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The Situation Room

Minnesota Shut Out of ICE Shooting Investigation?; Interview With Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY); Interview With FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired January 09, 2026 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:30:00]

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Taking over this and excluding locals from participating in any way in this investigation.

Here's more from Mayor Jacob Frey.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JACOB FREY (D), MAYOR OF MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA: What has this administration stated as their reason for coming into cities around the country? The reason that they have stated, safety, driving down crime.

Well, let our statistics speak for the trajectory. They are clearly driving crime up. Up until last night, we hadn't had any shootings in this city other than ICE. Our city is safe. Our city is welcoming. They are making it less so.

And so it is a massive issue that they continue to exert their presence in Minneapolis and beyond. By the way, it's not just our city that is feeling the impact. I know that there are a number of legislators behind me that can speak to that.

This administration has also said that they're very pro-business. That's also garbage. I don't have a specific statistic, other than anecdotal evidence to point to, but they have had a massive and detrimental impact on a number of corridors throughout our city, including like 80 percent reductions in customer base along East Lake Street and many other corridors throughout the city.

And so bad for business, bad for safety, bad for unity, bad for democracy, and bad for this republic we want them out.

I dropped an F-bomb. I dropped an F-bomb. They killed somebody. Which one of those is more inflammatory? I'm going with the killing somebody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILD: You know, Mayor Jacob Frey was questioned about this idea -- or this question, rather, of has he come to his own conclusion? Because when you hear from leaders on both sides of this issue, you

will hear people who sound like they're making a conclusion about what happened. And what Mayor Frey said was, he's not the one doing the investigation. All they want are independent investigators from the state of Minnesota to look at this.

And that is really where they're coming from. They point to a long history of working closely with the federal law enforcement here. They just worked together. The FBI and the BCA just worked together to bring justice for the murder of a state legislator here and her husband and the shooting of another legislator and his wife. So there is a history of them working closely together.

Again, Minnesota leaders here are very frustrated they are not involved in this investigation -- back to you.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: All right, Whitney Wild, thanks so much.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: And up next: more than a dozen House Republicans breaking, yes, breaking with President Trump to save Obamacare subsidies. But can the bill now survive the U.S. Senate?

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries standing by live. He will join us right here in THE SITUATION ROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:36:11]

BLITZER: In a show of defiance against their own leadership, 17, yes, 17 House Republicans voted with Democrats to restore Obamacare subsidies that lapsed during the government shutdown.

Some Republican lawmakers are speaking out against House Speaker Mike Johnson's handling of the matter. They worry it could cost them their seats in this year's upcoming midterm elections.

Let's discuss that and more with the House minority leader, Hakeem Jeffries.

Leader Jeffries, thanks so much for being with us.

This measure is largely expected to go nowhere in the U.S. Senate, as you know. Do you have any hope at all that something could still be worked out? I know you have been speaking with some Republican leaders in the Senate.

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY): It was a big victory for the American people to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits to prevent tens of millions of everyday Americans from experiencing dramatically increased health insurance premiums that in some cases will cost them an additional $1,000 or $2,000 per month.

That's unacceptable. That's why the House was able to come together in a bipartisan coalition, 213 Democrats partnering with 17 Republicans, to deliver a decisive vote. It's now on the Senate. Now, there are Republicans who claim that there's no path forward for

this bill to become law. But that same group of people made that claim about what was possible in the House of Representatives. The reality is, the American people have made clear that they want to see the Affordable Care Act tax credits extended.

The American people understand we have a broken health care system. Democrats are committed to addressing the Republican health care crisis. And all we need are a handful of Senate Republicans to join with every single member of the Senate Democratic Caucus, and we can get this bill done in the Senate as well.

BLITZER: So is it doable? You think that'll happen?

JEFFRIES: It's extremely doable.

First of all, a bipartisan majority in the Senate in December voted on a straightforward extension...

BLITZER: I think we just lost -- at least I'm not hearing the leader.

BROWN: I can hear him.

BLITZER: Can you? All right.

BROWN: Yes.

BLITZER: Well, you -- so just repeat, so that -- Pamela, she can hear you. For some reason, I've lost the connection with you, Leader Jeffries.

