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Kaohly Her is Interviewed about Immigration Crackdowns; Americans Changing Political Ideology; Pentagon Testing Device Possibly Tied to Havana Syndrome; Amazon Unveils Alexa Plan. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired January 13, 2026 - 09:30   ET

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

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[09:31:15]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump is speaking out this morning once again about ICE enforcement actions taking place in Minnesota and Illinois. This, of course, just after those two states filed lawsuits against his administration to try and stop ICE operations there. The president posting quite a bit, but also this at the very end. "Fear not, great people of Minnesota, the day of reckoning and retribution is coming."

All of this was really set off in Minnesota last week when an ICE agent shot and killed Renee Good, a U.S. citizen, in Minneapolis. Protests have grown since then, and clashes we've seen more and more since then between protesters and ICE agents. And now DHS says it's sending in more troops, saying it's deploying an additional 2,000 federal agents to Minnesota.

Minnesota's attorney general, as I mentioned, has now filed that lawsuit to stop those ICE operations in his state. He spoke to Sara just a short time ago.

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KEITH ELLISON (D), MINNESOTA ATTORNEY GENERAL: We have more cases, more video, more eyewitness accounts than I can even put a number on of ICE stopping people based on nothing but their appearance. Stop -- using excessive force against them for unwarranted reasons. There's -- the cases are legion. We have a high school called Roosevelt High School. Well, what on earth would ICE want to invade a high school and intimidate high school kids for? But they did it. And we'll be able to show that

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BOLDUAN: The cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul have joined that lawsuit. Now, the mayor of Saint Paul, Kaohly Her, joins us right now.

Thank you so much for being here, Mayor.

On this lawsuit now filed, we heard from the attorney general a little while ago. I spoke with CNN's senior legal analyst about the case -- about what has -- about this lawsuit, and he basically said that there's very little chance a judge is going to order federal law enforcement out of your state and bar ICE from carrying out federal law enforcement as they are -- as is their job. His quote to me this morning was, there -- "they are," meaning this lawsuit, "they're really political diatribes masquerading as lawsuits." Is this lawsuit more political statement than a true legal ask?

MAYOR KAOHLY HER (D), ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA: Absolutely not. And the point of this lawsuit was never to stop federal agents from doing their legal actions or their -- the work within their legal limits. It is the fact that they are not complying with our U.S. Constitution and states rights, and also their own federal policies. I mean this is to hold them accountable. They are terrorizing our neighborhoods and our -- and our communities, and that they have to be held accountable.

BOLDUAN: The question, though, Mayor, is what legal standard are you leaning on? The legal standard of, as we've seen it being called, an invasion in the state. There's not really a legal standard of that. I mean, there -- is there any case or precedent where a judge is prohibiting federal law enforcement agency from enforcing federal law in a state or city?

HER: Well, I mean, we have to think about it, right? This is unprecedented time. There wouldn't be any kind of case that exists already because this is the first this is happening. Never in any other administration has any president had this type of overreach into local jurisdictions. And so, we will be that precedent setting case.

BOLDUAN: The president, as I mentioned, he is up this morning talking about Minnesota. I'll -- to reiterate, he said, "fear not, great people of Minnesota, the day of reckoning and retribution is coming." What do you think that means for Saint Paul?

HER: What it shows me is a man who knows nothing about our city or our state. This is a person who has no concept of the type of welcoming community that we are.

[09:35:03]

This is a person who has no concept of the contributions that immigrants and refugees have made. And no concept of the importance of them to the economy in which pays taxes to the federal government to allow him to do the work, what he's been doing in invading our city and state.

So, like, I have no idea as to like the intention he has and what he is saying. I don't assume his motive. But what I can say is in that statement he has no idea what our state and our cities are about.

BOLDUAN: I heard you say recently, "while we know we can't control federal agents, we will pull every lever we have to fight back in every way that we can." Short of legal action, if a judge does not step in, what do you do? How do you calm things down, protect your citizens, get back to a place that you would think is more of what is Saint Paul as you know it? HER: I will say that our citizens are calm. You know, the protests

have been calm. That if the courts does not uphold this, we are a country of laws. We are a country that relies on our legal system and that there are so many violations of ICE in our communities that we will continue to pursue legal action. But the truth is, is that we have to equip our communities in how to protect each other, how to stay safe with each other, how to help our businesses continue to move forward.

And we're going to continue to do that. We're going to continue tonight. I'm meeting with our Latin A community and to talk with our businesses to say, like, how do we meet them in this moment? Because we really have to work hard to figure out how to weather through these next three years. It is not going to get easier. It will only get harder, which means we have to take legal action, we have to show up to support our communities, and we have to provide the resources that our community needs, but also equip our residents who are our allies, who are not targeted, how they can show up in community to support them as well. And so there's much that we have to do, and we continue to move all of that work forward.

