WEBVTT 00:00.000 --> 00:06.420 align:start YAMICHE ALCINDOR: A mob storms the U.S. Capitol. American democracy tested, but unbroken. 00:06.420 --> 00:10.120 align:start PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: (From video.) You have to show strength and you have to be strong. 00:10.120 --> 00:14.410 align:start ALCINDOR: President Trump's words lead to a riot on Capitol Hill. 00:14.410 --> 00:18.130 align:start SENATE MINORITY LEADER CHARLES SCHUMER (D-NY): This temple to democracy was desecrated. 00:18.130 --> 00:20.990 align:start ALCINDOR: His supporters break into Congress. 00:20.990 --> 00:23.320 align:start FEMALE: (From video.) They broke the glass? 00:23.320 --> 00:27.760 align:start ALCINDOR: And lay siege, but they fail to stop the will of the people: lawmakers still 00:27.760 --> 00:30.190 align:start certify President-elect Joe Biden's win. 00:30.190 --> 00:32.930 align:start SENATE MAJORITY LEADER MITCH MCCONNELL (R-KY): (From video.) They tried to disrupt our 00:32.930 --> 00:36.410 align:start democracy; they failed. They failed. 00:36.410 --> 00:38.750 align:start ALCINDOR: How did we get here? 00:38.750 --> 00:41.920 align:start PRESIDENT-ELECT JOSEPH BIDEN: (From video.) Enough is enough is enough. 00:41.920 --> 00:44.580 align:start ALCINDOR: And what happens now? 00:44.580 --> 00:47.240 align:start HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): (From video.) By inciting sedition, as he did 00:47.240 --> 00:50.100 align:start yesterday, he must be removed from office. 00:50.100 --> 00:52.290 align:start ALCINDOR: Next. 00:52.290 --> 00:56.750 align:start ANNOUNCER: This is Washington Week. 00:56.750 --> 01:03.360 align:start ALCINDOR: Good evening. I'm Yamiche Alcindor. Welcome to Washington Week. It has been an 01:03.360 --> 01:08.530 align:start historic and traumatic week in Washington, D.C. President Trump encouraged a violent mob 01:08.530 --> 01:13.650 align:start to storm the U.S. Capitol, piercing the very heart of our democracy, after falsely 01:13.650 --> 01:19.160 align:start claiming he won the 2020 election. There are just 12 days left in President 01:19.160 --> 01:23.830 align:start Trump's term, but amid them there are growing calls for him to resign or to be removed. 01:23.830 --> 01:28.530 align:start House Democrats are drafting articles of impeachment again and some on President Trump's 01:28.530 --> 01:32.890 align:start Cabinet are talking about invoking the 25th Amendment to force him out. 01:32.890 --> 01:37.200 align:start My sources tell me it's very unlikely that Vice President Pence would agree to do that. 01:37.200 --> 01:40.890 align:start Those close to President Trump say he is embarrassed and isolated. 01:40.890 --> 01:44.170 align:start On Thursday House Speaker Nancy Pelosi didn't hold back. 01:44.170 --> 01:47.160 align:start HOUSE SPEAKER NANCY PELOSI (D-CA): (From video.) The president has committed an 01:47.160 --> 01:53.180 align:start unspeakable assault on our nation and our people. I join the Senate Democratic leader 01:53.180 --> 01:58.690 align:start in calling on the vice president to remove this president by immediately invoking the 01:58.690 --> 02:03.520 align:start 25th Amendment. If the vice president and the Cabinet do not act, the Congress 02:03.520 --> 02:07.310 align:start may be prepared to move forward with impeachment. 02:07.310 --> 02:11.690 align:start ALCINDOR: Joining us tonight are the best reporters covering Congress and the White 02:11.690 --> 02:17.070 align:start House: Nancy Cordes, chief congressional correspondent for CBS News; Astead Herndon, 02:17.070 --> 02:22.320 align:start national political reporter for The New York Times; and Jake Sherman, founder of the new 02:22.320 --> 02:27.120 align:start Punchbowl News. Jake, today a draft of the articles of impeachment have been circulating. 02:27.120 --> 02:31.030 align:start The question on everyone's mind: Could President Trump be removed from office in the 02:31.030 --> 02:33.760 align:start final weeks of his term? 02:33.760 --> 02:38.440 align:start JAKE SHERMAN: It doesn't seem likely, Yamiche. Thanks for having me. It doesn't seem likely. 02:38.440 --> 02:43.950 align:start There are only a couple days left here, but the House is undoubtedly in the next couple 02:43.950 --> 02:48.350 align:start of days going to move toward an impeachment vote, potentially next week - most likely 02:48.350 --> 02:55.150 align:start next week. The 25th Amendment is really not a live option for removing the president. 