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Quest Means Business

Top Minnesota Companies Call For Calm Amid ICE Crackdown; Sources: Top Border Patrol Official To Leave Minneapolis; Winter Storm Forces Flight Cancellations Across The U.S.; Folgiero Emphasizes The Beauty Of Physical Product; Officials Suggested That Pretti's Gun Justified Killing. Aired 4- 5p ET

Aired January 26, 2026 - 16:00   ET

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

[16:00:19]

PAULA NEWTON, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST: So, impressive but modest gains on all three indices, in fact, the Dow Jones there, up three-quarters -- two-

thirds, pardon me, of one percent.

Now remember, we are going into earning seasons. This bodes well so far.

Those are the markets, and these are the main events: President Trump sends his border czar to take over the immigration crackdown in Minneapolis after

another protester is killed.

Gun advocates say Alex Pretti had every right to be armed when he was shot by federal agents. We will speak with the head of the Minnesota Gun Owner's

Caucus.

And a potential economic warning sign is now flashing -- gold -- can you believe it, it hit $5,000.00 as investors seek safe haven assets.

Live from New York, it is Monday, January 26th. I'm Paula Newton, in for Richard Quest, and this is QUEST MEANS BUSINESS.

And good evening, everyone.

Tonight, a tone shift from The White House as it faces backlash over a second killing in Minnesota by federal agents. Top Border Patrol official,

Gregory Bovino is expected to leave Minneapolis sidelining a key figure of the administration's immigration crackdown.

Now border czar, Tom Homan is set to travel to the state to try and manage the operations. Meantime, President Trump says he had a very good call with

Democratic Governor Tim Walz, saying that the two are now on a similar wavelength. The Governor says Mr. Trump would consider reducing the number

of federal agents in the state. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, she says the President does not want to see anyone get hurt, while blaming Democrats

for the weekend's events. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: This tragedy occurred as a result of a deliberate and hostile resistance by Democrat leaders in

Minnesota.

Democrat leaders in Minnesota with sanctuary city policies, have actively defied federal immigration law and the will of the people, and as a result

of that defiance, two Minnesotans have now tragically lost their lives on the streets of Tim Walz's state.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Stephen Collinson joins me now from Washington.

Good to see you, Stephen.

I am wondering what you're thinking. Does this look like a climb down to you by the Trump administration? And crucially, will it prove to be the de-

escalation that everyone needs?

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: I think it shows that the administration has realized that the optics of this becoming politically

unsustainable, whether it means any change to the hard-line policy of immigration enforcement, I think, is much less likely.

Clearly, the absolute shock and horror that spread across the United States this weekend, the videos of the latest shootings, which you know, this

isn't a Minnesota issue, it flashes up on everybody's phone repeatedly from all sorts of different angles, that has caused a great deal of concern, I

think, in Washington, among Republicans, and has led to this climb down from Trump.

You're hearing a lot about how Greg Bovino, who you mentioned there, the Customs and Border Protection official who has done a lot of explosive

media conferences; Kristi Noem, the Department of Homeland Security Secretary, she has been criticized for prejudging what happened on these

incidents, the two shootings in Minnesota, which are then disproven by cell phone video.

But let's remember these officials were acting in the way that they believe President Trump wanted them to act. He is the one that has put forward the

most explosive rhetoric on Minnesota in many ways. So, Trump has pushed himself into this political position, and what he has done really is turn

one of his biggest political winning issues, immigration into what looks increasingly like a liability, just because of the ruthless enforcement of

these deportations.

NEWTON: Which is startling, really, when you consider the kind of support he had going into the second term on that one issue, immigration.

You know, we have seen now 60 CEOs in a letter released by the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, they are actually coming forward, not necessarily

signing a letter that doesn't necessarily condemn anyone on one side of this or the other, but certainly calling for an immediate de-escalation and

calling state, local and federal officials to finally work together to get to those real solutions.

Now, let's go through the companies here, right? Big ones -- Best Buy, Target, UnitedHealth, also say that the sports teams, Minnesota's Twins,

the Vikings, the Wild -- all signed this letter.

[16:05:06]

Stephen, we have not seen this happen before, and that is notable that in the second Trump administration, we have not seen businesses step up. Do

you believe this is a watershed?

