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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
DOJ Investigating Minneapolis Governor And Mayor Over Alleged Obstruction; Trump Says No Reason To Use Insurrection Act "Right Now"; New York Times Analysis Sheds Light On Moments Before ICE Shooting; Judge Rules ICE Must Curb Use Of Force In Minneapolis; On Patrol With Immigrant Advocacy Group On Patrol In Minneapolis; Son Of Deposed Iranian Shah: "The Islamic Republic Will Fall"; DOJ Continues To Review Epstein Files But Cannot Say When They Will Be Released; 21 New Pardons From Trump, Including One For A Woman He Let Out Of Prison Before. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired January 16, 2026 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Again, something you wouldn't have thought that we'd be saying a few months ago. The FAA is warning of potential risks when flying over the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Mexico, as well as Central and South America.
Now, the advisories are similar to the ones issued following U.S. strikes targeting suspected drug boats around Venezuela. The FAA is going even further. They banned flights over the Caribbean during the U.S. operation that captured Venezuelan leader, Nicolas Maduro that, of course, took days to unwind.
The FAA has not said what potential military activity could be behind the newest warnings. Thanks for watching. AC360 starts now.
[20:00:41]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": Tonight on 360 breaking news in Minneapolis, the Justice Department now investigating the state's governor and city's mayor for allegedly obstructing federal law enforcement officers.
Plus, a new frame by frame video analysis by "The New York Times" sheds new light on some of the most fundamental questions about Renee Good's final seconds. I'll talk to one of the reporters about what his team discovered.
And later, a new pardon from President Trump. Why he just gave a woman a second get out of jail free card. He granted her clemency in his first term. She got convicted of another crime in 2024. And as of this morning, the President has once again made her a free woman.
Good evening, we begin tonight with breaking news in Minnesota and the showdown between the Trump administration and Democratic leaders on the ground. The Justice Department is now investigating Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey. A source confirms this to CNN.
Now, the investigation apparently centers on possible obstruction of federal law enforcement. Both Walz and Frey have been fierce critics of the Trump administration's response to the death of Renee Good. Opening an investigation into them is certainly a dramatic escalation in this battle between the White House and these leaders. While the DOJ is now investigating the conduct of Democratic state and local leaders, they made clear they are not investigating the officer who shot and killed Renee Good.
Now, earlier this week, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement, "There is currently no basis for a criminal civil rights investigation. The DOJ Civil Rights Division typically launches investigations into law enforcement related shootings to make sure that officers did not breach the rights of the shooting victim."
Blanche's a statement came amid a flurry of resignations in the Minnesota U.S. Attorney's Office, as we reported. At least six prosecutors left after pressure to focus the probe of the ICE officer shooting onto Good's widow, Becca Good, and the actions of Renee Good herself. When reached for comment about the investigation, Governor Tim Walz did not confirm it to CNN, but accused the federal government of, in his words, weaponizing the justice system and threatening political opponents. He called that a dangerous authoritarian tactic.
Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, just released a statement that reads in part, "This is an obvious attempt to intimidate me for standing up for Minneapolis, our local law enforcement and our residents against the chaos and danger this administration has brought to our streets."
Now, news of the investigation came as Deputy Attorney General Blanche and FBI Director Kash Patel were on the ground in Minneapolis. The FBI director posting these photos to social media, along with the caption that read in part: "This team is working 24/7 here, cracking down on violent rioters."
And this was the scene today at the Whipple Federal Building, the epicenter of protests in Minneapolis. The building serving as a staging facility for ICE agents, DHS officers and Customs and Border Protection personnel.
This all comes one day after President Trump threatened to invoke the Insurrection Act in Minnesota. Late this morning, he issued a social media post that read, in part, "The governor and mayor don't know what to do. They have totally lost control and are currently being rendered useless. If and when I am forced to act, it will be solved quickly and effectively."
This afternoon he was asked what the trigger would be for the Insurrection Act to be used in Minnesota.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: It's been used a lot, and if I needed it, I'd use it. I don't think there's any reason right now to use it, but if I needed it, I'd use it. It's very powerful.
(END VIDEO CLIP) COOPER: For the latest on the investigation to Governor Walz and Mayor
Frey, we start with Kaitlan Collins, CNN's chief White House correspondent and anchor of "The Source." What more are you learning about this?
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN'S CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT AND THE ANCHOR OF "THE SOURCE": What we know so far is that a grand jury has issued subpoenas. So, this investigation is real. It is underway. It's definitely in the beginning stages based on what we know.
But what we've also learned tonight is we don't believe that Mayor Frey or Governor Walz's offices have actually been served these subpoenas. Neither of them had gotten any notice about this investigation until we had reached out to our sources and then reached out to them for comment on this.
