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Most of the United States are Experiencing Winter Storms; Protests Continue Across Minnesota Following the Death of Alex Pretti by ICE Agents. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired January 26, 2026 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[03:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
UNKNOWN (voice-over): This is CNN Breaking News.
BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR: Hello, wherever you are in the world, you are now in the "CNN Newsroom" with me, Ben Hunte, in Atlanta. We are following two major stories this hour. A winter storm is pounding much of the U.S.
But first, Minnesotans are demanding federal immigration agents leave the state right now. There's anger and outrage among them after Alex Pretti's death at the hands of federal agents and the way Trump administration officials are trying to label him a domestic terrorist.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GREGORY BOVINO, U.S. BORDER PATROL COMMANDER-AT-LARGE: When someone makes the choice to come into an active law enforcement scene, interfere, obstruct, delay, or assault law enforcement, and they bring a weapon to do that, that is a choice that that individual made.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: Minneapolis officials say Alex Pretti was a registered and lawful gun owner. At no point in any videos of the incident reviewed by CNN is Pretti seen holding a weapon. And in one of those videos, a federal agent is believed to have removed Pretti's weapon before agents fired at him.
This next video we're going to show you shows one angle of the deadly encounter. And a quick warning, it is graphic and it is disturbing too.
It shows Pretti in a baseball hat moving between an agent and a woman that federal officers had shoved into the ground. Pretti is sprayed with a chemical irritant and dragged down. Officers later opened fire multiple times.
Minnesota's governor says Pretti's killing and the federal government quote, "sullying his name is an inflection point in our history."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN): I've got a question for all of you. What side do you want to be on? The side of an all-powerful federal government that can kill, injure, menace, and kidnap its citizens off the streets? Or on the side of a nurse at the V.A. hospital who died bearing witness to such government?
We have got children in Minnesota hiding in their houses, afraid to go outside. Many of us grew up reading that story of Anne Frank.
Somebody's going to write that children's story about Minnesota. And there's one person who can end this now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: The spot where Pretti was killed is now a makeshift memorial with people laying flowers and lighting candles too. Earlier, hundreds protested on the plaza across from City Hall in single-digit weather. Their outrage only continues to grow after the second fatal ICE shooting of a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis in just over two weeks.
CNN's Shimon Prokupecz shows us how Minnesotans are paying tribute to Alex Pretti.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SR. CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: People continue to gather here through the night despite the really frigid temperatures, a lot of candles being lit and flowers, people leaving notes in remembrance of Alex Pretti. Many of the people who have been coming here to this makeshift memorial, this is the site where it all happened. This is where he was killed.
And the community members have been gathering here because they want to have some unity. They want to get together and talk about what happened and how unhappy, obviously, they are about what's been happening here, the fear that they face. Of course, there's a lot of questions that still remain and need to be answered by federal officials as to exactly what happened here.
You have local law enforcement which is completely unhappy with the federal authorities. The police chief here in Minneapolis speaking out, saying that some of what they're doing, their tactics, some of the other things that they're doing are unconstitutional. Many of the people here are just tired and they want to see this come to an end.
In the days ahead, there's going to be legal battles and other certainly political battles. Everyone here right now is saying that the federal authorities need to go and things truly just need to de- escalate and calm down. People here just want to move on and get going with their lives and get back to the way things were.
Shimon Prokupecz, CNN, Minneapolis.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTE: CNN's Betsy Klein is at the White House with the latest on the Trump administration's response.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
BETSY KLEIN, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: President Trump and his team doubling down on their hardline immigration policies after federal officers' killing of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, even as this incident is revealing cracks in the President's own coalition. The White House deploying top officials to the airwaves on Sunday where they defended ICE agents' tactics as well as immigration policies more broadly.
[03:05:03]
They also shifted blame to state and local officials, particularly Minnesota Governor Tim Walz along with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, who they say are not doing enough to support federal law enforcement on the ground.
President Trump underscoring that message in a post to social media on Sunday evening. He wrote, quote, "Democrats are putting illegal alien criminals over taxpaying law-abiding citizens and they have created dangerous circumstances for everyone involved. Tragically, two American citizens have lost their lives as a result of this Democrat- ensued chaos."
