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The Situation Room

Flavor Flav at the Olympics; Iran Nuclear Talks; Interview With Rep. Carlos Gimenez (R-FL). Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired February 16, 2026 - 11:30   ET

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

[11:29:10]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Happening now, the Department of Homeland Security is ensnared in a partial government shutdown, as Democrats demand sweeping reforms to President Trump's immigration enforcement operations.

Even though Congress failed to fund the agency before Friday's deadline, nearly all DHS workers will remain on the job. And the public, it's unlikely to notice major changes, unless the shutdown, this partial one, is prolonged.

Joining us now to discuss is Republican Congressman Carlos Gimenez of Florida. He serves on the House Homeland Security Committee.

Congressman, thank you so much for coming on.

So, you have criticized in the past how this White House has conducted its immigration crackdown. Are you open to working with Democrats to reform ICE? Are any of the suggested reforms on the table something you'd be willing to negotiate on and be open to?

REP. CARLOS GIMENEZ (R-FL): Depends on the issue.

[11:30:00]

I know that one of the things that they ask for is body cameras on all ICE agents. I have absolutely no problem with that. I think I have stated on the show that, when I was mayor of Miami-Dade County, one of the first things I did -- as the mayor, I was also the sheriff for the Miami-Dade Police Department -- was put body cameras on all our police officers, because I think body cameras can answer a lot of questions that are left kind of open whenever you don't know exactly what happened in a situation.

Body cameras have a way of answering those and then putting people's minds at ease. Most of the time, the officers' events, the way that they saw it, it was actually what happened. And so we were able to calm down a lot of the community on, let's say, police shootings and all that.

A lot of that was calmed down through the use of body cameras. So I'm good with that. As far as unmasking ICE agents, I could also -- probably not, because many of those are involved in undercover operations and you don't want to put them in danger.

But there are a lot of things that we could probably sit down and negotiate on. But the problem is that, look, ICE is funded through 2028. And so there's really nothing here, no pressure to do something about ICE, because ICE is funded. They're going to continue to do whatever it is they're doing right now.

And so this whole thing about shutting down DHS to prove a point, I think it's political theater, to be honest with you. And when I was a member in Congress when the Biden administration was in control, I never voted to shut down the government. I think it's counterproductive.

And, in the end, it costs more money to open it up.

BROWN: Just to follow up on the masks, so when targeted operations happened before with ICE, they didn't wear masks. Most law enforcement across the country does not wear masks.

Now, ICE agents say they wear them because they don't want to be doxxed for their own protection, but that is a big sticking point. And given the fact that, in the past, they didn't wear masks to do their operations, is there any wiggle room for you there to say, OK, look, to get this government back open, to have some more reforms, let's unmask the agents?

Because, as you know, that has been a huge point of contention.

GIMENEZ: Well, actually, I think that's -- to me, it's like a red herring, to be honest with you, OK?

I mean, like I said, I was the sheriff of Miami-Dade County. Whenever we conducted a lot of SWAT operations, yes, some of the folks were wearing masks. I used to be a SWAT medic myself. I understand the aspects of why you did that, especially if you have undercover agents that are working or on that operation. You don't want to unmask them.

Do they all have to be masked? I can agree that, no, not all of them have to be masked. It all depends on what their particular assignment is. Some need to be masked. Some don't need to be masked.

But I don't think that that's the issue why you close a government agency down. You're not going to -- the people in TSA, Coast Guard, et cetera, all these folks are going to be working without getting paid. It's really an injustice to them.

If you have an issue on policy, let's discuss it where it needs to be discussed, at -- on the floor of the Senate, the floor of the House, pass bills, and then have the president sign it. And that becomes law. It's not -- this whole thing about shutting the government down doesn't make sense -- make any sense to me.

It only hurts the innocent, which is really the people that are doing the job. And at the end, we open it up anyway, OK, and usually things don't change that much. But I think, again, this is political theater. And the Democrats have to do what they have to do, I guess, to satisfy their base.

BROWN: All right, let me just follow up with you on this recent case.

The DOJ dropped charges against these Venezuelan men who DHS initially said had attacked them. And one of the men was shot. And as you heard Todd Lyons, the head of ICE, he came out and said they're on an administrative leave and that lying under oath is -- it's a crime.

