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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Trump Sending Border Czar Tom Homan To Minnesota; Attorney General Bondi Requests Minnesota's Voter Rolls; Hundreds Of Thousands Without Power After Brutal Winter Storm; Israel Recovers Body Of Last Hostage In Gaza; Trump Says He Is Raising Tariffs On South Korea; Europe Opens Probe Into Elon Musk's X Over Sexually Explicit Images. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired January 26, 2026 - 18:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper.

This hour, the top border patrol official and some of his agents are now expected to leave Minneapolis as CNN learns the Trump administration is deeply frustrated with how Mr. Bovino handled the fallout after the deadly shooting of Alex Pretti on Saturday.

[18:00:02]

It appears the White House is, albeit slightly, and albeit just now as we know, seeming to change its tune a bit on what's unfolding on the ground.

Plus hundreds of thousands of Americans are currently without power or heat after a brutal winter storm, battered the Southern and Eastern United States. And officials warned that trees and power lines could still snap in the coming hours and days under the weight of ice. A look at the devastating damage ahead.

And he survived nearly a thousand days in Russian detention and then used his freedom to fight the Russians on the front lines in Ukraine. Former U.S. Marine Trevor Reed is here ahead of his book release tomorrow to describe what he calls his journey for retribution.

The Lead tonight, a changing of the guard for the Trump administration, Border Czar Tom Homan now on his way to Minneapolis and top Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino and many of his agents on their way out of the city tomorrow, sources say. This follows Saturday's deadly shooting of ICU Nurse Alex Pretti during an encounter with federal agents and the subsequent backlash to the administration's blatantly false description of the killing.

So, this is what I'm going to do now. I'm going to play you the video of the shooting of Alex Pretti. And over it, you're going to hear how the Homeland Security secretary, Kristi Noem, described the shooting and you can judge whether what she says matches what your eyes are revealing to you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: An individual approached U.S. Border Patrol officers with a nine millimeter semi-automatic handgun. The officers attempted to disarm this individual, but the armed suspect reacted violently.

Fearing for his life and for the lives of his fellow officers around him, an agent fired defensive shots. Medics were on the scene immediately and attempted to deliver medical aid to the subject, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.

The suspect also had two magazines with ammunition in them that held dozens of rounds. He also had no I.D. This looks like a situation where an individual arrived at the scene to inflict maximum damage on individuals and to kill law enforcement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: As even the Trump supporting New York Post Editorial Board wrote today, quote, Mr. President, you can't continue to order the American people to not believe they're lying eyes, unquote. The White House is now acting too somewhat, at least right now, changed their tone. President Trump announcing on truth social minutes ago that, quote, I just had a very good telephone conversation with Mayor Jacob Frey of Minneapolis. Lots of progress is being made. Tom Homan will be meeting with him tomorrow in order to continue the discussion.

Let's get to CNN's Priscilla Alvarez. Priscilla, how significant is it that Tom Homan is now going into Minnesota and Greg Bovino is going out.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it tells us that there is a shift in the strategy now in Minneapolis.

So, the White House has described Tom Homan being there as managing the immigration and customs operation. To give viewers a reminder, Tom Homan is a veteran immigration and customs enforcement official. He's been around for many, many years and his approach to immigration enforcement is focusing on public safety and national security threats and taking anyone else who's in the vicinity, who's an undocumented immigrant. That's called collaterals. He talks about them quite often.

That is different though than broad immigration sweeps in cities, and that has generally been what we've seen from top Border Patrol Official Gregory Bovino. We not only see it in Minneapolis, we saw it in Chicago and Charlotte, New Orleans and Los Angeles.

And so this has been building for some time, and this is being the frustration even within the administration over the way Bovino was conducting himself. He became a key player in the immigration crackdown. He became the public face and he did have the blessing of the Department of Homeland Security secretary, Kristi Noem. But Noem and Homan are not necessarily on the same page.

So, there are some behind the scenes tensions that are starting to reveal themselves here with Tom Homan coming in, having the president's blessing to manage this operation now to try to smooth over the tensions. And with Bovino leaving, he's still in his job. He's going to go back to his sector, as others will. But, certainly, it suggests that his broad immigration troops we've been seeing are not exactly the way the administration wants to do these operations right now.

TAPPER: Certainly, the lies that he and Kristi noem and Stephen Miller told about the shooting haven't helped the Trump administration.

