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One World with Zain Asher
FBI Searches Georgia Elections Office in Alleged Voter Fraud Case; Official: Officers Involved in Pretti Shooting Placed on Leave; CNN Reports from Inside Tehran as Tensions with U.S. Soar; Fulton County Officials React to FBI Search at Election CTR; President Trump Touts U.S. GDP Growth; Trump Holds First Cabinet Meeting of 2026. Aired 11a-12p ET
Aired January 29, 2026 - 11:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[11:00:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
ZAIN ASHER, CNN HOST, ONE WORLD: All right. Coming to you live from New York. I'm Zain Asher. Bianna Golodryga is off today. You are watching "One
World". I want to begin at the White House this hour where we are standing by for President Donald Trump to hold his first cabinet meeting of the
year.
It comes amid nationwide outrage following the killings of two American citizens in Minneapolis by federal agents. And his questions are mounting
over where the administration goes from here in terms of what happens on the ground in Minneapolis.
Next Homeland Security Secretary, Kristi Noem, is expected to be in this meeting as well. She is facing bipartisan calls to resign. We will bring
you that cabinet meeting as and when it happens. It's set to start any moment now.
We are also standing by for a news conference out of Fulton County, one day after FBI agents searched an elections office there, seeking ballots from
Trump's 2020, presidential loss. I want to bring in Kara Scannell, who's standing by for us live from New York.
So, talk to us what we know Kara about the legal basis in terms of this search warrant. They're seeking ballots and election records from five
years ago that is technically passed the statute of limitations.
KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is Zain. And what's interesting is this is a search warrant, so that means that there was a demonstration, a
probable cause, that a magistrate judge had signed off on. That evidence is not included in the documents that we have seen, but we do know that this
search warrant was signed off by a judge.
And as allowed the FBI, as you can see there, we had footage, or we had crews on the scene, who also saw that the Director of National Security,
Tulsi Gabbard was there as long as well as with the number two at the FBI. And this search warrant allowed them to seek ballots, tabulator tapes and
voter rolls, all related to the 2020 election.
And according to the search warrant, it says that they are investigating voter fraud and whether documents were not properly retained and preserved
by that agency. So, as you said, it is past the statute of limitations. In order to get past it, there would have to be some sort of ongoing conduct
or some new information that investigators had learned.
But it's important to remember that Trump's own attorney general, back in 2020 Bill Barr, said that there was no widespread voter fraud in the
election. Actually, in Georgia, there was a statewide recount. There were there was a manual hand counting of the ballots that found that there was
no nothing improper, nothing that changed the outcome of the election, which went toward President Joe Biden.
But you know, this is something that the Trump Administration has continued to be focused on the president himself, posting repeatedly last night on
"Truth Social" about this FBI search and about his efforts to try to hold someone accountable for what he said was misconduct and voter fraud.
But what we did also hear yesterday was from a Fulton County Commissioner, Mo Ivory, who said that this is really a warning shot of what's to come.
Here's more of what she said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MO IVORY, FULTON COUNTY COMMISSIONER: This is not just about Fulton County. Fulton County is right now the target, the only county right now fighting
over an election that already happened, but it is coming to a place near you. This is the beginning of the chaos of 2026 that is about to ensue.
So, if we are starting this early in January, you can only imagine what is going to happen in October.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
SCANNELL: And this move for this FBI surge is a real escalation, because that's a criminal probe. It's unrelated to civil lawsuits, which the Trump
Administration is pursuing, also in Fulton County. They initiated a lawsuit last year, and just over the weekend, Attorney General Pam Bondi had sent a
letter to the Minnesota Governor Tim Walz saying that she wanted voter records and voter rolls from the past election.
So, this is something that the Trump Administration still continues to have front and center, but enlisting the FBI and having this search warrant
executed yesterday. We understand that these materials are all being sent to the FBI lab in Quantico Virginia, to be analyzed. It seems like it's the
first step in what will continue to be a big focus of the Trump Administration, Zain.
ASHER: Yeah, you mentioned a few interesting points there, Kara. And this idea that Bill Barr already said that the 2020 elections that there was no
evidence of any sort of voter fraud whatsoever. And then also the fact that even though they are technically past the statute of limitations, there
would have to either be some ongoing conduct or perhaps some new information that came to light.
Just explain to us why would the judge actually sign off on this search warrant? How low is the bar for that to happen?
SCANNELL: Yeah, so in order to obtain a search warrant, the basis that the prosecutors need to establish is that there's probable cause that a crime
was committed.
[11:05:00]
So, it is not the high bar of beyond a reasonable doubt, but there is some indication that there a crime was committed. It was committed at these
premises, and an instrument of that crime could potentially be located there.
And so specifically, this is looking at potential voter fraud according to the search warrant, and then they're also trying to get these records to
see if it is some if there is evidence of some alleged crime there, whether it's voter fraud people being blocked from executing their rights to vote,
if people voting under fake names, or if they did not retain the documents that they would need to retain under the law for a certain period of time.
So that's what the basis is for it. Now the judge who signed off on it is a magistrate judge. Her background is having worked in legal aid as a
commercial litigator. She is not a judge. That is someone who was you know, appointed recently by the Trump Administration, so there must have been
something that gave her some confidence that the bar of probable cause was met.
