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Supreme Court Hears Challenges to State Bans on Trans Athletes; Aubrey Sparks is Interviewed about Trans Athlete Challenges; Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) is Interviewed about Iran and Venezuela; Trump Heads to Detroit. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired January 13, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

BILL WEIR, CNN CHIEF CLIMATE CORRESPONDENT: When it comes to PM2.5. That's the stuff that's so small, the little particulates that come out of tailpipes and smokestacks, gets into the bloodstream and affects human health. And again, the calculus on lost work days, asthma attacks, all of that is being thrown out by Lee Zeldin's EPA, which, of course, changed their mission statement on day one from protecting human health and the environment to protecting the economy and corporate growth. Under the Biden administration they tighten those regulations, trying to save them. Now they're all gone entirely.

Now, we did get a statement from the EPA, amazingly. "The EPA, like the agency always has, is still considering the impacts that PM2.5 and ozone emissions have on human health, but the agency will not be monetizing the impacts at this time. Monetizing does not equal not considering or not valuing the human health impact." Only that's the only way it's been measured, as I said, for the last four decades now. There probably will be lawsuits, like there has in the past, to fight this right now. But it is also worth pointing out that until they start building coal fired power plants upwind of Mar-a-Lago and other neighborhoods like that, this is a problem that falls disproportionately on the most vulnerable, on working class communities right now.

But just to eliminate any measurement of what pollution costs us in health and lives, this is yet the latest new chapter in this administration going against anything that smacks of regulation against oil and gas.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: It is a major change to be sure. Bill Weir, thank you so much for your reporting on this.

A brand new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Next hour, two landmark cases on the rights of transgender athletes will take center stage at the Supreme Court. The justices' decision will have impacts across the country. We're live outside the Supreme Court.

And Minnesota and Illinois now suing the Trump administration to stop the immigration crackdown. They are calling it a federal invasion and a violation of the 10th Amendment.

And the Pentagon may be closer to solving the Havana syndrome mystery, carrying out an operation to purchase a device some believe could be the cause of that illness.

I'm Sara Sidner, with Kate Bolduan and John Berman. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: So, in just under an hour, the Supreme Court is set to hear one of the biggest cases of the year, diving directly into a national culture war. The justices are set to hear arguments over whether transgender girls should be allowed to play on women's sports teams at publicly funded schools. They're considering two cases, actually. One of them brought by a now high school sophomore from West Virginia. Becky Pepper-Jackson, she's suing the state over its law banning transgender girls, like her, from joining girls sports teams. I spoke with the attorney general of West Virginia just last hour, asking him how this ban in his state does not equal discrimination based on sex

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN MCCUSKEY (R), WEST VIRGINIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: It applies to biological males and biological females, which is equally -- excuse me, which is the test under the equal protection clause.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: As it stands now, more than half of U.S. states have enacted laws similar to the ban in West Virginia, making it quite clear that what happened -- what the justices ultimately decide here could have a very real nationwide impact.

CNN's chief Supreme Court analyst Joan Biskupic is outside the Supreme Court ahead of oral arguments for us.

Joan, what is at issue in this case? What are you going to be listening for when you head in?

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN CHIEF SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Sure. Great to see you, Kate.

And as you can see, there's a crowd gathering in front of the court here over my left shoulder. And inside people are already packing into the court. I'm sure it's going to be a completely full room. And I will be there shortly. And we'll be able to hear it on CNN in the next hour.

There are two issues here. One is whether the bans on trans women playing on women's school teams for girls and women, whether that violates federal sex discrimination law or whether it violates the 14th Amendment protections -- for equal protection of the law. And lower courts have already sided with these two women who you've mentioned, Lindsay Hecox of Idaho and Becky Pepper-Jackson of West Virginia. And now those two states, the attorneys general from those two states, backed by the Trump administration, will be making their case to the justices, saying that it is unfair for trans women to be allowed to play on these teams because of the potential strength differences. They say it's unsafe and its unfair.

[09:05:01]

But the challengers, these young trans women, say that federal law actually protects them. So, it's a major clash coming to a court that once upon a time seemed to be launching a new era of trans rights.

Back in 2020, Kate, the Supreme Court ruled six to three that if someone discriminates against a transgender worker, that necessarily is based on the person's sex, which is unlawful under federal law.