And, Priscilla, you have some new details about the investigation into the shooting of Alex Pretti. Tell us.

ALVAREZ: Yes. I'm being told that the investigators have now interviewed the agents who were involved in this. They're also reviewing body cam footage. As you may have seen in some of those videos, some of the agents did have that body cam on them. So, that is part of the internal review that's happening.

[18:05:00]

The FBI and DHS are doing this together and U.S. Customs and Border Protection similarly doing an internal review.

Now, the White House Press secretary was asked about this today, and this is what she had to say about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: As President Trump said yesterday, the administration is reviewing everything with respect to the shooting and we will let that investigation play out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Of course, part of the frustration from locals, but even some Homeland Security officials and Republican lawmakers, is when they say the investigation will play out, they've already drawn some pretty firm conclusions in the hours after this shooting happened. So, that is what many are trying to square here and why locals are trying to get involved in this investigation to make sure that they have a very thorough review of what transpired.

TAPPER: Yes. With no evidence presented, they've called him a domestic terrorist and assassin, and somebody that was seeking to massacre officers. Zero evidence, credible evidence that backs up any of that.

Priscilla Alvarez, thanks so much.

Let's bring in CNN's Chief White House Correspondent Kaitlan Collins. Kaitlan, what are you hearing from your sources behind the scenes tonight? This is obviously not just a crisis for the citizens of Minnesota and the United States. This is a real political crisis for President Trump.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, and the White House seems to recognize that, Jake. And to your point that you just made, I think that's why that press briefing today, you did not hear the press secretary confirm, back up, defend or repeat any of the assertions that were made from some of the top officials over the weekend.

Ever since Alex Pretti was shot and killed on Saturday, this has been a huge struggle for the administration to respond to this, whether that's in those public comments or defending the actions of those agents, because no one has repeated what Greg Bovino said that he -- that Alex Pretti came out with the intention to massacre law enforcement. No one has repeated what Kristi Noem said that he came out and brandished a weapon, something that none of the videos we've seen so far have shown any evidence of that, and the administration hasn't provided any evidence of that as well. And no one is repeating anymore what Stephen Miller said over the weekend, calling him a domestic terrorist and calling him an assassin, comments that I should note were reposted by the vice president J.D. Vance.

None of that was repeated during today's press briefing, Jake. And while they were defending the actions overall of the administration when it comes to ICE and deporting people who are in the country illegally and also still criticizing the policies of Democratic officials in Minnesota, you've seen the president strike a different tone in his own post on True Social alone today, Jake, talking about calls that he's had with the governor, Tim Walz, or with the mayor, Jacob Frey. And I should note the mayor, the president, or according to the mayor's office, is going to actually be meeting with Tom Homan tomorrow as he's going in, and Greg Bovino is coming out of Minnesota.

So, that in itself shows that the president, Jake, is frustrated by this, which is what I've been told as he's been watching the coverage yesterday and then watching it today. There was a lot of internal frustration with Greg Bovino and to a degree with Kristi Noem over the comments that they made about this because the administration felt like it only made things worse instead of helping defend them or put them on better footing in order to defend what happened on Saturday.

And so I think it's still a key question, Jake, of whether or not the president's change and what he said today remains. I mean, we've seen obviously before where he is said one thing and then gone back to it the next day. And so we don't really know. We'll see what that looks like, especially after Tom Homan sits down with the mayor. Tom Homan himself has, you know, threatened to arrest mayors or Democratic officials who he said weren't following the immigration laws of the country. So, all of that remains to be seen, Jake.

But one thing is clear is that what was coming out of the mouths of top officials this weekend did not sit well with a lot of officials inside the White House who thought that it only made their jobs more difficult, not less.

TAPPER: Kaitlan Collins at the White House, thanks so much. And, of course, don't miss Kaitlan on her show, The Source with Kaitlan Collins. Her guests tonight include former Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson. That's tonight at 9:00 Eastern, only on CNN.

Second Amendment advocates, at least the intellectually consistent ones of them, are furious, and other Americans just plain confused with the Trump administration's claims that Saturday's shooting may have been justified because Alex Pretti was carrying a gun even though he had a license to carry a concealed weapon. Here's FBI Director Kash Patel Sunday morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KASH PATEL, FBI DIRECTOR: No one who wants to be peaceful shows up at a protest with a firearm that is loaded with two full magazines. That is not a peaceful protest.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Let's discuss this with Rob Doar. He's the president of the Minnesota Gun Owners Law Center and the general counsel for the Minnesota Gun Owners Caucus.

