Return to Transcripts main page

CNN Newsroom

1,500 Troops Put on Standby For Possible Deployment To Minnesota; Trump Threatens Allies With New Tariffs Over Greenland; Iranian Authorities Suggest Som Protesters Could Still Face Execution; Arctic Blast; Deeply Motivated Voters Favor Dems by 16 Points; Trump's Overall Job Approval Rating At 39 Percent; Georgia Town Rallies Together Over Rumored ICE Facility; DOJ Launches Criminal Probes Into Gov. Walz, Minneapolis Mayor; Indiana, Miami Ready To Clash For CFP Title Monday. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired January 18, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:00:35]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a bit like a spoiled child turned old. And you think he can. And he can -- think he can scare people. He can't scare Greenlanders. We're not scared.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Strong words from Greenland and European nations as President Trump issues fresh threats over his plans for the Danish territory.

This as Trump's former vice president, Mike Pence, tells CNN that he supports the president's moves.

Plus, millions of Americans are in a deep freeze today as arctic air blasts much of the U.S. Places as far south as Florida are even getting a taste of old man winter today. How long will this cold last?

And later, it all comes down to this. Excitement is building ahead of tomorrow's college football title game. We'll take you to Florida.

Hello everyone, and thank you so much for joining me this Sunday. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. You're in the CNN newsroom.

And we begin with Minneapolis, where ongoing tensions over ICE enforcement could be on the verge of escalating even further. A source within the Trump administration tells CNN the Pentagon has put 1,500 troops on alert for a possible deployment to Minnesota.

This as the state's governor, Tim Walz, has announced that he is placing the Minnesota National Guard on standby if needed.

The latest round of demonstrations comes more than a week after an ICE agent killed 37-year-old Renee Good. Anti-ice protesters in Minneapolis yesterday chased off a rally led by far-right activist and pardoned January 6th defendant, Jake Lang. Video shows Lang appearing to have bruises and scrapes on his head as he left the scene.

CNN's Betsy Klein is near President Trump's Mar-a-Lago home, where he is spending the weekend. And CNN's Julia Vargas Jones is on the ground for us in Minneapolis.

So Betsy, you first, has the White House made a decision yet about deploying these troops?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Not just yet, Fredricka. What we do know is that the Pentagon has ordered 1,500 active-duty troops to prepare for a potential deployment to Minnesota. This includes two battalions from Alaska.

What we don't yet know is what types of tasks these troops could perform.

But according to one U.S. Defense official, they could help with crowd control as well as support for law enforcement on the ground.

Now, President Trump has raised the possibility in multiple recent days of invoking the Insurrection Act, that is that centuries old law that would enable him to deploy troops inside the United States.

And we heard today from deputy attorney general Todd Blanche. He said that there may come a time when it's needed and Trump has the full support of the Justice Department.

Multiple officials, however, have stressed that this does not mean that a deployment is imminent or guaranteed. They are just preparing. This is a form of readiness.

But what we do know is that the White House and Trump administration more broadly, is monitoring these protests in Minneapolis and surrounding areas extremely closely, and they have options that they can present to President Trump should he decide to move forward on this.

All of this, as the Trump administration has surged federal agents to Minneapolis. That includes U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agents, as well as other federal personnel and a small number of FBI agents.

But I want you to listen to acting ICE director Todd Lyons and the role that he described these agents as playing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD LYONS, ACTING ICE DIRECTOR: You hear about the 3,000 federal officers and special agents that's deployed to Minneapolis. Majority of those, if not most, are to protect the men and women that are out there trying to make those arrests.

And that has definitely changed our tactics, where we would go and have five to six officers on an arrest team. Now you have to go with 10 to 15 just to protect those individuals that are trying to arrest a bad guy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KLEIN: Now, Lyons' comments come after a federal judge ruled on Friday that agents cannot deploy certain crowd control measures against peaceful protesters or arrest them, Fredricka.

[14:04:51]

WHITFIELD: All right. Betsy Klein, thank you so much. We'll check back with you.

Julia, let's go to you there in snowy Minneapolis. So how are officials in that city reacting to this possible deployment of military troops?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they've made it really clear, Fredricka, that that would only be an escalation of tensions here in Minneapolis. We heard from the mayor of -- the Democratic mayor of Minneapolis, I should say, Jacob Frey, from the beginning of this operation, the federal agents would not help, that the only thing that Minneapolis needs is for those federal agents to leave. And he made that message even more clear this morning on CNN.

Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR JACOB FREY (D), MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA: This act was clearly designed to intimidate the people of Minneapolis. And here's the thing. We're not going to be intimidated.

If the goal here is safety, we've got many mechanisms to achieve safety. And the best way to get safety is not to have an influx of even more agents, and in this case military, in Minneapolis.

Right now, we have about 600 police officers, and they've got 3,000 or so ICE agents and border control that they are now talking about deploying 1,500 military. This is -- well, it's ridiculous, but we will not be intimidated by the actions of this federal government.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES;: And that has also been, Fred, the kind of response from the people here on the ground, from the protesters that we have been speaking to, at least here outside the Whipple Federal Building.

This is now going on day four of demonstrations. We've also seen a change in the response from both the law enforcement presence here now. We're talking about a few different categories.

We do have the sheriff's deputies now. a much-heightened presence since yesterday. And now that seems to have resulted in some kind of a barricade keeping those protesters from the federal building.

Even though there have been some restrictions, the ones that Betsy quickly mentioned there, I do want to run through those with you because that could change the way that these protesters are behaving themselves here.

Because what these restrictions are doing, according to this federal judge, the ruling came on Friday, is that now federal officers, and this is a good distinction for us to make, federal officers are not allowed to arrest or retaliate peaceful, peaceful protesters.

They cannot use pepper spray or tear gas or other, non-lethal munitions to disperse crowds like this one behind me. And they can no longer stop and detain drivers when there's, quote, "no reasonable, articulable suspicion of obstruction or interference with those federal operations which does mean in -- for the largest part, that these protesters would then be a little more protected.

But what we did see yesterday is still after that decision came down, we did see pepper spray being used. We did see arrests taking place, at least four of them, only while we were here.

So the question goes, Fred, will these decisions make any difference in the way that federal agents are operating here on the ground? And what would be the consequences if they are found to be in violation of those -- that decision?

WHITFIELD: All right. Julia, and I wonder you got snow accumulation there, doesn't seem to be much of a deterrent for those protesters. I know you said this is day four. Is the plan to keep going to day five and six and beyond?

JONES: Well, this protest has basically been a perma-protest, Fred. They haven't stopped. And honestly, the people that I've spoken to, as you can see, I'm all bundled up and I've said it's very cold. Are you going to continue to come here and protest?

They said, look, we're from Minnesota, we're from here. This is nothing.

WHITFIELD: All right. Julia Vargas Jones, thank you so much.

All right. European leaders are warning a, quote, "dangerous spiral" in U.S. relations over President Trump's determination to take over Greenland. On Saturday, the president threatened new tariffs up to 25 percent against European nations unless they let him buy Greenland from Denmark.

Trump's demands prompting an extraordinary emergency European Union meeting today with its 27 ambassadors.

On Saturday, thousands of people rallied against Trump's hostile takeover threat in Greenland and Denmark. And today, Trump's former vice president says he supports Trump's goal of buying Greenland, but doesn't agree with Trump's approach.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I have concerns about using what I think is a questionable, constitutional authority, imposing unilateral tariffs on NATO allies to achieve this objective. What the president is trying to do here, I think, is absolutely in the interest of the United States of America.

[14:09:48]

PENCE: I would just rather see the president use his persuasive powers and U.S. investment in Greenland to lay a foundation for ultimately achieving that goal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: CNN's Nic Robertson is joining us now from Greenland. So Nic, what more can you tell us about how European nations are responding to Trump's newest tariff threats?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. And I think reflecting on what Mr. Pence just said there, the former vice president, that the methods used by President Trump at the moment, as far as the people of Greenland are concerned, is really sort of not the soft power that the U.S. has at its disposal; has some scratching their heads here and really feeling that the United States is just pushing them further away.

But the nations within the European Union and the U.K. who have been affected by President Trump's threat of tariffs, that's the countries who have sent NATO troops here to Nuuk and elsewhere in Greenland as part of these ongoing military arctic training exercises that Denmark, of course, along with -- along with Finland, along with France, along with Germany, along with the Netherlands, along with Norway, along with Sweden, along with the U.K. -- those are the countries that are being targeted by these tariffs.

And the joint statement says that President Trump threatens to undermine the transatlantic security risks, putting the relationship on a downward spiral.

