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Ukraine Says Russia Struck Train in Kharkiv, Killing at Least Five; Anger in Italy Over U.S. Sending ICE Agents to Winter Olympics; Officers in Pretti Shooting Placed on Administrative Leave; FBI Serving Warrant at Fulton County, Georgia Elections Office; Federal Reserve Leaves Key Interest Rate Unchanged. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired January 28, 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": -- for a major military power since World War II.

Overnight, Russia continued its deadly strikes across Ukraine, hitting a civilian train in the northeastern Kharkiv region. They killed at least five people. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is describing the attack as an act of terrorism.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": And outrage in Italy growing over a U.S. plan to deploy ICE agents to assist security at the Winter Olympics next month. U.S. officials say federal agencies supporting the security of diplomats has been common practice at previous games.

Current and former lawmakers are urging Italy's prime minister to block the agents' involvement in the wake of two fatal shootings in Minneapolis.

A new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

KEILAR: We are following breaking developments out of Minneapolis. The officers who were involved in that fatal shooting of Alex Pretti have just been placed on administrative leave. We'll have the latest ahead.

Plus, any second now, we are going to hear from the Federal Reserve as it makes its first decision on interest rates this year after cutting them three times in recent months.

SANCHEZ: And Breaking News to CNN, an FBI raid at an elections office in Fulton County, Georgia, tied to an investigation into the 2020 election. We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

KEILAR: Happening right now, Breaking News out of Washington. The Federal Reserve announcing its first decision on interest rates this year.

SANCHEZ: Let's get straight to CNN's Matt Egan at the Central Bank. Matt, what is the decision? MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: No change in interest rates. The Fed deciding that after three straight interest rate cuts last year, it's going to pause interest rates. This decision, it was widely expected. It was well telegraphed by officials ahead of time. And this does show that the Fed is refusing to bow to this intense pressure from the White House to slash interest rates.

President Trump has repeatedly demanded much lower interest rates to try to speed up the economy and make it cheaper for the U.S. government to borrow. But the Fed clearly is showing that they're in no rush to cut interest rates any further after already dropping them last year to three-year lows.

Now, some interesting changes in the Fed statement that was just released. First off, they're slightly upgrading their view on the speed of economic growth. Previously, the Fed had said that the economy was expanding at a moderate pace.

Now, they say it's expanding at a solid pace. More significantly, they've changed some of their language on the job market. They say that job gains have remained low. But, they also said that the unemployment rate has shown some signs of stabilization.

And they also removed language that previously said that downside risks to unemployment were going up. So I think if you put this together, it does help explain why the Fed is pausing. They're just not as worried as they were about the job market. And they want to wait and see how the economy reacts to the interest rate cuts that they've already made.

Now, this was not a unanimous decision. It was a 10-to-2 vote. One of the officials who dissented is, no surprise, White House economist, Fed Governor, Stephen Miran. He was in favor of a quarter-point cut, although that's a shift from last month when he wanted an even bigger cut of half a point.

Also, Fed Governor, Christopher Waller, he voted in favor of a quarter-point cut today. That's noteworthy because Waller is among the officials who's in the running to potentially replace Jerome Powell when his term expires in May. So now, the attention shifts to Powell who's expected to take questions later this hour.

Powell is sure to face questions about this intense White House pressure from the president to lower interest rates and the unprecedented DOJ investigation into the Federal Reserve. We'll see if Powell drops any hints about what his plans are for the future. And investors want to hear what Powell has to say about what it will take to get the Fed to resume cutting interest rates.

Back to you guys.

SANCHEZ: We know you'll be watching that for us closely. Matt Egan, thank you so much.

Now to the Breaking News in Minnesota. A federal law enforcement source says Capitol Police are now weighing possible federal charges in this attack on Congresswoman Ilhan Omar at a town hall last night. You're looking at video of the incident.

Just last hour, we learned police believe the substance that was sprayed on the congresswoman was apple cider vinegar.

KEILAR: There is also Breaking News in the deadly shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. A senior official says the federal agents involved have been placed on administrative leave.

