Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Senate Democrats Threaten Partial Shutdown Over DHS Funding; Walz Meets With Border Czar as Two Agree to Ongoing Dialog; Democrats Demand Sen. Thune Strip DHS Funding From Spending Package; Winter Storm Death Toll Rises; TikTok Accused of Censoring Users; Trump Says He Does Not Think Pretti Was an Assassin, Contradicting Top Aide. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired January 27, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": And a new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

We're getting a look at some new videos from different vantage points of the moments before and also right after the deadly shooting of V.A. Nurse, Alex Pretti, and we're going to take you through them. Plus, shutdown the sequel, a second government shutdown looking more likely as Democrats demand more accountability for ICE and Border Patrol in the wake of these fatal shootings.

Plus, the death toll from an extreme winter storm is rising as the deep cold lingers while thousands of households are without power. We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

We begin with Breaking News in the shooting death of Alex Pretti involving federal agents. President Trump's Border Czar, Tom Homan is in Minneapolis now replacing Border Patrol Chief, Greg Bovino, as the new point person on the ground there. The president just a short time ago saying Homan met with Minnesota Governor, Tim Walz and later today, he is going to meet with Minneapolis Mayor, Jacob Frey.

Earlier, Walz's office released a statement that said Homan "agreed" to work on the governor's goals of reducing federal agents in Minnesota and ending what Walz's office called a "campaign of retribution." The meetings are happening as we're now getting more video of what happened in the minutes before and also right after Alex Pretti's fatal encounter with DHS officials. And we have CNN's Tom Foreman with us now to break down exactly what these videos show. Take us through what we're now seeing.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: As an overview, what these videos do, everyone that comes out seems to be making it worse and worse for the administration, what they've claimed about all this. Let's start with this video It's six, seven minutes before the shooting occurred and what story were told by eyewitnesses on the scene who've talked to CNN is that these agents were pursuing a man and he went into a business there that locked the door and they could not go in and get him. The protesters, as you'd see in video like this, were some distance away, videotaping this. You can hear whistles in the background very often as they're warning people that ICE is in the area. And then what happens, as you move through the video, is they start approaching the protesters across the street, including Alex Pretti. You see them with the teargas -- with the pepper spray or the irritant there in their hands ready. As they go across the street, one of the first encounters is one of these officers approaching Alex Pretti and he starts pushing him back And while that's happening, Pretti is saying to him, "Hey, Don't push me" and the guys seem to be saying something about him being in traffic. And Pretti is saying, I'm not in traffic. You're the one who's in traffic, coming over here to do this.

What you don't see here, Brianna, is what -- what has been described by officials that there was a riot underway. There's no sign of a riot there. There are a few people who are protesting. You do not see people charging the officers. You see the officers instead approaching the people there. And you certainly don't see any sign of anybody with any kind of a weapon, not Alex Pretti there for sure. He has his phone in his hand and nothing else. The officers are coming after him.

KEILAR: A lot of whistling.

FOREMAN: A lot of whistling, yeah.

KEILAR: Right? Hard to listen to.

FOREMAN: Sure. I'm sure it's -- I have no doubt.

KEILAR: Perfectly legal.

FOREMAN: I have no doubt that these officers are very upset --

KEILAR: Yeah.

FOREMAN: -- about being in that environment day in and day out. But that's what was leading up to this part of it.

KEILAR: Yeah, just to put it into context. It's important to sort of immerse yourself in the situation and see that.

FOREMAN: Yeah.

KEILAR: There's also new video of another altercation with another person in the street in front of Alex Pretti.

FOREMAN: Yeah, right. This is again the warm-up to this. Everyone's saying, well, what about context? This is part of the context, these minutes ahead of time, not a riot, just officers confronting these people who are doing something that they clearly didn't like. In this video, a person gets pushed to the ground which is repeated in this whole confrontation here. Alex Pretti can be heard sort of yelling out at one point. Hey, don't do that to her. Leave her alone.