And so, the scope of it is not entirely clear, but what we do know is that it's around allegations of obstructing federal law enforcement, and that's really just been pointing back to nothing they've done physically but the words that they have said, what we've heard from Mayor Frey, what we've heard from Governor Walz, who have been very outspoken and critical of the federal surge that has been happening in their state, about 3,000 agents are actually there on the ground.
COOPER: It was the mayor who that first night earlier in the week, said, get the "eff out of --"
[20:05:05]
COLLINS: And then Governor Tim Walz this week said, encouraged people to record ICE officers as they were, agents as they were carrying out these enforcement operations and telling them to call 911 if necessary.
Now, the administration has been very critical of that, but whether or not that warrants an investigation or that meets the standard of criminal behavior, obviously, remains to be seen how the administration is going to prove that.
COOPER: Governor Walz gave a speech in, you know, when he said, you know, protest, protest peacefully, don't -- and the mayor, I think, recently gave a speech in which he said, also, you know, don't fall into the trap of, you know, giving them what they want and creating violence.
COLLINS: Yes, and the administration has argued that they are helping contribute to this and make it a hostile environment for these ICE agents and federal officers who are still on the ground.
We've heard the exact opposite, obviously, from Governor Walz and Mayor Frey, who have said, no, they just don't want all of these federal agents inside their cities. They don't think that they're necessary, and they think they're the ones who are actually making the tensions on the ground worse, which they were building way before the shooting death by that ICE agent of Renee Good.
And so, we'll see where this goes and if they actually get these subpoenas, hopefully learn more about the investigation.
COOPER: Yes, Kaitlan, we'll see you on "The Sauce" at 9:00.
The federal former prosecutor, Jeffrey Toobin, joins me right now. Also, bestselling author. So, Jeff, has the governor or the mayor done anything, as far as you can tell to warrant a federal investigation? Or is this just, you know, the thing that this White House would do political -- whether it's political retribution or just, you know, sowing chaos.
JEFFREY TOOBIN, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: This week began with news that the Justice Department was criminally investigating. Jerome Powell, the head of the Federal Reserve, basically to coerce him into lowering interest rates.
Now, the week is ending with news of a criminal investigation of these two Minnesota officials who were trying to protect their city and state. What's going on here is the Justice Department is doing the political bidding of the White House. This has never happened before, even during the Nixon administration, this sort of politicization of the Justice Department.
I mean, you know, we've worn out the phrase shocking but not surprising, but that's what's going on with this Justice Department.
COOPER: Well, Jeff, let me give you the pushback that we've had guests on this program. You know, Republican supporters of the White House say, which is, well, look, Justice Department always is under the President. You know, Robert F. Kennedy was the Attorney General for his brother when his brother was President. Eric Holder was a close friend of President Obama.
TOOBIN: Absolutely, I mean, the Justice Department has always been a Cabinet Department of the President. But you have to look at what they're doing, not just the relationship and what you see is criminal investigations.
And remember, it's also the crime -- the failed prosecution of James Comey, the failed prosecution of Tish James, this endless use of the Justice Department against the President's political enemies.
It's always true that the Justice Department is part of the Executive Branch, but what you have to do is look at what they are actually doing. And these investigations seem, as far as anyone can tell, and I'm certainly one of them, have nothing to do with actual violations of the law and everything to do with the political agenda of the President.
COOPER: Do you think this is one kind of step toward preparing people for an Insurrection Act?
TOOBIN: You know, the President has been dancing around that. You know, the last time, as I understand it, that the Insurrection Act was used over the objection of local officials was by President Eisenhower during the school integration crisis. I mean, this is something that has almost never been done in American history, and it would be a very dramatic step. And remember, the Insurrection Act involves the military, not the National Guard.
So, what you're talking about is moving tanks and the U.S. military, not the National Guard. You know, our soldiers are trained for many things, but they are not trained for controlling demonstrations in American cities. And it is a chilling thought to think that they might be brought out when Minneapolis is again, as far as I can tell, is, you know, there are protests, but there is nothing particularly out of the ordinary. There's not a great deal of violence -- it is just people exercising their First Amendment rights.
COOPER: Well, the thing is, if military was brought in, they would be helping ICE to continue, you know, seeking people, questioning people, asking people for their I.D. And the only way they're really doing that would be blocking civilians or kind of quelling any protests from civilians so that ICE can go about their functions, I assume, or they are helping secure every location where ICE is and is operating.
[20:10:19]
TOOBIN: I guess that's what they would be doing. But frankly, I mean, this is also unprecedented. We don't know what American military troops look like on the troops on the streets of American cities. That is a sight we have not seen over the objection of locals since Little Rock in the 50s as far as I understand it.
And that is, you know, what you're supposing seems like one possibility but, you know, these troops are not trained to do this. And as far as I can tell, there's no need for them to do anything at this point.