COLLINSON: Yes. I think that is true to some extent. Those are the kind of people that the President does listen to. We've had a lot of talk in the

first few weeks of January about how Trump is pushing his power to extreme lengths, and there aren't many checks and balances left in the United

States that potentially is one of them. It reminds me a little bit almost of the pushback last week we saw when Trump was trying to secure Greenland

to add a territory to the United States, we saw pushback from European powers and also the impact in the market, which is another area that tends

to work on Trump when he is analyzing the impact of his policies.

So yes, I think this kind of pushback is important, but there are still some very strong ideological voices in this administration, particularly on

immigration, people like Stephen Miller.

So, if there is a rowing back slightly right now, I think it's very likely that we'll see new confrontations elsewhere in the coming months as this

administration goes on.

NEWTON: Right, and see if those businesses continue to speak out, and they can speak out as well to Congress, right, Stephen. I mean, at the end of

the day, there are three branches of government here, and they can do that as well.

Stephen Collinson, grateful to you. Appreciate it.

Now at this hour, Minnesota officials are asking the court to preserve all the evidence surrounding the killing of Alex Pretti and to prevent federal

agencies from altering or destroying that evidence.

Now, earlier today, a different federal judge was asked to halt the surge of ICE and Border Patrol agents in Minnesota. State attorneys say the

entire operation is a strong-arm tactic by the Trump administration. The judge has not ruled yet, and she questioned whether she is even allowed to

tell federal officers to leave Minneapolis.

CNN legal analyst, Joey Jackson joins me now. He has been looking at this from all the angles, and I think with viewers, Joey, if you'll allow, we

need to go back to square one, right?

ICE stands for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. They are not law enforcement the way you and I would see you know, local or state or federal

police, so under the law, are they restricted in any way? And here you have a judge even saying, I'm not sure I can rule in this way anyway.

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes, Paula, good to be with you. There needs to be restrictions.

First and foremost, the federal government has a significant role to play in terms of immigration enforcement, that's clear. There needs to be,

however, doing that some guardrails and guidelines and the guardrails and guidelines start with the training of these officers in terms of what they

should be doing and what they should not. It starts with whether there should be de-escalating, that is calming down situations or otherwise

aggravating it.

There's been a lot of talk regarding the real aggressive tactics in terms of the way in which they're interacting with communities, and there is talk

as to whether or not they're even needed to be there. And finally, Paula, the real coordination, right? When the federal government, which does have

a role in immigration, as I noted, goes into cities, it should coordinate with the state and local officials to ensure that things are done smoothly.

That is not happening.

Number one, Minnesota has been clear that they do not want them there. Number two, Minnesota has indicated that not only do we not want you here,

but you're making our streets less safe. Number three, Minnesota says, look, we have enough resources to patrol ourselves, and we will coordinate

with you if you allow us to do so.

And so they took, Minnesota, the unusual step of going to court, because this is becoming unsustainable. It's certainly a public safety issue, and

as you could see from the amount of protesters and the two deaths of American citizens. The argument is, not only Minnesota, but across the

country, Paula, that enough is enough.

NEWTON: And that's because so many Americans right now are looking at their constitutional rights, now, and we're in uncharted territory with that,

Joey. When it comes to, let's say, the use of force confronting protesters, search and seizure, apprehensions. Where are we here when we look at these

ICE operations in places like Minneapolis?

JACKSON: I think we're in a whole new world. I believe that you know, force certainly and under certain circumstances is appropriate, but you have

judges telling them listen, telling them being ICE, you cannot just pellet and, you know, pepper spray and do all of these things to peaceful

protesters. What are you doing?

They have a new situation now in ICE where they have this clandestine, secretive memo saying that you can rip open doors based upon an

administrative warrant. And just to be clear, warrants that allow you to enter homes are generally signed by a judge who determines that there's

probable cause, reason to believe that the person in there should be apprehended and is otherwise wanted for criminal activity, or to be

deported.

[16:10:14]

They are these administrative warrants not signed by judges, they are signed by ICE officials who say, go get them. That's unprecedented.

