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Trump to Close Kennedy Center for Two-year Renovation; Todd Blanche Says DOJ May Appeal Release of Five-year-old Boy and Father; Deputy AG Signals No New Charges Related to Epstein Files; House to Vote on Whether to Hold Clintons in Contempt; Trump Slashes Tariffs After India Agrees to Stop Buying Russian Oil; Frigid Temperatures Grip Southeast United States After Record Snowfall; Jury Deliberates in Banfield Double-Murder Trial. Aired 2-2:30p ET

Aired February 02, 2026 - 14:00   ET

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

[14:00:00]

BRIAN STELTER, CNN CHIEF MEDIA ANALYST: -- "Just like his casinos, the Kennedy Center went out of business after Trump put his name on it."

Now, Trump is saying that this is going to revitalize the Kennedy Center by doing much needed repairs. But our colleagues here at CNN have reported that there have been talk within the organization about a temporary closure because of renovations, but also to stem the financial bleeding amid the backlash from artists.

We can put on screen a partial list of the cancellations at the Kennedy Center. We don't have room to fill the entire screen with all the names, but NPR has been tracking the names of these individuals, and there have been many of them that have withdrawn because they don't want to appear at the building now known as the Trump Kennedy Center.

So, this is a very public example of cultural backlash to Trump. And for now, at least, Trump's saying, let's turn off the lights starting July 4th, undergo renovations, come back in 2028 and reopen the building. That's a pretty dramatic thing to do. It's interesting to see how there's been a lot of criticism of that so far today, Brianna.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": All right. Brian Stelter, thank you so much for that. A new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": A stare-down in Congress over DHS funding, with a government shutdown at stake. Republicans trying to reopen the federal government now facing opposition from their own party over the deal.

Plus, a deep freeze, parts of the South digging out now after a historic snowstorm, a storm that caused chaos across the Carolinas. And a new deal with New Delhi, President Trump says he has an agreement with India on tariffs. The deal could also represent a huge blow to the Kremlin. We'll explain why as we follow these major developing stories and many more, all coming in right here to "CNN News Central."

We're learning new information today, nine days after ICU Nurse, Alex Pretti was shot and killed in Minneapolis. Investigative news outlet ProPublica, citing government records, reports that both federal agents who shot Pretti are from South Texas. Let's get the latest from CNN Law Enforcement Correspondent, Whitney Wild. Whitney, what else are we learning about these agents?

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: Well, Boris, we know one of them is a Border Patrol agent who joined the agency in 2018. The other is a Customs and Border Patrol officer who joined the agency in 2014 and is a member of their special response team, which is basically a SWAT team. As you mentioned, both men are from South Texas.

DHS would not confirm the identities, saying that this attempt, as they put it, to dox officers and agents working on these immigration cases is posing a risk not only to those officers and agents, but also to their families. This -- saying also that this matter remains under investigation, Boris.

SANCHEZ: Whitney, there's also questions on what comes next for five- year-old Liam Ramos and his father. They're back in Minnesota after spending more than a week at an immigration facility in Texas. What's the latest there?

WILD: Boris, their future remains unclear. The Department of Justice has indicated that they may appeal the judge's order, which was short and it was sharp, and made very clear that this judge took serious issue with the administration's process for taking Liam and his father into custody, saying that -- basically saying that these administrative warrants do not represent probable cause, saying that would be the fox guarding the hen house, and going on to issue a really sharp rebuke of the administration's actions, calling it ill- conceived, incompetent and bereft of human decency.

Here's more from Deputy Attorney General, Todd Blanche, who answered questions about the judge's order and what may come next.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD BLANCHE, UNITED STATES DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: The immigration law, the body of immigration law is much different than our typical criminal process because of the administrative nature of what we do every day. And so, to the extent that we need to appeal that judge's decision, I promise we will.

GEORGE STEPHANOPOULOS, ABC ANCHOR OF "THIS WEEK" AND FORMER WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR: To clarify, the lawyer for Liam Ramos and his father say they were following the legal process for asylum.

BLANCHE: I mean, I don't know what that means. There's a very meaningful dispute about whether they had properly applied for asylum.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILD: That case continuing to be debated, Boris. But for now, they are back home. Their future, as I said before, remains unclear. Boris?

