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CNN This Morning
Southeast Bracing for Heavy Snow; Molly Davis is Interviewed about the Power Outage in Tennessee; State Lawmakers Push for Lawsuits Against ICE Agents; Nationwide General Strike Underway. Aired 6:30-7a ET
Aired January 30, 2026 - 06:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[06:30:00]
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: We had CNN's Harry Enten taking a look at the financials. And then here was his forecast for potential opening weekend returns.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: I did see a theater up in Boston, I believe it was, up in Massachusetts, here in the states, and it showed that zero -- zero seats had been sold for a prime time showing of it. We'll see if this $1 million to $5 million actually works out. Would it not be shocking to me that perhaps this is a little bit optimistic based upon those anecdotal reports? Maybe so.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: We're seeing people protest like on review sites, right, and trying to review bomb the film. And we're also seeing people post images of the empty seats in theaters near them. I'm not shocked that there are empty seats maybe in blue states, but you are saying that this film is not going to make money. Is that what I'm hearing?
SEGUN ODUOLOWU, ENTERTAINMENT JOURNALIST AND TV HOST: Well, it's not going to make money -- well, it's already made money. It made money for the people that are involved. It made money for Melania. $27 million -- or $28 million. She's walking away very happy. But, no, it won't generate money at the box office. And I don't think it was ever intended to. It's going to stream on Amazon, where the propaganda machine can keep it going.
Because when we think about the premise of this, it's -- she's not in the White House. It's the lead-up to going back to the White House. And even Amazon sells it as her moving her family back into the White House. What family, Audie? What family? Barron Trump is a sophomore in college. He's not even moving back to the White House. So, it's just Melania and Donald. That is the big reveal that they're going back to where they've already been? What, is she packing boxes? It's a farce.
CORNISH: Can I ask you one more thing? We know that Jeff Bezos, who -- obviously founder of Amazon, he also owns "The Washington Post." They're in the middle of cuts. And so there's this kind of conversation brewing online where people are like, OK, they're willing to spend x here when it comes to the administration, but meanwhile you've got reporters basically online begging to be allowed to cover the Olympics.
ODUOLOWU: You're cutting at "The Washington Post." You're cutting at Amazon. There have been layoffs. Yet somehow there was $75 million found to spend on a documentary that no one asked for, directed by a person Hollywood is trying to forget.
CORNISH: Segun, thanks so much. Appreciate your time.
ODUOLOWU: Always a pleasure.
CORNISH: Straight ahead on CNN THIS MORNING, temperatures are dropping.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A lot of people are saying that it could be two weeks until I get power back.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: And the outrage as people in Tennessee go another day without power.
Plus, the man arrested for trying to bust Luigi Mangione out of jail. We're going to describe his failed plot.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:37:49]
CORNISH: Good morning, everybody. I'm Audie Cornish. 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.
Sources tell CNN the president is expected to announce Kevin Warsh as his nominee to chair the Federal Reserve. Warsh served as a Fed governor for five years, and Trump considered him for the job back in 2017 before ultimately giving it to Jerome Powell. Powell's term ends in May.
And today Luigi Mangione is back in court for a possible ruling on if the death penalty will remain a sentencing option if he's convicted. Now, this comes as a man was arrested Thursday for trying to break Mangione out of jail. A law enforcement source tells CNN that the Minnesota man arrived at the prison impersonating an FBI agent, claiming he had a court order for Mangione's release.
And we all get bored in work meetings and, yes, that's even true for the president.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: The last time we had a press conference it lasted for three hours. And some people said, he closed his eyes. Look, it got pretty boring.
I didn't sleep. I just closed them because I wanted to get the hell out of here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: He's actually talking about this moment from December's cabinet meeting when he was caught on camera with his eyes closed multiple times.
Now, if you live in the southeast, I'm sorry to say this, but you are now going to be preparing for a bomb cyclone this weekend. And if you're anywhere along the East Coast, you could see epic snowfall or just a couple of chilly, windy days. It all depends on how this new, developing storm actually tracks. And forecast models agree that it will form off the coast of the Carolinas, that could be early Saturday,, and then intensify quickly.
CNN's Chris Warren tells us who could see the most snow.
CHRIS WARREN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: This weekend's storm is going to bring some serious snow for some and for others still kind of on the line. So, the track of this weekend's winter storm is going to play a huge role in saying and determining who ends up getting serious snowfall and who may be left out.
[06:40:01]
The western track brings more snow farther inland. Meanwhile, a track farther away from the coast still brings snow to South Carolina, North Carolina and Virginia, but not as much to New Jersey and New York and Connecticut but still some in far eastern Massachusetts.