But privately, we are learning that Trump administration officials are concerned about the scenes playing out. And over at the Department of Homeland Security, we are reporting that officials are concerned that Secretary Kristi Noem's handling of this situation is putting federal law enforcement at risk of long-term reputational damage.
Now, there are no plans at this time to change their policy posture. ICE, for now, will remain in Minnesota. The President's hope is that these protests can calm down and that he can go back to touting some of the success that he believes ICE is having in apprehending illegal immigrants.
Now, they are getting some rare pushback on this, including from Governor Kevin Stitt of Oklahoma. He told our colleague Dana Bash over the weekend that Americans are asking what is the endgame and that in his view, President Trump is not getting good advice on this.
Now, something that was missed Saturday as this story developed is the possibility of a potential off-ramp for federal officials here. We heard this in a letter from Attorney General Pamela Bondi to Governor Tim Walz, she wrote saying that if he repeals sanctuary policies and shares Medicaid, food assistance, and voter data, they could, quote, "bring an end to this chaos in Minnesota." Democratic National Committee officials saying that is extortion.
Betsy Klein, CNN, at the White House.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTE: Earlier, CNN spoke to CNN law enforcement contributor Steve Moore about the contributing reports on Alex Pretti's shooting. Here's part of what he had to say.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEVEN MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR: If you have information or evidence that would tend to show that your side has got the right evidence, then you want to present that right away. And if you don't have it, it begs the question, does it exist?
And I would expect that any evidence that tended to support the federal government's position on this would be released almost immediately. And they may be able to kind of hang on to it for a little while if they say that, well, these are federal body cameras, therefore the film is evidence and we're not going to release it until it goes to some kind of legal resolution.
I don't think that helps their case. And really, what concerns me right now is that it appears that HSI wants to do the entire investigation themselves when, in my experience, it's always been the FBI that does the investigation following one of these types of shootings.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: Moore also weighed in on how incidents like this one impact the public's perception of law enforcement.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MOORE: Well, as an FBI agent who's had his agency bashed around by the left and the right for a while, I know that it hurts morale and it hurts the public perception of the agency. And right now, between the federal government, who's doing their best on this subject, to Mayor Frey and Governor Walz, who have all just been giving all law enforcement a black eye, not deploying Minneapolis police, and then calling ICE agents every name in the book. It is probably the worst time for law enforcement that I've ever seen when both sides are just spewing venom, most of which is just slander.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: Snow is still falling at this hour across parts of New England as a massive winter storm pushes across the U.S. east coast. The system dropped ice and snow from the southern Rockies to the northeast and even in the south.
Weather forecasters say more than a dozen states so far have seen snow pile up a foot or higher. The conditions are making travel very difficult on the roads and in the air too. Sunday marked the worst day for flight cancellations since the pandemic.
Brutal cold is now pushing in, with more than 800,000 customers still without power. At least 11 people have died as temperatures dropped to their coldest so far this winter. CNN's Derek Van Dam has been tracking the winter storm and has more on the forecast from Louisville. [03:10:00]
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, the wintry precipitation has largely come to an end across the state of Kentucky, including here where I'm located in Louisville. But of course, this massive winter storm has left its mark. You can see the snow-covered roads here, these businesses were closed on account of the weather.
Now the real agony sets in because the mercury in the thermometer is going to drop like a rock behind this cold front that is responsible for the precipitation. That's still going to be ongoing overnight across parts of the northeast, including New England. Boston could easily see a foot to a foot and a half of snow.
But the point being is that this precipitation that it left in its wake is going to be encased in very cold temperatures. In fact, over 50 percent of the U.S. population will experience wind chill values below zero in the next couple of days.
Let that sink in. We're feeling it here. You can see the breath coming out of my mouth, it is absolutely frigid.
So when we talk about people who lost power, they're going to not have the ability perhaps to warm their homes. So you need to look after elderly. You need to look after the vulnerable, especially in this situation because it is brutally cold, but also dangerously cold as well.
