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Soon, Trump's Border Czar Holds News Conference in Minneapolis; FBI Searches Georgia Elections Office in Alleged Voter Fraud Probe; Soon, Banfield Retakes the Stand at His Double-Murder Trial. Aired 7- 7:30a ET

Aired January 29, 2026 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: We are standing by to hear from Tom Homan, the president's border czar now in charge of federal operations in Minneapolis. He announced he's holding a news conference. What changes might be coming?

And then is the president trying to change the subject? Did he sleep at all? More than 50 social media posts in the middle of the night as the FBI raids the Fulton County Elections Office in Georgia, seizing voting records from Trump's defeat in 2020.

A recycling plant goes up in flames full of explosions and power outages. This morning, the investigation into what went wrong.

Kate is out this morning. I'm John Berman in New York. Sara Sidner is in Minneapolis. This is CNN News Center.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: The breaking news from Minneapolis this morning, we are standing by to hear from President Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, as we learn more about the new orders being prepped for ICE agents operating in the state after two fatal shootings and a third shooting that injured a man.

Just about an hour from now, Homan is set to give his first news conference since arriving on the ground and replacing Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino as the face of the president's immigration crackdown here. And it comes as Reuters is reporting that a top ICE official sent an email directing officers in Minnesota to, quote, do not communicate or engage with agitators. It serves no purpose other than inflaming the situation. He adds, we are moving to targeted enforcement of aliens with a criminal history. All targets must have a criminal nexus.

Now, CNN has not reviewed that internal email, but it comes after video has surfaced of agents agitating and even using slurs against some of those who are taking videos.

Now, we're seeing new video of an encounter with Alex Pretti and federal agents more than a week before he was fatally shot. This video first posted by the news movement appears to show Pretti in the brown jacket there and hat kicking out the taillight of an SUV. Agents exit the vehicle and tackled Pretti to the ground. The encounter lasts just a few seconds before Pretti is let go. At one point, it appears that a gun is visible in his waistband, as it was in the other protest, but it's unclear if the agents even saw it then. The Department of Homeland Security tells CNN it is reviewing the footage. President Trump has not commented on it, but he did repost the video on social media.

Now, an attorney for Pretti's family says nothing in that new video justifies federal agent shooting and killing Pretti 11 days later while he was holding his cell phone. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey echoed those comments during our CNN Town Hall last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR JACOB FREY (D-MINNEAPOLIS, MN): Are we actually making the argument that Alex Pretti should be killed for something that happened like 11 days prior to the shooting itself? No. I think we should be talking about the circumstances that actually led to the killing and what took place. And those circumstances, I mean, you can believe your own two eyes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: And just in this morning, Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat, who has been calling for ICE to leave the state, is formerly launching her bid for governor. She is seeking to replace Governor Tim Walz who dropped his re-election bid earlier this month.

All right, let's go back to John.

BERMAN: All right. New this morning, FBI agents searching an election office in Fulton County, Georgia, a state that President Trump lost in 2020, though he continues to claim otherwise. State and local officials have repeatedly said there was no fraud, and they conducted an audit that included a full manual tally of all the ballots cast.

Now, overnight, the FBI seized ballots from the 2020 election. The Fulton County Commissioner estimates 700 boxes full of ballots were collected.

[07:05:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MO IVORY, FULTON COUNTY COMMISSIONER: This is not just about Fulton County. Fulton County is right now, the target, the only county right now fighting over an election that already happened, but it is coming to a place near you. This is the beginning of the chaos of 2026 that is about to ensue. So, if we are starting this early in January, you can only imagine what is going to happen in October.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The Justice Department previously sued county officials to force them to hand over 2020 election records. A judge has not yet ruled on that case yet. With us now, CNN Legal Analyst, Criminal Defense Attorney Joey Jackson. I think, Joey, let's just take like a giant step back. I think people want to know what's going on here. The FBI searched this location, which means that a magistrate judge signed off on the warrant on the basis of what would a judge have to sign off on that warrant?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: So it's a rather unusual, John, good morning to you. In as much as this has been investigated and litigated and there have been a determination, there's been determinations as to no fraud. There's been three recounts, one of them manually. There's been inspections. The Trump DOJ itself has given the indication that there's no fraud here. Why is that relevant to your question? It's relevant because when you're looking at a criminal warrant, you're looking at evidence of criminality. You're looking at making a determination as to whether there was voter fraud in terms of people who voted that should not have voted, or any other type of deception.

And so this magistrate would've had to draw some conclusions. And the reason I say that it's somewhat interesting is because if you have this previous litigation, this is not new, this is from 2020, and you have massive investigations and you have no determination as to criminality. What are we doing here? And so, yes, it was issued.

The other thing, John, that's unusual is the deputy director of the FBI was on location. In addition, I mean, Tulsi Gabbard --

BERMAN: Okay. Just pause there for a second.

JACKSON: Okay.