We have seen several examples where DHS comes out with a narrative, says something, and then evidence later comes, and it's just not -- that narrative is not upheld by the facts. That's one example. There was the Alex Pretti case, where DHS said he was brandishing a gun.

How concerned are you about DHS' credibility. And what are you doing to make sure that DHS is telling the truth when these incidents happen?

GIMENEZ: I'm very concerned.

Look, the things -- again, I go back to my days as mayor and sheriff of Miami-Dade County. Whenever we had an incident, the best thing to do is say, we have to gather the facts, see what happened, and then we will come out, OK,with our side of events.

But, again, that's why it's so important to have body cameras, right, so that you can see exactly what happened and what transpired before the event.

BROWN: But what are you going to do about it? What are you going to do about it?

Because they are going to distribute body cameras, according to the DHS secretary. So that's in motion. But, like, what can you do about it as a member of Congress?

GIMENEZ: It's very little that I can do about it as a member of Congress, because this is part of the administration.

[11:35:02]

What we can do is complain to the administration and say, hey, I think that, before you come out and you implicate or you say your version of events, you may want to make sure that those version of events are correct.

You know, one of the things that bothers me is somehow this person is a terrorist or that person is terrorizing them, and you put all these labels on people.

Look, it's the incident. You go back to the incident, here's what happened. I don't care the individual -- who the individual was. It's about the incident. Was that officer justified in the use of deadly force or any force?

And that has to come through an investigation, and hopefully through an investigation that's conducted by an outside agency that really has no dog in the fight, so that the public can have confidence that the agency is investigating, is being -- the incident is being investigated by a neutral investigator and that what comes out is -- were the facts. That's what the public wants to know.

BROWN: And just quickly...

GIMENEZ: Who is at fault? And -- who is at fault? And then if, in fact, the officer was at fault, what are you going to do about it? And the officer has to face justice, like every other American.

BROWN: Just very quickly, have you conveyed your concerns to the White House?

GIMENEZ: I have conveyed my concerns to a lot of things to the White House, OK?

BROWN: What of?

GIMENEZ: And, certainly -- I -- my concerns about that, my concerns also about the entire operation.

Look, the American people are fine with controlling the borders. We all want that. And that's already happened. We're fine with deporting criminals, deporting gang members and those with active deportation orders. There's a debate and we need to have the debate about everything else.

If you're going after folks that have been here 10, 15 years, are working in our community, yes, they may not have a legal status, but are we really going to deport 20 million people, 30 million people? No, because we don't even want to, because they're part of our economy. They have been part of our community.

But we need to have that debate and we need to find a solution. And, yes, I have expressed that to the administration and that we need to change course. We don't need to go back to the Biden era, OK, where you had these open borders and millions and millions of people were coming across.

But now that we have controlled the border, now we need to have the debate about immigration as a whole and fix it once and for all.

BROWN: Congressman Carlos Gimenez, thank you.

GIMENEZ: Thank you.

BROWN: And just ahead: Are the U.S. and Iran inching closer to a nuclear deal or to confrontation? The military assets headed to the region as a new round of talks hang in the balance.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:42:04]

BROWN: Well, we have got some new developments this morning on talks between the U.S. and Iran. Reports say a potential nuclear deal could be expanded to also include

an economic agreement. White House envoy Steve Witkoff and President Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner are expected to lead talks in Geneva tomorrow as they did in previous negotiations.

And with us here to discuss, CNN national security correspondent Kylie Atwood and CNN global affairs analyst Brett McGurk.

Kylie, first to you.

How high are the expectations for these talks?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: They're certainly not very high.

When you listen to what U.S. officials are saying and Iranian officials really, it's very clear that neither side expects that they're heading into this planned set of talks tomorrow, the second of which we have seen in recent weeks, with a framework for any deal to be discussed on the table.

We heard from the secretary of state, Marco Rubio, over the weekend saying that it's Trump's preference for a deal to be reached, but not saying that there are any specifics that they are really digging into at this time.

Listen to part of what he said over the weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: And I think if there's an opportunity here to diplomatically reach an agreement, that addresses the things we're concerned about, we will be very open and welcoming to that.