There's something called a flash freeze that we're also concerned about. This is when we get a brief spike in the temperatures. There was a period when we had snow transition to freezing rain, then rain in some parts of the southeast.
Well, then the cold front swept through, and these cold Arctic air temperatures are dropping behind it, and that freezes that precipitation that's left over on the ground almost instantaneously. So that can create black ice, that can create very treacherous travel conditions, and that is really what we're concerned about.
So as the cold front moves through, the winds pick up. The freezing precipitation or the freezing rain that's encased on power lines and trees could still come down because of the added weight but also the stress from the wind that is sitting in behind it. And with no relief in the temperatures, we're not going to get that thawing that we so desperately need to get out of this cold winter cycle that we are in.
So really an impactful, very dynamic winter storm. We are ready to say goodbye and good riddance to this, but we still have another couple of days to go over the eastern half of the U.S. Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTE: Federal investigators are now looking into what caused a private jet carrying eight people to crash right after takeoff on Sunday night in Maine. It comes amid the major winter storm that is thrashing the region. A source tells CNN the extent of injuries to those on board isn't known at this time.
Federal records show the plane is registered to a business in Houston. Just minutes before the crash, controllers and pilots can be heard talking about low visibility and de-icing, but it's not immediately clear who is talking to who.
Okay, icy roads across the southern U.S. are causing hazardous driving conditions. Ahead, we'll take you to North Carolina, where freezing rain is coating highways and creating travel chaos.
And in the face of dangerous conditions, people are stepping up to help. When we come back, the people helping their neighbors survive the deep freeze. See you in a moment.
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[03:15:00]
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HUNTE: Welcome back.
The winter storm is disrupting travel across the U.S., causing thousands of flight cancellations and road closures over the weekend. Snow is battering the northeast, where New York City picked up 11.4 inches in Central Park on Sunday, that absolutely shatters a 121-year- old record of 10 inches back in 1905.
In the south, freezing rain is coating everything in ice, toppling trees and knocking out power to hundreds of thousands of customers. Officials from Texas to the Carolinas are urging people to stay home and off the roads to avoid the hazardous conditions. In Tennessee, officials have confirmed three weather-related deaths, bringing the storm's toll nationwide to at least 11 fatalities.
In North Carolina, Highway 51 near Charlotte briefly closed after a water main break added additional ice to already frozen roads. CNN's Diane Gallagher has more for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DIANE GALLAGHER, CNN U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: The big concern in the Carolinas right now is whether this late band of freezing rain is going to cause the same kind of catastrophic damage that we've seen in other states like Mississippi and Tennessee. Earlier in the day, all of this was kind of a slushy mess mixed with sleet and other snow.
Now, since the freezing rain began in the late evening on Sunday, I can't even make footprints anymore. It's frozen over. And you can see an example here of that, where it melted and it's refrozen over this drain.
Now, there are people out in Charlotte right now sort of trying to get ahead of things by doing some shoveling because they do want to avoid this freezing rain sort of creating an icy glaze and sealing all of this in. That is what we've seen in other southern states like Mississippi and Tennessee. There in some places they have seen catastrophic ice totals that have brought down power poles and trees.
In Nashville alone, they were looking at more than 200,000 power outages. In Mississippi, the images don't look anything like the Deep South. The governor is saying they haven't seen anything like this in 30-plus years where entire communities appear to just be coated in ice.
Now, the governor of North Carolina telling people here that they are not out of the woods yet. And the major concern is this late freezing rain in addition with these prolonged cold temperatures and winds and what the effect might be on travel and power outages because it's going to be very cold for the coming days.
Duke Energy says that they have 18,000 workers in the Carolinas on standby ready to roll once it is safe to try and get power back on if there are widespread outages. But they warn that if your power goes out, you might be without it for days on end.
Now, even though it is freezing here today, that did not stop people from showing up in North Carolina to give support to the Buddhist monks and their furry companion, Aloka the Peace Dog.
[03:20:08]
On day 92 of their walk for peace, they left Raleigh on an icy morning and still had plenty of support along their route before stopping for the night in North Carolina. They intend to continue their walk spreading compassion and peace even throughout this winter storm.
