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Trump Contradicts Homan's Plan to Reduce Agents in Minnesota; Trump Nominates Kevin Warsh for Fed Chair; Patel Says, Judge Found Probable Cause for Search of Georgia Elections Office. Aired 7-7:30a ET

Aired January 30, 2026 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, the breaking news, not at all. President Trump denies federal immigration forces are drawing down in Minnesota hours after his border czar says they're planning to do just that. And the president just went after Alex Pretti, the man killed by immigration agents. He said, Alex Pretti's stock has gone way down.

A pizza cutter and a barbecue fork, police say they foiled a bizarre plot to free accused CEO Killer Luigi Mangione. Mangione heads to court this morning.

And breaking just a short time ago, Olympic Great Lindsey Vonn just crashed in her final race before the Winter Olympics. She was seen holding her knee, then airlifted out. What does this mean for one of the greatest comebacks in history?

Kate is out today. I'm John Berman in New York. Sara is in Minneapolis. This is CNN News Central.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, live from Minneapolis. Here in this city and around the country today, protesters are expected to take to the streets to speak out against President Trump's immigration crackdown. Now, it comes as the president is contradicting his own border czar, Tom Homan, after Homan said he was planning for a drawdown of federal agents in Minnesota following two fatal shootings at the hands of federal agents.

Here's what Homan said after speaking to state and local officials and the president's comments just hours later.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HOMAN, BORDER CZAR: This is common sense cooperation that allows us to draw down on the number of people we have here. Yes, I said it draw down.

My main focus now is draw down.

REPORTER: Will you be pulling back immigration enforcement agents out of Minnesota?

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We keep our country safe. We'll do whatever we can to keep our country safe.

REPORTER: So, not pulling back?

TRUMP: No, no, not at all.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: President Trump is also commenting on this video that emerged of Alex Pretti in a confrontation that he had with federal agents 11 days before he was fatally shot by agents. Pretti appears to kick the taillight out of an agent's SUV. Agents tackled him to the ground, but later let him go. The president calling Pretti an, quote, agitator and perhaps insurrectionist on social media, and then saying his stock has gone down. And we are now hearing brief comments from him after that encounter, from Pretti after that encounter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You okay? You okay? You okay?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm okay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You okay?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm okay. I'm okay.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are we all okay? Are we all safe? We okay?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: We're also hearing from DHS Secretary Kristi Noem speaking out publicly for the first time since calling Pretti a domestic terrorist on Saturday. Noem, who was facing mounting calls to resign, struck a much different tone when she spoke to Fox News.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: We were being relayed information from on the ground from CBP agents and officers that were there. We were using the best information we had at the time, seeking to be transparent with the American people and get them what we knew to be true on the ground.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Noem was in the president's cabinet meeting on Thursday, but he did not call on her.

As part of the protest plan today, organizers are calling for a boycott of schools, work and shopping in areas not just here in Minneapolis but all across the country. The last time, I would like to note, they did this was last Friday we were here. There were some 50,000 people in the streets in this medium-sized town. About 18 to 20,000 ended up inside of Target Center to continue their protest in what was frigid cold temperatures down to about negative 15. John? BERMAN: All right. Major breaking news, just a couple minutes ago, President Trump announced he is nominating Kevin Warsh to be the next chair of the Federal Reserve. This is probably the most important nomination the president will make in his remaining three years in office. Warsh served as Fed governor for five years starting in the George W. Bush administration.

Let's get right to Alayna Treene at the White House for the latest on this.

[07:05:01]

Good morning, Alayna.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, John, and you're absolutely right. This is a very, very important announcement that the president is making for everyone who has been attuned, of course, to really the battle we've seen between this administration, President Trump specifically, and the current Fed chair, Jerome Powell, who still, of course, is serving out the remainder of his term. Who the president was going to select next was going to be very important and particularly whether or not they will continue the independence of the Fed, something Powell has repeatedly said is incredibly important.

I do want to read to you some of president's post, though. We had expected, we had some reporting from our colleague, Phil Mattingly, this morning that Warsh was going to be the president's selection, but now it is official. He said, quote, I am pleased to announce that I am nominating Kevin Warsh to be the chairman of Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. He went on in this lengthy post to describe the qualifications that he said, make Warsh the right person for the job. And he ended this post in saying, I have known Kevin for a long period of time and have no doubt that he will go down as one of the great Fed chairman, baby, the best on top of everything else. He is central casting, something we know is important to President Trump, and he will never let you down.