And they say they stand squarely behind Denmark and the people of Greenland in determining their future, that they will continue and are willing to continue as they have done in conversations about Greenland but based on its sovereignty or based on the respect of sovereignty and territorial integrity, which very clearly they feel President Trump is not doing at the moment.

So that pushback from those countries is very clear. And that discussion with E.U. ambassadors today was discussing some incredibly disruptive potential measures, stopping potentially the E.U.-U.S. trade deal, which would leave tariffs in place on U.S. goods coming into Europe, would damage trade and the economies of both Europe and the United States.

But an even bigger mechanism tool that has never been used before, the sort of so-called nuclear option. The anti-coercion measures that Europe, the European Union -- all those nations -- could bring to bear on the United States that would potentially put costs on any Amazon transaction, on any -- any Visa or Mastercard transaction, incredibly wide ranging and economically damaging.

So the Europeans reaching, as they say, to their toolbox of what they can do to talk economics and economic power with President Trump.

And this is the biggest division, if you will, that I think the E.U. has seen with the U.S. in recent history.

WHITFIELD: Yes, it is big. It's quite the divide.

All right. Nic Robertson, thank you so much.

And new today, authorities in Iran are now suggesting some anti- government demonstrations could -- or demonstrators rather, could still face execution. President Trump said last week he held off taking military action in Iran, in part because hundreds of planned executions in Iran were stopped.

There was also a stunning admission this weekend from Iran's Supreme Leader that thousands of people were killed in weeks of protests. He is blaming President Trump for inciting the violence.

CNN senior international correspondent Ben Wedeman is with us now from across the Iran border. He's in Erbil, Iraq.

So Ben, Iran's president, also making new threats against the U.S. on social media. To what degree?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. This is Masoud Pezeshkian, the president of Iran, who was responding to President Trump, who told "Politico" in an interview that it's time to look for new leadership in Iran.

And of course, for the Iranian leadership, this looks like a bit like an imperial overlord deciding it's time to change the regime.

And so Pezeshkian said today that any aggression against Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is, in his words, tantamount to an all- out war against the nation.

So what we saw is that there was a slight lessening of tensions when it appears President Trump stepped back from his promise to say when he said that help is on its way to the protesters in Iran. There was worries in the sort of overnight from Thursday into Friday that the United States was going to launch some sort of airstrikes on Iran. So briefly, the tensions dropped.

[14:14:46]

WEDEMAN: But now with the war of words between Tehran and Washington yet again heating up, and with the United States sending the Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group to the region, tensions are mounting again.

And given that President Trump perhaps doesn't want to embarrass himself by being seen as somebody who makes threats and doesn't carry them out, might actually act. So the worry is that indeed there is a confrontation coming. As soon

as that carrier strike group approaches the region, it's expected to be in the area within the next five to seven days, Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: All right. Ben Wedeman, thank you so much, as the clock continues to tick.

All right. Still to come, snow falling right here in this country in the Deep South. But this brutal arctic blast is causing even bigger problems elsewhere in the U.S.

And later, a small town is taking a stand against a proposed ICE detention center. Find out what's driving the pushback and what it could mean for that community.

[14:15:51]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back.

A brutal arctic blast is putting millions of Americans in a deep freeze and bringing snow to much of the U.S., including parts of the Deep South.

CNN meteorologist Allison Chinchar is tracking it all for us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: More than 40 million people are under some type of cold weather alert, and that extends across portions of the Midwest, Northern Plains, and yes, even down across portions of Florida where they have freeze warnings in effect across much of the northern part of the state.

Take a look. Jacksonville morning low temperature on Monday, expected to drop all the way down to 31 degrees below freezing. For some perspective, their normal low would be about 44 degrees. Orlando, Fort Myers also looking at temperatures close to or below that 40-degree mark.

Now this means especially across south Florida, you could end up having some of those falling frozen iguanas early into the morning on Monday. So be careful with that.

Now, farther to the north, also cold temperatures here, but a little bit chillier than we're seeing across Florida.

Look at this. Minneapolis, the normal low would be about eight degrees. We are going to be minus eight, minus seven. And then finally getting back closer to normal once we get to Wednesday of this week.

Chicago, Saint Louis also looking at temperatures about 10 to 15 degrees below where they normally would be this time of year.

Now for Washington, D.C., New York, Boston, places like that, Monday morning, not too far off from average. Then we start to see the drop on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week.

