider battle that Prince Harry has with the British tabloid newspapers and their invasions of privacy. This was probably the big one because it has essentially instigated a very rare apology from Rupert Murdoch's media empire. And Rupert Murdoch is seen as one of the people who really shaped British media, tabloid media culture. And Harry's had a particular issue with that growing up. So he's not

just received an apology for himself, also an apology for the way that his mother, Princess Diana, was also treated as she was growing up. He very much saw this as a battle for people that don't have a voice, that can't afford to carry out these cases. There are people asking questions about how settling out of court actually squares with what he wanted from this, which was his day in court,

and accountability from the people at the top of the organisation, not necessarily the reporters, but the culture, the fact that people who ran these newspapers knew what was happening beneath them and should take responsibility for that.

But civil cases are designed to be settled out of court. That's the way they operate. And certainly you heard there from David Sherban, his barrister, that they see this as an unequivocal victory. They feel they have got accountability and they now want the police to investigate as well.

Max, can I ask you, is there any tie at all between this settlement, this decision to put this down, and the fact that Donald Trump has just taken office, Murdoch owns Fox News here in the United States, and there has been some back and forth between Harry and the now president's camp around Harry's immigration status living here in the United States?

No. I mean, I've had meetings with his lawyers. That's never been a factor. And Harry's not the sort of character, I don't think, that would settle on those grounds because this has in many ways been a point of principle for him. I think he was effectively offered a deal that he couldn't refuse. There are reports that we're talking about eight-figure settlement here. His lawyers haven't denied that.

and as i say these cases are meant to be settled out of court and uh... he got the court apology that he wanted from group of models empire uh... and this is a a local cases not about all of uh... river mohdox interest around the world so strictly targeting rebecca brooks who is uh... reaper models uh... top hedge person as it were in the u_k_ she was never going to appear in call about uh... he wanted her to take responsibility for

knowing what was going on and not allowing her to deny that. And he feels he's got all of that in the statement that he got from News Group newspapers, which is the Rupert Murdoch arm here.

All right, Max Foster for us this morning. Sir, lovely to have you on twice in our two hours. Thank you for being here. Lovely to be here. I appreciate it. All right, still ahead here on CNN this morning, in the hours following their pardons, hundreds of January 6th rioters now out of prison. What they're saying about their newfound freedom and their actions that landed them behind bars in the first place. Plus, a major national initiative to promote artificial intelligence unveiled at the White House.

Quote, everyone should be released, end quote. That is what one January 6th defendant is saying after he got out of jail after President Trump issued pardons and commutations this week for more than a thousand people who had been charged in the attack on the Capitol. CNN's Donio Sullivan has more. You're a true patriot. I don't even know what to feel. I mean, I guess I should feel joy. I just, maybe I'm just shocked.

The end of a long road for Rachel Powell, pardoned by President Trump and released Tuesday from a jail here in Washington, D.C. Rachel became known as the Pink Hat Lady when footage emerged of her breaking a window at the Capitol with an ice axe during the January 6 attack. A mom to eight and a grandmother to seven, I interviewed Rachel before she began what was supposed to be a years-long prison sentence last year. How do I have time to plan an insurrection when my life is busy like this?

On her release on Tuesday, she was met by activists who gave her new clothes, new boots and a new pink hat. "Woo! Glory! Hallelujah! Thank you Lord!" "This man came from the Philadelphia jail. He got out at 3am. That doesn't make sense. He's wearing prison shoes and Philadelphia's finest prison gear." Pardoned January Sixers from elsewhere began arriving in Washington like William Patrick Sarsfield III,

was convicted of a felony offense of obstruction of law enforcement during a civil disorder. Well, I was heard through different apps and different programs and different phone calls from people that we still had brothers and sisters that were still locked up and haven't been released. And

Robert Moore says he was released from a halfway house in Pittsburgh late last night and came to D.C. to celebrate.

