Return to Transcripts main page
CNN This Morning
Ice, Snow, Dangerous Cold Threatens Much of U.S.; 5-Year-Old Boy Taken by ICE with Father; The New York City Subway Vigilante Trial that Divided the Nation. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired January 23, 2026 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: -- could complete South Korea's mandatory military service.
[06:00:05]
BTS will also release their first new album in over three years.
And if you want to see Harry Styles's upcoming tour in the U.S., well, you need to come to New York. Because the much anticipated Together, Together Tour includes 50 shows, but only in seven cities.
All 30 U.S. dates will be at New York's Madison Square Garden. The other stops will be in places like Amsterdam, Mexico City, Melbourne, and Sydney. The tour kicks off in May. Ticket sales start later this month.
And that will do it for us here this week on EARLY START. I'm Rahel Solomon. CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. Ice freezing your streets and swarming your neighborhoods. A menacing winter storm, destructive ice and heavy snow, and concerns over the power grid in the South.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R), TEXAS: Is this going to be a catastrophic winter storm that's going to cause us to lose power?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Meanwhile, a 5-year-old boy taken into custody by ICE. They say they had no choice. Witnesses say that's not true.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SERGIO AMEZCUA, MINNEAPOLIS PASTOR: ICE agents were trying to use the baby for her to come out of her house.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: No warrant, no problem. ICE claims that they can enter your home without a judicial warrant. Is that legal?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): Americans should be terrified that this secret ICE policy authorizes agents to break down doors.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: We're going to begin, however, with this breaking news. Dangerous temperatures, heavy snow, and damaging ice. We've got a major winter storm set to hit a large portion of the U.S.
We're talking more than 160 million people under some type of winter weather alert, and it could hit every state East of the Rockies except for Florida.
Now, one major concern: a crippling ice storm that could impact dozens of states and bring enough ice to take down trees and knock down power in the South. So now, some governors are warning people to stock up.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. JOSH STEIN (D), NORTH CAROLINA: Be ready to stay home for a few days, potentially without power.
GOV. BRIAN KEMP (R), GEORGIA: Make sure you've got the things that you need at your house to stay warm and -- and hunker down.
ABBOTT: The ERCOT grid has never been stronger, never been more prepared, and is fully capable of handling this winter storm.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: And in many grocery stores, shelves are already empty.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They ran out of snacks and bread and milk, so I'm just getting the little essentials that we need, because I'm not coming outside. Once it starts raining, I'm in.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: CNN's Allison Chinchar joins me now. It sounds like she's got the right idea, right? Based on your forecast.
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: She does. And again, all of this is coming from the incredibly cold air that's off to the North.
Take a look at some of these wind chills. It feels like -40 in Green Bay, -25 in Chicago, -53 in Duluth. Now, this is taking into account the incredibly cold temperature, but also the winds. Those are gusting 20, even 35 miles per hour in some of these spots.
But that cold air is going to gradually make its way farther and farther South over the next 24 to 48 hours. And that's why you're going to have some places, even in Southern states, that don't normally get snow and ice, that are going to be dealing with those impacts, simply because that cold air is already in place.
Here's a look at what we are talking about in terms of snow and ice. This stretches all the way from New Mexico up to the Atlantic Ocean. You're talking more than 2,000 miles of people that are impacted by these winter weather alerts.
So, now let's kind of break down what we're going to see. It all stems from this kind of swirl that you can see off there to the coast. That's the energy that's going to be sliding off to the East, bringing us the potential for snow, rain, and ice.
Here's a look for tonight. Already, you can start to see some of that pink and purple color, indicating the snow and the ice on the radar for places like Texas and Oklahoma.
Then, once we get into Saturday, it starts to not only spread Eastward, but you start to see those colors expand, especially the -- especially the pink and the purple.
Notice here, though, too, the green, which is just rain, is really limited very far South. So, a lot of people, even Southern cities like Shreveport, Dallas, Little Rock, they are going to get in on this snow and ice as the system continues to spread Eastward by Saturday night.
Now, you're looking at the Carolinas, Virginia, and Georgia that are now starting to see that transition over into a winter precipitation.
