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Figure Skater Makes Olympic Team After Death of Both Parents; Federal Prosecutors Open Criminal Probe Of Fed Chair Jerome Powell; Trump Weighs Military Action In Iran Amid Deadly Protests; WH Doubles Down On Military Threat Amid Deadly Iranian Protests; Soon: MN AG, Minneapolis Mayor Hold Press Conference On DHS Presence; FBI: Suspect Admitted To Starting Fire At Mississippi Synagogue. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired January 12, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: And, of course, the skate -- young skaters themselves were killed almost a year ago now over Washington National Airport. And -- and Max has persevered, you know, he was thinking should he retire at 24. You know, he couldn't even fathom going to the ICE and he decided, no, no, I'll give it a shot. I'll do it for my parents. And that is what he has done. He was put on the Olympic team deservedly so I think he will be one of the biggest stories at -- at these Olympic Games throughout the world because of what he's gone through and how he's persevered.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Yes. I wish they were here to cheer him on, but we're going to cheer him on. We're all going to cheer him on in their place. Christine Brennan thank you so much, really appreciate you taking us through that.

And a new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Unprecedented action against the Federal Reserve chair. The Trump administration opening a criminal investigation into Jerome Powell, the chairman responding in a rare public statement.

Plus, the Trump administration weighing potential military intervention as deadly protests explode against Iran's regime. The country's foreign minister says they are prepared for war, but also ready to negotiate with the U.S.

And later, an arrest and an admission in a weekend arson attack on Jackson, Mississippi's only synagogue.

We're following these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

With just one hour until U.S. financial markets closed for the day, stocks are beholding steady amid a stunning investigation into Fed chair, Jerome Powell, that has some investors anxious and concerned. Federal prosecutors are focused on Powell's testimony before Congress about the Fed's two-and-a-half-billion-dollar renovation of its D.C. headquarters. Just a short time ago, the White House defended Trump's ongoing criticism of the Fed chair and said it's up to the DOJ to determine if he broke the law. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: The President has every right to criticize the Fed chair. He has a First Amendment right, just like all of you do. And one thing for sure the President's made it quite clear is Jerome Powell is bad at his job. As for whether or not -- or not Jerome Powell is a criminal, that's an answer the Department of Justice is going to have to find out, and it looks like they intend to find that out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SANCHEZ: Earlier today, all three living former Federal Reserve chairs released a joint statement supporting Powell. And in an extraordinary, unprecedented video message, Powell says this probe is part of the Trump administration's pressure campaign to lower interest rates.

Let's discuss with Gene Sperling. He served as the National Economic Council director under Presidents Clinton and Obama. He's also a former senior advisor to President Biden.

Gene, thank you so much for being with us. What did you make of Powell's ...

GENE SPERLING, NATIONAL ECONOMIC COUNCIL DIRECTOR UNDER PRES. CLINTON & OBAMA: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: ... very forceful, very public response? Have you ever seen anything like this from a Fed chair?

SPERLING: Chairman Powell has done, I think, everything possible to try to depoliticize much of the -- of what has happened so far. Even with President Trump threatening his firing and criticizing every day. I think what he realized was that when you get to the point where you're going to bring criminal investigations that we know are, excuse the phrase, trumped up, not legitimate, against a Federal Reserve member, then you are at that breaking point. You're at the breaking point where you are threatening the independence of the Federal Reserve.

And it's striking that two Republican senators, Senator Murkowski and Senator Tillis, didn't just talk about the independence of the Federal Reserve. They thought this was stunning and appalling enough that they questioned the independence of the Justice Department for even bringing it.

SANCHEZ: Gene, I wonder if you could expand on the so-called merits of the case. Do you -- you don't see this as anything other than a pressure campaign, essentially, by President Trump, who's been calling out Jerome Powell now for months and months? Is there any reason to think this isn't just pressure?

SPERLING: It's clearly just pressure, now at the point of coercion or intimidation. I mean, we know what happened. President Trump wanted Chairman Powell, really, and the entire Federal Reserve to do something that would have been highly inflationary, that -- that would have been very destructive for our economy, which was to do a dramatic lowering of interest rates.

