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The Situation Room

One-On-One With Mahmoud Khalil's Lawyer; CNN Poll: 58 percent Call First Year Of Trump's Second Term A Failure; One-On-One With 2025 Buffalo Bills Fan Of The Year. Aired 11:30-12p ET

Aired January 16, 2026 - 11:30   ET

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

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PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: We have a Situation Room special report. A major update in the case of Mahmoud Khalil, he is a Palestinian activist who has been fighting his deportation from the U.S. A federal appeals court has reversed a decision by a lower court that filed freed Khalil from an immigration jail. That means Khalil, what -- who led Gaza war protests at Columbia University, is now one step closer to being detained and deported. And that's a significant win if that happens for the Trump administration and its sweeping campaign against noncitizens who join protests against Israel.

Baher Azmy is Khalil's lawyer and the legal director of the Center for Constitutional Rights. Thank you so much for being here with us. First off, what is your reaction to this new court decision?

BAHER AZMY, LEGAL DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS: The decision is really disappointing and we obviously strongly disagree with it and should note that it's a two to one decision with a very strong dissenting opinion that underscored that the decision is contrary to decisions of two other courts of appeals. But Mahmoud is not in any like, imminent danger, assuming the Trump administration acts lawfully because there's still legal avenues to challenge this decision. And the dismissal of his case won't take effect until that appeals process runs out.

[11:35:08]

BROWN: So what is next here? What legal action do you plan to take next?

AZMY: Well, and I also just sort of want to emphasize that the court did not reverse or even touch any part of the decision of the district court that found the very policy that Rubio is acting on is unconstitutional. Let's keep in mind that what the Rubio administration is doing is labeling anyone who dissents from U.S. foreign policy, in this case for U.S. support for the Israeli onslaught in Gaza is an enemy of the state simply by virtue of their constitutionally protected speech. They concede that.

There's no criminal wrongdoing, there's no basis for any lawful sanction. So they're punishing him for his speech. Six other courts have basically found this policy also unconstitutional because it's really the hallmark of what autocratic regimes do. This is the height of arbitrary detention that you'd see in places like Saudi Arabia or North Korea. BROWN: Mahmoud Khalil joined us in The Situation Room back in July. He had been held by ICE for 104 days, accused of acquiring a student visa by fraud and misrepresentation. This is what he told us about those charges.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAHMOUD KHALIL, PALESTINIAN ACTIVIST: The Trump administration wanted to find anything against me so they can deport me. They had to literally go through every application I ever applied in this country to find these bogus claims that I willfully misrepresented my green card application, but it's absolute retaliation and I did not misrepresent anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So Khalil denies the charges. Are you still fighting this core issue of the case?

AZMY: Yes, because the -- Mahmoud is right. These alleged misrepresentations are, like, made up and patently false. And it's just -- they added these charges a week into his detention when everyone realized that the original ground for his detention, the Rubio designation of his speech as contrary to foreign policy interests, when they realized that would be unconstitutional as every court is recognized. So, yes, we will continue to fight that as well and just hope for a lawful process where actual law rather than, you know, the full weight of the U.S. government coordinated to remove him is in effect.

BROWN: Baher Azmy, thank you for your time.

AZMY: Thank you.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And thanks for me as well. Just ahead, "we shouldn't even have an election." Those were President Trump's words. Now the White House is walking them back as new CNN polls reveal how a majority of Americans feel about President Trump's first year of his second term.

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[11:42:19]

BLITZER: Breaking news. CNN has brand new polling now that shows 61 percent of Americans disapprove of how Donald Trump is handling his job as president of the United States. His approval rating now just 39 percent. That same poll shows Trump has the lowest approval rating at one year over the past six administrations, including his own back in 2018.

BROWN: With us now is CNN political commentator and host CNN's Smerconish, Michael Smerconish, good morning. Good to see you. So Trump has the lowest one year approval rating of the past six administrations, including his own in 2018. What is driving this, in your view? MICHAEL SMERCONISH, HOST, CNN'S "SMERCONISH": The perception of the economy I think that James Carville is watching us right now and saying, well, yes, it's the same as it's always been. It's the economy stupid. What I find, Pamela, most interesting about those numbers, I mean, it's hard if you're a Republican to find solace in a 39 percent approval rating. But the White House, I'm sure, looks and sees that nine of 10 Republicans are supportive of this president.

Where he's really lost ground because Democrats have never liked him is among independents. And it's interesting because this week Gallup released the result of their annual party identification survey and they found that a plurality, an all-time high, 45 percent of the nation, regard themselves not as an R or a D, but as an independent. And among independents, his approval is only at 29 percent. So that's really where he's lost a lot of the momentum that he had when he won the election.

BLITZER: Michael In a new interview with Reuters, President Trump expressed frustration that the Republican Party could lose control of the House in the upcoming midterm elections and floated the idea of actually canceling the midterms. That reporter writes, and I'm quoting now, he boasted that he had accomplished so much that when you think of it, we shouldn't even have an election. Those were his words. This isn't the first time he's floated that idea, is it?

SMERCONISH: So let me first address the merit of his concern. Four of the last five presidents lost control of the House of Representatives two years into their term. It was George Herbert Walker Bush, I think, who was the exception in the aftermath of the Gulf War. So he has every right to be politically concerned.

You know, President Obama was the one who came out two years into his term and said that his party had just taken a shellacking. I hope, I pray that the President has his tongue planted firmly in his cheek when he says that. That's what Karoline Leavitt said, that it was a joke. I do believe that he loves pushing the buttons of his political opponents because he knows this kind of talk really, you know, pose them off, right. So I think that's part of the motivation in saying it.

