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Rep. Robin Kelly (D-IL) Plans To File Articles Of Impeachment Against Noem; Senate Advances War Powers Resolution To Rein In Trump On Venezuela; Rep. Mike Quigley (D-IL) Discusses ICE Raids. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired January 09, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

[07:30:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: And that effort is being led by Democratic Congresswoman Robin Kelly of Illinois who joins me now.

First to what Vice President Vance is saying -- that the officer, he says, is protected by "absolute immunity." Is that how you see it?

REP. ROBIN KELLY (D-IL): Well, thank you for having me and no, I don't see it like that at all. What happened to an investigation after a shooting? That's what needs to occur -- no absolute immunity. That's ridiculous.

SIDNER: You have said that you want to impeach DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. On what grounds?

KELLY: Well, there's three articles of impeachment: obstruction of Congress, violation of public trust, and self-dealing.

SIDNER: There is almost no chance that she will be impeached, especially with Republicans holding power in both the House and the Senate. The public saw the House impeach President Trump twice and yet he stayed in office and was re-elected.

So is this move to impeach the DHS secretary the most productive use of your energy and time in this particular case?

KELLY: I think it is. I think despite what you've just shared, you know, with the audience that we cannot stay on the sidelines. We need to use every tool in the toolbox. We need to give the public hope that an incompetent leader just can't come into communities and actually terrorize communities, traumatize communities.

I represent, you know, part of the Chicagoland area and I saw what happened there and what's still happening there. It's morally wrong. It's economically wrong. It's hurting small businesses. People aren't going to work. They're not sending their kids to school.

You know, I look at what happened in my own community with the helicopters landing. Undocumented and Americans were pulled out of that house.

SIDNER: I do want to talk to you about what has happened in your community there. We've seen a couple of incidents -- two, in particular, in your state where an ICE agent in one incident shot and killed an undocumented immigrant from Mexico in Franklin Park. DHS, at that time, claimed that the father of two had tried to use his car to drive into agents when they tried to detain him, and that an officer had been dragged by the car and suffered severe injuries, but surveillance video later on showed that is not what happened.

Then there was a second case. In October, federal agents opened fire on another vehicle in Chicago, saying that the driver of that car had a gun and had been one of the cars -- the many cars that boxed the federal agents in. Her attorney said they lied about what happened in that case, which is ultimately why that case was dropped.

Considering these cases and learning that the FBI has revoked state authorities' access to evidence of the shooting in Minneapolis, and there will be no joint investigation, which is normal protocol, do you have confidence that the FBI investigation in Minneapolis will be fair?

KELLY: I do question where is the transparency? People in the public need transparency to know the truth. They are putting their spin on things and they're creating the doubt that members of Congress, myself, and the public will have because there is no transparency. And they're leaving out state and local officials, which is extremely unusual.

SIDNER: I do want to talk to you about what happened, you know, in Minneapolis there where there is an angle of the video that showed the agent in Minneapolis was at least bumped -- and you're seeing it there -- by the car -- where he moves back. As it appears, she was trying to leave the scene there.

We all later learned that the agent was -- opened fire on -- who opened fire, sorry, in Minneapolis -- has been dragged in another case when trying to detain someone.

Do you have any -- does that change in any way your understanding of what happened? Your thoughts about this officer and what he did there in Minneapolis in the death of Ms. Good?

KELLY: Well, I have questioned, when we had the January 6 hearing, who are these people behind the masks. How were they vetted? How were they trained?

And when I listened to news stations yesterday law enforcement officers said, first of all, he shouldn't have been standing in front of the truck. He should have been standing on the side. You don't stand in the front or the back. So I question what his training was to be in the position that he was in, quite frankly.

SIDNER: Are you worried at all about the rush to judgment here from the administration, which went straight at the victim in the case, calling her a domestic terrorist? From others on the other side of things saying that he is a murderer, including one of your fellow congressmen out of California? Are you concerned about the sort of rush to judgment before a full investigation has happened here? [07:35:00]

KELLY: But it doesn't sound like a full investigation is going to happen. It sounds like there will be no transparency. So they're going to put the spin that they want the public to believe on it because they're not being inclusive in their investigation. I think there does need to be an investigation.

But, you know, from California to Chicago to New Orleans to North Carolina, they are not giving the public faith in what they're doing.