So the cold is also coming. It's just going to be slightly more delayed. Now with all of that cold air in place, it means as the moisture moves through these areas, you're going to see it in the form of snow, especially as this clipper continues to slide down through the day Sunday into the evening hours, transitioning over the Great Lakes and then spreading into areas of the northeast. It's all going to be in the form of snow.

Most of these areas will pick up a few extra inches on top of what they've already had. The real key spot are going to be these areas right here on those eastern flanks of the Great Lakes.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Allison Chinchar, thank you so much.

All right. Brand new CNN poll out today revealing which party has the upper hand ahead of this fall's midterm elections.

[14:22:43]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Welcome back.

Brand new CNN polling shows Democrats deeply-motivated for the midterm elections despite having dismal views of their leaders. The just- released poll shows Democrats and Democratic-leaning registered voters are far more enthusiastic than Republicans. 66 percent say they are extremely motivated to vote, compared to just 50 percent of Republicans.

The poll also shows that if the election were held today, Democrats would hold a five-point advantage over Republicans.

Joining me right now to talk more about this is Ron Brownstein. He's a CNN senior political analyst and an opinion columnist for Bloomberg. Ron, great to see you as always, and happy new year.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Happy new year, Fred.

WHITFIELD: So the midterms are still more than nine months away but what does this snapshot indicate to you about what might happen in the midterm elections?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, you know, you're seeing kind of the fundamental dynamics of midterms play themselves out. Historically, the party that's out of the White House is more motivated in midterm elections than the party that's in the White House.

And views of the president play an enormous role in what happens. Trump's approval rating has fallen in the -- in this poll under 40 percent. His strongest issue in the first term, the economy has turned against him. His approval rating on the economy is now consistently lower than it

has been at any point during his first term in most polls. And if anything, the numbers you just cited understate the real risk to Republicans in November. And here's why.

If you look inside that poll result that had Democrats leading by five points on the so-called generic ballot, you'll see that virtually everyone who approves of Trump says they are voting Republican. And that's what is going to happen in the end. That's what we've seen over the last 30 years or so.

But the people who disapprove of Trump are, only about three-quarters of them now say they're going to vote for Democrats. Many of them say they are unsure. In 2018, 89 percent of the people who disapproved of Trump voted Democratic for the House. In 2020, it was 90 percent.

In the end, that 76 percent number is going to go up a lot closer to that 90 percent number. And that means the hole that Republicans have to dig out of between now and November is even larger than that top line number suggests.

WHITFIELD: And this poll, you know, comes just days after another CNN poll showing an overwhelming majority of Americans disapprove of how Trump is handling his job as president. Just 39 percent approve, while 61 percent of those polled disapprove of Trump's job performance.

Trump won't be on the ballot, but how big of a role will he play in the midterms?

[14:29:45]

BROWNSTEIN: Opinions of the incumbent president are the single biggest factor in off-year elections in modern American politics, full stop.

You know, as I said, in the end, somewhere above -- somewhere, 92, 93 percent of people who approve of Trump are likely to vote Republican in the key races. And somewhere around 90 percent of people who disapprove of Trump are going to vote Democratic.

In fact, if you look at the exit polls conducted in every Senate race in 2018 and 2020 while he was in the White House, Susan Collins of Maine was the only Republican in all of those Senate races who held their Democratic opponent less than 89 percent of the people who disapproved of Trump.

In Virginia and New Jersey, we saw Sherrill and Spanberger both win over 90 percent of the people who disapprove of Trump. Even Jay Jones, the scandal tarred Democratic attorney general in Virginia, won 89 percent of the disapprovals.

Anywhere -- what that says very clearly is that anywhere in the country where about half the voters or more disapprove of Trump, whatever their views of the Democratic Party, Democrats have a real shot.

WHITFIELD: So do these polls indicate Democrats have a realistic shot, you know, by taking back the house, you know, the path to taking back the senate is trickier, however, for Democrats.

BROWNSTEIN: Right. Yeah. Look, even at a plus five on the generic ballot, they will clearly win back the house. That is more than sufficient to do that. And as I say, that probably understates the degree of vulnerability.

The Senate is a trickier proposition, as you say, with a series of recruiting successes, Democrats for the first time have given themselves a plausible chance to win back the Senate by getting the candidates they want and their top four targets Maine, Ohio, North Carolina and Alaska.

