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NTSB Chair: DC Midair Crash 100 Percent Preventable; Family, Friends, Coworkers Honor ICU Nurse Alex Pretti; Interview with Rep. Jason Crow (D-CO): House Democrats Ramp Up Effort to Impeach Kristi Noem; Senate Democrats Threaten Partial Shutdown Over DHS Funding; Iran's Leadership Sends Defiant Warning to U.S. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired January 27, 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]

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: ... involving airplanes and helicopters near Reagan National Airport every year. The NTSB also said the data shows that half of all helicopters flying on that special helicopter route on the east side of Reagan National Airport violated altitude restrictions on that route at least once when they were on that route. NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy says the data was there, but simply nobody was listening.

Essentially, the FAA was ignoring it. Listen to what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER HOMENDY, NTSB CHAIRWOMAN: We should be angry because for years no one listened. This was preventable. This was 100 percent preventable.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: The NTSB is also laying out cultural problems in Army aviation. Whether or not they respected the boundaries of the airspace that was laid out by the FAA. But the big problem here that NTSB chair Jennifer Homendy has laid out is the distance between the approach paths of airplanes going into runway 33 there at Reagan National Airport and the helicopter route below it.

That was designed by the FAA and investigators here have said at the maximum the clearance between those two routes was only 75 feet. I also want to show you this very sobering new image just released by the NTSB. And in it you can see part of the rotor blade, the main rotor blade of that UH-60 Army Blackhawk helicopter lodged in the side of the fuselage of American Eagle Flight 5342.

Today for the first time we learned that that collision with the main rotor blade occurred with the left wing of the plane. The plane was in a left turn. The helicopter was coming from the right side.

Meaning that these two aircraft just barely clipped each other. A very devastating reminder of this accident waiting to happen.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: That is so devastating for all of these families. Pete Muntean, thank you so much.

And ahead, many are braving frigid temperatures to pay their respects at a makeshift memorial for Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. How friends, family and former patients are remembering him next.

[15:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: This just in, a federal judge has ruled that a Minnesota 5- year-old who was detained in Texas with his father cannot be imminently deported. Liam Conejo Ramos was taken away from his family's suburban Minneapolis driveway last week after federal agents apprehended his father, Adrian Alexander Conejo Arias.

The Department of Homeland Security says that Liam's father is an illegal alien from Ecuador and that agents took the boy with them after the father said he wanted Liam to stay with him. But an attorney for Liam's family says Conejo committed no crimes and followed all the established protocols for legally seeking asylum in the U.S.

President Trump now vowing to personally watch over the investigation into the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by a federal agent in Minnesota. Telling reporters that he wants a, quote, honorable and honest investigation and that he's going to oversee it himself.

We're learning some more now about who Alex Pretti was. CNN's Sara Sidner is at a growing memorial dedicated to him in Minneapolis. Sara, tell us a little bit about where you are and about Pretti.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR AND SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Family, friends and people who have been protesting in his name feel the government has completely smeared his name. And so what they have been trying to do is show people who Alex Pretti really was. They're showing it with their notes, cards, candles and some messages to him as well as a stethoscope because he was an ICU nurse at the Veterans Hospital.

Here's what the people who knew him say about who he was and how he lived his life.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER (voice-over): 37-year-old Alex Pretti was an ICU nurse. His job involved treating critically ill patients at the Minneapolis Veterans Medical Center.

ALEX PRETTI, ICU NURSE SHOT BY ICE: May we never forget and always remember our brothers and sisters who have served so that we may enjoy the gift of freedom.

SIDNER (voice-over): That's him giving tribute to a veteran who died. A chaplain who worked alongside him for 10 years at the VA hospital spoke of him in a Sunday service.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: He was known for his kindness and gentleness. SIDNER (voice-over): Border Patrol agents shot Pretti multiple times, his body slumping dead on the pavement on Saturday. Friends say in video shows he was trying to protect a woman agents were shoving as Border Patrol agents came to the neighborhood hunting someone else.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Absolutely he was standing up for someone.

SIDNER (voice-over): Pretti's friends and neighbors say he began protesting ICE actions after an ICE agent killed Renee Good during her encounter with ICE.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Alex that I want the world to remember was out on the streets yesterday with 50,000 people on general strike in a mass nonviolent protest.

SIDNER (voice-over): Pretti grew up in Green Bay, Wisconsin. He was a Boy Scout, sang in the Green Bay Boys Choir, and played football, baseball, and ran track at Preble High School.

PATRICK STUMBRAS, FORMER CLASSMATE OF ALEX PRETTI: A lot of people had a lot of respect for him. An attack on Alex feels like an attack on all of us.

SIDNER (voice-over): His former high school classmate described him as someone with a zest for life.

STUMBRAS: I don't have words to describe the amount of rage that I have when he's described as a domestic terrorist. He was there to help people. He was there to spread a message of warmth and love in this country.