SANCHEZ: Whitney Wild, thank you so much for those updates. Brianna?

KEILAR: We turn now to the Epstein files fallout. Today, survivors of the late sex trafficker are demanding the Justice Department take down millions of newly released documents, their lawyers citing, quote, "thousands of redaction failures." The files were posted just over 72 hours ago, and this weekend, Deputy Attorney General, Todd Blanche said there is nothing in there to prosecute anybody.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLANCHE: There's a lot of emails. There's a lot of photographs. There's a lot of horrible photographs that appear to be taken by Mr. Epstein or people around him. But that doesn't allow us necessarily to prosecute somebody.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[14:05:00]

KEILAR: And CNN's Kristen Holmes is live for us at the White House, where a joke about Epstein is behind a new legal threat from the president, Kristen.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, that's right, Brianna. A joke at the Grammys last night. Now, this isn't that surprising, given that President Trump often threatens to sue or actually brings lawsuits. And he has been more emboldened in his second term as president. So first, I want to play for you the joke that now has President Trump angry. Here's the joke.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TREVOR NOAH, HOST, GRAMMY AWARDS: That is a Grammy that every artist wants, almost as much as Trump wants Greenland, which makes sense, I mean, because Epstein's island is gone, he needs a new one to hang out with Bill Clinton, so --

(CROWD CHEERING)

NOAH: Oh, I told you it's my last year. What are you going to do about it?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And obviously, President Trump is not known for his thick skin. He posted this about Trevor Noah on Truth Social. He said, "I can't speak for Bill, but I have never been to Epstein Island or anywhere close. It looks like I'll be sending my lawyers to sue this poor, pathetic, talentless dope of an emcee and suing him for plenty $."

Again, this is something we've kind of come to expect from President Trump. He's also threatened to sue author Michael Wolff, who he says was conspiring with Jeffrey Epstein to try and bring President Trump down. So this is just the beginning.

But again, this is happening, as Todd Blanche is saying, when it actually comes to the victims and perpetrators in the Epstein files, it doesn't seem as though there's going to be any lawsuits brought or criminal charges brought in that case.

KEILAR: And Kristen, this week, we could also see the Republican-led House hold former President, Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton in contempt. Tell us about that.

HOLMES: Yeah, Brianna, we're actually inching closer and closer to that. There was a last-ditch effort from the Clintons to try and testify in front of the Republican-led House Oversight Committee. And we have just learned moments ago that the Chairman of the Committee, James Comer, has rejected that offer to testify.

One of the things to keep in mind here is that they were asked to come testify on Capitol Hill as it related to Jeffrey Epstein. They denied it. They said at the time that it was invalid and legally unenforceable. And they pushed back very hard.

But then we saw Democrats siding, or at least some Democrats siding with Republicans on the House Oversight Committee to bring up this review to potentially charge them with criminal contempt of Congress or find them in contempt of Congress. So that right now, we expect that to happen in just a few days.

And it does appear that this effort for this last-minute trying to actually get in there and sit down, which they had rebuffed originally, has now been rejected by Comer himself. So inching closer to that vote.

KEILAR: All right. We'll be looking for that. Kristen Holmes, thank you so much. And in just a few minutes, we're going to hear from a Jeffrey Epstein survivor, what she thinks about the DOJ decision not to pursue any more charges.

Plus, President Trump makes a new trade deal with India, one that could have big consequences for Russia's economy. And countdown to kickoff the Super Bowl is six days away. So we'll look at what the two teams in the big game are up to right now.

We'll have that and much more coming up on "CNN News Central."

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[14:12:52]

SANCHEZ: This just in to CNN. President Trump says the U.S. has reached a trade deal with India. As part of the agreement, Trump says he will reduce tariffs on Indian goods in exchange for India's promise to stop buying Russian oil. Trump made the announcement in a Truth Social post just a short time ago.

Let's go to CNN's Matt Egan who has more details on this. What more can you tell us about the deal? MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Well, Boris, this is a significant development in the president's global trade war. And it's one that he hopes will have a significant impact on Russia's actual war in Ukraine.

