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Man Charged with Assault After Spraying Substance to Representative Ilhan Omar; Secretary of State Macro Rubio to Testify Before Senate Panel About Venezuela; Measles Cases Surging in South Carolina; White House Doing Damage Control After Fatal Shooting of Alex Pretti. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired January 28, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: -- dollars in his deal with Melania Trump. They have also spent about $35 million marketing it, setting up a massive test for whether they are able to mobilize fans of the first lady to movie theaters across the country. It is not a streaming release for now, it is just in theaters. So certainly a recognition of the public's curiosity about her.

Now, I also want to note that Melania Trump is serving as an executive producer. That means she has full editorial control here, and we've heard a lot from first ladies in the past writing books, but it is unprecedented to hear from a first lady who is sitting in office right now -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Yes, that editorial control note, an important one on this for sure.

Betsy, thank you so much.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Breaking this morning, Congresswoman Ilhan Omar attacked at a town hall, sprayed with liquid, and a stunning response from the president now who said Omar probably sprayed herself.

We're standing by to hear from Secretary of State Marco Rubio testifying on Capitol Hill. Major new questions about U.S. intentions in Iran, Greenland, Venezuela.

And then the streets of San Francisco, not just for Karl Malden and Michael Douglas. A very deep cut there. A mountain lion prowling the streets.

I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan in New York. Sara Sidner is live in Minneapolis. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SARA SIDNER CNN ANCHOR: I'm Sara Sidner live here in Minneapolis, where the temperatures are dropping again to an 18. That's what it feels like, negative 18 outside with the windchill. But here there is so much going on. Things got very hot, if you will, inside of a town hall where Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, which she does on a monthly basis, was attacked.

We were there in the room as we saw someone jump up out of his seat and take out a syringe and push some sort of liquid towards her, spray it at her. She then cocked her arm back as if she was going to pounce on him. She was stopped. Her detail jumped in, her security detail, and took him to the ground, and eventually wrestled him out of the venue.

Now her security detail then turned to her and said, we need to get you out of here. We need to get you checked medically. We do know not -- do not know what this substance is. We could all smell the substance. It smelled sort of like a vinegary substance. But she was defiant. She said, you will not push me out of here. What you will do is you will be able to listen to what I am saying. I will continue this town hall.

There were 200 some odd people who were there. No one left. Her staff, though, very concerned about her safety and frankly about the safety of everyone in there with this unknown substance being sprayed out by a man who was clearly trying to attack the congresswoman.

What I can also tell you is, as she was leaving, I managed to jump up, grab my cell phone and ask her how she was doing. Let's listen to her response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Representative Omar, are you OK?

REP. ILHAN OMAR (D-MN): You know, I'm going to go figure if I am, but I feel OK. I feel that it is important for people, whether they are in elected office or not, to allow these people to intimidate us, to make us not fight for our constituents and for the country we love. And as I said, you know, I've survived war. And I'm definitely going to survive intimidation and whatever these people think that they can throw at me because I'm built that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: She says, I'm built that way. Defiant to the end. We know that she did get medical checks and ambulance was -- arrived at the scene there at the Urban League in North Minneapolis. And she was checked out.

We still don't know, though, what that substance was. And there is an investigation. We watched as police towed away, for example, the man's car. And of course, our photographer Jerry Simonson was there catching everything, including the man's face. He was about, you know, five- foot, 11, a white gentleman who had disheveled hair, who came in with everybody else. He had to go through security checks with everybody else. But he ended up somehow bringing in this syringe and spraying it at the congresswoman.

We are hoping to be able to get an update on how she is doing and what the investigation entails right now, but we are lucky to have joining with us Chief Madera Arredondo, the former Minneapolis police chief.

Thank you so much for being here. This is the first time that I've actually seen you in person since the killing of George Floyd. And it is -- it feels very emotional in some ways for me to see you in person after going through all that. And now here we are again, dealing with something that is just very, very, emotionally draining for all of the people here and I'm sure you yourself.

[09:05:08]

Let me talk to you first about the investigation into what happened to Ilhan Omar. What happens going forward? Because I'm assuming the local police are the ones that pick this up trying to figure out what happened here.