Let's bring in CNN Chief Law Enforcement and Intelligence Analyst, John Miller. And John, first, I mean, it's protocol, I think, for agents who are involved in an officer-involved shooting to be placed on leave. But just learning of this, notable given the shift in messaging from the White House and the fact that we still don't know what the body cameras on the agents show.

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, it is normal in that them being placed on administrative leave is part of the normal process.

[14:05:00]

But not a sign that there is something believed to be at fault or wrong with the shooting as much as it is usually a chance to give them some time to process what happened. To make sure that they're OK before being restored to full duty.

That said, the fact that it was released in the way it was, given the timing, it is a signal that this is starting to look in some ways more like a normal investigation rather than what we saw on the first day. Indeed, what we saw in the Renee Good case, which is there's nothing wrong with the shooting, they're cleared, it's fine. We seem to be entering more of a normal probe at this point.

SANCHEZ: John, on Congresswoman Omar, federal charges now being weighed by Capitol Police against this suspect. What likely is happening in this investigation right now?

MILLER: Well, right now, they're looking at that as an assault on a federal officer, meaning a member of Congress who was performing their official duties and the individual who sprayed them, even though it has now been determined that that spray was likely harmless. It was clearly meant to be an assault and a threat to instill fear and to cause disruption while she was doing her job.

And the Capitol Police, which is a fairly unique organization in many ways, they protect the Capitol, but they also work for Congress. And no matter what side of the aisle you are on or what the messaging is from the White House about Congresswoman Omar, an assault on a member of Congress is taken seriously by anybody there because they know, but for the grace of God, it could have been them.

So he's going to face serious charges. And the fact that the spray may have been harmless doesn't amount to it not being a threat. Someone who comes in with a fake bomb is still charged with serious criminal charges. KEILAR: John Miller, thank you so much. Still to come, for more than a month after a deadline to release the Jeffrey Epstein files, the Justice Department says it expects to make those documents public soon. The pressure is growing inside the DOJ and -- the pressure is growing inside the DOJ. We'll talk about why the release of these files is coming at a snail's pace.

Plus, record-low temperatures creating the perfect storm for a potential bomb cyclone to slam parts of the U.S. It is already frigid out there. It may get much worse. We'll be right back.

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[14:12:06]

KEILAR: Now to the latest on the Epstein files. 40 days after the legally mandated deadline for their release, the Justice Department still cannot give a date on when they'll get all the files out. Attorney General, Pam Bondi and Deputy Attorney General, Todd Blanche, in a new court filing, sent a letter updating two federal judges, saying the DOJ will complete the task "in the near term."

SANCHEZ: Remember earlier this month, the Justice Department said it had released some 12,000 documents. That's less than one percent of its Epstein-related files. More than two million documents are still in review. Epstein, of course, accused of violating hundreds of victims died by suicide in 2019.

This just into CNN. We're learning just how much President Trump's immigration crackdown is overwhelming courts, which are struggling to keep up with the skyrocketing number of federal cases. They involve immigrants in custody who are challenging their detentions.

KEILAR: Judges and attorneys are particularly feeling the pressure in Texas and Minneapolis. CNN Correspondent Katelyn Polantz has the details on this.

Katelyn, what are you learning?

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, this was a really fascinating thing that is very new, and it is because of how the Trump administration is approaching immigration at this time, and especially right now, because of this surge of arrests and detentions coming out of Minneapolis and St. Paul in Minnesota.

So, what we're seeing right now is what U.S. attorneys have even said in court. It is a flood of litigation coming from people in detention. Largely, they are immigrants who at some time came into the country without documentation and have no criminal history. In the past, they wouldn't have been held, but this Trump administration is sweeping up more people and also making the decision to keep them in immigration detention.

There used to be options for these types of people in custody to go through the immigration system, to challenge or to get a bond hearing. But now, because of the way the Trump administration policies have set things up over the last six months, they're having to go to federal courts and the numbers, they've skyrocketed. Even just in this month, there are 100 to 200 petitions like these, they're called habeas petitions, being filed in the courts on the southern border a week.