Now, we don't have all the details here. This is not a formal trade agreement in the traditional definition. We really just have a Truth Social post from the president. But, one of the big details that we do have is U.S. tariffs on India. So previously, the U.S. was charging a 50 percent tariff on India. That was the 25 percent so-called reciprocal tariff. And then a 25 percent tariff on top of that for buying sanctioned Russian oil.

Now, the president says that 25 percent tariff, according to the White House, the one that was a penalty for buying oil from Russia, that's going away. That will go to zero. And the reciprocal tariff will go from 25 percent down to 18 percent. So this is a significant decline in U.S. tariffs. It's still much higher than it was before the president took office.

But it has come down. Now, what else is in this agreement? According to the president, again, both sides are agreeing to lower tariffs. So, India lowering its tariffs on goods that it buys from the United States. India also agreeing to reduce those non-tariff barriers and agreeing to buy more goods from the United States.

And the biggest detail here is the fact that India, according to the president, has agreed to stop buying Russian oil. Now, that is very significant because India is the second biggest buyer of Russian oil, second only behind China. In December alone, India bought 1.5 million barrels of Russian oil per day.

Now, this is a big deal because oil is obviously a huge part of Russia's economy. And so, the hope here is that if their number two customer goes down to something close to zero, that could really put some pressure on Moscow's war machine and it could try to force a deal.

[14:15:00]

That's what they hope when it comes to the war in Ukraine.

But I've got to tell you, Boris, analysts tell me that you've got to watch this number pretty quickly, closely, to see how much it actually comes down to zero because in the past, Russia's been able to get around some of these sanctions by transferring oil to other ships, by turning off ship transponders and other steps. So, the faster this comes down to zero, the more pressure it will put on Moscow. Back to you.

SANCHEZ: Matt Egan, thank you so much for walking us through that news. Brianna?

KEILAR: This Groundhog Day, the country's furry forecaster has spoken and Punxsutawney Phil says, do not put away the parkas.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PUNXSUTAWNEY PHIL, GROUNDSHOG DAY: It is my job this February 2 to look to the skies and report back to you that there is a shadow here on my ground. Six more weeks of winter abound.

(CROWD CHEERING)

PHIL: Six more weeks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: Yeah, boo, no one's happy about that, six more weeks of winter, which for sure did not warm the hearts of these Florida iguanas who really speak for all of us. South Florida's latest cold snap literally freezing the cold-blooded creatures in their tracks. Those poor guys found all over the area, many falling out of trees as the temperatures dropped to near or below freezing.

Let's go to CNN Meteorologist, Chris Warren, who's with us now. That's going to be me, I think, in my front yard, probably because I slip and fall on my new ice lawn that I've had for about a week here in Washington, D.C. What's ahead here, Chris?

CHRIS WARREN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Brianna, I tell you, that's probably like a lot of people, as cold as it feels out there, including Florida. I want to show you what's ahead for the morning lows. Now, keep in mind, this is Florida, and temperatures are going to be tomorrow morning in the lower 30s and even lower 40s in Miami before gently warming back up. Where the day started today across the Sunshine State, 25 this morning in Jacksonville. On average, it's 44 degrees. So this is extreme cold for Florida.

It's been decades, in some cases, since we've seen temperatures like that in Florida. This is the snowfall footprint from that big storm we watched develop over the weekend just offshore as it bombed out and brought some serious snow to the Carolinas. And temperatures, widespread freezing this morning. Anywhere in blue, it was 32 or colder, some serious cold. Going forward, the highs today, back into the 40s and 50s. That's right, back into the 40s and 50s for the south.

And for parts of Florida, more cold air dropping down, keeping it below freezing to the north for daytime highs. Here we go again, more cold at night, but still cold during the day. With temperatures for you in D.C. into the mid-30s, 32 in New York. Back even into the 40s and 50s for parts of the south for much of the week in the afternoon. The weekend does look colder, though, for a lot.

You can see dropping down from Canada, a lot of that air that's in Canada started out in the Arctic, coming down once again. This weekend's going to be quite chilly.

And then as we look ahead for the rest of the month, Brianna, the scientist forecasters saying that it's likely to be below average for much of the month of February. KEILAR: All right, let's get back to the groundhog here. I mean, we don't want to shoot the messenger, to be clear. I think it would have been weird if he hadn't told us that we were going to have a kind of a long winter here, right?

