that. they bought 450 billion. it was the least reported story i've ever been involved in. >> and now -- where do you plan to go now? >> well, i don't know. if saudi arabia wanted to buy another 450 or 500 -- we'll up it for all the inflation. >> mr. president, you said you're going to end the war first day. how do you plan to end the ukrainian war? >> well, we're trying to get it done as quickly as possible. it should have never started. you know, the war with ukraine and russia should have never started. it would have never started if i were president. >> will you push israel and saudi arabia to normalize relations? >> i don't think i have to push them. i think it's going to happen. maybe not quite yet. but it'll end up being the -- in the accords, the abraham accords. >> president trump -- >> i think saudi arabia will end up being in the abraham accords. >> this year? >> could be, but, you know, soon. not in a very long way -- ooh. look at that. it says tiktok.

my, my, my, what is that all about? >> first, we have alaska, sir. this is an executive order relating to unleashing alaska's potential as an energy reservoir for the entire nation. >> and what about >> you and your team now, tiktok what changed that you're not worried about that anymore? >> it depends on the deal. i may do the deal or not do the deal. tiktok is worthless if i don't approve it. it has to close. if i don't do the deal, it's worth nothing. if i do the deal, it's worth maybe a trillion dollars. a trillion. so if i do the deal, i'm talking about doing it for the united states. if i do the deal for the united states, then i think we should get half.

in other words, i think the u.s. should be entitled to get half of tiktok and congratulations, tiktok has a good partner. and that would be worth, you know, it could be $500 billion or something. it's crazy. the numbers are crazy. but it's worthless if -- if the president doesn't sign, then it's worthless. if the president does sign, it's worth maybe a trillion dollars. so i think like a joint venture, i think we will have a joint venture with the people from tiktok. we'll see what happens. i mean, that's one of many ideas i've had. >> did he say he is open to that idea? >> who? >> the ceo of tiktok is around. >> oh, i think he'd probably like it, because he's got nothing. they really have nothing. it's passed in congress. it gives the president the right to make a deal, or to close it. and we have 90 days to make that decision. but i could see making a

deal where the u.s. gets 50% of tiktok, polices it a little bit, or a lot. it depends on them. but remember, they make telephones in china. they make all sorts of things in china, and nobody ever complains about that. here they're complaining about this. so many different products made in china, and nobody ever complained about it. the only one they complain about is tiktok, and tiktok is largely -- i guess i have a warm spot for tiktok that i didn't have originally. but then i went on tiktok, and i won young people by 36%, peter. and republicans typically don't do too well with young people. but it's a different republican party. >> tiktok then, or how would it get that 50%? >> no, you'd take 50% of tiktok for the approval that tiktok can continue in business. and it would have a great partner. the u.s. would be their partner. but the u.s. essentially

would be paid for doing that, half of the value of tiktok. >> would there be a private sector owner? >> could be. could be a lot. i tell you what, every rich person has called me about tiktok. >> why did you change your mind? >> because i got to use it. and remember, tiktok is largely about kids, young kids. if china is going to get information about young kids, i don't know. i think -- i think -- to be honest with you, i think we have bigger problems than that. but, you know, when you take a look at telephones that are made in china and all the other things that are made in china, military equipment made in china, tiktok, i think tiktok is not the biggest problem. but there is big value in tiktok if it gets approved. if it doesn't get approved, there is no value. if we create that value, why aren't we entitled to half? >> sir, will you shut them down? >> does biden ever do news conferences like this? how many news conferences,

peter, has he done like this. >> like this? >> none. >> zero. >> and it would be zero for the next infinity. for infinity, it would be zero. >> mr. president, are you going to talk to mr. musk is going to help implement the orders? >> elon, no. elon is very busy sending rocket ships up to various places, with lots of satellites on them. >> what is your reaction to the -- in latin america. >> which one? >> marco rubio. you said mako. >> marco. >> he is -- i think he is great. i think marco is doing a fantastic job. i think he is going to get a lot of votes. i think he is going to be at 90% or something. i'm hearing very good. people know him in the senate. they know he is good. he is doing a good job. i can't tell you. i don't know what's going to happen with that. he's got some very strong ideas, marco.

>> did you sign the tiktok order? >> yeah. >> that was -- >> just signed it. >> changing venezuela, changing power, are you committed with maduro leading power in venezuela? >> we're going to find out about that too. we're probably going to stop buying oil from venezuela. we don't need their oil. >> another first term? >> we don't have to buy their oil. we have plenty of oil for ourselves. that will change venezuela quite a bit. >> president trump, there is a lot of concern about this during the campaign. the question that only works today. are you a dictator on day one? >> no, no. i can't imagine even being called that. no. i believe in the sanctity of the vote. the democrats didn't because they cheated like dogs. but i believe in the sanctity. and this was too big to rig. this last election was too big to rig. really the opposite. >> when do you plan to speak to president putin? >> it could be very soon. >> and you talked a bit about

ukraine and russia. but how long do you think it would take to end that conflict? >> i have to speak to president putin. we're going have to find out. he can't be thrilled. he is not doing so well. i mean, he is grinding it out, but most people thought that war would have been over in about one week. and now you're into three years, right. so he can't be -- he can't be thrilled. it's not making him look very good. now eventually, i mean, it's a big machine. so things will happen. but i think he'd be very well off to end that war. we have numbers that almost a million russian soldiers have been killed. about 700,000 ukrainian soldiers are killed. russia is bigger. they have more soldiers to lose. but that's no way to run a country. >> what did your tiktok order do, mr. president? >> just gave me the right to sell it, or close it. essentially, with tiktok, have i the right to either sell it or close it.