SIDNER: Congresswoman Robin Kelly, I do thank you. We will be checking in with you as this goes further and the ICE operations continue in both your state and in Minnesota as well. Appreciate it -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So President Trump with quite the statement now. Asked by The New York Times in that wide-ranging interview but just coming out this morning is if there were -- he was asked if there were any limits on his power. The United -- the President of the United States declared that there is only one thing, "My own morality." "I don't need international law," President Trump said. "I'm not looking to hurt people."

CNN's Alayna Treene is at the White House with much more. Short sentences, very big statement, Alayna. What are you hearing about this today?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, it's a very striking quote that the president gave The New York Times in this interview and that's partly because there has been so much focus in recent days. Certainly the days, of course, since the operation on Saturday where the U.S. was able to capture Nicolas Maduro. Questions about what could be next.

And, of course, we're seeing the president and some of his top officials also flirting with this idea of wanting to annex Greenland, a Danish territory. We know some Trump officials met with people in the Danish government just this week.

But a lot of questions about, you know, is the president really going to abide by international law? And that was a question that the Times reporters posed to him and they released some of the audio of this. I want you to listen to that back-and-forth exchange, Kate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Do you see any checks on your power on the world stage? Is there anything that could stop you if you wanted to?

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Yeah, there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It's the only thing that can stop and that's very good.

REPORTER, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Not international law?

TRUMP: I don't need international law. I'm not looking to hurt people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: "I don't need international law. I'm not looking to hurt people." That is something I'm sure is quite concerning, particularly to people in Denmark -- the Danish leaders, of course, who are worried about the moves that the president could try to make toward Greenland. And, you know, again, I should note it is a NATO country, so a lot of European allies and members of NATO are watching all of this, Kate, very closely.

But I'll tell you, from the conversations I'm having behind the scenes with people in the White House, they tell me that the president is very much emboldened this week in following the capture of Maduro and the strikes in Caracas. He believes it was an incredibly successful operation. And he also is very much emboldened by the back-and-forth -- the communications that they have been having with the interim government in Caracas -- notably, the now-acting President Delcy Rodriguez, who we should note is a loyalist to Maduro.

And that gets me to what the president actually posted early this morning. I think this is very notable to note here. He said that Venezuela is releasing large numbers of political prisoners as a sign of seeking peace. He called it "a very important and smart gesture." He said they're working very well together, particularly when it comes to Venezuela. And then he went on to say, "Because of this cooperation, I have canceled previously expected second wave of attacks."

Look, what I will say is from my conversations with people in the White House we had heard the president say that there might be second attacks if needed but they really wanted to try and coerce the cooperation of the interim government in Venezuela. And by all means, at this point, the president believes that is what's happening. So now we have to wait and see as well.

You know, the president is meeting with oil executives here at the White House today. That will be a big test of what the future of U.S. involvement in Venezuela looks like.

BOLDUAN: Yeah. Speaking of trying to coerce and pressure, that begins in earnest at the White House when it comes to the U.S. oil industry, for sure.

Alayna, thank you very much -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. This morning dual setbacks for President Trump and defiance from his own party. More than a dozen House Republicans broke ranks, voting for a Democratic bill to extend expired Obamacare subsidies for three years.

It came on the same day that a group of Republicans voted to advance a resolution that would rein in the president's use of military force in Venezuela unless authorized by Congress.

With us now Republican strategist Doug Heye, and Democratic strategist Simon Rosenberg.

And Doug, in the House, you put up the list of Republicans who voted for the Obamacare subsidies here. Seventeen, which is actually a pretty big number and includes people like Derrick Van Orden, Rob Wittman -- you know, Mike Kerry.

[07:40:00]

You know, Jake -- our friend Jake Sherman over at Punchbowl notes these are not your normal Republicans who break from the president on what's considered to be more moderate issues here.

What do those numbers and those people tell you, Doug?

DOUG HEYE, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST, FORMER RNC COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: It tells me that they're looking at what the numbers are going to be for Obamacare costs. My premiums went up $90.00 a month. I just paid that yesterday. And they are seeing and hearing from their constituents that they're concerned about this -- who don't want to foot bigger and bigger health care bills.

And ultimately, yes, on some level this is defying Donald Trump, but it also may be helping Trump and helping congressional Republicans who are looking at an election year that historically we know shouldn't go well for Republicans.

BERMAN: What do you think about that, Simon?

SIMON ROSENBERG, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST AND CONSULTANT (via Webex by Cisco): Yeah. I think we saw four votes yesterday in one day where the Republicans rebuked the president. There were three votes in the House and there was a significant vote in the Senate to rein in his activities and his adventurism in Venezuela.

And that's coming on the heels of this huge vote that happened just at the end of the year to release the Epstein files where you saw the big -- one of the most significant rebukes of an American president in our history.

