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Heavy Snow Causes Roof to Collapse in Arkansas; Election Officials Speak Out After FBI Search in Fulton County; Trump Spreads Baseless Claims About 2020 Election Fraud; Republican Lawmakers Warn that Trump's Immigration Crackdown Could Hurt the Party in Midterm Elections. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired January 30, 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]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, we have some remarkable new video to share this morning. Keep your eyes on the left side of your screen. This is a building collapse in Arkansas under the weight of last weekend's heavy snowfall. Wow. It was captured by a security camera at the Salem County Courthouse. Remarkably, no one was hurt. And storm- weary Americans in the southeast are bracing for a new winter storm now. It is a rapidly intensifying what's called bomb cyclone that could dump heavy snow and whip up hurricane-force winds. Not a good combo.

Let's bring in CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam in Virginia Beach. Derek, tell us more about where people are bracing for the possibility of these blizzard conditions.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Pamela. It's hard to believe that we're facing down another potent high-impact winter storm. This bomb cyclone you talked about is a rapidly strengthening low pressure that's going to take advantage of the relatively warm Atlantic Ocean waters and the cold air rushing in behind it. It's going to set the scene for blizzard conditions, potentially where I'm located, all the way down into the Outer Banks.

But heavy snowfall for the interior of the Carolinas, even into eastern Georgia, where Atlanta just issued a winter storm warning for the metro area of Atlanta. There's a lot of firsts with this storm as well, including the potential for the first blizzard warning issued by the Morehead City National Weather Service office, the first extreme cold watch for central Florida. I mean, we've got cold alerts all the way down to Miami-Dade County. There's the potential for some areas that won't go above freezing for over 60 hours once this storm passes.

So, look at this map. This kind of summarizes how impactful the storm is. 200 million Americans under cold alerts right now. Roughly 30 million Americans with the winter storm warnings and the impacts from the snow, which will be light and fluffy. So, this will kind of commence late tonight and into tomorrow. Tomorrow's go day, right? That's the heaviest snowfall and the strongest winds as we head into the day on Sunday, it's going to skirt along the eastern seaboard, bring impacts to the coastal areas of Massachusetts, maybe Cape Cod. But there's the snowfall totals. Raleigh, Charlotte to Asheville could get anywhere from 8 to 12 inches of snowfall. But it's the winds that will pick up this light, fluffy snow, and that will drop the visibilities. Hey, Pam, with this extended duration cold snap behind it, this could mean pipe bursting territory for locations. So, people need to be aware of that threat with this storm as well.

BROWN: All right. Quite the dichotomy of you there on a lovely beach there, Virginia Beach, and then bracing for these blizzard-like conditions. Wow. All right. Derek Van Dam --

VAN DAM: Snow-covered tomorrow. Definitely.

[10:35:00]

BROWN: Isn't that incredible? Wow. All right. Derek, thank you so much. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: Happening now, election officials are speaking out after the FBI executed a search warrant in Fulton County, Georgia, as part of a probe into alleged voter fraud in 2020. President Trump, as you know, continues to spread the baseless claims that the election was stolen from him. He falsely said on social media yesterday, quote, "Trump won big, crooked election."

So, let's put this in perspective, because it's important. Joining us now is David Becker. He is the CEO and founder of the Center for Election Innovation and Research. This is a nonprofit trying to build bipartisan confidence in elections. David, this is such an important story, and I want all of our viewers to understand why that is. When you look at Georgia, just in isolation, there were three statewide reviews of the 2020 election there, including a recount requested by the Trump campaign, I should say. All three found that Joe Biden won. What do you think is going on here in Fulton County?

DAVID BECKER, CEO AND FOUNDER, CENTER FOR ELECTION INNOVATION AND RESEARCH: Well, you're exactly right. We know exactly what happened in Georgia and nationwide in 2020. In Georgia specifically, they had paper ballots throughout the state, as the entire nation did, with the exception of Louisiana.

