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Outrage in Minneapolis After a Man was Killed By Federal Agent; Massive U.S. Winter Storm Brings Ice, Snow and Bitter Cold to Parts of the U.S.; Private Jet with 8 People on Board Crashes in Maine. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired January 26, 2026 - 05:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[05:00:00]

AUDIE CORNISH, ANCHOR, EARLY START: Good morning and welcome to our viewers joining us from the U.S. and all around the world, I'm Audie Cornish, and it is Monday, January 26th, it's 5:00 a.m. here in Washington D.C., and we are following two major stories this hour.

Large parts of the U.S. are being pummeled by a Winter storm. But we begin in Minnesota where public outrage in the state is growing after federal immigration agents shot and killed Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old ICU nurse. Protesters are denouncing the way the Trump administration is calling Pretti, a quote, "domestic terrorist", and calling the border patrol agents victims.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GREGORY BOVINO, U.S. BORDER PATROL COMMANDER-AT-LARGE: The victim -- the victims are the border patrol agents. I'm not blaming the border patrol agents. The victims are the border patrol agents. The suspect put himself in that situation. The victims are the border patrol agents there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Now, CNN has analyzed multiple videos of Alex Pretti's shooting. At no point is he seen wielding a weapon. And in one of those videos, a federal agent is believed to have removed Pretti's weapon before agents fired at him.

This next video shows one angle of the deadly encounter, and I just want to warn viewers here, it is graphic and many will find it disturbing. It shows Pretti in a baseball hat, he's moving between an agent and a woman that federal officers had just shoved into the ground.

Pretti is sprayed with a chemical irritant and dragged down. Officers later fire multiple times. Minnesota's governor says Pretti's death and the federal government's response is a critical point in U.S. history.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN): This is an inflection point, America. If we

cannot all agree that the smearing of an American citizen and besmirching everything they stood for and asking us not to believe what we saw, I don't know what else to tell you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: CNN's Shimon Prokupecz shows us how Minnesotans are paying tribute to Alex Pretti.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN CRIME & JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (on camera): People continue to gather here through the night despite the really frigid temperatures. A lot of candles being lit and flowers, people leaving notes in remembrance of Alex Pretti.

Many of the people who have been coming here to this makeshift memorial, this is the site where it all happened. This is where he was killed. And the community members have been gathering here because they want to have some unity. They want to get together and talk about what happened and how unhappy obviously they are about what's been happening here.

The fear that they face. Of course, there's a lot of questions that are still -- remain and need to be answered by federal officials as to exactly what happened here. You have a local law enforcement, which is completely unhappy with federal authorities. The police chief here in Minneapolis speaking out, saying that some of what they're doing, their tactics, some of the other things that they're doing are unconstitutional.

And many of the people here are just tired and they want to see this come to an end. And in the days ahead, there's going to be legal battles and other certainly political battles. Everyone here right now is saying that the federal authorities need to go and things truly just need to de-escalate and calm down.

People here just want to move on and get going with their lives and get back to the way things were. Shimon Prokupecz, CNN, Minneapolis.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CORNISH: I want to bring in now CNN contributor Lulu Garcia-Navarro. She's a "New York Times" journalist, host of "The Interview" podcast. Lulu, thanks so much for being with me.

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Good morning.

CORNISH: So, all weekend, we heard administration officials trying to defend what happened. And there is a question here about comments from Greg Bovino. He, of course, is head of this and many other operations. And he actually ended up defending federal agents who shot and killed Pretti.

But more importantly, he suggested that Pretti's presence had justified the agents' response. Can you talk about the messaging you heard from him and others?

[05:05:00]

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Yes, I saw that interview with Dana Bash and it was pretty remarkable. And it has been consistent with what we've seen from the administration from the very beginning, which is to not wait for the facts to become apparent. Not talk about an investigation, but immediately jump to trying to own the "narrative", quote, unquote.

And this is something that is very important to this administration writ-large. They want to be able to put out a message specifically not only for the American people, but for their supporters, so that they can argue the case. And it's just what we've seen over and over again.

The facts on the ground, and at this point, the multiple videos have been analyzed by CNN, by the "New York Times", by the "Wall Street Journal", by the "Washington Post", and many others. And it has all been pretty consistent, which is that this gentleman was there. He was filming.

Yes, he was armed, but he did not seem to have taken out his pistol at any point. And when he was shot, he had already been disarmed by the authorities. And so, calling him a domestic terrorist, which they've done, saying that he was the one who put himself in harm's way, really flies in the face of everything that we've seen, Audie, in the past about how these things are usually handled.