Those details are not public at this point. They haven't had to establish and articulate what substantiated that probable cause. You know, there is a
lot of ongoing litigation still continuing around the 2020 election. You know, it's possible something could have come up in that that perhaps is
new, that is perhaps given the basis for this.
But at this point, we don't know exactly what formed the basis and gave the judge comfort that they had established this lower bar to meet the probable
cause standard in order to get this warrant signed off on.
ASHER: Kara Scannell live for us. Thank you so much. All right, turning back now to Minneapolis, where the man now in charge of I.C.E. operations
on the ground there didn't mention the names of the two U.S. citizens killed Renee Good and Alex Pretti by name when he held a press conference
earlier.
What Tom Homan did say is that the mission will, quote, unquote, improve. He also says he's working on a draw down plan that can only happen once,
what he calls the hateful rhetoric, rhetoric and interference stops. Now at the same time Homan said he supports the First Amendment.
He promised the operations would now focus only on targeted, strategic enforcement. Homan then spoke about his meetings with state and local
officials, and said the dialog will continue.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TOM HOMAN, WHITE HOUSE BORDER CZAR: In my meetings with folks so far, most importantly, Governor and the AG, the Mayor Frey, we didn't agree on
everything. I didn't expect to agree on anything. I've heard many people want to know why we're talking to people who they don't consider friends of
administration.
Bottom line is, you can't fix problems if you don't have discussions. I didn't come to Minnesota for photo ops or headlines. You haven't seen me. I
came here to seek solutions, and that's what we're going to do. And we come a long way, and we got some good wins for the people of Minnesota, I think,
and for the administration and for the safety security of this city.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: Minneapolis, Mayor Jacob Frey says that he and Homan had a productive conversation, but the Border Czar did not commit to ending the
federal operation there. And now we're learning the I.C.E. agents may be changing their tactics.
"Reuters" reports that new internal guidance is directing officers to avoid engaging with those described as agitators and focus instead on targeting
quote, aliens with a criminal history their words.
Meanwhile, Minnesota's Attorney General says that state officials still do not know the names of the federal agents who shot Alex Pretti, which he
says feels like a cover up. It all comes as new video has surfaced of a confrontation between Pretti and federal officers more than a week before
he was fatally shot.
The CNN has reported Pretti suffered a broken rib during an encounter with agents. Here's how Mayor Frey responded at CNN's Town Hall.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JACOB FREY, MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA MAYOR: Are we actually making the argument that Alex Pretti should be killed for something that happened,
like 11 days prior to the shooting itself. Now I think we should be talking about the circumstances that actually led to the killing and what took
place and those circumstances. I mean, you can believe your own two eyes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ASHER: In his most recent analysis, CNN's Stephen Collinson writes why the Minnesota deportation impasse will be rather hard to solve. And he asked
the question, is Trump willing to give ground on his policy or simply make superficial adjustments? Stephen joins us live now. Also with us is CNN
Global Affairs Commentator Sabrina Singh.
[11:10:00]
Stephen, let me start with you because I think you bring up an important point, and that is just because you change leadership, just because you get
rid of Bovino and you put in Tom Homan, that doesn't mean that the problems on the ground in Minneapolis go away.
I mean, obviously there is an extreme level of mistrust between federal agents and those who are on the ground, who are protesting. Just walk us
through what a potential off ramp looks like here for the administration? What de-escalation looks like?
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: Yeah, that press conference by Tom Homan, you just showed a clip of was much more tempered
and measured than what we've been seeing. I think it was significant. He said he didn't go there for photo ops.
That seemed to be an implied criticism of the way that Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security Secretary, has been handling immigration issues and many
other issues during the last year. But the question is, will a draw-down of federal agents in Minnesota a change in the posture of this operation? Does
it change the actual policy?
What this all boils down to is that the administration wants to enforce what it regards as immigration laws in Democratic states, where Democratic
Leaders do not want to cooperate because they believe that the way it's being done is infringing constitutional rights, and it's sweeping up many
undocumented migrants who are long standing members of the community, they don't have criminal records.
The ostensible justification of all this from the administration is that they're going in to get the worst of the worst, as they call them. But
every statistic shows that the overwhelming majority of people being swept into the deportation machine are not criminals.
So, you can see the conflict between the states here and the federal government. Now, does the drawdown of Minnesota amount to a political
retreat, or does it? Does it relate to a policy change? That is the key question.
It's possible that they could leave Minnesota and then go somewhere else, New York, for example, or some other city which is run by Democrats and
where the administration believes there are plenty of people, undocumented migrants that it could use to swell its deportation numbers.
ASHER: Sabrina, let me bring you in, because one thing about Donald Trump is that he rarely replaces his staff. You know, there was so much
speculation over what would happen to Pete Hegseth, the Defense Secretary, for example, when he used Signal to give updates about what was happening
in Yemen and allegedly put U.S. troops at risk with that.
And Donald Trump still did not replace him. But the fact that he has chosen to replace Greg Bovino, the fact that he has sent in Tom Homan, what does
that signal to you? Because it's rare that this administration admits an error in that way.
SABRINA SINGH, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I think you know, Donald Trump is certainly driven by headlines and coverage of what happens
in the media. Even though he goes after the media, he certainly watches what's happening on networks, how networks are covering it.
And of course, you know, media all around the country. And so, I think he saw that, you know, that what was happening on the ground in Minnesota was
certainly also taking a hit at his own polling numbers. And so there had to be some sort of change here made. And so that's what you saw this
administration do.
