PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — President-elect Trump is defending his promise to pardon people convicted of crimes on Jan. 6 by saying there were no guns involved, despite clear, ample evidence that there were guns and many other weapons involved. Confirmation hearings for nominees, including Pete Hegseth for defense secretary and RFK Jr. for health secretary, are set to begin next week. The Justice Department plans to release only part of Special Counsel Jack Smith's report on Trump, with the 2020 election interference case report expected by the end of the week.
CBS News congressional correspondent Scott MacFarlane joined KYW's Michell Durham live from Capitol Hill, as mourners continue to file past the casket of former President Jimmy Carter, lying in state at the U.S. Capitol, where security reported recovering a machete.
Michelle Durham: Let's start with Jan. 6. A lot of speculation about what the president-elect will do when he takes office with potential pardons of participants.
Scott MacFarlane: President-elect Trump made quite a splash [Tuesday] when he was pressed on how many pardons he's going to issue to Capitol insurrectionists. And he said there will be major pardons. And when pressed again as to his justification for pardoning those who were violent—who beat, maced, and maimed police officers—he said it wasn't an insurrection because there were no guns at the Capitol that day, which runs counter to the facts of the case. The Department of Justice has been clear there were several guns, including one fired outside the Capitol that day, among other weapons used against law enforcement.
I understand that confirmation hearings are likely to begin next week for nominees to the Trump administration.
Could be as early as Tuesday for the Defense Department secretary nominee Pete Hegseth, the Fox News host who's been pushing back against accusations that he abuses alcohol and has a sex misconduct in his past. He says those allegations are false, but they should be some pretty heated confirmation hearings before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
And Trump's choice to be health secretary, RFK Jr., is meeting with senators [Wednesday] at the Capitol, likely answering questions about his statements and thoughts on vaccines, among other things.
It's not clear where the votes are on these nominees. They could be smooth sailing. Could be rough waters ahead, but it all begins next week,
And the Justice Department announced it intends to release only part of Special Counsel Jack Smith's report on Trump for now?
Yes, half of it. And it could come out as early as Friday. The special counsel investigated two different alleged crimes: efforts to overturn the 2020 election and the unlawful retention of classified records at Mar-a-Lago. They're not going to release the Mar-a-Lago report because there are still co-defendants whose cases have not been dropped, and they've been challenging the release of the report as prejudicial.
But the 2020 election interference case is done, and Jack Smith is going to submit to the attorney general his report. The attorney general can decide whether America gets to read it. That decision could come by the end of the week.
And of course, mourners are approaching the Capitol to file past the casket of former President Jimmy Carter, who's lying in state, and I understand that there was a security issue there?
Earlier today, at the checkpoints where so many of the visitors are coming through, a man or a woman was stopped with a machete and other knives and detained by police. It happens every now and again: Somebody brings knives, even small swords, firearms, to these checkpoints, and they get stopped there. This caused some alarm, though—something as provocative as a machete.
This service is going to go through midday [Thursday]. It's worth noting, at the public viewing for Jimmy Carter, his casket is on a wooden platform that was used in 1865 for Abraham Lincoln after his assassination.