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CNN This Morning
Ilhan Omar Attacked at Town Hall with Unknown Liquid; Creators Accuse TikTok's New Owners of Censorship. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired January 28, 2026 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:00:09]
RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: And on that note, we'll leave it there. Thanks for joining us here on EARLY START today. I'm Rahel Solomon, live in New York. CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish, and right now on CNN THIS MORNING, the name of the game is intimidation. A congresswoman attacked, but she keeps on going, refusing to stop her speech about immigration tactics.
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REP. ILHAN OMAR (D-MN): I've survived war, and I'm definitely going to survive intimidation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: And Kristi Noem rebuked, Gregory Bovino removed, Is the White House looking for a fall guy?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI (R-AK): I've lost confidence in her.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She has taken this administration into the ground on an issue that we should own.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: And a group of mayors confront ICE, demanding that they end the federal crackdown in Minnesota. I'm going to be speaking to one of those mayors live.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Building a city or a country in fear is, to me, antithetical to what America is all about.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: And stay away from the USA. Calls to boycott the World Cup are growing.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just like a serious question. But how is America still allowed to host the World Cup?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Good morning. We begin with the latest out of Minneapolis. Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar attacked during a town hall last night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, my God!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Oh, no!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: OK. CNN was there when a man charged the podium and then sprayed Omar with some unknown substance before he was tackled to the ground.
The 55-year-old suspect is now charged with third-degree assault. Congresswoman Omar was unharmed, and she actually went on with the event.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
OMAR: I've survived war, and I'm definitely going to survive intimidation and whatever these people think they can throw at me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: There were some Republicans who were quick to condemn the attack. Mike Lawler called it unacceptable. Mark Alford said while he disagrees with Omar, quote, "These disagreements should never result in assault."
And Nancy Mace says she was deeply disturbed.
One Republican who did not seem worried about it, President Trump. Speaking to ABC News, he suggested without evidence that the attack was somehow staged, saying, quote, "I think she's a fraud. I really don't think about that. She probably had herself sprayed, knowing her."
The same president who just hours before had said this about Minneapolis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We have Tom Homan there now. We put him in there. He's great. And they met with the governor, the mayor, everybody else. And we'll -- we're going to deescalate a little bit.
(END VIDEO CLIP) CORNISH: Joining me now in the group chat, Zach Wolf, CNN senior politics writer; Kristen Soltis Anderson, CNN political commentator and Republican pollster; and Antjuan Seawright, Democratic strategist.
Antjuan, can I start with you? I don't know if you heard in your group chats or people in Democratic circles started talking about this last night.
ANTJUAN SEAWRIGHT, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I did. America is not like this, because Donald Trump is the president. Donald Trump is the president, because America is like this.
And believe it or not, there's some sick, deranged people out there who are celebrating online when members of Congress are attacked, when they're threatened, particularly visible figures like Ilhan Omar, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and others.
And I think that we, as Americans, have to step back. But I also think leaders, starting at the presidency level, should always condemn these type of things, because it cannot be good for them and not good for me.
When the president was under attack, Americans came together to condemn it. And so, the president has to tone down the rhetoric. Because we've seen January 6th a direct -- is a direct result. When his language goes out, people respond to it.
CORNISH: Yes. Although I think the argument was the attack on him in Butler was -- was the result of rhetoric against him, how people had talked about him.
SEAWRIGHT: Well, he -- he --
CORNISH: Hold on. I want to play for you something, because Trump has, you know, of course, dismissed the attack on Omar. She's a long time, sort of -- what's the word -- villain, social media villain on the right.
Here is what he had to say yesterday. And then, I'm also going to take you back to 2019.
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TRUMP: They have to show that they can love our country. They have to be proud, not like Ilhan Omar.
Ilhan Omar is garbage. She's garbage. Her friends are garbage.
[06:05:06]
Omar has a history of launching vicious antisemitic screeds.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: I feel like usually on a panel, there's someone who says people love Trump for his punchy language. And are people, I think -- is the public starting maybe a bit to sour as they see attack after attack and these sort of incidents on lawmakers?
KRISTEN SOLTIS ANDERSON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: I mean, I think in some ways, it's -- it's a numbness rather than a cheering for it or a souring on it. It's just like, is this -- this is just like the toxic soup in which we live now.
I think it's horrible. I'm glad that some Republicans came out and condemned it. I wish all of them would, just like I thought it was reprehensible that the Internet fever swamps had cooked up that there was some conspiracy theory when Donald Trump was shot in Butler.
I think it's terrible that fever swamps and the president are cooking up conspiracy theories around this.
