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Potentially Historic Winter Storm to Impact Much of the U.S.; Growing Outrage Over Five-Year-Old Boy Detained by Ice; Trump Says a Massive U.S. Armada is Heading Toward Iran. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired January 23, 2026 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The breaking news, one of the most, sprawling and menacing winter storms in years is here, more than 200 million people in its path, feet of snow, treacherous ice, devastating cold. We've got the latest timeline for when it hits you.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Vice President J.D. Vance came to Minneapolis saying that he wanted to calm the waters here. That is not what happened, especially after people saw images of ICE detaining a five-year-old. We're live in Minneapolis.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: And TikTok beats the clock closing a deal to secure the app's future in the United States one day before the President's deadline. So, what does this now mean for all of the TikTok users in the United States?

I'm Kate Bolduan with Sara Sidner and John Berman. This is CNN News Central.

BERMAN: And the breaking news this morning, brace yourselves, a historic winter storm that will impact more than half the country. It is beginning to hit at least ten states, declared states of emergency, heavy snow, catastrophic ice, dangerous, bone-chilling cold. More than 230 million people are under weather alerts across 1,500 miles from Texas to the northeast.

This is how it all times out. Today, Dallas to Memphis will begin feeling the brunt of it, tomorrow, Atlanta, Louisville, Charlotte, and then Sunday, Philadelphia, New York City, Washington, D.C., all getting more than a foot of snow, possibly.

Store shelves are emptying out. The most serious threat might be the damaging ice that could bring town down trees and knock out power across the south. Several governors are warning you need to stock up now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. ABIGAIL SPANBERGER (D-VA): We are expecting large amounts of snowfall, freezing rain, and sleet. And we also expect Virginia will experience dangerously low temperatures, power outages, and unpredictable road conditions. GOV. JEFF LANDRY (R-LA): I urge everyone listening and watching to begin to plan ahead.

GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): Don't begin getting prepared late tomorrow, or think you can get around doing it on Saturday. It's going to be too late.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Yes, act now. You're going to expect widespread travel disruptions, I mean, almost complete travel blackouts. Already more than 1,300 flights have been canceled for Saturday.

Let's get right to Allison Chinchar for the latest on, you know, how much, where and when it all hits. Allison?

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: All right. So, the fuel for this storm is really just the incredibly cold temperatures that are going to be coming down from the north, and that's where they are right now. You factor that into the gusty winds they're having. Look at these feels like temperatures. It feels like it is minus 57 in Duluth, minus 42 in Green Bay, even Chicago feeling like it is minus 32.

And, again, all of that cold air is going to spread southward, even into places where you don't normally have extremely cold temperatures. But that's going to be in place as the system begins to spread across the eastern half of the country. So, that's why you have all of these winter weather alerts that stretch more than 2,000 miles from the southern plains up through New England.

Now, starting tonight, we will begin to see that change over in terms of snow and ice for areas of Oklahoma, portions of Northern Texas by early Saturday morning, as the system shifts eastward. Now, you start to see more of that winter precipitation spreading into Louisiana, Arkansas, Tennessee, Mississippi. And it's going to continue to spread eastward as we go through the rest of the day Saturday. And by the time we get to Saturday night now you're starting to see some big concerns ramping up across the Carolinas, Virginia, and even into Georgia.

Sunday, the concern, especially into the morning, is really going to be the Mid-Atlantic and the Ohio Valley. But also notice too, we start to get a warm layer Sunday afternoon across portions of the south, meaning that after the ice and snow, you could maybe get perhaps some rain on top of it before that all goes back to frozen precipitation Sunday night as those temperatures drop back again.

Now, farther off to the north where you're simply just going to get snow. We have some significant snowfall totals. You're looking at several of these areas, especially those darker pink colors of at least a foot of snow. The dark purple, you could be looking at upwards of two feet of snow totals before this system finally exits.

Now, a little bit farther south where ice is going to be the big concern, some of these areas could be looking at half an inch to an inch of ice accumulations, perhaps even some isolated spots that exceed one inch of ice. The concern here is that when that accumulates on trees and power lines, the weight of it can pull those down very easily.

[07:05:04]

So, you could be looking at widespread power outages, especially in some of these cities across states, like North Carolina, Tennessee, Louisiana, and Texas.

BERMAN: I got to say these last two maps you showed, the one before, this one, you know, two feet of snow in Oklahoma City, a foot and a half, Washington, Philadelphia, New York. The next few days are going to be something else, and we're going to be watching it very closely, talking to you throughout the morning to get a sense of the forecast. Keep us posted. Thank you very much. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. We're here in Minneapolis, where it is negative 21 degrees outside that is without the windshield, which is why we are inside. But here, we are also seeing a form of protests. There are hundreds of businesses across Minnesota expected to close, not because of the wetter but because they are in protest of what is happening with the ICE immigration crackdown here. And what is riling this area, what is riling this city and this state is seeing this image of a five-year-old being detained by ICE as he was coming home from school in his family's driveway.

