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Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) is Interviewed about ICE Detention; Ed Martin's Departure from DOJ; Grass and Artificial Turf Questions; Running the Numbers on Elections; Ben Ginsberg is Interviewed about Nationalized Elections. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired February 04, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: At the hands of federal agents.

This morning, there is intense focus on the behavior of ICE officials and the conditions at the detention centers that migrants are being sent to. Specifically, the Dilley Center in south Texas. You'll remember, that is where five-year-old Liam Ramos was sent with his father after being detained by ICE officials.

With me now is Democratic Congresswoman LaMonica McIver. She has been fighting to reveal the conditions within those ICE facilities across the country, and she remains now charged after being arrested outside of one of those facilities in Newark, New Jersey.

Thank you so much for joining us now.

Since your arrest outside of that immigration facility, ICE has become even more aggressive in their task of fulfilling a 3,000 a day quota to pick up undocumented people. Federal agents have now killed two people protesting their actions in Minnesota. Do you think that ICE should be abolished or just that their leader, DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, be impeached?

REP. LAMONICA MCIVER (D-NJ): Well, I believe we should -- first of all, thank you so much for having me.

But I believe we should be doing both. I think Secretary Kristi Noem must go, and we should definitely abolish ICE. We are far beyond the measures of reforming. You know, they had billions of dollars in budget, just acting reckless and, you know, inserting cruelty onto Americans. And literally we just don't need that. We're better off without them.

SIDNER: What do you think should replace ICE? If you abolish ICE, what should be in place? Because many Americans did vote for President Trump, in part because they felt that the influx of immigrants that are undocumented was too many.

MCIVER: I mean, I think we can still look -- you know, strategize and look at, what is the replacement. But ICE, you know, many people do not know, ICE is still relatively a new agency, you know, post 9/11. They haven't been around for decades after decades, you know, in government. And so, I think there are other ways to look at, you know, how do we handle immigration. We need to look at, you know, reforming immigration altogether. And ICE is a part of that.

SIDNER: You were arrested outside the immigration detention center in New York while trying to gain access, to be able to see, which is your right as a congressperson, the conditions inside. You are now being charged with assaulting an officer, and that case is still ongoing. I guess the first question is, did you?

MCIVER: Well, first of all, I was not arrested. I was charged via Twitter days after me going to Delaney Hall to have an oversight visit. And as I've stated from the beginning, I, you know, claim my innocence. I was there to do my job. I was not there to protest, to do anything other than going there to make sure that I was protecting the people that I serve, and making sure that I was having oversight.

And so, you know, at the end of the day, this administration will not intimidate me or bully me out of doing my job. I plan to continue to do that and protect the people of New Jersey from this administration, including Homeland Security and ICE.

SIDNER: A federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled that Alina Habba, the prosecutor who charged you, who was also President Trump's former personal lawyer, did not have the authority to serve as New Jersey's top federal prosecutor because of the Trump administration's violation of appointment rules. She is now gone. What is the status of your case?

MCIVER: So, the case is still going on. We are in the second stretch of the fight of this case. We have filed an appeal to the Third Circuit to have these charges dismissed due to legislative immunity. As mentioned before, I showed up to Delaney Hall to do my job and literally ICE and DHS tried to stop me and my colleagues from doing that. So, we're looking forward to our next day in court in the Third Circuit court.

SIDNER: You know, going back to these facilities, we have seen children taken into these facilities. The one that sparked everyone's emotional reaction was Liam Ramos, who is five years old, standing with his father and his mother on the other side of the -- of the door. He was in his family's driveway.

You went to inspect an immigration detention facility. What have you learned about the conditions inside of these facilities?

MCIVER: The conditions are horrible. I mean, watching what happened to poor Liam, you know, it's just awful to watch that. It's heartbreaking. It's not the America that we know. And I know every time that I show up to a detention center, it is horrible conditions. The last time I was there was because a gentleman from my district, Mr. Brutus (ph), a Haitian immigrant, died in less than 24 hours of being detained in this facility. And he was a healthy man. And so, I was there demanding answers to find out what happened.

But we hear, you know, stories from detainees, how they don't get food, they're not getting medical treatment. The places are not being ran properly. They're not being upkept. I mean the same facility at Delaney Hall, in my district, they had an entire riot there because detainees were not getting food.

