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Erin Burnett Outfront
Monster Storm On The Move, 15 States Declare Emergencies; Protesters Carry Signs With Image Of Five-Year-Old Taken By ICE; Anti- ICE Protest Organizer Speaks to OutFront About Arrest. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired January 23, 2026 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:25]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT next:
Breaking news, the principal of the five-year-old boy taken into custody by ICE is OUTFRONT as CNN learns Trump is frustrated that he is losing control of his immigration message.
And Nikema Levy Armstrong, you know her. She was arrested after interrupting a church service in Saint Paul. She's just been released from jail and we have new video of when agents took her into custody. She is OUTFRONT tonight.
And breaking news, the monster winter storm starting now. Bone chilling lows and ice threatening much of the South as the East Coast braces for potentially historic snowfall.
Let's go OUTFRONT.
(MUSIC)
BURNETT: And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
And OUTFRONT tonight, we are following two breaking stories this hour, the dangerous and potentially record-breaking monster storm that is now blasting parts of the south with destructive ice and snow. It's moving east already. Fifteen states under a state of emergency at this hour.
We have the latest on this in a moment. First, though, the other breaking story. This is in Minneapolis, where protesters are carrying signs with the image of five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos being taken in by ICE agents. That image is rapidly becoming a flashpoint when it comes to the controversial tactics being used by ICE.
Sources tonight are telling CNN that the aggressive crackdown is leaving Trump frustrated behind closed doors because he believes the optics are now overshadowing his message. Trump is now trying to shift the narrative away from the protests in Minneapolis, sources say, which, of course, is hard to do when you've got 3,000 ICE agents on the ground. He wants to focus on what he views as ICE's achievements, which explains him spending more than 10 minutes thumbing through mug during this weeks somewhat incoherent press conference ahead of his trip to Davos. But so far, that has done little to change what is in front of the
public's face, hour after hour, especially after the accusations that ICE has been using children as a way to detain their parents. In fact, school officials in Minnesota say that agents used Liam Conejo Ramos as, quote, bait. Now, in a moment, I'm going to speak with Liam's principal to try to understand exactly what did happen here.
But the administration says that the boy was only taken into custody because his mother wouldn't take him. And his father abandoned him when he saw ICE officers. So they're saying they had no choice, right? That the only humane thing to do was to put the boy with his father.
Now, that information only comes from ICE at this point. We certainly can't verify it. Two weeks ago, a fourth grader from the same school district was taken into custody by ICE agents on her way to school. That young girl and Liam are now more than 1,300 miles away from their school and home.
They are both being held, we understand, in a detention center in south Texas and some of Trump's high-profile supporters seem to have had enough.
Just listen to podcaster Andrew Schulz talking about the masks that ICE agents wear.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDREW SCHULZ, PODCAST HOST: They got the sheisties on.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly.
SCHULZ: It's insane.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
SCHULZ: Right? It is insane.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yeah.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Now he's someone who voted for Trump. He supported him.
And there's Joe Rogan, who, of course, had that incredibly influential call that helped propel Trump to the White House supporting him. And he is suggesting this is -- this is -- he originally remembered about a week ago, talked about this looking like the gestapo. Now he is saying that the administration is doing all of this as a distraction from -- this is Joe Rogan -- the Epstein files.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With like, Somali, Somalians and the ICE shooting, it feels like that's completely drowned out anything about Epstein.
JOE ROGAN, PODCAST HOST: I think some of that's on purpose. UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, 100 percent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Trump is worried he's losing the public relations fight on his signature issue. And maybe those comments are part of why he feels that way. It comes as homeland security officials are now warming FEMA -- all right. FEMA, that's the emergency management association that's dealing with this storm -- to avoid using the word "ice" when talking about the ice storm that is coating to the South in ice, because they fear that it will continue to lead to online mockery.
And as I say that I'm thinking, are you serious? We are actually saying this? And it is real and you can get it when you say ice. I mean, I can't believe it.
Omar Jimenez is OUTFRONT, live in Minneapolis.
So, Omar, on the ground there, you know, you got the storm here to the frigid temperatures and the ongoing protests. Thousands of ICE agents on the ground. What are you learning?
OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. So, you know, there was a big question coming into today knowing that this would really be the coldest day we've seen since the shooting and killing of Renee Good in particular.
[19:05:04]
I mean, we are well into the negatives with wind chill taking things even further. That did not seem to deter the amount of protesters that we saw marching through downtown Minneapolis, essentially going from the football stadium over to the basketball arena, chanting a lot of what we've heard for weeks now, wanting to get federal immigration enforcement out of the Minneapolis area.
And it was not surprising to see the numbers that that we did. But again, we are waiting to see if the cold would affect things did not appear to be the case. Another protest we had been watching actually happened at the airport here in Minneapolis, Saint Paul area, where about 100 people were arrested as we understand from officials there. And the airport says that actually, it was a planned demonstration. They had coordinated with staff.