You think it's still doable that there will be enough Republicans in the Senate to pass this legislation?

JEFFRIES: Let's -- listen, it's important to understand that a majority of the United States Senate currently supports a straightforward extension of the Affordable Care Act.

All 47 Senate Democrats and four Senate Republicans have already been on record in support of this. So the obstacle right now is procedural. It's John Thune indicating that they don't want to do anything to protect health care affordability for millions of Americans, including people that he represents.

And so it remains to be seen. We're calling on John Thune to bring the bill up for a vote immediately. And if that happens, Wolf, it's going to pass.

BLITZER: All right, we'll see what happens, because there certainly is a lot at stake for so many millions of Americans right now.

On some other sensitive issues, Leader Jeffries, you were among the members of Congress briefed by the Trump administration after the capture of the Venezuelan president, Nicolas Maduro. What was your takeaway from those highly classified briefings?

JEFFRIES: Those briefings left more questions than answers.

The administration has no plan moving forward. They claim they're going to run Venezuela. They can't even run the United States of America properly. And here's the reality, that the people of Venezuela should decide the future of Venezuela, not Stephen Miller, who's out of control, or Secretary Rubio, or the so-called secretary of defense.

[11:40:02]

None of them should be involved in running or deciding the future of Venezuela. More importantly, we don't need another failed forever foreign war. That's why I was so thankful by the action that the Senate took yesterday in passing a war powers resolution that will restrict the ability of the Trump administration to engage in further military action in the absence of congressional approval.

On the House side, Jim McGovern is leading a similar war powers resolution effort, and we are going to force a vote on that resolution, so we can stop the Trump administration from engaging in this reckless activity moving forward.

BLITZER: And on that issue that you raise, the war powers legislation, a handful of Senate Republicans, we're talking specifically five of them, joined the Democrats in delivering a big rebuke to President Trump's actions in Venezuela.

They voted to allow a future vote that would limit the president's powers in that conflict. The House is expected, as you correctly point out, to take a similar vote. What do you expect to happen in the House?

JEFFRIES: All we need are a handful of House Republicans to join with us, as was the case yesterday, and we can do the right thing by the American people.

It's my expectation that the votes will exist within the House Republican Conference, and you will have strong, of course, support from House Democrats, who have been leading on this issue. The reality is, the American people want the Trump administration to focus on solving their problems.

Donald Trump promised that he was going to lower the high cost of living on day one. Costs aren't going down. They're going up, housing costs out of control, health care costs out of control, grocery prices out of control, childcare costs out of control, grocery prices, of course, as I mentioned, along with everyday goods, completely and totally out of control, unaffordable. America is too expensive.

And the reality is, the Trump tariffs are making things worse by thousands of additional dollars per year. And so the American people want action to improve their quality of life. House Democrats are committed to delivering that action, as we showed yesterday. And we just want a handful of Republicans to join us, and we can begin to get things turned around in the United States of America.

BLITZER: And while I have you, another sensitive issue I want to discuss.

The secretary of state, Marco Rubio, is expected to meet next week with officials from Denmark after the White House said it would not rule out the use of military force to take the island of Greenland, which is part of Denmark.

What's your response to the administration's push to -- quote -- "acquire" the Danish territory?

JEFFRIES: Well, listen, I was in Denmark, met with the prime minister last year. She made clear that Greenland is not for sale.

And the future of Greenland should be decided by the people of Greenland, in partnership, of course, with the people of Denmark. That's the reality of the situation. Denmark is an ally, a NATO ally. You had people fight in conflicts for America from Denmark.

And they don't understand, just like the American people don't understand, this level of aggressive rhetoric. And, again, the president is focused on these extreme foreign adventures, as opposed to trying to deal with issues that matter for the American people.

As Democrats, we're going to continue to fight to lower the high cost of living, to improve their quality of life, to fix our broken health care system. And we also have to clean up the corruption that we're seeing and ask the questions. Following the money, is this the reason why we're seeing all of this aggressive foreign action?

Who within the Trump orbit is going to benefit? What members of the Trump cartel stand to benefit financially from the things that we're seeing talked about in Venezuela as it relates to oil and in other parts of the world?