The challenge is, as I wrote today on CNN.com, is that if you look across the Senate battlefield, one thing that is constant white working class voters, white voters without a college degree who are the foundation of the Republican coalition of the Trump era, are overrepresented in eight of the ten states that both sides see as the most competitive. And even in Virginia and New Jersey, despite everything else that went well for Sherrill and Spanberger, they still struggled among those voters.

In that poll today, Republicans still lead by about 25 points. Among those white non-college voters. When they were asked who they preferred in the congressional elections. I call this the blue collar barricade. That is what Democrats are going to have to get over to win back the Senate in those key states -- Maine, Ohio, North Carolina, Alaska, as well as some states like New Hampshire and Michigan.

They're going to have to run better among working class white voters than they have in the Trump era in order to regain a Senate majority.

WHITFIELD: Yeah, that blue collar barricade is the nucleus of your piece on CNN.com. I encourage everybody to read it. Happy new year to you. Ron Brownstein, thank you so much.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me. Yeah.

WHITFIELD: All right. Up next:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I had to sum it up in two words: go away.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: How a rural Georgia community is reacting to rumors that an ICE detention center could be set up in its backyard.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:37:20]

WHITFIELD: All right. A small town in Georgia is pushing back after learning that it is under consideration for a massive new ICE detention facility. The town, it's called Social Circle, just east of Atlanta, came together with their message to keep immigration officials out.

CNN correspondent Rafael Romo is joining me live now.

You visited social circle and what did the residents there tell you?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: There's a lot of fear, uncertainty, concern about this, whether its going to happen or no. And local people told me that no other issue in recent memory has united this town more than this one. Progressives in the town say a warehouse is not a place to hold human beings like cattle. And conservatives are concerned about public safety and the impact to their already strained water and sewer system.

Meanwhile, the town's mayor has a message for ICE -- go away.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GARETH FENLEY, ORGANIZER, INDIVISIBLE BOLDLY BLUE: Social Circle is a very sweet small town in Georgia. It's a very conventional, old- fashioned, lovely little town.

ROMO (voice-over): But all that may be about to change in this town of 5,000, located about 45 miles east of Atlanta.

Is this a conversation that is being had?

FENLEY: Oh, yeah. People around the town are all talking about it.

ROMO (voice-over): Many people here, like Gareth Fenley, are convinced that the federal government wants to convert this warehouse in a detention center for as many as 10,000 immigrants, which would triple the town's population.

FENLEY: I myself am also against having ICE transform industrial warehouses into detention centers. I think that's a really, really bad idea from a human rights perspective.

ROMO (voice-over): Fenley, a human rights activist, says she organized the protest when she received a tip that people from out of town were going to survey the facility.

David Keener, who's starting his seventh year as mayor of Social Circle, is opposed as well.

MAYOR DAVID KEENER, SOCIAL CIRCLE, GEORGIA: Painful. I -- no. I don't want that here. This is not the town for that. You know, if I had to sum it up in two words: go away.

ROMO (voice-over): And so is the town leadership, for reasons they say, that have nothing to do with politics or the Trump administration's crackdown on illegal immigration.

ERIC TAYLOR, SOCIAL CIRCLE CITY MANAGER: It has nothing to do with what the political situation is for us. It simply just comes down to the fact that we're a small town of 5,000 people. We have a very limited water and sewer infrastructure. It's too close to elementary school.

ROMO (voice-over): Social Circle Elementary is located only 4,000 feet from the warehouse.

John Miller, a businessman who owns horse stables across the street from the warehouse, says the entire town is united against this, even beyond political differences.

[14:40:03]

JOHN MILLER, ORGANIZER, ONE CIRCLE COMMUNITY COALITION: Regardless of your ideological bent. Most people in Social Circle are about social circle, first. We're about our lifestyle.

ROMO (voice-over): CNN asked the Department of Homeland Security about the issue, but so far there has been no reply.

As CNN reported in October, DHS is funneling $10 billion through the navy to help facilitate the construction of a sprawling network of migrant detention centers across the U.S.

KEENER: I don't know that it's a done deal. You know, we've -- I've actually -- no one has contacted me from ICE nor federal government, nor the property owner. And as of today, we've not received an application for detention center in that location.

ROMO (voice-over): For Georgia's greatest little town, it's a battle, residents say, they can't afford to lose.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ROMO (on camera): And as we reported in October, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is seeking to convert warehouses and other spaces around the country into massive detention facilities in several states, including Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, Utah and here in Georgia. Details about the facilities remain unclear, and local officials and social circle told me they believe there might be a nondisclosure agreement between the warehouse's owner and the federal government.