But the President doesn't want protests, doesn't want people exercising their First Amendment rights. These are not violent protests that are anything out of the ordinary and the idea that American troops would go in is a very chilling thought.
COOPER: Yes, Jeff, we'll see you later in the hour for the pardon story, because that's a whole other thing.
I want to go to Minneapolis now. CNN's Shimon Prokupecz.
Shimon, what's the situation outside the federal building tonight? Last night there was some movement and then it got a more, you know, there was more connection, and I guess teargas later at night.
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, yes. We were in the middle of that last night, Anderson.
I'm actually, Anderson, surprised we're seeing a larger crowd than I expected here tonight. Probably close to a hundred people. You know exactly, where they were last night, just outside the entrance into this federal building. I mean, its freezing out here tonight, but these people are determined. They've been here, a lot of them have been here all day. And we've actually seen more people show up here tonight. But so far for tonight, this has been peaceful here.
I will say to you, you know, last night, Anderson, we were talking about what are the local police doing? Well, for the first time, I don't know if they were listening to us last night or what, but were actually seeing Sheriff's Deputies driving around here. They've put up signs saying that we can't park our vehicles on this street.
So, we're seeing at least a bigger engagement from some of the local law enforcement, the Sheriff's Deputies that are out here now patrolling the exterior, and they're even going inside and patrolling that as well.
COOPER: All right, Shimon Prokupecz, thanks. We'll continue to check in with you throughout the evening if warranted.
"The New York Times" is out with a frame-by-frame video analysis of the fatal shooting of Renee Good. I'm going to talk to one of the reporters, because what they found in this frame-by-frame analysis is really interesting. We'll drill down on it.
Later the Justice Department says they continue to review the Epstein files, but can't say when the next batch will be released. I'll be joined by Congressman Ro Khanna, one of the sponsors of the bill, demanding they all be made public.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:17:24]
COOPER: New reporting tonight that President Trump's team is increasingly concerned about slipping support for his immigration policies. AXIOS is reporting that private GOP polling and chaotic scenes of immigration enforcement on T.V., like we are seeing right now in social media is concerning Trump advisers. One told AXIOS President Trump, "doesn't like the way it looks. It looks bad," they said.
Another source telling AXIOS that several Republicans in Congress have expressed their concerns to The White House. The drop in public approval is supported by CNN's new polling out today. You can see in March, the President had a net positive rating on his handling of immigration. Now, he's pretty much underwater by 16 percentage points.
AXIOS' senior politics reporter, Marc Caputo joins me now.
Marc, how do you square The White House's apparent concern with what people are seeing playing out in Minnesota, with decisions to surge immigration enforcement action in Minneapolis and to investigate the governor and the mayor? That doesn't sound like they're taking the foot off the gas pedal.
MARC CAPUTO, AXIOS SENIOR POLITICS REPORTER: Well, no, they're not taking the foot off the gas pedal. They're essentially in it and one of the things that the Trump White House doesn't want to do is look as if it is weak, look as if it is backing off amid protests and controversy.
You saw it with J.D. Vance, he took to The White House podium and lectern the other day immediately after the shooting in Minneapolis, and sort of set the edge, scolded the media for the way it was covering it and said essentially that it was full steam ahead.
Now, that said, that's their public posture. Privately, all big controversial decisions in any White House is going to produce a lot of conversation and differing opinions among different advisers. And there is a class of advisers both inside and outside The White House, that are looking at the polling and are saying this is bad.
In fact, there's no polling out there even by Republican pollsters, including some of the pollsters who have provided these surveys to The White House, which they have seen that makes it look as if Trump is on solid ground, he's not. This used to be a strong suit, and now it isn't.
COOPER: It's interesting because, you know, during the election, the President talked about this a lot. At the Convention, they were holding up signs saying "mass deportations."
CAPUTO: Sure.
COOPER: If you're going to do mass deportations, it's not going to be just the hardened -- the hardest core criminals. And I mean, is it that -- the administration, they're not having any second thoughts on the policy itself, it's just the optics and the public opinion they're concerned with?
CAPUTO: By and large it looks as if its rooted essentially in raw political calculus. Midterms are coming up. Donald Trump is the incumbent President. He's a Republican, Republicans hold the House and the Senate. And generally, in a situation like that, it means that Republicans are probably going to lose control of the House, and they don't want to face the investigations. And essentially, the sand in the gears the opposing party would throw once they take charge.
[20:20:10]
For Donald Trump, when he looks at the videos, which he sees, he spends time on social media. He is a visual person and understands the effects on these things. Again, he doesn't like what he sees and what we're seeing, we're seeing windows smashed. We're seeing masked agents pulling people out of cars we're seeing the shooting. That doesn't mean that Donald Trump doesn't support the policy, but he understands the effect its having on public opinion.