Then, he was going to threaten Powell with firing.

[15:05:00]

Then, the Supreme Court makes clear in an offhand opinion that you can only fire the Federal Reserve for cause. And suddenly they decide a cost overrun in a building, something that you could probably look at among dozens, hundreds of federal projects, was itself a cause for firing or even criminal.

There's no evidence this isn't anything but a normal overrun due to the difficulties of rebuilding a historic building. So, everybody really knows what's going on here. And it was one thing to claim it, it was one thing to do it, but to have your Justice Department actually bring criminal charges -- well, that's just crossed the line, not only for Democrats, but for several key Republicans, including the head of the House Financial Service Committee, French Hill.

SANCHEZ: Could you, Gene, quantify for us the effect of having the Fed lose its independence? What would that mean for markets?

SPERLING: Well, let me tell you what happened in Turkey, because we don't need to go back to 1920s Germany or hyperinflation. Let's just go back a few years to somebody the President admires, Erdogan in Turkey. Interest rates, inflation, were 10-, 12-, 14 percent. They wouldn't cut rates even though it was inflationary. He fired the head of the central bank. Do you know what inflation went to? It went as high as 80 percent. It was over 70 percent for a year.

Trust in anything is a terrible thing to waste, but trust in the independence of the Federal Reserve makes everybody say, oh my God, they may inflate their way out of paying me back. I better ask for higher and higher interest rates. So, everybody who's trying to block this is trying to block something we know will lead to higher inflation and higher interest rates. And I think anybody opposing this is actually doing President Trump a -- a favor.

I also wonder, because you -- you mentioned the Supreme Court having sent signals earlier about how they would side in a question of the Fed's independence and the firing of a Fed official. Obviously, Trump tried to fire Fed Governor Lisa Cook last year. The Supreme Court will formally weigh in later this month. What are you going to be looking for ...

SPERLING: Yes.

SANCHEZ: ... as those arguments play out?

SPERLING: Well, good question. I think that, first of all, it's really not clear there's really any case against Lisa Cook. But they're going to be looking to see, was this for cause? Was this some kind of deliberate malfeasance or fraud? It's usually during, you know, one's job. This is, in -- in other words, this is something they're arguing in the past. I don't know how good the case is. The other thing they're going to look for is -- is this legitimate or

just retribution? So, the Supreme Court's going to hear this on January 21st. So, I think we're going to be looking not just to hear that you can't fire a Federal Reserve board member without cause, but what for cause means and whether it's just anything the President says, like in the case of Jerome Powell, or whether it's the traditional view that you're really looking for something shady, malfeasance or self-dealing.

And there's absolutely no accusations that Federal Chair Powell has done anything to benefit himself. And I am like many people, Democrat or Republican, who think he's been traditionally a moderate Republican. And whether you agree or disagree, a man of integrity.

SANCHEZ: Gene Sperling, thanks for joining us.

SPERLING: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: Of course. Brianna.

KEILAR: We turn to Iran, where the death toll from anti-regime protests is now climbing, and President Trump is threatening military action if the killings don't stop. A U.S.-based rights group says more than 500 anti-regime demonstrators have died in recent days. CNN, however, has not been able to independently verify that number or the more than 10,000 who have reportedly been arrested.

Despite a near-total internet blackout, new videos are still trickling out of Iran. This is one of a crowd chanting "freedom" as the White House today pushes President Trump's demand.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEAVITT: He's made it quite clear he certainly doesn't want to see people being killed in the streets of Tehran, and unfortunately that's something we're seeing right now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Meantime, pro-government rallies have been growing in Tehran. CNN's Kristen Holmes is live for us at the White House.

Kristen, what more are you hearing?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brianna. We also heard from Leavitt there talking about how President Trump would rather go through diplomacy, but is keeping all of these military actions on hand.

[15:10:02]

One of the things that we have heard is that a number of agencies within the administration are working together to try and prepare Donald Trump for any kind of action.

We also know there are a number of things on the table. Just to go through some of them, of course, military strikes against the regime, as well as targeting security services that are used to tamp down those protests. Cyber options, those are also on the table, as well as new sanctions.