02:55.150 --> 02:58.850 align:start There's a lot of hurdles between invoking the 25th Amendment and getting the president 02:58.850 --> 03:02.750 align:start out of office. But the - so the House will pass impeachment, then it goes over to the 03:02.750 --> 03:08.730 align:start Republican - currently the Republican Senate. You would need a lot of Republicans to 03:08.730 --> 03:12.310 align:start agree to remove the president. I will say this, though. 03:12.310 --> 03:17.660 align:start In my time covering Congress and Donald Trump's presidency, this is the most angry that 03:17.660 --> 03:21.870 align:start Republicans have been with Donald Trump, the most disappointed, the most disgusted, pick 03:21.870 --> 03:26.740 align:start your word here. They are very, very through with Donald Trump at the moment. 03:26.740 --> 03:32.840 align:start They believe that he incited this violence, he sent his protesters to the Capitol. 03:32.840 --> 03:36.960 align:start We don't have to guess that; he told his protesters at a rally we're going to march up to 03:36.960 --> 03:40.450 align:start the Capitol, so they did. I was in the Capitol. 03:40.450 --> 03:45.650 align:start They were loud, they were inappropriate, they were violent, and people died. 03:45.650 --> 03:50.470 align:start So I just think that what Republicans are going to say is, listen, there's 10, five, 03:50.470 --> 03:56.050 align:start however many days when this starts left of Donald Trump's presidency, and we should spare 03:56.050 --> 04:01.070 align:start him and let him finish out his days and move on to Joe Biden on January 20th. 04:01.070 --> 04:06.110 align:start ALCINDOR: Jake just indicated that it's going to be super hard to get President Trump, 04:06.110 --> 04:10.090 align:start it seems, out of office with just 12 days left in office. 04:10.090 --> 04:15.550 align:start Nancy, what is the calculation here when it comes to all the things that we're seeing, 04:15.550 --> 04:19.060 align:start especially of course as these articles of impeachment have been circulating? 04:19.060 --> 04:22.380 align:start NANCY CORDES: Well, I interviewed David Cicilline today - he's one of the authors of 04:22.380 --> 04:27.880 align:start these articles of impeachment - and I asked him, you know, essentially, why do this now 04:27.880 --> 04:30.770 align:start when the president is about to leave anyway. 04:30.770 --> 04:34.410 align:start And what he said was, first of all, they need to send a message to this president and to 04:34.410 --> 04:38.710 align:start future presidents and to other countries and to future generations that there are some 04:38.710 --> 04:44.730 align:start things that Congress just will not accept, and the fact that this president is about to 04:44.730 --> 04:50.080 align:start head out the door no matter what happens isn't a reason not to send that message. 04:50.080 --> 04:54.970 align:start As far as Republicans are concerned, not all of them but some of them, there is a silver 04:54.970 --> 05:01.230 align:start lining here, and that is that if the Senate does vote to convict this president even 05:01.230 --> 05:05.630 align:start after he has left office - and that is a possibility; they could take this up even after 05:05.630 --> 05:11.300 align:start he's gone - if they're successful in mustering two-thirds of the Senate to vote to 05:11.300 --> 05:14.530 align:start convict him, he cannot run for president again. 05:14.530 --> 05:20.110 align:start And for many Republicans, the notion of not having this president and the specter of 05:20.110 --> 05:26.550 align:start another Trump run for office four years from now is pretty appealing, pretty motivating. 05:26.550 --> 05:32.480 align:start ALCINDOR: Astead, Nancy saying it's pretty appealing to Republicans to have Trump be out 05:32.480 --> 05:35.900 align:start of the way. You've been covering the Senate race in Georgia. 05:35.900 --> 05:42.450 align:start What has losing the control of the Senate done to Republicans, especially when it comes 05:42.450 --> 05:45.980 align:start to the political calculations ahead? 05:45.980 --> 05:48.830 align:start ASTEAD HERNDON: Well, I think that there was a political message and then there's the 05:48.830 --> 05:51.570 align:start kind of more policy concerns going forward. 05:51.570 --> 05:55.900 align:start The political message certainly is that the Republicans in that race made a bet with 05:55.900 --> 06:01.250 align:start Trump that failed, and that is a warning sign for a Republican Party that cannot put 06:01.250 --> 06:05.560 align:start together this Trump coalition without him at the top of the ballot. 