Diane Gallagher, CNN. Back to you.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTE: The Arctic weather is making roads treacherous across Arkansas. Snow and ice have led to multiple car accidents, snarling traffic and forcing drivers to slow to a crawl. Look at those images.
Parts of the state have seen up to a foot of snow. The National Weather Service says extremely cold temperatures there are set to continue into Tuesday.
Well, let's keep talking about it. Joining me now from Little Rock, Arkansas, is Aaron Reddin. He's the founder and executive director of The Van and The One Inc.
Thank you so much for joining me at such an early hour, sir. You were on air with us yesterday. Are things better or worse than you expected them to be?
AARON REDDIN, FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, THEVAN AND THE ONE INC.: I definitely want to thank you for having me on and sharing about what's happening here in Arkansas. You know, things are probably a little bit worse, but a little bit
better in some aspects. So we had a little, you know, another system that moved through yesterday, put a little bit more snow on top of what was a mix of ice and snow here in Little Rock, and so we had that to contend with.
It's all, you know, melting a little and refreezing a little, and we're looking at probably another 24 to 36 hours before we get a little freezing. So, yes, we've been up since Friday afternoon and is 24/7 as an emergency center here across the greater Little Rock area, getting folks into any shelter that we can. Last number that I received was that the emergency shelters in total in the metro had over 500 people that had sought shelter by yesterday morning.
So it's been a wild few days, and we've got quite a few more to go.
HUNTE: Yes, absolutely. But thank you so much for your work, it's even just giving me shivers just hearing you talk about those numbers of people. Crazy.
You have spent two decades working directly with people experiencing homelessness. When temperatures drop like this and the city essentially shuts down, what are the biggest dangers that people can face?
REDDIN: Loss of women and life becomes very serious. You know, tonight, you know, here in the next few hours, actually, we're expected to break the low-temperature record here.
We're looking at about 4 degrees by the time we get the sun up with a wind chill below zero. And for Arkansas, that's extremely cold, and it's very, very rare. So, you know, we are up against trying to make sure people do not end up with frostbite.
So far, I've seen one case, and luckily we have an E.R. doctor that's going to give sometime today to come into our emergency shelter, do any wellness assessments and checks that he needs to do, but definitely address at least one case of frostbite that we've got here. So, yes, it can be very deadly, and it can be very costly as far as losing those extremities. We want to mitigate that as much as possible.
HUNTE: Your organization has been transporting people to emergency shelters overnight. Can you walk us through what that operation looks like in real time and how quickly demand actually surged as the storm set in?
REDDIN: Well, you know, we've got a couple of shuttle buses. I had to park the main one the other night because the back tires had gotten just unsafe, and I just didn't want to risk any more life.
So we've got an army of volunteers and personal vehicles that have been out. They basically just scour the streets, scour anywhere that, you know, might be reported that there could be somebody. We always want to do every check that we can. The clerks that we team up with here to host our emergency shelter, they also provide one of their shuttles to be out getting people in. And so we've had another place open in South Little Rock, an old family dollar. So, you know, we're just making sure that people can get in.
I think that this could, for us, I think the lows and the nights are going to continue for another week as far as having deadly nights. I think maybe by Wednesday a lot of these places will go nighttime only, and then some things might start opening back up in the daytime, such as libraries and day resources.
HUNTE: My goodness.
REDDIN: Able to relieve a little bit of pressure.
HUNTE: Can you just tell me, what have you seen from how other areas of the U.S. have supported or not supported their homeless population so far?
REDDIN: I have seen more places that are going to incredible extremes to provide radical hospitality for their local unsheltered residents. And it's been incredible to see many cities.
[03:25:06]
And, you know, it's encouraging to see so many municipalities and so many counties, so many churches step up and make sure that the space that they have where a heater's kicking, if someone needs in it, they can get in it. And it's very heartening to watch.
It's very heartening to watch. We definitely don't want anyone in Arkansas to lose their life to this. And, you know, we beg you to come in if you happen to see this.
We want you to come in and be safe. We welcome your pets, we welcome your families. We don't turn anyone away.
If you need in, you're going to get in.