But once things went past the sort of agreed upon limits of where they could be, that's when arrests started happening. And they were peaceful, as we understand from organizers there. But it's really part of the fallout that we've seen after this shooting now for more than two weeks ago, to this point, even "The New York Times" reporting that an FBI agent who sought to investigate or at the very least, review a case into the ICE agent who shot Renee Good, has resigned. And it also comes, as we've also seen federal prosecutors resign, not just here in the Minneapolis area, but in districts across the country as well.
So as these weeks go on, protests will continue. But those aspects of fallout, we will continue to monitor to see how far and wide reaching this ends up going -- Erin.
BURNETT: All right, Omar, thank you very much. On the ground in Minneapolis.
And I want to go now to Jason Kuhlman. He is the principal at five- year-old Liam Conejo Ramos school.
And, Jason, I appreciate your time. You know, I know that you actually have been to the boys house. You spoke to his mother just moments after Liam was taken along with his father on Tuesday. I will note, of course, ICE says that she didn't want to take the boy. That's what they have said.
So, I guess in that context and in your conversation, what was that conversation with her like?
JASON KUHLMAN, LIAM CONEJO RAMOS' PRINCIPAL: Well, I think when we first were notified, she actually called our middle school right across the street and was talking to their principal and saying, would you please bring my older son home? I want to turn ourselves in. I do not want to break our family.
And so, once we received that call, we immediately went out to help support the family. We knew that she was hurting. So the principal at Columbia Academy and myself ran out there. And as we got there, the abduction was already gone. You know, they quick grabbed and then they went.
And so, we went in the house. We were the first ones in the house with mom. And she was very distraught. Like I said, she just wanted us to bring her older son to turn themselves in because they didn't want to break up their family.
They're a loving family unit. They're supporting each other. And she was distraught. She just -- she didn't know what to do. The way she described it, that her Liam was pounding on the door and saying, mom, please let me in. Please let me in.
She knew that she had an older son that she also had to watch out for. And so that's why she didn't go to the door. She knew that she would also be picked up and taken with them, leaving the older son alone.
BURNETT: So I just -- I just want -- I don't want to interrupt you, but just to be clear here. So, when the administration says the boy was Liam was only taken into custody because his mother wouldn't take him. What you're saying is she felt she couldn't open the door because they would also take her, and then that would leave her other child alone. I mean, just the way that you're contextualizing this is very different than the tone of what they're saying.
KUHLMAN: Absolutely. Like I said, we were the first ones in, and again, just to help to support, we are hoping to go to convince ICE personnel to leave the children with us, to leave Liam with me so that we could reunite the family. And he was gone by the time we got there.
Once we entered the house, mom was like I said, she was distraught. I felt so bad for her. I gave her a great big hug. Tried to console her and then also started processing, like, what can we do? What are the next steps?
BURNETT: It's all very tragic. I mean, from what I understand. And maybe, Jason, you know, more that the family, Liam's family came into the United States in December 2024. So just about a year ago, they have a pending asylum case. My understanding is they have no order of deportation. That would direct officials to remove them from the country, which obviously is actually the entire center of all of this, that they would have no order of deportation.
The family's lawyer says that the father does not have a criminal record. So do you have any sense as to why they were taken?
KUHLMAN: They're brown. I mean, I -- I'm going to speak my truth is they were brown and they were picked up. I mean, we're experiencing that all over the Twin Cities area and especially in Columbia Heights. There's racial profiling happening.
I mean, we've had numerous parents picked up just at my school alone. We're looking at 19 or 20 families who had a mom or a dad taken. You know, am I privy to all of their personal information and if they have criminal histories? I am not.
But I know them as parents in my school, and they love their children. We're talking moms. We're talking a dad who is bringing out garbage, to the alleyway into his trash can. And he was -- he was abducted. And now mom and moms calling us to say, do you know anything about this?
It -- again, I seen their asylum paperwork. I asked mom if she had paperwork to learn anything on how to best support them, and to get Liam and his father back. And she showed us it. In my knowledge, I didn't. I don't see any orders of deportation.
BURNETT: Well, and that's crucial. I mean, you've seen it. That's more than anyone else can say. You know, Liam's teacher sent us a statement about him. I mean, I understand he's a -- he's a first grader. Liam is a sweet and curious student. You could tell he wanted to be at school and wanted to learn.
Jason, I know you -- I believe two thirds of your population at school is Hispanic. You're talking about 20 families who've already had a parent taken by ICE. What's happening in terms of what kids coming to school, kids learning anything. I mean, it doesn't seem like this is functional.
KUHLMAN: No, by any means. It's not functional. I mean, when you don't have the sheer, just the basic needs met and you don't have a sense of safety and security, it's very difficult to come to school and learn.
We were just -- we were delivering, computers and supplies because we have a number of students who -- whose parents don't feel safe coming out of the house, that they do not leave. And so, we are bringing an online portion of our school up next Tuesday.
So, we had to deliver, like I said, Chromebooks today. We're delivering 120 meals a week to families. You know, boxes of food because they're scared.
We know that it's not sustainable. But this is not -- we're apolitical. We're not Republican. We're not Democrat. We're educators.
We want to support our families. And we want to make sure that their students are feeling safe to come to school and learn. And it's not happening. I mean, we're doing the best we can.