There are conflicting reports as to exactly what happened. But we heard from both J.D. Vance, who made certain statements, and the lawyer who refuted his statements, as well as school officials, one of whom happened to be coming home from school, saw the commotion, went over and witnessed what she said happened. She said, look, as she was watching all this go down, there were certainly people there that could have taken this child other than ICE. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARY GRANLUND, BOARD OF EDUCATION CHAIR, COLUMBIA HEIGHTS PUBLIC SCHOOL DISTRICT: I heard, what are you doing? Don't take the child. His mom -- like there are people here that can take him. There's another adult who lived in the home that was there saying, I will take the child, I will take the child.

There was ample opportunity to be able to safely hand that child off to adults. And mom was there. She saw the window, and dad was yelling, please do not open the door. Don't open the door.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: So, you hear her saying the mother was on the other side of the door as ICE was detaining the child. ICE was calling to her saying, open the door, we will not arrest you, according to witnesses on the ground. The mother was being told by her husband, do not open the door because no one here in the immigrant community trusts ICE. So, she didn't open the door and then ICE took that child.

Now, we're also hearing from J.D. Vance on this case. He said he himself looked into it, looked into what happened because he was concerned as a father of a five-year-old. Here's how he said things happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: When they went to arrest his illegal alien father, the father ran. So, the story is that ICE detained a five-year-old. Well, what are they supposed to do? Are they supposed to let a five-year-old child freeze to death?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: The five-year-old child was never in danger of freezing to death. There were school officials there who said that they were happy to take him to a safe place back to school. There was a mother just behind the door, they knew that, who was too afraid to open it for fear that ICE was going to take her. But this idea that this child was just left outside, was going to be left outside to freeze to death is just simply not true.

What is true is that this has, again, riled folks here seeing this image of this little boy, Liam, and his little backpack being taken away by masked ICE agents. It has really gotten people emotional, including the mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, who I had a chance to talk to yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR JACOB FREY (D-MINNEAPOLIS, MN): There was a five-year-old that was recently detained. I have a five-year-old. And the thought of having a little kid go through these circumstances where they're getting treated so badly in their family is being villainized, yes, it's deeply troubling.

What this administration has been doing in utilizing ICE has been deeply problematic. We -- ICE has operated for decades. And right now, what we are seeing is a deep need, bottom to top shift of how they're operating, bottom to top. We can't have this kind of unconstitutional activities on our streets.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Coming up, I will have more on my interview with Mayor Jacob Frey at 7:30. Kate, these images are really sending people in into dark spaces, but most importantly it is the immigrant community, some of whom are hiding in their homes, even though they have legal status. They are having other people go out and, for instance, buy their groceries, get their medications because they are too afraid to leave their homes.

[07:10:02]

Kate?

BOLDUAN: Yes. This seems to be maybe possibly another kind of turning point, hinge moment in these clashes that we've seen between ICE and protesters, and just the tension there and grief in that community now.

Sara, thanks. We're going to get right back to Sara. She's got much, much more coming up. Again, she said much more of her interview with the mayor of Minneapolis coming up.

Also right now, a major convoy of military assets is headed towards Iran, or as President Trump described it to reporters, an armada. Does this mean a military strike in Iran is imminent after Trump told protesters there that help was on the way?

And it's been kind of an on again, off again, and talked about problem debacle showdown for a year now, but a TikTok deal is done allowing it to be available still in the United States. A look now at what the deal means for the hundreds of millions of users in the United States.

And they say that's one way to make your after hours deposit. Police wrangling a buck going wild in a bank. The video ahead.

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[07:15:00]

BOLDUAN: A big renewed focus on Iran today after President Trump said a massive armada, his words, is heading toward Iran right now. The U.S. naval fleet appears, at the very least, to be a clear warning to Iran's regime as Tehran continues to brutally crack down on anti- government, anti-regime protesters. Tens of thousands of people, remember, have been arrested. Thousands of people have been killed.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We are watching Iran. You know, we have a lot of ships going that direction just in case. We have a big flotilla going in that direction, and we'll see what happens.

But we have an armada, we have a massive -- we have a massive fleet heading in that direction and maybe we won't have to use it. We'll see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Maybe we won't have to use it or will have to use it. I'm not sure exactly what he said right there.

Alayna Treene is at the White House. Either way, it's a -- either way, it's a threat. What are you hearing about this right now?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: No, absolutely. Look, the president has been threatening potential action to intervene in Iran for weeks now. But we did see a big, kind of departure in tone last week when he essentially said that he believed that, you know, for now, he didn't need to get involved because Iran had said that they were canceling some of the executions that they had planned for anti- government protests. However, the administration has still been, of course, keeping a very close eye on what has been developing in Iran. And I should note it as well that the president's, you know, kind of backing off of those threats came after an intensive lobbying campaign from the United States' allies in the Middle East but also from Israel.