Rob, the Minneapolis Police chief says that Alex Pretti was a legal gun owner with a permit to carry. Right off the bat is, Kash Patel right there? I mean, no one who has a loaded gun is allowed to go to a protest?

ROB DOAR, PRESIDENT, MINNESOTA GUN OWNERS LAW CENTER: Absolutely incorrect with Minnesota State law and federal law. In fact, I remember many anti-mask, anti-lockdown protest right here in Minnesota that had people lawfully armed there.

[18:10:00]

So, it's -- there's nothing in Minnesota law that prohibits that.

TAPPER: So, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked to respond to FBI Director Patel's comment. She emphasized the President's support for gun rights today. She also said this. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEAVITT: And while Americans have a constitutional right to bear arms, Americans do not have a constitutional right to impede lawful immigration enforcement operations. And any gun owner knows that when you are carrying a weapon, when you are bearing arms and you are confronted by law enforcement, you are raising the assumption of risk and the risk of force being used against you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So, correct me if I'm wrong, okay, but I don't think that's a legal standard, right? I mean, like the idea that if you have a concealed weapon and permit, you should know that you have an elevated expectation that law enforcement might use force against you. Am I wrong?

DOAR: No. I mean, you're right, there is no expectation. In fact, it cuts the other way. When somebody's lawfully armed, they're not posing a threat, permit to carry holders here in Minnesota commit crimes at a rate seven to ten times lower than the general public. They're the people who go through the training. They get the background checks. They pay the fee. They do everything the right way. They're significantly less likely to pose a threat. And I'm concerned that these comments have a chilling effect telling people that they have to choose between exercising their First Amendment right or their Second Amendment right.

TAPPER: We've seen other notable examples over the past few years of armed protesters. You noted one earlier none resulted in this kind of response from the federal government or law enforcement. In 2020, a group of protesters brought firearms to the Michigan State House to demonstrate against COVID lockdowns. It is legal to carry firearm firearms in the Michigan State House.

A husband and wife touted their guns at Black Lives Matter protesters in St. Louis as they walked by the protesters. In 2020, they pled guilty to misdemeanor charges. They also spoke at the Republican National Convention in 2020, we should note. Kyle Rittenhouse, of course, who was found not guilty after he shot three protestersm killing two in Wisconsin in 2020, Kyle Rittenhouse has since spoken in a number of turning point USA events and even met President Trump at Mar-a-Lago in 2021.

So, I guess the question is, is the Trump administration actually asserting that Trump's supporters have more Second Amendment of rights than Trump protesters?

DOAR: Yes, that's certainly been, you know, some of the challenges that have been thrown towards the administration, the inconsistency in the messaging. There's also been just numerous inaccuracies about law, about the type of firearm he was carrying, whether it was a crime to have his I.D., tons of misinformation coming out. And it's either just willfully ignorant or intentionally deceptive.

TAPPER: Wait, just to -- you know, gun laws in Minnesota better than I. Kristi Noem has said the fact that he didn't have an I.D. on him was a crime, that's not true?

DOAR: That's not true. And you are required by statute to have your I.D and your permit with you. But if you don't have it, it is a petty misdemeanor citation that has to be dismissed once you provide the documentation. It's basically a fix-it ticket. And that a petty misdemeanors aren't crimes in Minnesota. So, she's basically saying that if you get a fix-it ticket for a broken taillight, that makes you a criminal.

TAPPER: All right. Rob Doar, thank you so much and thanks for your intellectual consistency on this issue. It's sorely lacking in a lot of gun rights groups here in Washington, D.C.

Minnesota officials are pushing back on a bizarre request from the Justice Department on Saturday to turn over the state's voter rolls requests coming after the death of Alex Pretti, and as President Trump falsely claims he won Minnesota three times. He, in fact, lost Minnesota in 2016 and 2020 and 2024. I'm going to ask Minnesota's top election official about this DOJ request. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [18:15:00]

TAPPER: We continue with our National Lead and we're going to take a closer look at one of the other events that happened in the wake of the shooting death of Alex Pretti by federal agents this week.