I hope this man is investigated. I hope they throw the book at him, because when we have a culture where people who run for public office and are in the public eye are under threats of violence -- and this, again, didn't start with Trump.
CORNISH: Yes. But isn't that a moment precisely when Trump should not say something like, hey, she probably faked it?
ANDERSON: Yes.
CORNISH: I mean, it's been hours. Like not even.
ANDERSON: Yes, 100 percent.
CORNISH: OK, this brings me to the other thing. Who they can feel like they can speak ill about and the limits of that.
They came up against a hard limit with Alex Pretti, right? Calling him a domestic terrorist after he died at the hands of ICE.
Here is the president on Tuesday. You're going to hear a very different tone than what we heard from the administration over the weekend.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you agree with the assessment from some of your own officials that Alex Pretti is a domestic terrorist or an assassin?
TRUMP: Well, I haven't heard that, but certainly, he shouldn't have been carrying a gun. But all of -- hey, look, bottom line, everybody in this room, we view that as a very unfortunate incident. OK, everyone, unless you're -- you're a stupid person.
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ALEX THOMPSON, CNN SENIOR POLITICS WRITER: I mean, I think there are a lot of people who would like to see fewer people carry guns in the -- in the country. A lot of them are not Republican voters.
So, when he says that kind of thing, when you go after somebody who was legally carrying a gun, something that's allowed in this country under the Second Amendment, very controversially, for a lot of people.
CORNISH: Yes. Gun rights groups have already been talking about this the last couple of days.
THOMPSON: Yes. You basically ripped the -- ripped the rug out from underneath your base. So, you know, that seems to be a gaffe on his part.
But let's look at the larger issue here. You know, guns are a problem in the in the country. And you know, maybe this will -- people -- have people talk about it. Probably not. But it's certainly something they didn't expect.
CORNISH: All right. Want you guys to stay with me. Were going to talk about a couple of things this hour, including the White House response, how it shifted. We're going to talk about what lawmakers are saying. They're back in town.
And we're also going to talk about this. Is TikTok censoring political content? We're going to talk about why some users think their videos are being blocked under the new U.S. ownership of the app.
Plus, are we now closer than ever to, quote, unquote, "doomsday"?
And the wrath of the winter storm. Parts of the South could be without power for weeks, not days.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Those residents are still there without any heat, except to go to the -- the three common areas.
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(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:12:56]
CORNISH: It is 12 minutes past the hour. Here are five things to know to get your day going.
So, a human trafficking suspect was injured after exchanging gunfire with U.S. Border Patrol agents and shooting at a helicopter. This was during a pursuit in Arizona.
Federal agents were attempting to stop a pickup truck near the border of Mexico when the suspect stopped the vehicle and ran.
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SHERIFF CHRIS NANOS, PIMA COUNTY: In this case, we believe our agent in the USBP; that agent acted lawfully. That's our belief based on what we know today, right at this moment.
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CORNISH: The suspect has been identified by the sheriff's department as a 34-year-old U.S. citizen from Arizona.
And U.S. forces are preparing to conduct military exercises in the Middle East as tensions grow with Iran. Military officials say they're intended to, quote, "prepare for flexible response execution."
Now, Iran is threatening retaliation over any U.S. action.
And the Justice Department says that it plans to release its Jeffrey Epstein files, quote, "in the near term." But a firm date has not been revealed. The update comes from a court filing on Tuesday, responding to pressure from Epstein survivors.
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is now 85 seconds to midnight. This is the closest the world has ever been to midnight.
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CORNISH: So, this is the bulletin of the atomic scientists. They're moving their doomsday clock even closer to midnight. That's their symbol for how close humanity is to destroying the world.
The scientists made the change due to the threat from climate change, artificial intelligence, and nuclear weapons.
And the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, out with the perfect Valentine's Day gift: a cockroach for your ex. For $15, you can name the nasty bug after your former love and share a certificate with them for proof.
After the break on CNN THIS MORNING, have you noticed a glitch in TikTok?
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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: My videos are getting, like, zero views, and been up for like seven hours. And I'm like, what's going on?
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[06:15:05]
CORNISH: So, is it censorship, or is something else going on?
Plus, the measles outbreak in South Carolina has reached a historic high.
And we want to say good morning to folks in Nashville. We know so many of you are there without power. We're going to be live, reporting there in a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I tried to make a video about what just happened in Minnesota. I've tried to post it twice, and it keeps getting restricted.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are posting factual, political information, and they are censoring our content.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, I can't post anything about what happened yesterday in Minnesota. So, I'm going to be very selective with my words.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[06:20:02]
CORNISH: TikTok users fear they are being censored. The concern coming after the new U.S. ownership of the app, made up of mostly Trump allies.
