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White House Holds Press Briefing; Outrage Building Over Fatal Shooting in Minnesota. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired January 26, 2026 - 13:00   ET

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

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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Fighting the crackdown. Today, Minnesota officials are battling the administration in court to restrict ICE operations in the state, as we're learning the president's border czar is heading now to Minneapolis.

We're standing by for the first White House press briefing since the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti.

And a winter storm dumping snow across the Northeast and coating parts of the south in ice, causing devastating damage and power outages that could last for days.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

Our breaking news, the White House is about to hold its first press briefing since the shooting death of Alex Pretti during a violent encounter with federal agents in Minneapolis. Outrage is building on the streets as two legal battles are playing out in the courtroom, battles that could have major ramifications for the administration's immigration crackdown in the state.

Moments ago, Minnesota Governor Tim Walz said he spoke with President Trump, Walz saying the president agreed to consider reducing the number of agents in Minnesota. And we're learning, hours from now, the president's border czar, Tom Homan, is going to be taking over ICE operations there.

CNN anchor Anderson Cooper is in Minneapolis with the latest from the ground -- Anderson.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Yes, Brianna, thanks very much. Appreciate it.

As we await this briefing, I want to just remind everyone some of the claims and, frankly, some of the lies that we have heard over the past two days from high-level members of the Trump administration, most notably from the head of the Department of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem. Now, the DHS first claimed that Pretti was intent on engaging in

domestic terrorism. They said he -- quote -- "approached federal agents with a handgun." That was misleading, at best. It implied he was brandishing a weapon. He wasn't. He had a cell phone in his hand. He had a license, according to the police chief, here to carry a gun, but it was not in his hand and there's no evidence he ever attempted to withdraw it.

Now, the officials saying that he -- quote -- "wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement." Again, they have presented no evidence of that. And the video evidence certainly does not show that. It shows him trying to assist two women being violently shoved by Border Patrol officers.

Now, here's what multiple videos show. We want to warn you they are, of course, disturbing. First of all, you can see Pretti here with a cell phone in his right-hand. He appears to be filming federal agents as he waves for cars to pass with his left hand. His left hand is empty.

Pretti eventually does appear to walk toward agents while filming. Then the video briefly points toward the ground. Now, at this point, you will see an agent shove a woman near Pretti and then begin spraying Pretti with a chemical agent. He appears to try to either shield or check on the woman, when the agent pulls him away and several other agents then pin him to the ground.

An agent in a gray jacket approaches Pretti, reaches for his waistband, pulls a gun off of Pretti before a single shot is fired. Here's that same moment from a second angle. You can see the agent in gray has the gun, which Pretti never appears to have removed from where it was on his body, meaning not only was Pretti never brandishing that weapon; he was disarmed by federal agents before he was actually shot.

I'm joined now by CNN law enforcement correspondent Whitney Wild, who's been following a number of key legal battles happening today as Minnesota officials fight back against the Trump administration.

First of all, Whitney, I just want to -- on that video, as you reported, five shots were fired into the body of Alex Pretti when he was lying on the ground after he had already been shot multiple times.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, we have pressed Commander Greg Bovino -- he was in a press conference yesterday -- about whether Alex Pretti was armed when he was shot. There is a question about the number of shots. There is also a question about what is reasonable.

Why did some agents fire and other agents didn't fire?

COOPER: Right. It appears there were 10 shots at all.

WILD: Right.

COOPER: And it appears he was disarmed before any shot was actually fired.

WILD: Right.

And what we have seen over and over is, when confronted with a fact that may be inconvenient for the administration, they say, well, that's up to the investigation. We'll have -- the investigation will have to play out. And so we can...

COOPER: Right. They say, well, look, we're not going to get ahead of the investigation.

WILD: Right.

COOPER: But, in fact, they got ahead of the investigation in the hours immediately after this man was shot to death.

WILD: I asked Greg Bovino that very question yesterday. I mean, there's only two outcomes, right? It's a good shooting or it's a bad shooting.

And so we pressed Commander Bovino yesterday if he would even concede that it's possible this was a bad shooting. And when I asked him that, I said, is it possible this is a bad shooting, or have you already made the conclusion for yourself that this was justified? He said he hadn't concluded anything.