[08:35:00]

And they broke out of this facility through a makeshift wall that, you know, was not, you know -- didn't have a seal of approval or was not installed properly. And so, it just shows you how chaotic, how ineffective these facilities are and they should be closed.

SIDNER: I know this is not a place that you represent, but we -- I know you were watching, as were most Americans, what happened in Minneapolis. It has resulted in two deaths of two Americans at the hands of federal agents, one Border Patrol agent and one ICE agent, in less than a month. What do you make of what's happening there?

MCIVER: Once again, it is Trump's chaos that he is literally implementing on American streets, on American cities. And it's not making us safer. You know, he's going through this whole thing, him and his administration, about how this crackdown on immigration is making us safe and, you know, it's making us better. It has done none -- it has done neither. It has not made us safe. It has not made us better.

It has made people scared to death. People are frightened. They are very upset and depressed of what they see playing out in broad daylight for all of us to see in our streets across this country. And it's horrible. And this is not how we should be operating.

I'll keep saying it. That's why Kristi Noem needs to go. Sending Tom Homan in is not a fix. And -- but we also need to abolish ICE. It's just creating chaos. It's not creating anything better for anyone that I know that I speak to about what they see playing out right now.

SIDNER: Your sentiments have been echoed also by the mayor of Minneapolis.

Congresswoman LaMonica McIver, thank you so much for taking the time to join us this morning.

Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: There are also new details this morning about President Trump's top attack dog, Ed Martin, and his imminent departure from the Department of Justice. Martin, a lawyer from Missouri, who had been previously described as President Trump's favorite U.S. attorney, he was tapped to run a task force to investigate Trump's enemies. And sources now tell CNN that a Justice Department review found that Martin improperly handled grand jury material, specifically regarding Democratic Senator Adam Schiff.

Evan Perez has this new reporting. He's joining us right now.

Evan, tell us more. What else are you learning?

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Eagle Ed is what he calls himself, but he's been a bit of a chaotic figure inside the administration for the better part of a year, Kate. And what we know is this, that sometime last year Ed Martin decided to forward material that was part of an investigation into Adam Schiff. You remember, of course, that Schiff and Letitia James are targets of these mortgage fraud investigations that the administration has been pursuing. And what we know is that that material was absolutely not supposed to be forwarded to someone who is not authorized to see it. And when the department asked Ed Martin about this, he denied that he had done this. But then they found that he indeed had -- his emails showed that he had forwarded the information to people who were not authorized.

So, what we know now is that this gave the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, the reason essentially to try to kneecap Ed Martin. Something that the department -- people inside the department have been looking to do, especially because he -- he has been such an agent of chaos. He's forwarding or sending letters to some of the president's enemies. They've had to curtail some of his -- some of his powers. And now he is -- now he is working as the United States pardon attorney. That is his remaining title right now.

We have a couple of statements, including from Todd Blanche, who is denying something that we didn't -- we're not reporting. He says, "there was no misconduct investigations into Ed Martin. Ed is doing a great job as pardon attorney."

And also a person close to Ed Martin told us that, "President Trump ordered Ed Martin to fight weaponization wherever it's found. And as a member of the deputy attorney general staff, Ed has handled hundreds of cases and matters directed to the deputy attorney general."

So, those are the official statements that we have at this point. But Ed should be making his way out to the of the Justice Department in the coming weeks.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Denying something we're not reporting. It's like, welcome to Wednesday, everyone.

PEREZ: Yes.

BOLDUAN: It's good to see you, Evan. Thank you so much for your reporting, as always.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, when the Seahawks and the Patriots take the field this weekend in the Super Bowl, I don't care, but they will be playing on grass, not artificial turf.

BOLDUAN: (INAUDIBLE).

SIDNER: I'm still bitter about the Rams.

BOLDUAN: She's unbelievable. She's unbelievable.

SIDNER: Forgive me. And I'm sure the Bears fans are bitter too.

But what's the difference? And does it really matter? Artificial, grass. We asked you to send us your questions about artificial turf versus real grass. Dr. Sanjay Gupta is back to answer those questions.

All right, jokes aside, we've got Sarah from Colorado who asked, "my daughter has seen a shift from playing soccer on mostly grass fields to almost all turf fields.

[08:40:08]

How do rates of minor injury compare on these two surfaces?"

Great question, because people forget, the kids are out there playing on this stuff too.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. No, this was one of the most common types of questions that we got because there's a lot more turf out there. There's tens of thousands of turf fields now.