Look, Warsh was someone that the president has known for a very long time. I remember covering Trump's first administration when Warsh was also kind of jockeying back then for the Federal Reserve chairman role. He was also discussed during the president's transition for his second term as one of the possibilities to be the president's secretary of the treasury. Of course, it ended up going to Scott Bessent.

But look, again, the reason this is so significant is because of what this could mean for this administration's relationship with the Fed moving forward and whether or not -- I mean, a lot of questions have been about whoever the president selects and asks, particularly because he was very likely to choose an ally, whether or not they would do some of the president's bidding. We've seen Trump in recent years, of course, particularly over the past year now being back in office for his second time, really pressuring Powell and the Fed to lower interest rates, openly criticizing them and really creating a wedge between this administration and the Fed when Powell decided not to do so. So, this is going to be such an important moment.

I should note as well, there was a lot of questions about who Trump was ultimately going to pick. He had four people. He had really narrowed this decision down to in recent weeks. One of the people, his -- the president's national economic director, Kevin Hassett, was long expected to be someone who would actually get this role. But Trump, a couple weeks ago, said that he didn't want Kevin Hassett to leave the White House. He wanted to continue working with him. And so all to say we know who this decision is coming down to, and it is Kevin Warsh. John?

BERMAN: And Warsh in recent months and years has talked about his desire for lower interest rates. On the other hand, Warsh is seen as having ties with more mainstream Republicans, the George W. Bush administration and some traditional Wall Street actors. So, we will see over the course of the next several hours how this is received. To an extent, this was already baked in. I think he was the odds on favorite for the last few days, but we'll see when the market's open, how they react, and no doubt we will be hearing directly from investors.

Alayna Treene at the White House with this big news, thank you very much.

All right, new comments from President Trump on the federal search and seizure at Georgia election offices and new reporting on what the Director of National Intelligence has been working on apparently for months.

The pizza cutter and the barbecue fork, and the stunning new details about an attempt to spring accused CEO Killer Luigi Mangione from jail.

And then bomb cyclone update, where and when will this bomb cyclone hit the East Coast this weekend?

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[07:10:00]

BERMAN: All right. New this morning, FBI Director Kash Patel speaking out about the agency's search of a Georgia elections office, where agents seized truckloads of ballots from the 2020 election. Patel told The Charlie Kirk Show that a judge found probable cause and signed off on the search warrant for the Fulton County Elections Office, which is just obviously what had to happen for it to take place, so no news there.

Fulton County has long been at the center of the president's false claims that the 2020 election was stolen. Patel says he cannot predict where the investigation will go. Overnight, the president also weighed in about why his Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, was spotted at this search.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) TRUMP: She's working very hard on trying to keep the election safe and she's done a very good job. And they -- as you know, they got into the votes. You got to sign judge's order. They've been trying to get there for a long time.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: All right. With us now is CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig. You just heard the president say they got a judge's order. Kash Patel said that, which is, in fact, the case. You can't search something like that without a judge signing off on it. So, what does that mean exactly?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, so let me lay it out this way. There are some things when you're a prosecutor, you don't need anyone's permission to do. If I want to serve a subpoena, I don't need to get a judge's permission, I just serve the subpoena.

There are some things you need to just sort of run by the judge. There's something called the pen register, where you look at what phone numbers, the different phone number's calling. You need to just tell the judge, hey, judge, we're doing this, we have good reason, but you don't have to say what the reason is.

[07:15:01]

Then there's a search warrant. And there, you need to establish probable cause, and you need to do it with specificity and in detail. You have to write up an affidavit. I've done a lot of these. It's a pain. You bring it over to the judge. The judge reviews and says, okay, I find probable cause.

Now, a couple important caveats. Probable cause is a low standard. It's not nothing, but it's a standard, and judges are not in any position to question the credibility of the evidence you bring them. So, if you say in your affidavit, I have a witness who tells me that some crime happened, the judge is not in position to cross-examine that witness or to say, gee, I don't know if I believe that witness.

So, all you have to do as a prosecutor is make a facial showing. But, yes, a judge is supposed to give it, and in this case, a magistrate judge did review this and find there's probable cause that a crime was committed and that you'll find evidence of that crime in the place you're searching.

BERMAN: Enormous deference from these judges, that was a magistrate judge in this case, to a prosecutor who says, this is the evidence we have that a crime was committed, in other words.

HONIG: Yes, there's no way to dig into who is exactly this witness. Why should I believe this witness, right? There's a lot of deference. It's just if you can put it on paper and the judge finds that's enough, then you'll get your warrant.