Here's what the European forecast model shows us. Does show even a chance for some snow in Atlanta with that area of low pressure bombing out or really strengthening over a short period of time. And the winds are going to be strong. So, we're going to see this produce some very strong winds, especially offshore, possibly some coastal flooding and beach erosion. But the snowfall here, again, it's just on the edge here. So, the track's going to make a huge difference here. That's the European.
The GFS also shows snow for the Carolinas, bringing some snow to maybe the Cape. Again, we still do have some time here to work out exactly who gets what. Possibly this could trend even farther away from shore.
But we'll look at a couple of forecast models in terms of how much snow is at least a possibility. And again, for North Carolina, South Carolina, mountains of Tennessee could see more than eight inches, maybe about a foot or so. This model, the European, does show more snow for the Cape and the islands here in eastern Massachusetts, where the GFS shows some, but not a ton, but a lot more snow for parts of North Carolina especially, including the Outer Banks here could see about a foot of snow if it pans out working that way. And think, that much snow falling over hours with winds this strong, 50 to 50 mile an hour gusts -- 50 to 55 mile an hour gusts, up to 65 miles an hour gusts at times, even up to 70 miles an hour.
So, with that much snow, that much wind, beach erosion, certainly a strong possibility, if not a likelihood, and then whiteout conditions also possible.
CORNISH: OK, I'm not sure if you could see on that map, but Tennessee could get clipped in that frigid weather pattern, and thousands may have to face those conditions with no heat in their homes.
So, at last check, more than 80,000 people in the state are still without power. Work crews overwhelmed by fallen trees and downed power lines.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is 41 degrees in our house. Morale is low.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can't even warm up your food. These are -- they're just like small, little, simple things.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We would really appreciate if Nashville would get the power back on.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can get a hotel room. Yes, you can get a hotel room. You're absolutely right. But do you not know, I still got to pay my rent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: The bitter arctic cold has killed at least 85 people from Texas to New Jersey.
I want to go live to Nashville. We're bringing in Molly Davis. She's a reporter for "The Tennessean."
Molly, thanks so much for being here.
I wanted to come to you because you have been following this closely. And I understand that the Nashville Electric Service, they actually tried to kind of open things up to the public. What happened when they did?
MOLLY DAVIS, GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT REPORTER, "THE TENNESSEAN": Well, yes, thank you so much, Audie, for having me on to talk about this today.
But, yesterday, Nashville Electric Service hosted a press conference. And they're trying to do a better job of communicating the progress that they're making to bring power back on for folks. But folks are really frustrated here on the ground. They've gone without power, some of them, you know, since Saturday, others since Sunday, when that major storm rolled through the area. So, frustration and desperation is really boiling over here in Nashville in particular. CORNISH: Here's the response the director of emergency management
gave. This was his advice to the public and to people who right now do not have power.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILLIAM SWANN, NASHVILLE'S DIRECTOR-CHIEF OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: If you don't have power, but you're waiting for power to come on, but you've got an option to go somewhere else, go ahead and pull that. Go somewhere else. Go to a neighbor, a friend or whatever, or call us for sheltering. But the point here is, don't sit around and wait.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Where can people go?
DAVIS: Well, there are some warming shelters open throughout the city of Nashville. And, of course, if people have a friend's house that they can go to, or if they can leave town altogether, they are doing that. Others are filling up hotels. We have a report from "The Tennessean" just a couple of days ago, some of our reporters are staying in hotels. I mean it's widespread power outages right now.
But, you know, the unfortunate thing is, there are people, because of the downed trees and the extent of the damage on roads and driveways, people actually cannot physically leave their homes in some cases. And so, there's not a lot of options for people who are without power inside their homes.
CORNISH: California Governor Gavin Newsom is sending a 30-member California-based federal incident management team to assist.
[06:45:01]
I know that Governor Bill Lee of Tennessee actually requested a grant for expedited assistance declaration for counties in Tennessee. What has been the response from the federal government?
DAVIS: So, we actually had a state of emergency declared pretty early on here in Nashville and in Tennessee overall. And we do have 120 National Guardsmen on the ground as of last night in Nashville, in Davidson County. That's, from my understanding, the most National Guardsmen that are activated in middle Tennessee. And that really reflects the damage that is in Davidson County, where Nashville resides. I mean it's extensive. It's just a total mess.
CORNISH: Molly, do you have power or are you just sleeping in the office, because the lights are on.
DAVIS: The lights are on here in the office, as they have been all week. I did get power back. I was without it for about 36 hours. But, you know, I've been speaking to folks who have no power, have no way to make warm meals. Nashville has really come together, as we're somewhat known for doing. Lots of free meals being given out by restaurants who have the capabilities. Like I said earlier, warming shelters are open and transportation is available to those. But it's just such a mess that, you know, even getting communication out to the right people who need it is a challenge. Wi-fi is out. Cellular data is out in some places. And it's going to be a long road to clean all of this up.