But I think, to your point, you know, this administration, and Donald Trump in particular, I think that when there's more criticism around a person, he
almost doubles down on them and won't fire them or won't remove them. I think the only person that you saw get moved from his position was Mike
Walz.
But you know, Pete Hegseth, that certainly has had the same amount of scrutiny, and yet, you know, Donald Trump has kept him on. So, I think what
is changing here on the ground, though, is the perception of this administration, and certainly the polling.
I think that's going to drive Donald Trump, you know, he's -- he clearly pays attentions to those numbers, and just given the groundswell of not
just protesters but his own supporters who voted for him, who want immigration reform, who want I.C.E. in these cities, did not see how I.C.E.
was going to conduct itself.
And I think that's what you're seeing on the ground, and that push back from his own base that this is not what we voted for. This is not what we
want.
ASHER: Stephen, just in terms of something that Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison mentioned, the fact that we still don't know the name of the
particular federal agent who shot and killed Alex Pretti. I mean, obviously on January 7th, when Renee Good was shot and killed. It came out very, very
quickly that the name of that particular agent was Jonathan Ross.
We have no idea who the agent is? Who was responsible for the death of Alex Pretti? What do you make of that? And what does that tell you about
accountability here?
COLLINSON: I think there is real grave concern among not just the officials in Minnesota, but the people who live there about this issue of
accountability.
[11:15:00]
There is zero confidence in the federal government's investigation of this killing. This was also the case over the death of Renee Good, and I think
the way that the authorities reacted to that is only fueling more suspicion, not just that this is a cover up, but the administration and the
way it postured this operation almost gave agents cover for the way they were reacting.
So that is a big issue. The top Republican in the Senate, Jon Thune, he said yesterday that he would be in favor of an independent investigation
which the administration, which has said this is being investigated by the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI hasn't yet said it will conduct
or allow the FBI and the DHS are under leaders who have shown that they are willing to shape their agencies to do exactly what Donald Trump wants.
That's the same with the Justice Department as well. So, there's real concern here. The question, I think, going forward is, will the concerns of
Republicans on Capitol Hill amount to any serious oversight from Congress into this issue? It's one thing to say. It's another thing to open inquiry
that will anger Donald Trump.
ASHER: Yeah, because quite a few Republicans have been calling for Kristi Noem to step down as a result of this. Sabrina, let me bring you back into
the conversation. Tom Homan, in that press conference, refused to comment on just in terms of giving his own personal opinion about the shooting
death of Alex Pretti.
He did say, listen, I do have a personal opinion, but I'm not going to reveal it here. He also said that Donald Trump had reiterated multiple
times that he did not want to see anybody killed. But Tom Homan did revert to the sort of familiar playbook of blaming Democrats, blaming the Biden
Administration. Does that still work here do you think?
SINGH: You know, I think we are going to continue to see those talking points even at year two, three and four of this administration that's going
to be continuing to blame previous administrations for the failures of this one. It didn't surprise me, but the I think there's a simple reality here
is that Democrats are not in office.
Joe Biden has not been in office in over a year. Democrats don't control any lever of power in Washington. We don't control the House, and we don't
control the Senate. And so, to put that blame on Democrats, I think, is going to fall, you know, on deaf ears, because the reality is, is that this
is Donald Trump's policies that are being, you know, executed by his administration, by his Secretary, Kristi Noem, and, of course, the people
that work for her.
And so, what is playing out on the streets, whether it's in Minneapolis or in Maine or New York or California, these are the results of Donald Trump's
policies, and he is the one in office. So as much as you know, there is wants to be finger pointing on how we got here?
Why there are so many immigrants in this country? How people crossed into the border, through the border illegally? You know, we've had that
conversation and I think that conversation happened on in 2024 when Donald Trump was elected.
People wanted something different. They wanted a change, but now these are his policies that are, you know, playing out. And so, I think while you
know, we'll see at a cabinet meeting today, I'm sure Trump will continue to blame the Biden Administration for failures of the past.
But unfortunately, that's just not going to work, and I think you're going to continue to see that reflected in the polling that people are just
losing faith in this administration.
ASHER: All right. Sabrina Singh and Stephen Collinson, thank you both so much. Appreciate it. We'll bring you the Cabinet meeting when it happens.
It's set to start any moment now. All right, still ahead, Donald Trump weighs fresh military action against Iran with a U.S. carrier strike group
now in the region. We'll have a report from inside Iran when we come back.
Plus, coming to the table, the UK looks to strengthen its relationship with China, and it's not the first western leader to do so we'll explain next.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[11:20:00]
ASHER: All right, the European Union has just designated Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization. It is the latest
move by Western countries to put pressure on Iran over its brutal crackdown on protesters. Earlier, EU officials in Brussels approved new sanctions
against Iran.
Meantime, Donald Trump is weighing a new strike on Iran. Sources say the president is considering strikes on Iran's leadership, government
institutions and nuclear sites. This after a lack of progress in preliminary discussions with Tehran over limiting its nuclear program and
ballistic missile production.
Sources say that Trump believes his military options have expanded now the USS Abraham Lincoln Carrier Strike Group is in the Indian Ocean. It comes
weeks after Trump threatened military action in response to Iran's crackdown on nationwide protests rather.