Here's the bottom line. If you look at games specifically on turf versus grass, and we're talking about youth soccer here, you really don't see a significant difference in terms of injury rates, which was -- which was important to note because there's a lot of data out here over decades now.

What was -- where it got a little bit interesting, though, is when you looked at everyday practices and looked at injury rates from everyday practices. And what you found there, interestingly, was that there were higher rates of injuries on grass versus turf, which I think surprised a lot of people who were conducting these studies. But the reason seems to be, Sara, is the maintenance of the surface. So, with grass, harder to maintain. You may have divots. You may have pooling of water. So, with youth soccer, that's the thing you really have to pay attention to more than anything else. Whether it's turf or grass, what is the overall quality of the surface?

SIDNER: That is a really interesting point. I -- let's go to Mike's, because this is a question I have. He asked, "are these type of injuries consistent across both grass and turf fields?"

GUPTA: So, the headline answer is, there's really not a significant difference in injury rates. But there are some caveats here. First of all, I just want to point out again, we're talking about data going back to 1972. So, if you looked at some of the turf versus grass data in the early days, you saw significant differences. But as turf has improved over the last couple of decades, or certainly over the last several years, those injury rates seem to be more in line with one another, turf versus grass.

You do tend to see more lower extremity injuries on turf. So, talking about ankle injuries, lower leg injuries, things like that, versus what you see on grass. But when you look at injuries overall, so torso, upper limbs, things like that, even concussions, it's about -- it's about the same whether it's turf or grass. SIDNER: All right, Anna from Missouri says, "my understanding is that

artificial fields in all sports are dressed with ground tire rubber. You see some kinds of particles flying up during games. Aren't rubber tires classified as carcinogens?"

GUPTA: Yes. So, this, again, was one of the more common questions we got. This is a new surface, a new type of surface for a lot of people.

You know, there's a guy named Nick Pappas, who is the league field director. He's the guy that picks surfaces for the 30 stadiums around the country. I was with him and I asked him about this specifically. Listen to his answer.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: What's the concern about toxicity? When I was looking in this, they said if I touch this stuff I should wash my hands immediately after.

NICK PAPPAS, NFL FIELD DIRECTOR: From our perspective, working closely with the manufacturers, working with our own specialized individuals on the NFL NFLPA side, we don't have any concerns over toxicity right now. There's, obviously, any time you're out in the elements, there's, you know, you're within whatever's around you. But here, whether you're inside or outside, we haven't run into any concerns with toxicity from a crumb rubber perspective or any of our natural infills or the various infills that are out there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GUPTA: I would say this is a valid concern. You've got crumb rubber, which is the stuff that you see flying up in games. That's made from recycled tires. Recycled tires do have certain chemicals in them that could be considered carcinogens.

But I think the point Nick is making is that now that we have looked at decades worth of data, do we see concerns from that toxicity on players who are really playing on those types of surfaces? And at a population level, we have not seen that.

So, concerns, valid, but it hasn't translated to real concerns in the population.

SIDNER: OK. So, Dr. Sanjay Gupta, I have one last rhetorical question to ask that you don't have to answer, and that is, is there anything you cannot do? You go from sports, to surgery of the brain. I mean, we just feel very small here. And you are so big and so wonderful. Thank you for answer the question.

GUPTA: I love it all. I love it all.

SIDNER: You love it all.

GUPTA: Thank you.

SIDNER: Thank you so much. All right, ahead, a suspected biolab bust in a Vegas home. Vials of

hepatitis, Covid, HIV, malaria and more all seized. What we're learning about the federal investigation into that strange case.

And a soft serving of instant karma. A bumbling burglar slipping and falling while trying to get ahold of a sweet treat.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:48:43]

BOLDUAN: Bill Gates is speaking out for the first time since the latest release of millions of documents from the Epstein files. Inside this latest release, more mentions of Bill Gates and more photos of Bill Gates as well, including draft emails were found within the files. They appear to document Jeffrey Eepstein's feelings of betrayal toward the Microsoft co-founder. Unclear who wrote those emails, but they were saved in Jeffrey Epstein's email account. Bill Gates has talked about knowing Jeffrey Epstein in the past and says in this new interview he still regrets ever associating with him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BILL GATES, CO-FOUNDER, MICROSOFT: Yes, I met Jeffrey in 2011. The focus was always, he knew a lot of very rich people, and he was saying he could get them to give money to global health. You know, in retrospect, that was a dead end. And I was foolish to spend time with him. I was one of many people who regret ever knowing him.