Morris, a former Army Ranger, was found guilty of assaulting police officers, among other crimes, on January 6th. I had no intention of going anywhere near the Capitol that day. That's how crazy this got. So a lot of people were taken advantage of, and we were lured into a lobster trap that January 6th was designed to be.

In terms of personal responsibility, do you take, I mean, do you regress? Completely, without a doubt. I said that in my sentencing speech. I said the words, Donald Trump did not force me or coerce me to do what I did that day. I did it on my own accord. What's your message to people watching this who say, she shouldn't have been pardoned, none of these people should have got out of prison, they're criminals? Okay, you know what? It's time to stop worrying about that and move forward in this country.

Pretty remarkable to hear directly from those people. Kristen Soltis Anderson, as well as to have it underscored, as Doni did there, the crime that someone is being pardoned for, watching her with the axe at the Capitol window. Again, I mean, one of the things I think we should touch on here is kind of the blackness

the blanket and sweeping nature of this. And as we talk about the politics, J.D. Vance in the days before this happened had been on the air saying, well, obviously, the violent people will not be pardoned. It will be people who describe being swept up in the violence as one of those people did. Axios reporting this morning that basically how this played out was, quote, as Trump's team wrestled with the issue, Trump just said, F it, release them all. An advisor familiar with the discussion told Axios'

Mark Caputo. That seems like President Trump's willingness to... There's one set of political instincts and thinking about how this should have been handled, and then there's President Trump's not caring about it. Which is a familiar pattern, is it not? The idea that his advisors are around him saying, Mr. President, maybe consider doing X, Y, Z, and then he says, nope, I'm the president, I can do it, let's do it. I mean, this is...

This is not the first, this is not the last time that we will see Donald Trump approach an issue where he goes, I'm the guy in charge, I can do what I want. I do wonder how much, the pardons in and of themselves, again, I don't imagine will be popular and will likely fade from the public consciousness over time as other issues. I'm sure before the end of the week, we will have moved on to some other thing that people will go, oh my gosh, this is so outrageous.

But what I do wonder is for these folks who have been released, if they do something again, if there's a further continuation of political violence in this country, does this then come back to sort of haunt people? Oh, no, we've begun excusing political violence as long as it's done by my side. People I think are righteous. So one second. To that very point, Enrique Terrio, who was pardoned, full pardon, the head of the Proud Boys, former head of the Proud Boys, had this to say upon his release. Watch.

I'm happy that the president's focusing not on retribution and focusing on success. But I will tell you that I'm not going to play by those rules. The people who did this, they need to feel the heat. They need to be put behind bars and they need to be prosecuted.

- So, yeah, it's important. Even if these pardons are disgraceful or something that much of the public will not agree with, they were a perfectly valid exercise of the pardon power. And I would go as far as to say the problem is the pardon power. Trump was just the symptom of it.

Someone called me yesterday and asked, could a president prospectively pardon people for crimes that are committed between today and say January 20th, 2029? And I said, sure, maybe because it hasn't been tested yet. It's probably the only power in American government that has no limitations on it. And if people are going to

be upset at how presidents exercise their power. And this goes back to a century of bad pardons. Perhaps Congress ought to get together and refine the pardon power or even amend the constitution to limit it somewhat. - Steven Collinson, the big picture of whether this continues to be something, right? Like there are Republicans in the House and Senate who were saying, great, we can leave this behind us now. Like I might not like this, but this is behind us. Enrique Terrio seems to be suggesting that's not behind me.

what does that mean in the long run yeah and what happens the next time the president says you know stand back and stand by does that uh incite violence but i think what he is taking the message from is that this election was made by many democrats as a referendum on january the 6th and while it's very uh traumatic for a lot of people in washington

And for a bunch of Democrats, millions of conservatives are ready to move on, and they don't see it as an impediment to Trump being in the White House. And that's just a fact, and it tells us where we are as a country. One really quick point in response to Kristen. You know, it's interesting.