and i will make that determination. and we may have to get an approval from china too. i'm not sure. but i'm sure they'll approve it. and if they don't approve it, it would be somewhat of a hostile act, i think. but it's good for china if it gets approved. >> you're guaranteeing that tiktok will be around after 90 days? >> no. but it could very well be. it makes sense for it to be. because it's got tremendous value. but if we create the value by approving, you know, in other words that approval gives it tremendous value. if that's the case, we should be entitled to 50% as a country. you haven't heard that one before, right? that's called a joint venture. and nobody ever thought that way before. >> i think you have a lot of people that will be interested in tiktok with the united states as a partner. >> mr. president, what was it like walking into the oval office this evening? >> what a great feeling.

one of the better feelings i've ever had. >> do you like this better now than 2017? >> well, we're very experienced now. you would say nobody's ever had experience like i have. i've dealt with some very good people. i've dealt with some very bad people. and i know who the bad ones are and the good ones are. don't forget, i was very successful in primarily the real estate business. and people used to say who's worse, a politician or a vicious real estate developer. and i would say, you know, the real estate developer is far worse. but after about three months in getting to know scum like adam schiff and other people like that, i said no, actually real estate people are quite nice by comparison. >> you said you planned to speak with president putin soon. what about president zelenskyy and what's your message for him? >> he's told me he wants to make a deal. zelenskyy wants to make a deal.

i don't know if putin does. he might not. i don't know. he should make a deal. i think he's destroying russia by not making a deal. i think russia's going to be in big trouble. you take a look at their economy, you take a look at the inflation in russia. so i would -- i would hope, i got along with him great. and, you know, i would hope he wants to make a deal. >> mr. president, are you keeping u.s. sanctions on russia until he makes a deal? >> well, sanctions or tariffs. i think the word tariff is much better because it keeps your dollar stronger. i think tariffs are more effective. i used sanctions on iran. iran was broke. when i left office, iran was broke. they had no money for hamas or hezbollah, none. they were flat broke. and october 7th would have never happened. and i think you all know that. it would have never happened. they had no money. now they're rich.

but, you know, they're weakened in a different way, i would say. that the one attack by israel really set them back. it really set them back, the pages. the pagers and others. you know, the attack on air defense was a bad attack forfor issue. >> what are you -- signing now? >> it's an executive order related to forms for the federal workforce. >> we're getting rid of all of the cancer, the cancer caused by the biden administration. >> how confident are you, mr. president, that you can keep the ceasefire in gaza and conclude the three phases of this deal? >> i'm not confident. this is not our war. it's their war. i'm not confident. but i think they're very weakened on the other side. gaza, boy, i looked at a picture of gaza. gaza is like a massive demolition site. that place is -- it's really

-- it's got to be rebuilt in a different way. >> will you help rebuilding gaza? >> i might. you know, gaza is interesting. it's a phenomenal location. on the sea. best weather. everything is good. it's like some beautiful things could be done with it. but it's very interesting. but some fantastic things could be done with gaza. >> the future and governance for gaza? >> well, it depends. i can't imagine you can have -- you certainly can't have the people that were there, most of them are dead, by the way, right? most of them are dead. but they didn't exactly run it well. it was run viciously and badly. you can't have that. >> mr. president, about tiktok, sir, would you pause any decision on chinese tariffs including the resolution on tiktok -- >> no, no. if china didn't approve it,

we could put tariffs on china. don't forget, china charges us tariffs, and we charge them very little, except for what i did. i put a lot. we took in hundreds of billions of dollars. but until i came along, china never paid 10 cents to this country. they ripped us off, and they never paid anything. but like if we wanted to make a deal with tiktok and it was a good deal, and china wouldn't approve it, then i think ultimately, they'd approve it, because it would put tariffs on china. maybe. i'm not saying i would, but you certainly could do that. and if we said, well, if you're not going to approve it, then that's a certain hostility, and we'll put tariffs of 25, 30, 40, 50%, even 100%. and if we did that, i think they'd approve it. >> president trump, you've seen the other living presidents a couple of times in the last few months. have you ever had to call on one of them for advice about

anything, which one would you call? >> it's interesting. i thought bill clinton was a very good politician. i don't think he was used properly. i think they disrespected him. when hillary was running, he came back, and he said, you know, you better get up to michigan and wisconsin. you remember that, peter. every house has a trump sign on it. and they all laughed at him, because the republicans had won michigan and wisconsin for decades, a long time. and they all laughed at bill clinton, like the hell does he know. and he turned out to be right, because i won both of them. and we just won both in this election too. we won wisconsin and michigan and every other swing state. we won all the swing states, all seven. they talked about seven swing states. we won them all. but bill clinton was -- he had a great political sense, i think. >> you looked like you were having a good conversation with president obama at

president carter's funeral. >> i was. you'd like know what it was? >> everybody would. >> everybody wants to know. i wouldn't. but we were having some crazy conversation. > why do you ask a question like that? i don't think you want to know. you might be insulted. >> it's an executive order relating to form holding government officials accountable for unlawful disclosure of sensitive information. this next one, sir, is the declaration of a national energy emergency. >> that's a big one. you know what that allows you to do. that means you can do whatever you have to do to get out of that problem. and we do have that kind of an emergency. >> president trump, at some point will you use your powers of the presidency to tell americans who are concerned about drones a few weeks ago what exactly? >> i will. in fact. >> will you tell us now?

