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Walz Met With Border Czar Tom Homan This Morning; Vance Attacks Protesters And Dem Politicians After Pretti Shooting; NTSB Issues Findings In Last Year's Deadly D.C. Air Crash. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired January 27, 2026 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR, THE SITUATION ROOM: And of course, we will see back here tomorrow morning and every weekday morning at 10 eastern. Inside Politics with our friend and colleague, Dana Bash, starts right now.

DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: A rare retreat from the White House and a grudging admission that what's happening in Minneapolis isn't working.

I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

Orders are Tom Homan is in Minnesota, where we are expecting him to meet in person today with Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. And I just got a statement from the governor of Minnesota Tim Walz, and his office says that he is already -- the governor's already met with Tom Homan about what is happening in Minneapolis.

We'll talk more about that in a second, but it is all part of a big personnel and possible policy change after a second Minneapolis resident was shot and killed by federal agents. Border patrol commander Greg Bovino is going back to Texas, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem appears to be taking a step back on all things Minneapolis for now.

I'm joined by a terrific group of reporters here at the table, including our senior White House correspondent Kristen Holmes. Kristen, what are you hearing? The latest information is from inside the White House. What's the president thinking?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, the White House is clearly looking for an off ramp here. Things got incredibly heated. President Trump has complained over and over again that he is frustrated that the message on immigration is what it is, that there is all this focus on the shootings and not what he wants it to be focused on, which is the immigration, but of course, they're still blaming these Democrats.

Now when it comes to Secretary Kristi Noem, we know she met with President Trump for two hours yesterday, after this announcement that border czar Tom Homan would be going in. There is friction between Homan and Noem. There has been for months. There has been blame, negative stories on either side, and they have different approaches. And it does appear as though Homan is going to be, not only taking the lead, but working with various lawmakers.

And I will tell you, I talked to a number of Republicans on Capitol Hill yesterday who -- the second this announcement was made, felt a feeling of relief that they were bringing in the grown up in the room, somebody who had law enforcement experience, and Homan is by no means, you know, a moderate on immigration.

He's incredibly hardline, but he's not as hard lined as Stephen Miller, for example. His approach is slower. He wants to go through methodically. He doesn't like these giant sweeps. So, this has given a lot of relief to a number of Republicans who watched what happened in horror over the weekend.

BASH: I just want to read a little bit more, because I literally just got this from Governor Walz's office as we were coming on the air. And what the statement says is that Governor Walz and Tom Homan met this morning. The governor reiterated Minnesota's priorities. Wants an impartial investigation into the shootings.

The Governor Homan agreed on the need for an ongoing dialog and will continue working towards these goals, which the president also agreed to, and the governor tasked the Minnesota Department of Public Safety as the primary liaison to Homan to ensure these goals are met. I mean, there's a lot here. Go ahead.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: The final sentence that you read, I think, is the most interesting and important, because he's not saying we're not going to meet or work with the feds. He's saying that the Department of Public Safety will work with Homan to ensure these goals are met. So, now this looks like that there is a communication and potentially a cooperation.

Now this hasn't -- this doesn't mean that the views of the governor and likely the mayor have changed on this, but it does seem that adults are sort of in the room and controlling this. And to your point, I was told the White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles was very, sort of integral. She was fielding so many calls over the weekend, and just instinctively knew that something had to change here.

This was a crisis inside the White House, political crisis, of course. So, we will see if the policy actually changes. But it's a remarkable turnaround in just a 24 hours, certainly 36 hours. But I think the governor there also realizes that he needs to also show that he is willing to work with the feds here. So, the temperature has come down. We'll see if anything actually changes on the ground.

BASH: And I just want to go back to the Kristi Noem two-hour meeting yesterday reporting, because our understanding is that she and Corey Lewandowski, one of her top aides, requested the meeting. He obviously speaks Trump as his first campaign manager, understanding the moment, we got to get her in front of the president.

HOLMES: Yeah. And I think there are a couple things going on. One, again, there is friction between Homan and Noem. Everybody knows that the DHS has kind of been divided into these factions when it comes to the border, and it hasn't really been a secret among the rank and file.