CORNISH: OK, that's Molly Davis of "The Tennessean" speaking to us from Nashville.
Thank you so much.
DAVIS: Thank you.
CORNISH: And some of you might be just tuning in. You might have missed part of the conversation. Guess what? We are a podcast. I'd love for you to scan this QR code. Yes, people actually do it. And we notice. That's where you can find CNN THIS MORNING, because it's available anywhere you get your podcasts.
And next, can you sue Immigration and Customs Enforcement? Several states are trying to make that a law. We're going to find out if that's legal when we lawyer up.
Plus, protesters calling for a national shutdown today. How much of an impact could we see?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:51:39]
CORNISH: So, state legislators are backing new laws which would allow citizens to sue ICE agents in state court. At least five states are actively considering legislation. Illinois became the first state last month to pass it into law. Critics are questioning if that's even legal, pointing to this line in the Constitution stating that federal law is "the supreme law of the land."
So, now it is time to lawyer up with Elliot Williams.
Elliot --
ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes.
CORNISH: So, the first thing we all said is, what? Can you do that?
WILLIAMS: Exactly. And it is so important that you showed that -- the supremacy clause of the Constitution right there.
CORNISH: I needed to show the Constitution so much in the last three months.
WILLIAMS: I know. I know.
CORNISH: Yes.
WILLIAMS: And supremacy clauses like deep cut law professor stuff. But ultimately it says that when there's a conflict between state and federal law, the federal law always wins. The federal law is supreme. Now, the law is clear right now that you can sue a city or state
actor, a cop, a state trooper, whatever, in federal court for violating your civil rights. If somebody shoots a fire hose at you and shouts ethnic slurs, you have a civil rights suit against that person if they are a state or local cop. It's a little bit different. There isn't really an avenue for suing a federal officer, like an ICE agent, in his personal capacity in federal court. You can't really do it.
CORNISH: Does that mean the families of Alex Pretti and Renee Good, if they don't get accountability from the government, what recourse do they have?
WILLIAMS: Right. They cannot sue the officer him -- or -- himself or herself in federal court. There's a convoluted way to sue the agency or the federal government for violating your rights, but not against that individual. So, what these states are doing is passing laws whereby you can sue somebody in state court, sue a federal officer in state court for violating state civil rights law.
CORNISH: So, that brings me to this point --
WILLIAMS: Right.
CORNISH: Because there is news that the lawyer who is representing the Pretti family is actually the same attorney who helped convict George Floyd's killer.
WILLIAMS: Right.
CORNISH: And let's see who he is. It's Schleicher. He's an experienced litigator who served as the special prosecutor for Minnesota attorney general Keith Ellison in 2021.
WILLIAMS: Right.
CORNISH: Back when this name, Derek Chauvin, is something we were all hearing about.
WILLIAMS: And, remember, Derek Chauvin was a state and local officer, so it was much easier to sue him in federal court for those actions. It just gets more complicated. And it's because of how the law was written back at the time of the Civil War, which was, the worst actors were state and local cops, right, post reconstruction or post, you know, post slavery.
So, what this -- what states are doing is trying to write in legislation that would allow you to sue a federal officer in state court. We showed that supremacy clause point.
CORNISH: Yes.
WILLIAMS: And you're not -- you see where this is going. So, the supremacy clause point because the argument in response would be, wait a second, now you're going to write this provision that would allow people to sue federal officers in federal court. States can't do that.
CORNISH: Yes.
WILLIAMS: And it's going to be -- it's going to be a big law professor driven legal fight over this.
CORNISH: Well, hold on.
WILLIAMS: Yes. Yes.
CORNISH: I have another one for you on the flip side.
WILLIAMS: Uh-huh.
CORNISH: We were reading this morning about the Trump administration trying to sue an undocumented migrant, saying that they had, like, outstanding fees or something?
WILLIAMS: Yes.
CORNISH: And I think the suit was for like a million bucks. Tell me more.
WILLIAMS: Right. The problem is that -- and they sued her for money -- for a bunch of money for fees. Now the question is, I think they're just trying to root her out such that once she identifies herself to go into court, ultimately they can apprehend her and move her from -- remove her from the country.
[06:55:01]
The interesting thing about this lawsuit is, there is a remedy if you think this person has violated the law. You can just find her and remove her from the country. Seeking these fees is novel and sort of a -- not twisting of the law, but using a very creative approach to trying to identify people.
CORNISH: OK, I want to bring our friends back here because we're going to talk about this general strike. That means no work, no school, no shopping today as a way to protest the actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement after the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The entire country is shutting down. It's an economic blackout.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If you people can't stand for nothing, stand for this.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shut it down is not just a slogan, but a tactic that we will continue exercising if our communities remain under attack.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: OK, last Friday, tens of thousands of Minnesotans came together, 700 businesses closed in solidarity. The goal today is basically to take that nationwide. And it doesn't end tonight. Tomorrow, hundreds of protests and vigils are scheduled across the country. We're talking at least one in every state.