But that's what he's doing. He's not over there trying to pull somebody away or do something else about it. And then, this progresses from there to the point where we get to the shooting and when you see the shooting video, what did we see? We saw Alex Pretti then pushed by these agents as they pushed this other person to the ground.

Pretti, who is a nurse, goes to the woman on the ground and his back is to them. He's put his hands up. There's no sign of him doing anything except trying to help this woman up. The agents drag him away from her and into the street. It's the agents grabbing him when he is doing nothing to them. He's trying to help this woman, then he's down on the ground. They all surround him and you can see the one they're hitting him in the head and then the shots ring out there, including shots that were taken when he was clearly down on the ground doing nothing.

So again, all this video makes it worse for them.

KEILAR: And are there other new moments that we're seeing after the shooting?

FOREMAN: One of the most painful, I mean, these are all painful videos to watch I think for many people, but one afterward shows Pretti on the ground and this is very difficult to watch.

[14:05:00]

I warn you ahead of time. And people on the sidewalk here saying, look, call an ambulance get some help to him. And essentially, what's happening is these officers keep saying, you stay away, you stay away. We've got it. We'll take care of it. This person is a paramedic and this goes on for quite some time.

You eventually see people over there doing what looks like they're trying to do CPR on Mr. Pretti on the ground here. Although, I will point out that one of the early complaints was that for a minute after he was shot, it seemed when you looked at the video, like what the ICE agents were mainly doing was looking at his wounds and trying to find the gun which one of their own had removed before the shooting took place. Maybe there are more details here, maybe there are things we still don't know, but this is why I say every video is doing more damage to the claims of the White House and ICE and of DHS because they point more and more to the idea that there wasn't a riot.

He was not assaulting officers. He did not have a weapon out. He wasn't brandishing it, and then he wound up dead on the ground, an American citizen who was, as you noted, exercising his rights.

KEILAR: Tom Foreman, these are all important views and it's really helpful to have you take us through them. Thank you very much.

Let's talk now more about what we're seeing in these videos with CNN Senior Correspondent, Josh Campbell. Josh, what stands out to you?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Well, as Tom mentioned there, it looks in these videos, you can see how upset these agents and officers are and you know, we should stipulate at the beginning that the use of force by law enforcement never looks good, right? I mean just inherently. But what we continue to see is not just the tactics at the moment that the shot was fired and then the subsequent shots, but if you back up the tape and you can see here in the video, they're shoving him. They're pushing him back.

At one point, you see these agents shove that woman to the ground. There's a big concern in law enforcement, if you're going to have people out there in these chaotic situations, that are carrying firearms on behalf of the state and can use deadly force, do they have the level head in this? Do they have the bearing? Do they have the discipline in order to try to do other things rather than just go straight to force?

And so, this is telling because we're seeing this kind of somewhat of a pattern in a lot of these videos that you see these agents, they're amped up. It's very, very aggressive at times. There have been instances when they themselves have been assaulted. But, this is just a kind of a feedback loop here that continues because the angrier they get, then the protesters get angrier, and certainly no good comes from that.

Final thing I'll note is that one thing I'm wondering as we look at these videos that Tom has played out, where in the world did the White House and DHS get the narrative that somehow Pretti was brandishing a weapon and was trying to massacre these agents? It either means they made it up because none of this information we've seen actually bears that out or there could be an even more serious question and that is possible candor issue on behalf of these agents.

Did they really tell their bosses that they saw him brandishing a weapon at them before they opened fire? Big questions both for those on the ground as well as senior leadership.

KEILAR: So, we're also learning more from a former patient of Pretti's. What can you share there, Josh?

