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Minneapolis Mayor Warns Mayors Not to let Fear Silence Them; Border Czar: ICE & CBP Working on Minneapolis "Drawdown Plan"; Video Shows Clash Between Pretti & Agents 11 Days Before Shooting; Trump Weighs New Strike on Iran Over Stalled Nuclear Talks; Banfield Resumes Testifying in Own Defense 3-3:30p ET

Aired January 29, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: ... finishes the day their oil will be at its highest closing price since late September. The U.S. benchmark, WTI, also on the rise.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And a rough ride for Tesla. The company says its revenue went in reverse in 2025, tumbled $3.3 billion. Last three months of the year, Tesla's income fell 16 percent. The earnings of the company are down nine of the last 10 quarters. A big shift for what was once the fastest growing and most profitable automaker in the world.

And a new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

President Trump's border czar laying out plans for an eventual drawdown of federal law enforcement in Minnesota. What he says he needs from Minneapolis officials in return.

Plus, another partial government shutdown looming over Capitol Hill as lawmakers fight over funding for ICE amid the immigration crisis in Minnesota. We'll ask Democratic Senator Tina Smith about her party's demands.

SANCHEZ: Plus, officials in Georgia accusing the Trump administration of intimidation following the FBI raid of an election office in Fulton County.

We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

We're following breaking news this hour on the immigration crackdown in Minnesota. Border czar Tom Homan says he has now ordered a plan to eventually withdraw additional federal agents from that state.

KEILAR: During remarks earlier today, Homan acknowledged President Trump sent him to Minneapolis to fix the operation there, saying, quote, "certain improvements could and should be made." But just minutes ago, a new warning from the mayor of Minneapolis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR JACOB FREY (D) MINNEAPOLIS: This is not a time to bend our heads in despair or out of fear that we may be next, because if we do not speak up, if we do not step out, it will be your city that is next.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is back with us now.

Priscilla, a big part of this plan of Homan's is working directly and compromising with local officials like Mayor Frey. How would that work?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. And most specifically, also working with them on county jails and anyone that they may have in the jails that's undocumented and has a criminal record. What the administration wants is for them to turn them over to ICE. And Tom Homan did recognize that some of those agreements are in place in the state, but they are looking for more cooperation on that front.

Two, as Tom Homan says, pull some of the federal agents off of the streets as we have seen. So, that is a big part of this drawdown plan that he is working on with Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials as well as those from U.S. Customs and Border Protection as they try to dwindle down the number of federal agents on the ground there. Because if you recall between December and January, they did send 3,000 federal agents there, an unprecedented number to send to a state and as we saw there in the city of Minneapolis.

Now, Tom Homan also made clear that he is going to stay until quote the problem is gone. And also noted that, quote, "the mission is going to improve because of the changes we're making internally." On that front, what Tom Homan described was targeted operations. This is conventionally how Immigration and Customs Enforcement does work. That is to say that they identify undocumented immigrants that they are going to pursue that have a criminal history. They go and do that operation and sometimes they also pick up others who are undocumented immigrants that are in that vicinity.

Say for example, if they were targeting a household and that person lived with other undocumented immigrants, that is something that ICE calls collateral. But the White House border czar said that there will be prioritization in place and this is how he described it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HOMAN, WHITE HOUSE BORDER CZAR: Targeted, strategic enforcement operations. That's traditionally been the case and that's where we're going. That's where we're going to continue to do and improve upon that, with a prioritization on public safety threats.

We are not surrendering the President's mission on immigration enforcement. Let's make that clear. Prioritization of criminal aliens doesn't mean we forget about everybody else. That's just simply ridiculous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ALVAREZ: Now, that last bit from Tom Homan is critical because he's not foreclosing that there may be people that are swept up who -- or just have immigration violations and not an extensive criminal history. All the same, this is expected to look different and the broad immigration sweeps that were under the control of top border patrol official Gregory Bovino who has since lift -- left Minneapolis.