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But you hear him make conclusory statements otherwise.

COOPER: Yes.

WILD: And so when it -- when a fact is inconvenient, the administration says that it's up to the investigation to iron out the details.

COOPER: And we heard that from Bovino and from Kristi Noem, that line as well.

What are the hearings that we're watching today?

WILD: So, there are dueling hearings. They're extremely important because they're novel.

The first hearing today is Minnesota versus the Trump administration. And what they are arguing here is that Operation Metro Surge is punitive by the Department of Homeland Security and by the Trump administration's own admission. They say that this goes well beyond what is permissible. There are so many agents, it is so invasive, it is so aggressive that it is meant to be punishment for the policies here in the state of Minnesota.

A judge, however, was skeptical of some of those arguments. And so now this is going to be a window into exactly how many agents are here. She is not making a ruling immediately. She's going to allow DOJ to make its argument, Minnesota to make their best argument, and then work through the details of that. So, we may see an opinion in coming days.

The hearing later today also novel. We do not normally see law enforcement battle in the courts over the evidence. So what we're seeing here is local officials filing and appealing to a federal judge to maintain the integrity of the evidence that was collected by federal officials.

What we know about this investigation is that federal officials took complete control of this shooting immediately. BCA was not able to process the scene, even though they had a warrant. BCA is the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. That is the leading investigative agency.

COOPER: They would normally be involved in an officer-involved shooting.

WILD: They were the first two shootings here, in fact.

COOPER: Right.

WILD: And so this is a new issue here. And so local officials here are suing to ensure that federal law enforcement doesn't tamper or alter or destroy any of that evidence before they have a chance to look at it.

COOPER: Whitney, thanks.

We will continue to follow this -- Brianna, back to you.

KEILAR: All right, Anderson, thank you so much for taking us through that.

Sources tell CNN that Republican lawmakers are privately expressing relief that border czar Tom Homan will be taking over leadership of the immigration operations in Minnesota.

CNN White House correspondent Alayna Treene is with us now from the Briefing Room, where we're expecting a briefing any moment here.

Alayna, dispatching Tom Homan certainly seems to be signaling something significant.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, it's incredibly notable, Brianna.

And that's partly because -- and the president actually pointed this out in his TRUTH Social post this morning -- that Homan has not been the one leading these operations on the ground in Minnesota. Really, the face of these operations has been Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol commander at large, and also the secretary of homeland security, Kristi Noem.

And both of them have been publicly out there, aggressively defending ICE throughout all of this, and that's part of this. Now, to go back to what you were saying about some of these lawmakers that our colleague Kristen Holmes has been talking to, they're saying that they look at Homan as kind of the grownup in this situation, and that they're relieved, is what they have been telling her, that he is going to Minnesota.

We did hear from the White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, this morning, saying that he is going to be managing the operations on the ground in Minneapolis once he is sent there, so, again, very notable.

And I should note here some context as well. We know that Homan, despite him being someone who has pushed some of the most hard-line immigration policies in this administration, many people view him as being less hard-line on some of this than Bovino and Noem.

And I should also note as well that we have reported that Homan and Noem have clashed many times in the past. They have been at odds at times over how to handle the administration's crackdown for immigration, and so a lot of big changes here. We're going to have to see if this is really a wider strategy shift that the president is doing by sending him and what this could mean for both Bovino and Noem.

KEILAR: Yes, and talk a little bit about the rhetoric here, because, notably, President Trump has not gone as far as Kristi Noem did this weekend.

TREENE: He hasn't, and not just Kristi Noem, I should say.

We heard Noem was the one who said that he had brandished -- that Alex Pretti had brandished his gun. She also kind of compared him to making a domestic -- to being a domestic terrorist. We heard the same, though, we heard similar language from Stephen Miller, the president's homeland security adviser. We also heard from Bovino, saying essentially that Pretti was trying to assassinate and massacre the agents on the ground.

But I want you to listen to what we actually heard from the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, this morning. He was speaking to FOX News and arguing essentially that no one is trying to make the case that Pretti was a domestic terrorist. Listen.

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TODD BLANCHE, U.S. DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: I don't think anybody thinks that they were comparing what happened on Saturday to the legal definition of domestic terrorism. What we saw was a very violent altercation.

