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At Least 12 Storm-Related Deaths in Seven States; U.S.; 3,900 Plus Flights Canceled; Growing Outrage After Pretti Fatally Shot by Fed Agent in Minneapolis; Video Contradicts DHS Account of Fatal Minneapolis Shooting; Trump Praises Role of U.K. Troops in Afghanistan. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired January 26, 2026 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

UBAH ALI, WCCO-TV REPORTER (voice-over): And hiking, finding peace in nature.

HEATHER ZIELINSKI, KNEW ALEX PRETTI FOR 20 YEARS: He leaned into the things that he was passionate about, and that's one of the things that made him very successful.

ALI (voice-over): In a statement, another neighbor said Alex had a dog who passed in the past year or so. She said, quote, I remember how sweet it was that as his dog was more elderly, less mobile, he'd be willing to help carry him down to the yard to get some fresh air and to enjoy the outdoors. His dog would lay down, and Alex would sit with him and pet him for long periods of time. He was very caring. Pretti lived to help others.

ZIELINSKI: Could they have not killed my friend? Yes, they could have not killed my friend. They did not need to kill my friend.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: Our thanks to CNN affiliate WCCO and Ubah Ali for that report. And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:35:00]

BLITZER: We're, of course, continuing our breaking news coverage of the massive winter storm here in the U.S. From Louisiana to Massachusetts, 12 people are confirmed dead from the brutal conditions and the record-setting cold that's following it. 810,000 homes and businesses are without power this morning, and in many areas, repairing all the damage and restoring power could take days and cost many, many millions. Virginia narrowly missed being one of the 18 states to record a snowfall of more than a foot or more. Cedar Grove in Northern Virginia was buried under 11.8 inches of snowfall.

Joining us now is John Scrivani, estate coordinator of the Virginia Department of Emergency Management. John, thanks so much for all the important work you're doing. What's the biggest problems facing your beautiful commonwealth of Virginia right now?

JOHN SCRIVANI, STATE COORDINATOR, VA DEPARTMENT OF EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT: I'd say the biggest challenges we have right now is going to be the cold temperatures. Our VDOT crews and the local communities that manage their own roads are really working hard to get the ice down off the roads. Most of our major roads are clear, but we really need to get ahead of it because those cold temperatures coming behind this storm are really going to be challenging.

In our southwest areas, we do have some power outages and some power lines that our power companies are trying to restore quickly, but they are having some challenges with the ice on the lines and some of the poles.

BLITZER: How significant, John, is it that your state was spared the very heavy freezing rain that was forecasted?

SCRIVANI: It's incredibly significant for us and for the people of Virginia. We were looking at catastrophic impacts. Now, we don't think we're completely out of the woods yet. We still think with the accumulation we have on some of the trees and power lines and some of the winds that are coming our way, that we're probably going to see additional impacts.

But as you can see from our neighbors to the south and the west, they got it much more severe than we did. We were prepared to respond to something much more significant, which was what was forecasted. But thankfully, to your point, we have been spared. We've dodged a little bit of a bullet to this point. But again, I still think we have a long week ahead, and the people of Virginia still need to pay very close attention and remain prepared for this cold weather.

BLITZER: And as you correctly point out, Virginia has not seen the widespread power outages of some of the other states nearby, but it will still face bitter cold for the next several days. Are warming centers or shelters being set up for the folks there?

SCRIVANI: Yes, sir. There are warming centers and shelters across the state. Our local governments primarily take the lead on those, and we support where they need them. Again, if you need information on a place to get warm, you can call either your local community or statewide 211. 211 is maintaining a list of those warming shelters that you can go to. They are open now.

Also, we want to thank, you know, the Red Cross and some of our Medical Reserve Corps partners who are also supporting those shelters.

BLITZER: Very important. Indeed, could save lives. John Scrivani, thanks for all the important work you're doing. Thanks very much for joining us.

SCRIVANI: All right. thanks for having me, Wolf.

BLITZER: All right. for more on the winter storm, I want to bring in New Jersey Democratic Congressman Josh Gottheimer right now. Congressman, thanks for joining us. What are conditions like on the ground, first of all, in your district and your state for that matter? What are you hearing from your constituents?

REP. JOSH GOTTHEIMER (D-NJ), PROBLEM SOLVER CAUCUS AND INTELLIGENCE COMMITTEE: Well, we got whacked with about a foot of snow and plenty of ice. So, the good news this morning is the roads seem pretty clear. We're getting there. And, you know, the kids are mostly home from school today. But it's still pretty treacherous in a lot of parts. So, what we're recommending is that people stay home and stay safe if they can.

BLITZER: How concerned, Congressman, are you about the power outages amid all the deadly cold in New Jersey? What are New Jersey officials doing to ensure that the state stays safe?

