Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Border Patrol Chief Bovino to Leave Minneapolis Tomorrow; Police Chiefs Group Urges White House to Convene Meeting; Interview with Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-CA): House Security Committee Calls on DHS Officials to Testify. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired January 26, 2026 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: Well, according to Bank of America and Goldman Sachs, they're estimating that in 2026, this year alone, prices could go anywhere from $5,400 an ounce to $6,000 an ounce. And analysts have been telling me this is actually a really great time to sell and buy because the runway is just so long right now. And I know you're wondering, Brianna, should I go look at my jewelry box or my old silverware and think about maybe making a sale?

Well, actually, yes, you should, because so many people, I've spoken to are actually taking their little Ziploc bags of broken jewelry into pawnshops, into coin shops, thinking they may walk away with a couple hundred dollars. They're walking away with sometimes thousands of dollars. That is just how hot these metals are right now -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Wow. All right, Vanessa Yurkevich. Let's see.

We'll take our little baggies. My baggie doesn't have much in it, I'm going to be honest.

YURKEVICH: Let me know what you get.

KEILAR: Vanessa, thank you.

A group representing police chiefs wants to bring down the temperature between federal and local law enforcement. Its leader will join us live next.

[15:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: We have breaking news into CNN. Sources tell CNN that top Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino and some of his agents are expected to leave Minneapolis tomorrow. CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is in Washington with more of this.

So Priscilla, what are we learning? Because this is obviously a major development here on the ground.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, absolutely, Anderson. This really is a major shift in strategy here by the Trump administration. Recall, Gregory Bovino has been a key player in the Trump administration's immigration crackdown and became in many ways the public face of that crackdown across cities in the country, most recently, of course, in Minneapolis.

And we are now being told by sources that he is going to be departing Minneapolis with some of his Border Patrol agents tomorrow and going back to their respective sectors. What I mean by that is they will go back to their original offices as they had been deployed as part of this crackdown to his team. Now, we're also told that part of this has been influenced by the frustrations within the administration over the handling and the public response of Saturday's shooting.

So now the decision has been made to have Bovino leave Minneapolis. Of course, he has been a controversial figure in all of this. This doesn't mean, though, that all Border Patrol agents are leaving.

Some will stay to continue supporting Immigration and Customs Enforcement. But the face, the key player of this is going to be leaving the city tomorrow, according to sources -- Anderson.

COOPER: And very briefly, Priscilla, do you have any idea how many of his agents will be leaving with him? Because he kind of rolls deep with the coterie of folks around him. Is it just those people, or is it a larger number?

ALVAREZ: We're still trying to get a better sense of numbers, but numbers are always hard to come across. Because, of course, these are immigration enforcement operations, and they typically keep those close to the vest. But all the same, his agents still make up a good share of the Border Patrol agents on the ground.

So them leaving would certainly make a difference in the city of Minneapolis, or at least that is the intent here -- appearing to be the intent here.

COOPER: All right, Priscilla Alvarez, I appreciate it. Thank you very much.

The group representing the nation's police chiefs, they are asking for a meeting with the White House, the International Association of Chiefs of Police. They want to find what it calls a constructive path forward after Saturday's fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

The group is saying it is, quote, "... concerned by the ongoing challenge affecting public safety, law enforcement professionals, and the communities that they serve in."

I want to bring in, well, sorry -- the letter goes on to say that, "Periods of heightened tension place significant strain on public safety systems and underscore the need for stability, professionalism, and respect for constitutional principles."

David Rausch is the president of the International Association of Chiefs of Police. David, I appreciate you being with us. Have you received any response, first of all, from the White House? And what do you make of this news about the reassignment or the leaving of one of the top Border Patrol officials here?

DAVID RAUSCH, PRESIDENT, INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF CHIEFS OF POLICE: Thanks, Anderson. Thanks for having us. And just to make it clear, so the International Association of Chiefs of Police is an organization that is comprised, as you mentioned, of police chiefs, but police leaders literally from all over the world.

We have over 35,000 members. We represent 180 countries. About 10 percent of our membership is international.

The vast majority, though, are U.S. And we have had conversations over the past several weeks with our membership, and there's growing concern, obviously, with the incidents that are happening and the situations that are unfolding. And so as a result of that, we felt it was critical after the incident this weekend to make a call to the White House asking for a convening. They are in a unique position.

The president supports policing.