But ultimately, this is going to be an -- the officials on the ground are going to have to square how to meet the President's mass deportation campaign with doing the conventional targeted ICE operations. So, we'll see what that looks like and what the tactics are on the ground as that gets underway.

KEILAR: All right, Priscilla thank you for the reporting.

Homan has now been in Minneapolis for just a couple of days following this scrutiny over several false statements that the Trump administration initially made about the shooting death of Alex Pretti.

[15:05:10]

The ICU nurse who was shot and killed by federal agents on Saturday, 11 days after he previously clashed with agents.

SANCHEZ: And there's video of that scuffle from January 13th. You see Pretti shouting at agents kicking their vehicles taillight as well as the agents driving away. The taillight right there breaks. The agents stopped. They exit the vehicle and then tackle Pretti to the ground. Physical interaction lasts only a few seconds before he eventually gets up.

Now, a gun does appear to be tucked in his waistband though it's unclear if the agents there noticed it. They do not disarm him. They instead simply walk away.

With us now is Seth Stoughton. He's a former police officer and use of force expert, now a professor of law and criminal justice at the University of South Carolina.

Seth, thank you so much for being with us.

I wonder what your reaction is to this new video and whether this previous interaction should have had any bearing on what happened on January 24th when he was killed.

SETH STOUGHTON:, FORMER POLICE OFFICER & USE OF FORCE EXPERT: So, it's legally relevant if the officers were aware of his previous behavior. If they weren't aware of his previous behavior that it can't factor into their decision making at the time. And even if they were aware of his previous behavior, it's only relevant to the extent that it helps explain why they might be apprehending him or attempting to apprehend him prior to the shooting. It really doesn't help explain anything about whether officers might have reasonably perceived an imminent threat of death or great bodily harm that would justify the use of deadly force.

KEILAR: In CNN's town hall last night, Seth, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara said videos of federal law enforcement, quote, "show a lot of methods that are questionable and tactics that just do not appear safe for agents or community." He said it looks like policing 20 or 30 years ago. I wonder what you thought about that. Can you talk about the differences in policing now versus 20 or 30 years ago?

STOUGHTON: Sure. And I think he's exactly right. What we see when it comes to the operational planning and the lack of coordination between federal agencies and what have historically been their state and local partners when it comes to the tactics that we see agents actually using in the field as they approach vehicles, extract people from vehicles, make arrests. And when it comes to the type of accountability and investigations that we see after critical incidents, none of that looks like any of the hallmarks of modern professional police.

I think we should be really concerned that we're seeing a devolution back to an approach to policing that does not emphasize public safety. And Chief O'Hara is exactly right when he says that poor tactics and some of what we're seeing like rushing up to vehicles and breaking out windows very quickly or stepping in front of vehicles that doesn't just undermine the effectiveness of police enforcement operations. It undermines officer and agent safety. And as a result of that, it makes community members less safe as well. It's certainly not a model that I would want to see going forward as we continue to engage in ICE or other policing operations.

SANCHEZ: So, then I -- I wonder what your reaction is to Tom Homan saying this morning that federal officers who don't act with professionalism will be dealt with like any other federal agency given that some of these agents under DHS may not be familiar with professional norms and standards given that some of their training has been abridged because of the push for the administration to try to deport as many people as possible. I mean is that the kind of climate where the people on the ground are even aware of what the norms are.

STOUGHTON: That's an excellent question. And we -- when we talk about how we ensure that officers or agents live up to professional expectations we typically look at supervision. We look at training and policy and we look at accountability mechanisms. That is what are officers told to do, how are they told to do it and is that being reinforced by the supervisors that are overseeing what they're actually doing.

Are there officers, for example, who are being held to account when they violate those norms and standards. I don't have a great deal of faith in the modern DHS or ICE or CBP infrastructure, because when we have seen officers engage in what are Pretti facially problematic unprofessional behaviors, not even questionable uses of force but things that are very clearly over the line like the agents in New York who shoved the woman to the ground. That agent was briefly suspended and then reinstated.