No one prepared us for this. No one prepared us to -- how to react to families getting taken or broken up, and how we have to pick up the pieces for our students.
BURNETT: I cannot even imagine. And the kind of the pressure and the trauma that is for you and all the teachers.
Principal Jason Kuhlman, thank you very much. I appreciate you sharing all of this with us, because it's important information. It's new information. Because, you know, we're just getting these statements that we get from ICE, and it's hard to know what the truth is.
I want to bring in Jamal Simmons and Adam Kinzinger now.
You know, Jamal, when you hear the principal there, first of all, there was a lot of new information that he shared, right? He was the first one in the house, visited with the mother. I mean, just on the very basics of it, right? That when I hear uncertain, you know, media interviews, I say, well, that this was an act of pure compassion.
We were taking in this man who had, for some reason, done something wrong, whether it was criminal or violated or whatever we were doing. And if we had not taken this child, he'd be freezing on the street. That's I think someone literally said that, freezing on the street, the mother didn't want him. And the father was using him as bait.
It's very different than from what the principal is describing.
JAMAL SIMMONS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It is. And I'm just struck by the tragedy of it all. I mean, I can't imagine being this mom who's in the house. You've got one of your kids outside with federal agents. And you got to make this horrible Hobson's choice about what to do about your children. It's, you know, the president's underwater by 19 points on immigration because images like this and stories like this strike right at the heart of our humanity as Americans.
I've got a friend who has on her wall her great grandfather's freedom papers, her great grandfather's freedom papers from when he was an emancipated slave. And he had those papers. Obviously, these situations aren't exactly analogous, but he had those papers because he had to be able to prove as he was walking around America, that he deserved to be where he was, that he was free to be in the places where he was.
Now we're at the case where even people who have papers, who have asylum paperwork, who they, you know, friends who are walking around with passports, like literally friends are walking around with passports in their pockets in case they get stopped. But now it turns out it may not really matter. So, it's even worse.
You can have the paperwork to say you're supposed to be here, or at least you're supposed to be here now. And it doesn't matter.
BURNETT: I mean, you know, Congressman Kinzinger, when you listen to the principal, he's saying he looked at the asylum papers and that it seems consistent with him -- to him that there was no order of deportation, that they came a year ago and that they had shown up for their court hearings and that they had done what they were they were supposed to do.
Again, we could get information that contradicts that, but he's the only one I know that seen those papers that's talking about them other than ICE, which obviously is a different version.
ADAM KINZINGER, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yeah. I mean, look, let's say that wasn't even the case. It is, obviously. But, you know, this is happening in other places. So, look, we had this kind of surge on the border at one point, people said they feared for their lives, and the rules at the time were okay, we have such a backlog in asylum cases. You will be released in the country with an order to appear in court.
Well, that was the rules then that are the -- now you can change that going forward. Right? But let's keep in mind, Republicans and Donald Trump had an opportunity to rectify specifically this kind of situation when there was a bipartisan bill to add asylum judges to work through this backlog in the case quickly. And Donald Trump said to the Republican base, there is Republican congressman, don't do it. I want to use this in the election.
BURNETT: Right.
KINZINGER: So first off, it is completely wrong what they're doing on that end. And then also, the principal said racial profiling. And that struck some -- I have not seen yet one video of an American citizen being pulled out of their car or being put in handcuffs under suspect suspicion of being here illegally that was white.
Now DHS will say we're not racial profiling. If that was the case, you would think there would be some white people that will have been pulled out of their car, later, found out to be citizens, but clearly not because they see somebody brown in their car outside or in their house, and they make the decision based on their brownness. And I've got to tell you, I don't know why this has not been fast tracked to the Supreme Court, because the Supreme Court has got to step in and say the next ICE agent that does this, or the next supervisor that authorizes this will be held in criminal contempt.
BURNETT: I mean, Jamal, it does just as Adam saying, I mean, it is obvious, right? Who's being pulled and who isn't being pulled. Right? They're not looking for people from Denmark and trying to find, you know, white people from Denmark. Although, by the way, I know there are people from Denmark who feel very uncertain about their future in the United States. And that's not to take that lightly. But you've got this imagery of this child, right? This Hispanic child. How powerful is an image like that? I mean, in the context of the president saying and he is -- he is incredibly aware of perception and how perception can be reality that he thinks the perception is getting away from him here.
SIMMONS: Oh, because it is. I mean, just to get to Adam's point, I grew up in Michigan. The place is overrun by Canadians, right? There are lots of Canadians who are in these upper Midwest states who overstay their visas, and they stay. If you're in New York city and you go into a nightclub, there are all kinds of people who are serving drinks and nightclubs from eastern Europe. Nobody's busting up bars in New York city to go get those eastern European servers.
So, we know that this is really about brown people. And it's just, again, I'm struck by the tragedy of all these people facing these choices and how they are staying home. They are carrying papers. They are trying to find some way to survive in this country.