Now, you do get some warm air that starts to filter back in. So, you see a little bit more of that green starting to spread up. But as the system moves away, also again notice the pink and purple come back on the backside.
So, for some of these cities, it's just going to be a combination of the three off and on for about two different days before the system finally exits.
Some of these areas are expected to get at least a foot of snow. Some spots could get an inch of ice.
CORNISH: OK, Allison Chinchar, thanks for that update. We'll be checking in with you today.
[06:05:04]
And our other big story this morning. The different recounting of events after a 5-year-old was detained by ICE in Minnesota.
Now here's what happened. It started on Tuesday when Liam Conejo Ramos, seen here in a blue bunny hat, was taken in by federal agents from the driveway of his home. This was after preschool, and this was along with his father.
So, they're now being held at a detention center in Texas. A lawyer for the boy's school district says the family is pursuing a lawful asylum claim in the U.S.
Vice President J.D. Vance insists that agents had no choice but to take the boy, along with the father.
Now, witnesses who were at the scene are speaking out. They're saying that that is not accurate.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
J.D. VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: The father ran. So, the story is that ICE detained a 5-year-old. Well, what are they supposed to do? Are they supposed to let a 5-year-old child freeze to death?
MARY GRANDLIN, COLUMBIA HEIGHTS PUBLIC SCHOOLS: There was ample opportunity to be able to safely hand that child off to adults. And Mom -- Mom was there. She saw out the window. And Dad was yelling, please do not open the door. Don't open the door, because of the other picture that I'm sure you've seen where there's a little boy knocking at the door with an ICE agent looming over him.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: The Department of Homeland Security issued a statement that also accused the mother of abandoning the child. A local pastor who spoke with the boy's mother tells CNN that isn't the full story, either.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AMEZCUA: She was terrified. They were using this baby. ICE agents were trying to use the baby for her to come out of her house, but the neighbors stepped up. Neighbors advised her not to do it. The neighbors were trying to get the baby or the 5-year-old to give it to her.
And this is a pregnant woman, and with another 13- or 14-year-old boy, as well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: OK, here to talk about this with me, the group chat: Noel King, co-host and editorial director, "Today, Explained" podcast; Rob Bluey, president and executive editor, "The Daily Signal"; and Maria Cardona, CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist.
This was an interesting moment, because this detention of this father and then this question about what to do with the kid, as you have done this after a school pick-up, lands right as J.D. Vance land to cool tensions, right?
MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes, exactly.
CORNISH: So, he was there --
CARDONA: Yes.
CORNISH: -- to be the explainer of what he wanted to describe as a positive law enforcement story.
NOEL KING, CO-HOST/EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, "TODAY, EXPLAINED" PODCAST": Right. They were doing their job.
CORNISH: They were doing their jobs. What did you see in how he tried to talk around this?
KING: I thought Vance handled himself pretty well. There's a -- there's a Vance that gets on camera and is very sarcastic, and is very meme-y, and seems very mean and --
CORNISH: Or loud and blames Renee Good --
KING: Exactly.
CORNISH: -- for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
KING: Exactly. Doesn't --
CORNISH: Yes.
KING: Doesn't conduct himself like a lawyer and a vice president.
Yesterday, I thought he was conducting himself like a lawyer and a vice president. And I'll tell you why. He took questions from the press. He took hard questions from the press. He had answers.
Here's the thing, though. I don't know how much the dueling narratives actually matter. What matters is that picture. We have seen this time and again. It is one searing image that makes everybody, regardless of where they came down on this, suddenly be like, what the heck are we doing? And that's the reaction I was seeing yesterday to that picture.
CORNISH: Yes. So, we should say Gallup polling right now is showing people turning against --
CARDONA: Yes.
CORNISH: -- the ICE tactics. OK? So, this is Gallup. This is not any news organization.
To your point on J.D. Vance, I want to play something for you. Because he was asked about all of these different images. He said that federal and local law enforcement, they share responsibility kind of for what's happening, because they are not cooperating. And then he said this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VANCE: The president said this a couple of days ago. Whenever you have a law enforcement operation, even if 99.99 percent of the guys do everything perfectly, you're going to have people that make mistakes. That is the nature of law enforcement.