Now, we have another law before the justices that similarly bans sex discrimination in schools, and that would include, you know, in athletics. And what the challengers here are saying is that when states try to ban trans women from these sports teams, they necessarily are violating that anti-sex discrimination law as well as the constitutional protection of equal protection of the law.

But this is a court that's increasingly gotten skeptical of trans rights. Just last year, Kate, the justices actually ruled in an opposite direction, as they did in 2020, where they said that states could ban hormones, puberty blockers, other medical care for trans youth. And they said that did not violate their rights.

So, we're going to have to see where they're going on an issue that is -- has divided the nation and that has become part of Donald Trump's agenda in this second presidency. A very strong anti-trans agenda.

So, we will -- we will hear the start of it at 10:00 a.m. Eastern. And I expect it to go, Kate, just so you know, about three hours before we get a sense of where the justices are going.

BOLDUAN: Fascinating and all about to get underway, as you said, in less than an hour now.

Joan Biskupic, outside the court. Thanks, Joan.

John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now is Aubrey Sparks. She's the legal director for the ACLU of West Virginia, which is representing Becky Pepper-Jackson in her legal fight.

Thank you so much for being with us, Counselor.

You argue that the West Virginia ban violates the equal protection clause in the 14th Amendment. The attorney general of West Virginia just told our Kate Bolduan it does not because, he says, it applies equally to biological males and females. What do you say to that?

AUBREY SPARKS, LEGAL DIRECTOR, ACLU OF WEST VIRGINA: Well, first, I'd say that states love to explain why the illegal things they do aren't illegal and the unconstitutional things they do aren't -- are -- aren't unconstitutional. So, I think that it's entirely fitting that they give that justification.

But what the law requires is that Becky not be left out, to put it simply, and she would be left out under this arrangement that the law requires. The law says that she can't play on the girls team. And Becky is not able to play on the boys team. And that is on the basis of her sex.

I think that one thing that's important for us to realize is that bright line rules work great for clear cut questions. But if you stop and you think about this case and this issue broadly, it's not a clear-cut question.

So, this isn't a case that's about all trans athletes and not even all trans athletes in West Virginia. This is about this one particular kid. And this one particular kid did not undergo male puberty. And so, when we talk about athletic advantage, that's not the case here. And so, in a situation like Becky's, where she doesn't have an athletic advantage, and with this law she doesn't have a sports team she can play on, that's what violates the law.

BERMAN: So, you say in the case of Becky, she does not have an athletic advantage. The argument -- and we did hear it from the West Virginia attorney general, is that -- is that biological people who are born as biological males have an inherent advantage over people who are born as biological females. And to the specific case, the idea of taking it on a case by case basis, this is what he said.

Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN MCCUSKEY (R), WEST VIRGINIA ATTORNEY GENERAL: This is, if the ACLU's arguments are to prevail, which we don't think they're going to, you would create a system where every athlete who wanted to play in -- on a team that -- every male athlete that wanted to play on a female team would have to undergo extensive medical monitoring and testing to determine their level of hormones, their bone density, et cetera. And that's not a system that any public school system or any state could ever undertake. It's unfair to the athletes. It's unfair on both sides, actually. And the system that the state of West Virginia has set up is fair and it's simple

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So, what do you say to that, Counselor?

SPARKS: Well, I would say that that's the system that we had in West Virginia before this law was put in place, and it did not pose any problems. There were no complaints about it. The board of education's general counsel said that there were no complaints about it. The individual schools would look to see whether there was an unfair athletic advantage when determining which students could play on which teams.

And so, this idea that we have this hypothetical complicated system that's going to infringe rights, compared to the actual infringement of rights that we have right before us right now, is both not rooted in truth and not really an accurate representation of how things worked in West Virginia for a long time.

[09:10:10]

BERMAN: You, obviously, watch the Supreme Court carefully. You also watch, I think, the political trends in the United States. What's your expectation for what will happen with this court in this case?

SPARKS: Well, of course, we're always hopeful. I think that the arguments that we are making and that Becky is making are strong ones that are based in the law, are based in good reason.

But I also think it's important to realize that in these issues that are hot button political issues, they can sometimes be hard won battles. A lot of rights that are now very well established went through a period of time where it was difficult to argue that they should become well established. And while the Supreme Court does determine what is legal, what is constitutional, it's not the Supreme Court that's the ultimate arbiter of what is moral. And I think that if people knew Becky, if they saw this teenage girl who has this law passed that is affecting her specifically and her only, and they were asked, is it a kind thing that the West Virginia government is doing and spending all this time excluding her, I can't imagine the moral answer other than, no, it is unkind.