On Saturday, after Pretti was killed, the attorney general, Pam Bondi, sent Minnesota Governor Tim Walz a letter, which was published by Fox News, setting out what she called common sense solutions to, quote, bring it End to the chaos in Minnesota. And among the requests, Bondi specifically asked that Walz share the state's records on Medicaid and food and nutrition service programs.

She also asked Walz to repeal the state's sanctuary city policies in Minnesota. And Bondi also asked the governor to allow the Justice Department Civil Rights Division to access Minnesota's voter rolls, the voter rolls. Walz's answer was no.

Let's talk about this with the Minnesota secretary of state, Steve Simon, who's a Democrat. Secretary Simon, so you oversee the voter rolls. What kind of information do they contain? What do you think Bondi is after? Are they going after undocumented immigrants who would vote? Although I would guess there aren't that many of them, if any.

STEVE SIMON (D), MINNESOTA SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, here's what they want. They don't just want the public stuff, which anyone can get, name, address, voting history, stuff like that. What they want is very personal, private, sensitive data on millions of people, namely Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers, military service history, it were applicable.

And this is already in litigation, like we're in court on this right now. They've asked for this information from dozens of states. The vast majority, like Minnesota, have said no. There are multiple lawsuits going on, including in Minnesota right now. So, that's what makes this particularly puzzling.

Why they want it? That's a good question. That's sort of key to the legal arguments here. Our legal position all along before this weekend, a ransom note from the attorney general, was that state and federal law don't permit them to get this data. And so what she's basically asking us for in this letter is to hand something over which we think the law precludes her from getting under these circumstances.

TAPPER: Well, explain that to me. How does it -- how would that violate state and federal law?

SIMON: Well, in Minnesota, we have laws against, for example, disclosing Social Security information. And on the federal level, there's something called the Federal Privacy Act of 1974, which sets up all sorts of hoops and hurdles, none of which the Justice Department has met before they would ever even be qualified to see this kind of data.

[18:20:09] So, we're arguing this in court. That's where it belongs. It is in court because that's where we argue legal disputes, not elsewhere. But we certainly don't add those on a term sheet of a ransom note to restore peace and security and stability to Minnesota.

TAPPER: So, Bondi's letter says, the request for voter rolls is to confirm that your state's voter registration practices comply with federal law as authorized by the Civil Rights Act of 1960. You don't believe her?

SIMON: Well, it's hard to know what they really want to do with this. And that's the issue legally in these cases, is they have to show why in particular they need this particular information and what they want to do with it. Will they share it with someone? How will it be transmitted or stored, or kept secure? And those are the kinds of questions we don't have answers to yet and maybe we never will.

But, again, certainly they don't belong as part of this deal. What does the voter rolls have to do with what's happening on the ground right now with the ICE surge in Minnesota?

TAPPER: Yes, that was going to be my last question for you, sir, because, I mean, I guess theoretically you could understand the connection between what's going on in the streets and the sanctuary city policy of Minneapolis, I mean, just broadly speaking, but the idea that they want the voter roll information and they're asking for that after the death of Alex Pretti, I mean, what was it like to see that letter?

SIMON: I have to say it was just really deeply disturbing. Literally hours after the second, let's not forget, second killing of an American citizen in the city of Minneapolis by ICE agents, literally within hours, there's this term sheet, this ransom note, in essence, saying that among the conditions, or certainly implying that among the conditions for restoration of order and security and peace in Minnesota were this thing, which had never been discussed before, is already the subject of ongoing litigation with our office and many other states. So, I don't know who was thinking what within hours of a tragic killing like that putting this in a demand list.

TAPPER: Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, a Democrat, thank you so much for your time, sir.

A major winter storm slamming across much of the country forcing thousands of flight cancelations. So, when will air travel return to normal? We're going to go to Reagan National Airport for a live report next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:25:00]

TAPPER: We are following the impacts of this massive winter storm in the United States on our National Lead. The storm has claimed the lives of more than 15 people who've died across multiple states, including Texas, Louisiana, Tennessee, Michigan, Pennsylvania, South Carolina. ICE from the storm has also caused major power outages across the Southern United States today.

Major airlines across the country right now are just now beginning to recover. Yesterday, more than 11,600 flights were canceled, according to FlightAware. That's the most cancelations in one day since COVID-19 began shutting down the U.S. in March 2020.