MEDARIA ARRADONDO, FORMER MINNEAPOLIS POLICE CHIEF: Yes, I think it will be a combination, Sara, of both local police because it happened in the jurisdiction of Minneapolis, but also, I'm sure Capitol security is being involved in this as well as she is a representative of Congress. And so they're going to look at it. They're obviously already doing a background check on the individual that was arrested last night.

And so they're going to make sure that there's no more other credible threats to her and obviously her team is going to be made aware as they go forward. But obviously in Minnesota, sadly, we have seen threats and violence against our Minnesota politicians. So it was very sad and troubling to see that last night.

SIDNER: I want to now talk to you about what we heard from President Trump. And this is a reporting from ABC. They spoke with him and happened to be having a conversation when all of this went down. And I want to quote him here, just to be clear on what he said. He was asked whether he had seen the video of what happened to Ilhan Omar and the attack there of the congresswoman. He says, "No, I don't think about her. I think she's a fraud. I really don't think about that. She probably had herself sprayed knowing her."

What does that do to the trust in the president of the United States saying something that is clearly false?

ARRADONDO: So, you know, whether it was the killing of Miss Renee Good and certainly the most recent killing of Alex Pretti, so many Minnesotans, and I think people around the country, Sara, are wanting our leaders to pause, to reflect, to give confidence, and be compassionate during these moments. So I don't think it helps the situation and I always have to reflect back, Sara, that during these times of crisis, our children are watching us.

They're watching how we react as adults in these situations. And so it is my hope that leaders from both sides that we really start to take a more compassionate view as we move forward.

SIDNER: You took a very compassionate view during the shooting of one of your officers at the time of George Floyd, of the choking of George Floyd, and your response was one of reflection first. That is not what we're seeing from this administration. And I do want to talk about the shooting death of Alex Pretti at the hands of a Border Patrol agent. Right now, you have this struggle happening between the investigators on the federal side and the investigators on the state and local side.

How do you see this playing out? Can the state and local police and investigation apparatus do a fair investigation without the evidence from the federal government, which so far they're saying they are not sharing it?

ARRADONDO: Yes. So, you know, when these investigations take place, the people in the communities, they have to have trust in these institutions. Minnesota has had a long track record of successful investigations with the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. They've done these, Sara, as you know, for a long time. Also, the credibility goes into these investigations. People are not feeling trustworthy right now of the federal investigations, in particular, from some of the first initial statements that have came out during -- right after Renee Good's killing and certainly after Mr. Pretti's.

And so it is my hope that they will involve the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension. If they are shielded from collecting that necessary evidence gathering that they need, it's going to be problematic. People, you know, they may not like the outcomes, Sara, at the end of the investigation, but they have to have trust in the process of the investigation. And that's where we need to be.

SIDNER: I think that trust at this point is broken because we are now learning that one of the witnesses who took the clearest video of what happened spoke with Anderson Cooper last night exclusively, and she talked about what she saw. She has not been contacted by federal authorities. I know that state authorities have been contacting witnesses because I've spoken to some of the witnesses who have said, yes, the BCA has contacted us, and I know they were looking for more video.

How is it possible that the feds have not tried to contact one of the main witnesses of this?

ARRADONDO: Yes, I was with Anderson last night hearing Miss Carlson's very courageous and yet vulnerable accounting of why she did that as a neighbor. She did not know Mr. Pretti when she took that very courageous video.

SIDNER: Right.

ARRADONDO: Any investigation, whether it's federal investigators knocking on doors, trying to get witnesses to come forward, whether it's Minnesota BCA, people have to feel comfortable that you are going to take them seriously. They're going to need that moving forward.

[09:10:00]

And so if they don't feel comfortable, if they don't feel confident, that you're going to take them seriously, that they're going to be protected and not retaliated against, it's going to make it very difficult for an investigation to move forward with all of the key critical information they're going to need.

SIDNER: Chief Medaria Arradondo, I do thank you for waking up early for us and just coming here in person to talk through these really, really important issues.

ARRADONDO: Thank you, Sara.

SIDNER: Do appreciate it. Thank you.

ARRADONDO: Thank you.