Their key advisor to Iran's Supreme Leader is vowing to respond, naming Tel Aviv as a target if the U.S. attacks. Tehran also said it's added 1000
drones to its military stockpile. CNN's Fred Pleitgen is in Iran. He visited Tehran's Grand Bazaar, where protests started in late December.
The Iranian government has acknowledged that thousands of people have been killed during the unrest. And according to the U.S. based human rights
activist news agency, more than 40,000 people have been arrested. We blurred some faces for protection and a reminder CNN operates in Tehran
only with the permission of the Iranian government.
FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We're in the area around Tehran's Grand Bazaar. This is where the protests started
several weeks ago that then, of course, spread throughout the entire country. Then ultimately leading to that crack down, where even the
government acknowledges that thousands of people were killed.
We spoke to some folks around here, and at least some of them said the despair continues, and they said they have very little trust that the
government will be able to resolve the issues.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In general, the situation is volatile in a way that the prices are crazy high. And for instance, just yesterday, there was a 20
to 30 percent hike in prices.
PLEITGEN: Are you confident that the government can solve the economic issues?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Definitely not. We're certainly sure the government cannot solve it. This is something that I can say for sure. Maybe it is
dangerous. I feel this is the end of everything.
PLEITGEN: How deep is the trauma after the crackdown on the protests?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In this situation, no one is able to do anything, because you either have to go to the streets and be killed by weapons, or
stay at home and die of hunger.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: When the protests first started here at the bazaar in late December, was especially the carpet sellers and jewelers who first walked
out. Now we did speak to some people here who claim that the situation is now under control.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Of course, the Islamic Republic can solve the problem. Actually, it's done so 99 percent of it is resolved.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
PLEITGEN: All this comes as President Trump continues to weigh his military options here in this region. Iran's leadership has said that any attack on
Iran will be met with very strong resistance, but they've also said they're willing to negotiate, however, not under duress, Fred Pleitgen, CNN,
Tehran.
ASHER: All right, Russian President Vladimir Putin says he's closely monitoring the situation in Iran.
[11:25:00]
He made the remarks as he met with the UAE President in Moscow earlier. Kremlin Spokesperson warned any use of force against Tehran could create,
quote, chaos. The UAE, which is a close U.S. ally, has said it will not provide any logistical support for military action against Iran.
And just last week, we tracked the first trilateral talks between Russia, Ukraine and U.S. negotiators, while plans are set for a future meeting, the
violence on the ground in Ukraine certainly shows no signs of slowing down.
Ukraine says at least five people have been killed following a Russian drone strike on a civilian train. This happened on Tuesday in the Kharkiv
region. Nearly 300 people were on that train, which is used to visit soldiers.
OK, well, let's go live now to Fulton County, where officials are speaking about that search in terms of looking for election and ballot information.
Let's listen in.
ROBB PITTS, FULTON COUNTY CHAIRMAN: And others, including then Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, then Congressman Matt Gaetz and the
president himself, the state of hell out of Fulton County I mean it then and I mean it today.
Every audit, every recount, every court ruling, has confirmed what we the people of Fulton County already knew. Our elections were fair and accurate,
and every legal vote was counted. These ongoing efforts are about intimidation and distraction, not facts.
I will always stand with our voters, our election workers, and most importantly, the truth. As you all know by now, yesterday, shortly after
noon until around nine o'clock last night, the FBI made a surprise execution of a criminal search warrant at the Fulton County Elections Hub.
Now, today, I want to speak directly to Fulton County voters as your chairman. Some people have asked, and are still asking, why didn't you turn
over the records? Why didn't you fight? Number one, let me be again crystal clear. There is a fight.
Fulton County is, now, has been, and always will be, committed to upholding the law no matter what anyone else does. Our attorneys carefully reviewed
the search warrant and advised me and others that it was in the best interest of Fulton County to comply, which we did.
Secondly, one of the strangest things about this case that these records were the subject of active litigation, and quite frankly, were likely to be
unsealed and turned over in a matter of weeks. All he had to do was ask the judge to do so, but albeit in a much more orderly manner, we in Fulton
County have nothing, nothing, nothing to hide.
And finally, and most importantly, this is by no means over. This is by no means over. And we're grateful for everyone around the country who is in
this fight with us. And they are with us from every corner of this great nation. Any honest review, any honest review of these files, will show
whatever every previous review has shown.
Fulton County elections are fair and lawful, and the outcome of the 2020, election will not change period. We talk about voter protections. Now we
not do not know where our election records have been taken or what will happen to them. Now that they are out of our control.
While they were here, they were safe and they secure. Once they left Fulton County, our election center I don't know where they are. I don't know who
has them. I don't know what they're doing with them? We can no longer be held responsible for those ballots and other data that was seized
yesterday.
[11:30:00]
But what I'm hoping that we will stand together to ensure that no data is ever weaponized. Poll worker protection after the 2020, elections, Fulton
County poll workers endured brutal and targeted harassment. And it is imperative that data from the 2020 election not be used to further harass
our poll workers who have already endured so much.
Fast forward this year, 2026 elections, this week's activities show that Fulton County is still much a target, and I'm told that I am, personally a
target. I'm a big boy. Now, while we were growing accustomed to name calling and rhetoric, we will not give one inch to those who seek to take
control of our elections.