BERMAN: We'll pause. Actually, let's come back to that in a second, because I do want to get to that. There was a civil suit which was going nowhere. What happens to that suit now?

JACKSON: So, the civil suit is moot. And just backing up on that this past October, right, as in 2025, there was a demand served by DOJ. They were relying upon the Civil Rights Act of 1960, and that act required that you retained records in terms of voting and that you produce them on demand. However, the issue is relating to discrimination. This was a law that was passed in terms of the Jim Crow South, people who were excluded from voting.

And so what ended up happening is that the state said, no, we're not producing those records. And they were in civil litigation. And guess what records, John, they were looking to get produced? The same records that when the state said, we're not giving them to you, and filed a motion to dismiss three weeks ago saying, we're not giving you boxes of our voting records. Those are the same boxes that were just taken out, 700 of them. So, they did an end around the lawsuit. The lawsuit, in all measures, is now moot because the records the DOJ was seeking in the civil lawsuit, not criminal, has just been gotten by the FBI.

BERMAN: So, who has these records now? What concerns might there be about this evidence? JACKSON: So, there's a lot of concerns. Who has the records now as the FBI? The FBI has gotten the records even though in terms of the civil litigation where parties go to court. You state your case to the judge with respect to whether I should get them or I should not. A judge makes a ruling state argued they're under seal. We need to preserve the integrity of them, ensure they go nowhere, so we can't give them to you. DOJ says, okay, forget about the civil suit. We're going to go raid and take whatever we want.

So, to your question, state officials are now saying, well, wait a second, if the narrative of the federal government that there is, that there was fraud here, if the issue of the federal government is you did nothing right, state officials, and everyone was rapidly going to vote, if they're in the custody of the feds now, who's to know that they're not going to be manipulated or otherwise used for the narrative of the federal government? That's the concern.

BERMAN: And then finally, and you did allude to this, the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, was on scene. How unusual is that?

JACKSON: So, yes. John, I'm sorry, I jumped to that earlier and I jumped to it because it's so highly unusual. I'm just saying, what are we talking about?

Now, first of all, taking a step back from that, the deputy director of the FBI, generally, they stay at headquarters. To give you some context, when Mar-a-Lago was raided in 2022, that was done by field operatives. The head of the agency, and other important -- everyone's important, but in terms of the people who run the agency were back at headquarters, the field level supervisors were there executing that warrant.

Here, right, you have a situation where the deputy director of the FBI is there and the person who runs national security, who's in charge of foreign affairs is here.

BERMAN: National intelligence, yes.

JACKSON: So, it's unbelievable and it's unprecedented, and we are in another world.

[07:10:01]

And the major concern here, I'll just say very quickly, they're trying the federal government to do this in other jurisdictions. In fact, an Oregon judge made a ruling that, no, you're not getting these records. So I think more of this is to come in other areas.

BERMAN: Yes. And in just the last few weeks, there are actually reports that the head of the FBI in Georgia was ousted from their job and also that these warrants were not executed by the U.S. attorney in Georgia. It was the U.S. attorney in Missouri as well, the reports of that, all of this very unusual.

Joey Jackson, thank you very much. The Virginia man accused of killing his wife and another man in an elaborate plot with the family's au pair takes the stand. New video of what happened the moment doctors told him his wife had died.

Brand new forecast of a bomb cyclone headed to the East Coast right at areas still recovering from the last storm.

And then breaking overnight, a police investigation after a car rammed a Jewish center multiple times.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:15:00]

BERMAN: This morning, defendant Brendan Banfield takes the stand in his double murder trial. He's charged with the murder of his wife and another man in a plot with the family au pair. Now, he admitted to an affair with the au pair, but he denied plotting with her to kill his wife.

CNN's Jean Casarez has been covering this trial, covering Banfield on the stand, and we're expecting more big moments this morning. Jean?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I have so much to tell you because we would never know this if he hadn't taken the stand. He said that he and his wife, Christine, met when they were 18 years old, Quinnipiac University. They graduated together. They stayed together after that. They got married, they got a home. They had two dogs. They had Valerie. He said that he had had multiple affairs during the marriage, and his wife, Christine knew about two of them, but not all of them.

He said Christine had had affairs during the marriage. He said at one point they went to a marriage councils to see exactly what they should do, and they decided to stay in the marriage. He said that they hired the au pair and in August of 2022, Valerie in the little -- and her mother went to visit the in-laws in Long Island. He was born and raised in Long Island. And so the au pair started to make moves on Brendan. Brendan said, testified that he did not refuse them, but then Juliana, the au pair, testified that it was just a short time later that Brendan started to put together this premeditated plan for murder.

Here's his response to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you ever create any sort of a plan with Juliana?

BRENDAN BANFIELD, DEFENDANT: No, there was no plan. At this point, our relationship is maybe six to eight weeks old. I think that it's an absurd line of questioning for something that is not serious, that a plan was made to get rid of my wife. That is absolutely crazy.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now, did you love your wife?