Like, that is an astronomical number that is even compared to the previous year of the Trump administration and definitely, in comparison to the first administration where Trump was the president and then the Biden administration.

In Minneapolis, people are filing these also, and it is causing a situation where there aren't enough attorneys who are prosecutors in U.S. attorney's offices to be able to field this. One of the judges in Minneapolis, where people are being initially detained, said that the court's patience is at its end. That was in an order on Monday recognizing that the Justice Department just doesn't have enough people to deal with this, and the courts are bogged down as well.

[14:15:00]

SANCHEZ: So then, what happens next?

POLANTZ: Well, this is the thing that -- where we are having a lot of attention paid to it, right? Does the administration do something to de-escalate, especially in Minneapolis? One of the things that some sources were telling me about is that there's been a discussion within the Justice Department about whether they need to talk to the Department of Homeland Security about some sort of change, because throwing more lawyers at this in Minneapolis or even in the districts on the southern border, where there are many people held in detention and those cases are popping up there, throwing lawyers at it is not going to solve this.

The other option is that judges could try and do something different. You see that in some places, but it's not widespread. Every judge gets to do something different at the trial court level based on what they want to do in their courtroom. But then, it does ultimately come down to appellate courts.

Does the Supreme Court or Circuit Courts of Appeals, overseeing many states at a time, set a policy that changes how the administration approaches it? But all of this right now is the administration doing something with immigration, and their surge and the arrests in Minneapolis and elsewhere that is causing ripple effects that are even difficult for the administration itself to keep up with inside the Justice Department.

SANCHEZ: Wow. Katelyn Polantz, thanks so much for that reporting.

Coming up, the FBI is serving a warrant at an election office in Fulton County, Georgia. A source telling CNN this is tied to a DOJ effort to seize election records and search for voter fraud. The details next.

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[14:21:24] SANCHEZ: We're following Breaking News out of Georgia this afternoon. The FBI says it's executing a search warrant at a Fulton County elections office near Atlanta. A source telling CNN that the search is connected to the Justice Department's effort to seize election records and search for voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.

KEILAR: Important to note that in the first Trump administration, the Justice Department, led by former Attorney General Bill Barr, looked into allegations of widespread voter fraud and did not find evidence to support those claims.

We're joined now by Dave Aronberg. He's a former State Attorney for Palm Beach County, Florida. Dave, what's your reaction to the FBI serving this warrant?

DAVE ARONBERG, FORMER STATE ATTORNEY FOR PALM BEACH COUNTY, FLORIDA: Good to be with you, Brianna. Well, I would think it's a Kash Patel attempt to continue to be in the good graces of President Trump because President Trump has been obsessed with this, even though 60 plus courts have ruled against him already on this and there's absolutely no evidence of widespread fraud.

But before we go down that road, we have to realize that if this seizure took place, if this raid took place, it means that a federal judge or magistrate had to sign off on a warrant that there was probable cause of a crime and that evidence of that crime would be at that location. So they must have some sort of affidavit, some sort of evidence that convinced a neutral federal magistrate or federal judge to sign off on this.

So it can't be entirely pie-in-the-sky political stuff by Kash Patel. At the same time, it doesn't mean they have any real evidence, just perhaps an affidavit saying they think that there's something there.

SANCHEZ: Those were just live images outside that facility in Fulton County. Dave, last month, DOJ sued Fulton County for election records going back to 2020. So this is obviously a pattern. I wonder where you see it going now.

ARONBERG: I see it going the same way that True the Vote and Kash Patel and a lot of these conspiracy theorists will end up, which is in a court rejecting these claims. Remember, when True the Vote and Dinesh D'Souza came up with 2,000 mules and these ideas of ballot harvesting and election fraud, when they stood up in court, they stood down. They fell apart.

They did not last the test in court, because it's one thing that you can say anything you want in a court of public opinion. But in front of a judge, you've got to have real evidence. And they never seem to have real evidence. It's all allegations. It's all stuff that's fit for right-wing podcasts, not for courts.