[11:45:15]

BROWN: I want to look further at the polling. I asked DHS Assistant Secretary for Public Affairs Tricia McLaughlin, who was just on the show, about what the polls are showing on the administration's immigration crackdown, 51 percent say policies -- their policies are making cities less safe. She didn't provide answer to that and whether the administration is losing public support when it comes to immigration enforcement. How do you think what we're seeing in Minneapolis is landing with the average American?

SMERCONISH: So it's a Rorschach test. And I base that, Pamela, on, you know, a week of listening to telephone callers from all across the country as everybody analyzes the multiple views of that initial shooting incident, the one that took a life. And people are split on it, who call into my program, I would say mostly very upset about what they see, but not uniformly so.

And the lawyer in me listens to the debate and says, I don't think that there could be if there were to be charges, and the Feds show no inclination to bring charges, but I don't think that you could get a jury to unanimously convict on serious charges for that incident.

What's distressing to me is that even before the videos were all released, it seemed like everybody had suited up in their usual partisan jersey and was already rooting for one side or the other. That's frustrating.

BROWN: Yes, it's frustrating because investigations can take a while and the facts take a while to gather together to put the full picture. So we asked her about that, too. All right, Michael Smerconish, thank you. And be sure to catch Michael show, Smerconish, every Saturday at 9:00 a.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

BLITZER: And I watch it every Saturday. Excellent, excellent show indeed, Michael. Thanks from me as well.

So here's the question. How hard do you represent your favorite team? Is it enough to be named fan of the year? The football fanatic crowned by my Buffalo Bills is standing by live in The Situation Room.

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[11:51:26]

BLITZER: All right, so you all know this is about me. I bleed buffalo blue and red as you know. And I can testify. I've got the new hat. I'll put it on right now. There you go.

BROWN: I am so happy right now.

BLITZER: Because I'm an honest member of what we call the Bill's Mafia. I've always considered myself the ultimate member. In fact --

BROWN: Wolf, I was wondering if you were going to do it. You did, but you are. You're the ultimate member, I think, in my eyes.

BLITZER: Yes.

BROWN: But you may have some competition. Your crown could be in danger because there's another Buffalo native that is coming in hot.

BLITZER: I see her right there. There she is. That's Therese Forton- Barnes. She's been a Bills fan for some 60 years. And this superfan got the ultimate Bills Mafia honor. She was officially Crowned Buffalo Bills 2025 Fan of the Year. And Therese joins us now. As we always say, Therese, go Bills. The Bills posted video of you being surprised with this huge honor. It's not necessarily the Nobel Peace Prize, but it's still a huge honor. Thurman Thomas gave you the award. What was going through your mind when Bills -- the Bill's Mafia, as we call ourselves, showed you all that love?

THERESE "TEE" FORTON-BARNES, BUFFALO BILLS FAN OF THE YEAR: Oh, I was so shocked and so honored. And as you can see there, and I'm probably going to tear up right now every time I watch that video because I was so surprised. I've been a Bills fan since I was a little kid, and when Thurman, who I've known for over 35 years, presented me with it with his wife Patty, I was in awe. And I'm still in awe because there's so many other worthy people like you, Wolf, that could have that honor.

BROWN: Well, maybe next year, Wolf.

BLITZER: There's always, as we Bills fans say, there's always next year.

BROWN: There's always next year.

BLITZER: At the end of the season, we always say that. Yes.

BROWN: Not just that this is a goal but with being super fan. I feel so out of place by the way because I don't have my Buffalo Bill's hat. So we're going to have to remedy that. I'm going to have to get one of these. But Therese you've said your Bill's fandom started when you were just a kid going to games with your dad. After all these years how many games do you think you've been to?

FORTON-BARNES: I counted just home games. I'm somewhere around 350. So I'm up there. I haven't missed many since for a long time. Yes. A lot of a lot of tears were in my eyes at the last game at the stadium that we all know as the rail for Highmark Stadium of course. But yes, it's a -- it's exhilarating, so fun and I'm honored to actually represent all Bill's Mafia across the world.

BLITZER: Well you're doing a great job. You weren't just chosen, Therese, because you're a ride or die fan. You're also giving back big time. You founded what's called the Water Buffalo Club 716. That's the area code for Buffalo which celebrates Buffalo's heritage. And you share that love for Buffalo with refugee and immigrant women through the nonprofit organization Stitch Buffalo. That organization helps make your clubs iconic hats including one that I'm wearing right now. What does it mean to be recognized not just for your fandom but for the impact you're having on our Buffalo community.

FORTON-BARNES: It is such an honor that it is being recognized. I do what I do in the community and what Stitch for -- Stitch Buffalo to and helping all these refugees that have settled here torn from their countries have made all these hats. But I do it out of the love of my community and to support other women and other people in the community. So to have that recognition as a fan of the year is really incredible to me. And again I am so honored and thankful.

[11:55:06]

BLITZER: Therese, thanks so much for joining us. And as we always say go Bills. And you know what I'm going to do right now. Take off the hat and give it to Pamela.

BROWN: Oh my gosh. Now I got the hat.

FORTON-BARNES: We also say we also say horns up. BROWN: Horns up.

FORTON-BARNES: Horns up and go Bills.

BLITZER: Go Bills.

BROWN: Oh my gosh. This has made my day. 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. I know we get a lot of buzz as a result of that at WolfBlitzer, at PamelaBrownCNN.

BROWN: We'll see you back here Monday morning every weekday morning at 10:00 Eastern. Inside Politics with our friend and colleague Dana Bash starts after a quick break.

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