CAMPBELL: Yeah, this is really critical new insight. There's been a question about why Alex Pretti was actually out there on the streets engaged in these protests. Obviously, there have been a lot of high tensions in Minneapolis throughout the course of this immigration surge. But this is somewhat chilling, this came from an interview our colleague, Kaitlan Collins did with a former V.A. patient who was actually treated by Alex Pretti. Take a listen here to the reason why he was out there that day. It was because of a prior shooting involving an ICE officer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARTA CROWNHART, DISABLE NAVY VETERAN: He told me about his protests that he did because he felt so strongly about how Renee could have died.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR: Do you remember what he said to you about her?

CROWNHART: He just knew that she was a good person from what he had heard and that she was killed for no good reason.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMPBELL: So again, I mean that's just critical insight about why he was out there was because of that last controversial shooting. And looking ahead, this is why we continue to hear from people there in Minneapolis why they are so angry and so long in their view that these tactics continue, they'll continue to be out there protesting. This doesn't seem to be ending anytime soon.

Obviously, the White House it seems is maybe trying to take the temperature down a little bit But we'll wait to see whether the actions actually reflect that.

KEILAR: Yeah, Josh. Thank you so much, Josh Campbell. The tense situation in Minnesota is setting up another potential government shutdown as soon as Friday. A House-passed Appropriations Bill is expected to come to the Senate floor on Thursday. It was supposed to pass, but now many Democrats are now demanding the DHS funds be stripped from the spending package in the wake of Alex Pretti's death.

CNN's Manu Raju is on the Hill for us.

[14:10:00]

Manu, it was just last week that seven House Democrats broke rank to pass this, some of them regretful now. Where does this stand?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, this seemed like to be on a glide path to passage to avert the second government shutdown of Donald Trump's second term. But now, there are real fears that this shutdown could happen and it could impact much of the federal government and how long it could last, another question altogether, all as a result of Alex Pretti's killing on Saturday and now demands by Democrats to change procedures when it comes to ICE and a call for the Senate Democratic leader to strip the funding from the Homeland Security funding which is part of a larger package that funds a whole wide range of other agencies from the Defense Department to Health and Human Services to the Labor Department.

Chuck Schumer, the Senate Democrat Leader, wants that pulled out of that package, the homeland security piece, because it includes funding for ICE, say fund the rest of the federal government and deal with that issue separately. But there's a procedural problem for that. You need all 100 Senators to agree to do that. Then you also need to deal with and they have an agreement on the policy, the policy, it is what has badly divided the two parties.

And just moments ago, Schumer arrived in the Capitol, talked to our colleague, Ellis Kim, and said that John Thune, the Senate Majority Leader, should separate out the homeland security funding and avoid a shutdown, and then work on reining it and reforming the Homeland Security Department. He would not explain what changes he wants to ICE as a condition for voting yes, but that is the real question right now, here in the Capitol.

Can they reach an agreement? Can they get Democrats to -- and Republicans to have any sort of accord on changing how ICE is being deployed across the country. If not, we could be experiencing yet another government shutdown that could last for some time. Brianna?

KEILAR: All right, Manu Raju, thank you so much for that.

Still to come, Republican lawmakers are beginning to balk at President Trump's immigration enforcement strategy as a once-winning issue is turning into a political liability for the White House. Plus, the death toll from the brutal winter storm rising to more than 25 as a deep freeze settles in and thousands of Americans still do not have power. Then later, TikTok accused of censorship after users said they were unable to upload certain videos, including content that criticizes the Trump administration.

We'll have that a much more coming up on "CNN News Central."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:16:45]

KEILAR: In the last hour, President Trump contradicted one of his top aides by saying that he does not believe Alex Pretti, the ICU nurse who was killed by federal agents, was an assassin. That's the term that his Deputy Chief of Staff, Stephen Miller used to describe Pretti hours after his death, a message that was reposted by Vice President, J.D. Vance. Let's go now to the White House. CNN's Kristen Holmes is there. Kristen, what more did the president say about what's been happening in Minnesota?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brianna, we heard him touch on a number of topics, including in particular the investigation, saying essentially, that he wanted to see everything that came out of this investigation, saying he wanted an honest investigation. The reason why this is notable is we have talked to a number of Republican lawmakers and allies of President Trump's who have all been saying that this needs to happen.