So, I don't think there's a lot of reason for optimism especially given some of the comments that we've seen from Secretary Noem or Commander Bovino on exactly this issue.

[15:10:07]

Are -- are we actually going to enforce professional norms, rather than just pay lip service to the idea of enforcing professional norms.

KEILAR: Yes. And we'll have to see if Homan says he is. We'll have to see if -- if that bears out.

Seth, great to speak with you. Seth Stoughton, thank you.

STOUGHTON: Thank you.

KEILAR: And still to come, President Trump threatening military action against Iran that he says will be quote, "far worse" than what happened before when the U.S. struck nuclear sites as nuclear talks between the two countries hit a wall.

SANCHEZ: Plus, the Trump administration rehashing voter fraud claims from 2020 as the FBI raids an elections office near Atlanta.

KEILAR: And later, Elon Musk is betting Tesla's future isn't about cars at all. Why the world's richest man is retooling some factories to make robots. We have that and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[15:15:21]

SANCHEZ: The U.S. and Iran could be on a collision course as talks break down over Tehran's nuclear program. People familiar with recent negotiations say that President Trump is considering a new attack on Iran over its refusal to accept U.S. terms. The President offered a different pretense for possible strikes earlier this month when he threatened retaliation for the regime's deadly crackdowns on protesters.

KEILAR: Now, both sides are preparing for what may come next this year. This here, this is the USS Abraham Lincoln and its carrier strike group. It arrived in the Indian Ocean this week, moving closer to where it could support any military operations against Iran. Today, officials in Tehran announcing the addition of a thousand new drones to bolster the country's military arsenal. CNN Global Affairs Analyst Kim Dozier is with us now to talk a little bit more about this.

A source tells CNN that all options remain on the table for the President. I mean, where do you think this is headed? Does it look like a strike?

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Yes, President Trump famously likes to make decisions at the last moment, as he puts it. But I think now the options are available to him that he wanted a couple of weeks ago when he was encouraging protesters to keep going.

I don't know that the President understood that you can't launch a strike on Iran unless you've got a carrier strike group and other munitions in the area to protect U.S. bases throughout the Gulf, to protect Israel from the reach of Iran's ballistic missiles. All of that needs to be in place to give him the military option. Now, once it's in place, there's a certain amount of momentum. You put

that together with all of his threats. Does that make him feel like he has to do something? But the problem is, what's the something? Because he's not going to be able to topple the regime with a single day of strikes.

SANCHEZ: How does the posture from some of the U.S. allies in the region change Trump's thinking? Because you have Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates essentially saying you can't use our airspace for anything.

DOZIER: Yes. But you also have Turkey today reportedly is offering to host some sort of a video conference between the Iranian leader and Trump. They don't want to see this happen. But you also have the E.U. today just passing new sanctions, calling the Iranian revolutionary -- sorry, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard force terrorists. So, that seems to back up some sort of U.S. military action.

Those in the region are worried about blowback, because in the past, if Iran has been hit, it has launched strikes on different Gulf territory, on oil fields, et cetera. What you could see is ratcheting up all this pressure to get the Iranians to the negotiating table. But the U.S. demands have been pretty maximalist. So, even if they get to the negotiating table, it doesn't look good.

KEILAR: It's really interesting. I know Iran looked at what happened in Venezuela, the movement of all of that military support, the toppling of Maduro. But even Marco Rubio acknowledged that this situation in Iran is more complex ...

DOZIER: Yes.

KEILAR: ... than it was in Venezuela.

DOZIER: Yes. Look, Venezuela kicked off by the seizure of Maduro who was -- he had an arrest warrant. He had a price on his head. The U.S. could ostensibly use the legal arguments to take out the Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei by saying they've made threats against the USS Abraham Lincoln and against U.S. forces in the Gulf, and therefore we're doing this in defense of the United States.