[15:40:00]

SIDNER (voice-over): He graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2011 with a degree in biology, society, and the environment. He was a research scientist before he became a registered nurse. He was an outdoorsman who also loved the theater and the arts.

His parents released a statement describing their son. "Alex," they said, "was a kind-hearted soul who cared deeply for his family and friends and also the American veterans whom he cared for. Alex wanted to make a difference in this world. Unfortunately, he will not be with us to see his impact."

A former teacher recalled he was a good student who loved helping people. "I'm not one bit surprised that his final act on this earth was to help a woman who had been viciously thrown to the ground."

CHRITOPHER DISALVI, FRIEND OF ALEX PRETTI: This is the guy who was trying to serve others, too. He was genuine. He was kind.

He was friendly to everybody that I know.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SIDNER (on camera): And just a few moments ago, we met the wife of a veteran whose life, she says, he saved because of the research that he was doing before he became an ICU nurse. Again and again, people here remembering the care that Alex Pretti showed to them, and they are furious about how he died. And the fact that the president is now saying that he is going to oversee this investigation, no one trusts him either -- Brianna.

KEILAR: Sara Sidner, live for us from Minneapolis. Thank you for that report.

And be sure to tune in for a new CNN town hall that is going to be moderated by Sara and Anderson Cooper. It is called "STATE OF EMERGENCY CONFRONTING THE CRISIS IN MINNESOTA." That airs tonight at 8 Eastern, or you can watch it on the CNN app. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: This just in. President Trump speaking during a stop at a restaurant in Iowa, and he was asked about the shakeup in Minneapolis with Border Czar Tom Homan set to take over for top Border Patrol commander Gregory Bovino. That happened today in Minneapolis. Here's what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Why did you decide to shake up your leadership team in Minnesota and send Tom Homen --?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I do that all the time. I shake up teams. Everybody here, these are a lot of owners of farms and places, and you shake up your team.

If they can't do the crops fast enough -- look, we have an incredible team. We did something that nobody said was possible. We didn't go back to Congress and ask for legislation. We closed the border, and in the last eight months, they have -- and this is actually hard to believe, nobody crossed the border, right?

Nobody. They say nobody. I don't even know ...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: All right, with us now to discuss, Democratic Congressman Jason Crow of Colorado. He sits on the Armed Services Committee. And Congressman Leader Jeffries is now saying that Democrats are going to launch impeachment proceedings against Secretary Noem if she's not fired.

You just posted your support for that. What would that accomplish?

REP. JASON CROW (D-CO), ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: Well, we obviously should do that, right? It would be, I think, not doing our duty if we didn't push for accountability and justice. We have federal officers murdering people in Minnesota and around the country, Alex Pretti, Renee Good.

I have an ICE detention center a mile from where I'm sitting right now. Detainees have died in custody over the years at that detention center. 2025, Brianna, was the most lethal year for people in ICE custody in decades, right?

This is a feature, not a bug, of the system that Donald Trump has created. He has built a force and a system to do this, to abuse people and to terrorize communities. Let's not make a mistake and think that these are accidents and they're just happening on their own.

This was the system that this president has designed.

KEILAR: How would you see this playing out? Democrats in the minority in the House. You don't have the votes, certainly, on your side.

Do you think there are Republicans who would join you to force the issue? How would it work?

CROW: Well, this is something I know an awful lot about, impeachment. I was a prosecutor in Donald Trump's first impeachment trial, so I have no hesitation to pursue accountability. And one of the tools, one of many tools that Congress has available to do that.

I'm under no delusion also, and I'm certainly not holding my breath, that Republicans in the House are going to join with us to push for accountability. They've had plenty of time over the last year to do that. But I think it is important that we put a marker down and we let people know where we stand, that we are taking names, that if folks think they can violate the law, that they can violate the Constitution and they can escape accountability and operate with impunity, that they are wrong, right?

We are taking names, we are building lists, and eventually there will be accountability if you are abusing people, if you are terrorizing our communities, if you are violating the law and the Constitution.

KEILAR: Senate Democrats at this point appear ready to withhold votes to prevent ICE from being funded. What concessions specifically do you think the Democrats should be seeking on DHS funding?

CROW: Well, immediately, right? There's the short-term and the long- term. The long-term, I think we need to start over on these agencies and actually build the law enforcement agencies that enforce the law and protect communities and protect us against violent criminals, not that are designed and built to terrorize our communities.

But in the immediate term, the masks need to come off, the unmarked cars need to stop, need to stop snatching people off the streets who look like they're the wrong people in the wrong place, deporting U.S. citizens, going into churches and mosques and synagogues and schools. All of that needs to stop, and it needs to stop now.

KEILAR: You talk about starting over. What exactly does that look like? Because we had Congressman Eric Swalwell on the program yesterday.

[15:50:00] He said ICE should be quote, completely crushed and reshaped. Oversight Ranking Member Garcia called for ICE to be abolished. He said that it cannot be reformed.