And what I would say here is, where is the accountability and where is the transparency? Those are two words that we're just not seeing from the administration.

CORNISH: The other focus is on the democratic leadership of the state of Governor Walz, of the Minneapolis mayor, essentially, for saying by not cooperating with law enforcement, you have created a situation in which it's just clash after clash. Can you talk about how and whether that's resonating?

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I definitely think that, that is an argument that we're seeing very much taking root on the right. But the bigger question that is hanging over all of this is where is the off-ramp? Where does this all go? If you have states asserting their rights and the federal government imposing their view of things, and also federal forces on the ground that are antagonizing the local population.

You know, we have seen these flashpoints end up in deadly violence at this point. So, at -- the two sides are not talking to one another, literally not talking to one another, not cooperating with one another.

The federal government is saying that the state government is not cooperating with them, but at the same time, we've seen federal forces after the killing of Alex Pretti not allow local police to secure the crime scene, which they would have done at any other point in time.

So, these two sides are not working together, which is unprecedented in the history of America, only very few times have we seen something like this. And so, where does this go from here? And I think that is what has everyone on edge, not just the people in Minnesota, but all over this country, because you know, over the weekend, most of my conversations were about how does this end?

Does it just keep escalating and escalating and escalating to the point where we're going to have state forces and federal forces battling each other on the streets of Minnesota? I mean, at this point, that is the worry.

CORNISH: And we should say today, there's going to be some legal wrangling about that investigation and maintaining that evidence. So, there's a lot more to come today. Lulu, thanks for being with us.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: You're welcome.

CORNISH: So, in the meantime, you've got snow falling across parts of New England as this Winter storm pushes off the U.S. east coast. This massive system dropped ice and snow from the Southern Rockies to the northeast, even in the south. Weather forecasters say more than a dozen states have seen snow pile up a foot or higher.

In New York, Central Park picked up more than 11 inches of snow that helped shatter a previous record of 100 -- from 121 years ago. Now, across the south, ice is coating trees and power lines. The ice build- up in some cases is actually causing some trees to fall over, and of course, then on to power lines.

The conditions are also making travel difficult on the roads and in the air. Sunday marked the worst day for flight cancellations since the pandemic. You've got brutal cold now pushing in with more than 800,000 customers still without power. At least, 11 people have died as temperatures drop to their coldest so far this Winter. CNN's Derek Van Dam has been tracking the storm, and he has more from Louisville.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DEREK VAN DAM, METEOROLOGIST (on camera): Well, the wintry precipitation has largely come to an end across the state of Kentucky, including here, where I'm located in Louisville. But of course, this massive Winter storm has left its mark. You can see the snow covered roads here. These businesses were closed on account of the weather.

[05:10:00]

Now, the real agony sets in because the mercury in the thermometer is going to drop like a rock behind this cold front that is responsible for the precipitation. That's still going to be ongoing overnight across parts of the northeast, including New England, Boston could easily see a foot to a foot and a half of snow.

But the point being is that this precipitation that it left in its wake is going to be encased in very cold temperatures. In fact, over 50 percent of the U.S. population will experience wind-chill values below zero in the next couple of days. Let that sink in. We're feeling it here. You can see the breath coming out of my mouth. It is absolutely frigid. So, when we talk about people who lost power,

they're going to not have the ability perhaps to warm their homes. So, you need to look after elderly. You need to look after the vulnerable, especially in this -- in this situation, because it is brutally cold but also dangerously cold as well.

There's something called a flash freeze that we're also concerned about. This is when we get a brief spike in the temperatures. There was a period when we had that snow transition to freezing rain, then rain in some parts of the southeast. Well, then, the cold front swept through, and these cold Arctic air temperatures are dropping behind it.

And that freezes that precipitation that's left over on the ground almost instantaneously. So, that can create black ice, that can create very treacherous travel conditions, and that is really what we're concerned about.

So, as the cold front moves through, the winds pick up, the freezing precipitation or freezing rain that's encased on power lines and trees could still come down because of the added weight, but also the stress from the wind that is setting in behind it.

And with no relief in the temperatures, we're not going to get that thawing that we so desperately need to get out of this cold Winter cycle that we are in. So, really an impactful, very dynamic Winter storm. We are ready to say goodbye and good riddance to this, but we still have another couple of days to go over the eastern half of the U.S. Back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CORNISH: OK, we're also following a developing story out of Maine, where federal investigators are looking into what caused a private jet carrying eight people to crash right after takeoff on Sunday night. Now, this came amid the major Winter storm. That, of course, is thrashing the region.