CNN's Pete Muntean is at Reagan National Airport, right outside D.C. and Virginia. So, Pete, what are the next steps for airlines?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well step one for the airlines and really the airports was cleaning off the runways and the taxiways and the ramps. Now, the step is getting all of the parts and pieces back in the proper spot. We're talking the planes and the crews that were displaced by this massive snowstorm. So, the airlines can really start off tomorrow on a much better foot.

The latest numbers from FlightAware say airlines have only canceled about 300 flights tomorrow, but things can change so quickly because we saw about 5,300 cancelations today. And this is the outcome of it. This is the line to get into customer service here at American Airlines at the ticket counter in Terminal Two. This is actually a pretty short line compared to some of the lines we have seen. 11,600 cancelations on Sunday, the highest since the depths of the pandemic, March 30th, 2020.

I want you to look at the departures board here at Reagan National Airport, pretty hard-pressed to find much of anything here that's not orange, canceled, yellow, delayed, not many on time flights right now. In fact, national airport saw about half of all flights canceled here today. We will see how tomorrow shapes up a lot of major hubs hit by this huge storm places that don't deal with snow all the time, Jake.

TAPPER: And, Pete, I want to ask about that deadly plane crash that took place in Maine yesterday. The Bangor International Airport said that all six people on board are presumed dead. What happened?

MUNTEAN: Well, the big question here will be the weather. That plane, Bombardier Challenger 600, took off about 7:45 Sunday night, did not make it very far, according to the open source flight tracking data. Big, big questions here about why the FAA says the plane lifted off, rolled inverted, and onto its back, and burst into flames, really poor weather at the time of this crash. And this links back to the major snowstorm snow at the time, poor visibility below freezing temperatures.

Was the wing uncontaminated, meaning was it not covered in snow and ice when this plane tried to take off? We've seen that as the cause of so many wintertime accidents. The NTSB really has their work cut out for them. They're still trying to get to the scene right now.

TAPPER: All right. Pete Muntean, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

Cell phone recordings are putting ICE encounters under new scrutiny with agents seen and aggressively confronting people filming them, filming them and numerous social media videos. It raises fresh questions about the right to film people, especially government officials in public. And that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:30:00]

TAPPER: We're back in our National Lead. In Minnesota and across the United States, cell phone cameras are capturing numerous confrontational encounters between ICE and Border Patrol agents and American citizens, footage that many law enforcement professionals and lawmakers, and attorneys and observers described as alarmingly aggressive by the officers.

These recordings are fueling national outrage following the deaths of 37-year-old V.A. Nurse Alex Pretti, and 37-year-old mother of three Renee Good, both of whom were fatally shot by federal agents in Minnesota.

In addition to those cases, there are now numerous videos on social media showing other hostile interactions between ICE and Border Patrol agents and members of the public, where the agents seem to object to being filmed, at times, grabbing phones, physically confronting people recording, even though, let me just note, filming law enforcement in public -- it crosses the line into interference, a line which isn't always clear. All of this is raising serious questions about ICE and CBP's use of force and training in these situations.

I want to show you now a series of short cell phone video clips, and we should note that it's not clear what happened before or after the recordings.

[18:35:04]

We did reach out to DHS for comment on each clip.

We're going to start with a video from Minneapolis. It shows a man filming with his phone as he appears to intentionally stand in front of an ICE vehicle, which obviously he shouldn't be doing. But take a look at how the ICE agent here reacts.

Was it appropriate for the ice agent to push that gentleman onto the ground in the middle of the street into oncoming traffic? I mean, you see a city bus that has to come to a very quick stop to avoid running the man over. DHS did not request -- did not respond to CNN's request for comment on that incident.

And then there's this clip from St. Louis Park, Minnesota, that's a suburb just west of Minneapolis, where a driver says they began recording after witnessing a car crash between an ICE vehicle and another car.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shame on you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Listen, have you all not learned from the past couple of days? Have you not learned? UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Learned what? What's our lesson here? What do you want us to learn?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Following federal agents.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Give me my phone back. No, you can't take it. Shame on you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: DHS tells CNN that they told the woman multiple times to move her car and that she could film across the street. That ICE agent's strong objection, let's call it, to being filmed is something we've seen in several other videos, including this one from Portland, Maine. That's the latest state to receive this ICE enforcement surge.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's not illegal to record.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's what we're doing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes. Why are you taking my information down?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Because we have a nice little database.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, good.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And now you're considered a domestic terrorist. So --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: For videotaping you? Are you crazy?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: We have a nice little database, and now you're considered a domestic terrorist, the officer tells the American citizen for using her phone to record ICE agents as they go about their enforcement in public, which is protected by the Constitution.