BANFIELD: Very much.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you want to continue your marriage with your wife?

BANFIELD: Yes.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you love your daughter, Valerie?

BANFIELD: More than anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: Now, the jury is watching him closely, not only what he's saying but how he is saying it. The jury also saw video footage from a body cam at the hospital when he was told his wife had died. Watch him and watch this video.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BANFIELD: Can we say a prayer for her? Can we say a prayer for my wife?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: He breaks down and he sobs and he led them all in the Lord's Prayer, and it seemed as though, and he was shaking. So, the question is, is that real? Is that the truth? Did he mastermind this but also have the reality of what happened?

He continues direct testimony today. At this point you have to question, what's the motive for murder here? He was having his life, he was having affairs, he was still in his marriage, he still had his wife, daughter, but then there's going to be cross-examination.

BERMAN: So, we haven't even started cross yet. The prosecution will get a go at him.

And just to be clear, he kept on turning his face when he was answering those questions. Was he turning to the jury every time to say, I love my daughter more than anything in the world?

CASAREZ: Yes.

BERMAN: Yes, interesting, well-coached.

CASAREZ: Interesting.

BERMAN: All right, we'll watch him again today.

Jean Casarez following all of this, you can watch it all day long in the CNN app.

All right, developing this morning, new reports that ICE officers are being told to change tactics in not engage with agitators. We're just moments away from a news conference where if there are changes, they could be announced. And what happened in Cleveland that got LeBron James all sorts of emotional?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00]

BERMAN: So, what was it that got LeBron James all emotional in Cleveland?

Let's go to CNN's Andy Scholes for that. I mean, LeBron left Cleveland. He went back. He left. He's back. Why this time? Why did he get all choked up this time?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, Berman, you know, it could be he is near in the end of that NBA career, right? It just seems right for LeBron if he were to somehow finish his career there in Cleveland. You know, a trade before next week's trade deadline isn't very likely. But LeBron, he could go back next season and finish where it all started as a free agent.

But during the game last night, they played a big tribute video for LeBron. He had to wipe away tears while he was watching it. And after the game, LeBron was asked about that moment and if he was so emotional, because this is his last season.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEBRON JAMES, LOS ANGELES LAKERS FORWARD: I think it's just come from just being present. I was just more present today than I've been over the last, I guess, the previous seven. It definitely got to me a little bit, for sure. I'm just trying to take everything in, not take the moments for granted, because it could be, you know, I obviously haven't made a decision on the future, but very well could be.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: All right. This was also a homecoming for Bronny, who grew up at Rocket Arena, and he got in at the end of the Cavs' blowout, Bronny there with a steal and a slam, and the crowd there in Cleveland just loving that. Bronny had eight points at eight minutes. Final score though is 129-99, Cavs.

Elsewhere, the Rockets are hosting the Spurs in a Texas showdown. Victor Wembanyama, he just is unstoppable at some point. Look at this, he gets this steal, goes down, alley-oop, and throws it down on Amen Thompson.

Then later, Wemby just flying through the lane to reverse slam. Not many people can do that.

[07:25:00]

Wemby, 28 points, 16 rebounds, Spurs beat the Rockets 111 to 99.

Yet elsewhere yesterday, you know, everyone was just in shock that, according to reports, Bill Belichick was not selected to go into the Pro Football Hall of Fame on his first time on the ballot, including Tom Brady.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM BRADY, FORMER NFL PLAYER: I don't understand it. I mean, I was with him every day. If he's not a first ballot hall of famer, there's really no coach that should ever be a first ballot hall of famer, which is completely ridiculous because people deserve it and he's incredible. There's no coach I'd ever want to play -- I'd rather play for. If I'm picking one coach to go out there to win a Super Bowl, give me one season, I'm taking Bill Bell check. So, that's enough said.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes. And, Berman, you know, the Hall of Fame, they put out a statement. They say they're going to see if voters violated the selection process bylaws, I'm going to go out on the limb and say they definitely violated the bylaws because the Bill Belichick's not a first ballot hall of famer, who is?

BERMAN: I mean, they definitely violated the laws of intelligence, right, I mean, and reason. I mean, that's the thing. It's just a bad, bad decision.

Let me just say, Victor Wembanyama, he's so good. I mean, all I can say every day, I just want him to stay healthy for the next ten years because the things that we will see, I can't even imagine.

SCHOLES: I know. As a Rockets fan, I hate that he's in San Antonio.

BERMAN: I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, but he's so good.

SCHOLES: Yes.

BERMAN: All right. Andy Scholes, thank you very much.

SCHOLES: All right.

BERMAN: All right. A bomb cyclone taking aim at the East Coast, new forecast just in for a powerful storm that could bring a new round of dangerous weather to places just hit.

And then a gas station collapse, several people rushed to the hospital. And you can see we're talking about the dangerous weather. It's the deep freeze that could be to blame.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:30:00]