>> no, because i just got here. >> what do you think? >> i just came here. been here for what, 15 minutes? >> do people think -- >> and i've got to read this letter too. because of you, i got this letter. >> i can read it for you. >> it's interesting. i know you would. your father would too. >> but is it anything these drones, anything that you worry about? >> i think -- i would like to find out what it is and tell the people. >> and can you commit -- >> i'd like to do that? can we find out what that was, suzy? okay? why don't we find out immediately. i can't imagine it's an enemy or there would have been -- people would have gotten blown up all over. maybe they were testing things. i don't know why they wouldn't have said what it was. they had a lot of them flying over bedminster, which is interesting. >> and with the events today and yesterday, was everything moved inside just for cold weather, or was there some kind of a security -- >> no, no, no security. because they had everything shut down to drones.

you know, you can shut that pretty easily. they're very sophisticated, these people. no, it was just cold weather. and we made a good move, because first of all, i thought it was incredible in the capitol today. you know i liked it because i got great reviews on that speech. i got great reviews. can you believe it? they actually were fair. maybe the fake news is change. >> unleashing energy production. >> unleashing energy production. but i thought it was -- i think having it in the capitol is great. it's obviously you can take care of the people you have to take care of. the city was booming. and if we would have done it outside, people would have been hurt, because it was really cold. it was like looked sunny, but when you stood outside for ten minutes, people were running back in. it was really cold and really windy. the wind brings it down a lot. so we made the right decision. you couldn't have stayed -- i don't think you could have had it out.

you know how cold it was today. people went out for a little while just to test it. they couldn't stay out more than ten minutes. they all came back in. so we would have had a disaster fer we did that. and people would have been hurt. >> disclosure related to the hunter biden situation? >> which one. >> the one unlawful disclosures by federal officials? >> no. i think it's just more general than that. it's not hunter biden. i was -- i was surprised that president biden would go and pardon his whole family, because that makes them look very guilty. you know, i could have pardoned my family. i could have pardoned myself, my family. i said if i do that, it's going to make me look very guilty. i don't think i'd be sitting here, frankly. if i did, that i don't think i'd be sitting here right now because i would have -- i would have shown that you're guilty. but by pardoning his brother or

brothers, by pardoning all of those people that he pardoned, by pardoning j-6. the unselect committee, they destroyed all of the documents. they deleted all of the information. there is no information. and a lot of the information pertains to nancy pelosi, because she was given -- i mean, you know this. it's on tape with her daughter. nancy pelosi was responsible for not taking advantage of 10,000 soldiers or one thousand. you wouldn't have need -- you could have used 400. it was a relatively small crowd. it wasn't a crowd that was at the mall. it was small crowd. so i was -- i was a little bit surprised that he did it. because it makes him look guilty. i mean, he is going to have to live with it. now with that being said, it's unbelievable precedent it creates for a president. but the precedent is

unbelievable. now maybe every president that leaves office, they're going to pardon every person they ever met so they don't have some lunatic like a deranged jack smith, who is a total lunatic, by the way, not a smart guy, he is a dummy. but we beat the hell out of them. and i helped my representation. >> will you not do the same thing at the end of this term? >> now i guess there is a precedent to do that. i wouldn't want to do that, no. i think it makes you look very guilty. i think it makes biden look very bad, very weak, and very guilty. and he pardoned everybody. how about this j- 6 committee. why is he pardoning them? the reason is because if you delete and destroy documentation, everything, they have nothing, because they were guilty as hell. they rigged it. it was a rigged deal. and when you do that, they look very bad, but i was a

little surprised they did it. liz cheney, i mean, she is a lunatic. and she lost by the greatest margin in the history of a politician running for congress. like 40 points. the reason it was the greatest is because anybody losing that badly is going to drop out. but she is a nut job. she doesn't drop out. she just keeps chugging forward. and she lost by almost 40 points. that's the biggest number anybody's ever lost by. but why would biden do that? he pardoned her and pardoned everybody. the reason is that they destroyed documents. and if you're even in a civilcivil case, which this wouldn't be, i mean, people go to jail for a long time for doing that. what's this one? >> that's unleashing american energy, sir. it relates to easing permitting processes and other regulatory systems to ensure that we can produce energy efficiently to drive the american economy

forward. >> president trump, looking around the office, we noticed some changes on the setup. can you confirm that you have added back the diet coke? >> i think -- first of all, i just got here. so my people came in. they have extraordinary decorator sense, right. see some of the pictures? that's a good one. i could live with him. i could live with george washington, i can tell you. i could live with thomas jefferson. i could live with most of them. they took a very safe route. they don't have any bad ones up there. >> withdrawing from the world health organization, sir. >> ago, that's a big one. so we paid $500 million to world health when i was here, and i terminated it. china with 1. 4 billion people. we have 350. nobody knows what we have, because so many people came in illegally.