And according to some, he is becoming somewhat uncomfortable with this. He wants this to continue. Again, he is setting the edge or J.D. Vance did set the edge, and I do expect that there is going to be more law enforcement, there is going to be more of a surge, but eventually they're going to start looking for an exit ramp, which is going to happen at a certain point. If you just think about it, there's only so many illegal immigrants they can collar in Minneapolis anyway and if they do surge more and more federal officers there, that's going to happen sooner than later.
COOPER: They might also want to consider doing more than 47 days of training for you know, for new hires. I mean, it seems like some of this is just a lack of experience in the streets, in these kinds of crowd settings and obviously, more training might help with some of the chaos that we are seeing in some of the behavior. And certainly, some of the images that we're seeing.
Marc Caputo, appreciate you being with us. Thank you.
There's still many questions, outstanding questions about what happened in the critical moments leading up to the killing of Renee Good during a confrontation with ICE officers last week as additional videos of the shootings continue to surface.
"The New York Times" is out with a very detailed new analysis syncing up multiple videos from different angles, going frame by frame and creating really the fullest video image picture of what transpired.
Here's a portion of their analysis centering around the position of the officer in relation to Miss Good's vehicle. This is from "The New York Times".
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DEVON LUM, REPORTER, NEW YORK TIMES VISUAL INVESTIGATIONS (voice over): The cell phone is focused squarely on Miss Good. She looks down, shifts into drive, and begins turning to the right away from the agent.
Cut to this high angle and zoom in. We can make out the agent's body and his arm filming. We can also see at the same time he's beginning to lift his other arm.
On these cameras, we can see what's happening around Agent Ross. The other agent is yelling orders and reaching into Miss Good's SUV.
Her front tires spins as she continues turning right. Agent Ross is at least a few feet away from Miss Good's SUV. He does not appear to move out of the way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: And I'm joined now by one of the reporters who worked on that video analysis from "The New York Times," Devon Lum.
Devon, so that video that we just saw, what is the significance to you in that?
LUM: Right, so, what we're seeing in that video is the agent who eventually shoots Renee Good, moving from his position near his own SUV in front of her vehicle as it's moving. So, law enforcement agents are not instructed to do that. They're told the direct opposite because it places them in danger, like we see it.
COOPER: Also, I mean, what you're saying in the video is that she is turning the wheel almost like a three-point turn. She had backed up and now she's turning. Does it indicate in the video that that she was, I mean, this is one of the questions the President said that she ran over the officer. That clearly didn't occur. Was she aiming for him? Was she trying to turn away?
LUM: Right, so, we can see in the video, there's a split second where the tires of her car are pointed towards the agent, but it's not because she's angling those tires at the agent. It's like you said, she's in the middle of completing a three-point turn. So, she was reversing with the wheel turned all the way to the left to flip the front of the car to the right, and was in the process of turning to the right.
So, if you play the video further, you can see those wheels are moving away from the agent.
COOPER: There's also the question of was the agent who killed Miss Good, was he actually hit? Though we've seen his cell phone camera video, there seems to be, you know, a jostling of the camera, whether that's him smashing against the car, I'm not sure. I want to show this other video that's part of your analysis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LUM (voice over): This is also the moment many have said, it looks like agent Ross getting run over and it does when watched at full speed. But looking more closely, we can see --
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: We had some problem with that. Can we try to rerack that and play that again? Because that's important.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LUM (voice over): This is also the moment many have said, looks like Agent Ross getting ran over, and it does when watched at full speed. But looking more closely, we can see in multiple angles that there's a visible gap between the vehicle and his legs, indicating his feet are positioned outside the SUV's path.
The agent's left hand is still against the vehicle and, gripping his phone. We see as he fires, it's recording the clouds and the trees overhead. It's not because the agent is knocked to the ground.
The other angle shows he's still standing, continuing to maintain his grip on his phone and his gun, and we see a clear and growing gap between his body and the SUV as he fires a second shot.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:25:35]
COOPER: And that -- there's four shots you're reporting.
LUM: There are three.
COOPER: Three shots, okay.
LUM: Correct.
COOPER: So, the second and the third shot, which I think we have a freeze frame maybe of or a re-racking of the second and the third shot. That's a from a different angle than the first shot and is it directly into the window?
LUM: So, you know, we're not able to establish the direct path of the -- of each bullet that was shot, but what we can see in the video is by the time that he's firing his second and third shot, there's a clear and growing gap between where he's positioned and where Renee Good has been turning.
All right, so the first shot looks to be a little bit more directly potentially through the windshield. But again, we can't establish that through the visuals at this moment. But at the moment of the first shot, he has his hand on the vehicle as its turning and pushing this direction and is pivoting away, right?