You know, it's factually true that I was only at dinners. You know, I never went to the island. I never met any women. And so, you know, the more that comes out, the more clear it will be that although the time was a mistake, it had nothing to do with that kind of behavior.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Bill Gates has not been accused of any wrongdoing relating to Jeffrey Epstein.

[08:50:00]

A suspected bio lab has now been found in a home in Las Vegas. Here is video released by the Las Vegas police showing, as you can see, investigators in hazmat suits searching through refrigerators, a freezer and lab-like equipment being there as well. Officials say that the home is linked to the owner of an unauthorized -- alleged unauthorized California bio lab who was arrested back in 2023. That person has been in federal custody for three years now, is scheduled to go on trial over that California bio lab in April. His attorney denies that his client is involved at all with what was found, though, in Las Vegas.

And an ice cream craving burglar has a rough go with karma, slipping and falling after he broke into a Mr. Frosty's in southern California. Video shows, as you saw, he fell and then he got up and he even then started wiping up the mess that he made after his fall. So kind. For all of his trouble, he treated himself to an ice cream. But here's the strangest bit. He didn't try to steal anything else. And the ice cream shop is making the best of it, using the incident to promote itself on social media, posting, quote, "Frosty's is just that good."

Sara.

SIDNER: I want some. So, I think we should take a trip to Frosty's.

BOLDUAN: And, what, and break in? Is that what you're suggesting? Like, what?

SIDNER: I mean -- I mean it -- I don't want it that bad.

BOLDUAN: Caveat, you're not suggesting breaking into an ice cream shop, just for all of the -- all of our lawyers at CNN. We have now said it.

SIDNER: I'm talking about paying cash money for it. You know, just going and supporting.

BOLDUAN: OK. Yes, cash money, my friend. Cash money.

SIDNER: All right, thank you, Kate.

All right, this morning, President Trump is doubling down on his calls to throw out the Constitution by having the federal government take over voting operations in more than a dozen states.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Take a look at Detroit. Take a look at Pennsylvania. Take a look at Philadelphia. You go take a look at Atlanta. Look at some of the places that are horrible corruption on elections. And the federal government should not allow that. The federal government should get involved. These are agents of the federal government to count the votes. If they can't count the votes legally and honestly, then somebody else should take over.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Trump's comments fly in the face of the truth and the Constitution, which gives states the power to run elections.

With me now, CNN's chief data analyst Harry Enten. He is running the numbers on America's faith in the election system.

Harry, do Americans trust Donald Trump when it comes to running the elections?

HARRY Enten, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: No, they trust him about as much as they trust him to be modest.

I mean just take a look at these numbers right here. I think this gives the game away. Trump committed to free and fair elections. This is among all adults. What you see is just 43 percent of Americans actually do believe that Donald Trump is committed to free and fair elections. The clear majority, 56 percent, say, no. No, no, no. They do not believe that Donald Trump is committed to free and fair elections.

And I will note, it is the opposite for the Democratic Party, where you see the majority of Americans believe the Democratic Party is committed to free and fair elections. But they do not -- do not trust Donald Trump when it comes to his commitment to free and fair elections.

SIDNER: It may be perhaps he keeps lying about the 2020 election that he lost.

What about how independents are seeing this?

ENTEN: OK, so you see this majority right here who say that Donald Trump is not committed to free and fair elections. And among independents, it is even worse. Take a look here. This is a group that Donald Trump has really been struggling with. And when it comes to his commitment to free and fair elections, they absolutely believe he is not. We're talking about two and three independents say, no, Donald Trump is not committed to free and fair elections. We're talking about just a third, just a third of independents believe that Donald Trump is committed to free and fair elections. They will view his current comments very negatively.

And this, of course, just builds upon their continuing distrust and their deepening distrust of Donald Trump when it comes to his job for the president overall, and specifically to this question when it comes to his commitment to free and fair elections.

SIDNER: If that number doesn't slap you in the face, I don't know what will.

But let's look overall. What -- who do Americans overall trust when it comes to running elections?

ENTEN: You know, there's this whole thing. Donald Trump, of course, wants to take the running of elections from the local communities, the local governments, and bring it up to the national government. But here's the thing, Americans believe that the elections in 2024 that were run in their community were run very well. We're talking about 69 percent of Americans say that the elections, in fact, in 2024 were run very well in their community. Compare that to just 43 percent of Americans who say that they were run very well in the United States.