but let's say we have 325. they had 1. 4 billion. they were paying $39 million. we were paying $500 million. it seemed a little unfair to me. so that wasn't the reason. but i dropped out. they offered me to come back for $39 million. in theory, it should be less than that. and when biden came back, they came back for $500 million. he knew that you could have come back for $39 million. they wanted us back so badly. so we'll see what happens. >> mr. president -- >> pretty sad to think of it. china pays $39 million and we pay $500 million. and china's a bigger country. >> you talk about inflation in your remarks. what actions are you taking today that will have a direct impact for americans on their everyday costs to bring the costs down?

>> the biggest thing and factor for inflation is energy. they screwed up my energy policy, and then they went back to it. they hurt it really badly, and then they went back to it. and they started drilling more. but by that time, it was too late. many of these things that we're signing and that burgum is going to be signing and the department of energy, we're going to be taking a lot -- we're going to make a lot of money from energy. we have more than anybody else. we're going to make a lot of money from energy. we're going make a lot of money from tariffs. european union charges, they have a vat tax of 20%, but it's really much higher than that. and that's the equivalent, almost the equivalent of a tariff. and they're tough. they're very tough. they don't take our cars. they don't take our farm product. they don't take almost anything. and yet we take their cars. we take their farm product. we take a lot from them. so we have like a $300 billion

deficit with the european union. so we'll straighten that out with the tariffs or they have to buy our oil. the one thing they can do, our oil and gas, the one thing they can do to catch up quickly, buy our oil and gas. and they should do that. >> will you travel to china this year? >> yeah, could be. i've had the invite. >> mr. president -- >> i would do it, yeah. >> talking about the european union onon ties, what do you mean when you say that european union -- >> that it what? >> bric. bric is six nations, seven nations, and they are looking to do a number on the united states. if they do that, they won't be happy about what's going happen to them. >> universal care, mr. president, on all countries? >> i may. but we're not ready for that yet. we may put it, wrap it. because essentially,

all countries take advantage of the u.s. we don't make any good deals in the u.s. it's amazing in a way that we exist. we don't make good deals. we don't have any good deals. we have a deficit with almost -- not all. there are a couple, i won't tell you their names because i don't want them to find out about it because they'll feel stupid, but there are a couple of countries, there are a couple of countries that actually don't make money with us. but i don't want to let you know because they'll immediately change that. but we're going to do -- i tell you what, our country has an amazing economic future. i really believe that. >> what kind of universal tariff. >> you put a universal tariff on anybody doing business in the united states, because they're coming in and they're stealing our wealth. they're stealing our jobs. they're stealing our companies. they're hurting our companies. so you put a tariff on to keepkeep them from doing that.

>> mr. president, the billionaires today, president biden warned about oligarchy. i wonder if you can respond to that. >> well, he had a lot of guys. and then they found out that they didn't know what the hell he was talking about, and i think they deserted him. they deserted him, those same guys. look, i don't make pretense, smart guys. there are a lot of smart guys around, but they did desert him. they were all with him, every one of them. now they're all with me. i don't know. they're not going get anything from me. i don't need money. but i do want the nation to do well, and they're smart people. they create a lot of jobs. and if they don't do it, china is going to do it. you know what they've done is they've taken industries and they've taken it away. they outsmarted china. and, you know, we sort of like that. it's okay. they've done a great job. a lot of them. not all of them. >> protecting women from

radical gender ideology. >>. >> caller: >> mr. president, going back to the world health organization, you were the president during covid. don't you see the importance of an organization like that to coordinate a global response? >> sure, i do. but not when you're being ripped off like we are by the world health. world health ripped us off. everybody rips off the united states. and that's it. it's not going happen anymore. thank you very much, everybody. >> all right, guys. let's go. >> one last, sir. >> thank you. >> thank you, sir. >> thank you, press. >> thank you very much. >> thank you. let's go. thanks, press. thank you, guys. >> we've just been watching the new president sign a batch of executive orders and talking at great length to reporters as he did it. most notably, the first one he signed at the white house, one granting executive clemency, pardons and

commutations for january 6th rioters who earlier the president called j- 6 hostages. others declared an emergency at the southern border, also pulling out of the paris climate treaty, work birth rite citizenship and executive actions. jeff zeleny starts us off tonight. jeff, let's start with the pardons and commutations. this, and some 1500 in all. there are about 1580 convictions. >> anderson, an extraordinary scene right there. after whitewashing the history and the events of january 6th, really, ever since it happened, president trump in the first hours of taking office essentially tried to wipe away and did wipe away the charges with a mass group of pardons and the commutation of 14 sentences. so we now have our question answered. if he is going to make a distinction between the violent offenses that we saw with our own eyes that were seen around the world on january 6th