HUNTE: I have to say, it's nice to hear a little bit of good news amongst all the bad news there. So thank you for that.
And just before I let you go, I've got a few more seconds. If people want to support your organization in any way, what can they do?
REDDIN: They can find our website, itsthevan, I-T-S-T-H-E-V-A-N.org. You can always find our Amazon wish list at helpthevan.org. One of those places are great help in any way that you can.
We appreciate it very much. I definitely want to thank you and the rest of the crew for having us on to talk about the work here in Little Rock.
HUNTE: Don't thank us. Thank you. You're doing the actual work.
We appreciate it. Thank you so much.
Aaron Reddin in Little Rock, Arkansas. Thank you.
REDDIN: Thanks.
HUNTE: We will continue our breaking news coverage of the fallout of the deadly shooting in Minneapolis. Still ahead, the latest response from the governor of Minnesota.
Plus, why officials in the Homeland Security Department are now speaking out and raising concerns about the agency's reputation. See you in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[03:30:02]
HUNTE: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom," I'm Ben Hunte in Atlanta. Let's check today's top stories.
Minnesotans are honoring Alex Pretti, the 37-year-old intensive care nurse shot to death by federal agents this weekend. They've set up a memorial at a spot where he was killed. State officials and anti-ICE protesters are now demanding the federal government withdraw its immigration agents and stop its crackdown on protests.
More than 800,000 customers are still without power after a massive winter storm. The system brought snow and ice to much of the U.S., including the South. Now, frigid temperatures are moving in overnight as roads remain dangerous in many areas, at least 11 people have sadly died.
Major airports from New York to Washington, D.C. shut down operations for hours because of the storm. Boston's Logan International Airport closed on Sunday night, even saying their flights may be impacted through Tuesday. The tracking site FlightAware says on Sunday alone, more than 11,500 flights were cancelled and more than 5000 were delayed.
More now on our breaking coverage on the growing unrest in Minnesota after the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti and Renee Good by Border Patrol agents. Governor Tim Walz is describing the presence of federal agents in Minneapolis as an occupation. And he said voters can decide at any point, for they're not with this anymore.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WALZ: I've got a question for all of you. What side do you want to be on? The side of an all-powerful federal government that can kill, injure, menace, and kidnap its citizens off the streets? Or on the side of a nurse at the V.A. hospital who died bearing witness to such government?
We have got children in Minnesota hiding in their houses, afraid to go outside. Many of us grew up reading that story of Anne Frank.
Somebody's going to write that children's story about Minnesota. And there's one person who can end this now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: Meanwhile, the Trump administration is doubling down on its aggressive immigration enforcement tactics. Border Patrol official Greg Bovino claimed Border Patrol agents were the victims and blamed Alex Pretti for the shooting.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BOVINO: We respect that Second Amendment right. But those rights don't count when you riot and assault, delay, obstruct and impede law enforcement officers. And most especially when you mean to do that beforehand.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: As Americans grapple with the events that took place in Minnesota and whether DHS is to blame, some within the Trump administration are now worried about the harm that the agency is suffering.
CNN's Priscilla Alvarez has the story for us.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Multiple Homeland Security officials are furious over Saturday's fatal shooting incident and over the public response by the Trump administration. These officials are keenly aware of the reputational harm that they risk and the long-term consequences they may have to grapple with after this incident and the response thus far. These are officials who have been viewing the videos that have been circulating.
And they are also trying to figure out how the Homeland Security secretary described the incident and what they are seeing in these videos. Now, of course, the secretary did defend the agent and also spoke of the high tension that these agents are operating under. And on that, these officials agree that that does not absolve, they say, the department in this.
And they believe that the secretary and the administration's response thus far is doing a disservice to federal law enforcement. With one Homeland Security official telling me, quote, "the department needs a law enforcement leader, not a sycophant."
I'm also told that some Border Patrol agents are also growing unconvinced about the productivity of this operation as they are put in these situations. Clearly, there is fracturing within the Department of Homeland Security over the handling of this incident so far.
Priscilla Alvarez, CNN, Washington.
