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Friday: DHS Funding Expires As Democrats Demand ICE Reforms; Ad Supporting ICE Airs During Super Bowl, Says ICE Agents Are "People Who Love This Country"; Judge Orders Affidavit Release In Fulton County FBI Raid; Justice Department Sues Two Dozen States For Non-Public Voter Roll Information; Bad Bunny Redefines "God Bless America" In Super Bowl Halftime Show. Aired 12:30-1p ET
Aired February 09, 2026 - 12:30 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[12:30:00]
SEUNG MIN KIM, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: There have been sort of middle solutions proposed in that, perhaps maybe wearing badges with their names, but wearing -- having their faces covered, but that's just one of several issues that are up for debate right now.
DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: And, you know, one of the things that I talked about with Hakeem Jeffries yesterday was the fact that because of the Big Beautiful Bill that passed, ICE has got a ton of money.
KIM: So much money.
BASH: They're funded. So the shutdown, if it occurs, is going to be with other agencies like the FAA, like TSA and so forth. Yes, ICE will technically not have money coming, you know, but they will have money if that makes sense.
So because of that, the question is whether or not just on the politics of this, the White House and Republicans think that because news cycles last about four seconds, whether the pressure that they felt because of what happened in Minneapolis, whether that has abated a bit and that they can ride this out.
Listen to The Daily, which is, of course, a podcast from The New York Times. They spoke to some Trump voters, including some multiple time Trump voters, on this specific issue. We want to play one example. Carter Brown voted for Donald Trump in 2024 in Georgia.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CARTER BROWN, 2024 GEORGIA TRUMP VOTER: People hate that I use the word bamboozled, but that's the best way that I can describe how I feel. On the outside looking in, you know, you're like, it was an open book test. Everything was right there.
The community that I just left, many of them have 'Don't Tread on Me' flag flying. But you know what their reply back to what happened with Renee is? Just comply. So what is it? Don't tread on me or just comply. (END VIDEO CLIP)
BASH: And when she said the community that she just left, this woman we just heard from said she voted for Donald Trump three times. She's an ardent Trump supporter.
JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Look, not surprised. I mean, the politics of this have absolutely been turned upside down. Never mind when you inject the Second Amendment into this, which, of course, became part of the conversation in the Alex Pretti case as suddenly people in the administration were not as vociferous or as loud supporters of the Second Amendment.
But when the government is controlled by one side to the other side, it looks like big government. But when it's controlled by your supporters, it's viewed in different ways. So that is what I think is why we see Joe Rogan and others who have been very critical of this government overreach. I mean, it really is a through line for many things from the nationalization of elections.
I mean, big government used to be a thing that Democrats wanted. So the politics of all of this is upside down. But I think in terms of the funding discussions here, you're totally right about ICE. I mean, they have enough money to hire a big signing bonuses, et cetera.
But the pressure point, I think it's not as much pressure as right after Minneapolis. Minneapolis is still going, but like right after the second shooting. But what usually happens in a shutdown flights and things like that often gets it moving. So that could --
BASH: Yes, it could.
ZELENY: -- help in this case.
BASH: Back to the politics and on this, the politics is also -- it's always about public relations and messaging. There was an ad, a Super Bowl ad in parts of the country last night paid for by a conservative outside group in support of ICE.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sons, fathers, their Little League coaches and veterans, they're people who love this country. These are Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. It's dangerous and difficult work. But ICE has one mission, to make America a safer place to live.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: You know, we have an expression when things aren't good for a president, they get out of Washington. This is another way to get out of Washington. When you put out an ad like this, which is beautiful and glossy and positive.
But even though we have a short attention span, I don't think people are going to forget Renee Good and Alex Pretti quickly. And all it takes is, you know, are there ICE raids in Ohio or other places that bring back --
BASH: Yes.
GANGEL: -- those images? That ad says they know they're in trouble.
BASH: Yes, I totally agree. Thank you, guys.
Don't go anywhere up next. Why was the FBI able to seize all of the 2020 ballots in Fulton County, Georgia? Well, we'll separate fact from fiction with a top election expert after the break.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:39:21]
BASH: As soon as tomorrow, we could learn what the Trump Justice Department told a magistrate judge to get a warrant to seize all of the 2020 ballots in Fulton County, Georgia. A federal judge ordered the documents redacted and unsealed by tomorrow.
Joining me now to help break this and a lot more down is election expert and executive director and founder of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, David Becker. Thank you so much for being here.