And I think what it shows is that his powers are ebbing. He's becoming more and more unpopular. His domestic agenda is failing and Republicans are getting very -- his coalition in Congress is fraying. And I think this is a significant development. It was a surprising development given sort of the strength that he thought he had and what happened in Venezuela. He's seen one of the worst days on the Hill of his presidency so far.

BERMAN: And in the Senate, it was the vote on the war powers resolution. Let's put up the senators -- the Republican senators there who basically cleared the way for a vote next week against the president's wishes. Oops -- the three of us did not vote. There we go. There are the five who did -- Josh Hawley, Todd Young, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Rand Paul. Collins, Young, and Hawley are all basically new additions to this, Doug.

And the president put out a statement after that said, "Republicans should be ashamed of the senators that just voted with Democrats in attempting to take away our powers to fight and defend the United States of America." I think we have a graphic of this. "Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul, Josh Hawley, and Todd Young should never be elected to office again." Doug, the president says.

So he is campaigning against Susan Collins in Maine? Is that going to help Republicans keep the Senate?

HEYE: Yeah, she has a really tough Senate race. And look, everything that we've read or seen in movies tells us -- and I've said this to you before, John -- when you make a deal with the devil it always comes with a cost. This is part of the cost.

Donald Trump, yesterday, did a huge in-kind donation to the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. This is going to be played in Maine online and on TV over and over and over again. It could have a fundraising impact as well. And clearly, in future races this could have an impact as well. If you're at the DSCC right now you're very happy with what Donald Trump did yesterday.

And it is a reminder to something I tell congressional Republicans over and over again. They keep trying to hustle to score points with Donald Trump, but Donald Trump doesn't give points. He only takes them away one at a time.

BERMAN: Now, there is this aspect to it, Simon, which is that if this passes the Senate on the floor vote next week -- and even if it passes the House, which is a little bit less likely -- it ain't going to become law. You know, President Trump isn't going to sign this into effect.

So what does this really matter in the long term?

ROSENBERG: Well, the president and John Thune whipped very heavily yesterday to prevent this from happening. They didn't want the president to be embarrassed on the global stage. I mean, this was the response of the United States Congress.

You just -- in a previous piece before we came on John, you heard the White House was feeling emboldened and they felt this operation in Caracas was wildly successful and is giving him permission to go do other things all around the world. And the immediate reaction of the Congress is to reject it. And so they worked very, very hard to prevent this vote from happening yesterday and it was a huge embarrassment for the president.

And I think this is the key point here is that Trump is running around trying -- given his domestic failures and his incredible unpopularity, he's running around the world trying to make -- use things to make him feel strong and powerful again. And instead of that being the story this week, the story is one of rebuke and rejection, and repudiation by his own party.

BERMAN: Well, it's interesting that you phrased it that way because there are other Democrats using the same sort of script there, including Sen. Ruben Gallego. Let's listen to what he said yesterday. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. RUBEN GALLEGO (D-AZ): Let's be clear. The American public does not want this. The American public does not want another forever war. They want prices to be lowered. They want to buy a house. They want to be able to have their kids get a job.

Right now what's happening with this president is he's using everything he can because he can't control the things people really care about, which is the ability to live a good American life -- because he doesn't want to go against his rich buddies.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So Doug, how effective will that framing be? Republicans and the president trying to frame what's happening in Venezuela, to a certain extent, about oil, right? We're going to lower our gas prices by what we're doing in Venezuela, trying to make it a domestic argument.

[07:45:05]

Democrats, like Sen. Gallego there, trying to turn that around and saying this is about giving money to the president's rich friends here.

HEYE: Look, gas prices are already lower. You see it when you stop at the pump. Everybody over the holidays, as they were traveling, spent less than they did a year ago, two years ago, four years ago and the administration can and should take credit for that.

The problem for this administration -- and we see it time and time again -- is they get in their own way of messaging. It may be because they're tearing down the East Wing of the Capitol (sic). It may be because they want to name something after the president. But whatever it is time and time again Donald Trump takes Republicans' eyes off the ball.

Voters are saying every day I spent too much money at the grocery store yesterday. That restaurant was too expensive. I don't want to go to the movies again because it costs too much. And if you're not talking about that to voters, you're not talking about what they care about, and that's a real challenge for Republicans moving into what could be a difficult election year.

BERMAN: Doug, Simon, great to see you both. Thank you -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: The Fiesta Bowl finish had everything. Tension, chaos, a last-second touchdown that changed it all. Miami besting --

BERMAN: (INAUDIBLE).