Now, as this rhetoric continues to ramp up, we do know that there has been outreach between Iran's foreign minister and special envoy Steve Witkoff. Here is what President Trump said about some of that back- and-forth.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Iran called to negotiate.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yesterday, (INAUDIBLE) ...

TRUMP: Yesterday -- the leaders of Iran called. They want to negotiate. I think they're tired of being beat up by the United States. A meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what's happening before the meeting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: All right. So, two things to note here, one of the things that we heard Karoline Leavitt say was this idea that what we are hearing publicly from Iran officials is not the same as what we are hearing -- we, being the United States -- is hearing privately indicating that they are trying to come to some kind of solution to negotiate. And we should also note that I've spoke to a number of individuals within the administration who aren't so sure that military -- you know, military strikes or action in Iran is the way to go.

There is concern that, one, you might see these protesters actually rally around the government, but two, more immediately that there might be some retaliation against U.S. troops or shipping areas, all concerns of the U.S. government.

KEILAR: All right. Kristen Holmes thank you so much.

Still to come, hundreds more immigration enforcement agents expected to deploy to Minneapolis and the surrounding area as tensions rise following a deadly ICE shooting last week.

Plus, an update on the attack on a prominent Mississippi synagogue. The FBI says a suspect is in custody and confessed to starting a fire inside Beth Israel congregation.

Then, later the Smithsonian takes down details about President Trump's impeachments from a presidential portrait exhibition. We have that and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[15:16:26]

KEILAR: CNN is standing by for a press conference next hour from state and city officials in Minneapolis about the federal law enforcement surge there in Minnesota. State Attorney General Keith Ellison and the mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul are scheduled to address the media as tensions between agents and anti-ICE protesters escalate.

SANCHEZ: We're learning the Trump administration is deploying a thousand or so more officers to the city following last week's deadly ICE shooting of 37-year-old mother of three Renee Good.

Joining us now is Donell Harvin, the former head of Homeland Security and Intelligence for Washington, D.C. He's also a member of the faculty at Georgetown University's Emergency and Disaster Management.

Donell, thanks so much for being with us.

What are you anticipating the effect of those thousand or so additional federal agents is going to be in Minneapolis?

DONELL HARVIN, FORMER HEAD OF HOMELAND SECURITY & INTELLIGENCE, WASHINGTON, D.C.: Well, currently, there is about 2,000 federal agents, which includes ICE and CBP from DHS in Minneapolis. This increases the number by about 50 percent. You know, what you have here, Boris, is really a chess game where you have state and local officials that really aren't coordinating well with DHS.

Now, each other's -- blames each other, but there are -- there is legislation at the local level, at least. Minneapolis lawmakers made it so that local law enforcement don't assist ICE with their operations.

And so, what you have here is an -- really an ICE operation that's under siege by the local community, as DHS would describe it. And they feel like they need to bring more manpower in.

KEILAR: I mean, there's this issue, obviously, of people getting in the middle of enforcement. However, our Ryan Young also observed a crowd that was thinning out reignite when Trump's top Border Patrol rep, Greg Bovino, arrived at the scene. And Bovino is someone who is an incredibly controversial figure. A Chicago judge actually said that he admitted he had lied in a deposition about his justification for escalating force in Chicago. He initially said he was hit in the head and then he threw tear gas. Then, he admitted it was actually the other way around.

How does the presence of someone who does have a credibility issue so -- you know, he's there so visibly -- how does that affect things? And is that a smart move?

HARVIN: Well, I'll tell you, to the public's credit, they have been peaceful in Minneapolis. This DHS official is a lightning rod wherever he goes. And I think that's his intent, right? He shows up. He's kind of got this demeanor about him. He's got all the -- the tactics and tools and, you know, tactical stuff on him. And he really goes in there to lead his troops.

Now, I don't know if that's for public consumption or more for the -- kind of rally his own DHS forces, because, you know, this is once again a beleaguered force. I mean, they're doing a very tough job, in all fairness. It's not a popular job. And I can only imagine what the morale is.