Now that folks have been pardoned, there's the question of, well, if one of these guys goes out and robs a 7-Eleven, what happens there? Was this crime invited? I think the bigger question, and frankly, the question for the president is, what happens if one of these folks gets out and then commits another election or fraud-related crime? Do they get pardoned again? Or have we now invited this entire community of 1,500 or so people to engage in the same kind of conduct in the future that they got convicted for? Or even a violent crime.

- Right, I mean, it's two different questions, right? It's anytime you let somebody out of prison, are you incentivizing them committing another violent crime? But this particular class of thing that they were prosecuted for, what happens? - I still think this is good politics for the president. I think this is sort of a promise made, promises kept sort of situation. So for his base, for those who sent him back to DC, this is a win for them. And so I think he did the thing that he was supposed to do here.

All right, let's turn back now to this story. The self-proclaimed builder president has returned. Infrastructure Week continues with the president's visit to Cincinnati, Ohio. It was supposed to be Infrastructure Week. It is Infrastructure Week at the White House. It is worth noting, it is Infrastructure Week somewhere.

You might remember that running joke from President Donald Trump's first term. That was a phrase used to describe his perpetual promise of an infrastructure plan that did always seem to get delayed. Now, President Trump has made the first big infrastructure announcement of his second term, declaring that three top tech firms will work together to pour up to $500 billion into a new company called Stargate to expand the country's artificial intelligence infrastructure.

Beginning immediately, Stargate will be building the physical and virtual infrastructure to power the next generation of advancements in AI. And this will include the construction of colossal data centers, very, very massive structures.

Stephen Collinson, there does seem to be some question about where this money is coming from, if it totally exists. But again, another opportunity for the president to bring those three CEOs, tech leaders up on stage and say this. Now, I will say the national security apparatus says this is a big priority. - Right, and the rule of thumb with a lot of these announcements is to look back in a year's time and see if they actually did deliver what they were supposed to deliver. There were some instances in the first term where this didn't take place. But I think the bigger question here

and it's going to be a central one of this administration, is it? To what extent is it the right thing to do to get all these massive tech oligarchs in the middle of the administration, helping push forward US capability in this area, in technology, in defense, to compete with China specifically,

But what extent does that bring massive conflicts of interest, corruption, completely wipe away all the ethical constraints we've ever understood about the presidency? That's a fault line that's going to be tested here. I think this is great because I think the fact that we're talking about it as AI infrastructure is so important. So many times we think of these tech issues as something that's about a line of code, right?

The AI revolution is about building stuff, building data centers, places to house these GPUs. It's about building the power that we're going to need to keep these centers running, keep them cool. This is not just a tech issue. It is an infrastructure issue. And so I'm so glad to see this. I think this is an unvarnished win for them. Yeah. It's also a national security issue, Elliot Williams. Absolutely. And to your point, it's jobs, it's technology, it's development. Again, it's...

this question of, and we can talk about this on another show, Kristen, but I'd be generally curious about how Republican voters or even not Republican voters see this idea of billionaires with the current president, right? It's a...

This is a new form of populism. I'm just curious as to how it looks. Yeah, I think he's bringing a bunch of really successful people who are doing great things for the country into the White House and saying, let's do more of them. I think as long as the things he's doing are things that people say, I see benefit for myself in this, I think it doesn't matter how rich the people are he's standing with. Yeah, yeah.

I mean, I think, look, it could work. And I think Democrats, contrary to popular belief, will want a great America as well. I do think that one of the things that he's got to think about over the next couple of days, couple of weeks, is lowering costs, inflation, housing, health care, child care, school costs. That is still the primary reason that people sit in Washington, D.C. So all this anti-woke rhetoric is good for the base, but people still want to see their costs go down. Fair enough.

All right, guys, thanks very much for joining us this morning. Great to see all of you. Thanks to all of you at home for joining us as well. I'm Casey Hunt. Don't go anywhere. CNN News Central starts right now.