BERMAN: Aubrey Sparks, good to speak with you this morning on what could be a very, very pivotal day on this issue before the country. Thank you.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, John.

We're standing by for President Trump to leave the White House in a bit here, heading for Detroit to speak about his domestic economic policy. But looming over his message are multiple challenges swirling on the world stage, including Iran's deadly crackdown on protesters. The president, after his trip, is expected to meet with his national security team to discuss U.S. military options to intervene in Iran.

Joining me now is Democratic Congressman Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts.

Thank you for being here.

I will get to that in just a second. But we just got these new inflation numbers in. And inflation is up slightly, higher than expected. But the issue that stands out in looking at these numbers is that energy prices have risen a full 10 percent for natural gas. So, heating and cooking. And energy itself is up about six percent.

You're on the Energy and Commerce Committee. What needs to be done to deal with these energy prices?

REP. JAKE AUCHINCLOSS (D-MA): The United States needs to build gigawatts more clean energy so we, as a country, can have energy dominance. That's three to four more quads of energy per year by building five Hoover Dams worth of nuclear power, by expanding Superhot Rock, geothermal, which can be put anywhere in this country with a short feedback loop, and by not undercutting investments in solar and offshore wind, as this administration is doing in an arbitrary and capricious manner.

SIDNER: Let's move to the president and his words on Iran, saying he's weighing strong options on Iran and will get some options from his cabinet on potential military action. Knowing the history of U.S. involvement in Iran, what would you advise him to or not to do in this scenario that's playing out there?

AUCHINCLOSS: Any action the president takes needs to be, one, congressionally authorized. It needs to prevent any open-ended commitments, which we know we have a bad record of in the Middle East. And number three, it needs to be aligned with the popular will. He has one option right now that meets all three of those criteria, and that is surging direct to sell internet freedom in Iran. That is the next generation of Starlink technology that allows individuals in Iran to directly connect their cell phones to a satellite and thereby access the internet, circumventing the ayatollah's censorship operations.

SIDNER: You want to see other things done besides military action first.

I do want to ask you about Venezuela. We had you on this program weeks before the strike and the capture of Maduro. And over and over again you have said that this is not about going after the drug trade, but this is all about oil. We've certainly gotten some clarity on that weeks after you said it.

Now the U.S. president is continuing to say he is now in charge of Venezuela. What is your greatest concern moving forward here?

AUCHINCLOSS: One, preventing boots on the ground in Venezuela. The president continues to deflect questions about whether he would consider that. That is a terrible idea. My boots have been on the ground in Latin America. We do not want to send conventional infantry to the jungles of South America to serve as armed guards for oil executives.

And then number two is, we've got to crack down on the Russian shadow tanker fleet. Anything that the United States is trying to do with regards to Venezuela is going to be undercut by Russia's oil operation in both hemispheres.

[09:15:08]

And this is a consistent blind spot for this president. He doesn't understand Russian belligerence in Ukraine. He doesn't understand it's support for the ayatollah. He doesn't understand its shadow tanker operations in our own hemisphere. And until he addresses this blind spot, he's never actually going to have a coherent strategy against the axis of authoritarianism, Russia, China, Iran, Venezuela. SIDNER: The DOJ, moving on to another subject, there are many, has

opened a criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell. And it says it's over his testimony this summer about the Fed's building renovations. Powell and a rail republic -- sorry, rare public rebuke says this is simply about politics. What do you see happening here?

AUCHINCLOSS: We opened this conversation talking about inflation. Let me tell you one guaranteed way to increase inflation, and that is to politicize a central bank and to put politicians in charge of printing money. That is 100 percent what this president has wanted to do since his first term. He is turning the screws in his second term. It will undermine public and institutional confidence in the integrity of our currency. It will undermine our geoeconomic position and it will lead to higher inflation.

SIDNER: You have said for a very long time that you want comprehensive, bipartisan immigration reform, which would help seal up the border and change the asylum standards. The Minnesota attorney general is now suing ICE, calling them invaders who are using the operation there in Minnesota as political retaliation and breaking laws to do so. So, I'm curious what you think of the move from the Minnesota AG.