Ninety-eight percent of all voters voted on paper. And those paper ballots were counted multiple times and audited to confirm. And in Georgia specifically, those paper ballots were counted three times, three different ways, once entirely by hand, all before Thanksgiving of 2020. Real testament to the work of the election officials there.

We know what happened. There were multiple challenges in court. Those all failed, including those heard by Trump-appointed judges, specifically in Georgia and in some other states.

[10:40:00]

And over the course of the last five years, we've seen multiple lawsuits. We've seen defamation claims against those that lied about the election, all of which held those individuals liable for lying about the election. And yet, over five years after that, we're still seeing the president of the United States and the full mechanism, the federal government, spreading some of these lies about an election that we very much know exactly what happened.

BROWN: And the context of the timing matters because the midterms are coming up. And I'm going to get to that in just a moment. But first, I want to ask you about why in the world the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, would have been there. She was spotted there at the scene of this FBI search. President Trump said she was there to, quote, "Try to keep the election safe." In your experience, David, why would a DNI be involved in a domestic law enforcement operation like this?

BECKER: I couldn't possibly answer that. And certainly, the administration has not answered that either. The Director of National Intelligence has zero jurisdiction over domestic elections. In fact, the executive branch has very limited jurisdiction over elections in the United States. We have something in the United States called the Elections Clause of the Constitution. The founders were very wise, saying that elections should be run by the states. Only Congress has any power to regulate elections from the federal level.

The Director of National Intelligence really had no valid jurisdiction or reason to be there. It does appear that she was there. And I think it's a really important question to ask specifically, Director Gabbard, why she was there, when she learned of the warrant, who told her about it, what caused her to be down in Fulton County inside an election office at a county level.

BROWN: Yes, and we know that she had declassified these documents last year, alleging that the Obama administration had staged a, quote, "treasonous conspiracy" by claiming Russia tried to influence the 2016 election. So, that faceless claim aside, you know, I'm wondering what you think about the potential chilling effect a move like this could have on voters as we look ahead to the midterms.

BECKER: Yes, and I should just add, that wasn't the Obama administration that made -- that claimed that Russia had tried to influence the 2016 election. That was the bipartisan Senate Foreign Relations Committee, including people like Senator Rubio.

BROWN: The Senate committee, yes.

BECKER: Yes. But, you know, I think this is less about 2020 than it is about 2026 and 2028. And the reason we know that is because there was no crime that occurred. We know exactly what happened in 2020. Not only did election officials not commit a crime, they performed admirably, somehow managing the highest turnout in American history in the middle of a global pandemic. And their work has withstood scrutiny every single time, more scrutiny than any election in world history.

And in fact, there's a statute of limitations about any potential crimes in 2020 that lasts five years under federal law. By any measure, we're past the five-year statute of limitations. So, I don't expect this to result in any prosecutions or any kind of criminal charges. Which causes us to ask, why are they doing it then? And the answer might be that they're trying to further amplify and propel false claims that would inspire distrust in our elections, that would maybe indicate that the president thinks his party might not do well in the elections this year.

I don't know whether that's true or not, but it certainly seems that he might think that. And if that's the case, then we might be seeing further disinformation going forward.

BROWN: OK. So, with that in mind, what you just said, I want to play some of my colleague John King's conversation with an Iowa voter. Let's watch and then discuss.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BETSY SARKOEN (PH): There's that saying, Trump was right about everything, and that's kind of how I'm feeling right now.

JOHN KING, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): This breakfast conversation, our sixth visit with Betsy Sarkoen (ph), dating back to August 2023. Her shift, beyond dramatic. A DeSantis that a Haley voter said she would vote for Joe Biden if Trump won the Republican nomination. But she changed her mind.

SARKOEN (PH): I think Biden probably changed me more than Trump. I think watching nothing be done, you know, for four years about an open border.

KING (voice-over): Now, she gives Trump an A-, loves the immigration crackdown, just closed a big real estate sale, and thinks the economy is picking up.

Sarkoen (ph) laughed at Trump's 2020 election fraud claims when we first met. Another big change.

SARKOEN (PH): I'm starting to question the election of 2020, right?

KING: He lost the election in 2020.