What I do think that we can do is working with state and local officials, we can make the worst moments of chaos much less common, and all they've got to do is meet us halfway.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CORNISH: I feel like this was a little bit of a "you're going to break some eggs" kind of argument, to make an omelet. You know what I mean?
And again, people see an image that they -- they don't want in that "mistakes were made" argument.
ROB BLUEY, PRESIDENT/EXECUTIVE EDITOR, "THE DAILY SIGNAL": You're right. It is a powerful image.
J.D. Vance also said that, as the father of a 5-year-old, he expressed compassion.
And -- and I think that Noel is correct, that he -- he handled a difficult situation, probably, as best as he could.
I think that the point he's making, though, is if you look at places like Texas and Florida, where local law enforcement and the governors are cooperating with federal officials, you're not seeing the kind of chaos on the streets that you are in places like Chicago and Minneapolis.
And that's, I think, ultimately, what President Trump and J.D. Vance are trying to accomplish here and pleading with people like Tim Walz and Jacob Frey to do so.
CORNISH: We were always going to get to this point. Oh, go ahead.
CARDONA: There's a big difference between what's going on in Minnesota and Chicago, than what's going on in Florida and in Texas.
[06:10:02]
And what's the difference between those places? Oh, let's see. Maybe how they vote politically.
Florida and Texas has [SIC] not seen the influx of ICE agents that Minnesota and Chicago has, and that's for a reason.
And so, I agree that J.D. Vance was a bit more moderate yesterday when he was talking about this. And I think it's because of what, Audie, you just said about the polling.
They are losing on this, and they know it. The images in front of the American people's eyes are horrific, and they are losing independents on this. Americans do not like the way that they are handling this kind of enforcement. It's draconian. It's cruel. It's unnecessary.
CORNISH: Right.
CARDONA: And a lot of it is probably illegal.
CORNISH: I just want to say, ironically, ICE and its social media engine really wanted people to see ICE at work.
CARDONA: They did.
CORNISH: Doing arrests, putting music, vibing underneath these images.
KING: Well, did you see what happened yesterday?
CORNISH: Tell me.
KING: Every time people tweeted about this little boy, Liam, DHS is in the replies being like, He was abandoned. This was not our fault. Like, they --
CORNISH: They're working.
KING: -- dropped the meme language.
CORNISH: Yes.
KING: They dropped the weird allusions. And they were like, let's do some legalese here and tell you folks, we had the right to do this. That really hit me.
CORNISH: One more thing. I think we were always going to get here. Once ICE and DHS dropped their own internal guidance about approaching churches and schools.
CARDONA: Yes.
CORNISH: Right? You knew that this clash was going to inevitably happen.
And I want to play one more thing for you guys. It is the superintendent of the Columbia Heights Public School District, describing what things are like for them right now. I want to play that to you before we go.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ZENA STENVIK, SUPERINTENDENT, COLUMBIA HEIGHTS PUBLIC SCHOOLS: We've had four students taken, and at least one of our seven -- like, our -- one of our 17-year-old students who was taken when she cracked open the door. The agents pushed their way in, and then -- and then apprehended the child and whoever was else in the apartment.
So, it's been, unfortunately, over the last few weeks, pretty common knowledge about not opening doors, because they're pushing their way in. Or, I'm sure you've all seen multiple examples of, like, not tearing down doors, which is something that we had happen in Columbia Heights today at a -- at a home of five of our children.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: OK. You guys stay with me. We're going to talk about that. But also the kind of legal questions around ICE and the way it is using its warrants to open doors.
But first on CNN THIS MORNING, the Kremlin says Vladimir Putin could join the so-called Board of Peace, but they need the money to pay the fee, and they have an idea of where to get it. Plus, Jack Smith vows he will not be intimidated as he speaks before a
House panel.
And as tensions remain high with federal agents on the ground, a Minneapolis bishop speaks out on how the city can move forward.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
THE RIGHT REVEREND CRAIG LOYA, ARCH BISHOP OF THE EPISCOPAL CHURCH IN MINNESOTA: We get on with the business of resisting with love, of disrupting with hope, of agitating with joy.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:18:37]
CORNISH: It's almost 20 minutes past the hour. Here are five things to know to get your day going.