AUCHINCLOSS: I support it. ICE is not operating as an arm of the law. It's operating as an instrument of fear. No American should be in fear of their government when they are behaving lawfully. And these ICE agents are not acting professionally. And more to the point, they're not actually doing the job that Americans expect from federal civil law enforcement. There are 29,000 unauthorized immigrants in this country who have either a conviction for murder or for sexual assault who are at large. And ICE has failed to put into detention almost any of those individuals. Instead, the majority of the individuals they've detain have no criminal history whatsoever.

SIDNER: Democratic Congressman Jake Auchincloss, thank you so much. I do appreciate you coming on this morning.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: We have some breaking news this morning. New numbers on inflation showing consumer prices stayed higher than expected at the end of 2025. This coming as President Trump heads to Detroit to refocus attention, try to refocus attention on the economy.

Plus, prosecutors say that he had an affair with the family's au pair, then killed his wife and another man that he tried to frame for the murder. Opening statements set to begin this morning. We'll bring those to you.

And NASA completes a first step in a rare rescue mission to the International Space Station. What we can now expect -- when you can expect Crew-11 to return to earth.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:22:49]

BERMAN: All right, that's a live look at the White House this morning. We're standing by for President Trump to leave for Detroit, where he is going to deliver a speech on the economy.

We got brand new numbers just out on inflation. Prices staying stubbornly high to close out 2025.

Look at how market futures are reacting just before the opening bell. About as flat as you can be. The markets reacting to that inflation report.

Let's get right to CNN's Alayna Treene, live at the White House for this economic message that I think, if you read everything that Susie Wiles has been saying and others, the White House really wants the major focus to be on. It's been hard to get it there, though.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it has. Look, he's going to be trying to leave some of the foreign policy chatter, at least for a couple hours today, back here in Washington when he heads to Detroit, really the auto center, the heart of the auto industry in America, to try and deliver a message on both manufacturing, but also, of course, what his administration is doing to try and ease the pain that many Americans are feeling from the high cost of living in this country.

Now, part of what the president is going to be doing is he'll be speaking at the Detroit Economic Club. He's also expected to tour a Ford production center in Detroit.

And this visit actually coincides with the Detroit Auto Show, where we're going to see the big three, you know, manufacturing kind of titans, or, excuse me, big three automakers, Ford, General Motors and Stellantis. They'll be showcasing their biggest innovations this week as well.

But all of this comes, of course, amid a kind of grim backdrop for the manufacturing industry. Factory employment fell nationwide by 8,000 jobs, John, in December. And that comes despite the president's, you know, vows repeatedly throughout his time in the White House, but also on the trail, that lower import -- or, excuse me, higher and more aggressive import taxes would actually lead to kind of this manufacturing renaissance. And so we'll be looking closely at all of that.

And I think the other big thing that actually is kind of overshadowing when it comes to the president and the economy today is also when you look at what the Justice Department is doing with their criminal investigation into the Fed Chair Jerome Powell.

[09:25:04]

That's been a message that has been really dominating everything related to the economy over the last 24, 36 hours or so. And it comes as well as we know that we have new reporting that the treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, is actually very concerned about this investigation. He's expressed those concerns actually inside the White House and to the president. And I remind you that he was one of the people that when Trump had been talking over the last year or so about, you know, floating this idea of potentially trying to fire or oust Powell, Bessent was one of the people telling him, do not do that because of concerns about the market.

Now, I should note, we really haven't seen a crazy dip or crazy reaction in the markets yet to this investigation, but we have seen a lot of bipartisan backlash to this investigation on Capitol Hill. So, that will be something as well that I think we're looking for the president to address today.

I should note, he is leaving here in a little less than an hour. I'm hoping he'll take questions from reporters about all of these topics.

BERMAN: Yes, on the -- on the Jerome Powell thing, "The Wall Street Journal" had an editorial this morning calling it lawfare for dummies. So, the president could be waking up to that headline this morning.

Alayna Treene, at the White House, thank you very much for that.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Thank you, sir.

Amazon is taking aim at ChatGPT, the company's vision for Alexa's future as part of an A.I. showdown.

And we're just minutes away from the opening bell on Wall Street. A look now at where futures stand. It's been moving around a little bit this morning. We'll see how the markets continue to react to the newly released inflation data. We're also expecting Q4 earnings reports from major companies like J.P. Morgan and Delta Airlines.

We'll be right back.

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