And the mayor was telling me, Fred, that nobody is returning his calls. No one in government is calling him back because he's trying to find out exactly what's going on.

WHITFIELD: And I guess he's still trying to figure out the right people to call.

ROMO: It's possible, but he's tried, told me state officials, federal officials, different agencies and departments and departments, and no one is calling him back.

WHITFIELD: Well, this is today's version of not in my backyard.

ROMO: That's right.

WHITFIELD: All right. Rafael Romo, thank you so much. Appreciate that. All right. Coming up, troops are on standby to deploy to Minnesota as

President Trump threatens to invoke the Insurrection Act. What his deputy attorney general just said about that possibility.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:46:41]

WHITFIELD: As protests in Minnesota continue to intensify over federal immigration enforcement, the Trump administration is escalating its feud with some of the state's top Democrats. The Justice Department has launched criminal probes into Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, accusing them of obstructing federal law enforcement officers.

Today, President Trump's deputy attorney general is defending the investigations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD BLANCHE, U.S. ATTORNEY GENERAL: President Trump has promised to keep the American people safe, and the fact that the local law enforcement, because their leadership is not doing their jobs, there may come a time when the president has to order that and we support him, the attorney general supports him, because we have to keep the citizens safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: All right. Here with us now to discuss former federal prosecutor and president of West Coast Trial Lawyers, Neama Rahmani.

Neama, great to see you.

So, I want to get your reaction to these investigations.

NEAMA RAHMANI, PRESIDENT, WEST COAST TRIAL LAWYERS: Fred, thanks for having me. My reaction is, this is a dangerous escalation because we can't have our federal government investigating mayors, governors simply because of policy disagreements for there to be obstruction, we need an actual act more than just the speech condemning ICE or saying it's not a good idea for those agents to be in Minneapolis and other major metropolitan cities.

WHITFIELD: So the Minneapolis mayor, Jacob Frey, says he has not received a subpoena or any notice about the investigation. And he also says he's not aware of any specific allegations. So if this investigation is coming, how would he be informed?

RAHMANI: Well, he would be informed by either receiving a grand jury subpoena like Powell did or a grand jury indictment and an arrest warrant. Now, I don't think the Department of Justice would be able to get an indictment in a case like this. I don't think grand jurors would return one. And if they did, in the unlikely event, I don't think they could ever get a conviction in a case like this. This is more political saber rattling than anything. But this is not

the use of the Department of Justice. This is not what it's there for, to go after ones political opponents.

And we've seen it time and time again with this DOJ that they're going after individuals simply because they're enemies of the president, or they're taking a view that's adverse to the president. That is not the role, the DOJ. And that's a big problem.

WHITFIELD: Over the last week, President Trump has repeatedly threatened to send U.S. troops into Minnesota using the insurrection act. What exactly would this allow him to do? And how could he use it?

RAHMANI: So, the insurrection act would be another escalation, Fred. And we've seen the president federalize the National Guard here in my hometown of Los Angeles last year.

But the Insurrection Act is different. It allows the president to call up active duty military and those military personnel, those men and women can engage in law enforcement, actually arrest people. So, this isn't just bringing up the guard to protect federal agents or property. This is using the military for civilian law enforcement.

Now, typically that's not allowed under federal law under the Posse Comitatus Act. But if there is an inability by the president to either enforce federal law or protect constitutional rights, this can be used.

[14:50:02]

But it certainly hasn't been used in quite some time. The last time, again, dating back to the early '90s in Los Angeles for the L.A. riots.

WHITFIELD: And like in Los Angeles recently when Trump tried to send military troops into Los Angeles, the court struck that down. But then how would you compare that potential use in Minneapolis to what was attempted in Los Angeles? I mean, do you expect the courts to react in a similar fashion or get involved, or because the Insurrection Act would be a tool that the president wants to use? This might roll out differently.

RAHMANI: I do expect Minnesota and other states to file and litigate this. I do think the president has the upper hand here, if indeed there is lawlessness and riots. I don't think we've reached that point yet.

Courts have historically been hesitant to second guess the president and the executive branch. They deem this to be a political question. Even if a district judge were to grant some sort of restraining order or an injunction, I would be surprised if the circuit courts and certainly the Supreme Court, they've been very deferential when it comes to this.