There needs to be an independent investigation. Of course, there are still questions as to whether or not the local police department is going to be allowed to participate in this investigation. But President Trump certainly seems to hear those calls from Republicans on having that kind of investigation. And interestingly, he defended his Department of Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: -- Kristi Noem should have stepped down?

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: No. I think she's doing a very good job. I think she's doing a very good job. The border is totally secure. You forget, we had a border that I inherited where millions of people were coming through. Now, we have a border where no one is coming through.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: Now, of course, these remarks come after Noem and her top aide, Corey Lewandowski, were in the Oval Office meeting with President Trump for more than two hours yesterday. We are told by sources that it was Noem who requested that face-to-face meeting after President Trump had announced that Border Czar, Tom Homan would be taking over in Minneapolis.

All of President Trump's advisers are saying that Kristi Noem is going to keep her job but it is clear she's moving out of the space of Minnesota, Minneapolis as we know the White House and those local officials in Minneapolis are trying to turn down the temperature. I will note, Homan is there on the ground. He's already met with Governor Walz and they both issued statements saying that it was a productive meeting.

KEILAR: All right. Kristen Holmes, thank you so much. Immigration, of course, has been a political strength for President Trump but it's becoming more of a liability after these shootings in Minneapolis of U.S. citizens. And the death of Alex Pretti has also put Trump's administration at odds with the National Rifle Association. Pretti had a gun in his waistband when federal agents confronted him with videos showing that he never brandished it towards officers, did not appear to even have it in his hand.

Listen to President Trump a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: You can't have guns. You can't walk in with guns. You just can't.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What about the Second Amendment?

TRUMP: You can't walk in with guns. You can't do that. It's just a very unfortunate incident.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Frank Luntz, Veteran Pollster and Communication Strategist is with us now. I wonder, Frank, how you think the administration is handling this Second Amendment rights issue, considering we'd heard from the FBI Director, Kash Patel suggesting that Pretti broke the law carrying a concealed gun at a protest, where you have gun rights advocates coming out and saying actually no, that's not how the Second Amendment works.

[14:20:00]

How are they handling this do you think?

FRANK LUNTZ, VETERAN POLLSTER AND COMMUNICATION STRATEGIST: I think it's all chaos and it's a tragedy that people have died in this process, that should not be dying during a protest. That we need to celebrate human life and that we're politicizing and polarizing on every single issue and every occurrence.

I think it's right to say that you don't bring a gun to a protest. I also think it's right that someone should not expect to be attacked, should not expect to lose their life. And I believe that instead of trying to lower the temperature levels, instead of trying to address legitimate issues about what people are doing in this country who are here legally, that they're trying to make political points and now people have died.

And we've had this conversation before, you and I, and I've said repeatedly that we're heading towards this kind of confrontation and we have to do better because the public expects better. They're not trying to support or oppose the president or a policy. In the end, we're just trying to get through the day and that's not what's happening in America right now.

KEILAR: How are you viewing this leadership change of this immigration operation. Gregory Bovino out; Homan is in. Is it a messaging change or do you think it's a real change?

LUNTZ: I think it is real change because human beings make the decisions, what policies to enforce, how to enforce them. If it's messaging, you're just changing the communications person. This may be real policy. But in the end, how do we prevent this from happening? That should be the number one result of this. How do we prevent Minneapolis from occurring? And Portland before that and places at the border before that. Los Angeles, for example. And instead, we're trying to shift blame.

We're trying to -- we're trying to politicize something that we should be bringing in common sense.