SIDNER: All right. I'm going to toss it back to you. You heard from the chief there. There is a fear here of retaliation. We have seen it happen here in Minneapolis already at the hands of the federal government, particularly the ICE agents, going to businesses who have been standing up against them. So there is a lot of consternation for those who did witness this and for those who will be involved in this investigation -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely, Sara. We'll get back to you. Thanks to the chief as well.

Coming up next hour, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is going to be on Capitol Hill. He's set to testify today, this morning, before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. A major moment, as it's the first time that he's going to be facing Congress and questions in a public setting since the United States operation in Venezuela that captured and arrested the Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro, and his wife.

CNN obtained a copy of Rubio's opening remarks. He plans to say, in part, this, "There is no war against Venezuela, and we did not occupy a country. There are no U.S. troops on the ground. This was an operation to aid law enforcement." Obviously, he will be defending the operation very strongly there.

CNN's Kylie Atwood is standing by before -- for this hearing to begin.

So, Kylie, what are you picking up about what we're going to hear from Rubio and what questions he's going to face?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes. That's right, Kate. Clearly in these prepared remarks, he is prepared to defend that operation that the Trump administration carried out militarily to oust President Maduro of Venezuela, and effectively argue that what the United States did there was somewhat limited in scope, appearing to make the case that some people have overblown what happened, saying, as you said there, that there is no war against Venezuela, there are no U.S. troops on the ground.

The U.S. did not occupy Venezuela. But then, notably, he shifts in these prepared remarks that we have obtained to go on to say that the U.S. is prepared to use force if the interim government is not working with the Trump administration as they expect them to.

I want to read to you a portion of those prepared remarks, saying, "Make no mistake, as the president has stated, we are prepared to use force to ensure maximum cooperation if other methods fail. It's our hope that this will not prove necessary, but we will never shy away from our duty to the American people and our mission to this hemisphere."

Now, interestingly, he also describes acting President Delcy Rodriguez as someone who is working with the United States and someone who it is the perspective of the Trump administration at this time, it is in her, quote, "self-interest" to do things that are align with the U.S. key interest. And notably, of course, we have seen her working with the Trump administration, but we also heard from earlier this week that she is tired of taking orders from Washington.

So that is a relationship that, of course, we'll keep a close eye on. We know that the secretary of state has been in touch with her. We know that the CIA director visited her in Venezuela in recent weeks, but also, Kate, of course, this is a secretary of state. This is the acting national security adviser. There will be a plethora of questions on Greenland, on Iran, on a number of the hot topics that the Trump administration continues to keep live and active on its foreign policy agenda -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. And you hit on it. I mean, Marco Rubio, if anybody in this administration holds more hats than any of them, so wears more hats than any of them. So he's going to face a lot of questions on so much.

Kylie, thank you.

John?

BERMAN: All right. The largest measles outbreak since the disease was declared eliminated in the United States. How much further will it spread? Just in Amazon announces it's set to lay off 16,000 employees. And no coach has ever won more Super Bowls than Bill Belichick. Now reports he has been snubbed by the pro-football hall of fame because we just can't get any stupider. Wait to hear how the likes of Patrick Mahomes are reacting.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:18:47]

BERMAN: All right. New this morning, a measles outbreak in South Carolina is now the largest in the United States since the disease was declared eliminated more than two decades ago. Nearly 800 cases, more than 700 of which are in patients who were not fully vaccinated. This is what one doctor from South Carolina just told us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DR. ANNA-KATHRYN BURCH, PEDIATRIC INFECTIOUS DISEASE PHYSICIAN, PRISMA HEALTH: It breaks my heart. We have this amazing vaccine that would help protect us all from getting the measles, and we are just seeing that people aren't as excited about getting that vaccine anymore. And this is why we're seeing measles come back into the United States.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: CNN medical correspondent Meg Tirrell is with us.

This is not the kind of record you want to break.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: No. Certainly isn't. I mean, when we saw this outbreak in West Texas last year, it was growing incredibly quickly. That one ended up having 762 cases recorded in total by the time it ended in August, 99 hospitalizations and two deaths there of school aged children.

In South Carolina now, as you noted, we're approaching 800 cases. This is still growing quickly, with just 89 cases added between Friday and Tuesday. So this is growing really fast. So far, the state is reporting 18 hospitalizations, but we don't know if that's the total number. Zero deaths there.