(END VIDEOTAPE) HUNTE: Minnesota officials are urging federal authorities to work with state investigators in the aftermath of Saturday's shooting. And Democratic Senator Amy Klobuchar is calling for a transparent and fair investigation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. AMY KNOBUCHAR (D-MN): The fact that they are blocking any kind of investigation, which is really fairly routine when horrific things happen like this. Local, state, federal have come together in the past, not just in Minnesota, but other places to investigate.
And I just think, I don't know if they think this is like a Trump cabinet meeting and they can just say things that aren't true and lie and everyone's going to believe it. Everyone can see that video, everyone can see with any kind of enhancement that he wasn't brandishing a gun.
[03:35:05]
He was brandishing a cell phone and that it was the agents that removed the gun from his back pocket. So there is plenty of evidence, of course, for our Criminal Bureau of Apprehension to be able to, Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, be able to look at. But they need access to everything.
And I hope this happens, it must. Because we must have a transparent and fair investigation for the public to have any trust.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: The calls for an inquiry into Alex Pretti's shooting has crossed party lines. A growing group of GOP lawmakers are calling for an investigation. That includes Nebraska Senator Pete Ricketts, who is calling the shooting a horrifying situation.
Ricketts also says he expects, quote, "a prioritized, transparent investigation."
Meanwhile, Pennsylvania Senator Dave McCormick wrote on social media that, quote, "irresponsible rhetoric and a lack of cooperation from Minnesota's politicians are fueling a dangerous situation." But he agreed with others that, quote, "we need a full investigation into the tragedy in Minneapolis."
A CNN analysis of videos of the recent shooting in Minnesota show several agents standing over Alex Pretti and pushing him to the ground. Then an agent appears to retrieve a weapon that seems to match the firearm that DHS says Pretti possessed. About a second later, the first of a total of 10 shots ring out.
Earlier, CNN's Pam Brown spoke of Congressman Pete Sessions about whether Pretti had the right to protest. Have a listen.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: How do you justify that when he was out there exercising his First Amendment right to free speech and his Second Amendment right to legally carry a weapon? Did he not have the right to do both?
REP. PETE SESSIONS (R-TX): Well, I would vigorously argue he had both, except the circumstances we would recognize are being placed upon this community by themselves and by law enforcement.
And it is a bad, bad combination. And this is where I'm saying there are some cooler heads that are looking at this, like here, at least in Waco, Texas, where at least the sheriff or the police would be in between the protesters or people that were there to harass law enforcement. They need to do their job.
And it is a terrible combination when these protesters are intentionally inflicting with whistles, cars following, and yelling and screaming at these police officers. It just makes for a combative circumstance. I in no way condone anything that went on.
But I would also tell you, this is where I think the local people have to say, instead of leave, let's please go get these criminals. We will help you to get the criminals, legitimate criminals. And beyond that, we would like for you to get them.
We will help protect the community. And because they were preying on children and women. And there's no way to justify that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: Join me now for more on this live from Colchester, England, is Natasha Lindstaedt, she's a professor of government at the University of Essex. Thank you so much for being with me.
We are now seeing Republicans join Democrats in calling for an investigation into Alex Pretti's death. How significant is that shift? What does it tell us about the political risks that are surrounding this tragic event?
NATASHA LINDSTAEDT, PROF. OF GOVERNMENT, UNIVERSITY OF ESSEX: Well, I think that because of the video evidence, people can see with their own eyes what happened. And even though the Trump administration and Trump himself have tried to provide some kind of alternative narrative, it's really clear that a man was shot in the back seven times, that Alex Pretti was shot in the back ten times. And he wasn't threatening these ICE agents.
And so, at the very least, it would require an independent investigation, which, as Senator Klobuchar mentioned, is very routine. And normally, you would have a President that would urge for calm and would say that we need to allow the facts to come out. And there needs to be some kind of independent look into this.
You wouldn't rush to judgment and say that the victim is a left-wing terrorist or some kind of left-wing agitator, as the Trump administration has done. And so, I think Republican lawmakers, in particular those that are in swing districts or that might have some really competitive races, know that they cannot win their race with just Republican support alone.