Now, I will tell you that we do know that a U.S. aircraft carrier strike group, as well as other military assets, is currently on its way to the Middle East. And what it does is really preserve the administration's options here. Because without that bigger buildup, one, the United States wouldn't even be able to really follow through on the president's sets of potential military actions, but also it's good to have it there, our sources tell us, in case anything in the region happens where they feel like they need to defend Israel or something else, for example.

And so this is definitely, of course, something that is going to be troubling in the eyes of the Iranians, but it does not necessarily mean that this is any change in posture from the president or the White House. And as the president has said, he's hoping that they do not need to use any of those assets despite them moving them to the region. So, we're going to have to see how this ultimately plays out.

I will tell you, though, the president previously was very much leaning closer to potential military intervention in Iran until after this lobbying campaign and also after Iran had backed away from some of the killing and the executions that they had planned.

But, of course, as we see, as this always happens, kind of when you're covering the Trump administration, the president does change his mind very quickly. So, all of this is fluid and we'll have to be watching this very closely in the days to come. Kate?

BOLDUAN: And conditions and circumstances can't change the mind, especially when what is being contemplated is something like a military strike inside Iran. But the president's words still endure when he said to the protesters, keep protesting, help is on the way. You got to watch that right now.

Alayna, thank you very much. John? No, I'm going to take it.

A Florida couple is now suing a fertility clinic after DNA tests revealed their child is not biologically theirs.

And there are new reports, the FBI is investigating the death of the former Indianapolis Colts owner, Jim Irsay. The new details now coming in.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

BERMAN: All right. With snow much snow coming about, the only thing to do is stay inside and watch football. Thankfully, we've got some good games this weekend, including -- I don't know why we're showing the Broncos here -- including one involving the New England Patriots, Andy.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Yes. I mean, it must be so nice to be a Patriots fan like you. I mean, my Texas have never made an AFC championship. Here, you are seeing your Pats in the game for the 14th time this century. But this will be the first time you get to watch them with second year Quarterback Drake Maye in charge. Yesterday he was named finalist for MVP this season. He is going to be facing off against Bronco's backup quarterback, Jarrett Stidham.

So, Denver Starter Bo Nix broke his ankle at the end of that win over the bill. So, Stidham, who hasn't taken a meaningful NFL snap in two years, is going to play for a shot at the Super Bowl. The Patriots, they drafted the 29-year-old and actually wanted to sign him this off season before he decided to return to Denver. Instead of him, despite the lack of playing time, says he's ready for the moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JARRETT STIDHAM, DENVER BRONCOS QUARTERBACK: I'm not treating it any differently. I'm not treating my preparation any differently. I'm just going to go out there and play and be myself. I think that's the biggest thing, is, you know, I'm not going to try to be somebody that I'm not, and I know how I can play and I know the kind of guys I got around me and the kind of team that we have. So, we all just have to play within ourselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: All right. In the NFC Championship, we've got the rubber match between the Rams and Seahawks. These two split the season series with the two games decided by a total of three points. MVP favorite Matthew Stafford says he's ready for what's going to be a raucous atmosphere in Seattle.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MATTHEW STAFFORD, L.A. RAMS QUARTERBACK: It is always a great environment, excuse me, great environment. Their fans do a great job. It's a big test playing against their team. We look forward to the opportunity. We're present in understanding what this one means, but at the same time, just attacking it like every other week.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: All right. The AFC championship will kick things off Sunday at 3:00 Eastern.

The FBI meanwhile is investigating the death of Colt's owner Jim Irsay and the potential involvement of a California addiction specialist who reportedly provided him with prescription pills and ketamine in the final months of his life.

[07:25:01]

That's according to The Washington Post.

Irsay, who had a long battle with addiction, died in May at 65 from what was described as cardiac arrest. According to the FBI probe, they're seeking more information on Irsay's relationship with the California doctor who the Post says was staying at the same hotel as Irsay in Beverly Hills when he passed.

All right, and, finally, U.S. soccer star Trinity Rodman making history yesterday becoming the highest paid women's soccer player in the world. Her agent tells ESPN the deal with the NWSL's Washington Spirit is worth more than $2 million annually. Rodman calls the signing a monumental and game changing moment.

So, Berman, pretty cool that she's going to be staying in the U.S. to play soccer. A lot of European teams wanted to sign Rodman, but the NWSL actually made a new rule that teams can sign players for over the cap to keep the really good women's players here in the country playing in the league.

BERMAN: Look, it's great that she's staying because she's a fantastic, fantastic player.

All right, Andy Scholes, great to see you. Enjoy the football this weekend. I hope I will.

All right, new forecast coming in, snow totals in timing for one of the most dangerous storms in years. Stay with us for that.

And we are standing by to see alleged UnitedHealthcare CEO killer Luigi Mangione in court this morning. A judge is weighing if evidence in his backpack was illegally seized.

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[07:30:00]