And we're supposed to be a place where people come in order to follow their dreams, find their dreams. And now people are afraid to come here because they don't want to and encounter this kind of --
BURNETT: And what about -- what's happening here, not just on the imagery that were talking about, but also congressman from Trump's own erstwhile supporters. Okay. Joe Rogan said that this is looking like the gestapo when he talked about it a week ago. And now he's taking it a step further and making it clear that he thinks a lot of this is purposefully to divert attention away from the failure to release the Epstein files.
Let me play that exchange on Joe Rogan's show
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With like, Somali, Somalians and the ICE shooting, it feels like that's completely drowned out anything about Epstein.
JOE ROGAN, PODCAST HOST: I think some of that's on purpose.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Oh, 100 percent.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Congresswoman, what's the significance of Joe Rogan saying that?
KINZINGER: I mean, it's important, you know, Joe Rogan represents the kind of the male population in many cases that turned for Donald Trump. Not everybody is doing this out of racial intensity, but those that, you know, actually cared about immigration and border security are very uncomfortable with where we are here. So, if you start losing Joe Rogan, you could be in real trouble. And by the way, I'll just say very quickly, only 1 percent of the Epstein files have been released, 1 percent. And it is U.S. law that they that they all should have been out a month and a half ago. BURNETT: That's right. Yeah. I mean, we're talking about 34, 35 days,
something like that. And nothing, nothing.
[19:20:02]
All right. Thank you both very much. I appreciate you.
And next, the breaking news, we've got this new video just into the show of Nikema Levy Armstrong being arrested after interrupting that church service in Saint Paul, Minnesota. So, this is the new video that we've just gotten. You know, that she was arrested and she was in custody. Well, she has just gotten out, and she will be here to tell you exactly what happened.
Also, breaking this catastrophic winter storm about to hit more than half the United States from New Mexico all the way through New England. And temperatures are plunging. Threats of ICE and heavy snow. The latest track ahead, as we take you on tour tonight, also with a Catholic priest who moonlights as a deejay.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
BURNETT: Well, breaking news, Nekima Levy Armstrong, one of the organizers of the anti-ICE protests at a Saint Paul church, is out of federal custody this hour.
[19:25:01]
Two judges rejecting efforts by President Trump's DOJ to keep her and another church protester detained.
And we have this new video that we've just gotten into OUTFRONT. It shows what happened when Nekima was arrested. And I want to play some of her conversation with the officers in this new video.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have put you in handcuffs.
NEKIMA LEVY ARMSTRONG, ANTI-ICE PROTEST ORGANIZER: Why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's the part -- that's the policy.
ARMSTRONG: Of course it is. Why are you recording this? Why?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Just to make sure everythings --
ARMSTRONG: Wait, hold on a sec, before --
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're under arrest.
ARMSTRONG: I understand, but I'm asking, why is he recording this? I would ask that you not record if it doesn't have to be. I don't want to be a trophy for MAGA. So I'm asking you --
(CROSSTALK) ARMSTRONG: Is it departmental policy to report? If it's not, can we please stop recording? Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was instructed to record you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Nekima Levy Armstrong is now OUTFRONT.
Nekima, I want to ask you about that video and just this whole issue of who's recording and why and what the policy is, because it's really crucial. But, you know, you're just -- you're here. You just got out of custody a few hours ago. And I know, you know, we spoke just hours before you arrested yesterday morning.
So, then, all of a sudden, you were arrested, and it's been 36 hours that you were in custody. What happened in that time?
ARMSTRONG: So what happened was yesterday morning, FBI agents, essentially. I guess they -- so let me backtrack a little bit. So, they had had me as well as some of the other, organizers and protesters under surveillance.
So, they treated us as if we were dangerous criminals watching our movements. They even went to my codefendant, Chauntyll Allen's home, and watched her and her wife get into their vehicle and drive away the other night.
And apparently, they were tracking me in my vehicle, which I did not know. And so, we were we stayed in a hotel in downtown Minneapolis because we had heard that they might be arresting people, and we had our lawyer contact the U.S. marshal's office to see if there was an arrest warrant. Not yesterday, but the day before.
And they said there was no arrest warrant, you know, on file. And then he also called the U.S. attorney's office as well. And they did not give him any information. So, we wanted to be close to downtown. We also didn't want the FBI to kick in our doors, you know, with our families there. So, we stayed at a hotel so that we would be able to turn ourselves in. In the event that we found out that there was an arrest warrant.
However, in the meantime, dozens of FBI agents again were surveilling us. They found out the hotel that we were staying in, they surrounded the building, monitored the building, and at one point in the middle of the night, we were in my room and I opened the or one of my friends opened the hotel door to go take her bag next door, and an FBI agent stormed out of the room across the hall from me --
BURNETT: Wow.
ARMSTRONG: -- and chased her and slammed her to the ground. And he thought that later we realized he thought that she was me. So, he got physical with her and attacked her. And when I saw this man run out of the room, I just closed the door and locked it. And then I tried to reach my attorney, like, I think that they're in
the room next door surveilling us. It was just so shocking to see the lengths that they went to as if we were dangerous criminals. And we're literally talking about a nonviolent, peaceful protest. And so, once we were able to get ahold of our attorneys early in the morning, we talked to them about me being able to turn myself in. And they and initially, David Rosen, who is the head prosecutor on this case, had told my attorney, Jordan Kushner, that I could just surrender with him by my side.