06:05.560 --> 06:11.230 align:start More importantly, you had a Democratic motivated base that really overwhelmed that, and I 06:11.230 --> 06:17.800 align:start think that for those Republican senators the mess that Trump caused in that race - the 06:17.800 --> 06:22.550 align:start split between the governor and the senators, the secretary of state, the infighting among 06:22.550 --> 06:27.190 align:start kind of more traditional suburban Republicans and that core MAGA base - was not one that 06:27.190 --> 06:31.860 align:start was worth it. And so I think that that, one, just kind of crystalizes the political problems 06:31.860 --> 06:35.990 align:start Republicans have going forward, but then obviously it expands the possibilities for Joe Biden 06:35.990 --> 06:42.320 align:start going ahead. Cabinet positions and policy are just expanded by the idea that he will now 06:42.320 --> 06:46.440 align:start be able to get a tiebreaking vote with Vice President Kamala Harris through the Senate. 06:46.440 --> 06:50.950 align:start There are those policy concerns, but I really think it's a political rebuke just as big 06:50.950 --> 06:54.600 align:start as we saw in November with Biden's victory. 06:54.600 --> 06:59.060 align:start ALCINDOR: We now have Phil Rucker, Washington - White House bureau chief for The 06:59.060 --> 07:03.700 align:start Washington Post. Thanks so much for being here, Phil. Astead was just talking about the 07:03.700 --> 07:06.880 align:start calculations, and of course the Republicans losing control of the Senate. 07:06.880 --> 07:11.560 align:start I want to talk to you about what's going on inside this White House. Georgia is seen as a 07:11.560 --> 07:16.760 align:start rebuke, but there's also, of course, all these resignations, Twitter suspending the president 07:16.760 --> 07:20.500 align:start permanently today. What are you hearing about what's going on in the White House? 07:20.500 --> 07:25.200 align:start I'm hearing that there's chaos, that tensions are as high as they've ever been. 07:25.200 --> 07:28.910 align:start PHILIP RUCKER: Yeah, I'm hearing the exact same, Yamiche. 07:28.910 --> 07:33.790 align:start Our sources are telling us that the president feels under siege and he is an alarming - 07:33.790 --> 07:38.740 align:start in an alarmingly fragile emotional and psychological state right now. 07:38.740 --> 07:44.660 align:start He spent most of Wednesday fuming about Vice President Pence, angry with his loyal number 07:44.660 --> 07:51.220 align:start two, not responsive to the needs of the Capitol. He was not engaged in the decision to 07:51.220 --> 07:56.010 align:start deploy the military, the National Guard up there to help quell the unrest. 07:56.010 --> 08:01.620 align:start He resisted pleas from his advisors to tell his supporters to go home and to stand down. 08:01.620 --> 08:06.620 align:start He resisted recording the video that he ultimately grudgingly agreed to do last night, 08:06.620 --> 08:12.050 align:start for the very first time acknowledging his electoral fate, which is that he lost the 08:12.050 --> 08:15.880 align:start election and that there's going to be a new president come January 20th. But this is a 08:15.880 --> 08:21.090 align:start difficult time for the president, and the reality is there are very few advisors left around 08:21.090 --> 08:25.980 align:start him. We've seen a number of resignations, and those who are the closest to him right now - 08:25.980 --> 08:30.350 align:start Mark Meadows, the chief of staff, among others - are his biggest enablers. 08:30.350 --> 08:34.630 align:start They're the people who are giving the president misinformation, who are helping him 08:34.630 --> 08:38.380 align:start believe these fantasies that he's believed for the last two months about the election, 08:38.380 --> 08:42.590 align:start and that has a lot of other people in the administration very concerned about how 08:42.590 --> 08:46.480 align:start dangerous he might be as president in his final 12 days. 08:46.480 --> 08:49.190 align:start ALCINDOR: And, Phil, you're saying it's a difficult moment for the president. 08:49.190 --> 08:52.210 align:start It's also a difficult moment, of course, for the nation. Let's take a closer look at 08:52.210 --> 08:56.580 align:start the breach on Capitol Hill Wednesday. The violence left five people dead. 08:56.580 --> 09:00.880 align:start That, as the pandemic continues to kill thousands of Americans every day. 09:00.880 --> 09:05.780 align:start President Trump now faces allegations that he incited a riot. In a speech an hour 09:05.780 --> 09:10.340 align:start before violence broke out he encouraged his supporters to march to the Capitol. 