[15:40:00]

They're in a unique position to convene solely, to convene this type of gathering of law enforcement leaders from federal, state, and local to have these conversations about where we are and where we're going. We think it's critical to do so.

We are still awaiting direct communication out of the White House. We've had some conversation with contacts within the White House. We do understand that they have received our message, and so we're hopeful that they will reach out and set something up.

We've also received a lot of support, Anderson, from a number of other professional policing organizations who have contacted us after we sent out our message, and they all want to be part of this convening. So there is a great opportunity for us to bring calm and to have these conversations on how we set a path forward.

You know, you mentioned the current news that you just broke. Yes, go ahead.

COOPER: No, no, sorry. Go ahead. Yes, about Bovino.

RAUSCH: Yes, on the news going forward, I think there's, again, it's important as leaders that we tamper down the rhetoric, and so I think this is maybe a proper move in the right direction to show some movement in that direction. So I think it's a positive move to, you know, to step back and to provide an opportunity for calmer conversations.

COOPER: How important, obviously, is coordination, you know, in any situation between federal law enforcement and state or local law enforcement? Because clearly there is not that cooperation for a whole host of reasons. RAUSCH: Yes, Anderson, it's absolutely critical that we have collaboration. It happens all the time, right? We are always engaging with our federal partners, state and local, always working together to implement the efforts to keep our communities safe.

And so having these open, clear conversations and communication is vital for us. And so I think this, again, is a perfect example of an opportunity, a time where the White House, again, being in a absolute great position to be able to call all of us together so that we can have further conversation on where we are and where we need to be.

COOPER: David Rausch, I appreciate your time and will continue to follow up on that meeting when and if it takes place. Thank you.

Ahead, the heads of ICE and CPB are calling -- called to Capitol Hill to testify by the Republican chair of the House Homeland Security Committee.

We're going to talk to a member of that committee, next, and more on the breaking news about Gregory Bovino, the top border patrol official, leaving, we understand now, Minneapolis in the days ahead. We'll be right back.

[15:45:20]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Congress is now demanding answers in the wake of the deadly DHS shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. The Republican chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, Congressman Andrew Garbarino, is formally requesting that leaders from ICE, Customs and Border Protection, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration testify before a full panel hearing. That's something that could happen sometime next month or in March.

Democratic Congressman Eric Swalwell of California is with us now. He's a member of the House Homeland Security Committee. Congressman, this death of Alex Pretti over the weekend has elicited a different response from your Republican colleagues, especially in Congress, also in the White House, than that of Renee Good.

Why is that, do you think?

ERIC SWALWELL (D-CA), HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE: Because we saw this with our own eyes and you have a president and an administration who's telling us it didn't happen. You know, Brianna, conspiracy theorists said that September 11 was a hologram. Donald Trump said January 6 was peaceful.

ICE said that Renee Good was steering her wheel to the right and that Pretti was holding a gun that doesn't pass the test. So you can shove endless lies in our ears, but you can't shove one in our eyes. We cannot forget something we saw in 4K.

And so it's important to have a hearing and bring to account those responsible. KEILAR: Don't you think Republicans are responding differently to this than they did Renee Good?

SWALWELL: Yes. They're late to what accountability should look like, but I welcome it. And I've actually worked with Chairman Garbarino on a lot of issues on the Homeland Security Committee.

And we have to have every person responsible before the committee. But it's not just about having a hearing. It's about not funding another penny for masked thugs who are dragging women by their hair, who have deported a six-year-old child battling stage four cancer, and who chase our friends and neighbors through the fields and the factories where they work.

So I'm calling on the Senate to not give them another penny until this changes.

KEILAR: So let me ask you about that, because it appears that Senate Democrats are very much poised to do just that. Senate Democrats say they will no longer vote for a bill to fund a number of federal departments, which includes DHS, also includes a number of others, DOD, state, transportation, HUD, et cetera, without significant reforms to ICE. Senate Republicans, though, say they will not separate DHS funding.

You have Senate Democrats who want there to be reforms to ICE. What, then, do you think those reforms should look like? And how nuanced should Democrats be about it?

Is it about abolishing ICE? Is it about reforming ICE? How do you see it?

[15:50:00]

Sort of looking for change without getting rid of some of the policies that some Americans, many Americans, really endorse.