And then he got a call from a higher up in Washington who said, no, the FBI was going to have to arrest me. And I knew that they just wanted to put on a show because J.D. Vance was coming into town, because MAGA got worked up over the church protests. And that is why I believe that the FBI agent was trying to record me.
(CROSSTALK)
BURNETT: So that's why the recording. But what you describe is a whole lot of people and manpower and hotel room bills and all of these things that they're doing when you were willing to just walk in and turn yourself in.
ARMSTRONG: Absolutely. We followed the steps to see if there was an arrest warrant for me, and there was nothing in their system. And so, we were only eight minutes away from the federal courthouse in downtown Minneapolis, which is where I would where my attorney thought that I would have to turn myself in. So, we followed all of the steps, but they treated this as if I was a fugitive on the run, that I had committed murder.
[19:30:02]
And they're doing all this, putting all these resources into tracking down one black woman when they will put resources into holding Jonathan Ross accountable, the ICE agent who killed Renee Good. Let's not forget that fact. He's still roaming around free.
There are federal agents protecting his home as we speak, but instead they tried to make me a target simply for speaking the truth and calling out the authoritarian behavior of the Trump administration and the brutality of ICE in the Twin Cities of Minnesota.
BURNETT: Nikema, in that video that they were filming of you, right? Because they obviously have said this is something they're now doing and we've seen them do it. Jonathan Ross himself was filming, during when he shot Renee Nicole Good.
You say in your video, I don't want to be a trophy for MAGA. We heard that in -- what we just played that you provided for us, but that video that that were looking at, it confirms what your attorney said. And by the way, what the DHS secretary posted, which is you looking very calm and stoic, okay, during your arrest.
She posted an image of you. You looked very serious and calm. But then the White House posted a digitally altered image, and it showed you looking bereft and crying and very broken up.
And, so that's the one on the right. I don't know if you can see it, but for viewers, the doctored A.I. generated fake image posted by the White House is on the right. On the left is the real image, which was posted by the DHS secretary.
So, Nekima, when did you find out that they did this? And what did you think when you first saw what the White House posted? Because you knew it to be a lie?
ARMSTRONG: Absolutely. So my husband was there and he was also recording. So that is the recording that you have, which was taken by my husband. And at the time when I questioned the FBI agent about why he -- why he was recording, he had a smirk on his face. Right?
He knew that this was a sham prosecution to begin with. I could tell by the look in his eyes, and I said, you can't, you know, later, I said, you can't even look at me with a straight face, you know, about this whole thing.
And so, when I asked him about recording, he said, oh, it's not going to go on Twitter or anything. I was just asked to record this video. And so I didn't find out until we were in federal custody. When my husband told me that it was like last night when they jailed us, because actually the judge, the magistrate that we appeared before after you know, being arrested, he actually ordered us to be released yesterday.
But the U.S. attorney who is prosecuting this case asked for a stay in the judge's decision so that he could contest it. And it was a bunch of B.S. as to why they should be able to detain us. And so that won our stay, wound up becoming a whole other day in federal custody because there were over 150 protesters who showed up at the federal courthouse peacefully, but they shut the federal courthouse down hours early.
And then quickly transported us in shackles to the Sherburne County jail, which is where we were held until, you know, a few hours ago when we were released. They didn't have to do all that. We had ankle chains around us, belly chains. We had handcuffs with the board in between. I mean, honestly, like they were transporting slaves during slavery and it was very intentional --
BURNETT: And board chain for the --
ARMSTRONG: And belly chains, ankle chains, belly chain and handcuffs with the board in between where you couldn't even move your wrist. And they put us in the back of a van. These are the U.S. marshals, and they did not even put us in seat belts, so we did not feel safe even being transported from the federal courthouse to the jail.
But none of it was necessary. Our lawyers tried to get back into the federal courthouse. They wouldn't even let them in. They closed hours early. So, all of this was intentional. To further punish us for speaking truth to power and standing up for vulnerable people being abused by ICE. BURNETT: Nekima, would -- they did just release a court affidavit. And
this this came a DHS agent testifying in here. So, I wanted to read for you what they've just put out. We've just gotten this.
It says that your church protests disrupted the religious service. And intimidated, harassed, oppressed, and terrorized the parishioners, including young children, and caused the service to be cut short. It goes on to describe a conversation that they said you had before the protests, where they said that you specifically said, Nekima, to others, remember, if you have anything that is activist identifying, do not wear it in. If you're just going in to sit down and be a part of the situation.
I wanted to give yoyo a chance to respond to this affidavit.
ARMSTRONG: I said, what I said, we went into the church service. Anyone who saw the video saw that we were very peaceful. And the description that they gave with regard to church goers, that to me sounds like what ICE is actually doing in our community -- terrorizing adults and children, making them fearful, you know, disrupting their lives.
