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Homan: ICE & CBP Working On A Drawdown Plan In Minneapolis; Sources: WH & Senate In Talks To Avert Government Shutdown; Bomb Cyclone Could Bring Another Major Storm To The Southeast. Aired 9:30- 10a ET

Aired January 29, 2026 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

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JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, the breaking news this morning. We just heard from President Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, the man now in charge of the ICE operations in Minneapolis. Homan says they are planning a drawdown of immigration forces in the state, a conditional drawdown, but he says they're drawing up the plans right now.

He also said they were going to back to what he called targeted operations, and admitted that the agents on the ground in Minneapolis got away from that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HOMAN, BORDER CZAR: I'm not here because the federal government has carried this mission out perfectly. First thing I said to senior staff when I walked in here, is what I told you. I didn't come here looking photo ops or headlines. I come here looking for solutions, and what we've been working on is making this operation safer, more efficient by the book. The mission is going to improve.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Well, this Democrat from Rhode Island, he is a member of the Homeland Security Committee. Congressman, thank you for being with us. So the announcement a drawdown is being planned. It's in the works. Conditional, but it's being planned. Also said a focus now on targeted operations, which Homan admitted they got away from. How significant are these statements?

[09:35:00]

REP. SETH MAGAZINER (D-RI): Well, first of all, no kidding, they haven't been targeted. And it's a shame that it has taken two dead American citizens, children being locked up, people having their houses barged into without warrants in order for this to happen.

We never should have had this to begin with. And to be clear, it's not just Minneapolis. All across the country under the Trump administration, they have been violating people's civil liberties, including United States citizens, by being untargeted. By their own data, only about 5 percent of the people who they have locked up and deported are people with violent criminal records.

The vast majority of the people they've been detaining are people with no criminal records at all, and so, you know, it's -- it's good to hear someone in the administration finally telling the truth that they have not been operating in a targeted way and that there needs to be change.

It's just a tragedy that it's taken so many shattered families, and unfortunately, the killings of two Americans in order to get to this point. The other important thing, I'd say is we can't take the administration at its word on anything, and I think we've learned that clearly. They've asked people to not believe what we've seen with our own eyes in the videos of these shootings.

And so while it is good to hear Homan finally admit that the way that they've been acting is inappropriate, that's not enough, and that is why we need to pass laws that will constrain the ability of ICE to violate people's civil liberties.

And so, you know, the Senate Democrats, like -- like most House Democrats are doing the right thing, saying that we will not vote for any Homeland Security funding until there are major, major changes, not just in the behavior of the administration, which they could, of course, go back on tomorrow if they wanted to, but in law as well.

BERMAN: I'll get to the funding in just a moment. He did say they are planning a drawdown. How much faith do you have that this drawdown, there will be follow through there and just in general, I mean, how much of a shift have you seen, at least in the rhetoric over the last few days?

MAGAZINER: Well, listen, the only reason they're doing this is because they have a political problem. Two American citizens were killed in broad daylight on video on the streets of Minneapolis, and now, as a result, their polling for the administration on immigration is terrible. What was their strongest issue is now one of their biggest liabilities.

I'm sure that they are seeing additional polling and focus group data that bears that out. That's the reason that they're making this shift. It's not, you know, listen, Stephen Miller is still Stephen Miller, Kristi Noem is still Kristi Noem. They still have no regard for the rights of anyone, including American citizens. And they're still, I think, the same people that they were a week ago.

But they're facing a political reality now, which is that the American people are absolutely opposed to the cruel and untargeted way that they've been running the Department of Homeland Security. That's why, again, you know, it's nice to hear Homan say this, but we need to pass laws --

BERMAN: Let me get to that.

MAGAZINER: -- in order to change their behavior. And Kristi Noem, by the way, needs -- needs to be out of office.

BERMAN: Let me get to the funding issue now, because Punchbowl and the New York Times have the framework of a possible deal between Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and the Senate and the White House that might move things forward. The parameters would be, pass the five basically appropriation bills not for Homeland Security, pass a temporary version of Homeland Security, and then work out an agreement between the White House and Democrats, as you have about Homeland Security.

Do you (inaudible) getting to what they ultimately will pass? But do you support this temporary measure which could keep the government fully funded by Monday?

MAGAZINER: Well, I'm not a part of whatever this negotiation is between leader Schumer and the White House. What I will say is that, look, I voted for the other funding bills, and I think that we should, the Senate should go ahead and pass them so that military families can get paid, so that healthcare can be funded, and transportation can be funded. That's all fine.

But I'm not going to vote for a another dime of Homeland Security funding, whether it's temporary or longer term. I'm not going to vote for another dime until there are real changes. Take -- get -- get rid of the masks, mandate body cameras, no warrant list searches. You have to get a warrant from a judge. Put Border Patrol back at the border, etc.

[09:40:00]

And so look, I can't speak for what, whatever is going on in the Senate. I'm obviously in the house, but my position is, yeah, pass the other funding bills. I voted already for the other funding bills, but not another dime of Homeland Security funding until there are real restrictions on DHS behavior included in in that Homeland Security funding bill.

BERMAN: In all likelihood, you'll have to vote on this. It will come back to the house to pass at least the temporary measure on the Homeland Security version. Would you be a yes or no vote on that?

MAGAZINER: I'm not going to vote for another dime of Homeland Security funding until there are real reforms included in the bill.

BERMAN: OK.

MAGAZINER: Look, Republicans have control of the House. They can pass it whatever they want with Republican votes, and they already have. That's -- that's my feeling. Again, speaking for myself. I'm not speaking for our leadership or anyone else. The other funding bills, fine. Already voted for those. We should pass the others.