But he's not just a political leader. He's a religious leader. And attacking him could risk turning much of the country against the U.S. in favor of the regime and unseating this opposition momentum. The smarter play would likely be, okay, maybe do another strike on the Revolutionary Guard Corps and then let sanctions keep doing their work.

It didn't work in Trump 1.0 because Iran hadn't been weakened by the series of Israeli strikes post-October 7th. But now it really is starting to hurt, the economy is in free fall, and you've just got to let those months play out that would further weaken the regime. Let's see if Trump is that patient.

SANCHEZ: Kim Dozier, thanks so much for the analysis.

DOZIER: Thanks.

SANCHEZ: Still to come, Brendan Banfield tells jurors about the moment he found his wife with another man as he takes the stand in his own defense at his double murder trial. We have new details from the case next.

[15:20:06]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:24:44]

KEILAR: Today offered some of the most riveting testimony yet in the double murder trial of Brendan Banfield, who has been on the stand all day. Banfield, of course, is that Virginia father who was accused of killing his wife and another man nearly three years ago in an elaborate scheme with his lover, the family's au pair, who is now a witness for the prosecution.

SANCHEZ: This afternoon, prosecutors are trying to poke holes in his claims that he came upon his wife, Christine, having sex with another man, and that the man, Joseph Ryan, was the one who stabbed her to death. Banfield is saying that that's when he shot Ryan.

CNN's Jean Casarez has been following every move of this trial.

All of this happened, Jean, as his daughter, four years old at the time, is in that home.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, in the basement. And he is charged with child neglect, child abuse and child cruelty by having her in that home when prosecutors say he committed two murders, a double murder. Well, the -- the defense on their direct examination, they focused on that because his -- his testimony was that Juliana and Valerie (ph), the little girl, were in the basement. He told them to stay there, and he was going to go through the house because there was a strange car in the driveway, something was happening. And then, Juliana on her own decided they would just come up into the house. So, that's trying to show he did not abuse, neglect at all his daughter.

But the testimony really got -- got intense in that bedroom, because he testified on direct that when he walked in, his wife was on the ground and that Joseph Ryan was basically behind her. He was trying to figure it out, not understanding, and her long brown hair, curly hair, really masked the knife. He couldn't see it. But then he realized, no, this is not the activity I thought it was going to be. He's doing something to my wife.

Well, he got out his revolver and said, drop the knife. But on cross- examination, the prosecutor was showing you didn't try to stop him from murdering your wife at all. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRENDAN BANFIELD: I did not shoot him prior to Christine going to the floor. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Okay, and at that point in time that she's going

to the floor, were at least six stab wounds in, right?

BANFIELD: I'm aiming down my sight at Joe, and so I'm not focused exactly on Christine. You -- you have a narrowed view when you're aiming down -- when you're aiming down a firearm.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And you just couldn't pull the trigger, could you?

BANFIELD: I was afraid.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Okay. And you are a trained law enforcement officer, correct?

BANFIELD: I am, but I have -- my shooting record is on the lower end for the qualifications.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CASAREZ: Now, what he -- he's trying to say is that they were so close together, Joe and Christine, he was concerned he was going to shoot his wife, but yet he could tell at that point that Joseph Ryan was stabbing his wife. And once they separated, then he shot him. We just found out, I've got to tell you this, that they are in the final 10 minutes of the redirect case of the prosecution closing arguments tomorrow morning, 10 o'clock sharp.

KEILAR: All right, we'll be looking for that. Jean, thank you. Jean Casarez.

Coming up, the first government funding fight of the year, already taking place on Capitol Hill right now, as Democrats are pushing for changes to how the administration carries out its immigration crackdown. Democratic Senator Tina Smith of Minnesota says she won't vote to fund ICE until its officers leave her state. She joins us next.

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