[19:35:11]
That's what ICE is doing. That's not what we did, as we were in there trying to have a dialog, at least I did with the pastor initially. Once I said the name David Easterwood and asked, how could he be both a pastor and the director of ICE in Minnesota? The pastor is the one who said, "shame, shame" because he didn't want to have that discussion in front of the congregation.
He -- I believe he didn't want them to know that they have an ICE pastor as a part of the church, because of course, there's leadership that knows. And there are some of the congregants who did not know.
Now, as we were, you know, leading chants, there were protesters talking directly to parishioners and vice versa. There were also people who were worshiping during the service. There were people who were singing. There were people who were sitting in the pews praying.
So that is in stark contrast to the affidavit that you just read in terms of what actually took place in that church.
And as you and I just talked about, there are false reports, you know, that we talked about a couple of days ago where they're saying they stormed into the church. We went in there calmly, peacefully. We sat down as a part of the church until the pastor was done praying. And then I got up and started asking him questions. And so, it went from there.
So I stand behind our protest at the church. We did not intend to stop anyone from practicing their religion, nor did we, because there were individuals that continued practicing their religion. As we stood there. And like I said, there were parishioners that engaged the protesters in dialogue because they wanted to understand what our concerns were regarding David Easterwood. So, this case is political persecution. It is a sham prosecution. The
Department of Justice at this stage, unfortunately, has zero credibility because they have used that office to go after Donald Trump's political enemies and to stifle dissent and freedom of speech.
BURNETT: All right. Nekima, thank you very much. We appreciate your time.
ARMSTRONG: Thank you, Erin.
BURNETT: And next, we have the breaking news states across the country now declaring emergencies as the monster winter storm rolls in. The latest is next, and we'll take you on tour with a priest who has built a global following by taking his message to the DJ booth.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:40:12]
BURNETT: Breaking news, catastrophic. That's how weather officials are describing the enormous winter storm about to hit more than half the U.S. population. The storm stretching 2,000 miles from New Mexico to New England, temperatures plunging as I speak.
And this is the icy shoreline. It almost looks like another planet. But if you look, you'll see that Chicago and people are running out of time to prepare grocery store shelves. I mean, just wiped out honestly, is a bit Armageddon. Like anywhere you went.
People bracing for the cold and to potentially lose power.
Chris Warren is OUTFRONT in the CNN weather center.
So, Chris, you know, one of the things about this storm has been sort of the dynamic. It just keeps shifting. And, you know, you get a range of, well, you could get four inches of snow or you could get 24. I mean, what are we looking at right now?
CHRIS WARREN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, we're looking at the beginning of it. So, everything is going to be focused and fine-tuned and come into much more clarity here in the coming hours. And of course, the next couple of days as it unfolds. But right now, what we're seeing is that rain changing over to sleet, freezing rain, and now even snow in west Texas and Oklahoma. And it's going to add up in a big way.
So here is the track. This is really going to come in a couple of waves. So here's the first push takes us into tomorrow morning. Pink is ice. And this is the freezing rain that's accumulating on power lines and on trees leading to power outages. Snow is going to pile up big time. That's the first push.
Here comes the second one. Now this is Sunday morning and now they're starting to look more like one unified system as it gets going and it gets its act together throughout the Ohio Valley and into the Northeast. Sunday now into Sunday night, it's not going to be until Monday before it completely exits the east coast. And then the cold sets in.
Here are some of the numbers. Oklahoma City, more than a foot of snow. Ice, this is what is going to be dangerous in the sense that the ice will lead to power outages that can last for days and last for days in areas that will be well below freezing. With people without power and no heat.
And then the Northeast, where we're going to see also epic snowfall. Erin, any one of these elements, the extreme cold is a big deal on its own. The snow is a big deal on its own, and the ICE. That's what's potentially catastrophic in terms of damage and power outages.
BURNETT: Thank you very much, Chris. Pretty incredible to watch.
OUTFRONT now, the Democratic Governor Wes Moore of Maryland, which is forecast to get up to 16 inches of snow in some areas, obviously could be truly catastrophic for a state like Maryland, which is not used to this.
Governor Moore, you said at your press conference that you are preparing for the worst. What does that mean? What is your biggest concern tonight?
GOV. WES MOORE (D-MD): Well, our biggest concern, frankly, is that the people of the state of Maryland don't appreciate how serious this storm could actually be. You know, I'm thankful that as a state, we are actually really prepared for what's about to happen. You know, I put together a declaration as early as Wednesday in preparation for what was going to happen.
And then today, I declared a state of emergency. So, our crews and our emergency management teams have been preparing now for days, making sure we're working with local jurisdictions, make sure were preparing the roads.
The thing that we ask now for the people of Maryland is please stay off of the roads. Whatever plans you might have had for Sunday and even Monday, we're asking that you would adjust those plans, stay off the roads, make sure you're checking on your neighbors, making sure that you have everything that you need inside of your home. And if you have to go on the road, if there's an emergency, please make sure you have food, make sure you have water, and make sure you have blankets inside the vehicle with you as well, because this storm will be serious.