And so in terms of the aggressive tactics, the use of force on people who are protesting peacefully, these administrative warrants, we are just in a

new place. And just let's be clear, in the United States, yes, the federal government has a role. I've said that, but the states have a role uniquely

to police themselves. That's why states have governors and state legislatures and other people who are elected to do the job. And the state

is arguing that this amounts to an occupation of our state, it amounts to a public safety concern.

And really, its coercion, because you just want us to accept your policies and we don't have to do so. So, we are in a different area in time, Paula,

there used to be cooperation, there is not now. These strong-arm tactics can't last. And I think the lawlessness can't last.

I mean, you have these people who are masked, right? Not identifying themselves, just doing what they want, and final point, when you have an

administration that has a kneejerk reaction, let's be clear about the last two deaths involving Mr. Pretti and the other deaths involving Renee Good,

that was just a reaction from the federal government, nothing to see here, right? Both of them are domestic terrorists. They were impeding.

Could we not at least wait for an investigation to determine what happened before you get there back? Now, the reason I say that in the event that you

kneejerk defend someone, they're going to be emboldened to do what they want and that's the argument that they're doing what they want because they

feel they have carte blanche to do so and immunities to do so, and that's just not the law.

NEWTON: Yes, and we had the Vice President J.D. Vance, who is a lawyer, a Yale educated lawyer, by the way, claiming that they had that immunity.

Joey, I have to leave it there for now, but we will be back to you as these issues continue. Appreciate it.

Now, several parts of the U.S. were transformed into a Winter Wonderland over the weekend. Only, it wasn't so great, was it, for air travelers.

Thousands of flights have been delayed or cancelled. We will tell you what to expect in the coming days.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

NEWTON: Air travelers are still facing major disruptions from a winter storm that hit the U.S. over the weekend. Thousands of flights were

cancelled and delayed on Monday. That's according to FlightAware, and that's on top of the 11,000 flights cancelled on Sunday, the most in one

day since the pandemic.

[16:15:04]

U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy told CNBC that the FAA hopes flights will return to normal by Wednesday.

Pete Muntean is in Washington for us and I don't have to remind you, it is Monday. How is all of this going down right now in terms of getting

everyone, you know back to where they need to be? And we just said it there, right? This was a significant impact on air travel, the most since

COVID.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: You know, it is interesting because when we see these major snow events, it can lead to really the deck

of cards coming tumbling down and having a huge ripple effect throughout the aviation system. I don't have to explain to a Canadian that sometimes

in the U.S., we don't deal very well with snow and some major, major hubs were hit by this snowstorm that are places that often don't see snow at

all.

I just want to show you the ramp here at Reagan National Airport. Lots of big snow mounds still out there on the tarmac here between the C Concourse

and the D Concourse. This is probably the most planes we have seen all day. Four hundred and forty flights are the typical norm that we would see here

at Reagan National Airport for a full day. Today, we are only going to see probably about half that, if we are lucky.

That is the cause, this is the effect. These are the folks who have been having to line up here at the Customer Service Desk at the American

Airlines ticket counter all day. This is actually a short line by comparison to what we saw earlier.

Today, the cancellations, just checked FlightAware, sitting at about 5,000 nationwide. Let me show you the Departures Board here at National Airport.

Pretty hard pressed to find an on-time flight today. In fact, there is an FAA implemented Ground Delay Program for flights coming to DCA right now of

225 minutes, we are talking nearly four hours of delays for inbound flights.

These are all the outbound flights and the orange are the flights that have been cancelled, the yellow are flights that have been delayed. This really

pales in comparison to what we saw yesterday. The superlative the single worst day for air travel we saw since March 30th, 2020, when COVID really

decimated the airlines.

So, today is only about half of that, although the numbers are still rising. Wish I could say the airlines were totally out of the woods and

fully in recovery mode, but a lot of parts and pieces still out of place, planes in the wrong spot, flight crews in the wrong spot. And one of the

big issues is that the airlines are sort of piece by piece, that is something that just has to be done by the airports themselves.

Some of the runways still aren't plowed, some of the taxiways aren't fully plowed, and as we saw, some of the ramps still have a lot of snow on them.

So, it is making it especially difficult for the ground crews to do their jobs as well.

NEWTON: Pete, that's a good wrap up for us. We will continue to be patient here and remember that, look, everybody is safe and that is the main thing

at this point in time.

