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The Situation Room

NTSB Announces Findings on DCA Crash; Trump Administration Sidelines Greg Bovino. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired January 27, 2026 - 11:00   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 HOST: Happening now, breaking news: President Trump's border czar deployed to Minneapolis, tasked with taking control of immigration enforcement there, as a top Border Patrol official is sidelined.

Plus, new video of the minutes leading up to the deadly shooting of ICU nurse Alex Pretti by a federal agent.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: And happening now: the final chapter for the families, as the NTSB is set to vote on a probable cause of that deadly collision last year over the Potomac River.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

And we begin this hour with the breaking news. The Trump administration's top Border Patrol official, Gregory Bovino, is leaving Minneapolis, and the president's border czar, Tom Homan, is stepping right in.

Sources tell CNN Bovino has been stripped of access to his social media accounts, but not removed from his duties. More than two dozen people were arrested just last night protesting outside the hotel where Bovino reportedly was staying.

BROWN: The fatal shooting of 37-year-old ICU nurse Alex Pretti by a federal agent on Saturday has sparked grief and rage across Minneapolis and much of the country. Pretti's younger sister says she is experiencing a pain that -- quote -- "no words can fully capture," while a former patient of Pretti says he just wanted to make a difference.

BLITZER: President Trump is facing political backlash right now within his own party. And the White House appears to be shifting its rhetoric. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) QUESTION: Secretary Noem said Alex Pretti committed an act of

domestic terrorism. Stephen Miller labeled Pretti a domestic terrorist. Does the president agree with them?

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: Look, as I have said, I have not heard the president characterize Mr. Pretti in that way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: President Trump met with Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and her top aide Corey Lewandowski for nearly two hours in the Oval Office last night. Sources tell CNN the president did not threaten either of their jobs.

And there's brand-new video of the minutes leading up to this fatal shooting of Alex Pretti. We want to warn you, it's disturbing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(WHISTLES BLOWING)

(HORN HONKING)

(WHISTLES BLOWING)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right there. Right there.

(WHISTLES BLOWING)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We need more observers. They're getting out of their car.

They're going inside. Possible abduction.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Going into Glam Doll Donuts.

(WHISTLES BLOWING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Another car coming. (EXPLETIVE DELETED)

(WHISTLES BLOWING)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Back up.

[11:05:05]

(WHISTLES BLOWING)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They got gas.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: They're preparing pepper spray.

(WHISTLES BLOWING)

(SHOUTING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of here! This is our city, not yours! Get out! Get out! (EXPLETIVE DELETED)

I am not getting any closer. (EXPLETIVE DELETED) you! Get out of here! (OFF-MIKE) (EXPLETIVE DELETED)

(SHOUTING)

(WHISTLES BLOWING)

(SHOUTING)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get back. Get back. Get back. Get back.

(WHISTLES BLOWING)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Agents are threatening observers with pepper spray. They are detaining observers, as seen over there. I'm still recording, mother (EXPLETIVE DELETED). I am a lawful, legal observer.

(EXPLETIVE DELETED)

(SHOUTING)

(WHISTLES BLOWING)

(SHOUTING)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hey, that is police brutality! They are hitting that observer. They are kicking them in the face.

(EXPLETIVE DELETED)

(GUNSHOTS)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What the (EXPLETIVE DELETED)!

(GUNSHOTS)

(SCREAMING)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What? What? What?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Joining us now is former Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo.

What is -- what stands out to you from that video?

MEDARIA ARRADONDO, FORMER MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, POLICE CHIEF: Yes, Wolf, Pamela, thank you for having me.

What stands out to me in that video is, it is just absolutely -- it's tragic that Mr. Pretti was killed on that Saturday. From what DHS' official first statements were, and they used the word there to -- there to attack and there to cause massacre to law enforcement, everything in that video that you just showed your viewers and certainly the ones that I have seen, that does not appear at all to be the case.

[11:10:08]

And so it is absolutely disturbing. And it is my hope, Wolf and Pamela, that I think there has to be a criminal investigation to examine everything that occurred, to gather all the evidence and to ensure that Mr. Cruddy's constitutional rights were not violated.

BROWN: I interviewed a Republican Congressman, Pete Sessions, and he said, well, what would help here is if the local police were able to get involved and sort of separate the ICE and CBP agents from the protesters to create a barrier.

What do you think about that?

ARRADONDO: Well, I think that, first off, Minneapolis Police Chief Brian O'Hara only has 600 officers for the 450,000 residents he has. They have to still maintain 911 service. They have to go to those calls 24/7.