09:10.340 --> 09:14.590 align:start PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: (From video.) We won in a landslide. This was a landslide. 09:14.590 --> 09:21.360 align:start All Vice President Pence has to do is send it back to the states to recertify. We're 09:21.360 --> 09:27.670 align:start going to walk down to the Capitol. You'll never take back our country with weakness. 09:27.670 --> 09:31.380 align:start You have to show strength and you have to be strong. 09:31.380 --> 09:36.760 align:start ALCINDOR: What President Trump said is not true. He did lose the election. And the vice 09:36.760 --> 09:41.880 align:start president's role was only ceremonial. Jake, you were inside the Capitol as all this was 09:41.880 --> 09:46.390 align:start happening. I saw your videos of the chaos as I was reporting from the White House. 09:46.390 --> 09:51.430 align:start What did you see inside the building with protesters and with Capitol Police who some say 09:51.430 --> 09:54.400 align:start failed to do their jobs? 09:54.400 --> 10:02.280 align:start SHERMAN: Well, you know, clearly it's a failure of a lot of people when a crowd, a mob - 10:02.280 --> 10:08.040 align:start not a protest - a mob of people end up in the Capitol running free and roaming free 10:08.040 --> 10:12.510 align:start throughout the otherwise or the previously secure hallways. 10:12.510 --> 10:16.090 align:start I was sitting in the House periodical press gallery, where I sit every day. 10:16.090 --> 10:23.060 align:start Everyone here knows where that is. And I walked out to - down the hallway. 10:23.060 --> 10:26.880 align:start And I knew that people had gotten into the building. 10:26.880 --> 10:31.120 align:start And people were smashing - feet from me - smashing their way through this glass door. 10:31.120 --> 10:34.540 align:start We've now seen the images all over, a police officer fell. 10:34.540 --> 10:38.160 align:start And they were - next thing I knew - and we were hunkered down in an office for three 10:38.160 --> 10:43.200 align:start hours. People were banging on our doors. People were armed. People - there was a 10:43.200 --> 10:47.670 align:start SWAT team going throughout the hallway. We weren't actually evacuated, Yamiche, 10:47.670 --> 10:52.730 align:start it's fascinating, for several hours. We were like sitting ducks, a bunch of reporters. 10:52.730 --> 10:57.460 align:start We kept saying to ourselves, what should we do? And I kept saying, nothing. 10:57.460 --> 11:01.430 align:start We don't have - we're not armed. We have no way of defending ourselves against 11:01.430 --> 11:07.800 align:start large crowds of people. So, I mean, it was an alarming episode, to say the least. 11:07.800 --> 11:11.940 align:start And the scary thing is we always talked about in the Capitol whether - you know, if 11:11.940 --> 11:17.050 align:start people got in, would we be able - would police ever be able to get them out? 11:17.050 --> 11:21.990 align:start It's such a large and sprawling building - you know, seven buildings put together. 11:21.990 --> 11:26.520 align:start It's a large complex. Thankfully, with the help of the FBI, ATF, Capitol Police, 11:26.520 --> 11:31.590 align:start Secret Service, D.C. Police they were able to clear the place out and secure it 11:31.590 --> 11:37.360 align:start once again. But really, an episode that I'll never forget. 11:37.360 --> 11:41.090 align:start ALCINDOR: We will never forget this episode. And what you're describing just gave 11:41.090 --> 11:45.390 align:start me goosebumps because it's so scary. Nancy, you've been in that building, that 11:45.390 --> 11:48.700 align:start Capitol building, so many times. It's one of the most secure buildings in the world. 11:48.700 --> 11:52.610 align:start When I go through there I have to get checked, all my stuff gets scanned. 11:52.610 --> 11:55.600 align:start How did this mob get in? How did this happen? 11:55.600 --> 11:59.880 align:start CORDES: Well, in some ways it may have simply been a failure of not just intelligence 11:59.880 --> 12:05.530 align:start but of imagination. You know, everyone here at the Capitol is used to huge protests. 