And we're already seeing polling, and this polling didn't even happen after this most recent killing.
[03:40:00]
The "New York Times" reported that, after Nicole Good was killed, that 61 percent of Americans felt that ICE had gone too far, 71 percent of independents agreed with that. And while there's less agreement on that from Republicans, only about 20 percent, there was another political poll revealed that there is some difference between those MAGA Republicans and non-MAGA Republicans, with 29 percent of non-MAGA Republicans thinking that ICE had gone too far.
So, these kind of policies are really only pleasing Trump's base, and that base is not large enough to win the midterms, and that's going to put a lot of Republican lawmakers in trouble. And they know that they're going to have to pivot on this, that they can't just keep agreeing with Trump when we have video evidence that would contradict the truth.
HUNTE: Some GOP leaders are taking quite an interesting tone, still blaming state officials, even labeling the victim as a potential assassin. How divided is the Republican Party right now on how to handle this growing issue?
LINDSTAEDT: Well, I think you see some cracks. Every time we think the Republicans are more divided, we learn from polling that they're not as divided as we think when we look at what the American public wants, just because the MAGA base is really the biggest part of the Republican base.
But amongst lawmakers, there are issues, because they don't just represent MAGA, as I mentioned. They have to represent everybody, and they're definitely going to have to win over independents. And we're also seeing, interestingly, some of the guns rights activists, and these are people that are usually in lockstep with Trump on just about everything, but they were upset about the way that this was handled, the idea that if you have a gun, then that means that you are going to be shot.
So we're seeing some lawmakers come out, and they're concerned. There were some interviews that The "New York Times" had done with some Republicans that showed that while they were in support of Trump's immigration plan initially, they didn't realize that American citizens would be shot, and that this is going too far, that they hoped that the focus would be on removing illegal immigrants who had a criminal record. And this is really moving the country in a direction that's very dangerous, the optics are very bad for the Republican Party.
And this is a disaster, a crisis in Trump's own making. He did not have to do this, because at his first term, he was able to handle the immigration issue better, according to the public. HUNTE: Let's pivot a bit. We are still a few days away from the funding deadline. With Democrats now saying that they won't support DHS funding, how close do you think we are to another government shutdown, and what would this one look like?
LINDSTAEDT: Great question.
I think that a shutdown is likely just because of how polarized the country is and because of the way Trump dictates that the Republican Party has to do exactly what he says, whether that means it leads to a shutdown or not. We've seen that he's a President that has overseen several shutdowns, some of the longest shutdowns that the U.S. has ever seen. And the Democrats have to figure out what's going to be their hill to die on.
Last time, it was healthcare. That was a really important issue. And in the end, they had to cave in because there were so many issues regarding the safety of air travel.
But is this going to be the issue? I think that's harder to predict because if you look at polling, it shows that while immigration is a very important issue, it's in the news and you have a lot of focus on it, especially with the recent events. Only about 20 percent say that is the most important issue in the upcoming midterms with about half of the American public saying it's about cost of living.
So the Democrats are going to have to pick their battles. It's been more difficult for them to navigate issues regarding their immigration or protest politics or issues regarding law enforcement. But because these two parties don't see eye to eye on really much of anything, I think we could see some type of shutdown.
HUNTE: So this could be another wild week then, let's see what happens. Natasha Lindstaedt, thank you so much for now. I appreciate it.
LINDSTAEDT: Thanks for having me.
HUNTE: You're welcome.
Previously unseen videos from Saturday's shooting in Minneapolis keep coming to light. Just ahead, we'll look at some of the angles that appear to contradict the government's claim that Alex Pretti was confrontational before federal agents opened fire. See you in a moment.
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[03:45:00]
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HUNTE: Welcome back.
New video into CNN shows the moments before Alex Pretti was fatally shot by federal immigration agents in Minneapolis on Saturday. CNN senior correspondent Josh Campbell explains why this video is so crucial. And a quick warning, the images you'll see are disturbing.
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JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SR. CORRESPONDENT: Well, this is important because so far we've seen different angles of the actual shooting itself. But what we're about to see, and as this plays, I'll kind of walk you through what we're seeing. But to set this up, this was in the moments before this actually took place.