versus just happened to be sort of standing around. he treated everyone the same. so that certainly at the end of this day, he was speaking out. and had a rally earlier. >> jeff, we should point out, we're talking about the leader of the so- called proud boys enrico tarrio. >> and the oath keepers. >> stewart rhodes. stewart rhodes i believe had an 18- year sentence. enrique tarrio had 22 years. they i believe enrique tarrio is in the process of getting a release, or is going to be getting out. i mean, that's extraordinary. he also continued to spread lies that the fbi was behind this, or involved in this in some way as well as outside agitators, which, again, is just not the case. >> it's not the case. and it's likely a good thing

that his attorney general nominee pam bondi has already had her confirmation hearing. because this certainly would come up in that. and that is something that the justice department will have to deal with it. but, look, this is the -- also, we got an incredible look at his first look at the oval office once again. he said he was so happy to be back. it's one of the most beautiful places. and then also an extraordinary moment in a series of them. he opened the drawer of the resolute desk and pulled out the note from president biden and sort of joked should i read this aloud? it said "47" on it. just a litany of executive orders, executive actions. but on immigration, those also are very serious. he, again, has been talking about that all day long and throughout the campaign. largely picking up where he left off in declaring a national emergency, declaring the cartels a terrorist organization, leaving the door open to special forces going into mexico. so on a variety of fronts, making good on what he's been talking about he would do on day

one. and now, of course, the levers of government will have to react to all of this. but clearly, he is very happy to be back in the oval office. and so much different than eight years ago when he walked in for the first time. now he knows exactly what he wants to do. >> jeff zeleny, appreciate it. for more on how the january 6th pardons could play out, i want to cnn's chief legal affairs correspondent paula reid. i think we're going show you a live picture at some point outside the detention center, where if you've been watching our reporting over the months as donie o'sullivan has reported, there has been vigils every night by relatives and friends of people who were convicted of crimes on january 6th at the capitol and have been serving time. they have been gathering every night. and obviously there is a celebratory mood, as you can see. paula, how immediate is the effect of these pardons? will people be released tonight? will enrique tarrio be

released, stewart rhodes? >> well, it's possible. they're in the process of being released. so that is possible because the pardons and the commutations, their impact is immediate. now if you didn't get a pardon or a commutation, if your case is still pending, those cases are going to be dismissed. i expect that would likely happen tomorrow because today is of course a federal holiday. yesterday i was speaking with one of trump's legal advisers and i asked why are you dismissing the cases? why not give them pardons too? and the adviser suggested giving them a pardon somehow suggests they're guilty. so we would prefer to dismiss these cases. those commutations, the folks whose sentences are reduced or eliminated instead of getting a full pardon, those are just going to be reviewed. some of those people still could get pardons. and speaking with trump advisers over the past few months about how they were going to make good on this promise to pardon people who were involved on january 6th, but in the words of president trump, not give relief to those who were, quote, out of control, what kind of process you going to

implement, they told me they didn't want to do the usual case by case assessment because it would take too much time. this is something they wanted to do on day one. so we're here sort of seeing a process, small p. they're going to review thethe commutations so there could be more january 6th pardons to come. >> just in terms of the 14 commutations, a commutation can be a lot of different things. it can be a reduction of a multi- year sentence to serve just another year or whatever, or it could be a complete, you know, time served and you're out. do we know for all 14? >> well, it's suggestive right now that this is as broad as possible. i would expect people on the commutation list, based on what trump said, and he did get a few things wrong. it's been a listening day for him. based on what he said and what we're reading, suggests their sentences would be eliminated. they would still have the conviction on their record, but those are being reviewed. and we're talking about people like stewart rhodes. he is one of the people who received a commutation,

leader of the oath keepers. he was sentenced to 18 years in seditious conspiracy by a jury. but as interesting as the commutations are, the people who receive pardons are also quite surprising. you already mentioned mr. tarrio. but the group of people who already received pardons from trump and vice president vance suggested that they were not going give clemency to people who were violent offenders. be the group that got pardons includes individuals like julian cater who assaulted u.s. officer with a dangerous weapon. devlin thompson, who hit a police officer with a metal baton, and robert parmer, he is the florida man who attacked police with a fire extinguisher, a wooden plank and a pole. so as jeff zeleny is saying earlier, it's probably a pretty good thing that his attorney general nominee has already had her confirmation hearing. but his fbi pick kash patel and todd blanche will likely face questions about these pardons. >> thank you, by daniel dale to

fact check some of what we just heard from president trump. and there was certainly a lot. daniel, what stands out to you? >> there were a lot of big lies there, anderson. he said again the u.s. is the only country with birthright citizenship. that's not close to true. at least a couple of dozens have it including u.s. neighbors canada and mexico. he said the u.s. took hundreds of billions of dollars in from china thanks to the tariffs he imposed in his first term that revenue came from u.s. citizens, u.s. importers pay those tariffs and often pass on the costs to u.s. consumers. he spoke again about how nato, european members of nato have contributed $200 billion less to ukraine than the u.s. have. in fact, data shows that the european members have provided 10s of billions more aid than the u.s. has. so he has that reversed. again, he repeated his assertion that china controls the panama canal. china does have influence in

area and control to operate two ports on the canal. but that canal is operated by the panamanian canal authority staffed by panamanian board members, panamanian employees. some exaggeration at least. he repeated that iran had no money for hamas and hezbollah during his term. iran continued to fund those terror groups. he said the democrats cheated like dogs, i think he was referring to the 2020 election, regardless, not true. he said the january 6th committee deleted all of the evidence, all of the records. just did not happen, although there is a dispute about the preservation of some of the data the committee collected. repeated his false claim that house speaker nancy pelosi supposedly rejected his offer of $10,000 national guard troops on january 6th. there is no evidence he even made such an offer to her. and he, not the house speaker had the power to deploy or not deploy the d.c. national guard. he said she admitted she rejected such an offer. certainly has not.