BURNETT: Yeah, I mean the size obviously is stunning and as you've said, needs to be taken very, very seriously. The long grocery lines are something that really stands out across the country. You know, in areas where they may be necessary in areas where they're not in your state, long lines. And we're showing some of them now. Springdale you know, in so many places across the state.
You mentioned staying off the roads Sunday and Monday. I mean, how long should people be prepared to stay indoors?
MOORE: I mean, people should be prepared to, to be off the road for at least a few days. And the reason is because and what makes this storm so complicated is that it's not just the volume of snow, it's that you're also going to see temperatures drop precipitously as the snow actually comes as well. And so, it's not just the snow, it's the ice and everything else that will also follow.
There's nothing that I would love more than to have a 50-degree day. You know, the day after the storm, because everything would melt and it would just go away.
[19:45:03]
The problem is, we're going to be looking at temperatures as low as a single digits and teens. And so, this could be around for a little while. So, we want to make sure that people are prepared for that.
BURNETT: You know, Governor, I was speaking to your fellow governor, Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey, last night. Obviously, she was just sworn in this week. She was talking about the DOJ, the president, you know, investigating spending only in blue states that happen to vote for Kamala Harris.
And I asked her in that context whether she agrees with the with the approach that some Democrats have taken -- Governor Whitmer, Mayor Zohran Mamdani of New York, that they've taken with president Trump, that is to work with him in the case of Mamdani, to spend time with him, to text with him, to try to try to cultivate a relationship.
Here is what Governor Sherrill said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. MIKIE SHERRILL (D), NEW JERSEY: I don't see what the point of that is when every deal you make with him, he walks back. He is not somebody that you can work with.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: How do you see it, Governor?
MOORE: Yeah, I remember when the president was first inaugurated that I spoke directly to the people of my state, and I said, I will work with anyone. I will just bow down to no one.
And, you know, we have seen how there's been no state that's been hit harder or hit more directly by the impacts of the Trump/Vance administration than the state of Maryland. We have had over 25,000 Marylanders who are federal workers fired. That is more than any other state in this entire country. We have seen how Maryland has not received a single dollar of federal disaster relief.
And that is despite the fact that even just months ago, western Maryland and an area that actually voted for Donald Trump had historic flooding, and we were denied by DHS and denied by FEMA, and with simply the wording saying support for Maryland is not warranted, that we are watching constitutional violations that are taking place with ICE members in our neighborhoods and in our communities. And so -- so while I will work with anyone and we are working with
members of the administration on things like transportation projects, things like the American Legion Bridge, and we're eager to continue that work together. But I am very clear to the people of my state, I will bow down to no one. And that is what the people of my state know and expect for me as the chief executive.
BURNETT: Governor Moore, thank you very much. I appreciate your time tonight.
MOORE: I appreciate yours. Please stay safe.
BURNETT: And OUTFRONT next, we're going to go on tour with a Catholic priest who's breaking out his turntables to spread the word of God.
Plus, why is Harry wearing that coat? And what does it have to do with this? Harry, it's not that cold out here, but -- well, now, this is how we're making money here now. We're doing -- we're doing coat advertising? Is it going to be like a special Burberry or something like that?
Harry here to tell us something we don't know as he models his outdoor gear.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:50:13]
BURNETT: Breaking news, the official estimates for the monster storm that's already begun this hour are very wide-ranging.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR ZOHRAN MAMDANI (D), NEW YORK CITY: It could be as little as three inches of snow. It said it could be as much as 16 inches.
GOV. NED LAMONT (D), CONNECTICUT: Twelve, eighteen inches of snow.
GARRETT EUCALITTO, COMMISSIONER, CONNECTICUT DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION: Four inches to 10 inches.
GOV. KATHY HOCHUL (D), NEW YORK: Up to 18 inches.
MAYOR MURIEL BOWSER (D), WASHINGTON, D.C.: At least nine inches of snow.
ANTHONY CRISPINO, DIRECTOR, DC DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS: We're in the neighborhood of six to 12 inches.
STEPHEN BRICH, COMMISSIONER, VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION: Eighteen to twenty-three inches.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Which brings us to Harry Enten first appearance on OUTFRONT. You know, it was nearly 11 years ago to the day he was working at
FiveThirtyEight, the infamous data website at the time. But Harry has always -- I was outside, too. I was in Boston. Oh, I remember that. That was cold, I was pregnant, I remember --
HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: I was not.
BURNETT: All right. Sorry. Okay. So, you wrote how meteorologists blotch the blizzard of 2015. They forecast a two feet of snow. It was nowhere near that much.
It was pretty bad in Boston, though. I'm not going to lie. Maybe where you were in Central Park. Here's Harry.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: So, the chances of actually getting something completely right that's this big are actually pretty hard, right?
ENTEN: Yeah, that's exactly right. Look, the fact of the matter is, I can tell you right now with the weather is anyone can tell you that. But to be able to forecast the weather going into the future, you need to be able to measure all the different levels of the atmosphere. And then what you need to be able to do is calculate what that's telling you.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Harry Enten is OUTFRONT to tell us something we don't know. I think a lot of people didn't know about your weather expertise, but you love the weather and you still love weather.
ENTEN: I went to weather camp.