BLITZER: The Democratic House leader, Hakeem Jeffries, as usual, thanks so much for joining us, important issues indeed.

JEFFRIES: Thank you.

BLITZER: And we will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:47:27]

BROWN: Well, it has been a busy week for the nation's health agencies.

The U.S. is now recommending fewer vaccines for most children, narrowing recommendations for vaccination against meningitis, hepatitis B and hepatitis A. And the Trump administration is also flipping the food pyramid, issuing new guidance for the Americans to prioritize protein and avoid ultra-processed food and added sugar.

So, joining us now is FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary.

Thank you so much for being here. You were at that White House briefing on Wednesday where the

administration announced these new guidelines. Take us behind the scenes of the discussions to create this new pyramid.

DR. MARTY MAKARY, FDA COMMISSIONER: Well, the whole system of recommending food in the food pyramid, which was corrupted by the industry and a medical establishment that propagated dogma that you just needed to avoid fat everywhere.

And that's the sort of generation that we are in. We grew up in an era where you were to pick low-fat foods and low-fat milk in school. But what we developed were giant blind spots. We never talked about ultra- processed foods, which is now 60 to 70 percent of the calories of kids in America. We never talked about the importance of protein.

The old guidelines had about half the protein that you need. And so we increased the protein recommendations significantly in the new food pyramid because protein is important for muscle development. The old number was really to prevent withering away.

We don't want our kids just to not wither away. We want our kids to thrive. So, look at the consequence of the old, corrupt food pyramid, a generation of kids low in protein, struggling with muscle mass, weak, having trouble concentrating, addicted to ultra-processed foods and refined carbohydrates.

We ignored sugar. We are now reversing that entire food pyramid to use science and not just medical dogma. This is a food pyramid -- look, we were told by President Trump, don't worry about the lobbyists. Do what you think is medically correct. And so we're talking about protein, ultra-processed foods and refined carbohydrates.

Fiber matters. The type of whole grains matters. It's not calories in equals calories out. It's the type of food that matters. We want people to eat real food.

BROWN: But this -- is there -- is the money there to change the food that is provided at schools and provided through the SNAP program?

MAKARY: Yes, SNAP right now is paying for junk food, literally paying for ultra-processed food and sugary drinks as their highest expenditure in this national SNAP program that states administer.

So, in the Trump administration, for the first time ever, we now have waivers for states to no longer pay for junk food and sugary drinks. That's a step forward. We have got to start talking about school lunches, not just putting 6-year-olds on Ozempic. We have got to talk about the types of grains that people get.

[11:50:13]

We have to talk about the importance of the soil that food comes from and the farming techniques. That is a national conversation we're hoping this new food pyramid creates in every school board in America, because you can eat whatever you want. We're living in a free country, but we have got to give people good information. BROWN: So I want to go to vaccinations and what this administration

has done on the new schedule for children, narrowing recommendations for vaccination against meningitis, hepatitis B and hepatitis A.

Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, who is also a doctor, posted -- quote -- "The vaccine schedule is not a mandate. It's a recommendation giving parents the power. Changing the pediatric vaccine schedule based on no scientific input, on safety risks, and little transparency will cause unnecessary fear for patients and doctors and will make America sicker."

What is your response to that?

MAKARY: So we had a commission from the president to look at vaccine schedules from other countries that are developed wealthy countries.

And we looked at 20 vaccine schedules throughout Europe and parts of the world. And what we found is that we are an international outlier in the United States with the number of shots we recommend, 72 doses for most kids. And most countries are in the 30s or less.

And so what we really did is not tell people not to take vaccines. That's not true. Anyone can get any vaccine they want, and they're going to continue to be paid for. But what we did is create a hierarchy, because we want to increase child vaccine adoption rates.

They're dropping. They have been dropping throughout the years of COVID. There's been skepticism about public health. There's also some vaccines on there that people don't recognize are not as critical as others. So we created a list of core, essential vaccines, creating a hierarchy, because we have got to meet people where they're at.

We want people to get their measles shot and polio vaccine and pneumococcal vaccine and Hib and other vaccines. But when you suggest that a COVID booster in a young healthy kid is as important as a polio vaccine, that's where we have lost some public health trust.