Pete Muntean for us. Appreciate it.

Now President Trump is threatening stiff new tariffs on Canada if it enters a trade deal with China. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said his

recent talks with Beijing comply with a deal signed by the U.S. and Mexico. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK CARNEY, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: Canada respects our engagements, our commitments. We have commitments under CUSMA not to pursue free trade

agreements with non-market economies without prior notification. We have no intention of doing that with China or any other non-market economy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: Now, Trump's latest threats follow Carney's warning last week in Davos that we are experiencing a global rupture. He said the rules-based

order has given way to geoeconomics, the combination of economic and geographic factors relating to international trade, and specifically how

countries wield that economic power to achieve their political, not just their economic goals.

Economist, Jeffrey Sachs is the President of U.N. Sustainable Development Solutions Network, and he joins us now.

Good to have you here, as we've heard so much in the last few days --

JEFFREY SACHS, ECONOMIST AND PRESIDENT OF U.N. SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT SOLUTIONS NETWORK: Thank you.

NEWTON: -- about global economics and geoeconomics in particular, you point out that in the last few days, the Trump administration has started to call

this, in your words, economic statecraft. You say its economic warfare. How so?

SACHS: Well, that's actually the phrase "economic statecraft" that Secretary Bessent used. He said that the U.S. is waging an economic war, in

essence, against Iran. He talked about the fact that during the past year, the U.S. went out to crush the Iranian economy. It went out to drive the

currency to collapse and to bring people out onto the streets.

And that happened, there was tremendous unrest and Secretary Bessent said, well, things are moving in a good direction.

[16:20:10]

This is really extraordinary. I thought, MAGA meant looking after the United States, not going out to destroy other governments and other

countries. But right now, we have a kind of lawlessness in the U.S. approach. It is very personalistic.

The President just does what he wants to do. There is no congressional role. There is no claim to law, and other countries are reacting and the

markets are reacting because this unpredictability is actually extremely dangerous for the U.S. as well as for the world economy.

Why did Trump back down on the threat about Greenland last week? Well, the main factor was the stock market plummeted the day before he got to Davos,

and he listened. He can't control the stock market. He was making chaos in the international markets.

NEWTON: So you call it lawless, to use your words. Prime Minister Mark Carney called it a rupture in the world order at the instigation of the

United States, even though he didn't name it that way.

You know, ECB President Christine Lagarde said she disagreed that she thought that was going too far. Does she have a point?

SACHS: No. If you are trying to create mass unrest, bring people out on the streets and create chaos and then say that's going in a good direction. No,

you're not going too far to call that economic warfare. And to say that that's lawless. It is lawless in two senses.

It is lawless in the domestic law of the United States. We have a Constitution, the power to put on tariffs is in Article I, Section 8 of our

Constitution. It is not a whim of the President, but he is treating it as a whim. That issue is before the U.S. Supreme Court right now.

It is definitely lawless in terms of international law, which is the U.N. Charter. Unfortunately, this administration sneers at the U.N. Charter.

They forget that the United States ratified the U.N. Charter. It is a treaty of the United States. It is the law of the land under our

Constitution, a ratified treaty. So, it is not to be sneered at.

And it is definitely illegal under international law for a country to use force to bring down another government and this economic strangulation is

precisely that.

NEWTON: And you mentioned there the Supreme Court. We will see whether or not Congress will ever step in at this point.

I do want to get to the issue, though, of those sanctions and you've written extensively. You've studied this extensively in the past few

decades, not just the last few months.

The power of sanctions.

SACHS: Yes.

NEWTON: Now, the primacy of the U.S. currency to wage that economic warfare, that is key. But on their face, sanctions against Russia, Iran,

Venezuela and I've just named three, they have hurt those countries, right? But principally, they've hurt the citizens in those countries. They've not

really affected change.

What explains that -- regime change, I should say?

SACHS: Yes, that's a very good point.

I would say the sanctions on Russia have mainly hurt the European Union. They cut themselves off from low-cost energy. Maybe Trump and his friends

like that because now Europe buys liquefied natural gas from the United States at six times the price that it was paying for Russian gas.