So I think this thing will fall flat, but they're getting what they want now. They get to feed the right-wing media base to say that, look, we've got a raid. There must be something there. In the end, when the cameras are turned off, I think that this story will go away. SANCHEZ: Just a quick point of fact to point out, you mentioned Dinesh D'Souza and 2,000 mules and his campaign to sort of point the finger at fraud in the 2020 election, a film which Dinesh D'Souza has since had to apologize for and made clear that it's been widely discredited.

KEILAR: Yeah, very good point. Sorry, Dave, you were going to say something?

ARONBERG: No, no, that's a great point, because all these things are discredited. True the Vote has been discredited. So all these folks, they come out with their claims, they make a lot of money. They get a lot of likes, a lot of clicks. But in the end, they lose.

KEILAR: Yeah, it's hard to stand up in court when they're tested, right? And they fall apart. The Justice Department has sued 24 states for their voter data, Dave. And Georgia's Secretary of State, Brad Raffensperger, has refused to turn over that information.

[14:25:00]

What's the DOJ's rationale for wanting the data? Have they been successful in any of the suits?

ARONBERG: They've only reached settlements with red states, but the data they want is from the blue states. It's from states that Trump lost. They want to be able to go into court after the next election and say, here, we have the real voter file. We have evidence of fraud.

It's one thing when Kash Patel, as a private citizen, says it, or Dinesh D'Souza, as a private citizen, says it. It's another thing when the Department of Justice goes into a federal court and says it and has the voter file.

And that's why the states are pushing back. They say, we see where this is going. It's not going to a very good place. And in the end, I don't think they're going to get the voter files. You saw what happened in Minnesota, where there was an attempt to mediate the ICE dispute to say, we'll pull back the ICE officers if you give us your voter file.

What does that have to do with ICE? But it shows you how important this issue is to the Trump administration.

SANCHEZ: Not just looking backward, but also potentially looking forward as well, as we think about the midterms in 2026 and the presidential election of 2028, no (ph)?

ARONBERG: Correct. Well, that's what this is about. It's about going to court to challenge votes in future elections. It's one thing to say this proves fraud in past elections. They're really concerned about future elections.

And so that's why it's so important. And Marc Elias has done an amazing job fighting back against it. But we should all be warned about this because this is the next step, the next front in election fraud.

Trying to steal an election is by trying to go to court to try to say that this vote is improper, this vote is improper and we have the voter database to prove it, when really there has been no evidence of widespread voter fraud in any of these elections. And so, we've got to be vigilant about this.

KEILAR: In December 2020, during Trump's first term, Bill Barr, the Attorney General, as we said, he said the DOJ hadn't found evidence to support allegations of widespread fraud that could have changed the result of the presidential election. And is there any evidence in the last six years that contradicts that?

ARONBERG: No. And Bill Barr was repudiated by Trump and now, this time, Trump has appointed loyalists who will not speak out against him when there are allegations of voter fraud. I mean, remember, the person who Trump appointed to be the head of cybersecurity to protect our elections came out and said, this is the fairest election, the most honest election we've had in history.

And Trump attacked him, too. So this is where it's headed. Even though Trump is not going to be on the ballot in the midterms and not going to be on the ballot in the next presidential elections, he still and the Republican Party still has a stake in this.

This is a core principle of the MAGA universe, that there was fraud in the 2020 election. And if that gets disproven, then their whole reason for being is over, right? This is a core principle that motivates them now and into the future.

KEILAR: Yeah, Chris Krebs, Bill Barr, Brad Raffensperger, they all faced the wrath when they didn't get in line. We saw that. Dave Aronberg, thank you so much.

Still to come, CNN speaks with a couple who say that Alex Pretti, the man that ICE agents in Minneapolis, that federal immigration agents in Minneapolis killed, helped save a dying veteran's life. Their reaction to Pretti's killing and the legacy they say he leaves behind.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Such a talented and such a giving person. It feels very sad.

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