I think of it in terms of this; 40 percent of women who should be getting a mammogram are not getting a mammogram. They have their reasons. They're concerned about radiation or the discomfort or inconvenience. I don't agree. I think it's safe. But we have got to meet them where they're at and maybe offer an ultrasound that can pick up 95 percent of breast legions that a mammogram can pick up.

We can't use this all-or-nothing approach. So what we did with this revised vaccine schedule is get us closer to the rest of the world and let people know there are core, essential vaccines that we think are most important. In other words, there's a hierarchy of vaccines.

BROWN: You say getting us closer to the rest of the world, but the U.S., although it is on the higher end, is in line with peer countries like Canada, like Britain, like Australia, I believe, like Germany.

And critics of this have said that, look, this wasn't based on scientific findings and that the experts in the CDC were ignored and that basically the U.S. is trying to get in line with Denmark, a country with a far fewer population and that has free access to health care.

So, if there is an issue, they potentially would more quickly get that address in the U.S. How do you respond to that?

MAKARY: Well, we have about double the number of vaccine shots than the U.K., so the idea that somehow we are in line with the rest of the developed world is simply not true.

In France, for example, you have to be 80 years of age to get the COVID shot or have a risk factor nowadays. We had still had a vaccinate-all approach, including young, healthy kids every year, so that a 6-year-old girl needs another 65 COVID shots for the rest of her life.

We're just saying that that shot is not the same as the importance of a Hib shot. We're creating a hierarchy to meet people where they're at because we want to see a greater uptake of childhood vaccines. The measles vaccine has declined in its uptake over the last five years.

Why? Because I think public health officials used a lot of arrogance and dogma to tell toddlers to wear a cloth mask for three years, to shut kids out of school for two years, and to ignore natural immunity. People are skeptical. They saw the kind of arrogance and dogma.

And now we're dealing with low vaccination rates. We want to see those higher, and that's why we're identifying a group of core, essential vaccines.

BROWN: And no doubt people are skeptical after the way that the -- America handled the COVID pandemic.

MAKARY: Yes.

BROWN: That is very true. But just to follow up on in terms of what the findings were that drove this decision, was there any modeling done to show what might happen with hospitalizations and deaths as a result of this vaccine schedule change?

I know you're saying, look, we're just making recommendations here.

MAKARY: Yes.

BROWN: But some doctors have come out and said this could cause real harm and it's causing more confusion than building trust. So I wonder what you say to those criticisms.

[11:55:05]

MAKARY: Well, look, I have been in the medical field my whole career. I was a professor at Johns Hopkins and a professor in the School of Public Health.

There's a catechism that you're supposed to say as a doctor to recommend all vaccines. And there's some group people that have never seen a vaccine they don't like. We had disasters with the anthrax vaccine, which with the H3 swine flu vaccine, with other vaccines that have been pulled off the market, like the rotavirus vaccine.

So we're using both gold standard science and common sense. For example, the rotavirus vaccine, which is not in our core, essential vaccine schedule, that vaccine reduced the number of deaths per year in the United States from three to two with mass vaccination in the United States.

And in -- earlier in my career, that vaccine was taken off the market for safety concerns. So you look at those numbers and you can understand why a parent might want to say, ooh, 72 shots for my kid by the time of 8, I don't feel comfortable.

BROWN: Yes.

MAKARY: We don't want them to go to no shots. We don't want people to have anti-vaccine sentiment. So we are saying, here are the core, essential vaccines that have a profound impact.

And then there are other vaccines where you can get them, but have a conversation with your doctor. They're not as critical.

BROWN: All right, Dr. Marty Makary, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

MAKARY: Great to be with you, Pamela.

BROWN: You too.

BLITZER: Excellent interview, Pamela. Thanks very much for doing that.

BROWN: Thank you.

BLITZER: And, to our viewers, thanks very much for joining us this morning. You can always keep up with us on social media @WolfBlitzer and @PamelaBrownCNN.

BROWN: And we will see you back here Monday morning and every weekday morning at 10:00 Eastern.

"INSIDE POLITICS" with our friend and colleague Dana Bash starts now.

Have a great weekend.