But I don't want to overstate it either. It's going to be hard. I mean, we're dealing -- it's been very difficult for anyone to do real deals with Iran because we're dealing with radical Shia clerics who are making theological decisions, not geopolitical ones.

But let's see what happens.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: Now, the Iranian foreign minister who is heading into these talks tomorrow said that the Iranians will be bringing real ideas, but they're not going to be bringing -- quote -- "submission before threats."

So they are clearly very cognizant of the fact that the U.S. military's presence in the region has dramatically ramped up in recent weeks. Of course, the second aircraft carrier, it's on its way to the region.

And President Trump said last week that if Iran doesn't agree to a deal, it's not going to be good for them, so effectively linking these two things. We will have to watch and see where this goes. Secretary Rubio has been clear in saying that this U.S. military presence is about defending U.S. forces and U.S. allies in the region.

But it's very clear that there could be an offensive military action taken against Iran if these talks actually don't produce any tangible results or movement forward.

BROWN: Yes, what do you think? How much pressure is the second aircraft carrier really putting on Iran right now, in your view, Brett?

BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: This military deployment, I'm looking at very carefully as an analyst. This is an operational deployment. So it's two aircraft carrier strike groups. It is the what you call high-demand, low-density assets, which the Pentagon is very reluctant to deploy, such as all these air defense systems, all getting into place, aerial refuelers.

And it'll take another few weeks to get this really all set before, I think, the military commanders would say to the president, you now have an option, a military option, should you choose to use it.

So I think we're in about three weeks to a month or so of trying to see if diplomacy can succeed. We all hope it can. But I agree with Kylie, I think, very low expectations, because we have talked about, is there a zone of a possible agreement, a ZOPA?

[11:45:06]

Here, the table really isn't even set. The Iranians are saying they will not discuss their missile program, they will not discuss taking enrichment off the table, enriching uranium, which is really the key to their nuclear program. Of course, they can't enrich right now after the strikes over the summer.

And without those things, you really don't have the elements for a deal. I have also spent a lot of time negotiating with the Iranians in Geneva or Oman. These are complex, protracted issues. It takes a long time.

So having a meeting in the morning in Geneva tomorrow is really unlikely to resolve things. I think the Omanians will be there. They usually like to put a positive spin on things. I think you might hear there are constructive talks.

But really, if you look behind the scenes, we're gearing up for a potential military operation. I think the Iranians are not taking that seriously. I think they don't think Trump will follow through. And so over the next few weeks, we will see. I'm very skeptical that, again, the elements here are for a deal.

I hope so, but I think this is heading for a confrontation. I would say one more thing. The missile program is not a superfluous issue, OK? The U.N. Security Council has imposed all Chapter 7 sanctions on Iran's missile program. They were reimposed last year. That's because Iran has used their missiles, hundreds of missiles in

the sky -- I was in the Situation Room back in October of 2024 -- against Israel. There was an unprovoked attack. This missile program is serious. And so to do a deal that does not address the missile program or Iran's treatment of its own people after the massacres we saw, I just think is very right now impractical and unlikely.

Iran wants to focus just on the nuclear, but I think those days are over. It has to be a broader deal. And that is clearly not in the offing.

BROWN: All right, Brett McGurk, Kylie Atwood, thank you both. We appreciate it.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[11:51:02]

BROWN: It is day 10 of competition at the Winter Olympics, and right now a huge battle on the ice.

The undefeated U.S. women's hockey team is playing Sweden in the semifinals in Milan with the U.S. leading 2-0. So let's look at the medals. The United States is currently in fourth place with 17 medals behind Norway, Italy and the Netherlands. And it's not just the world's top athletes lighting up the ice.

Plenty of familiar faces are also being spotted wandering around the streets of Cortina, Italy, during the Winter Olympics.

CNN Sports' Coy Wire caught up with Team USA's biggest fan, veteran rapper Flavor Flav.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Athletes are out here chasing gold. We found the man who is TV gold.

Flav, good to see you, man.

FLAVOR FLAV, MUSICIAN: Yo, what's up, Coy?

WIRE: Pleasure to see you.

FLAVOR FLAV: How you doing, Coy?