KRISTI NOEM, U.S. HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: When you perpetuate violence against a government because of ideological reasons and for reasons to resist and perpetuate violence, that is the definition of domestic terrorism.

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This individual who came with weapons and ammunition to stop a law enforcement operation of federal law enforcement officers committed an act of domestic terrorism. That's the facts.

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TREENE: So, clearly, what Blanche was saying is not in line with what you just heard there from Noem during that press conference on Saturday.

Look, there are so many questions still that people are going to need answers for. We're hoping to get some of them soon when Karoline Leavitt comes out here, many of them being, why jump to these conclusions before the investigation has -- actually be conducted, what evidence do they have for making some of these sweeping statements and so much more.

So, stay tuned for that, Brianna.

KEILAR: Yes.

And with all of these different approaches rhetorically that we're hearing from administration officials, this is going to be critical, what we hear from Karoline Leavitt. So, glad that you were there to monitor that for us, Alayna, and we will be taking it as soon as it begins.

In the meantime, Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison just spoke moments ago after leaving court in one of these two hearings that's happening today. Let's listen in.

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KEITH ELLISON (D), MINNESOTA ATTORNEY GENERAL: This is the single largest deployment of immigration officers in one place at one time in a state that is not even in the top of immigration. What justifies this disproportionate flood?

Nothing legitimate. But the president is being clear. Retribution. He's been clear. He's going to -- we didn't vote for him. He was really salty about that. And it's unjustified and illegal. And we are praying for the relief that we, that the state of Minnesota needs from the court. And I want to thank the court for listening so carefully. And I just want to thank all of the lawyers and all the staff.

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KEILAR: All right, that is the attorney general of Minnesota, Keith Ellison. The state has been arguing against the Trump administration here that this operation, this huge immigration operation, Operation Metro Surge, is actually punitive.

And you heard him outline the reasons that he thinks it is punitive, a judge appearing to be skeptical of some of those arguments, so we are still waiting to see ultimately what comes of that.

But, in the meantime, we are going to stand by for this White House press briefing. It is the first since the shooting death of Veterans Affairs nurse Alex Pretti. And this is going to be a critical moment in this particular story, so we are watching that. It was set to begin about 12 minutes ago. This should be happening any moment now. Plus, nearly a million Americans are without power today, and subzero

windchill, that is only going to make things worse -- the latest forecast.

We have much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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KEILAR: We're standing by to hear from the White House press secretary, this press briefing set to begin any moment now, so we will bring that to you as soon as it begins.

So far, Trump administration officials have declined to provide critical details to support their claim that federal agents shot ICU nurse Alex Pretti in self-defense. In fact, a new CNN analysis of videos taken by witnesses at the scene almost completely contradicts the administration's account.

CNN's Tom Foreman is with us now on this.

Tom, what more is the administration saying about this shooting and what can we see?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: They have largely stuck with the line of saying, this is the gun that they tweeted out almost immediately, this notion that this was a massacre in the making, an individual approached with a semiautomatic handgun, as we heard, also referred to it as brandishing it.

And Stephen Miller called this person a would-be assassin. So they have really stuck to that line. Even as they have tried to hedge back from it, they keep returning to it, Bri.

KEILAR: And what does the video show in the lead-up to the shooting?

FOREMAN: The video shows the exact opposite, if you look at this.

If you look at Pretti's hands here, they say he was brandishing a weapon. In the video, you see him with a phone in his hand and nothing else at any point. There is no brandishing of any weapon here. You see him not going forward and violently attacking these officers. To the contrary, you see him backing away from the officers as they approach and attack him.

Not only that. When you see him trying to help this woman who gets shoved to the ground, he goes to the woman, and the officers pepper- spray him, and then they drag him back into the conflict, even as he's trying to get away.

KEILAR: And the video -- actually, stand by, Tom.

Let's go to the White House press briefing.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS) KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: ... snow day for the

rest of the government in the country.

And as much of the country feels the impacts of that winter storm, President Trump continues to monitor the situation closely and he has remained in constant contact with FEMA and emergency responders.

President Trump also quickly approved 12 federal emergency disaster declarations within 24 hours for the states of Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, and West Virginia, enabling these states to access critical federal resources to supplement their response efforts if needed.