Now hear what I just said. We will not give one inch to those who seek to take control of elections in Fulton County, not today, not tomorrow, not
ever. We're going to fight this in court with every resource that we have. And again, I'm very grateful to the support that is coming to us from
around the country.
Time and time again, the law has been on our side, and the greatest legal minds in the country agree it will be once again. I want to thank the local
and national legal communities for their overwhelming support to us in this moment in the history of Fulton County, Georgia, thank you.
SHERRI ALLEN, FULTON COUNTY BOARD OF REGISTRATION & ELECTIONS CHAIR: I just want to say that Fulton County's Department of Registration and Elections
has continued and will continue to maintain efficient, transparent and accurate elections and election results. Our duty is to the voters and to
the County voters.
The electorate that goes out we do not care what their political position is. We are there to make sure that they have an efficient process, that the
process is fair, that the results are accurately and transparently reported, and that's what we will continue to do. We won't take our eye off
the ball.
We are continuing to continue to focus on the 2026, election and those coming up and Fulton County will stand strong. As the Chairman said, poll
workers have been targeted. We sometimes have difficulty recruiting poll workers because they are concerned about being subject to abuse.
And I just want to thank the department and all of the staff that worked tirelessly yesterday until nine o'clock at night and fully complied with
the FBI, or even if we were surprised, we were able to efficiently comply, to discuss and to make sure that what they were requesting we complied
with.
Do we have concerns about the process? Are we concerned about the material, about voter information? And what will happen to personal private
information of voters? Of course, we are but that was out of our hands yesterday. We, like the Chairman, said, we will continue to be vigilant.
We have a policy in Fulton County, if you see something, say something, so that voters know when they go to the polls that if anything goes awry, that
someone will be reporting it, and we ourselves make sure that we report and tell anything that happens that's major, and we did that just a couple of
months ago.
So, Fulton County will remain strong. We won't take our eye off the ball, and we thank those who are supporting us, and we hope that you all will
continue to be vigilant and to not be subject to misinformation that may come out, because, as the Chairman said, we don't know how the information
will be used. Thank you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We can take a couple questions, we'll start here, and then we'll work our way up. Yes, go ahead.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: A quick question. So, to that point, what sort of posture are you guys taking like, on a granular level, detailing level? How
voters can make sure that their information is safe? And how confident should voters be heading into the 2026, race, that their votes are?
ALLEN: When you say, what are we -- you mean as moving forward, what do we do? We always maintain voter maintenance roles. And you know, in Georgia,
they have where that people who may be subject to stalking and things like that, but their information is safe as well, and so we try to make sure
that it's not disseminated.
Although the public is able to get voter information, it goes from the Secretary of State in order to make sure that people's information is
protected, because they are in the best position to do that, not each county.
[11:35:00]
And so that's what we do. Yesterday with all of the information going and us not knowing exactly how it will be used, that had voter, private voter
information in it as well.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- this is by no means over any -- can talk about what steps Fulton County was going to take next?
PITTS: Well, I don't want to disclose what our legal strategy is, but we will be fighting with every inch of our body, with every resource that we
have. We have great counsel. We have outside counsel working with ourself. And everyone has told us that we will prevail in the final analysis.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Excuse me for one second. I'm just going to grab this.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sorry. I have a series of questions.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You said that -- you said that you were told that you're personally a target --
PITTS: Not the criminal investigation, because of being outspoken, and because I've talked about and refuted the lies that have been told about
our elections in 2020 that's why I'm on the hit list. That's probably why I was disinvited to the White House, as you'll recall.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: DOJ, has not --
PITTS: I have not received anything yet. I have not.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- the target of this investigation is?
PITTS: I have no idea.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you think the likelihood is that the state election board will try to use some of the information they've gathered as
a pretext for taking over Fulton County's election systems.
PITTS: I think that's a great question. And when I said what, I said, one of my remarks was, that's what I'm concerned about. It wasn't about
yesterday. I think it's about something else that has not been revealed yet. So just stay tuned. We're ready.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Richard just shouted out one quick question.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have you seen an unsealed -- have you seen yet, an unsealed warrant as to who, or what, the target of the criminal
investigation is?
PITTS: I have not.
ALLEN: No, I'm -- we saw that it is under seal, but we have not seen.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We understand that it may be that Fulton County top the target of criminal investigation, but another entity, maybe, but it may
encompass.
ALLEN: We have no idea. Nothing was explained to us, and it was difficult even getting a copy of the warrant.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you believe that this is part of the criminal investigation, or is this part of something else we've seen in other
states? Some critics suppose that said this is intimidation for voters for mid-terms and elections.
ALLEN: I don't want to speculate, but I have heard that, and I have heard that it will not just stop here. There's an issue about voter maintenance
roles and whether or not the federal government should receive those so I don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Actually, there is a debate going on right now. Georgia Senate for resolution to --
ASHER: To a live press conference out of Fauci County, Fulton County, Georgia, with election officials speaking there essentially about the fact
that the FBI searched and raided Fulton County election offices yesterday afternoon, seizing ballot information, voter information.
They're essentially investigating, those are their words, investigating alleged voter fraud as it pertains to the 2020 election. The man you see
standing behind Sherri Allen is Robb Pitts he's the Chairman of Fulton County. He spoke for first saying that any honest review of the files will
show that the elections in his county were fair, that they were lawful, that the outcome of the 2020 election will not change at all.