WIRE: Sitting reminiscing about the very last time I was at the Olympics trying to bust A rhyme. I was at the house of WBD. I look up, who do I see? Yes, boy. It's Flavor Flav.

You said, yes, Coy.

(LAUGHTER)

WIRE: All right, I'm going to stop it there.

FLAVOR FLAV: And that's my boy.

WIRE: There we go.

Listen, you have done the Summer Olympics, now your first Winter Olympics. What do you make of it?

FLAVOR FLAV: Yes.

Hey, yo, man, let me tell you something. I'm looking to watch my girl, Kaysha Love do her thing. You know what I'm saying?

WIRE: And Elana Meyers Taylor has an incredible bobsleigh, right, for Team USA.

FLAVOR FLAV: Yes.

WIRE: It's just so inspiring as a mom of children that have disabilities, as you can only imagine, is so difficult. And here she is, one of the best ever at bobsleigh. I'm really looking forward to her.

FLAVOR FLAV: Yes. Yes, no doubt.

Well, the reason why too I say Kaysha Love is because I went up to Park City and I took a bobsled ride IN the four-man bobsled. Coy, that ride was crazy, but I really enjoyed it. And see, I'm an adrenaline junkie. I'm a big kid. I never grew up.

WIRE: What was it like?

FLAVOR FLAV: But I really enjoyed it. And, see, I'm an adrenaline junkie.

WIRE: Yes.

FLAVOR FLAV: I'm a big kid. I never grew up. You know what I'm saying? I like exciting things.

And then I saw the skeleton. I said, oh, my God, I got to try that. Yo, Coy. You let your boy Flav get on the sled.

WIRE: Come on.

FLAVOR FLAV: I topped out at 66 miles per hour, bro. I enjoyed it so much, Coy, I joined the team.

WIRE: You have hyped up arenas all around the world. When you're here hyping up these athletes, you bring them life and joy.

When you see them, what reminds you of your own grind when you were coming up in the hip-hop game?

FLAVOR FLAV: Well, it reminds me of how I wanted to be accepted when people saw me perform. And when I go out there and I perform, I give it my all. And I just

wanted people to really recognize that and embrace it. So that's what it reminds me of when I see these athletes get on their sleds and stuff and they slide.

All they want to do is be recognized for the hard work that they put in. No matter how hard you try, you don't give up, number one. You know what I'm saying? And as long as you keep trying, you're guaranteed to succeed. And don't let failure be discouragement.

You know what I'm saying? Because part of success is failure. It takes a lot to get out there and try. There's a lot of people that's scared to get out there to do that. But the ones that's out there doing it are the ones that have the heart. You know what I'm saying?

And those are the ones that's given us our entertainment too, because it is an entertaining sport.

WIRE: Absolutely.

FLAVOR FLAV: Yes, it's an entertainment -- and absolutely don't only make vodka, baby. Hey.

WIRE: All right, Flavor Flav, thank you so much for being here, man. I can't wait to watch you continue to inspire these athletes out here, inspire everyone you come into contact with. I really appreciate you, man.

FLAVOR FLAV: Hey, I just thank you guys for letting me be here. This is an honor and a pleasure in the perfect measure. And I'm going to keep this memory as a perfect treasure.

(CROSSTALK)

WIRE: Yes, boy.

FLAVOR FLAV: Yes, boy.

[11:55:00]

WIRE: Let's go.

FLAVOR FLAV: Yes, Coy.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BROWN: Got to love Flavor Flav.

The American women's bobsled team competes in their third heat this afternoon, and we are rooting for them to bring home the gold, of course.

Finally this hour, give this little girl the gold; 6-year-old Scout Pim Neill -- Girl Scout Pim Neill from Pittsburgh isn't just knocking on doors. She is knocking down records. The pint-sized powerhouse decided to think outside the old cookie jar and use the power of social media to sell cookies this year.

Well, her campaign went viral, and she has sold over 100,000 boxes to customers in all 50 states. That's a whole lot of Thin Mints. Officials with the Girl Scouts of Western Pennsylvania are calling her achievement unprecedented. Talk about a smart cookie. Our congrats to her. Wow. Amazing.

Thank you so much for joining us this morning.

"INSIDE POLITICS" with our friend and colleague Dana Bash is up next.