These declarations will help state-led efforts of turning power back on, clearing roads for emergency services and keeping communities safe. The White House will continue to correspond directly with governors and local officials in the coming days, especially in those states that were harshly impacted by this storm.

I would also like to address the chaotic scenes in Minnesota over the weekend. Nobody in the White House, including President Trump, wants to see people getting hurt or killed in America's streets. This includes Renee Good, Alex Pretti, the brave men and women of federal law enforcement, and the many Americans who have been victimized at the hands of illegal alien criminals.

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Saturday's shooting remains under active investigation by Homeland Security Investigations and the FBI. The Customs and Border Protection is also conducting their own internal review.

As President Trump said yesterday, the administration is reviewing everything with respect to the shooting and we will let that investigation play out.

But let's be clear about the circumstances which led to that moment on Saturday. This tragedy occurred as a result of a deliberate and hostile resistance by Democrat leaders in Minnesota. For weeks, Governor Walz and the mayor, Jacob Frey, and other elected Democrats were spreading lies about federal law enforcement officers, who are risking their lives daily to remove the worst criminal illegal aliens from our streets, murderers, rapists, pedophiles, human traffickers and gang members.

Governor Walz and Mayor Frey have shamefully blocked local and state police from cooperating with ICE, actively inhibiting efforts to arrest violent criminals. They have also used their platforms to encourage left-wing agitators to stalk, record, confront and obstruct federal officers who are just trying to lawfully perform their duties, which has created dangerous situations, threatening both these officers and the general public and Minnesotans alike.

This is precisely what unfolded in Minneapolis on Saturday morning. Obstructing federal law enforcement and inciting violence against officers is wrong and illegal. This used to be a universally accepted position in the United States.

Amid the hysteria, we must remember how we got here to this moment today and what this Democrat opposition is about. Former President Joe Biden and the Democrats opened America's borders for four years, inviting tens of millions of illegal aliens from all over the world to flood into our country, among them, violent criminals who terrorized American communities and have inflicted devastating, permanent pain and harm on law-abiding Americans and their families.

Yet we never saw outrage from Democrats or their allies in the liberal media over these horrifying crimes against U.S. citizens. The pain of American Angel families was ignored and dismissed because it undermined the Democrat narrative.

Innocent Americans like Jocelyn Nungaray, Laken Riley, and Rachel Morin are just a few of the many victims savagely murdered by illegal alien criminals. Earlier this month, an illegal alien from Mexico with a long criminal history who came into our country under Joe Biden's administration threw a baseball-sized stone at a school bus carrying children in New Jersey and fractured the skull of an 8-year-old innocent child.

President Trump promised accountability to these American families by securing the border, deporting every illegal alien who has committed crimes, especially and most importantly violent crimes. Nearly 80 million Americans voted for him to deliver on that very promise, and he is.

As the duly elected president, the president is fulfilling the will of the people by arresting and removing these threats from our country in cities from Los Angeles to New York and, yes, Minneapolis. Yet Democrat leaders in Minnesota with sanctuary city policies have actively defied federal immigration law and the will of the people.

And, as a result of that defiance, two Minnesotans have now tragically lost their lives on the streets of Tim Walz's state. It is President Trump's hope and wish and demand for the resistance and chaos to end today. That's why President Trump spoke with Governor Walz directly this morning, and he has outlined a clear and simple path to restoring law and order in Minnesota.

Number one, Governor Walz, Mayor Frey and all Democrat leaders should turn over all criminal illegal aliens currently incarcerated in their prisons and jails to federal authorities, along with any illegal aliens with active warrants or known criminal histories for immediate deportation.

Number two, state and local law enforcement must agree to turn over all illegal aliens who are arrested by local police. And then, thirdly, local police must assist federal law enforcement in apprehending and detaining illegal aliens who are wanted for crimes, especially violent crimes.

If Governor Walz and Mayor Frey implement these commonsense, cooperative measures that I will add have already been implemented in nearly every single other state across the country, Customs and Border Patrol will not be needed to support ICE on the ground in Minnesota.

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ICE and local law enforcement can peacefully work together, as they are effectively doing in so many other states and jurisdictions.