A source tells CNN that the extent of injuries to those on board is not known at this time. Records show the plane is registered to a business in Houston. Minutes before the crash, controllers and pilots can be heard talking about the low visibility and de-icing. It's not immediately clear who is talking to whom.

And our breaking news coverage of the aftermath of the latest fatal shooting in Minneapolis continues. Still ahead, the White House doubles down on its immigration policies in the face of growing bipartisan calls for an investigation into Alex Pretti shooting. And a flood of images from the Minneapolis shooting tell one story.

But the Trump administration is painting a very different picture of what happened. We're going to go frame-by-frame to analyze video of Alex Pretti's killing.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:15:00]

CORNISH: President Trump blaming Democrats in the aftermath of the deadly shooting of Alex Pretti by a federal officer. Trump posted on Truth Social, "Democrats are putting illegal alien criminals over taxpaying law abiding citizens, and they've created a dangerous circumstances for everyone involved.

Tragically, two American citizens have lost their lives as a result of this Democrat-ensued chaos." However, in an interview with the "Wall Street Journal", President Trump declined to say if he supported the federal agents involved in Pretti's shooting. Meanwhile, the Homeland Security Secretary is coming to their defense.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTI NOEM, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY, UNITED STATES: He came to that scene and impeded a law enforcement operation, which is against federal law. It's a felony. When he did that, interacting with those agents, when they tried to get him to disengage, he became aggressive and resisted them throughout that process.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: Calls for an inquiry into Alex Pretti shooting now crossing party lines. A growing group of GOP lawmakers are calling for an investigation. They say the credibility of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Homeland Security Department is at stake.

Meanwhile, Senate Democrats are saying they will block a government spending bill if the DHS Funding Bill is included. And so, these moves increase the chance of a partial government shutdown later this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRIS MURPHY (D-CT): This is a nationwide campaign of lawlessness. I swore an oath to the constitution, so, did every single United States senator. We cannot fund a Department of Homeland Security that is murdering American citizens.

SEN. ALEX PADILLA (D-CA): To think that on top of tripling their budget, Republicans want to give them even more to continue this chaos, to continue this craziness, to continue this lawlessness.

SEN. AMY KLOBUCHAR (D-MN): I am not voting for this funding. And what could we do to overhaul them? Oh, let me start. New leadership stopping these surges across the country, not just in my state. Training them like they were supposed to be trained, not just 47 days.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CORNISH: And the videos taken by residents Saturday as Pretti was shot, they paint a very different picture of what happened than the explanation given by the Department of Homeland Security. CNN's Gianna Toboni walks us through the events that unfolded frame-by-frame.

[05:20:00] (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

GIANNA TOBONI, CNN REPORTER (voice-over): Federal immigration officers fatally shot a man Saturday in Minneapolis. He was an ICU nurse who worked at a local Veterans Affairs hospital. Another controversial killing by U.S. Immigration agents and the second U.S. citizen killed this month.

CNN analyzed cell phone footage from multiple angles. Taken together, they appear at odds with the Department of Homeland Security's initial claims about the lead-up to officers firing on Alex Pretti. Around 9:00 a.m. Central, video captures two people approaching a federal immigration officer in front of an unidentified vehicle.

The sound of whistles is blaring in the background. Alex Pretti enters the frame here, he's filming an officer interacting with protesters and waving a car through. Fifteen seconds later, Pretti yells --

ALEX PRETTI, DECEASED: Hey, do not push them into the traffic!

TOBONI: In their statement, DHS said that an individual approached officers with, quote, "a nine millimeter semi-automatic handgun." This video seems to show officers approaching Pretti instead of the other way around. We'll see later that Pretti does appear to have had a gun in his waistband, but this video shows he didn't have a gun in his hand, only a phone.

Video from this white car shows an up-close angle of a federal immigration officer pushing one protester, then three seconds later, he pushes Pretti. And then, as the camera comes into focus, you see the same federal officer push a third protester with the orange backpack.

Pretti raises his hand and turns away just as the officer sprays him with a chemical irritant. You see Pretti and the other protester trying to help the person with the orange backpack. You can see here an officer pulling Pretti off of this person. Three more officers join and then two more.

Pretti is on the ground under them. One officer in a tan beanie can be seen repeatedly striking Pretti's head with a metal can. You can see an officer in a gray jacket walk into the frame. There isn't a gun in his hand. Seconds later, officers shout, the officer removes a gun from Pretti's belt.

The officer steps away from the scene, carrying a firearm seen here in his right hand. Then gunfire.