But he clearly is a lightning rod. And what you see is, on both sides of the federal as well as the state and local, no one's really backing down. No one's looking to escalate. And his injection into the scenario and this situation really brings, again, I -- I think, more fuel to the fire.

SANCHEZ: And, Donell, when it comes to the local police, Minnesota's police chief says the department is understaffed. They have been tasked with responding to calls from ICE. ICE agents have been trained to call them if demonstrations turn violent. What do you see as the role of local police? Because they've been criticized for their responses there.

[15:20:04]

HARVIN: Yes. So, this is a no-win scenario for the locals, Boris. I mean, they're not built out for this. All right.

What -- what you have is a local population that's exercising their First Amendment right and following ICE around. You know, DHS will say they're impeding them, and maybe some cases where citizens are impeding ICE, and that should be handled in a legal manner.

But, you know, essentially the Minneapolis police would have to follow ICE around in every operation, because that's what the local -- the local population is doing. They're not built out for that, quite frankly.

The other thing is that ICE is not coordinating with the local. So, they have no idea where they're going to go or where they're doing operations. And so, what you have is, from the local police standpoint, is ICE is getting mixed -- mixing up with the local population. They're getting themselves too deep into trouble. There's protesters coming out, and then they're calling the locals -- the local police, to kind of bail them out from a civil disturbance standpoint and it's just not a -- not -- it's a nonstarter for the locals.

SANCHEZ: Donell Harvin, thanks so much for joining us and sharing your point of view.

HARVIN: Thanks.

SANCHEZ: Coming up, surveillance video shows a person pouring a liquid from a canister moments before a prominent Jackson, Mississippi synagogue catches fire. We have the latest on that investigation.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:25:54]

SANCHEZ: We have new details into CNN about the suspect in an arson case that destroyed a Mississippi synagogue. A criminal complaint submitted by the FBI claims that Stephen Spencer Pittman used gasoline to ignite the Beth Israel congregation in Jackson and that he did so because of the building's Jewish ties. The complaint also states that Pittman admitted to the fire, calling the facility the, quote, "synagogue of Satan."

CNN Correspondent Rafael Romo joins us now with the latest. Rafael, a lot of new information from this criminal complaint. What can you tell us?

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Boris. Federal officials filed the criminal complaint earlier today in the U.S. District Court in the Southern District of Mississippi, where they not only identify the suspect, but also talk about a possible motive. The complaint identifies the suspect as Stephen Spencer Pittman, who, according to the document, confessed to his father to setting the building on fire after he confronted him regarding burns his son had on his ankles, hand and face.

Earlier today, CNN obtained surveillance video showing a man wearing a hoodie and a mask, pouring liquid from a can inside the synagogue. The man seems to be making an effort to douse every crevice and corner as he moves around the building.

The complaint also says that Pittman laughed as he told his father what he did, later referring to the Jewish temple as the synagogue of Satan when interviewed by investigators. Earlier today, I spoke with the Beth Israel congregation president, Zach Shemper told me there was significant damage to the temple's library and offices, as well as smoke and ash damage throughout the building.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ZACH SHEMPER, BETH ISRAEL CONGREGATION PRESIDENT: The perpetrator came in through the side of our building, which is our library. And on the other side of our library, we have administrative offices. They had broken in through one of the windows from the outside with an axe, apparently, and then proceeded to pour gasoline or some kind of accelerant from a gas can.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: And Shemper also told me that two Torahs and other sacred scriptures were also destroyed, according to the synagogue's website. In 1967, Beth Israel's temple was bombed by local Ku Klux Klan members, in part because of the congregation's work in the civil rights movement. The fire comes amid a wave of antisemitic events across the country. The Anti-Defamation League documented more than 9,300 antisemitic incidents across the United States in 2024, a 5 percent increase from the year before.

Boris, now back to you.

SANCHEZ: Rafael Romo, thank you so much for that update.

Coming up, President Trump considering military intervention against Iran as that regime cracks down on anti-government protesters. We're going to discuss what could happen next with a Democratic congressman who served in the Marine Corps overseas. Stay with us.

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