That every single legal vote was counted and that, in his words, this is really about intimidation and distraction and not facts. He also pledged to
fight back. And then said and Sherri Allen, who's speaking now, reiterated this, that they simply have no idea what is going to happen to those
election records.
Obviously, there's so much private information, so privacy is a huge concern. They have no idea where they were taken and what is going to
happen to those that information going forward.
I want to bring in Former State and Federal Prosecutor David Weinstein, who has been listening to this. David, as you listen to this, what is your
biggest concern?
DAVID WEINSTEIN, FORMER STATE AND FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: Well, my biggest concern is what will happen to the election that is coming up, not what
happened in the past. We all know what happened in the past. My biggest concern is what is going to happen coming up.
Can they operate as usual? Can they receive ballots? Can they receive mail- in ballots? How they going to be able to count and tabulate the votes. That's my biggest concern.
[11:40:00]
ASHER: I mean yeah, because you bring up such a good point, because we have seen in Minneapolis an attempt to gather voter information from several
states in Minnesota as well. So that is a good point what you bring up. It's not about the past, necessarily. It's about what happens going
forward.
But given Donald Trump's repeated baseless claims the 2020 election was stolen. Also, the political history we've seen between the Trump
Administration and Fulton County. What legal safeguards are there in terms of preventing the Executive Branch from, I guess, weaponizing the Justice
Department, which is what a lot of people are saying this is really all about.
WEINSTEIN: I have to look at our Constitution. I mean, that is what protects all of us. The Constitution lays out how our elections take place,
whether they're federal elections or state elections. States govern their elections and the election process. That doesn't mean the federal
government can't, through the Department of Justice, investigate what they believe are improprieties. But states have a right to --
ASHER: David, I'm so sorry. President Trump is actually speaking at his Cabinet meeting right now. We have a lot of breaking news today, so I have
to pause this conversation. Let's listen to the president.
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: -- extinguished eight wars and another one we think is coming. Steve Witkoff, working very
hard and Jared and everybody else. And I think it's coming. It was just announced that the murder rate in our country is the biggest drop ever
recorded.
It's at the lowest level in 125 years, first in recorded history. It's the lowest in at least 125 years. That's a wonderful thing. And that crime is
way down. And one of the reasons was we've taken a lot of bad people and gotten them out of our country.
In some cases, they're so bad that we put them in prison because we don't want them to even take a chance of coming back in even though our border is
very secure. Record setting secure. We had zero illegal aliens being admitted into a country for the last eight months. That's hard.
That's hard for even me to believe. But the people that make up the lists are supposedly non-partisan, but I would say they lean toward the Democrat
side, and if they say that, I'm all for it. As you know, we've had a situation take place with respect to Venezuela. I want to just thank
General Caine and his staff in Venezuela for the job that they've done is incredible.
Nobody has ever seen anything like it. And once it did take place, I want to thank the leadership of Venezuela. We're getting along really well with
them. The relationships have been very strong, very good. And they have informed me that they feel this very good security, very strong security.
We're working with the various people involved, including Chris and Doug and everybody on the oil. We have the major oil companies going to
Venezuela now scouting it out and picking their locations, and they'll be bringing back tremendous wealth for Venezuela and for the United States.
And the oil companies will do fine too. Venezuela will actually make for themselves more money than they've ever made before, and that's a good
thing. And the people of Venezuela were literally in the streets, waving American flags. They were so happy.
And the people in our country, like in the Doral Section of Miami, which is considered little of Venezuela, the thrill. And I just spoke to the
President of Venezuela, informed her that we're going to be opening up all commercial air space over Venezuela. American citizens will be very shortly
able to go to Venezuela, and they'll be safe there. They'll be safe.
It's under very strong control. And the people of formerly of Venezuela, some want to go back, and some want to go back to visit, and they're going
to be able to do that. So, I've instructed Sean Duffy and everybody else concerned, including the military, that, if you would, by the end of today,
I'd like to add up the airspace over Venezuela planes can go to Venezuela opened up.
Ok. Thank you very much. And I want to thank all of the people in Venezuela for what you know, what they went through. And I want to thank the
leadership for -- really, they're doing a good job. And just as I promised, we've defeated the Biden inflation nightmare and achieved explosive new
economic growth.
The Atlanta Fed is predicting an astounding 5.4 percent GDP growth in the fourth quarter, and that's despite the fact that we had a Democrat
shutdown. We would have had that number would have been 7 percent which is a number nobody has ever heard of. And we've had, -- we've been given great
national security because of tariffs.
We've also been given unprecedented income because of tariffs. Part of the income that we gave $12 billion we gave to the farmers or our country.
[11:45:00]
So, that yesterday was up in Iowa, and they were very happy, Madam Secretary. They were very, very happy. So, the GDP growth in the fourth
quarter was great, and it's going to be -- I think we're going to have an amazing and incredible year. Hopefully we won't have a shutdown.
We're working on that right now. I think we're getting close the Democrats, I don't believe want to see it either. So, we'll work in a very bipartisan
way. I believe not to have a shutdown. We don't want to shut down.
And just yesterday, the S7P 500 hit 7000 for the first time ever. There's never been any time at which it's done like that. And the other stocks
also, I think, was 52 times for the DOW had hit a record high. But the 7000 was not a number that was even thinkable. If you go back a year ago.