[12:05:00]

And so, this announcement that Homan is going to be in charge, coming at the same time that we know President Trump was frustrated over the weekend. He didn't like the coverage and the fact that the White House came out in a press briefing and said, essentially didn't defend the comments of calling Alex Pretti a domestic terrorist.

In fact, went further and said that the president has never used that language. Remember, Kristi Noem doesn't do anything completely in a vacuum. She had been in touch with the White House all day on Saturday. So, she did need to get in front of President Trump to see what this meant for her and her future. Of course, now they're saying she's going to focus on other domestic policies, not so much ICE.

BASH: And I want to get to you for the sort of big picture here. But first, Ben, it's so great to have you here. I know you, among the many things you wrote, including something we'll talk about later in the show, have written. You wrote a cover story for your magazine about Kristi Noem.

BEN TERRIS, REPORTER, NEW YORK MAGAZINE: Yeah. And you know, even back then, Noem was sort of on thin ICE, right? There was -- this is over the fall of last year, when the story came out in New York Magazine. And she had a meeting with Trump right as that story was coming out, too, in which she had to kind of talk about her job and whether, you know, she was the right person for it.

There are people that I talked to in the White House who said that they were thinking about maybe even making her an ambassador at that time, you know, like there's always rumors that she may be pushed out. And the thing about her that she keeps her job often because she's good on TV, and now that she's not good on TV in this moment, it's sort of an even more precarious moment for her.

BASH: I think that's so interesting. I want to read you something that our friend and colleague Steven Collinson wrote this morning. Even President Donald Trump's push for total unchecked power may struggle to overcome the potent combination of a political reality and a moral outrage. And he's writing under the headline twice within a week, Trump is forced to tone down big second term power grabs. And the other one, of course, talking about what happened just last week when he pulled back from the brink on Greenland.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR & CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: Two things I think are notable right now and ties into this. One, the statement that you were reading from the governor's office. Your question yesterday on this show as this was breaking -- the president put out the Truth Social that at least signaled the temperature was going to start coming down. Start coming down, or a tangible effort on his side.

Your question was rhetorically this is where they are. Will they back it with policy inaction? That's a demonstration in the Walz's statement. And what we've seen in the 24 hours since you asked that very, very salient question. That yes, it's being backed up by action and policy shifts as well. How long -- how the durability of that? What those will actually look like in the end?

I think it's still an open question, but it is very clear this is not just a words only walk back. This is a recognition. And I think that underscores the point that Collinson was getting at in his great piece, which is when Susie Wiles, as Jeff is reporting, is fielding a bunch of calls, not just from random people out in kind of the ether, but from really critical players within the coalition who matter a lot, who don't break with the president, who are making very clear what they're hearing from constituents, what they're hearing from business leaders, what they're hearing on the ground.

They're reactive to that. The president is reactive to that when it comes to him from the right people. And I think understanding very quickly, not just how the message from some of his officials wasn't resonating on air, but just how dramatically off base and egregious it was at the time, has led to this point, and it is a recognition that there are things that can stand in his way.

There are executive authorities that perhaps he can't push further than he has up to this point when, not just public perception isn't with him, but probably more importantly, when his allies on Capitol Hill, in the business community and the donor class are not with him either.

BASH: Going back to what Governor Walz said in the statement about his meeting this morning with Tom Homan. And your observation that Governor Walz is obviously and understandably also trying to take the temperature down. Here's another example of that. Here's Governor Walz on Minnesota Public Radio.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN): And the atrocities we're seeing. And I -- look, I think Donald Trump understands it too. That horrific scene that played out on Saturday morning, you could tell there was no professionalism to that. As governor, you don't know what all your agencies are doing. You trust people telling you. I don't think President Trump knew that we honored detainers from folks leaving prison. I truly don't believe, and I think once he heard that from me, he's like, well, that's helpful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: It's really interesting.

ZELENY: So interesting. And look, Governor Walz, of course, has been in the headlines a lot recently, but also a former member of Congress. I mean, he has some depth here. I thought he was talking about there. And I think it raises a question that should be asked more in Washington, the training of these officers, the money that is going to ICE. Is it really necessary? Is all of this sort of new surge of money necessary? Has the training been adequate? Obviously not, is what the governor was saying. But I think that speaks to the entirety of what Phil was talking about, the optics versus policy. We're seeing an optics change, no doubt. How deep of a policy change will there be, if at all? Interestingly, that Stephen Miller was not at the White House meeting last evening. Of course, he is still very much in the mix, but will he be by November.