12:05.530 --> 12:10.330 align:start That's just sort of a fact of life here on Capitol Hill. But those are usually peaceful 12:10.330 --> 12:14.690 align:start protests. People are willing to get arrested, almost asking to get arrested. 12:14.690 --> 12:19.080 align:start They want to make their point peacefully. This was the absolute opposite. You had 12:19.080 --> 12:25.000 align:start hundreds if not thousands of people banging on those doors. They came with weapons. 12:25.000 --> 12:30.550 align:start And they just simply overwhelmed the Capitol Police force. And I think - you know, 12:30.550 --> 12:33.750 align:start when I talk about a failure of imagination, I just don't think anyone had ever 12:33.750 --> 12:38.820 align:start conceived that something like this could happen because it had never happened before. 12:38.820 --> 12:44.370 align:start And when I started the day on Wednesday, here at the Capitol, the last thing on my mind 12:44.370 --> 12:48.780 align:start was the possibility that this huge crowd - and I saw those people gathering in the 12:48.780 --> 12:53.280 align:start streets on my way to work before dawn. They were already out there by the hundreds. 12:53.280 --> 12:57.300 align:start It never occurred to me that they might en masse storm the Capitol. 12:57.300 --> 13:01.840 align:start And clearly law enforcement officials hadn't considered that either. 13:01.840 --> 13:06.730 align:start But we're now in a really unusual situation, Yamiche, where the House sergeant-at-arms, 13:06.730 --> 13:12.300 align:start the Senate sergeant-at-arms and the Capitol Police chief have all stepped down, a week 13:12.300 --> 13:16.390 align:start and a half before the inauguration. 13:16.390 --> 13:22.820 align:start So you've got all the power at the top here on Capitol Hill on law enforcement gone 13:22.820 --> 13:28.560 align:start before one of our biggest high-security events, the inauguration of the next president, 13:28.560 --> 13:34.590 align:start at a time when there are great concerns that these individuals could try to strike again. 13:34.590 --> 13:39.520 align:start So yes, tonight the Capitol is secure. But I can tell you, a lot of lawmakers, a lot 13:39.520 --> 13:44.790 align:start of aides still feel very nervous, because they're worried that something like this 13:44.790 --> 13:49.710 align:start could happen again. And they themselves are still being hounded at the airport, on 13:49.710 --> 13:55.020 align:start airplanes, wherever they go. Lindsey Graham had to have a full complement of law 13:55.020 --> 13:58.930 align:start enforcement around him at the airport today, because people were screaming at him. 13:58.930 --> 14:01.510 align:start This is not going away. 14:01.510 --> 14:05.280 align:start ALCINDOR: Astead, you've been doing so much reporting when it comes to right-wing 14:05.280 --> 14:08.180 align:start extremism. Did you see this coming? 14:08.180 --> 14:12.730 align:start What has your reporting told you about whether or not a moment like this could happen? 14:12.730 --> 14:16.890 align:start HERNDON: Yeah. In some ways, I think for some of us who have been not in Washington 14:16.890 --> 14:20.480 align:start but across the country over the last three or four years - not only at Trump rallies 14:20.480 --> 14:24.930 align:start but at kind of smaller events organized online - you've seen this violence. 14:24.930 --> 14:29.530 align:start You've seen this type of mob activity before. It has been a feature of the Trump 14:29.530 --> 14:34.120 align:start presidency and the Trump era. It's been frankly, though, out of the mainstream case. 14:34.120 --> 14:39.190 align:start This is kind of communities that have organized locally and have been really motivated 14:39.190 --> 14:45.180 align:start by the really potent mix of conspiracy and bigotry - a kind of - a mess of 14:45.180 --> 14:49.730 align:start misinformation, but also one that does not kind of believe in the real tenets of 14:49.730 --> 14:55.360 align:start multiracial democracy and does not respect those folks' right to really have their say on 14:55.360 --> 14:58.690 align:start this government. You know, I remember being in northwest Arizona last year at an 14:58.690 --> 15:02.630 align:start event called "Trump Stop." And a man put his gun on the table and said: If Donald 15:02.630 --> 15:05.590 align:start Trump loses, we'll have another civil war. 15:05.590 --> 15:09.520 align:start That's the type of language you've heard at these type of things for a while. 