SARKOEN (PH): I don't know.

KING: He lost the election in 2020.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: That really struck me, David, because you heard that voter question the 2020 election results after previously dismissing the president's fraud claims. What is your reaction to that? And just going back to your other point, what does it signal to you about the trust in the upcoming midterms?

BECKER: I have a lot of understanding for people like that voter, who have just been inundated by a constant toxic diet of lies. It's been endless for five years. If you talk to election officials, they're today being attacked and abused and threatened and harassed about alleged election fraud as much today as they were five years ago. It's really remarkable. They're exhausted. They're all public servants working diligently, Republicans and Democrats all over the country.

[10:45:00]

But I understand the voters who have supported Trump have been the target of this disinformation. They are being targeted for political disinformation, but also for donations. There's a whole economy that has grown up around the grift of election fraud in 2020. And it's understandable because elections are very esoteric. I mean, I do this for a living, but most people only think about elections when they happen, maybe once every two or four years.

And to understand all of the checks and balances and redundancies that prevent any kind of massive election fraud from affecting the outcome, it's not something that's intuitive. The best thing people can do out there, if they have any doubts about our election system and the hundreds of thousands of public servants that run that system, is to volunteer to be a poll worker.

They will see those checks and balances, those redundancies, how nothing is ever done by one person. It's always observed by multiple people. The transparency that exists where the parties and the campaigns and the candidates review everything, that's how we know Georgia was correctly counted in 2020, and in 2024 when President Trump legitimately won that state.

So, it's really difficult when there's such an economy that has grown up to target millions of Americans with lies and indeed echo what our foreign adversaries are saying. Our foreign adversaries, like Russia and China, are heavily invested in getting us to disbelieve that democracy can work for us, that our elections matter. And so, it's really important that we as Americans show up to vote, as we have for the last four federal general elections, and volunteer to be a poll worker whenever possible to support our fellow citizens. And believe in the integrity of the elections.

BROWN: All right. David Becker, thank you so much. Really important conversation. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:50:00]

BROWN: Happening now, more Republican lawmakers are warning the Trump administration's immigration crackdown could damage Hispanic and Latina support in the midterm elections. President Trump's big gains with that voting block was key to his victory in 2024. Florida Congresswoman Maria Salazar posted, quote, "Hispanics are leaving the GOP in large numbers and pretending otherwise won't fix it.

Joining us now is Republican Congressman Carlos Gimenez of Florida. He serves on the House Homeland Security Committee. I know, Congressman, you have expressed your concerns at the White House about how its crackdown is politically hurting the GOP's midterm prospects potentially. Florida State Senator Ileana Garcia, who co-founded Latinas for Trump, says the president will, quote, "lose the midterms because of Stephen Miller." What do you think, Congressman?

REP. CARLOS GIMENEZ (R-FL), HOMELAND SECURITY COMMITTEE AND ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: Well, I think I've voiced my concerns and my opposition to the crackdown. I mean, look, I have no problem with deporting criminals. I have no problem with deporting gang members. I have absolutely no problem deporting people that have active deportation orders. I do have a problem in deporting, you know, grandmothers and people that have been here for a number of years. I think there's got to be a better way.

And so, I think the American people voted for securing the border, then arresting gang members and criminals and people with active deportation orders. I don't think they voted for the extent to which the ICE operations have panned out so far. I've expressed that to the administration. And I think that we need to find a better way, a more reasonable way.

Because, look, frankly, you're not going to deport, what, 20 million people? You can't. And actually, we need a lot of these folks to do jobs here in the United States. And if you actually deport them all, then labor costs are going to go up and actually is going to go against what we want to do, which is actually drive down costs. And so, there has to be a compromise and we need to find it.

BROWN: So, what was the reception you got when you expressed these concerns?