SWALWELL: Yes, well, Americans ask the president to get rid of the most violent people in our community, and instead, the overwhelming majority of people who have been deported are not criminals. And so I would say that what has to happen to crush the ICE that exists today is that the masks have come off. And these guys, they don't just wear these masks for their own anonymity.

They wear it for moral cover. And they hide their identities from us and their humanity from themselves. So their masks have to come off -- period.

They have to focus on the most violent people in our communities. They have to identify themselves. They're terrorizing women right now.

And if they don't do that, we're going to see the loss of another nurse named Pretti and a mom named Good.

KEILAR: How do you do that without throwing out everything, though? Because there are clear policies here. The border numbers that Trump has achieved, that's something, obviously, that Americans are in favor of, even if they aren't in favor of the tactics that we're seeing in the city.

How do you thread that needle and make sure you're not turning people off and you're actually listening to people on the wall picture?

SWALWELL: Americans want border security, Brianna. You're absolutely right. And I support that.

And having resources at the border and having more asylum judges, you know, to process the outstanding cases, absolutely. We should keep doing that. But this is about what's happening inside our country.

And this ICE, as it exists, is unworkable. And so my advice to ICE, frankly, is quit. Walk away.

Do it now before you shoot in the face another mom of three. This ICE is unworkable. And it needs to be completely crushed and reshaped with a mission that goes after the most violent, unmasked, and identification out.

KEILAR: Seven of your Democratic colleagues in the House voted to pass the funding bill in the House last week. That's a vote that happened before the Pretti death. After the killing of Renee Good, though, one of them, Tom Suozzi, is now saying that he, quote, failed to view the DHS funding vote as a referendum on the illegal and immoral conduct of ICE in Minneapolis.

You did not. I wonder what you think about what he's saying there.

SWALWELL: I really appreciate what Tom Suozzi is saying. He listened to his constituents. He saw a public execution.

And he's doing the right thing now. And that's all we ask people to do is, as a parent of three little kids, I tell them that all you can do is the next right thing. And so to my Republican colleagues, the next right thing is to no longer give these guys a penny to roam our streets in a masked way, shooting innocent people in the face, taking loved ones away from their families.

We can't continue to do that. That's why this hearing is so important. And that's why I welcome anyone who wants to change the position they were in and build a coalition that brings accountability.

KEILAR: Congressman Eric Swalwell, thank you so much for being with us.

And ahead, thousands of flights canceled today after this monster winter storm. We've got your update next.

[15:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: The aftermath of this weekend's blockbuster winter storm is snarling travel at airports across the country. CNN Aviation correspondent Pete Muntean is at Reagan National Airport outside of D.C. He's working hard. I'm working hard.

You know who I think wants to work hard but cannot because he can't get back is one Boris Sanchez. So how's he doing? Is he and all the other people, are they going to be able to get moving soon?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: I feel sometimes like the CNN anchor travel hotline. I've already heard from Boris and whether or not he's going to make it back. I've done a personal consult part of the package that I offer to my friends at CNN.

And the good news here is I think he is going to make it. The bad news is the delays for flights into DCA. Just checked the FAA status page. That's what I was doing a second ago.

Averaging about four hours to get in here. And I'm going to show you why. This is all of the snow and ice that is out here on the tarmac and the ramp.

You can see the big mounds in the foreground there. That's the C concourse over on the right. The D concourse over on the left.

Some more planes have come in here although it has been a very slow go. And D.C. is one of the top airports for cancellations right now. That was cause. This is the effect.

These are all the folks who have been waiting in line here at the American Airlines ticket counter to try and reschedule their flights that have been canceled or delayed. And the numbers today keep going up and up. Here's the delay board.

We had a hard time finding pretty much anything on here that was on time today. The yellow is delayed. The orange is red. That is a canceled flight. We've seen about 60 percent of flights to Boston, out of Boston, canceled today.

All the New York airports are especially hard hit today. We're at 5,000 cancellations nationwide right now. About halfway to where we were yesterday, which was one of the worst days for air travel since the pandemic decimated the airlines.

That was about 11,600 cancellations yesterday.

[16:00:00]

A really tough go. I'd love to be saying that airlines are in recovery mode, although we're still not totally there yet -- Brianna.

KEILAR: All right. Well, we'll be watching. And hopefully, I mean, we, me and Boris, will be back here tomorrow with you, Pete Muntean from Reagan Airport. Thank you so much.

And "THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now.

END