Additionally, President Trump is calling on the United States Congress to immediately pass legislation ending sanctuary cities once and for all. American cities should be safe sanctuaries for law-abiding citizens only, not for dangerous illegal alien criminals who broke our nation's laws and do not belong here.

We hope Governor Walz will continue -- will do the right thing and continue to work with President Trump to keep the American people safe following their call this morning. Americans overwhelmingly want exactly what President Trump is delivering, strong borders and strict immigration enforcement against the worst illegal aliens, of which there are still hundreds of thousands to deport from the interior of our country.

The most peaceful way to carry out this vital public safety mission is for Republicans and Democrats to do it together and for state and local law enforcement to work together with federal law enforcement. We want to let cops be cops.

You wouldn't know this continues to be a very popular policy position from the biased media coverage over the course of the last few days. But polling shows huge support for this exact thing President Trump is calling for. More than 80 percent of Americans favor deporting illegal aliens convicted of violent crimes.

A country unable to deport criminals who enter it illegally is no country at all. The open borders agenda of Kamala Harris, Tim Walz, and the Democrats was already on the ballot on November 5, 2024, and it was resoundingly rejected.

President Trump will never back down from his promise to deport violent criminal illegal aliens and make America safe again, and he welcomes all cooperation in that effort.

With that, I will answer your questions.

And, Jordan Conradson, why don't you kick us off today? Thank you for being here.

QUESTION: Thank you, Karoline. Jordan Conradson from Gateway Pundit.

I have a few questions. First, with respect to the shooting in Minneapolis, we're seeing massive outrage from mainstream media and the left, but I'm just wondering, where was that outrage when Ashli Babbitt, an Air Force veteran, was executed by Capitol Police officer Michael Byrd, who she posed no threat to in the U.S. Capitol?

LEAVITT: Well, you raised a very important point, which I also believed I just raised as well in those opening remarks, in that there has no doubt been selective outrage by the liberal, biased media in picking and choosing victims and highlighting their stories.

And, as I have said, President Trump does not want any Americans to lose their lives in the streets of America and in American communities across the country. He believes what happened on Saturday is a tragedy. But every life is equal to President Trump, and that's why the lives of Laken Riley and Jocelyn Nungaray continue to matter to him and be of utmost priority to him to this very day.

And it's unfortunate that we did not see the same type of sensationalist media coverage over the tragic deaths of those innocent American women and girls across the country as we are in the wake of this tragedy that took place on Saturday.

Gabe.

(CROSSTALK)

LEAVITT: Sure, go ahead. And then I will go to Gabe.

QUESTION: I want to get your response to this. The Arizona attorney general just days before this shooting in Minneapolis, she seemingly encouraged rioters to go out and shoot and kill ICE agents.

And I will quote her here. She said: "If you reasonably believe your life is in danger and you're in the house or in your car or on your property, you can defend yourself with lethal force." She said that you can't tell if ICE agents are law enforcement or impostors.

And it becomes an issue of whether you reasonably believed they were law enforcement. Do you have a response to that? And does the White House believe that she should be held accountable for these remarks?

LEAVITT: Well, such dangerous rhetoric, as I pointed out, is exactly what has brought us to this position today, where you have elected Democrat officials across the country who are encouraging left-wing agitators and crazy people to go out and unlawfully obstruct lawful immigration enforcement.

Again, these brave men and women of ICE and Border Patrol and the federal enforcement are just trying to do their jobs to enforce our nation's immigration laws and to go after the worst of the worst in this country. I would encourage everyone in this room and I would encourage the Arizona attorney general to look at the video of an ICE agent in Minneapolis.

He was approached by left-wing agitators who were honking their horns and were screaming slurs at him, and he rolled down his window and he said, what are you doing? I am out here trying to catch a child predator, somebody who has convicted crimes against an innocent child, and you are trying to obstruct me from doing my job.

This rhetoric against ICE, comparing them to Nazi Gestapo, Donald Trump's police force, is despicable, it is shameful, and it is precisely what has led to the escalation of tensions in Minneapolis and in other places across the country.

Gabe, go ahead.

QUESTION: Should the DOJ be looking at her for justifying violence?

(CROSSTALK)

LEAVITT: I would defer you to the Department of Justice on that.

QUESTION: Thank -- thank you, Karoline.

LEAVITT: Gabe.