Now, the Kremlin says Vladimir Putin could pay the $1 billion to join President Trump's Board of Peace, but only if the U.S. unfreezes Russian assets; funds that were frozen after Russia's invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
This came up Thursday during a meeting between the Russian president and Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.
President Trump unveiled the Board of Peace at Davos. Norway, Sweden, and France have declined to join. Last night, Trump revoked Canada's invitation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm a correctional officer at work in Cumberland. What's wrong?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: So, a corrections officer in Portland, Maine, detained by ICE officers in Maine. It's part of a new Operation Catch and Release.
The local sheriff says the officer has a, quote, "squeaky-clean record" and was authorized to work in the U.S.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KEVIN JOYCE, CUMBERLAND COUNTY SHERIFF: They pulled a guy from the car, handcuffed him, put him in a car. They all took off, leaving his car with the windows down, the lights on, unsecure, and unoccupied. They left it right on the side of the street. Folks, that's bush- league policing.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CORNISH: So, the corrections officer is one of the more than 100 arrests ICE has made in the first three days of the operation in Maine.
And a federal judge seems to be skeptical that the construction of President Trump's massive new ballroom can proceed without authorization from Congress. The judge said the White House is attempting to bypass lawmakers.
The ballroom, set to be built on the White House grounds, is estimated to cost approximately $400 million.
And in Chicago, a water main break leaves cars stuck in ice on the street, and several buildings in the area had their water shut off.
It took crews all day to make repairs and to drain that water.
And congrats to "Sinners," sweeping the Oscar nominations. "Sinners" made history with 16 nods, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Actor for Michael B. Jordan.
It was followed closely by the film "One Battle after Another," with 13 nominations.
Both movies are produced by CNN's parent company, Warner Brothers.
And after the break on CNN THIS MORNING, vigilante or hero? A new book digs into a 1984 shooting: a story about race, fear, and self-defense.
[06:20:06]
Plus, a deal is now done. The future of TikTok in the U.S. secure.
In the meantime, good morning, Charlotte, North Carolina, one of the many cities preparing for a major ice storm. The governor there says every road in the state will be impacted.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:24:41]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BERNHARD GOETZ, SHOT FOUR TEENAGERS: I was a monster. I don't deny it, but I wasn't a monster until several years ago in New York.
I had more bullets. I would have shot them all again and again. My problem was I ran out of bullets.
You can't understand this. I know you can't understand this, OK?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: OK. It's a case that rocked the nation, putting race, fear, and self-defense on trial. Bernhard Goetz fired five shots at four black teenagers on a New York
City subway train back in 1984, claiming that they were going to mug him.
Now, all four victims survived, and a jury found Goetz guilty of carrying an unlicensed firearm and acquitted him of all other charges.
Some called him a hero in a city that, at that moment, was gripped by crime; others a vigilante who took the law into his own hands.
And it's the subject of our friend Elliot Williams' new book, "Five Bullets: The Story of Bernie Goetz, New York's Explosive '80s and The Subway Vigilante Trial that Divided the Nation."
Elliot, thanks so much for being here. Congratulations.
ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Thank you.
CORNISH: I would have done this book even if I didn't know you, because I -- in the era of stand-your-ground laws and -- and perennial concerns --
WILLIAMS: Yes.
CORNISH: -- about crime that drive us --
WILLIAMS: Yes.
CORNISH: -- this case is an origin story.
WILLIAMS: It absolutely is an origin story about how America sees fear, America's obsession with vigilantes, with race and the criminal justice system.
But it's also literally the origin story of Al Sharpton, Rudy Giuliani, Rupert Murdoch, Curtis Sliwa, a number of whom I interviewed for this book because of how much these key figures in New York touched this case and used it to grow their own personal profiles.
CORNISH: What makes your book distinct is you actually have talked to Goetz.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
CORNISH: And first of all, an update. Can you talk about what happened to those teenagers? Were they trying to mug him? Was that ever kind of determined?