Creators were talking over the weekend about how they couldn't upload videos criticizing ICE.
In the meantime, California Governor Gavin Newsom has launched a review, looking into whether TikTok is violating state law by censoring content that is critical of the administration.
Now, TikTok says it's not censorship. They say they're just having technical issues, and they actually point to a data center outage.
Zeyi Yang is here. He is a senior writer at "Wired," and he's been writing about what's triggering this trust crisis for the app's new U.S. owners. He joins us now.
Thank you so much for being here.
ZEYI YANG, SENIOR WRITER, "WIRED": Hi, Audie.
CORNISH: So, first, I want to say you actually reached out to TikTok. And what did they say to you?
YANG: Well, TikTok has denied to me there's any kind of censorship involved in this whole glitch. What they're saying is that there is a power outage at one of the data center partners that they have in the United States, and that's what's causing all the glitches that users are feeling in the past two days.
CORNISH: Let's talk about why people don't trust that answer then. Right?
There's a lot of posts they're seeing like this one. This is a Georgetown law professor who went on Bluesky to say, Look, I'm going to post here a video because I want to give you my thoughts on DHS and its arguments over judicial warrants. And I can't post them to TikTok. I get a message that says, this is under review.
You can't see there, in tiny font at the top. It says this is being reviewed.
So, what did you make of the way people cast doubts immediately? What did that reflect to you?
YANG: Yes, I think it's a natural response to have when users have just learned that, just last week, on Thursday, TikTok announced that it has completed transferring ownership of the -- of the app's U.S. operations to an assortment of U.S. investors.
So, that's why people are naturally just drawing the connection between, you know, the recent ownership change and the experience they're having on the app right now, especially because the glitch does impact a lot of people.
So, we're talking about a lot of activists, organizers who are suddenly feeling that none of their protest-related content can go anymore. So, it's very natural for them to feel that way.
CORNISH: Can we dig into those owners? We were just showing an image. And the first one is Larry Ellison of Oracle. Full disclosure: his family is in the process of trying to purchase our parent company.
But because he's an ally of the president, is this something TikTokers have been talking about specifically? Like, literally looking at who's now the U.S. owner and what their politics are?
YANG: Exactly, like much longer before the deal was actually completed, a lot of the TikTok users was already suspecting that once, after, you know, the control of the U.S. operation is transferred to an investor like Larry Ellison, TikTok's algorithms will be changed; and they will be seeing different content on their platform.
And especially last week when TikTok announced that the U.S. -- the new U.S. operation was created, they also said that, yes, the algorithm will be retrained based on U.S. data. So, this has always been a concern that a lot of TikTok users have.
I think what happened this weekend and on Monday is that they are seeing that their app does feel different right now. Then they are going to conclusion that this is what they were suspecting was always going to happen.
CORNISH: Before I let you go, what are the sort of unknown unknowns? When we say that this new U.S. ownership is going to retrain the algorithm, do we even know what that means? Do we know how different it will feel?
YANG: Not really. Because like much of how TikTok works, what works is a black box, right? No one really knows how that recommendation algorithm works. No one knows what kind of content they can see. People don't even know if they can control what they see on TikTok.
So, the app has always kind of operated in this sort of mysterious way, but people are happy with seeing what they -- what they have on their "for you" page.
Now, if people are not happy anymore, they're obviously going to doubt what are -- like, what are your algorithms recommending me? So, right now, I think we will try to learn more from how TikTok works, especially differently from before. But the app still is pretty tight- lipped about how the algorithm works.
CORNISH: OK, Zeyi Yang, thank you so much for talking with us. We're going to keep an eye on this. There's lots of people are talking about quitting the app. I hope we can come back to you.
YANG: Thanks.
CORNISH: And straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, there are more people demanding answers after the shooting of yet another American citizen. And there are some Republicans who want a full independent investigation.
Plus, those power outages are lingering in the South after that very destructive ice storm.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:29:34]
CORNISH: Good morning. I'm Audie Cornish, and I want to thank you for joining me on CNN THIS MORNING. It's half past the hour, and here's what's happening right now.
In just a few hours, Secretary of State Marco Rubio heads to Capitol Hill. He's expected to testify before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee about the Trump administration's plans for Venezuela.
And South Carolina is now in the midst of the worst measles outbreak in the U.S. since the disease was declared eliminated. That was more than 25 years ago.
Right now, there are nearly 800 cases reported in the state. Outbreaks in North Carolina.