an you said at point said the european union doesn't take our farm products. the eu brought $12. 3 billion, the fourth largest export market for. the idea that the eu rejecting u.s. agriculture is not true like a lot of this other stuff is not true. >> daniel dale, appreciate it. going to be a long evening. thank you. here with me david axelrod, van jones, erin perini, scott jennings, and cnn senior analyst elie honig. david, it was a fascinating window on clearly he is very happy to be back in the oval office. very happy to be back on tv. you can imagine him saying a lot of those things every day in mar-a- lago over the last four years to assemble guests time and time again. >> i think also he said

did biden do this? i think he wanted to set a contrast with biden, you know, by going sort of having this rolling press conference. >> we rarely have seen something like that of a president just riffing from the -- >> yeah. and there is a reason for it. because the words of a president can send armies marching and prices tumbling. i think it's refreshing. i was among those critical of the lack of exposure of president biden. and i think it's good for presidents to be -- it's better if they tell the truth when they're doing it. and as daniel just said, a lot of that wasn't there. but we got to focus on the sort of headline issue here. there are a lot of consequential things he did. but that ceremony today was in the rotunda of the u.s. capitol. everybody here remembers what

happened there four years ago when that mob came through. everybody remembers the gallows. everybody remembers the chant. everybody remembers the assault on what, 160 police officers? is that the number? and basically, he said those people were hostages. i saw him today at his rally in front of a group of families of israeli hostages who were taken by hamas and gaza, and he talked about freeing the january 6th hostages. these are not hostages. these are people who either confessed or were convicted of crimes related to maraudingmarauding capitol to try and stop the lawful process of certifying an american election. and the only defense that i can think of for this action today is that those people went there because they were told an

abject lie by the president of the united states, that the election had been stolen and that something improper was happening. and so in some way, maybe he -- i'm not suggesting this was his motivation, but you could justify it by saying he lied to them and tricked them into going there under false pretenses because they thought it was their patriotic duty. so maybe they should get some consideration for that. many of them have said they went there because he told them to do that. but i'll tell you what, are the consequences of this? if people are told that you can engage in rioting, insurrections, attack police officers and so on, and the president of the united states will call you hostage, hostages, and free you, it's a hell of a way to start the next four years. >> yeah, look. i was prepared for shock and awe. this is just shock and awful as far as i'm concerned. david is 100% right.

this could be interpreted by some people as a green light for right wing political violence. that's not his intention, but it could be interpreted that way, because why do you put people in jail? three reasons. you want to incapacitate dangerous people. you want to punch people for doing bad stuff, and you want to deter people from doing the same thing again. it looks like the federal government is no longer in the deterrence business when it comes to right wing political violence. that is scary to me. and i am a criminal justice fanatic. i love to see people coming out of prison. but usually when somebody comes out of prison, it's not right after they beat up a cop. maybe they did something else. and there is some idea that they confessed, they've apologized. they've rehabilitated themselves. they've done some action, and then we say now you get a second chance. this is a very dangerous thing that happened tonight, among many others. this is not shock and awe. it's shock and awful.

>> i want to go to cnn's kaitlan collins. kaitlan, it's been an extraordinary day so far. >> hi, anderson. can you hear me? >> yeah. >> i'm here at the ball. i just rushed over from the white house down the street. no easy feat in the traffic for the inauguration. there are a lot of supporters of the president that are gathered here. and i just want to note asas watching all this play out, we just saw trump giving that lengthy press conference inside the oval office for about 4545 minutes. he made a lot of news there and a lot of headlines. i want to get reaction tonight from new jersey democratic senator cory booker, who if you were watching trump's inaugural address today was sitting there actually in the front row, and senator booker, i was keeping an eye on your reaction in some of the lines to trump's speech. can you first give me your reaction to what he had to say

today? >> you know, again, it's a moment of where we have the peaceful transfer of power. i thought there was a lot of dignity and respect on that stage, seeing former presidents, the supreme court. it should be normally a joyous moment. i could not help but be under that great dome and not think about four years earlier where there were these horrific violent acts taking place. and that he was not there for joe biden's inauguration. so, again, i'm looking forward to getting to work, given what we have. but his first actions as president haven't done what he promised voters what he would do. hasn't lowered the price of groceries, hasn't made housing more accessible, hasn't created more jobs, hasn't made people's lives easier. when it comes to the financial burdens he said he would address. what i have seen, though, is pardons. pardoning people who beat police officers, to pardon the