BOLDUAN: Mayor Kaohly Her, thank you for coming in today. Appreciate your time.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, still ahead, the Pentagon says it may now know what is causing Havana syndrome, named after that mysterious ailments U.S. diplomats and spies were suffering with for years. What they found is frightening.

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[09:41:48]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, there is brand new data out this week on party ideology and identification. Basically, how liberal or conservative people say they are and which party they identify with. And, obviously, this has huge importance with the crucial midterms toward the end of this year.

Let's bring in our CNN chief data analyst, Harry Enten.

And there's real significant movement, Harry.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: You know, when I was a kid, liberal was a four letter word. Nobody wanted to identify as liberal. Well, guess what? The folks identifying as liberal, it has hit, get this, a 50-year high. And you can see it pretty well here. Take a look here. The conservative lead over liberals. This is self I.D. political ideology. Back when I was a kid, conservatives had a 22-point advantage. Huge, huge advantage. Now, it's just seven points. That is a 15-point shift away from the conservatives towards the liberals in terms of the margin between the two of them. As I said at the beginning, the self-identified liberalness of this country is at a 50 year high. I went all the way back looking at polls since 1976, and at this point more folks are identifying as liberal than at any point since the Gerald Ford administration.

BERMAN: You know, it's interesting, you brought up the Ford. In the '70s, '80s, even '90s there were Democrats who'd like to say, oh, no, no, we're conservative Democrats here.

ENTEN: Correct.

BERMAN: We're running in the mainstream. What they call the mainstream of the party.

Where do things stand now?

ENTEN: Yes. Why is this movement happening? It is because Democrats -- a big reason why is Democrats, Democrats, Democrats. I remember back in 2008 I think it was Hillary Clinton said, I'm not a liberal, I'm a progressive. That was how much liberal was of a four letter word.

But take a look here. Democrats who say they're liberal. In 1976, it was 30 percent. In 2001, it actually went down to point, it was 29 percent. Look at where we are today, 59 percent. Three in five Democrats say they are liberal. It might have used to be that the Democratic Party was almost more moderate conservative. You know, Bill Clinton, of course, DLC, the Democratic Leadership Council, no longer the case. That DLC is adios, amigos! This Democratic Party is a liberal. It is a liberal party. Fifty-nine percent of Democrats now identify as liberal. That is also a 50 year high. All the data I could find dating back to the Gerald Ford administration.

BERMAN: All right. Whatever people say about their ideology, where do the parties stand right now with the midterms approaching?

ENTEN: Yes. OK. So, that is not the only good news for liberals. Take a look here. The party I.D. margin, Democrats versus Republicans. Now get this. In the latest reading, according to Gallup last quarter, it is an eight point advantage for Democrats. That looks nothing like what we saw going saw going into the 2022 midterms, when Republicans had a five-point advantage and, of course, took back the House. This is even better than what we saw Democrats had back in 2017 in quarter four when they had a six-point advantage. And, of course, Democrats easily took back the house then. If this follows 2017-2018, Democrats are going to take back the house.

BERMAN: All right, what do folks say about the chances of Democrats taking back the house?

ENTEN: Yes, you take a look at the prediction markets. According to Kalshi, look at this, a 77 percent chance, people putting their money where their mouth is, that Democrats will take back the House. That's actually higher than we were a month ago when it was 74 percent.

BERMAN: The trend line for Democrats pointing up.

Harry Enten, thank you very much.

[09:45:01]

ENTEN: Thank you, my friend.

BERMAN: More news right after a quick break.

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BOLDUAN: There is new reporting into CNN this morning that the Defense Department has been testing for more than a year now a device that's believed it could be what is behind the mysterious illnesses now known as Havana syndrome. Hundreds of U.S. spies, diplomats and troops serving overseas reported becoming sick, some with career-ending injuries. The illnesses first appeared in 2016, in a cluster of American diplomats in Cuba, hence the name.

[09:50:03]

Since then there have been cases, though, reported around the world.

CNN's Zachary Cohen has this reporting from Washington.

Zach, tell us more about what you are learning here.

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Kate, we're told that the Pentagon spent millions of dollars to purchase this device as part of an undercover operation at the end of the Biden administration. And despite studying it for over a year now, they're still looking to definitively link the device to that series of health incidents that officially remain unexplained.

Now, there is evidence over the course of the last year that's emerged that does lead some U.S. officials to believe that this device could have been used to target U.S. officials abroad. The first being that we're told it produces what is called pulsed radio waves. And that's something that academics and U.S. officials have long speculated to be the source of what are known as these Havana Syndrome attacks. Really, these unexplained sort of symptoms that have been characterized as almost similar to head trauma that were first reported back in 2016 by a number of CIA officials in Cuba, as you mentioned.