GIMENEZ: Actually, open to it. I mean, you know, I actually had a conversation with the president about three, four weeks ago and said, look, we need to do something. We need to we need to alter the course. It's not the course. I mean, it's not changing 180 degrees. There's a lot of the things you're doing are absolutely correct. But there are -- you know, around the edges, there are some things that, you know, that are problematic and problematic for a number of reasons, which I've just stated, and we need to change that. And then he asked me to see if I could work something up for him. I have. I've sent it to the administration and I'm waiting a response to see when we can go ahead and start talking to them about changing.

Look, you know, what Homan did in Minneapolis yesterday and what he said, that he was he's kind of changing the way that ICE is working up there. I think that's kind of indicative to me that there's going to be a course correction here and it's going to happen pretty soon.

BROWN: Yes. Tell us more about what you have proposed to the White House and how much it aligns with what you're seeing now with this change, of course, with Homan.

GIMENEZ: Yes. I think, look, first -- the first thing I say is stop the raids. What you need to do is to go out and go after the criminals, gang members, et cetera, on an individual basis. Not so much, you know, rounding up people or these raids into different, you know, businesses and all. Know who it is you're going after. Then go after that individual. And that, again, you should do it on a priority basis by people that are actually a threat to the security of our citizens here in the United States. Those folks that have been here for a while, for a long time, five, 10 years, et cetera, that have kids here in the United States that may not be citizens, et cetera, we need to find a way to bring them out of the shadows, make sure that they're paying their taxes, et cetera, have a vetting process for those so that those that actually will help in America are allowed to stay. And that would be a much more orderly process.

And so, that's just some of the things, you know, that I've asked for. I think other members of my conference have asked for to kind of have a course correction and then something that I think most Americans can support. I think most Americans support, again, what I've said, but then when they go beyond that, that's where the -- you know, the rub comes in and I think we need to resolve that and do the things that Americans are supporting while at the same time trying to keep our prices down.

And at the same time really be fair with some people that have been here for a while. Now, that does not mean that there's a path to citizenship for those folks. They should not get in front of the line of anybody who's trying to get here the legal way. And I think that that's also something that some of the folks on my side of the aisle said, we can't have amnesty. I'm not asking for amnesty. I'm just saying we just need to find a better way.

[10:55:00]

BROWN: Yes. All right. I want to play this sound from Secretary Neom and what she said during this interview last night about her response to the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti. Let's listen to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You know, was that statement premature?

KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: Well, Sean, I know you realize that that situation was very chaotic and that we were being relayed information from on the ground, from CBP agents and officers that were there. We were using the best information we had at the time, seeking to be transparent with the American people and get them what we knew to be true on the ground.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Do you think that was a sufficient acknowledgment of the mistake she made just so quickly after calling him a domestic terrorist? And are you still confident in her leadership of DHS, or would you like to see someone else like a Tom Homan take over?

GIMENEZ: Look, here's my response to that is that I was the mayor of Miami-Dade County and I was also the sheriff of Miami-Dade County. And then I know that that whenever you have a police involved shooting, law enforcement involved shooting, it's best to stay as quiet as you can and say, we're going to be gathering all the information as quickly as we can. And when you get back to you, because in the fog of war, you're going to get a bunch of information that's actually not true. It's inaccurate. And then you're going to, you know, not look so good later on.

So, the best thing to do is, hey, you know, we're getting -- you know, we're hearing this, not really attack the individual, just say, here's the incident. Because to me, it doesn't matter. The individual, you know, it matters as the victim, et cetera. But what is the incident? What exactly happened? And was that shooting justifiable?

And as the head of the agency, what I always did, first of all, I didn't allow my own agency to be investigating a shooting involving the agency, in this case, the Miami-Dade Police Department, always had an outside agency involved in investigating it because you can't have, you know, your own agency investigating yourself.

BROWN: Which is what's happening right now.

GIMENEZ: And so, I try to keep us quiet -- I try to be as -- you know, as accurate as I could, but also let the process, you know, determine, you know, what really happened.

BROWN: Congressman Carlos Gimenez, nice to have you on. Thank you so much.

GIMENEZ: OK. I appreciate it.

BROWN: Coming up here in the Situation Room, we're expecting to hear from Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche at any moment now. We're going to bring you his briefing live here in the Situation Room.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:00:00]