And you can really see that pivoting motion when he fires the second and third shot. And that gap continues to grow as she drives past, and it becomes more of a firing through the side.
COOPER: I want to play another piece of your analysis that shows -- we'll, let's play this next one.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LUM (voice over): It's at this point in the cell phone video where it first looks and sounds like the agent is getting knocked violently.
On the other camera, we can see what's happening. Here is Agent Ross aiming his gun at Miss Good? And here is his outstretched arm, leaning toward her vehicle, which is barely visible behind the Tahoe.
His phone, which is gripped in his left hand, flips over when the agents hand lands on the front of the vehicle. There's an audible thud when it hits. The camera rotates up towards the sky.
Again, while it appears the agent is getting knocked over, we can see that's not the case from the other angle, which shows he is standing with his hand near the headlight, his torso and legs away from the vehicle.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: So that knock in that, in the agent's camera, which when you first hear it, it sounds like he's being hit, that that's actually the phone in his hand making impact with the car.
LUM: Yes, it's really important to acknowledge that the video that came out last Friday, from the perspective of the agent, was not being recorded by a body camera. It was the cell phone that he was holding in his hand.
So, when we see some ruffling, some darkness, some shaking, it's not that he's being knocked back, it's that his hand, which is holding the camera, is being moved around by himself as well as the motion of the car.
So, when we hear a thud and the camera is flipping upward, you know, pretend you're filming, holding a camera like this and something is coming towards you and you want to put your hand on that thing in front of you. The camera is going to flip up, right?
And so, when it makes contact with the car, which is turning and driving, it's going to push back in this direction. So, that's what we see when we see his face and you know, the shift from facing the car to upward. It's not him being knocked over. It's the motion is of his hand.
COOPER: It's the motion on the vehicle and it moves toward his chest as the car is moving --
LUM: Yes.
COOPER: But his legs are out.
LUM: Yes, so he's positioned back, kind of leaning forward like this, but his legs are out of the path of the vehicle and he is trained on Renee Good that entire time.
If you watch the video, his shooting hand is remarkably stable throughout that entire portion. And, you know, even after this contact with his hand, despite being on a slippery road, and making contact with the vehicle, he's still on his feet.
You know, he's sliding a little bit, but he hasn't been knocked to the ground. He hasn't lost a grip on his camera, and he has not, you know, stopped aiming directly at Miss Good.
COOPER: Devon Lum, appreciate it. Thanks very much.
You can find the full video on "The New York Times'" home page. It's fascinating. Take a look.
Up next, more from Minneapolis. See how civilians are taking action there in the streets responding to ICE activity. CNN did a ride along with a group of observers out on patrol. Here's why they say they are out there.
And later, there are nearly two dozen new pardons, including a woman getting out of prison a second time because of the President's help.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:34:00] COOPER: We've got some breaking news from Minnesota. A federal judge has just issued a potentially significant ruling stemming from a lawsuit brought by a group of citizens who'd been monitoring ICE activities. Now, to be clear, this suit was brought last month before the killing of Renee Good and before that spurred further anger and protests.
In her order tonight, a judge, Katherine Menendez, prohibited federal officers, at least temporarily, from arresting and retaliating against peaceful protesters. Judge Menendez is also blocking the officers from using pepper spray against peaceful protesters, including those who are observing ICE operations.
More now from Minneapolis.
There's an immigrant advocacy group on the ground there who say they are monitoring ICE officers. They're trained, they say, to advocate for the legal rights of those being detained. Now, Renee Good, who was fatally shot last week by an ICE officer, was not part of this group.
Our reporter, Isabel Rosales, went on patrol with them and here's what she saw.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ISABEL ROSALES, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The phone buzzes and they hit the gas.
RYAN PEREZ, LEADERSHIP AND ORGANIZING DIRECTOR, COPAL: OK, I'm getting an alert. Federal activity in Bloomington.
[20:35:05]
ROSALES (voice-over): ICE has been spotted.
PEREZ: We're heading to a -- it sounds like it's a business location.
ROSALES (voice-over): These are legal observers with immigrant advocacy group COPAL, part of a network of 5,000 trained civilians who monitor federal immigration enforcement in real time.
PEREZ: Hey, we're observers with COPAL.
ROSALES (voice-over): We spent the day with members of the group as they traveled around Minneapolis, responding to calls about ICE activity. Here, they missed the federal agents by mere moments.
PEREZ: This business was targeted by ICE and they've took some people and --
ROSALES (voice-over): Ryan Perez, a self-described ICE watcher, says he has answered more than 100 of these tips.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Back away.
ROSALES (voice-over): And that number increases by the day with an influx of federal agents in Minneapolis.
PEREZ: So our observers are trained to walk in and say, I demand to see a warrant. Show me a warrant.
ROSALES: So you're legal observers that are not quiet.