This idea that you're going to take local power away and give it to the federal government is a terrible idea for the American people when just 22 percent, at this point, view the federal government favorably and we have trust levels in the federal government at all-time lows.

SIDNER: What is fascinating about this is that Republicans have historically said, states' rights.

ENTEN: Correct.

SIDNER: And don't want the federal government involved. And now we're seeing the president kind of flip this on its head.

ENTEN: Donald Trump has flipped a lot of things on its head. But on this particular issue, the American people are most certainly not with him.

[08:55:04]

SIDNER: All right, Harry Enten, it is a pleasure to see you in person again.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Thank you, guys.

Joining me right now is Ben Ginsberg. He has long been a top election lawyer in Republican politics, warned in 2020 that the GOP was destroying itself by perpetuating Trump's false claims about election fraud.

It has been too long, Ben. Its good to see you. Thank you for coming in.

BEN GINSBERG, REPUBLICAN ELECTION LAWYER; Thanks for having me.

BOLDUAN: Trump now saying and doubling down. When asked to clarify, he did clarify. And his clarity is that he wants Republicans to take over voting in 15 states is what he said. The White House tried to walk it back, and he essentially said, believe me, what I -- believe what I said, I said what I meant. And he's naming states now. I mean he talked about Detroit. He talked about Pennsylvania, specifically Philadelphia. Of course, also talking about Atlanta and in Georgia. From your perspective, how bonkers is this or how real could it be?

GINSBERG: Well, I think it's wrong, right? They've had lots of opportunities to present evidence to back up what the president's alleging. And in 64 court cases after the 2020 election, ample opportunities in suits filed before the 2024 elections, no proof, no evidence has come out. You know, it's striking that they would go in and subpoena and do an FBI raid of Fulton County for the 2020 elections, which Trump lost, and not do one for 2024, which he won. So presumably even the president recognizes that Fulton County fixed its problems.

BOLDUAN: So that is -- that is exactly something that I heard when I had the head of the Fulton County Commission on yesterday. He said, just so you know, no one, no one, no one was upset after the outcome of the 2024 election. That raid that happened last week and, and we talked about it with more with the head of the county commission. And I want to play for you what Robb Pitts said about what was taken and what it means now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROBB PITTS, CHAIRMAN, FULTON COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONS: I don't know who has those ballots. I don't know what they're doing with them. I can use my imagination and just guess what they're doing with them. But we do not know. As long as those ballots and other items pertaining to the 2020 elections were in our control, I could assure the world, but more importantly, the people of Fulton County, that those ballots were safe and secure

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: And now he says he cannot say that anymore. I mean, you're an attorney that's done a bunch of recounts. What do you see there?

GINSBERG: Well, look, what this raid did was break what's known as the chain of custody, which means that the ballots are kept without prying eyes and prying hands, who might actually change the materials. What the FBI did here was, I think, break the chain of custody, which means the materials are subject to manipulation. Nobody's watching over them. And that also means that if they ever try and bring any prosecutions as a result of this, they no doubt will fail because there aren't guarantees that the ballots are kept securely and they're not being manipulated.

BOLDUAN: Real quick. I mean Pitts warned for others -- he had a warning for other states, basically saying, you all need to prepare and see this and get ready, because while the accusations not -- might not be real, what they are doing to try to get involved in local election authority is very real.

I mean how can or should local and state election officials prepare for what could be coming if Fulton County is you know, exhibit a?

GINSBERG: Well, I have tremendous respect for local election officials who I work with a great deal. And they know that they need to be transparent with people in their communities, have open doors, let folks kick the tires of those election systems.

But just one other thing that is unglued about what the president is saying. Those big cities that he's most worried about do not have the contested congressional races that are going to decide who controls the House in 2026. That he can go in and try and put people around those polling places, that's not going to impact most of the districts that will determine how he is in Congress.

BOLDUAN: Ben, it's good to see you. Thanks for coming in.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, Kate.

We've got some wild temperature swings on the way. The west will get record breaking warm ups and the brutal, bitter cold is going to hang around for us here on the East Coast. Darn it.

Let's go to CNN meteorologist Derek Van Dam to help us sort all this out. What the whatie (ph)? What is this?

[09:00:00]