WARREN: You know, that is fair, but also, it's also fair to throw the messenger under the bus when it's necessary as well. So here's the forecast, the Groundhog Day forecast 2026. Again, Punxsutawney Phil forecasting for an extended winter, another six weeks of winter.

Now, the scientists that do the forecast, you know, seasonal forecast, also will track Phil's record as well. And in the past 10 years, his track record's not looking as good. He's been right only about 30 percent of the time.

So, Brianna, actually, if you are looking for an early spring, this might actually be good news, this forecast here, based on his track record.

KEILAR: Yeah, but even a fibbing Phil is right 30 percent of the time. That's what I'm tracking there.

(LAUGH)

Chris Warren, thank you so much.

Still to come, how soon could we hear the verdict in this high-profile double murder trial of Brendan Banfield? He's accused of killing his wife and another man in a scheme with his au pair. Plus, a new report raising questions about the Trump family's crypto company and its Middle Eastern links. That and much more coming up on "CNN News Central."

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:24:32]

SANCHEZ: Happening now, jury deliberations continue in the trial of Brendan Banfield, the Virginia man accused of conspiring with his family's au pair to murder his wife and another man in 2023.

Jurors failed to reach a verdict on Friday after weeks of testimony. Banfield's au pair and former mistress, Juliana Peres Magalhaes testified that the two hatched a plan to kill Banfield's wife and frame another man for the murder. The defense says that Banfield wasn't involved in any plot and accused Juliana of fabricating her testimony in exchange for a plea deal.

[14:25:00]

CNN's Jean Casarez has been following all of this very closely. Jean, what elements are jurors now considering?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, in their first full day of deliberation, right? You know, first of all, the charges aggravated murder here, and there are two theories that the prosecution is proceeding on. One is that the two murders were done as part of the same transaction.

Second, that the two murders were committed within a three-year period. But what's interesting with this, before I get into the evidence, is that it's all or nothing. If they find that Brendan Banfield, beyond a reasonable doubt, did not shoot and kill Joseph Ryan -- it was a shot, but it wasn't the kill shot, and they want to find him not guilty of that but guilty of Christine, they can't do it.

It's all or nothing. They're both included in one count. Now, the jury has got to be assessing the demeanor and the testimony of that man you're looking at right there, Brendan Banfield, the defendant, because he testified in his own case.

Do you believe him? Was he credible? And then the story that was completely opposite, Juliana, the au pair, the nanny, she testified it was Brendan's plan. It was Brendan's plan. He obviously was completely opposite of that, that there was no plan whatsoever.

Then they're going to look at the knife, the murder weapon, because that did not have Brendan Banfield's DNA on it. It had Joseph Ryan, the escort's DNA. It had Christine Banfield's DNA, but not his DNA. They'll look at the blood evidence, the forensic digital evidence they will look at, but something was just posted on the court's website. We heard about it in trial.

They did not read these letters. But once Christine was charged and Brendan was still free, he wrote letters to Juliana, I should say, in jail, and they were amazing. A lot of letters, I want to read a little bit here because the prosecution says this is motivation for murder right here.

"I hope with every fiber of my body that you don't leave. You had told me this was the best time of your life. I hope you allow our relationship to continue. I hope at a minimum, you give us another chance to be together. You came here and we fell in love. I think the best life for both of us, by a very large margin, is together. No one understands what we have been through. I only have pain and suffering without you." And as he writes these letters, many times he will write, "I am crying so hard as I write this to you."

They're very interesting, and the prosecution made sure the jury is going to have these letters in the deliberation room.

SANCHEZ: And notably, Jean, as we try to parse any signal from the jury on how deliberations are going, they haven't asked any questions yet.

CASAREZ: Unusual. Not one question. Now, what this can show is that they are working toward a verdict. This judge is very precise. They have their instructions, but it is unusual that they have not asked any type of question at all.

SANCHEZ: We'll see if that changes. Jean Casarez, thank you so much.

Still to come, the White House responding to a new report on the Trump family's crypto company and its Middle East connections. We'll be right back.

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