They do not have the personnel, in my opinion, to assist the 2,000 or 3,000-plus federal agents that are there on the ground. I absolutely do believe communication needs to occur. I was -- it was welcoming to hear that border czar Tom Homan has said that he would reach out and meet with local county and state officials.

Hopefully, that communication will lend itself to bear some fruit in terms of the efficiency moving forward, but I just don't think that they have the capacity to do that.

BROWN: I wonder -- I mean, you see those minutes leading up to the shooting of Alex Pretti. Tensions are rising. There's yelling at the ICE officers. What do you suspect is going through the officers' minds in that video leading up to the fatal shooting of Pretti?

Talk about how a mind-set can shift when you're wearing your uniform and you're in a tense situation with whistles, yelling, et cetera, and how perhaps you could sort of dehumanize those that you consider on the other side.

ARRADONDO: Well, first off, I would say that local police are used to -- and I will certainly attest that Minneapolis police are used to demonstrations.

They're used to people coming out. They're used to, at times, hearing people shout things at them. That's not uncommon. You're certainly -- any law enforcement officer will be trained to be more aware of that. But no one -- when you put on that uniform and badge, your two sacred duties are to build trust and sanctity of life.

So, no one wearing that badge should ever start thinking about dehumanizing someone. And so I think that one of the key things is going to be, now that border czar Tom Homan is going to be here, one of the things that communities and local officials are going to be wanting to see, are the tactics going to change?

It was these tactics, whether it was Ms. Renee Good's killing and certainly now Mr. Pretti's killing, it was these tactics that went viral around the country. And so people are going to be expecting is there going to be a change in the tactics?

BROWN: Yes.

As you watch these videos, you looked at the Renee Good shootings -- shooting and the different videos there, and then you look at this, from a tactical standpoint, is any of the standard operating procedure? I know, obviously, you were from a different agency, but just from a law enforcement perspective here.

ARRADONDO: At least from the videos that I have seen, the tactics in this, it looks very disorganized. It's unclear who, if any, was giving commands.

Me and my good friend John Miller with CNN were talking about, did anyone yell "Gun"? And, by the way, could Mr. Pretti even hear those commands? Many of these agents were wearing masks. It's wintertime. It's very difficult to articulate when you're muffled with wearing these masks.

And so the tactics, all of these things are going to be called into question here. And it just seemed very disorganized, confusing. And who was actually in charge at that scene?

BROWN: Yes. And that's an interesting point about wearing the masks and how that can make it sort of muffled, difficult to hear. And you see one of the agents in the video take the gun away that Mr. Pretti had.

He was lawfully carrying a permit for -- to carry a gun. We want to note that. Was the onus on that officer, you think, to make it clear to everyone there at the scene, look, he's -- this -- I have his gun, there's no issue here on that front?

[11:15:04]

I just wonder about that.

ARRADONDO: Yes, Pamela, and training throughout law enforcement in the country, they're trained, when an officer spots a weapon, spots a gun, removes the gun, as soon as they observe a weapon on the person -- it could be a knife -- they're communicating that immediately with their fellow partners who are there.

Once that gun is now no longer a part or attached to that person, that also has to be communicated too. It is very unclear, once that agent removed the weapon of Mr. Pretti, that -- what was said, what was acknowledged? And why did the shots begin to happen after his weapon was removed from him?

BROWN: On his back, no less.

Former Minneapolis Police Chief Medaria Arradondo, your perspective is so important as we try to make sense of this and we await for a full investigation and all the facts to come out. Thank you -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Pamela, CNN's Priscilla Alvarez is joining us once again.

Priscilla, you have some new reporting this morning about Alex Pretti. What are you learning?

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Wolf, we are learning, along with my colleague Jeff Winter that Alex Pretti had an encounter with federal officers a week before his death.

We have also learned that federal immigration officers have been collecting information on protesters and agitators, and they had details about Alex Pretti, again, before that fatal shooting on Saturday.

Now, about this earlier incident, he, according to sources, had stopped his car, all of this a week prior, observing ICE agents chasing what he described as a family on foot and began shouting and blowing his whistle.

Now, Pretti later told this source that five agents tackled him and one leaned on his back, which led to a broken rib. According to the source, said -- quote -- "That day, he thought he was going to die."

Now, Pretti was later given medication consistent with treating a broken rib, according to records that have been reviewed by CNN.

We have also learned that ICE agents had received a memo from the department -- a Department of Homeland Security official asking that they include information on protesters and agitators that they encountered into a form.

Now, it's unclear whether Alex Pretti's information was part of this form intake, but this comes within the context of the Department of Homeland Security's repeated warnings about federal law enforcement officers at risk as they do immigration enforcement operations.