WILLIAMS: It was never kind of determined. Either Troy Canty, one of the four, says, "Sir, can I have $5" or "Give me $5." That's been the test of time. And without cell phone videos, no one knows.
Now, Bernhard Goetz is ultimately acquitted of the crime, but it's an open question about whether -- what was said to him. Needless to say, he was not mugged, and he was not robbed.
CORNISH: Yes.
WILLIAMS: He felt that he was. And this is the question of fear again.
CORNISH: Fear is in the eye of the beholder.
WILLIAMS: Fear is in the eye of the beholder, and in the eyes of the law, it's relevant. He thought he was about to be mugged, and that gave him power, at least according to the jury, to use deadly force.
CORNISH: OK. One of the things that you wrote that I found interesting is that you said, "He shared a ruthless moral judgment about where his five bullets ended up. No amount of prissy, post-modern handwringing is going to tell him he didn't commit an act of community service."
WILLIAMS: Yes.
CORNISH: And also, "it was his fortune, good or bad, to mete out justice that four young men had brought upon their own," quote, unquote, "damned selves."
WILLIAMS: Yes. When I interviewed him, I asked him the question. Because I got him on the phone, which was like, you're a journalist. My God, there are some interviews that just, for the whole time, where am I and who am I talking to?
CORNISH: Yes.
WILLIAMS: And this is bonkers.
But when I asked him, "Do you feel you committed a public service?"
He said to me, "Those guys needed shooting. That's not why I shot them, but they needed shooting."
And my jaw dropped. My wife was in the next room hearing it, thinking, whoa, what's going on here? And he really believes that, regardless of what happened in the particulars of the shooting, that he was broadly committing an act for the good of society, because those guys needed what was coming to them.
That flies in the face of the law and is just not supported by anything. He just is unrepentant, even now at age 78. And a lot of that comes through in a whole chapter in the book, "Five Bullets," where I sort of detail what it's like to talk to a notorious figure.
CORNISH: The thing is, he sounds less out of place today.
WILLIAMS: It's hard to say. Right? It's -- New York is infinitely safer than anything the world knew in 1984. It was gritty. It was rough. The homicide rate was at 2,000.
So, to some extent, part of what made him a "hero," quote, unquote, to many people was that he was clapping back against the forces of disorder.
CORNISH: Yes. But I mean, we just had a death on the subway -- WILLIAMS: Right, exactly.
CORNISH: -- where somebody jumped in, because people were fearful on the subway.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
CORNISH: And that ended in a death between a person who some call a vigilante and some call a hero.
WILLIAMS: And what's wild about it is it's an infinitely safer New York. Yet, people are still engaging in that behavior to some extent.
And also, with the Internet and social media, people can herald these acts. I talk briefly about Luigi Mangione --
CORNISH: Yes.
WILLIAMS: -- as someone who engaged in an act of violence, purportedly for some broader good. But instantly, the Internet picked him up and said -- this many people and said, This guy is a hero.
CORNISH: Do you think it's because between, like, your Batmans and your Jokers and your "Death Wish," and like, we actually cemented this lore, this idea as a cultural good?
WILLIAMS: I have a great --
CORNISH: And heroic.
WILLIAMS: Absolutely. I have a great quote from Drew Faust, the former president of Harvard, in here, who says that perhaps violence is baked into American DEA [SIC] -- DEA [SIC] -- DNA.
CORNISH: Yes.
WILLIAMS: It's who we are as Americans. And America loves this idea of this noble vigilante that carries out the fantasies that we can't carry out, violently.
Now, the difference is, all these guys who get celebrated are white guys. There is a racial element to who society is willing to lift up and celebrate. And some of that comes through.
CORNISH: Not a lot of black vigilantes, you're saying?
WILLIAMS: Not a lot of black vigilantes that end up on the front page of the newspaper and called the "Death Wish Hero."
CORNISH: OK.
WILLIAMS: Right.
CORNISH: All right. Elliot, you're going to stick around, because we have a ton of legal questions today.
WILLIAMS: I'm sure.
CORNISH: So, thank you for being here. But the book is called Five Bullets: The Story of Bernie Goetz, New York's Explosive '80s, and the Subway Vigilante Trial that Divided the Nation." It's out now.