DAVID BECKER, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR & FOUNDER, THE CENTER FOR ELECTION INNOVATION & RESEARCH: Thanks, Dana.
BASH: The Fulton County situation, the fact that we could see at least part of the argument that allowed the Justice Department to get in and to actually take these ballots, what do you expect to see?
[12:40:07]
BECKER: Well, we're not quite sure what we're going to see. Of course, it's the whole reason why we want to get it unsealed. And the DOJ consented to it being they did not object to it being unsealed. So both parties agreed to it being unsealed. The court ordered that yesterday. We're going to see it by tomorrow.
In that unsealing, we'll see the affidavit, presumably from an FBI agent, that justified the probable cause for seizing this alleged evidence. I think one of the reasons we're so interested to see it is because there were a lot of apparent defects on the face of this warrant.
From the very beginning, they got the address wrong. They have this big statute of limitations problem. There's a five-year statute of limitations under federal law for either of the two statutes that they raised. And by almost any measure, that statute has run.
BASH: Were passed on (ph).
BECKER: Yes, I mean, this election took place well over five years ago at this point. So we'll see what they said. There is -- there are some allegations from conspiracy theorists who have written reports on Georgia. Their arguments have literally been rejected by every court they've been heard in. I'm curious to see whether or not some of those rehashed allegations that go back as far as a decade are inside this affidavit.
BASH: Right. And I think that's really an important part of this. Yes, President Trump is and always will be obsessed with 2020 and claiming that he won and trying to find evidence to prove that he's not given up on that, even though there have been recounts, tons of recounts there --
BECKER: Multiple. Yes.
BASH: -- lots of lawsuits, et cetera. But just around, I think it was the night of or the night after the raid in Georgia, President Trump just put a slew of conspiracy theories on his social media platform, like one that alleges the Obama administration, Italy, Merrill Lynch, CIA and China all colluded to flip votes from Trump to Biden via satellite.
And I bring this up not to have you say, you know --
BECKER: Thank you.
BASH: -- explain why that's wrong, but just to talk about how this matters for this year's election, for 2028 and beyond.
BECKER: Right. So since Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, they've been throwing everything against the wall they can, just hoping things will stick. Dead Venezuelan dictators, Italian satellites, German servers, Chinese bamboo ballots, whatever they could possibly say. These are all ridiculous theories involved in disproven because we have paper ballots throughout the United States, 98 percent paper ballots.
Those paper ballots are auditable. They're verifiable. They're accountable. Georgia counted their paper ballots in 2020 three times, three different ways. Once entirely by hand, under observation from both campaigns.
So if this isn't about actually creating or manufacturing proof about 2020, it does appear like it's more about 2026. And --
BASH: How so? And so what do you think that connect those dots?
BECKER: So it appears the president is worried that he might not do well in 2026. I don't know whether that's true or not, but, you know, he's been making calls for mid-decade redistricting and other things, trying to do everything he can to hold on to the House, because perhaps his party won't do well in 2026, which is not unusual, of course, in the --
BASH: Yes.
BECKER: -- first midterm after a president takes office. So, it may be that he is setting us up for the arguments that are going to come, that he is going to say our voting machines aren't reliable, even though we have paper everywhere and we can confirm them, that mail voting isn't reliable, even though we've had it since the Civil War, that we can't trust our voter lists, even though they're more accurate now than they've ever been.
And we can confirm that, including states run by Trump allies have confirmed that. But he might make these arguments and then seek to use them to justify some extraordinary executive interference in the election. And it's really important to remember, the founders created our election system in such a way that the executive has zero power over it.
It gives the state legislature's power to regulate the time, place and manner of elections. And it says that Congress can regulate as well. But the executive has no power.
BASH: On that note, this is really important, before I let you go. We've talked a lot on this show recently about the lawsuit, lawsuits that DOJ is really going after, I think, 24 states because those states refuse to give up really detailed information --
BECKER: Right.
BASH: -- not just their voter rolls, but information about the voters. You've worked for DOJ, for Democratic president, for Republican president. Why is that so unusual? And from your perspective.
BECKER: Yes, there's shifting explanations about why DOJ is doing this. But there's no question they're trying to seize very sensitive voter data. Social Security number, driver's license number, date of birth, the holy trinity of identity theft. If anyone gets that on any of us, our financial well-being could be put in danger.
They're trying to seize this for hundreds of millions of Americans likely to create a national database of some sort that is completely unauthorized by any federal law that Congress has ever passed. That should really trouble us as Americans because they're going beyond what Congress has authorized. It's also trouble us from a privacy perspective because this DOJ has already admitted they've mishandled private data in the past.