But the sanctions just meant that Russia rerouted its oil and gas towards Asia. So, it did not bring down the Russian economy, but it did bring down

German industry. The threats that Trump made threatened the U.S. economy. They scared the wits out of the international markets.

It is strange the United States borrows from the rest of the world heavily. We are running huge budget deficits and our interest rates are rising, in

part because the U.S. is not a good bet.

And then what is also happening that's very important for people to understand is other countries are shifting away from using dollars. The

privilege that the U.S. has, that our industry and economy has, by the use of the dollar globally is going away.

Now, Trump thunders about that. Anybody that threatens the U.S. dollar, they are going to hear from us. But he can't stop that because there is no

way to compel third countries to use the dollar when it has been weaponized in this way.

[16:25:11]

NEWTON: Yes, and people are really waiting to see if that comes to fruition on those markets, especially when we talk about things like long bonds and

what those long-term interest rates are going to do.

SACHS: Exactly.

NEWTON: Jeffrey Sachs, we do have to leave it there. We will have you back. Appreciate it.

Now gold prices rose to a new record high over the weekend, hitting $5,000.00 per ounce. It is another sign that investors are rushing to safe

haven assets amid growing signs of market uncertainty. We were just talking about that, right?

Now, the gold rush follows a slew of geopolitical moves from President Trump, including those fresh tariff threats on Canadian goods.

Vanessa Yurkevich is with us in New York.

I am old enough, Vanessa, you are not to remember when investing in gold was pretty much like putting it under the mattress, right? That's not so.

And this buying opportunity that has lasted for some time in gold and this run up in price, it has really defied all of the market moves one way or

the other.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS AND POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: It has many ways, and that's why they call it a safe haven, in fact, because investors

do believe there is long-term sustainability in these two markets. And I say two markets because I am talking about gold and silver, just look at

the prices, as you mentioned.

For an ounce of gold, you're talking about $5,000.00 an ounce. Now, you're talking about a small object that is two inches by one inch. That's what

you're getting for it right now. And then silver, today, we saw it cross upwards of $117.00 an ounce, but sitting now at $104.00.

But if you look at just what gold and silver have both done over the course of the last year, you can certainly see just this incredible trajectory

that we have seen with both metals.

I believe that is -- okay, we are looking at gold right now, but that is, I believe, what gold has been doing over the past -- okay, that was -- sorry,

gold and silver. Silver is obviously trading a little lower there, but you can just see how the rise has been so dramatic, and why of course has there

been that incredible rise? Well, investors are really taking sort of taking a look at the geopolitical situation that we are in right now.

And when we talk about geopolitics, we are talking about volatility and concerns that investors have. We are talking about President Trump saying

that he wants to acquire Greenland. We are talking about the U.S. military entering Venezuela. We are talking about ratcheting up of trade wars,

including just this weekend, President Trump threatening a 100 percent tariff on Canada.

Also worth noting that when the U.S. dollar weakens, investors start to think about where they might want to put their money that holds a little

more value. Also, investors thinking a little bit more about what it means with inflation still being a little bit pesky above that two percent rate

here in the United States.

Where is this all going? Well, according to Bank of America and according to Goldman Sachs, they believe that we could see gold worth $5,400.00 to

$6,000.00 an ounce this year. So really, the possibilities are endless for this metal.

A lot of folks saying buy, but also sell. If you are someone sitting at home, an American, there is a lot of people here that are struggling with

affordability. I've spoken to a lot of coin shop owners, pawn shop owners, who are seeing a dramatic rise in people bringing in their broken jewelry

or their old silverware, walking in, thinking they can make a couple hundred bucks, and Paula, walking out with thousands of dollars. It just

shows how hot this metals market is right now.

NEWTON: Yes.

YURKEVICH: And it is really just incredible to see analysts saying that we don't know when this rise will end.

NEWTON: Right. Yes, it is amazing. The family silver, you're looking at it in a completely different way now.

Vanessa Yurkevich, thanks for wrapping that up for us. Appreciate it.

Now, Trump's pressure on Europe has led those countries to increase their Defense spending and one of the potential beneficiaries is European

shipbuilders.