KEILAR: Minnesota Republican gubernatorial candidate, Chris Madel dropped out of the race and explained it in a quite thoughtful video. And he said he couldn't back Republican retribution in Minnesota. This is also what he told CNN's Erin Burnett when she asked why he felt this was a moral imperative.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS MADEL, DROPPED OUT OF MN GUBERNATORIAL RACE CITING GOP RETRIBUTION: I've talked to numerous people in my state that are getting pulled over because of the color of their skin, detained because of the color of their skin. I've got the federal government saying that they can raid a house on the basis of a Border Patrol Agent's signature as opposed to going to a neutral magistrate judge or Article 3 judge.

This is just unconstitutional. It's -- and more importantly than that, it's just wrong. And to try to dress that up and say that this is some sort of law enforcement maneuver, it's just not.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Now, Madel said he supported getting rid of the worst of the worst. But that he's watched this operation go beyond that, getting rid of so many people who are not public safety threats. Do you think he's striking the right tone?

LUNTZ: I think the American people believe in that. I think that they want the border secure. They want to be safe in their homes and in their neighborhoods. I believe that the American people do not want those who come here for the wrong reasons or come here in the wrong way to be here, but they don't want lives taken. They don't want this kind of instability and chaos that we see now in Minneapolis.

I just wish every side of this, I don't say both sides anymore because there are more than just two sides. I just wish that every side took into account this, the reality of the situation, and sought to de- escalate to resolve it, to solve it, to protect the security and the safety of every American, but at the same token, to be compassionate and understanding and find some other way other than shooting people to resolve the situation that we face right now. It's a common sense solution. That's the language that the president uses. It is language that he believes in.

I think we need to focus on that as we go forward, so that we don't create another Minneapolis in another city.

KEILAR: Frank, let's talk about how Democrats are messaging this, right? And certainly, I think they're not monolithic on this. You saw a number of them in the House vote for the funding bill that included funding for ICE. At least one now says he regrets that, essentially. But, now that you have Senate Democrats indicating they're going to hold up that funding. And yet, when you hold up that funding, you can also hold up funding for very popular parts of the government, not the least among them, the Coast Guard, right?

[14:25:00]

You've got that -- you've got House Minority Leader, Hakeem Jeffries saying Democrats are going to move forward with impeachment proceedings against Secretary Noem. I was speaking with Eric Swalwell yesterday. He said ICE should be completely crushed and reshaped. Oversight Ranking Member, Garcia, called for ICE to be abolished, that it's incapable of being reformed. Where do you see the line for Democrats of threading this needle on messaging and policy?

LUNTZ: A great question, show me your solution and don't try to score political points. This should not be the issue. Someone's death should not be the issue that you use to get yourself elected. And it should not be the issue that you use to divide yourself with the other political party.

I want to hear Republicans and Democrats -- and let me state this, Americans want to hear Republicans and Democrats sitting down in the same room at the same time and coming to some sort of consensus. It has to be there and we're not trying to achieve it right now. We're trying to escalate, so we a -- so it has an impact on the midterm elections. And that's exactly what should not be happening.

There needs to be people out there who are saying that our democracy is under threat, that we're seeing the breakdown of civil society in too many places, that people are now in jeopardy for their safety and their health and their security, and that we have to come together in some sort of alliance. I recognize the Democrats will never credit Donald Trump for doing anything and Donald Trump will -- he'll behave the same way.

And both sides need to stop, figure out what they can't get done together because we don't want another government shutdown. We don't want Washington to show that it cannot work. And we don't want Minneapolis to happen in another great American city.

KEILAR: Frank Luntz, thanks so much for being with us.

LUNTZ: Thank you.

KEILAR: Still to come, new threats in the days after this widespread winter storm that so many of us have been dealing with. What we're learning about lingering outages, travel disruptions and more dangerous cold that has settled in across the country. Then later, California's Governor, Gavin Newsom launching a probe into TikTok after claims that it censors critics of Trump and his immigration policies. We'll have that and much more coming up on "CNN News Central."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)