PEREZ: Ours are not quiet. We said, it's your First Amendment right to document, yes? It's also your First Amendment right to be loud.
Continue recording. Focus on the camera.
ROSALES (voice-over): And with their notes and videos, they create a legal record.
ROSALES: What types of people sign up to be observers?
PEREZ: People that look a lot like Renee Good. We have a lot of moms. We have a lot of retirees.
ROSALES (voice-over): In the 24 hours after her death, Perez says the group saw a three-fold increase in the number of people signing up for their constitutional observer program.
PEREZ: To say this, the killing of Renee Good lit a fire under the community would be an understatement.
ROSALES (voice-over): Kateri Heymans is one of them. She's been alarmed by the number of federal agents flooding her hometown.
KATERI HEYMANS, LEGAL OBSERVER, COPAL: Someone put the name of Renee Good here on this fence.
ROSALES (voice-over): And Good's killing inspired Kateri to register as an observer the very next day. This is her first time out on patrol. Some rules, no touching. Stay 8 feet away from agents. Observe. Document. Use your whistle.
PEREZ: And so the whistle keeps people safe because it says this is effectively a war zone.
ROSALES (voice-over): Then another alert.
PEREZ: Have your phone ready? We're three minutes away. So it's good to start having your phone ready.
HEYMANS: Even videos of documenting things can really help people because sometimes people don't know their family is being taken away.
PEREZ: You hear the president saying that observers are obstructing and violating.
ROSALES: Are they?
PEREZ: So our observers, I can only speak for our peaceful and following protocol. ROSALES (voice-over): Our last stop before sunset brings us to a tense scene outside the Whipple Federal Building, which has become the epicenter for protests.
ROSALES: Whoa, whoa.
PEREZ: We see a bunch of agents with riot gear on the right side here. It looks like they're ready in case of an escalation on the left side of protesters.
We want to document this just like any other law enforcement activity.
ROSALES: So what we're seeing right now is federal agents coming in and driving in unmarked vehicles. And they have detainees in the back. This is the Whipple Building where they're being taken for processing. And anytime we see one of these vehicles rolls in, you can see a rise of emotion with these activists who are yelling and chanting.
ROSALES (voice-over): Around a dozen people ended up being arrested later. DHS claims the activists assaulted law enforcement. Among the shouting crowds and remnants of pepper balls, these legal observers stand out in neon, making sure someone is always watching.
Isabel Rosales, CNN, Minneapolis.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Well, up next, the son of the late deposed Shah of Iran weighs in on the latest protests and predicts the regime will fall, saying it's, quote, "Not if, but when." I'll talk it over with our Fareed Zakaria.
And later, remember the Epstein files? There's still a lot more that legally should be released. It hasn't been. I'll talk with Congressman Ro Khanna, who co-sponsored the bill, demanding their release.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:43:20]
COOPER: The son of the late deposed Shah of Iran held a press conference today in Washington where he predicted that the end was near for the country's current government. Meanwhile, President Trump today did not reveal whether he was ready to pursue military action in Iran despite a U.S. carrier strike group reportedly deploying to the Middle East.
Here's what he said when asked about reports that U.S. partners in the region convinced him to, for now, hold back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did Arab and Israeli officials convince you to not strike Iran?
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Nobody convinced me. I convinced myself.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Joining me now, Fareed Zakaria, host of CNN's Fareed Zakaria at GPS. I mean, it certainly does seem like he has stepped back. I mean, he was encouraging protesters, keep protesting, take -- try to take over buildings. Help is on the way. Nothing showed up.
FAREED ZAKARIA, CNN HOST, FAREED ZAKARIA GPS: Yes, it's tough to tell exactly what happens with Donald Trump. It's often kind of about him wanting to take a win, to be able to announce a win, just as he did in Venezuela, right? It was like, we're going to get rid of this regime. And then what they end up doing is they just get rid of Maduro. They keep the entire regime in place.
COOPER: Right.
ZAKARIA: But that way, Trump can declare he won. Similarly, here, it seems like the win he's taking is, I threatened them, and they have now assured me they're not killing anymore. There's no evidence that that's actually true. There was a lot of, you know, the regime has been pretty repressive. There are reports of thousands of people dead. But in Donald Trump's narrative, he threatened them, they backed down, crisis over.
COOPER: You know, the deposed -- the son of the Shah, do you think he's right that it's not if but when this regime falls?
ZAKARIA: No, I think it's going to be -- you know, this regime has been in power for a long time. They dug their heels in, they have guns, money. It's going to be tough.
[20:45:03]
But I think he did a very good job, which is the one thing that the Iranian opposition has not had, is a kind of agenda, like, what is it we want? And what he did is very systematically layout. This is what I see as the timetable. This is what I see as how we would get a transition to democracy.