(GUNFIRE)

(FEMALE SCREAMING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What the fuck did you just do?!

TOBONI: At least ten shots rang out. We looked back at the scene from different angles and slowed down the footage. This officer wearing a black beanie, can be seen drawing his firearm and pointing it in Pretti's direction. We can't see his gun when the first shot is fired, but we can see that this officer fired the second shot.

In this angle, you see a second officer also had his gun drawn, and here he's pointing his weapon at Pretti as we hear gunshots, though it isn't clear if he's the one firing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What the -- did they -- kill that guy?

TOBONI: Pretti collapses onto the ground as the officers scatter backwards from around him. The same agent in the black beanie from earlier can be seen firing five final shots as Pretti lies there motionless. Nobody approached his body for 24 seconds.

When officers do return to Pretti, they appear to begin searching his body. Video shows that about a minute after Pretti collapsed, immigration officers asked for medical support. When CNN asked DHS about the officer removing the gun before the shooting, DHS repeated their earlier statement, quote, "officers attempted to disarm the suspect, but the armed suspect violently resisted."

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CORNISH: Joining me now is senior law enforcement analyst Charles Ramsey. Thanks so much for being here. In the past, when you and I may have had this discussion with a police-involved shooting, we might just have at best, dash cam body video with this -- is video from every angle from people on the street.

What are you -- when you look at some of these videos, what stands out to you?

CHARLES RAMSEY, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Well, I mean, the video is inconsistent with the statements made by Secretary Noem and also Commander Bovino. This is not a situation where this individual assaulted an officer. It's just the other way around.

I mean, the officer was very aggressive toward the one woman with the orange backpack, pushed her to the ground. Mr. Pretti is trying to actually go to her aid, and, then he's grabbed as well. They had no idea he had a firearm until he was on the ground, they were struggling, and someone probably felt the gun and yelled gun.

[05:25:00]

And then you see an individual with a grey jacket and agent, go in, reach, pull the gun away. And as he's walking back, that's when the first shots are fired. And so, he was disarmed at the time, but the mere fact that he was armed -- I mean, he -- first of all, he had a legal permit to carry a concealed weapon.

But even if he didn't, the mere fact that you have a gun does not give an officer the authority to just shoot an individual. You can't do it. It's what is that person doing --

CORNISH: Yes -- RAMSEY: With the gun? It's what's important, and there's no

indication he was doing anything.

CORNISH: I want to follow up on this idea because over and over again, the administration is trying to claim that these officers felt threatened in the situation and by Pretti. And one of the things that sticks out to me are those shots that happened after the sort of shots that continue, even as people have pulled away. Did that to you stick out at all?

RAMSEY: Sure. It stuck out. You know, I've reviewed hundreds of officer-involved shootings. I mean I served as a police chief for 17 years between D.C. and Philadelphia. So, I've looked at a lot of videotape. I've interviewed a lot of people regarding these things.

You have to account for every single shot. The first shot, not in this case, but in any case, could be justified. But that doesn't mean nine(ph) that follow are justified because the threat has been neutralized. It's no longer a threat. In this case, the threat was never really there.

And so, it's just not a good shooting. And rather than call it as they see it, which a leader should do, they're trying to justify something that's not justifiable. I mean, this is just not a good shooting period.

CORNISH: Last thing I want to ask you about. I've heard from police chiefs in Maine and then also in Minnesota about the fact that they are seeing even some of their own officers detained by ICE under one situation or another, and they're upset. Can you talk about the animosity that is even growing as a result of ICE tactics among local police departments?

RAMSEY: Well, I mean, police officers see what's going on. And remember, it was the federal government that put many cities under consent decrees, federal consent decrees for racial profiling, for use of force, for all these things, and rightfully so. I'm not arguing that it should not have happened.

But the Feds are law enforcement, too. They have to adhere to the same rules. Everyone needs to police in a constitutional way. They need to use sound tactics. There's no exception just because you're a federal agent. And they're profiling, and that's why you see police officers, particularly officers of color, being pulled over. Why?

Because the courts said that they could just pull somebody over because of the way they look. I mean, that's just not right, period. And that's why you're starting to see that animosity build up. And it's not going to get any better, not with the leadership they currently have in place over DHS and border patrol. They're making it worse.

CORNISH: That's Charles Ramsey, thank you so much for being with us.

RAMSEY: It's quite all right. CORNISH: OK, turning to the weather now, because more than 800,000

without power as temperatures plummet. I'm going to speak with an AccuWeather reporter for the latest on the Winter storms impact and what it's going to cost to recover.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)