person that breathe brian sicknick from new jersey, a capitol police officer who would later die, succumb to his injuries is to me a horrific act. there were people running for their lives on that day. there were people threatening to kill our vice president, who had to be taken out for his own safety and security. so his beginning in terms of his promises that he made in terms of remembering what happened in this hallowed capitol, sacred civic space, it cast a big shadow over today's operations. and look, we have work to do, because americans are hurting, and a lot of people put their trust in him that he would do somebody it. well, right now he unfortunately has pardoned police killers, people -- five police officers died that day. and i'm just deeply disappointed and angry that that's how he's decided to begin. >> are you surprised by

how broad the scope of these pardons are? some advisers have been urging him to take this on a case-by-case basis, but when you look at the actual text of this executive, it's about 14 people whose sentences he commuted, but he made clear pardons are still on the table potentially for them under further review. and every other person convicted for offenses related to that day got a patterned, and everyone who has a pending indictment or case making the way through the courts, he is urging the attorney general -- or directing his attorney general to dismiss them. i mean, that includes enrique tarrio, who is the former leader of the proud boys. he was convicted of seditious conspiracy. what does it say that that was wiped clean tonight? >> you know, i've gotten to know a lot of the capitol police officers here. and not only were they mourning for a long time the deaths ofof of their colleagues who died in injuries related to that day, but there were many of them that were severely

injured, had eyes gouged and hurt, had bruises and other injuries that kept them out of work for many, many months. and it just flaunts their service, their dedication that right now people who are in effect beaters and ultimately with the result of the deaths people that were out to kill police officers. this is a stunning dereliction of duty as well as an undermining of our justice system, because these folks were not put in jail by joe biden. these folks had due process. they were tried in front of a jury of their peers in open court and they were convicted. as you said, many of them for years for their violent actions against police officers, for the threatening seditious threatening to overthrow the government of the united states of america. and again --

>> but senator -- >> go ahead. >> can i ask you? because on that point i want to get you to respond to this. i'm already hearing from people who work for trump and are his allies that there is really no leg for the democrats don't have a leg to stand on because president biden even today issued a raft of pardons, including for his own family members and his sister and his brothers and their spouses, and also for an activist, an elderly activist who is convicted of killing two fbi agents. chris wray did not even want him to commute that sentence that president biden did today. they say that doesn't give democrats an argument here to criticize these pardons. what is your response to that? >> i think that's a mistake we're seeing now is people trying to reduce this to tribalism. this is not about democrat or republican. joe biden pardoned a lot of people. he should answer for that and explain what he did and his reasoning. but the people he pardoned, his family members did not before the naked public eye

beat police officers, try to overthrow our government, lead to the death of and have injuries, scars both visible and invisible on police officers that are still affecting their lives today. this is not about left or right in our country. we can't say this is tit for tat or their side did it so our side can. this is about the values and principles we should all be look to uphold, the institutions of our government themselves, that these people on that day tried to overthrow. let's start with the rank partisanship. the president of the united states of america has just pardoned people who physically attacked violently led to the death of officers like sicknick. and we should be talking about that. >> senator cory booker, thank you for your time tonight. anderson, back to you. >> kaitlan. with me now is elizabeth warren. let me ask you about what you

think of these pardons and commutations of the january 6th? >> it attacks the very foundation of our democracy, because it tries to whitewash what was clearly an insurrection. people died from that. property was destroyed. people were injured. police officers trying to defend the democratic process died. and the idea that now donald trump and his republican friends are just coming in and trying to whitewash the whole thing and pretend not only did it never happen, it was nothing but a picnic. and that's just not going to work. >> he seems to have a lot of new friends who appeared today. >> yes. >> i'm wondering what you think the message president trump was trying to send by having, you know, tim cook, jeff bezos, obviously elon musk all the others, zuckerberg front and center in the rotunda right next to across the aisle from former presidents, and what

message it actually sends to you. >> so i think there was a double message. i think one message is pay to play. you want to be donald trump's friend? write a check, buy some bitcoin, whatever. but i think the second message is really who this government is going to work for. front and center right there, it's going to work for the billionaires. oh, yeah, donald trump made a lot of promises while he was rung, and he said he was really going to help out american families. and american families have a lot to complain about on how expensive life has become, on how challenging it has become. but he gave that whole speech today. and boy, he wanted to talk about renaming the gulf of mexico. he wanted to talk about taking back the panama canal. but where was the discussion of housing prices? where did he really talk what he wants to do on health care? where was even something about the junk fees that people have to live with and the way they're fleeced by giant financial companies? none of that so flood the

zone with everything else, but the very heart of what the american voter told us they wanted, and that is someone who would fight for them and fight for their economic security just wasn't there. >> when he first came to the white house 2016, there was a lot of questions about okay, he is going to hand over his businesses to his sons, whatever. now he released a meme coin the day before, yesterday. his wife, the first lady released one i guess this morning today. obviously there is questions about the crypto industry which the government will have a role in deciding the resolution of it. is this a complete conflict of interest? >> of course it is. but look, we used to talk about transparency, how we're going to transparency in government on the notion that if it was out in public, there was sunshine on it, then our elected officials would behave appropriately. government would behave appropriately. this is transparent corruption.