Is that what you're talking about? I mean, does it have to be something different than ICE? And how do Democrats make sure that doesn't become essentially a defund the police 2.0, which is maybe popular with the left, but not people in the middle?

CROW: Well, what we do is we actually look at what Americans want and what Americans are looking for? What they're looking for are law enforcement agencies that are focused on violent criminals, that are focused on building trust with their community. If you actually talk to police officers and sheriff's deputies like I do all the time, what they tell you is the key to effective law enforcement and keeping communities safe is actually building trust with communities?

People need to be able to pick up the phone, call their local sheriff, call their local police, and know that they're going to be protected and that they're going to work with those folks. That's not at all what's happening with ICE and these other agencies. So the culture needs to change for sure.

But what we need to do is actually have a federal law enforcement agency that's designed on violent criminals, again, not terrorizing our communities. And the vast majority of Americans are clamoring for that.

KEILAR: Back to the shutdown, when you're talking about a shutdown, which seems like a very real possibility right now, that would also mean withholding funding, you know, not just for ICE. This would mean withholding funding for popular parts of the government, including paying members of the Coast Guard, FEMA, and we, of course, are in the middle of an emergency weather event as we speak. Lots of ice, lots of snow, lots of people without power.

Are there potential pitfalls for Democrats there?

CROW: Well, what the Republicans have done, to be fairly clear, is they have lumped all of these together, right? The government is funded through these dozen-plus different appropriations bills. Historically, there should be votes on all of those.

That's the way the government should work. That's the way Congress should work.

KEILAR: Yes, but all those things --

CROW: They've jumbled them all together.

KEILAR: But Congressman, all those things I named are under DHS, right? So Coast Guard, FEMA, ICBP, those are all under Homeland Security.

CROW: Right. What we need to do is we need to make sure that DHS is not terrorizing our communities and murdering innocent civilians, right? That should not be a debate here, right?

That is where the analysis begins and ends. If we are sitting here in Congress and we have an oath to the Constitution and to the rule of law, and we have a federal agency and an administration that is outright violating the law and murdering citizens and abusing our communities, that is our ultimate obligation, is to stop that abuse.

KEILAR: So how can there be a discussion about policies when it comes to these tactics that a lot of Americans have concerns about without making pawns of you know, Coast Guard families and FEMA at a time when it's very much needed?

CROW: Yes, well, we never are making pawns of our service members, of Coast Guard, of FEMA. I mean, we need to make sure that those functions are occurring. At the same time, we need to make sure that they're not abusing Americans' constitutional and civil rights, right?

That is our ultimate responsibility as members of Congress, is to make sure that the laws are being faithfully executed and the Constitution is being upheld. That is our penultimate responsibility. You know, I swore an oath to the Constitution when I was first a teenager, when I joined the military.

I've taken many, many of those oaths since. That is the beginning and the end of my analysis. We have to make sure the laws are being followed, and then we have to make sure that the government is working and delivering in the way that it should.

But if we have an administration that is literally murdering civilians and then covering it up, that has to stop.

KEILAR: Congressman Jason Crow, thank you so much for taking time to be with us today, and we'll be right back with more news.

[15:55:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: President Trump says Iran may be trying to negotiate a deal with Washington amid a growing U.S. military buildup in the Middle East. He told Axios during an interview that the situation is in flux, but thinks Tehran genuinely wants to cut a deal.

But Iran's leadership is sending a strong warning to the U.S. about possible retaliation if it's attacked. CNN's Fred Pleitgen is in Tehran talking to Iranians about this latest diplomatic turn.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Iran's leadership is sending a very strong and defiant message to the United States, and specifically, of course, to the Trump administration. You could see it here on this gigantic poster on Revolution Square in central Tehran. The message on this massive poster is "If you sow the wind, you will reap the whirlwind," obviously meaning if the United States attacks Iran, Iran will retaliate in a massive way. Which could, of course, lead to a major military confrontation between the United States and Iran.

And that's also something that's on the minds of many of the people that we've been speaking to here as well.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through translator): I'm not sure what to say. I think they're all collaborating with one another against the interests of the Iranian people.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't think Trump dares to attack. He's more bluffing.

PLEITGEN: All this, of course, comes as President Trump weighs his options on what to do next. The U.S. has pulled together a substantial military force here in this region, but the Iranians also say they've replenished their stockpiles of ballistic missiles and are ready to hit back hard anytime. Now, of course, all this comes in the wake of those large protests that happened here in Iran in the early part of January.

And when you're out on the streets here, you can see that there are people who are still traumatized by what happened then.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): There were lots of people out there in the streets when I had to leave home. I don't know what to say, but the situation was very bad. Now that the Internet connection is restored, we only now know that so many were killed.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: Fred Pleitgen, thank you for that report. And THE ARENA with Kasie Hunt starts right now.

END