[09:20:03]

But unfortunately what health experts have pointed out is that statistically speaking, the death rate for measles tends to be one to three per 1,000 cases. And so you're heading to a point now where you could start to expect to see deaths from this outbreak. And that is just tragic.

As you can see there, we are off to a start in 2026 that's continuing or even accelerating the trajectory we saw from the historic year we had last year with measles. There are more than 500 people currently in quarantine in South Carolina with measles. 23 different schools have had exposures there. This is centered around Spartanburg County, which is in the northern part of the state.

And if you look at the rate of religious exemptions, these are nonmedical exemptions for required vaccinations to go to schools, you can see the darkest county there at the top. That's Spartanburg County. They have a rate of more than 8 percent of students in that county having religious, so sort of personal exemptions for getting required vaccinations. And that, as we heard from the doctor earlier in your show, is a big contributor to why we're seeing this huge outbreak.

BERMAN: It's so contagious. She used a stat that I hadn't heard before. She said if 10 unvaccinated people are in the room with someone with measles who sneezes, nine of them will get it.

TIRRELL: Yes, and it hangs around in the air for two hours after that person leaves the room as well.

BERMAN: All right. Well, this could go on for some time.

Meg Tirrell, thanks so much for being with us. Appreciate it.

TIRRELL: Thank you.

BERMAN: The Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell is set to make the first rate decision since he revealed he was being investigated by the Department of Justice. Market watchers hanging on his every word. And then thieves smashed a stolen vehicle to break into a jewelry store before robbing them in broad daylight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:26:14]

SIDNER: I'm live here in Minneapolis. We are starting to sort out what has happened with the attack on the Congresswoman Ilhan Omar at her town hall. There is an investigation that is underway by local police as to what substance was sprayed towards her. And of course, they have arrested the man who was involved in that attack and taken away his car that evening.

We know that the congresswoman was checked out for any kind of medical issues. And right afterwards she spoke to me saying that she was OK, she thought, but that she was going to get some medical attention. That's where we are there. We will give you more information as soon as we get it on the investigation into the person who attacked her.

But joining me now is Aisha Chughtai. She is a member of the Minneapolis City Council here.

And thank you so much for joining us, Aisha. First to you, can you describe to me what this community is like right now? What has this been going through with all the machinations coming out of Washington, the changes of leadership for who is on the ground here, but also the lies that they told in the beginning about what happened in the death of Alex Pretti.

What are things like right now?

AISHA CHUGHTAI, MINNEAPOLIS CITY COUNCIL: Yes. Good morning, Sara. Thank you for having me. My name is Aisha Chughtai. And I'm really thrilled to be here with you. And I want to tell you a little bit about the Whittier neighborhood where I live, the community that I represent where Alex Pretti was executed on the street just days ago. He was someone who cared deeply and lived his life with the values that so many of us aspire to, to act with kindness, to serve our community, and to care for people.

And in his dying moments, he died with nothing but a phone in his hand while trying to administer care to a woman on the same street where I walk every day. And as I've gone to visit the memorial site that has been set up on Eat Street, I see every day so many people gathered to pay their respects to Alex and every business with a sign in their window inviting people to come in for warmth.

And there is a palpable sense of democracy and change. And as someone who has lived in this neighborhood for the last 10 years and coming up in 10 years and represented it for the last four years, I've never seen this community so united before. And it's, you know, it's a testament to how since the beginning of this federal occupation our neighbors have stepped up in droves.

SIDNER: I do want to ask you about some retaliation that we are seeing happen against some businesses. I know that on Eat Street, as you call it, which is Nicollet, it is called Eat Street, for those who have not been able to see and visit Minneapolis, because of all of the restaurants. It is a very multicultural street that has restaurants, everything from Vietnamese to Indian. There's the donut shop there. Of course, that donut shop is where the first witness saw all of this transpire with the killing of Alex Pretti.

But we are hearing from a business in St. Paul as well as a business in Minneapolis that said that when they came out publicly to decry the actions of ICE in their neighborhood, when they came out publicly and said they are supporting the protesters who are out in the street protesting against ICE, they were then -- one of them was visited by ICE, and they managed to shoo them away. The other one was audited by ICE hours after they did an interview that went national.

I am curious if you have heard of the fear of retaliation or any other businesses that have been.