And so S&P hit 7000 for the first time ever. The stock market has set it's actually 53, 52, 53 all time, record highs since the election, adding $9
trillion in value to savings, retirement accounts and 401ks. And I mean, everybody benefits, but we have record, record stock markets.
Companies have never done well. And most importantly, if you think about it, after four years in which Biden got much less than $1 trillion of
investment into our country in just actually, it was taken over 11 months. Even though we're 12 months in 11 months, we've taken in more than $18
trillion.
So, they did less than $1 trillion Scott in a period of four years, and we've done $18 trillion in less than one year. So, there's never been
anything like that. No other country has done those numbers, by the way, in history. 10 years ago, one country did 3 million, 3 trillion. No other we
did $18 trillion is being invested now.
Thousands of businesses, plants, equipment all over the country are being built right now. And they're going to be opening pretty soon, and when they
open, you'll see numbers like nobody's ever seen before. The economy is doing amazingly well. I wish the press would report it, but people are
finding out. They're seeing it.
It's coming -- it's becoming pretty evident. It's hard to hide Biden inflation, which is really stagflation. Cost the typical family $34,000
think of that, $34,000 but after one year, growth in real incomes is outpacing inflation by more than 3000 under Trump. So, one cost 34,000 and
one made 3000 that's a big swing.
Gasoline is plunged to think of this over $4 a gallon, depending on where you are in California, it's $7, $8 a gallon. I was in Iowa and they had
$1.85 because I had it at $1.99 a gallon. And I was corrected by two farmers that said I just bought my gasoline for $1.85 So Chris, you have to
be doing something right. You and Doug, right?
But I don't want to give you too much confidence. You got to keep it going. We're drilling. I think I can say we're drilling more than at any time ever
in the history. We're taking out more energy out of our land. But specifically, if you look at oil and gas, we've never been anywhere even
close. Is that a correct --?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Correct, all-time records.
TRUMP: Great. Great job. Well, it's supply and demand. So that's going down rapidly. And you know, when energy goes down, everything else goes down.
They were -- they had very --they tried to do their thing. It was a disaster. Then they ran back very late to the Trump policy. But they didn't
do the Trump policy.
They cut leases. They did everything that they could do, but they lost it, and they were very high. And where we're now less than $2 in many areas,
$2.30 a gallon, average grocery prices, airfares, hotels, car payments and rent prices are coming down very fast. And you don't hear the word
affordability issued by the Democrats anymore.
Now they're going into other things because they're getting beaten badly on affordability. Remember that when I was elected, I came into office, I
inherited a total mess, starting with eggs, which were four times higher than they were just a year before. And Brooke got him down very quickly
before Easter.
They said -- they wanted me to buy plastic eggs for the egg hunt at the very famous egg hunt at the White House. Sir, would you buy plastic eggs? I
would buy a lot of, like, 100,000 eggs. I said, we're not going to buy plastic egg. And by the time we had the Egg Hunt, a few months later, we
had the prices down pretty good.
And now they're really low. Now they're at a very low level. So, we really have, you don't hear the word affordability, because we inherited very high
prices.
[11:50:00]
And we inherited the highest inflation in 48 years. I say the history of our country. I think it sounds almost the same. Actually, I think 48 years
sounds actually worse, for some reason. So, I'll go with the 40 because the press corrected me. I said, history. And they said, it's not a history,
it's 48 years. They said, I'll accept that.
And we have the highest inflation in 48 years. We have now very -- as you saw yesterday with the Fed. I'm not a fan of his. He said that inflation,
essentially, is not a factor. It's really been pretty amazing. I just put out a statement about his statements. I won't repeat, America's a two
angry.
And thanks to our tax cuts, millions of Americans will soon receive record setting tax refunds. You get a lot of tax refunds, with the average refund
expected to be over $1,000 higher than it has been at any time. So, we're going to be getting some pretty good refunds a lot of people.
If Congressional Democrats had their way, Americans would, right now be facing the largest tax hike ever. You know, their proposal was to raise
taxes very substantially. And our proposal, which is in the great big, beautiful new deal. It's a new deal in its own way. It's a Republican
version of the new deal.
Right behind you is a nice picture of FDR. This is a much better deal than the FDR deal. But we have the great big, beautiful bill, and it's given
tremendous tax cuts and a lot of other things. People are now finding out how good it is, and it's just kicked in as of January 1st, by the way. So,
we're really -- we're really starting to see it.
Even though it's a month we're really starting to see it. The U.S. economy would be cratering if they had won this election. Our country would be in
very bad shape. Would be maybe not much of a country anymore. I don't think it would be a country anymore.
They were doing everything wrong, but they were going to give you the largest tax hike in history, and we're giving you the largest tax cut in
history, in the great, big, beautiful bill. In addition, I think it's very good. I think it's very important. You have no tax on overtime, no tax on
tips, and no tax on Social Security, but you also have -- you're getting an interest -- this is the first time this ever happened.
If you buy a car, you go out and borrow money, you get an interest deduction. You take the interest rate, the interest that you're paying on
the loan, you're able to deduct it for income tax purposes. So that's a first ever, and I think it's going to be great for everybody, including the
car companies.
I was in Detroit three weeks ago. I went to the Ford factory, spoke to the General Motors people. It's all the same. They're doing better than they've
ever done. The factory I went to was like a World War I earlier than World War I, factory opened up, one of the oldest buildings, but one of the
biggest.