15:09.520 --> 15:13.780 align:start What happened yesterday was a culmination of those events that came to Washington, to the 15:13.780 --> 15:18.220 align:start seat of democracy, to the kind of hallow places where we don't think this is possible. 15:18.220 --> 15:22.270 align:start But it has been growing and fermenting around the country for years. 15:22.270 --> 15:26.270 align:start ALCINDOR: After this week, the split in the Republican Party is growing. 15:26.270 --> 15:29.950 align:start Almost every Republican I've talked to this week was obsessed with this question. 15:29.950 --> 15:34.640 align:start Goes to what Astead was just talking about: What is the path forward for the party? 15:34.640 --> 15:38.670 align:start The GOP divisions will be on full display on inauguration day. 15:38.670 --> 15:42.520 align:start Vice President Pence is going; President Trump is not. 15:42.520 --> 15:46.160 align:start My sources tell me that tensions inside the GOP are as high as it gets, and that Trump is 15:46.160 --> 15:50.180 align:start furious at Vice President Pence and congressional Republicans. 15:50.180 --> 15:54.500 align:start Nancy, you've been reporting on this all week. What is going on inside the GOP? 15:54.500 --> 15:58.440 align:start CORDES: Well, there is a lot of finger pointing, to put it lightly. 15:58.440 --> 16:04.110 align:start A number of Republicans kind of outright turning on some of the individuals who really 16:04.110 --> 16:10.480 align:start led the charge this week to vote against the Electoral College results, to challenge them. 16:10.480 --> 16:15.380 align:start They were accused of selling their supporters and President Trump's supporters on this 16:15.380 --> 16:21.140 align:start fantasy that perhaps he had won the election after all, that there was massive voter 16:21.140 --> 16:24.910 align:start fraud, that the election could be overturned. 16:24.910 --> 16:28.560 align:start And they are really coming under withering attack not just from some of their colleagues 16:28.560 --> 16:33.830 align:start here on Capitol Hill - some Democrats have directly called on individuals like Ted Cruz 16:33.830 --> 16:39.560 align:start and Josh Hawley to resign - but from the business world, Hawley lost a book deal, and 16:39.560 --> 16:46.630 align:start even from some of their Republican mentors. We have seen a lot of Republicans sort of 16:46.630 --> 16:50.770 align:start come out and say that they're very concerned with what the president has said. 16:50.770 --> 16:55.480 align:start I haven't heard too many Republicans come out and say that they themselves wish that they 16:55.480 --> 16:59.910 align:start could take some of the things they had done or said back, that they wish that perhaps 16:59.910 --> 17:06.700 align:start they hadn't joined this movement to try to challenge election - the Electoral College results. 17:06.700 --> 17:14.290 align:start So you know, a lot of finger pointing but not a lot of soul searching, I'd say, just yet. 17:14.290 --> 17:19.590 align:start ALCINDOR: Soul searching. Phil, there has been a lot of soul searching since President 17:19.590 --> 17:24.760 align:start Trump got into office. We've covered him together. We've seen his false allegations, 17:24.760 --> 17:29.070 align:start his false information. Talk to me a little bit about what you reported this week, which 17:29.070 --> 17:34.260 align:start is that President Trump was raging uncontrollably about perceived acts of betrayal. 17:34.260 --> 17:37.950 align:start And President Trump, in some ways, never really trusted establishment Republicans. 17:37.950 --> 17:40.380 align:start What are you hearing? 17:40.380 --> 17:44.170 align:start RUCKER: He never did, Yamiche. Part of his whole political brand has been that he's 17:44.170 --> 17:49.240 align:start the victim, right? That the elites, the people who are in power in Washington but also 17:49.240 --> 17:53.710 align:start in the business world, in New York, that they were out to get him. And that he was - 17:53.710 --> 17:57.950 align:start he was an outsider. That's how he developed so much support out around the country, 17:57.950 --> 18:02.460 align:start how he got elected president. And but what he's seen right now is it's all coming home 18:02.460 --> 18:07.180 align:start to roost in these final couple of weeks. He is losing support. He's losing members of his 18:07.180 --> 18:12.970 align:start Cabinet. He's losing members of his staff. But he's also losing allies on Capitol Hill. 18:12.970 --> 18:17.690 align:start Senator Lindsey Graham, one of his closest friends, golfing partners, fiercest defenders 18:17.690 --> 18:22.690 align:start in the Senate over these last four years, basically said: It was an interesting ride, but 18:22.690 --> 18:25.940 align:start it's over. I'm done with Trump. I'm moving on. 18:25.940 --> 18:29.730 align:start Senate Leader Mitch McConnell has told other senators, according to our reporting, that 18:29.730 --> 18:33.170 align:start he does not intend to ever speak to Donald Trump again. 