BERMAN: We've heard from officials in Fulton County where this took place, who say they're going to fight this. How? HONIG: Yes. Not so easy to do. The real way you fight a search warrant is only after there's a charge. When a case comes out, the defendant can say that search was improper. That search was unconstitutional. But standing here now, no charge on the books. There's no way really for Fulton County to put in a motion to a judge and say, we didn't like that search warrant, something was improper about it, cancel it and give us our stuff back. There's just no procedure for that.

So, you're sort of at the mercy of the government until the point, if and when there's ever a charge, then you can challenge it.

BERMAN: If and when, this election was a long time ago.

HONIG: Yes.

BERMAN: Elie, how does that play in?

HONIG: So the normal statute of limitations on almost all federal crimes is five years. So, the 2020 election was over five years ago. The transition period was over five years ago. So, the only way they get around this, there are some crimes that have a longer statute than five years, but I can't think of one that might be applicable here. But the other thing is, if you charge a conspiracy, as long as you can show some act that carries on into your five-year period, then you're okay.

But they're going to have -- I think there's going to be a statute of limitations here question if there's a charge or something.

BERMAN: And, finally, Tulsi Gabbard, the director of National Intelligence.

HONIG: No idea. Totally bizarre, there's no reason for the DNI -- I mean, we heard the president say, well, she's there. She's trying to ensure that the next election safe. Why would she need to be on the ground as agents are wheeling boxes of ballots out of Fulton County, Georgia? I think it's just for show and it's not something I've ever seen before.

BERMAN: Elie Honig, Counselor, as always, great to see you. Thank you very much.

All right, we're watching this one very closely. One of the greatest Olympic comebacks in history now being in jeopardy. That's Lindsey Vonn, just a fantastic Olympian skier who's been in the middle of this incredible comeback. She just crashed in her final race before the Olympic Games.

And then has a documentary ever been so expensive, so controversial, standing by from the box office and the reviews of Melania.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:20:00] BERMAN: All right. The breaking news, just fantastic skier Lindsey Vonn, we're getting word, she just crashed in her final tune-up before the Olympic Games, which are in just weeks.

So, I'm going to get right to Andy Scholes. Andy, she's been in the middle of this incredible comeback. What do we know about how she's doing?

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Well, we haven't gotten an official word yet, John, but the crash did not look good. You know, Vonn's making her return to the Olympics for the first time since 2018. The 41-year-old, she was going through her last downhill tune-up event in Switzerland, and Vonn lost control when landing on a jump, and then she just slid into the safety net.

She eventually got up after receiving medical attention and was favoring her left knee. Vonn then skied slowly to the finish line, stopping a couple of times on the way down. She limped into a medical tent for attention. She was then airlifted off of the mountain to go to the hospital to get further checked out.

Now, the race was later canceled because three of the first six racers crashed.

Now, Vonn retired from the sport back in 2019, but she returned last year to make one more run at the Olympics where she's won one gold and two bronze. In 2024, Vonn had successful titanium knee replacement in her right knee. She's had multiple bad crashes in her career, including one that kept her out of the 2014 Sochi Games. But at 41 years old, she became the oldest World Cup race winner back in December. She won again, giving her 84 wins, which is third all time. She was looking forward to these Olympics so much and she recently spoke to CNN about how excited she was to make her Olympic return in Italy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LINDSEY VONN, OLYMPIC GOLD MEDALIST: I feel actually younger and rejuvenated. You know, I think this crazy adventure has just given me more life and more excitement and it's just a crazy opportunity. When you're given, you know, a second chance at something, it changes your mindset.

So, I don't feel older. I feel blessed, and it's cheesy to say, but like I feel blessed that I have this opportunity. And that's given me like a renewed sense of energy and excitement.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Yes. So, I mean, just fingers crossed that that left knee's not seriously hurt there, John, but brutal timing, I mean, the opening ceremony exactly one week from today. Vonn's first race is scheduled for February 8th, so it's got a little bit of time, but not much. So, you know, we're just -- you know, we got to hope for the best.

BERMAN: Yes. You see the concern on both of our faces here because this is such a wonderful story and she's been working so hard for this.

[07:25:03]

You know, all I can hope, all we can hope, Andy, is that, you know, she was a little bit sore after the fall. I think airlifting off the mountain sounds terrible, but I imagine that's what you do when someone gets banged up. It's the quickest way to get off and get checked out. You have to do that. So, gosh, here's hoping that she can get back on the slopes in the next few days. Thank you so much for that update. Keep us posted throughout the show, Andy. Thank you.

The bomb cyclone approaches, the new forecast for where it will land on the East Coast and how much dangerous weather it will bring.

And a pipe bursts near an airplane bathroom, sending water rushing down the aisle. I think it felt as bad as it looks.

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[07:30:00]