DHS responded to CNN by noting that, quote, there is no database of domestic terrorists run by DHS, unqutoe.

Here's another interaction from Minneapolis where we see another very intense reaction from an ICE agent to a person filming them from their car.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is your warning. This is your warning

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For what? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Stop following us. You are impeding operations. This is the United States federal of government.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I live over here. I got to get to my house.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is your warning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Got to get to my house.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go home to your kids.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go to church.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Go to home, to your kids. This is your last warning.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I serve the Lord.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I won't arrest you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: We reached out to DHS for comment on that. We have not heard back.

Finally, let's look at our video from North Carolina. This shows two US citizens being asked by ICE agents to not record them with their phones, and then they were told they were being detained before a scuffle began.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do me a favor and turn off your video. (INAUDIBLE).

You're detained right now, sir.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, we're not detained. They haven't told we're detained.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They didn't say nothing about detained.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm telling you right now you're detained.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, we're not detained. Nope.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Again, American citizens are allowed to film law enforcement officers in public, full stop. On this incident, the Department of Homeland Security tells CNN that the men refused, quote, officer's concerns about keeping their hands visible and that they were allowed to leave the scene.

Now, look, no reasonable person doubts that there are and have been and will continue to be unfortunate, awful, real threats to the safety of law enforcement and immigration officers. A horrific example from September, 29-year-old gunman opened fire on an immigration facility in Dallas. It killed two detainees and wounded a third before taking his own life. Federal authorities say that the gunman in that case wrote anti-ICE on a bullet and left handwritten notes indicating he wanted to ambush and terrorize ICE agents.

And that's horrible and the threat to officers is horrible and not excusable. But the threat of real violence does not justify acts of violence against American citizens brandishing nothing more than cell phone cameras.

Let's discuss this issue with Naureen Shah. She's the deputy director of government affairs on immigrants rights for the ACLU. Thanks for joining us, Naureen.

So, what's your reaction to some of the troubling ways we've seen ICE agents respond to just being recorded by cell phone cameras while they're on the job? Are people allowed to film law enforcement officers or immigration enforcement officers?

NAUREEN SHAH, ACLU DEPUTY DIRECTOR OF GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS ON IMMIGRANTS' RIGHTS: People are absolutely allowed as part of their first amendment rights to document, to observe and record.

[18:40:00]

And this is vital to discussion of what's really happening in the country. We need people to be out there with those cell phone cameras. They need to be taking care of themselves, but what we can't have are federal agents trying to vilify them. We saw Greg Bovino earlier even say, you know, there's going to be consequences if you are using language that we basically find offensive.

And that's offensive to me, Jake, because we all know that that free discussion is at the heart of what the First Amendment is supposed to be protecting in this country and what we're seeing now is that the administration needs to actually walk away from some of that harmful rhetoric from Bovino.

TAPPER: I want to play a clip of Greg Bovino being asked by my colleague, Dana Bash, whether people have a right to record ICE agents. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT: Do you accept that it is the law that an individual has a right to film what law enforcement is doing?

GREGORY BOVINO, BORDER PATROL COMMANDER AT LARGE: I believe that all citizens of the United States have those First and Fourth Amendment rights as long as they do so peacefully and don't delay, obstruct or assault anyone in doing that. And that's the issue here, because he was not peacefully doing anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP) TAPPER: Presumably, he is referring to Alex Pretti there. And is -- do you think that he was not peacefully doing anything? I mean, is standing in the street filming, does that give somebody -- does that give law enforcement officers or immigration enforcement officers the right to throw you on the ground or whatever he was doing?

SHAH: Jake, we all saw the same videos and a lot of us have been watching them over and over again. And they're shocking and horrifying, and we would expect that if a person is standing on the street with their camera up filming, not doing anything else, that they would be treated as a peaceful protester. Instead, what we see from this administration immediately after the killing of. Mr. Pretti was to vilify him, to say he was doing things that were just patently not the case.