People were wondering, well, why were ICE agents or CBP agents there to begin with? The department says that they were engaged in a targeted enforcement operation. Based on what we're hearing from witnesses who took some of these videos, as well as in court filings, they're saying that these agents appeared to be trying to follow someone into a nearby store that may have locked the door. But then this crowd started to gather around.
You're seeing some of the people there around in the video that we're showing you. And according to one witness, the agents then turned their attention toward the members of the crowd. And they're yelling at the agents, they're blowing whistles.
As you can look off to the right of your screen, where we quickly zoom in, that is Alex Pretti there off to your right. So he was there on the scene, according to some of these witnesses.
At one point, one of the witnesses said that he was trying to direct traffic and kind of get people around what was taking place. It appears the agents were there on the ground taking someone unrelated into custody.
But we'll show you the second video. This is from another vantage point. Again, this is all before the fatal shot actually happens.
And you actually can see him being confronted by these two agents. One of them pushes his torso and is pushing him off the street, away from whatever is taking place there. As he's holding up his phone, filming all of this.
And it's important to keep in mind against the backdrop, but we've heard from Secretary Kristi Noem, as well as Greg Bovino, saying that he was presenting a threat, that he was there trying to assault, in Bovino's words, massacre agents. No indication by the body language of anyone there that this is violence, a riot that is occurring.
It appears they're trying to push him back from the street. But this is critical context, because the agent pushing him is then later seen near the scene of the actual shooting. And one of the agents standing nearby, if people remember the video, where he's confronted by the agents, he's pepper sprayed, he's then tackled to the ground.
[03:50:04]
That agent appeared to be in that scrum. Why does all of this matter?
It matters not only because it appears to dispel this notion that this was some violent riot that was underway, but also there's a question that we've had about the tactics of these agents. And it appears from this video that the agents who were then later at the scene at least had had some type of previous contact with him.
And so there's a question. Based on a lot of the aggressiveness we've seen at times by these agents, was this someone that was known to them? And then they finally just got fed up and said, we're going to take this person into custody, particularly after there's that moment where agents come and shove a woman to the ground and the witnesses say, Pretti put his body between that woman and one of the agents. And as you're seeing on your screen right there, this is when this all just kicks off.
And so this is just critical new insight. It didn't appear that he was a fresh face to these agents whenever this was happening. There was some interaction that occurred before.
But again, the critical takeaway here, no indication that he had presented any type of weapon, no indication they actually knew that he had a firearm legally on him at the time, according to state officials. And so big questions that continue about why did officers decide to open fire, particularly based on that scene analysis that appears to show an agent had disarmed him about a second before one of the other agents shot.
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HUNTE: Just ahead, more on the Arctic blast that's brought much of the U.S. to a standstill. We'll have the latest on the impacts of the massive winter storm.
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[03:55:00]
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HUNTE: We are following the latest developments out of Minnesota after the fatal shooting of ICU nurse Alex Pretti by a Border Patrol agent. The state's chief of police association has requested a meeting with President Donald Trump to discuss public safety concerns after Saturday's shooting. Pretti's killing marks the second deadly shooting of a U.S. citizen by a federal officer in recent weeks.
More than 800,000 Americans are currently without power as a massive winter storm sweeps through much of the U.S. Dangerous levels of ice have accumulated in the south, downing trees and power lines.
In Mississippi, 9 percent of the state has lost power. The governor said there has been catastrophic damage to at least one power distribution line. Right now, the storm is still dropping snow across the northeast and forecasters say the mid-Atlantic, upper Midwest and northeast won't begin to thaw out from the bitter cold until early February and you can see the sheer size of the winter storm in this view from space. Clouds are covering almost the entire country. The precipitation from the storm, whether it was rain, snow or ice, stretched for more than 1600 miles on Sunday morning from the Louisiana coast all the way up to Maine.
Okay, that's all I've got for you. Thanks for joining me and the team, I'm Ben Hunte in Atlanta.
I'll be right back with "Early Start" just after this break. Thank you for joining us.
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