And just this morning, the department publicized an online tip form to share information about people allegedly harassing ICE officers. Now, of course, we have heard from Trump officials who have said that some database would be created for those arrested for impeding law enforcement.

We also saw a video over the weekend of one encounter in Maine where an officer says that the protester is going to be inserted into a database. The Department of Homeland Security, however, has declined that any such database exists, but all of this to say about Alex Pretti that we know that he had an encounter with ICE a week prior, that sources tell me and my colleague Jeff Winter that he had a broken rib from that encounter, and that it appears that he was known to federal law enforcement prior to that deadly shooting on Saturday. I should also note, Wolf, we do not know if, when the officers had

tackled him to the ground on Saturday, whether he knew -- whether they knew who he was in that moment -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, Priscilla Alvarez with new reporting, thank you very, very much.

Still ahead: Nearly a year after that deadly collision over the Potomac River, the NTSB is meeting to determine what went wrong and how to keep it from happening again.

BROWN: Plus: YouTube and Meta all headed to trial. The landmark case with one big question: Is social media designed to get kids addicted?

Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

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BLITZER: All right, there's more breaking news.

The chairwoman of the National Transportation Safety Board explaining in part what led to a midair crash between a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet nearly one year ago; 67 people were killed in the worst U.S. aviation disaster in more than a decade.

Here's part of that hearing.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER HOMENDY, CHAIR, NATIONAL TRANSPORTATION SAFETY BOARD: Today, you will hear how deep, underlying systemic failures system flaws aligned to create the conditions that led to this devastating tragedy, from design of our airspace around DCA to the limitations of see-and- avoid, which we have been warning about for over five decades, to failures of entire organizations to evaluate and act on readily available data, heed repeated recommendations and foster robust safety cultures, to name a few.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: And joining us now, CNN aviation analyst and former NTSB managing director Peter Goelz.

Peter, thanks so much for joining us.

I want to play a little bit more from the hearing this morning. Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOMENDY: The similarities between the midair collisions we investigated 50 years ago in 1969, in Ketchikan in 2019 and in DCA -- near DCA in 2025 are chilling. (END VIDEO CLIP)

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BLITZER: They are chilling, indeed.

The chairwoman says they have been warning about something like this for more than five decades, Peter. How concerning is that?

PETER GOELZ, CNN AVIATION ANALYST: It's terribly concerning, Wolf.

And her opening statement was really extraordinary, I thought. I mean, it was compelling and it laid out a picture that simply is unacceptable in this day and age.

I mean, the confluence of the rotorcraft route and the fixed-wing route at one of the country's most complex and busy airports, there was only 75 feet of clearance. And people knew it. There were problems and they did nothing about it.

And it is just extraordinary. And the hearing so far, Wolf, has really been riveting. And I think, this afternoon, the Army is going to come under severe scrutiny for their role in this accident. But, so far, it's been compelling to the 10th degree.

BLITZER: And, as those of us who live here in the D.C. area know, the Reagan National Airport is very, very close to the Pentagon, where a lot of helicopters are often flying in and out. Is that the problem, that these helicopters are too close to Reagan National Airport?

GOELZ: Well, the problem is, is that the traffic with these helicopters, some of which are not essential to national security -- and we have never really found out what that percentage is of the flights.

That route, Route 4 down the Mount Vernon -- the Potomac River and the Mount Vernon route, is simply unsafe; 75 feet of clearance where it converges with the approach pattern to one of the runways at National is simply a disaster waiting to happen, and it happened.

And if I could, Wolf, this hearing really is important, because it shows to the public that there are federal agencies that can do their job without interference, that can tell the truth without controversy and can protect the American public. It really is quite an extraordinary day.

BLITZER: It certainly is.

The NTSB has released a simulated video of the view from the helicopter and the airplane that was involved in the crash over the Potomac River as part of their hearing today. The final report is also expected to include recommendations.

So, what recommendations do you believe will come out of all of this?

GOELZ: Well, the recommendations are going to be, I think, that they review this route and they close it permanently and that they review the essential nature of flights around DCA and that the Army reduce the number of nonessential flights, and that aircraft start using and rotorcraft, military and civilian, use this device ADS-B out, which will identify their location to traffic -- to air traffic controllers at all time.

The military has resisted this being put on their aircraft for national security reasons. I think that's a bogus response.

BLITZER: And DCA, to explain to our viewers who don't know, is the Reagan National Airport right outside of Washington, D.C.

Peter Goelz, as always, thank you very, very much.

GOELZ: Thank you, Wolf.

BLITZER: And up next, there's more news we're following, a federal appeals court undoing restrictions on ICE tactics against protesters in Minneapolis, as a new border official takes over the immigration operation.

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