[12:45:05]
They had to go to the Eastern District of Virginia just last month and admit that they shared sensitive data with a third party political advocacy group. Can you imagine what a bombshell that would be in any other administration? So, we should be very concerned about it.
Fortunately, the courts are pushing back. The only two courts who have ruled both have said DOJ does not have right to this data.
BASH: That's right.
BECKER: And we'll see in these other cases what happens.
BASH: Thank you so much for being here.
BECKER: Thank you.
BASH: I suspect we're going to be talking a lot as this election year rolls on.
BECKER: All right, thanks.
BASH: Nice to see you. Thanks, David.
Next, a love letter to America or an affront to it. Americans debate Bad Bunny and his historic Super Bowl halftime show.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BAD BUNNY, RAPPER: God bless America. Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela, Guyana, Panama, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Cuba, Republica Dominican, Jamaica, Chila (ph), Antigua, United States, Canada, (INAUDIBLE) Puerto Rico.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[12:50:37]
BASH: A love letter to Latin American culture. Bad Bunny's Spanish language Super Bowl performance ended with two distinct messages in English on -- behind him, there was this phrase, "The only thing stronger than hate is love." And on the football that he spiked, together, we are America.
But not everyone saw it that way. The president, for example, had a quick review of his own, quote, "It makes no sense and a front to the greatness of America." Nobody understands a word, quote, "a slap in the face to our country."
My panel is back here now. Jeff, how would you see the politics of this?
ZELENY: Certainly not -- nobody understands the word. Millions of people, millions of Trump voters understand a word. I mean, what's so interesting about this, the controversy over the Spanish is a one- sided controversy. It is a Trump inspired sort of MAGA-sided controversy.
But given the changing demographics in the United States, every political strategist you would speak to either before or after this concert knows that this is good politics to appeal to Spanish speaking voters. This is not a new phenomenon --
BASH: The NFL certainly does.
GANGEL: Yes.
ZELENY: For sure. This is not a new phenomenon. This has happened forever. But what's interesting for President Trump, one of the biggest gains he made in 2024 was among Latino men, many of whom are the exact same age as Bad Bunny.
So for all the sort of consternation about this, I think there are some interesting voices out there from the conservative side who say this was great. But Harrison Fields is a former White House deputy press secretary. I thought his comments were very interesting. He's a very big (technical difficulty).
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[12:58:12]
BASH: Welcome back. Sorry about our technical gremlins. Jeff Zeleny, you were saying?
ZELENY: Well, look, of all the conversations out there among Trump supporters, one that I found that was very interesting and supportive of the performance was Harrison Fields. Of course, a former deputy White House, a press secretary, a loyal admirer of the president. He tweeted this. "Last time I checked, my Puerto Rican born grandmother was a full American citizen who voted for Trump."
So the bottom line here is that for all the political divides, I'm not sure why this needs to be one of them, this was what the president started. But a lot of his supporters and smart political strategists like the Bad Bunny concert just fine.
BASH: Yes. And just on that note, Emily Austin, who is a conservative influencer, Jamie, she was reported to -- Sabrina Rodriguez put her in her piece on Friday saying that she wasn't sure she was going to like this. And she did. And in her post today, she said, "Most of the criticism I've seen isn't even about the music, it's about his ethnicity. And that's weak." She also later posted that because she put this up as a conservative, she lost followers.
GANGEL: Right. So I think the number is one in seven Americans are Spanish speakers that --
BASH: 41.8 million.
GANGEL: OK, there we go. Look, there's one person who didn't like this. Obviously, there are more, but there's one, and that's Donald Trump. This got under his skin. And to Jeff's point about the politics, he simply can't restrain himself, even though these are, you know, a growing number of voters for him.
I -- what I will say about Bad Bunny is he won the Super Bowl in my house. And that's because we shared something in common about how we watched the Super Bowl. You want to --
KIM: Right. I mean, I think the halftime show was the only part that Jamie and I watched because --
BASH: You know what? That was a smart thing to do as a --
ZELENY: Politics (ph) to the Seahawks.
KIM: Yes.
BASH: Well, as a --
KIM: It wasn't much of a game, so.
BASH: -- as a Patriots fan, I also think Bad Bunny won the Super Bowl.
ZELENY: Congrats to the Seahawks. Come on. That defensive lines.
BASH: I know. Very -- yes. Good to you. Very good defensive line. I know you -- you know you were.
Thank you for joining Inside Politics. CNN News Central starts right now.