We're also told that this device is not Russian in origin, but does have some Russian components to it, which, of course offers some evidence to another theory that this could have been a foreign adversary who attacked these U.S. diplomats. And we're also told that the device itself appears to have been portable. It's small enough to fit into a backpack. So, these are key findings that we're told have come out over the last year after the Pentagon, along with the Department of Homeland Security, purchased this device on what was effectively the black market.

And the core question, though, still remains, how could a device that is both portable and small enough to fit into a backpack, how could it cause this much damage that's been reported by a number of U.S. spies, U.S. diplomats, and military personnel. The other question, too, is, could this have been proliferated? Do other foreign countries also have the capability to potentially use this against the U.S.?

BOLDUAN: Yes, Zach, great reporting. Thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, on our radar for you this morning, NASA Astronaut Mike Fincke handing over command of the International Space Station to his Russian counterpart now.

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SERGEY KUD-SVERCHKOV, RUSSIAN COSMONAUT: Yes, I accept command of International Space Station.

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SIDNER: Why is this all happening? Well, NASA's Fincke and his crew are heading back to earth tomorrow. They're making the journey more than a month earlier than planned due to an unknown medical issue affecting one of the astronauts.

All right, heart-stopping moment for the U.S. bobsled team at the start of a World Cup race. Watch this. You see it here. The moment three of the four members of the team failed to get on to the sled in time. Ouch. That forced Kris Horn, the driver who got in first, to make the run all alone at speeds reaching 75 miles an hour. His teammates, you saw there, falling behind him, tumbling. Somehow, Horn maneuvered to the back of that sled mid-run so that he could control it. The team's coach said the outcome could have been disastrous. He managed to deal with it and everyone is OK, although they may be a bit bruised.

All right, in Australia, a kangaroo shows up at a theme park for his own amusement. The wild kangaroo went for a swim at the Funfields Theme Park in Victoria state, splashing around in the Lava Lagoons Lazy River, as they call it. Then he hopped out. Fun fact, kangaroos, very strong swimmers. Did you know that, John?

BERMAN: I know I like lazy rivers. I can't blame anyone for just taking a nice long float in that river.

SIDNER: Fair enough.

BERMAN: This morning, Amazon is unveiling its new push to have its voice assistant, Alexa, take on ChatGPT. This is all about the battle over A.I. chatbots.

CNN tech editor Lisa Eadicicco is with me now.

So, how's Amazon going to do this?

LISA EADICICCO, CNN TECH EDITOR: So, I had the chance last week to sit down with a couple of Amazon executives that kind of laid out their vision for where Alexa is going. And really it all comes down to this idea of Alexa learning more about you and remembering more things about you so that it can make its answers more personalized and contextual. This is also something that ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Apple's Siri are

all trying to do. But Amazon does think it might have an advantage based on the fact that we've been using echoes for about a decade now.

And so, part of this push that we're seeing now is, on one hand we're going to see Amazon bring Alexa to more places, for example, like Alexa is now on the web. Hopefully a push to get people to use Alexa for maybe some of the things that they're using ChatGPT for. And then, in the future, Amazon acquired -- last year acquired a company called Bee that makes this bracelet that with the push of a button you can record what's happening around you, your conversations. And with those recordings, combined with some other data that you give it access to, it can make recommendations like a suggested to do list, things like that.

[09:55:00]

So, Amazon executives tell me that this device, and what that general sense of what it does, kind of plays a role in the direction that they see for Alexa in the future.

BERMAN: That's people choosing to wear something that lets Amazon eavesdrop on them.

EADICICCO: Yes. Exactly.

BERMAN: For lack of a better word. Yes?

EADICICCO: So, I -- yes, I do think there will be privacy concerns. And this device is already out there. The startup that makes it that Amazon acquired, has been selling it. So, anyone can buy it right now. But I do think there's going to be some privacy hurdles because Amazon really has to convince people that they want to push that button to record things, and that the benefit is going to outweigh the concerns that come with that, that listening.

BERMAN: I can name one consumer that they have some work to do with right there. I don't know that I want them recording --

SIDNER: Maybe all the consumers.

BOLDUAN: I mean the number of times -- because like the number of times you butt dial someone. Like, think how many times you like mistakenly record.

SIDNER: Right. You're like, I really did not want that recorded. No. You got to go.

BERMAN: Lisa Eadicicco, thank you for this warning about what is to come. We really appreciate it.

BOLDUAN: Thank you all so much for joining us. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "THE SITUATION ROOM" is up next.

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