So, the group chat is back.
Lulu, can I start with you? Because you've obviously covered a lot of international communities where general strikes are quite common.
LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes.
CORNISH: How is it supposed to work? What are you expecting, thinking about this week?
GARCIA-NAVARRO: I mean it will be interesting to see if it does work in the United States, because in those places where it does work, like, let's say France, if you think about Europe, there's a lot of protections for workers, which you do not have in America. You don't show up for work at Target, first of all, you don't get paid. Second of all, you might get fired. So, you know, it, again, the United States has not seen this kind of action.
That said, this is a very tried and true way of civil disobedience. And what you hear from protesters is that they want to hit this administration where they think it hurts, which is economically.
CORNISH: It's interesting seeing mostly young people --
GARCIA-NAVARRO: Right.
CORNISH: At the forefront, right, of them kind of looking back to this particular kind of approach. Some Minnesota businesses may not get involved in this, one, frankly, because with ICE operations going on, they have lost a lot of money.
I want to play for you Daniel Hernandez, who owns a business in Minneapolis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DANIEL HERNANDEZ, MINNESOTA SMALL BUSINESS OWNER: It was very important for me to make a statement. I already did it once. I cannot afford it another day. I can't. What do you want us to close too and then also go out of business?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BRYAN LANZA, SENIOR ADVISER, TRUMP 2024 CAMPAIGN: You got to pay employees. You got to meet payroll. So, I mean, you know, you're right that here in the U.S. there's no protections for the workers. But I also want to be very careful. Some of these general strikes in other countries get violent. They get destructive. You know, general strikes in Bolivia, where my family's from, they destroy the roads. And so those types of actions will garner a government response. So, if it's a peaceful protest, you know, maybe more show up. That's great. Let's just make sure it's not --
CORNISH: Yes, though that would be a big swing from us never doing them to them being violent riots.
LANZA: Oh. Well --
CORNISH: No, I'm just asking -- like that's -- I just --
LANZA: I mean I was in Los Angeles post Rodney King. There was, you know, it started as a protest and then became a violent riot.
CORNISH: OK. You guys, there's also going to be this nationwide no kings day protest. We saw those a few weeks ago. There's going to be another one.
And I think this does get at the point of, again, we've shown these numbers, voters who are starting to feel, not starting, starting to feel like ICE's deportation efforts are too aggressive. Looking at the shift. Back in July of 2025, 49 percent of those polled thought ICE was being too aggressive. Now, 59 percent. Voters that approve of the president's handling of immigration. This is still closer, right? Forty-five -- sorry, 48 percent in July approved. That is ticking down to 45 percent.
And the thing that struck me is the abolish ICE movement, it's not so much a movement yet. You have a lot of Democrats saying we shouldn't do that.
WILLIAMS: Yes, of course.
CORNISH: But literally in 2018 when people talked about this a lot, it was only 18 percent. And now it's almost double that.
WILLIAMS: Yes, look, I worked at ICE for five years, as you know, with a critical Congress and a pretty critical public in terms of how the Obama administration approached it. This is different. Public opinion is different. It's just different right now. And I think at their peril.
GARCIA-NAVARRO: And the -- and the only other thing I'll say about this with the general strike is, it creates problems regardless of the economic impact because it just actually feeds into the sense that there's chaos in the country. And Americans don't like chaos. And there's a feeling right now that there's a lot of chaos.
CORNISH: And we were talking during the break about how, like with George Floyd, people are home.
LANZA: Yes.
CORNISH: Back then it was the pandemic quarantines. This, there's people in Nashville, home in the cold, scrolling their phones and also seeing that video of Alex Pretti being shot in the street over and over again and they are coming to their own opinions.
LANZA: Yes. And they should. I mean the video is jarring. The one that we saw earlier in the show is, you know, it's going to have an impact. It doesn't matter whether it lives on social media. It's -- at this point it's going to live in our psyche. And being at home, you know, you need an outlet, and that outlet, I suspect, is coming.
CORNISH: OK, you guys, I also want to -- we're closing out the show, but I want to let you know one more thing.
[07:00:01]
President Trump officially has nominated Kevin Warsh to replace Jerome Powell as Fed chair. The president just posted the announcement on Truth Social. Warsh actually served as a Fed governor for five years. Trump had considered him for the job back in 2017, before ultimately giving it to Jerome Ppowell. And Powell's term, of course, is ending in May.
I want to thank you guys so much for being with me today at the end of this week. Stay warm. And thank you so much for being with us. Headlines are next.