BOLDUAN: What?

BERMAN: (INAUDIBLE).

BOLDUAN: Thank you.

Miami besting Ole Miss and securing a trip to the National Championship for the first time in over 20 years.

Coy Wire all over all of this. Tell me.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Good to see you, Kate.

We had four lead changes in the fourth quarter alone. A trip to the National Championship on the line. These dudes were out there playing so hard.

Miami with a 24-19 lead, but Ole Miss' Trinidad Chambliss, who transferred from a division two school where he won a national title last year, hits his tight end for a touchdown. Now he's minutes away from taking Ole Miss to the title game. They're up 27-24.

But the Canes come back. Carson Beck running it in to put the Canes back up with under a minute to go. Ole Miss has one last shot -- a Hail Mary that Rebels fans will say should have had pass interference called. It was not.

Miami wins 31-27, advancing to the Nattys for the first time since 2002.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARSON BECK, QUARTERBACK, MIAMI HURRICANES: In the face of adversity when we had to respond, we responded. But we never gave up. You know, I looked at the guys on the sideline, and you could just see it in their eye. You could see it in their eye. Just -- we all had a good feeling that what just happened was about to happen.

MARIO CRISTOBAL, HEAD COACH; MIAMI HURRICANES: I can't even tell you how many of our guys were sick -- had the flu, had issues. And all they kept talking about was we're going to find a way, we're going to find a way. So look, we're focused on -- and, of course, we're enjoying this one, but we've got to get focused on 1-0 one more time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WIRE: All right. The Canes will face the winner of the other semifinal, the Peach Bowl here in Atlanta tonight. Come on down, Kate.

BOLDUAN: Oh, I wish.

WIRE: Indiana, who had the Heissman winner, Fernando Mendoza, coming off a blowout win over Alabama. They'll face Oregon, who shut out Texas Tech to get here. It's a rematch from their game in October which the Hoosiers won in Eugene.

Now, we do have one of the new funny memes of 2026 -- just been born. The St. Louis Blues' backup goalie Joel Hofer appearing to hide when Coach Jim Montgomery signaled for a change. You'll see him peeking in the hallway behind him. Starter Jordan Binnington had given up seven goals to the Blackhawks earlier this week. Of course, poor Joel was just sitting where he was supposed to because many fans do not know this is the case in several NHL arenas there's no room on the bench for the backup goalie in Chicago. Peek-a-boo, I see you.

BOLDUAN: Coy, don't add the last part. Don't get the facts in the way. That's the funniest thing. If we had just left it like he's sitting there peeking around the corner instead of, you know, peeking -- hey, look who's peeking around the corner.

J.B., call him up.

WIRE: Yeah.

BOLDUAN: Yeah.

BERMAN: They said (INAUDIBLE).

BOLDUAN: The backup goalie peeking around the corner. That is so funny. Oh, man, I needed a laugh this morning, Coy. Thank you so much. And go Hoosiers! Sorry.

SIDNER: The credit goes to (INAUDIBLE).

BERMAN: I think what the goalie was doing was watching episodes of "HEATED RIVALRY" back there in the tunnel.

BOLDUAN: It all goes back to "HEATED RIVALRY."

BERMAN: It's all about hockey. The biggest thing in hockey right now is "HEATED RIVALRY." Everyone is getting in on it.

BOLDUAN: Everyone.

Coy, you're the best. Thank you so much.

BERMAN: All right.

Tornadoes tear roofs off homes and that same storm system is expected to create new havoc today. A landfill collapse is trapping dozens of workers underground. This morning, an urgent search for survivors.

(COMMERCIAL)

[07:53:10]

BERMAN: New this morning city and state leaders across the country trying to figure out how to interact with the federal government given their immigration efforts and the ICE raids. Obviously, there are protests this morning after an ICE agent killed a woman in Minneapolis. Two people shot in Portland.

So how should city leaders handle this?

One person who wants to be in the position to decide, Congressman Mike Quigley, a Democrat from Illinois who now says he wants to be mayor of Chicago. Congressman, so talk to us about that. What's the challenge if you are

leading a city like Minneapolis or Portland this morning or one day, Chicago?

REP. MIKE QUIGLEY (D-IL), CANDIDATE FOR CHICAGO MAYOR: Well look, there's a real important line between immigration officials and local police. Once that's blurred you lose that confidence.

When "Operation Midway Blitz" was taking place in Chicago, in this Hispanic communities the call -- the number of calls to 911 went down dramatically.