18:33.170 --> 18:37.080 align:start The two have been estranged these last few weeks, not been on speaking terms, but 18:37.080 --> 18:40.800 align:start McConnell's finished, and his wife, Elaine Chao - the transportation secretary - she 18:40.800 --> 18:45.270 align:start resigned on Thursday. And I think we're going to continue to see this. 18:45.270 --> 18:50.080 align:start We just in the last hour or two saw that Lisa Murkowski, the Republican senator from 18:50.080 --> 18:54.280 align:start Alaska, has said that she's done with Trump, she thinks he needs to leave office right 18:54.280 --> 18:59.650 align:start away, and we very well could start hearing from some more in the days and hours to come. 18:59.650 --> 19:03.380 align:start ALCINDOR: Phil's talking about that strained relationship between President Trump and 19:03.380 --> 19:08.980 align:start congressional course - and congressional Republicans. Jake, you wrote in Punchbowl News 19:08.980 --> 19:13.610 align:start this week that Kevin McCarthy and President Trump got into a screaming match. 19:13.610 --> 19:17.740 align:start Is this bond between President Trump and congressional Republicans, and even maybe the 19:17.740 --> 19:21.020 align:start vice president, is it broken? 19:21.020 --> 19:27.390 align:start SHERMAN: You know, the transaction that they had relied on for many years to kind of 19:27.390 --> 19:32.510 align:start smooth over at least internally their relationship or in their minds their relationship, 19:32.510 --> 19:37.980 align:start that transaction is up. That transaction was put up with kind of disgusting behavior 19:37.980 --> 19:43.090 align:start and behavior that we really can't stomach in exchange for conservative judges and 19:43.090 --> 19:47.580 align:start conservative policies and things of that nature. That's up, right? 19:47.580 --> 19:52.500 align:start Donald Trump is going to be president for another couple days and then he's gone, so I 19:52.500 --> 19:56.790 align:start think the incentive structure has changed. Now, Kevin McCarthy, the top Republican 19:56.790 --> 19:59.860 align:start in the House of Representatives, has a bit different of a calculus. 19:59.860 --> 20:02.250 align:start He wants to win the majority back. 20:02.250 --> 20:05.830 align:start He believes there's a lot of people in his conference, Republican members of the House, 20:05.830 --> 20:11.140 align:start who are from districts that Donald Trump is very popular in and who, frankly, support 20:11.140 --> 20:15.230 align:start Donald Trump, and he doesn't want to get crosswise with them. 20:15.230 --> 20:19.390 align:start But a lot of people would argue - and I think this is a fair argument to make - that the 20:19.390 --> 20:23.720 align:start reason that his rank and file is supportive of Donald Trump is because they have no alternative. 20:23.720 --> 20:27.180 align:start If McCarthy doesn't split with Trump then they don't split with Trump, and they think - 20:27.180 --> 20:30.730 align:start and McCarthy thinks he's not splitting with Trump because they're still with Trump. 20:30.730 --> 20:35.190 align:start So it's just - it's a complicated situation. But I think - I think everyone's right here, 20:35.190 --> 20:40.270 align:start which is Republicans are just - they're tired of him, and this was the final straw. 20:40.270 --> 20:44.130 align:start ALCINDOR: Just two weeks before the inauguration came these deadly events. 20:44.130 --> 20:49.350 align:start President-elect Joe Biden has condemned this week - on Thursday, Biden said this. 20:49.350 --> 20:53.020 align:start PRESIDENT-ELECT JOSEPH BIDEN: (From video.) No one can tell me that if it had been a 20:53.020 --> 20:59.240 align:start group of Black Lives Matter protesting yesterday there wouldn't have been - they wouldn't 20:59.240 --> 21:05.690 align:start have been treated very, very differently than the mob of thugs that stormed the Capitol. 21:05.690 --> 21:12.170 align:start We all - we all know that's true, and it is unacceptable, totally unacceptable. 