[12:10:00]

Is this being viewed as a liability, or will he sort of be assigned to other things? I mean, there are many Republicans who support the president's agenda who wish he would have declared victory on closing the border and moved on.

BASH: Yeah.

ZELENY: Politically speaking, here, immigration was a strong suit. Now it is absolutely anything, but.

BASH: I mean, if that happened, that would be something, because we've all known Stephen Miller since he was a deputy press secretary to then Senator Jeff Sessions.

(CROSSTALK)

BASH: But on immigration, he has been a zealot. We have to take a break, a zealot, and now he is in a position of power. So, we'll see if that actually happens. Don't go anywhere. Up next, we have brand new reporting on Alex Pretti, this 37-year-old shot and killed by border patrol on Saturday. What we're learning about a previous encounter with federal agents.

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[12:15:00]

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BASH: CNN is learning that Alex Pretti had a physical encounter with federal agents about a week before he was shot and killed by law enforcement. Sources tell CNN that Pretti broke a rib when a group of federal officers tackled him while he was protesting.

Priscilla Alvarez is breaking that story for us. What else are you hearing, Priscilla?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Dana, we're learning more details, along with my colleague Jeff Winter about what exactly transpired a week before Alex Pretti was shot in Minneapolis and died this past weekend. Now, in this earlier incident, he stopped his car after observing ICE agents chasing what he described as a family on foot and began shouting and blowing his whistle.

Pretti later told one of the sources that five agents tackled him and one leaned on his pat -- on his back, appearing to leave him with a broken rib. According to this source, and I'm quoting here, that sort says, quote, that day he thought he was going to die.

Now, Pretti was later given medication that is consistent with treating a broken rib. According to records reviewed by CNN, sources also say that he was known to federal law enforcement though it's unclear whether it was this incident or another with federal agents that they were -- they knew him -- they knew of him.

It's also unclear whether the officers who tackled him on Saturday knew who he was. We do know, however, is that federal immigration officers have been collecting personal information of protesters and agitators within the context of what the Department of Homeland Security has warned is repeated threats towards officers as they are conducting immigration enforcement operations.

In fact, just Tuesday, the department also publicized an online tip form to share information about people allegedly harassing ICE officers. We've also heard Tom Homan the White House border czar say that a database would be created for those who are arrested for impeding law enforcement. But thus far, in our queries to the Department of Homeland Security, they have said that no such database exists.

BASH: Unbelievable. There's a lot more to peel back there. Thank you so much for bringing us that news, Priscilla. And I want to sort of focus right now on one of the administration's key messengers on Minneapolis, and that is the vice president, also the likely candidate for president in 2028.

Vice President Vance was in Minneapolis last week, and he posted this on social media after Alex Pretti was killed. A couple of off duty ICE and CPP officers were going to dinner in Minneapolis. They were doxed and their location revealed, and the restaurant was then mobbed.

He went on to say, this is just a taste of what's happening in Minneapolis, because state and local officials refuse to cooperate with immigration enforcement. They have created the chaos so they can have moments like yesterday where someone tragically dies and politicians get to grandstand about the evils of enforcing the border.

Our panel is here now. The whole -- the way that the vice president is navigating this, as the circumstances change rapidly and the perceptions change, or at least the concerns about it grow, and did so on Saturday, is really, really fascinating, given that he's trying to navigate MAGA world, but also the potential to go more broader than MAGA world if he wants to be president.

This is one of the things that he did on Saturday night. In addition to what I read. He tweeted, this level of engineered chaos is unique to Minneapolis. It is the direct consequence of far-left agitators' working with local authorities. And he retweeted Stephen Miller's post calling Alex Pretti an assassin, an assassin tried to murder federal agents, and this is your response.

ZELENY: Look, he's been all over the map in terms of his response on this. He was tasked with the job as vice president, not necessarily an enviable task. That's what vice presidents do. Coming out in the briefing room couple weeks ago, so hot on the issue of Minneapolis, and talking about how officers would have immunity.