I visited the domestic violence courthouse and women -- and women were afraid to go there because ICE had been there. And they weren't getting orders of protection.

So in the reality of the situation people are less safe when that line is blurred, particularly when it becomes so violent as we've seen in recent months.

BERMAN: I'm sure you heard Vice President JD Vance yesterday blaming all sorts of people for the death of the woman in Minneapolis. But one of the things that he suggests is that perhaps Democratic city leaders should do more to keep some of these protesters away.

I mean, what responsibility do you have -- do city leaders have to keep ICE agents safe? Do they need that protection?

QUIGLEY: Look, I think -- I haven't seen any Democratic leader encourage violence. They have always stressed peaceful demonstrations.

[07:55:00]

But when you see a consent order in Chicago being violated because of the indiscriminate use of tear gas, when you see a daycare being targeted by ICE agents, as leaders we need to work with our constituents to show their indignation -- their anger about what's taking place -- the militarization of our cities.

Look, this was never about going after the worst of the worst as the Trump administration said. I think that's something that every Democratic leader wants. Get rid of the worst of the worst. But this isn't about that. This is going after soccer moms. This is separating families. You know, I have had to personally help walk kids to school because their parents were afraid of that. None of this is making us safe. It is just scaring the public.

BERMAN: If I can ask you about your current job for a moment as a member of the Intelligence Committee, we've seen huge protests in Iran overnight. We've seen glimpses of them. It's hard to get pure visibility in it because the internet is basically shut down there and information is difficult to come by.

What do you think is happening in Iran, and what could the consequences be? QUIGLEY: Look, we've seen the dissent take place and the brutal repression by the Iranian leaders. Our hearts are with them. To the extent we can help them in any way I think we should. You know, we get caught up in this anger toward other countries and we sometimes forget that the people there are the ones who care.

So, you know, we'd love to see regime change there. It has to come from within. To the extent we can help support democratic ideals and free and open elections there, we should do everything we possibly can.

BERMAN: What is that extent? You say to the extent that we can. What are the limits? Because the president has suggested if protesters are killed the United States might get involved militarily.

QUIGLEY: You know, it's interesting. This president has gone from being an isolationist -- he's still an isolationist when it comes to protecting a sovereign democratic country in Ukraine and telling our NATO allies that he's not with them. But when it comes to certain areas close to home, all of a sudden, he's become an imperialist for transactional reasons. A wise man said you break it, you own it.

I mean, how many countries does the president want us to go into. And what he's talking about there is troops on the ground. Do you want another war in the Middle East? I don't think any American wants that. The president has to work with our allies and with people that we support on diplomatic means, otherwise -- he's gone from an isolationist to an imperialistic wartime president in the blink of an eye.

BERMAN: Yeah. But then you said to the extent that we can you should help the protesters in Iran. How would you help them?

QUIGLEY: Look, the president should start to work with our allies toward these ends, you know. In the meantime, he's cut USAID. He's cut the programs that we have, you know, when we can talk to people through diplomatic means. Through radio waves and so forth.

There are diplomatic efforts that the president has cut to communicate and support people who are in repressive regimes. His cuts to the State Department. His cuts to foreign aid. These are all messages to the rest of the world that you're basically on your own.

BERMAN: Congressman Mike Quigley from Illinois. We appreciate your time this morning -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: At this hour this is a desperate search for survivors going on in the Philippines. What happened is startling. A mountain of garbage -- just take a look at this video. A mountain of garbage collapsed at a waste facility and buried dozens of workers at the site. At least one person is already confirmed dead, seven other people injured. But dozens of people are reportedly still unaccounted for.

Rescuers are digging through this waste trying to look for signs of life. The warehouse where all of these -- this work was happening, as you can see, just completely leveled by the slide.

NASA is bringing four crew members home from the International Space Station more than a month early after one of them experienced a medical issue. What that medical issue was or is still a mystery as the agency isn't sharing further details citing privacy concerns. What they are saying is that the affected member of the crew is stable and should not need special care during the return to Earth. The next team was set to start its mission at the Space Station in mid-February but now could be blasting off sooner.

And hats off to -- or maybe clothes off to the town of Lakeview, Oregon, who decided to think very creatively when faced with a budget shortfall. They got 13 of their finest locals to strip down for nearly-nude photos for a calendar that they're calling "Outback Naked." The mostly middle-aged and elderly -- congrats to all -- pinups are posing in their gardens, their workshops. There's even one in a bathtub. I saw at least one in a bathtub -- outdoor bathtub, no less.