21:12.170 --> 21:17.630 align:start ALCINDOR: Now, in both the House and the Senate, Democrats have control. 21:17.630 --> 21:22.700 align:start That comes after Democrats Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock won the Georgia Senate races. 21:22.700 --> 21:26.030 align:start That would have been our top story this week in any other week. 21:26.030 --> 21:29.830 align:start Astead, President-elect Joe Biden is talking about unity and healing the soul of the 21:29.830 --> 21:33.500 align:start nation. Will it work after all that we have witnessed? 21:33.500 --> 21:36.990 align:start HERNDON: You know, this is a real core belief of Joe Biden. 21:36.990 --> 21:41.310 align:start This is something that is not just a kind of political move from him, but it's how he 21:41.310 --> 21:46.820 align:start kind of sees and understands the universe, and has understood his kind of negotiating of 21:46.820 --> 21:51.800 align:start Washington in his decades in the Senate, and so this is not - this is something that is 21:51.800 --> 21:55.980 align:start going to be around and has frustrated some. 21:55.980 --> 21:59.900 align:start You know, I've talked to people who are in those meetings with him in the transition who 21:59.900 --> 22:04.090 align:start are trying to get him to budge, to embrace kind of unilateral executive orders, to 22:04.090 --> 22:10.820 align:start prioritize things like combating racial injustice or other issues over the idea of 22:10.820 --> 22:15.320 align:start bipartisanship and kind of Washington civility, but Joe Biden has responded to them in 22:15.320 --> 22:18.680 align:start those meetings saying he is certain that there is going to be a break from kind of 22:18.680 --> 22:23.530 align:start Trumpism among Republicans and that he is going to hold onto that belief. 22:23.530 --> 22:26.990 align:start That is something that we're going to just have to see where that goes in the next couple 22:26.990 --> 22:31.490 align:start of months - is this a movement where he is going to be able to really see that? 22:31.490 --> 22:37.530 align:start But you know, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock served him a big step on that front because 22:37.530 --> 22:40.910 align:start he does not have to deal with a Mitch McConnell Senate anymore. 22:40.910 --> 22:44.920 align:start The question is whether he will be so concerned with kind of healing hearts and minds 22:44.920 --> 22:49.250 align:start that he - or will there be a focus on kind of the policy change that could happen, 22:49.250 --> 22:54.020 align:start because whether congressional Republicans break with Trump or not what we know is that 22:54.020 --> 22:58.480 align:start the base has been with him, and the American people on the conservative - on the 22:58.480 --> 23:02.230 align:start conservative side have still been motivated by him. 23:02.230 --> 23:05.330 align:start I don't know if that's something that Joe Biden can heal in rhetoric, but that is 23:05.330 --> 23:08.410 align:start something that he can target in terms of policy. 23:08.410 --> 23:11.950 align:start ALCINDOR: We only have about 10 seconds left, but Phil, I want to just go to you. 23:11.950 --> 23:17.920 align:start What do you make of just what things look like now with the GOP at one point wanting to 23:17.920 --> 23:22.460 align:start look at President Trump for midterms? Just 10 seconds left. 23:22.460 --> 23:26.560 align:start RUCKER: You know, Yamiche, we're really going to have to see because this is such an 23:26.560 --> 23:30.380 align:start evolving story, but I wouldn't count Trump out. We've seen through history that 23:30.380 --> 23:36.590 align:start politicians can disappear for a while and have a resurgence later, so you know, we'll see. 23:36.590 --> 23:42.080 align:start ALCINDOR: That's it for tonight. Thank you to our panel: Nancy Cordes, Astead Herndon, 23:42.080 --> 23:47.230 align:start Phil Rucker, Jake Sherman. Incredible reporting this week. This is a heartbreaking time. 23:47.230 --> 23:52.070 align:start The images of this week's attack are burned into our collective souls. But democracy 23:52.070 --> 23:57.720 align:start persisted. United we still stand. Thank you so much for joining us tonight. 23:57.720 --> 24:02.420 align:start Be sure to check out our Washington Week Extra, where we'll continue this conversation. 24:02.420 --> 24:06.130 align:start You'll find it online on our social media and on our website. 24:06.130 --> 24:37.160 align:start I'm Yamiche Alcindor. Stay safe. Good night from Washington.