And Ford was getting ready to close it a couple of years ago. And then they saw that I was doing well, and it looked like I would have a good chance of
winning. And they kept it going, barely going. And last week they announced, during my visit, they announced that they're going to round the
clock. A round the clock production.
They never thought it was -- I said, did you ever think I spoke with Bill Ford and the President of Ford, they were both there, and they said, we
can't even believe it. We're going to close this building two years ago, and now it's going round the clock. He said, we cannot.
I mean, they wish they said, we wish it was twice the size. But they're now building additional plants in the United States, as is everybody else. You
have AI building, but the car companies I love the car companies, and you have them, they're all coming back. They're coming back from Mexico.
They're coming back from Canada. They're coming back from Japan, and they're coming back from Germany, all over Europe. They're coming back.
They're building here because they want to avoid the tariffs. They don't want to pay the 15 percent in some cases, 25 percent tariff could be a lot
higher than that, if it wasn't working.
So, because of that, they're all coming back. One statistic yesterday that Scott told me is that for the first time ever, tell him about the steel in
Japan that we are now making more steel. Go ahead, please.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So yesterday, they reported for the first time in 26 years, the United States of America produced more steel than Japan, and
that is entirely driven by your tax.
TRUMP: He obviously said that much better than I did, because I got no applause. I'm giving you a home run after home runs. He says, I should have
saved that one for myself.
[11:55:00]
But think of it. First time and they read it read almost 30 years, but I guess it's what 26,27 years that we are now producing more steel than
Japan. Japan being a big steel producer. Japan and other countries really took our steel production away from us.
Now, if you think of this, three, four years ago, the steel companies were all closing up. We worked a fantastic deal with U.S. Steel. We saved U.S.
Steel, and now it's all coming about, but we're -- and that's just the beginning. There are a lot of steel plants right now being built. So, it's
-- that's an amazing -- it's an amazing number. Nobody would have believed that.
If you would have said that three, four or five years ago, people would have said, yet, it's not an -- it's not a true fact. But so, it has to be
true, because otherwise you question me, you question me, and everything have to be extremely accurate. I don't exaggerate it. I don't want to
exaggerate because you will call me.
You don't call other people, but you would call me. Under my most favorite nation spa, which I think is the most important thing, Bobby of all. What
we've done because we're bringing drug prices down by 80, 90 percent depending on the way. You could say 5, 6, 7, 800 percent depends on the way
you want to calculate it right.
But let's go the old-fashioned way. But drug prices for prescription drugs will be down 80 90 percent 75 percent 68 percent. They've only gone up for
years and years and years. They've only gone up. And now we're going to have essentially the most favored nation. We're going to have the most
favorite price in the whole world, whatever the lowest price in the world is, that's what we're going to pay.
And I don't want to go into a big deal, but nobody else could have gotten this, but this administration. I'm being very nice when I say that the cost
of prescription drugs is coming down by tremendous -- by a number that never was never even thought of. This will have a huge impact on health
care, by the way, because obviously, drugs are a big part of health care.
And it will help repair some of the Unaffordable Care Act's damage that they've done, because the Unaffordable Care Act, which is Obamacare, it's
unaffordable. It's not affordable. And it's a disaster, and hopefully we will be paying money directly to the people instead of giving the insurance
companies the money.
They'll go into a health care savings account or whatever it is. But think of it. We pay the money billions and billions, really trillions, of dollars
going to insurance companies. We want that money to go to the people. They buy their own health care. And it'll be -- and it's so popular.
The problem we have is the Democrats are owned by the insurance companies. They're literally owned lock, stock and barrel, by the insurance companies.
And they hate it, but the people love it, including all Democrats. So, I think we'll perhaps be successful with it. But it was an idea I had.
You know, I read the papers, and I'm reading one of the stories about the insurance companies, how much money they're making, where they received,
you know, billions and billions of dollars for this stuff from the United States of America. And their stock has gone up by 14,100 percent think of
it, 1401.
One went up 17,100 percent numbers went up. If you go up 1,000 percent, you're doing bad in that business, right? And it's all because of the
money, not all, but mostly because of the money the United States pays the insurance companies. They say, this is really, this is big south.
And I asked somebody, why don't we just pay the people directly? And they said, that's a good idea. You know, it's funny. It's a very complicated
business, but actually, it's not so complicated. And I went to Bobby and I went to Dr. Oz, I said, can I talk to you guys about this?
Is this the kind of money the insurance companies get? Yes. Why don't we pay the people directly? And the primary answer was that the Democrats will
never go along with it, but the people go along with it because I put it out. It went viral. It went viral.
Susie, I went all over the place. Became the biggest story. I just said it. And so, I think we have a great situation if we can do it. But if you think
most favored nation policy for drugs will bring you drug prices down and level.
So now they're selling a pill for $10 in London and $130 in New York. The London price will go up to $20 and we'll go down to $20 so we'll go from
130 down to 20. And by the way, tariffs did it again, because the no country the drug company said, we'll do it begrudgingly.
But they we're OK, but we'll do it, but no nation is going to approve it, because even if you raise the price by like on a pill, $10 to $20 you're
doubling the price of their prescription drugs. I said, no. Will do it. And when I got them on the phone, I said, if you don't do it, we're going to
charge you very substantial tariffs, more money than that's going to cost you.
END