We should have seen a commitment to a full investigation, and we should have seen this administration say, you know what, maybe we need to dial down in Minneapolis, maybe we need to withdraw these hundreds and hundreds of federal agents, and instead, unfortunately, they keep raising the temperature.

TAPPER: What actions is the ACLU taking right now specifically in response to the hostility we're seeing from ICE officers just because they don't want to be filmed.

SHAH: Jake, we're in court. We've been in court. We have a lawsuit called Tincher v. Noem. We have another lawsuit on the warrantless arrests that are happening. And in both cases we are taking this administration to the court, asking themselves to hold them accountable to the First Amendment and the Fourth Amendment, things that we cherish as all Americans.

What we're also doing is going to Congress, because it's not just about the courts, Congress right now has the ability to use the power of the purse to actually rein in ICE and Border Patrol, and that's what we're asking for right now.

TAPPER: There are clearly a lot of people out there who want to protest the administrations enforcement actions, immigration enforcement actions. They want to exercise their First Amendment rights. What's the best way to do that in a place like Minneapolis right now and also avoid being physically harmed by ICE agents, Border Patrol agents, or whomever?

SHAH: And, Jake, we know we have these rights. We know we have the right to record. We know that people have the right to be out there. We are training hundreds and thousands of people. We also live in the real world. And we all need to first and foremost take care of ourselves. That means that when you are out there, staying calm, moving slowly, taking care of yourself, that you don't get in one of these situations.

But the unfortunate truth is that as long as federal agents are treating Minneapolis and other cities in our community, like the way that they are, which is recklessly, which is lawlessly, we're going to continue to see these awful, tragic and predictable consequences of unfortunately people getting hurt, people who are in the government excusing it, sending really dangerous signals that, hey, you can get away with it if you shoot somebody, or if you beat somebody up.

TAPPER: Naureen Shah, thank you so much.

SHAH: Thanks, Jake.

TAPPER: After spending nearly a thousand days in Russian captivity for a bogus charge before ultimately being freed in a prisoner swap, Trevor Reed says he became obsessed with retribution, and that is the focus of his new book. He's going to join me here in studio to explain why.

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[18:48:28]

TAPPER: In our world lead now, a remarkable firsthand account from Trevor Reed, the U.S. marine veteran who spent 985 days wrongfully detained in Russia. You might remember Reed's story in 2019 while visiting his girlfriend in Moscow. Trevor was detained after getting drunk and belligerent at a party. With exculpatory evidence essentially ignored, Trevor was charged with assaulting a police officer, and he was imprisoned, withstanding horrific conditions. He was freed in 2022, in a prisoner swap, and shortly thereafter he fought for Ukraine against Russia.

Trevor Reed is now detailing his incredible experience in a new book. It's called "Retribution: A U.S. Marine's Fight for Justice from the Russian Gulag to Ukraine's Frontlines".

And Trevor Reed joins us here in studio. And let me hold up the book, because it really is a fantastic book. I do recommend it to you.

At trial, 2014, of photograph of you with President Obama emerged. You had been in the detail there at the white house, taken five years before you were detained. And when that photo emerged during the law, during the legal stuff you were going through in Russia, it was bad news. And they accused you of being a spy.

Let me just start with the basic question. How are you doing?

TREVOR REED, AMERICAN WHO SPENT NEARLY THREE YEARS WRONGFULLY DETAINED IN RUSSIA: Good. Yeah, I'm doing real good. Going to school at Georgetown and trying to focus on my studies there.

TAPPER: And the future.

REED: And the future.

TAPPER: Tell me what it was like when you saw that they realized that you had been a marine stationed at the White House.

REED: I saw that initially during the first court session that I had. It's kind of like a detention hearing, like whether to give you bail or to keep you detained. [18:50:06]

And I saw them bring that to the judge. And I immediately kind of panicked because I thought, you know, okay, they're going to find out I didn't do this. They're going to release me whatever they might like, give me a fine or something. But after I saw them take that picture up, I was pretty terrified.

It ended up not influencing anything, but just the fact that it could have for a long time there, I really, really panicked about that.

TAPPER: You mentioned bail. You were allowed bail? $15,000. Your parents went to the embassy to try to get the bail, get help raising the money and a quick time, quick amount of time in Russia. This was during the first Trump administration. But the embassy officials said they'd, quote, have difficulty gathering up that much cash, especially given that most of the staff were at a going away party for the ambassador, which is a pretty shocking thing to hear, I might imagine.