And here's the kind of Iran we are going to try to unify around an end to clerical rule, separation of church and state, end of a war against America and Israel, guarantees of individual rights, a return of private sector and, you know, and free market activity. Very sensible agenda, very smart of him to do that.
But, you know, remember, he's been out of the country for --
COOPER: Right.
ZAKARIA: -- 35 years, and it's not clear how traction he has on the ground.
COOPER: Right.
ZAKARIA: But I think he did exactly what he should have done. And as he's always done, present himself more as a facilitator of a move to democracy. But look, you need -- you often need more than that. You know, you need the opposition on the ground to be more organized. You need the regime to crack. You know, often you need to see divisions within the elites.
COOPER: I mean, the fact that it's like the Internet shut down, people can't communicate with each other if communications are being monitored. I mean, you know, they have a very effective, you know, secret service and, you know, repressive apparatus built into the state.
ZAKARIA: Yes, I mean, one of the things the United States could do is try to restore Internet service through Starlink --
COOPER: Right.
ZAKARIA: -- and things like that, because, you know, remember the Arab Spring, Anderson, when we were all covering it, one of the things that helped all those protesters coordinate activities, figure out where to go --
COOPER: Right.
ZAKARIA: -- was social media, Internet, cell phone.
COOPER: Yes.
ZAKARIA: That's all been shut off in Iran.
COOPER: Yes. What do you make of Israel's position here? By all reports, Prime Minister Netanyahu sort of talked to the U.S., asked them not to do anything.
ZAKARIA: I have a feeling that everyone realizes that this is a very high stakes enterprise at this point. If you are really going to try and figure out how you get rid of a regime, you know, how do you make sure -- the most likely scenarios, frankly, that the the clerical regime falls, but the military dictatorship stays in place.
COOPER: Right. So would that be the Revolutionary Guard?
ZAKARIA: Revolutionary Guards. They're the guys with the guns and the money.
COOPER: Right.
ZAKARIA: Because 25 years of sanctions, 30 years of sanctions, the Revolutionary Guard now runs most -- they run the smuggling, they run the black market, they run a lot of the legitimate enterprises. So they've got the guns. They've got the money. They'll push aside, just like in Venezuela.
They'll say, oh, yes, we've had regime change. They'll push aside some of those people. So -- or it could descend into chaos. You know, I mean, look at Syria.
COOPER: Yes.
ZAKARIA: Look -- so I think anyone who's close enough to the region and might suffer the consequences knows, look, let's make sure we have a plan.
COOPER: Yes.
ZAKARIA: Let's make sure that there is an actual path forward.
COOPER: Yes. Fareed Zakaria, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
ZAKARIA: Thanks.
COOPER: It has been nearly a month since the deadline for the Justice Department to release the Epstein files. That's since it's passed. The DOJ says they have made substantial progress on them, but still can't say when more will be made public. The two co-sponsors of the bill compelling their release are Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna and Republican Congressman Thomas Massie. They filed a brief now asking for a special master to oversee the release. That's a move the DOJ is now fighting.
Congressman Khanna joins me now. So, Congressman, what's your response to the DOJ saying you and Congressman Massie don't have legal standing to ask the court for basically anything?
REP. RO KHANNA (D-CA): Well, we're not intervening formally. What we said is that the Department of Justice has not complied with the law. They have not given us the documents that the law requires, such as the survivor statements to the FBI, and that the judge should order them to comply with the law.
And the judge has ordered the DOJ already to explain whether they are complying with the law. I believe the judge is going to help us get these files.
COOPER: Do you believe the president is trying to divert attention from the fact that these files have not been fully released, that the law that was passed has not been fully followed?
KHANNA: I'm not a conspiracy theorist, so I certainly don't think that the actions in Venezuela or Iran are some kind of distraction from the release of the Epstein files. What I do believe is that this has broken through real culture, not just politics. I mean, when you have a 40-year-old factory worker confronting the president saying you're a pedophile protector, the president understands that there are a lot of people who think that he's hiding something.
And he is in a vulnerable situation by his own making. He promised to release these files. For the life of me, I can't understand why they don't just release these files. The law that he signed requires them to release these files, and this is not going away.
COOPER: Are you disappointed former President Clinton and former Secretary Clinton have refused to comply with congressional subpoenas to testify about Epstein? They say it's a politically motivated attempt to embarrass them. The subpoenas have no valid legislative purpose and that they've already turned over all the information they have.
[20:50:14]
KHANNA: Here's a common-sense way forward. Release all the files. President Clinton has called for releasing all the files. Once all the files are released, you can call President Clinton or Secretary Clinton or President Trump to come before our committee and testify. But right now, there's one person who's holding up the release, and that's not Hillary Clinton, and it's not Bill Clinton, it's Pam Bondi.