And then he backtracked on that fact, which you played here on this show last week, I think. And now, of course, he is still standing by Stephen Miller, but the reality here is his tweet was interesting, and the fact that Minneapolis is the combination of this because of left wing agitators, it's also something else.

[12:20:00]

Even some Republicans in Minnesota recognize this long tradition of immigration, of refugees and other things. That's one thing I think that's been left out of this sort of knowledge at the White House, that even some conservatives, a lot of evangelicals in Minneapolis -- in Minnesota, have not liked what they've seen them.

Some have --- some believe that protests have gone too far -- our protesters have gone too far and gotten in the way of law enforcement. But even many Republicans here are uneasy about this, and part of it is the long history in Minnesota, really the dates back a half century or more of bringing refugees in and things here. So that, I think, is one thing that's lost in the national conversation here that I've heard from many conservatives, many pastors that I've spoken with from Minnesota.

BASH: Yeah. That's such a good point. And on Vance, I mean what he said on Sunday talking about the law enforcement officers being doxed and people going after them. There is no evidence that he is wrong. I mean, there are people who are agitators, who are going way too far when it comes to their opposition to law enforcement. But it is also true that this is the day after a man was killed in broad daylight by law enforcement with videos from multiple angles showing what happened.

MATTINGLY: Two things can be true at the same time, and conflation of those things in past incidents like this, or akin to this, is a specialty of the messaging that has been so effective for MAGA world. Is the idea of being the first one out, say something with an absolute certainty and declarative nature that is so aggressive that you kind of take control of the narrative before anybody else gets a chance, or before any of the facts or investigations are taken to fruition or to completion.

At such a critical component, it doesn't work as well when the president cuts you off at the knees a day later because he looks around and says, this isn't working for us, and this looks terrible, and we need to change direction. What I think is what's fascinating about the Vance element of things is his public comments -- his public remarks and answering questions, a number of questions in Minnesota last week.

He had a different tone about him, of saying, like, look, we've made some mistakes. Look, we'd like to work with local officials. We need to work with state officials. It was a much more -- much less aggressive tone than he sometimes has on social media.

And so, kind of watching the pendulum swing back. It's almost as if somebody is trying to read where the president is or where his team is at the time, without getting too far in front, but also not being behind.

BASH: Yeah. It's a mine field which on any given issue is going to continue for him. As it does and has for other vice presidents that we have covered, sitting vice presidents as they've decided to run for president, which is very likely to happen. Coming up. The NTSB is sharing the findings of its investigation into America's deadliest air collision in more than a decade. What we're learning, next.

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[12:25:00]

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BASH: It was the deadliest aviation accident in more than a decade. And now the NTSB is detailing what it believes caused an army Black Hawk helicopter to collide with an American Airlines jet near the nation's capital. 67 people were killed in that tragedy. It was almost a year ago.

CNN aviation correspondent Pete Muntean is at the hearing. Pete, what's happening so far?

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Well, we know what happened in this crash. This is all about why it happened, Dana. And investigators will put forth what is called a probable cause, the last, final public chapter in this year-long investigation of what the NTSB calls, its most complex investigation in history.

This is really only about a quarter of the way through right now, and investigators are making presentations about their finding to the NTSB board. The investigators will put forth a draft probable cause and then the NTSB board members will debate and edit and then adopt a final probable cause.

This is very dense, and it's very difficult, especially for the family members who are here in mass. They are in the board room, also so many of them that they are now in an overflow room, and NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy addressed them right out of the gate. Listen?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER HOMENDY, NTSB CHAIRWOMAN: I have no doubt that the information uncovered by our investigation will support all of your efforts to make aviation safer, to work towards a future where no family endures such tremendous loss.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MUNTEAN: Some family members left the board room during a presentation by investigator in charge of Brice Banning in which we saw never before seen animations from the NTSB, from the view of the pilots of each aircraft, both the Black Hawk helicopter operated by the U.S. Army and American Eagle flight 5342. And I want to show you now the animation from the viewpoint of the right seat of that American Airlines regional jet. It's the viewpoint of First Officer Sam Lilley. The NTSB grays out the areas in which these posts of the windshield and the walls of the airplane make it very hard to see the collision that is coming. Remember this plane was in a left-hand turn that helicopter approaching from the right side. Watch this clip.

(PLAYING VIDEO)