Again, I think it's a bad idea. I don't think this is why men and women join the military. They want to fight our enemies abroad as opposed to, you know, engage in this type of law enforcement here in the United States. Hopefully, the temperature cools down and everything de-escalates because I think this is, again, another bad idea, Fred.

WHITFIELD: All right. Neama Rahmani, always great to see you. Thank you so much.

RAHMANI: Thanks, Fred. Great seeing you, too.

WHITFIELD: All right. In Minneapolis, a family of eight trapped in a protest, tear gas inside of their car, a mother forced to perform CPR on her infant who save his life. What Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem is saying about that incident.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:56:29]

WHITFIELD: All right. Tomorrow night, it's a big one. The Indiana Hoosiers and the Miami Hurricanes facing off for college football's national championship. Indiana is undefeated and looking for its first ever football national title. Miami has won the national championship five times, with its last title coming 25 years ago.

CNN's Coy Wire joins us now from Miami with a preview of the big game.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fred.

This will be known as the year the perennial powerhouses were shocked and has everyone questioning what this new era of NIL money and the transfer portal has become.

Miami is a team that's done nothing but fall short of expectations the last quarter century, and that's understandable because they were at the mountaintop the last time they won the title in 2002, 38 NFL draft picks, probably the greatest college team ever assembled back then.

But Head Coach Mario Cristobal, who played for the Hurricanes, returned with a no nonsense, no living in the past mentality, and his canes are now exceeding expectations. One hundred to one underdogs before the playoff field selection, they have shocked the world, becoming the first team ever to play for a title on their home field.

Now some of his players told me his mantra is "one and O". No thinking about the past. The you is here. They're one win away from becoming champions.

Now for Indiana, they've pulled off arguably the greatest turnaround story ever in college football. Coach Curt Cignetti came in just two years ago, took him from the bottom of the barrel with the most losses of any college football program ever, to two playoff appearances, an undefeated season playing for the first ever national title.

We asked both teams how they would put into words, how huge it would be if they could actually pull off winning this title.

FERNANDO MENDOZA, INDIANA HOOSIERS QUARTERBACK: Yeah, it would mean a lot, and I know how much it would mean to people. And I know that the best way to accomplish this goal is to really just focus on the football myself, focusing on the job and myself focusing on the present gives the Hoosiers the best chance to win, and I owe it to my teammates, my coaches, and also Hoosier Nation.

FRANCIS MAUIGOA, MIAMI HURRICANES OFFENSIVE TACKLE: I mean, it will mean a lot, man. I mean, winning the national title, it means, you know, that you're the best. We all play for each other. We all play for -- because this is a brotherhood. This is a family. And, you know, we just do it for ourselves. We just do it for each other.

WIRE: All right. These coaches are phenomenal. Miami coach Mario Cristobal won two titles as a Hurricanes player from '89 to '92. The Rock, Dwayne Johnson, was his teammate. He was accepted as a Secret Service agent, but realized coaching was his dream.

He has seen and lived the glory days. He grew up in Miami, he said. It makes him livid seeing how Miami has been ridiculed and stomped on the last 20 years. Seems he's taking it personally. He is on a mission.

Now, Indiana Coach Curt Cignetti grew up in locker rooms. Dad Frank is in the college Football Hall of Fame. While head coach at West Virginia, he hired a young Nick Saban as an assistant. Nearly 30 years later, Saban returned the favor, hiring Curt Cignetti to his inaugural staff at Alabama in '07. In four years there, Cignetti helped secure some of the top recruiting classes ever, said he learned more in just one year than he had in 27 as an assistant.

After 27 years, he finally got his chance to become an FBS head coach. JMU turned that program around. Now, at 64, he's instilling his wisdom, principles and lessons in this Indiana team.

We asked the Hoosiers players all about their head man Curt Cignetti.

ROMAN HEMBY, INDIANA HOOSIERS RUNNING BACK: Just his personality and all of the things that he kind of said to me in the recruitment process, it's all come true. You know, he's a man of his word. He's all about winning. He does everything that's possible to win.

D'ANGELO PONDS, INDIANA HOOSIERS CORNERBACK: It's honestly great playing for a legendary coach like that. I feel like he's one of the best in the game. Just to learn from everything he goes by and his standard that he keeps. And just how it molds you as a man. I just feel like it's just a blessing just to be in his presence.