GOTTHEIMER: Well, I've been in constant contact with mayors in my district and a lot of local officials. So, far, so good on the power. And we've got a few thousand out. But obviously, you know, around the country, more than a million. So, New Jersey so far has fared well. Obviously, we want to get people help immediately and get them to warming centers if they're without power and they're cold. But the bottom line is we've got to salt those streets and deal with the ice.

You know, Wolf, it's going to be cold in the coming week. You're talking about single-digit lows everywhere across our state. And so, a lot of this stuff is not going to thaw out. And we've just got to keep a close eye on all that black ice.

BLITZER: I take it schools are shut down, right?

[18:40:00]

GOTTHEIMER: Today, the schools are closed. So, my kids are bouncing around.

BLITZER: Well, be careful out there. I want to turn to Minneapolis, Congressman, while I have you. That's where we saw yet another American citizen, 37-year-old nurse Alex Pretti, fatally shot by federal agents during the Trump administration's immigration crackdown there. You often work across the aisle on the Problem Solvers Caucus in Congress. How do we de-escalate this situation?

GOTTHEIMER: I mean, I think you just put your finger on the word. De- escalation is key here. But to get there, what we need, Wolf, which I think is really important, is we're going to have to come up with a set of strict accountability measures. The Department of Homeland Security and ICE, we're not there yet. It's one of the things I had a real concern about this past week and what we obviously were voting on in the Homeland Security bill.

You know, and I'm talking about things like training, right? You've got a lot of ICE officers who are getting seven or eight weeks training compared to six months for law enforcement in my state when they go to the academy, right? You're not going to know enough in seven weeks to be able to de-escalate and deal with crisis situations like we saw with the tragedy of Alex Pretti.

We've got -- we need people to be wearing uniforms and have ID, people wearing body cameras, which I think are really important. And law enforcement wants body cameras, right? And I think that's a really important thing. And you can't just recklessly go detaining U.S. citizens as they're doing right now. We've got coordination that's really important with state and local governments. That's not happening in Minnesota and Maine and other parts of the country. We need to have that coordination. It's something I'm pushing for here. It's very, very important.

But the bottom line is, in this case, we need accountability. You need an investigation. You need transparency. The FBI and state investigators have a right to get to that information, that evidence, and make sure that we, like in all these cases, actually do what we're supposed to do, which is hold people accountable, investigate, and get to the facts.

BLITZER: As you know, Congressman, several Senate Democrats are now vowing to oppose a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security in the wake of this latest deadly shooting. This would effectively shut down several government agencies this coming Friday at midnight. Do you support that move by some Senate Democrats?

GOTTHEIMER: Well, I think the goal, Wolf, is to keep the government open, and there's a way to do it. What the Senate should do this week, in my opinion, is actually make some changes to the Homeland Security bill, put in those accountability measures that I was talking about, the training, the uniforms, and other policies in place that the cameras require, you know, requiring to wear body cameras, put those measures into place, send it back to us in the House, we'll go back to Washington, and we'll vote on it. We'll keep the government open, and to me, that's what we should do, and we should get to it.

BLITZER: I want to play for you a clip of what the former deputy director of the FBI, at one point the acting director of the FBI, Andrew McCabe, told CNN earlier today. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW MCCABE, FORMER DEPUTY DIRECTOR, FBI: We should not believe anything that comes from the federal government on this issue. We should question every assertion they make. We should ask to see the evidence. Anytime they make a claim calling Alex Pretti or anybody else a domestic terrorist, making public claims about what Alex Pretti intended when he came to the protest that morning, they don't know any of this, and yet they pose everything in the worst possible light. We know that they've misled the public on these issues before. They have no credibility. We should question everything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: So, Congressman, what do you make of that assessment? Is he right?

GOTTHEIMER: Well, I think he's certainly right that we've got to get to the bottom of this and get the facts out there, and we shouldn't just listen to what we're hearing out of the Department of Homeland Security. This is what was shocking to me when the FBI tried to investigate, and they were told not to.

Obviously, Governor Walz in Minnesota and the attorney general there have attempted to investigate. They had to go to court to make sure all evidence was preserved. You should be able to actually conduct an investigation when there's a murder, as we always would, right? That's the way things are here in our country, and we should be able to do a thorough investigation. And it should be coordinated between the federal government and the local government, the state and local government. That's the way this should work.

And so, right now, that's what I'm calling for. That's sort of the measures, Wolf, that I'm talking about that I think are really important that we ensure happen as part of appropriations package or the spending budget package that we're considering in the Senate this week, and that hopefully we'll get back in the House. That's what we need to do.

For people who -- you know, you've got a lot of people I've spoken to who have called me and said they've just lost faith. And that's not acceptable, right? We need to give people back that faith. We need to de-escalate things, as you pointed out, and make sure that we can move forward with trust and faith in the system.

BLITZER: One final question. You used the word murder. Do you believe Alex Pretti was murdered?