BURNETT: Oh my God.
ENTEN: Sick with me, Erin.
BURNETT: Oh, Susie just said in the same jacket.
ENTEN: That I was going to tell you. It's the exact same jacket. And of course, our leader, Mark Thompson, was very surprised that I had the exact same jacket. But I hold on to my jackets near and dear to my heart.
BURNETT: All right. So when Mamdani says New York could get three to 16 inches of snow, I mean, is that a broken clock is right twice a day? Kind of a statement. I mean --
ENTEN: I mean, it's a wide range. But look, snow forecasts are hard. You know, that first appearance I had was back in January of 2015. Right? And what was the forecast then? It was up to 30 inches of snow in New York City. The actual amount was just 9.8 inches.
That's not the only bust in terms of flops in New York City. How about back in March of 2001? The forecast back then was for up to 24 inches of snow, and what ended up actually happening? We had only 3.5 inches of snow.
So, forecasting snow is very, very difficult. A wide range, perhaps worthy sometimes.
BURNETT: Okay. But the thing about it is, is people love snow. In fact, the approval rating of snow is such that Trump would love it.
ENTEN: Yes, yes. So I had a pastrami sandwich with me here, and I am going to take a little bit of a bite if I can get my arms around it. Here we go.
And the reason why I have a pastrami sandwich is look at the net favorability rating of snow. It's plus 25 points. What are some other things that have plus 25 points? The NFL, which of course the big -- we have the big championship games this weekend, as well as a pastrami sandwich, which of course as a Jewish New Yorker such as myself on the Shabbos, I have to have a pastrami sandwich.
BURNETT: I said. I said, it's not even from Katz's deli, because you can't even get that anymore. By the way, it's incredible that you're able to talk with your mouth full like that.
Okay, quickly tell me something I don't know. Youve already told me a lot. Something else I don't know.
ENTEN: I'll tell you something else you don't know, Erin Burnett. Google searches for exploding trees up 20,000 percent this week versus last week. That's essentially it's so cold out there that the sap and the water gets stuck and you get crackling in the tree.
I can't believe I got through that with not choking.
BURNETT: Oh, dear God. All right. Thank you very much, Harry.
And guess what? The show is not over.
ENTEN: It's not.
BURNETT: Next, a priest moonlighting as a DJ because it's a Friday night.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:56:23]
BURNETT: And David Culver now on the DJ priest who is taking the world by storm.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: All right, it's show time.
CULVER (voice-over): This is Padre Gilherme Peixoto on tour, and we're with him.
CULVER: There's a nun in the front row, which I've never seen at a concert, let alone an electronic music concert.
Has it been a good experience?
PAULA AND CATALINA GALAZ, CONCERTGOERS: Yeah. Amazing.
CULVER: Yeah?
PAULA AND CATALINA GALAZ, CONCERTGOERS: You have a --
CULVER: It's your mini. Jesus. Yes
(SPEAKING SPANISH)
CULVER: It's like a superstar. Well, he is a superstar. You see, the crowd.
CULVER (voice-over): On to the next stop of the tour.
(SPEAKING SPANISH)
CULVER: I'm looking at the clock because you're about two hours to showtime.
CULVER (voice-over): We find a quiet place backstage to get to know more about this DJ priest.
GUILHERME PEIXOTO, DJ PRIEST: Since I was born, I always wanted to be a priest.
CULVER: Really?
PEIXOTO: But since the first moment that I remember, I wanted to be a priest, priest or astronaut.
CULVER: Priest or astronaut.
CULVER (voice-over): He went with the path that kept him closer to earth with a hobby that, at 51 years old, still allows him to soar, even if just for a couple of hours.
PEIXOTO: Nineteen, 20 years old, I started going to some clubs, listened to the music. This is nice, and I like the electronic music.
CULVER (voice-over): Father Guilherme says he began to use his passion to help lift his parish church out of debt by putting on small community music festivals.
PEIXOTO: And this was in 2006 that everything started.
CULVER (voice-over): YouTube is how you learned how to DJ.
PEIXOTO: Yes, on the beginning.
CULVER (voice-over): In his 40s, he started taking DJ classes. The gigs got bigger and bigger along with his following. Even getting the attention of the Vatican. As we're talking, the crowds already packed for the opener and eager for the headliner.
This is the time that he also says he starts to feel the crowd. He begins to feel the energy and this is a moment that then it kicks in, he says. Like nothing else, incredible.
CULVER: There's a moment every few songs where you hear a video message. This one from Pope Francis. And if you watch some of the faces in the crowd, they're just taking it in. And that's exactly the moment that Padre Guilherme says he looks for throughout his performances.
PEIXOTO: I never imagined that was possible. Mixed the church with electronic music.
No one can look to this like a solution for the problems, but it's important that you can use I think our talents to make Jesus be present on the society.
POPE LEO XIV, CATHOLIC CHURCH: May the blessing of Almighty God, the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit come upon you and remain with you always. Amen.
PEIXOTO: Amen.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
BURNETT: Thanks so much to David Culver for that great piece, and thanks so much to all of you.
"AC360" starts now.