Richard Quest spoke last week at Davos to the CEO of Fincantieri, who explained what it means for his firm.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PIERROBERTO FOLGIERO, CEO, FINCANTIERI: There will be an acceleration in the expenditure and the characteristic of this facility is that you can

have access to this financing if at least two nations are collaborating. So, it means the European Union wants defragmentation of European Defense

Industry.

Condition number two is that you have to spend money within 2030, so it means the European Union wants you to accelerate the expenditure truly, and

the condition number three is that 65 percent of the content has to be European.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN INTERNATIONAL HOST, "QUEST MEANS BUSINESS": Put all those conditions together, I assume it means you're getting lots more

orders.

FOLGIERO: There will be. There will be a ramp up in the demand. So, I would say that the bottleneck is on the side of the supply, so is the

availability of slots and the velocity of construction, which is for sure an area of improvement.

[16:30:07]

QUEST: At the end of the day, it is still a very, very complex business to build a naval ship.

FOLGIERO: We are using the construction methodologies we use for cruise shipbuilding, and we are cross-fertilizing, let me say, the civilian

shipbuilding with the naval shipbuilding, because the civilian shipbuilding is accustomed to run fast, to respect schedule and to cope with budget,

which are three characteristics that are very useful also on the naval shipbuilding.

QUEST: What do you prefer to build, a cruise ship or a warship?

FOLGIERO: As of today, I think we have to give priority to naval shipbuilding. It's a priority of the country, it's a priority of our

geopolitical block, and it's the geopolitical cycle we have in front.

QUEST: Because?

FOLGIERO: Because there is this, you know, the new world is, you know, giving the right priority to defense, and this is time to put more skin in

the game.

QUEST: I'm always amazed at just how big and complicated and -- the industry -- building these ships are. It's extraordinarily difficult.

FOLGIERO: It's absolutely like that. Consider that probably is the most complicated deliverable you can have in the engineering and construction

space, because we have to build a power plant for a community of 10,000 people, and you have to manage the waste stays for 10,000 people, and

manage the water. And at the same time, you have to build an accommodation hotel of 20 floors.

And then, there is the engine, and it has to go at 22 notes in full safety. You do it all this in three years.

QUEST: And it has to float.

FOLGIERO: And it has to float, according to Archimedes law.

QUEST: Does that still amaze you?

FOLGIERO: Absolutely, yes. And you know what? The workers --

QUEST: Yes.

FOLGIERO: Every time we deliver a ship, they want to visit the ship with their families, to show up to their families what the father or the mother

has been doing, and which is the miracle, I would say, of a physical product.

The world lost the beauty, the taste of having a product you can walk in, you can touch. So, it's heavy industry.

QUEST: Real industry. Making things. What gives you hope? Go on write, pop it on the screen.

FOLGIERO: I see. I see. I see. I see. Let me write it here. Stability.

QUEST: Oh.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

NEWTON: We could all use a little bit of that.

Now, the killing of Alex Pretti by federal agents has sparked debate about the right to carry firearms, after officials suggested he was to blame.

We'll have much more on the shooting right after a break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:35:55]

NEWTON: More now on the reaction to the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti by federal immigration officers in Minnesota.

Now, video footage of the moments leading up to his death contradict claims that it was done in self-defense. In fact, this video might be disturbing

to some. But as CNN has analyzed, there is a battle there going on between those ICE officers. They are hitting him with pepper spray, and in the

ensuing melee, it was determined that Mr. Pretti did have a gun that he was lawfully entitled to carry.

Now, Alex Pretti's possession of that firearm is now a matter and a subject of much dispute. FBI Director Kash Patel sparked a backlash for claiming

Pretti violated gun laws.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KASH PATEL, DIRECTOR, FEDERAL BUREAU OF INVESTIGATION: You cannot bring a firearm loaded with multiple magazines to any sort of protest that you

wanted. It's that simple. You don't have that right to break the law and incite violence.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: I'm joined by the chairman of the Minnesota gun owner's caucus. Bryan Strawser. He is an advocate for the right to possess and to bear arms

in the United States, I will add, it is a constitutional right.

I do want to start with Mr. Patel's comments there. I mean, he is basically saying that the Constitution doesn't matter. Is he wrong?