[18:45:00]

GOTTHEIMER: Well, that's why I want an investigation. But when someone dies like that, what you do is you conduct an investigation. I heard local and state officials say that they believe it was a murder, so they have a right to investigate it. I don't know the answer until, Wolf, we have an investigation. I've seen those videos, and by the way, it doesn't look good. And I've talked to local law enforcement here, and they said that there's so much training that you do before becoming a police officer and being in law enforcement to make sure you learn how to de-escalate and learn how to handle situations like that.

And when you have too many people on ice right now who are not getting that training, again, seven weeks versus a minimum of six months for law enforcement here in New Jersey, that kind of training, that's when you have problems arise. And so, listen, we've got to get to the bottom of the facts. All we know is that Alex Pretti is no longer alive.

And if you watch those tapes, you know, I'm sure you feel like I do, that something went wrong there, massively wrong. And we've got to get to the bottom of what exactly happened. You've got a 37-year-old ICU nurse who serves at the VA, who served at the VA, right? We have a responsibility to him and, frankly, to all these U.S. citizens who are also getting picked up randomly at Home Depots. And we saw they've, over the months, gone into schools and churches.

And, you know, we really have to rethink this entire approach. You don't want anyone who shouldn't be here to be here, right? I'm not talking about gang members or criminals. They shouldn't be here if they're undocumented. But there's plenty of people who deserve to be treated right. And there's a way to handle this. And right now, we're not following the protocols, in my opinion, that we should be.

BLITZER: At this point, Congressman, Trump administration officials have no plans to change their posture in Minnesota. In fact, the borders czar Tom Homan is headed there tonight. What's your message to President Trump about this crackdown?

GOTTHEIMER: I've heard from Democrats and Republicans who really want this crisis to be addressed around the country, of what's going on right now. So, my recommendation is they take a breath, everyone pauses for a second, and reconsider what kind of policies we should have in place for accountability, for transparency, for the training that we're talking about, for identifying yourself properly, how we're going to handle ourselves in these situations, the state and local and federal coordination that has to happen.

All these things, I believe, are critical to making sure we bring faith back to this system right now, where a lot of people are lacking trust in the system. And that's not OK. So, there's ways we can fix this.We live in a great country. We can handle this. But the bottom line is, we're not going to do it if we just refuse to face the music and address the facts here.

BLITZER: Congressman Josh Gottheimer, important points indeed. Thank you very much for joining us.

GOTTHEIMER: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:50:00]

BLITZER: After talks over the weekend with the British Prime Minister, President Trump is now praising the role U.K. troops and other NATO allies played in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attack in New York. The President faced an intense backlash for downplaying the efforts of NATO allies following 9/11. It follows a highly tense week of diplomacy in which President Trump announced the framework of a future deal on Greenland, that's the Danish territory that the U.S. has set its sights on. Nic Robertson has more from Greenland's capital, Nuuk.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: President Trump's comments about NATO troops not doing enough on the front line that's angering leaders in Europe comes at exactly the same time he's expecting those same NATO countries to do more to step up defense in the Arctic around here in Greenland. And what NATO Secretary General Mark Russel is saying is that Denmark is playing its part, it's stepping up its contribution as the NATO partners look at a way to reinforce and build NATO security in the Arctic to have longer training missions, a potential sort of tripwire force, so if there is a threat, they can ramp up troops more.

It comes as well as Denmark is getting ready to engage in high-level talks with the United States about the future of Greenland. Sovereignty is not up for grabs according to the prime minister. She says that this is a serious situation, but there is a diplomatic and political track that is ongoing. But that is also a work in progress, also unclear. And the people here in Greenland feel that they cannot trust the U.S. president at all. They don't believe for a moment that he has given up on his aspirations to have sovereignty of Greenland.

Indeed, some of the posts, the social media posts coming from the White House seem to create and further that impression here. For many people right now, it feels that they've sort of woken up or come round from some sort of fever dream. They are back where they were a few weeks ago before President Trump ratcheted up the rhetoric over Greenland, and you get a sense of that frustration with President Trump building here.

Anti-Trump posters have gone up around Nuuk, the capital, depicting President Trump with Jeffrey Epstein saying essentially no to Trump and yes to NATO. So, what President Trump appears to have achieved here is to make the people here more frustrated, more angry, pushing back on his aspirations in Greenland.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Nuuk, Greenland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: All right. Nuuk, Greenland, thank you very much for that, Nic. Appreciate it very, very much. Coming up right after the break, how more and more doctors are turning to different vaccine guidelines after the Trump administration's recent recommendations sparked a lot of confusion and resistance.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:55:00]

BLITZER: Happening now, breaking news. More protests overnight in Minneapolis after a second fatal shooting involving a federal agent. And just in, President Trump now says he's sending Border Czar Tom Homan there tonight. New response this morning from the federal government and the State of Minnesota.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. Pamela Brown is off. And you're in the Situation Room.

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