It doesn't sound as though the U.S. embassy at that point was particularly helpful.

REED: No, it took a while for them to kind of get a grasp on what was going on and then to devote resources into, to trying to help me, out in that situation. A lot of that had to do with my dad -- my mom at home trying to get -- get my name in the media.

TAPPER: Oh, yeah, they were pit bulls. I can personally attest. They did everything they could to make sure that we and the media didn't forget about you.

REED: Right. And I want to thank you personally for that, too, because --

TAPPER: I'm just doing my job. Your parents were the real superheroes. Them and you. Them and you.

You could have been freed if you had signed a false confession, to something you believe you did not do and you did not do it. You did not sign that false confession. Do you ever regret that?

REED: No, I don't think they ever were going to free me for signing a false confession. Just. There's a lot of pressure. Not just in my case, but in the Russian legal system in general. To get, like the accused to confess, because it gives the Russian government legitimacy in their legal system.

So I was really pressured to do that. And I knew if I didn't do that, I would receive a harsher sentence.

TAPPER: But you don't think -- you don't think. I mean, you were told if you sign this, you'll be freed. You just don't believe it.

REED: Much later, they told me if I signed a pardon. That I would -- I would be released. And I thought that was like another propaganda tactic. TAPPER: Yeah.

REED: They had tried to get me to make some propaganda videos and stuff like that before, so I had dismissed that. And I was like, no, I'm never going to -- I'm never going to sign this. But later I did get an actual call from the ambassador that said, like, hey, Trevor, you need to sign that. So --

TAPPER: Yeah. You went on a hunger strike in prison to protest the conditions they were treating under. Did -- do you think it worked at all?

REED: I do, I think it put maybe not that much pressure on the Russian government as a whole, but it definitely put pressure on the head of that prison colony. And he knew at that point, like, okay, I need to be more careful about what rights I'm violating here, which was -- was part of the purpose of doing that.

TAPPER: And then stunningly, after you got back and you and I became friends and your parents and I became friends, we did a special about you. And then you went back to the area. You went to Ukraine to fight the Russians, and you used the word "obsessed". Obsessed in retribution or revenge? Tell us about that.

REED: Yeah. Each -- you know, each wrongful detainee hostage that comes back from any of these countries has that sort of feeling inside. That's not something that's unique.

TAPPER: Going there is, though.

REED: Going there is. But, you know, that's also just kind of the circumstances lined up there. So, you know, Russia invaded a country pretty much right before they released me. So that gave me an opportunity. I had my marine corps training, training as a contractor experience from those things.

So I was able to use those and probably a lot of hostages, wrongful detainees don't have, the ability to do what I did, but I think the sentiment is definitely there.

TAPPER: Well, the book is fantastic. I'm leaving a lot in the book for people to find out for themselves, including when you thought you were dead in combat. There -- it is called "Retribution: The U.S. Marine's Fight for Justice From the Russian Gulag to Ukraine's Frontlines". The author is Trevor Reed, a friend of the show.

Good to see you. Best of luck with the book.

REED: Thank you, Jake. Thanks for having me.

TAPPER: Today the Israeli government announced it has recovered the remains of the final deceased hostage from Gaza. What we're learning about the cooperation between multiple different nations that helped to get this moment.

[18:55:00] Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: Our last lead start in our world lead. The Israeli military says they have recovered the remains of the final deceased hostage in Gaza, Ran Gvili, who was killed during the October 7th attacks. The return marks the first time since 2014 that there are no Israeli hostages, dead or alive in Gaza. Two U.S. officials credit efforts by Egypt, Qatar and Turkey in helping recover Gvili's remains.

In our money lead, this afternoon, President Trump announced he is raising tariffs on goods from South Korea up to 25 percent from 15 percent. The president of the United States claims that South Korea is not living up to its end of the trade deal reached with the U.S. Trump's ability to increase across the board tariffs on South Korea or other countries could be hindered if the U.S. Supreme Court rules against him in this pending landmark tariff case.

In our tech lead, the European Union has launched a wide-reaching investigation into Elon Musk's Grok chatbot on X or Twitter. This follows global outrage over Grok's ability to generate sexually explicit images, including of children. The E.U. Commission says the investigation will examine whether X, quote, "properly assessed and mitigated risks," unquote, associated with Grok in the E.U.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts now. See you tomorrow.