BRYAN STRAWSER, CHAIRMAN, MINNESOTA GUN OWNERS CAUCUS: He is completely wrong on the facts here. Minnesota law does not prohibit the lawful carry

of a firearm with a permit to carry. Here in Minnesota, it doesn't matter if you're carrying multiple magazines or even multiple firearms. All of

that is legal under Minnesota law.

NEWTON: And Minnesota officials have said that he was a licensed gun carry, who was registered and had done nothing wrong.

Can you tell me here what's at stake for gun owners right now, at this hour in Minnesota? Because I suspect that what happened is making many of them

nervous.

I mean, conceal and carry rights here in the United States, they have those in almost every state in some form.

I mean, what are lawful gun owners in Minnesota thinking about this now?

STRAWSER: I mean, it's important to note that under Supreme Court precedent from just a few years ago, you have the right to bear arms in public places

in the United States. We've been able to do that in Minnesota for over 20 years. In fact, the majority of states now don't even require a permit.

They have what we call constitutional carry, the ability to carry a firearm even without a permit.

You know, what we hear from our members and supporters and others in the community is that they are concerned that suddenly we have federal

officials stating that it's not lawful to do something that they know is lawful to do here in Minnesota.

NEWTON: And that would be a realistic concern at this point. Do you believe that this could spark a renewed debate on gun rights? I mean, lawful gun

owners have guns because they believe it makes them safer. Right? The federal government now is proving that's not the case.

STRAWSER: Yes. I mean, the -- I think, part of what we've seen here in Minnesota over the last 72 hours since this tragedy, is a number of folks,

even on the left, have come out and made some public statements about the right to keep and bear arms.

Former Congressman Dean Phillips of Minnesota, who just left Congress just recently, in a prior election, stated that he used to roll his eyes at that

comment about the right to keep and bear arms being you know, about the ability to resist tyranny.

And then, now, he was starting to understand what that was really all about. I think it has changed the conversation about gun rights moving

forward.

NEWTON: When you say it's changed the conversation. How so? Because you know that many in Congress here are watching this very closely. They have

basically -- the federal officials have a warning shot, if you will, pardon the pun, to gun owners all over the country that actually you may not be

safe.

STRAWSER: I think, it's woken a lot of gun owners up on both sides of the political divide about what the Second Amendment means and about the

importance of that, no matter which party controls the federal government, controls the presidency, that the Second Amendment is for everyone.

[16:40:16]

And I think, we are seeing more of that in this conversation over the last couple of days. Where do you want this to go next? I mean, you and I are

having a conversation about it, but do you think something should be done legally, and that would mean, right, an investigation, and perhaps some

action against the ICE officers themselves. Wouldn't it?

STRAWSER: I mean, what we called for in our statement Saturday afternoon was for a -- independent, thorough investigation between local, state, and

federal agencies.

Obviously, there is some disputes, and even litigation right now between Minnesota and the federal government over how to handle that investigation.

But I think it's important for folks to have something that -- from an investigative standpoint, that is independent and that we can all trust as

a part of this investigation.

We have also called for a recognition that, you know, when you are engaged in protected First Amendment activities, even while legally armed that

that's still both of those are rights that have to be protected by all levels of government.

NEWTON: I know you've put out a statement, but how do you correct the FBI director who seems to be misinformed?

STRAWSER: I don't know how to correct him, other than to counter that with our own statement about what the law actually says, and hope that he takes

action based on that.

NEWTON: OK. Bryan Strawser, we've learned a lot, and I appreciate it. Thanks so much.

STRAWSER: Yes, thank you for having me.

NEWTON: Now, U.S. stocks closed higher this week's Fed meeting and a slew of earnings that are about to come out. The S&P and NASDAQ are now in a

four-day winning streak. Hard to believe with all the uncertainty we've seen all over the globe.

The Dow gained 313 points. Want to look at some of the key components here. Apple up three percent. That's after releasing -- it will release its

report as earning report on Thursday.

Cisco up three percent after launching a new A.I. partner program.

Meantime, 3M down two percent, and it was one of the companies that signed, you'll remember, that open letter for Minnesota, and the state of Minnesota

and all authorities to deescalate.

That is a QUEST MEANS BUSINESS for now. Up next, Richard Quest and his "WORLD OF WONDER".

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(QUEST WORLD OF WONDERS)

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