And so, Comer is trying to distract with all of these things, just get the files released. Then I do believe that the Clinton should come before the committee, but first release the files.
COOPER: Just lastly, you're a co-sponsor of a resolution seeking to reaffirm America's support for a sovereign Greenland. What is your reaction to the president threatening today to slap tariffs on any country that stands in the way of annexing the Danish territory?
KHANNA: It's so sad. You know, I just became the top Democrat on the China committee, and the president's policies are having us lose to China. I mean, the biggest thing we need is our allies so that we can have rare earth independence. We should be working with Japan and Australia and Canada and, frankly, Denmark.
Instead, the president is tariffing our allies, is refusing to work with Denmark so we can actually process rare earths, is making ridiculous demands of sort of invading Greenland that even Republicans like Don Bacon believe would justify impeachment, and he's weakening us with China. The people who are laughing are Xi Jinping and the Chinese.
COOPER: Congressman Ro Khanna, thanks so much. Appreciate it.
Coming up next, a new round of pardons, including a woman granted clemency not once but now twice by President Trump.
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[20:55:54]
COOPER: The Trump administration announced new presidential pardons today. Among them, someone who already got clemency in the president's first term. Back in 2019, Adriana Camberos was sentenced to 26 months in prison after being convicted in a scheme to sell fake 5-Hour Energy drinks. President Trump commuted that sentence in early 2021.
Then, in 2024, she was convicted again, along with her brother, in connection with a new fraud involving the illegal resale of wholesale goods in a scheme the FBI said netted them millions. Both were found guilty on eight counts. Last year, she was sentenced to more than a year in prison. This week, the president released her from prison for a second time.
Back with us is Former Federal Prosecutor Jeffrey Toobin, whose latest book is "The Pardon: The Politics of Presidential Mercy."
Jeff, we don't have a picture of her to show, but -- I mean, I guess he can do anything in terms of pardons. A president has the right to pardon anybody, right?
TOOBIN: It's one of the few absolute powers in the Constitution. It can't be challenged in court. It can't be challenged in Congress. If a president wants to pardon someone, he can just do it, and that's the end of the story.
You know, I think what's worth noting about this crazy second pardon is that it was a case brought by the Justice Department during the Biden years. And one way to get a pardon, it seems clear, because the president has granted so many of these in his first year of his second term, is to say, well, this was the Biden Justice Department, and it was unfair.
But, you know, these are cases bought by -- brought by career prosecutors, and, you know, the idea that this fraudster got away once with a crime, but a second time, that seems to me unprecedented in any histories of pardons that I'm aware of.
COOPER: And they're saying that she was targeted a second time by law enforcement because she got clemency the first time from Trump. But, I mean, is there a modern --
TOOBIN: Well, maybe --
COOPER: -- precedent for a person who's gotten clemency committing a new crime in the same variety, the same sort of fraud variety, being sentenced again and then being granted -- I mean, do you know of this ever happening, being granted clemency again?
TOOBIN: Absolutely not. There is one person, there is one person who got a commutation from one president and a pardon from the next. Patty Hearst, the notorious, famous Patty Hearst, who was convicted in a bank robbery after she was kidnapped. She had her sentence commuted by Jimmy Carter, and then later she was pardoned long after she got out of prison by Bill Clinton.
COOPER: Right.
TOOBIN: But it was the same crime.
COOPER: And she was in jail twice.
TOOBIN: Right. I mean, what's extraordinary is you would think that having gotten the incredible gift of a commutation and out of prison, this person would have said, you know, I don't think I'm going to commit any more crimes. But apparently she did decide to commit more crimes. But amazingly, she then got -- she got out of jail again.
COOPER: Well, I --
TOOBIN: I've never heard of anything like it, but this is how it's going now. COOPER: Two of the woman's lawyers apparently had ties to President Trump's orbit or people in President Trump's orbit. And would -- there have been other cases in which attorneys had sort of vague connections to people in, you know, in the Trump world. I mean, is that a telltale sign?
TOOBIN: Well, absolutely. I mean, this -- you know, these pardons from the president over the course of the first year, a lot of the same lawyers are recurring. And several of them have either worked for President Trump or worked on his criminal case. Several of the other pardons come to people who have family members who gave millions of dollars to Super PACs associated with President Trump.
But it's also worth noting that because of the Supreme Court's decision in Trump versus the United States, it's completely impossible for the president to be prosecuted for any sort of bribery in connection with pardons. Because the Supreme Court said official actions are off limits and pardons are official actions.
COOPER: Right. It's, yes, remarkable.
Jeffrey Toobin, appreciate you being on twice in the program. Thanks very much. Have a good weekend.
That's it for us. The news continues. Have a good weekend, everyone. The Source with Kaitlan Collins starts now.