But we cannot take the administration at its word and take them you know, when they say that they're promising to make reforms. We need it in writing, in law, and I'm not going to vote for any other funding until I see that language in the bill. BERMAN: Congressman Seth Magaziner from Rhode Island. Appreciate your

time this morning. Thank you very much.

So the main accused of murdering his wife and another man in a plot with his family's au pair on the stand today, and then an ax-wielding man breaks into a shop, steals tens of thousands of dollars' worth of goods. New video this morning. You can see the heist right here. There's also video of how police tracked him down.

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[09:45:00]

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BERMAN: So you may have heard tomorrow, Melania opens in theaters, nationwide. It's a documentary about the First Lady. Amazon paid huge money to Melania Trump's production company for this. They're paying even more to promote it. So how's it going to do? CNN Chief Data Analyst Harry Enten is here with me now. So what are the forecasts for how much it's going to bring in for this giant investment?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yeah, for this giant investment. And this is getting a very wide release. Not so hot to trot, right. Documentary ticket sales the first weekend. The top all time, Fahrenheit 9/11, adjusted for inflation, we're talking about $41 million. Melania's forecast is not anywhere close to that. $1 million to upwards of $5 million.

You don't have to be a mathematical genius to know that this number $41 million is significantly higher than the $1 million to $5 million forecast despite this movie getting a lot of press and this documentary getting a lot of press.

BERMAN: You want to know something you may not know?

ENTEN: Yeah.

BERMAN: I'm in this quite a bit.

ENTEN: Oh, my God.

BERMAN: I'm all over Fahrenheit 9/11.

ENTEN: I did not know that.

BERMAN: I am. All right. Be that as it may. What are some of the predictions for how the reviews are going to be?

ENTEN: OK. You know, I didn't realize I was standing here with a movie star, by the way, but if we look at the reviews, not particularly good. So what's the chance that Melania's Rotten Tomato score is below 20 percent. Of course, you don't want to be below 50 percent, you actually want to be above 60 percent for a fresh score.

The chance that it's below 20 percent ergo the critics are not going to like it, is 73 percent. 73 percent. The chance that it's above 50 percent is way lower than that. So the bottom line is this, at this point, the belief is part of the reason why the film is not going to do all that well, is because there's a belief that the film is not all that good.

BERMAN: And when we say it's big money, like, how much money spent on this?

ENTEN: OK, so, you know, you see the amount of money that the forecast is for the opening. We're going to obviously make more than that when you take in, you know, as it goes on in the theaters for at least a few weeks. But you see the $1 million to $5 million might say, OK, how much did Amazon actually spend on this?

A lot, a lot of money. We're talking about a film budget. They bought it for $40 million. Then the marketing budget is an additional $35 million. You talk about the total cost. We're talking about $75 million.

I was looking back at some other documentaries, none of which that I could find, except for maybe a few, came anywhere close to this, $75 million in the $40 million even that would be about, based upon my research, probably a top five cost for a documentary. And those documentaries took years to make. This, of course, did not take years.

BERMAN: It's not like we have documentaries on every First Lady you know, going back to Martha Washington here, but -- but how does, how does Melania Trump rank among First Ladies according to historians?

ENTEN: Yeah, you know -- you know, if you know the critics, we don't expect that the critics are going to like this film. Critics generally, much at least historical critics don't really like Melania Trump either. I mean, just take a look historians First Lady rankings, the bottom three, dead last, Melania Trump. When you're next to Jane Pierce and Margaret Taylor, those are not particularly good, although we were able to get a color photo of Melania Trump.

BERMAN: I have nothing bad to say about either Margaret Pierce or Jane.

ENTEN: Apparently, you disagree with the historians then.

BERMAN: Yeah, I mean you know. What can you say about them? Not much. All right. Harry Enten, thank you very much. A lot of news. We'll be right back.

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[09:50:00]

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BERMAN: A new major weather event developing off the East coast, a bomb cyclone. This is just days after the deadly winter storm blasted the same area. Cities including Raleigh and Roanoke, could get between six inches to a foot of snow, wind gusts close to hurricane force. Let's get to meteorologist Chris Warren for the latest on all this. What are you seeing?

CHRIS WARREN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, we are seeing John, the ingredients coming together to create some very heavy snow for some, the possibility for very heavy snow for others, and it's going to depend on the track this storm that eventually will bomb out, how fast it's going to strengthen though will be impressive.

That's what the term bomb cyclone comes from the rate in which it intensifies. The purple is where we're expecting to see, or pinkish color, some snow. And the blue, of course, is that very cold air, the coldest air in decades for some that's locked in place, closer this low tracks to the coast.

The farther inland, we're going to see snow, a little bit farther to the east, less snow. So let's take a look at a couple of possible scenarios. Even with Atlanta, especially the northern suburbs could end up with some snow, overnight Friday into Saturday. And then the system strengthening very quickly as it moves offshore, possibly bringing some very strong winds.

[09:55:00]

Expected to be bring very strong winds, whether or not it happens in the same time with some of the heavy snow, remains to be seen, because on a another track with the GFS, we're seeing a little bit farther off to the east, a little bit farther away from land, keeping that heaviest of snow outside of the Interstate 95 corridor. Want to show you the possibility for snow.

Three different models. Here's the European, really seeing a lot of snow in the Carolinas and Virginia. And this particular model brings parts of New England, including Boston, a lot of snow. Now the GFS, not quite as much, but still seeing it locked in place here, John and a similar story with the graph model, another model, but regardless, does look like coastal Carolinas at times, could see white out conditions at the beaches with all the snow that's on the way.

BERMAN: Yeah, not good. And I got to say the wind is of concern here. Given all the snow and ice is still in all the trees, something we got to watch for. Chris Warren, thank you. Thank you all for being with us. Situation Room up next.

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