it's just right out there for everybody to see. you want to influence donald trump? help make him richer. you want to influence melania trump to influence donald trump? make her richer. you no longer have to sign up at the trump hotel. you just actually come in and make a purchase right online. that is a corruption that runs so deep and runs to the heart of not just donald trump, but the entire administration. that combined with all those billionaires lined up in the front row just tells you, this is an administration determined to make life better for billionaires. and you know who is going to pay for that? everybody else. >> our donie o'sullivan is outside the d.c. jail where families and friends and supporters of the pardon january 6th defendants are gathered, expecting their release. i just want to go to him. if we can play the rest of the room, so if we can get sound

so the senator can hey, i can hear. >> donie, go ahead. can you talk about what's going on there? >> anderson, yeah. really incredible scenes here tonight. we've done a few stories from this jail over the past few months. there is a lot of families, friends, supporters of these january 6th prisoners gathered up here. they're receiving calls from people in prisons across the country. there are a number of we think maybe about a dozen or so actual inmates in or this, in the d.c. jail, including rachel powell, who is a mom and grandmother that we featured on "ac 360" to several years in prison. she broke a window at the capitol with a pickax. she actually just called us in the last few minutes from inside the jail. she said they're hoping to get out tonight. they're excited in there. the news has trickled into the jail. and they want to get out

tonight. i got to say, anderson, you know, from speaking to these activists over the last few months, they always said they wanted this to happen, they wanted everybody pardoned, violence, nonviolence, proud boys, oath keepers, everyone on down. but i don't think many of them really believed truly in their wildest dreams that trump would do this. i think there was a nervousness, that maybe he might succumb to some of the political pressure from even within the republican party not to pardon the violent, the people who attacked police officers, the people who engaged in conspiracy. it seems as though everybody, at least the dreams of folks here tonight are coming true. so folks are here. they're waiting to receive prisoners who may be coming out any minute now. >> donie, we'll come back to you. stewart rhodes was sentenced to 18 years. enrique tarrio, head of the so- called proud boys 22 years.

did you believe that this might happen, that those two serving those kind of sentences would be released? >> no. but i think tonight about the families of the police officers who were killed. i think tonight about the police officers that we've met who helped protect us in the capitol, and the ones who were beaten, the ones who feared for their lives. i think about what it means for them. yeah, there is a group of folks outside celebrating, but i don't think they're celebrating tonight. >> what role do you see see democrats having now? there is not a leader of the democratic party officially. is that a problem? what is your job now? what is the role here? >> my job is the same as my job has always been. i took an oath to uphold the constitution of the united states. it's advise and

consent on the nominees. and that means we do as much as we can for accountability, as much as we can to try to bring to the american people what is happening right now in washington. and to put that information in front of them. and to keep pointing out what is also not happening. like i said, this is a moment of flood the zone. there is so much to look at. but it's the promises that were made that aren't being kept tonight. the promises that people's lives were actually going to get better, that people were going to be more secure financially, that people could count on a government that didn't work for a handful of billionaires, but worked for them. and those promises have been left in the dust. >> the last- minute pardons by then president biden to his family members, you know, there were pardons earlier this morning which were reported on. but these last- minute

pardons, he chose to make at the last minute when there wouldn't be as much attention obviously, and wouldn't overshadow the ride to the capitol. was that a mistake? >> look, the president, president biden should answer for himself. it's a sad day in america when someone leaving office has to look around and say am i facing a new president and a new administration who is going to come after my family just because they're my family? that's going to come after people i love just because i love them? not because they're accused of any crimes. not because they have done anything wrong, but just because they're the people i care about. and ever since donald trump has said a big part of his argument for being president is that it would be about retribution. it would be about vengeance. and he used it today.

there he is making his speech after he's been inaugurated as president, and it's still full of how he was wronged and he was the one who was mistreated. dang, guy, you were just elected president of the united states and just sworn in. come on. enjoy the moment, but no. it's about how he has been mistreated and he will get even. that's not how we run a government and make it work. this is not about personal vengeance. we run a government to make it work for people. that's how it's supposed to be in a democracy. >> elizabeth warren, thank you for your time. appreciate it. >> thank you. it is 9:00 p.m. eastern time. the new president is now in celebration mode, and so are many of the people who attacked the capitol or tried to overturn the election four years ago. they're getting out of prison, including serving some very long sentences after president trump commuted the sentences

tonight. he is attending three inaugural balls tonight after he signed all those executive orders, as you see there. kaitlan? >> yeah, anderson, i'm at one of the balls we expect president trump to come to. he is still at the white house right now as his day has been a little bit delayed. obviously he was in the oval office for much longer than people anticipated, signing the orders, or rescinding actions that president biden took like withdrawing from the world health organization, the paris climate accords in addition to the january 6th pardons. one's related to immigration. he is attempting to get rid of the birthright citizenship which is guaranteed as we know by the 14th amendment. everyone said that's going to face a lot of legal challenges. but anderson, based on our reporting, that's exactly the point that the white house team wants to essentially pursue here, because they believe they face enough legal challenges and get this in front of the supreme