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Tom Homan Speaks in Minnesota; Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA) is Interviewed about Minnesota; Battle for Control of the House. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired February 04, 2026 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

REPORTER: Citizenship checks (INAUDIBLE)?

TOM HOMAN, BORDER CZAR: I have directed -- I have directed target enforcement operations. And we'll hold our officers to the highest standards. These are -- these are professionals. Again, you know, these -- I wish every one of you could -- would put that gun on your hip, put that Kevlar vest on and go out there and put up with what they put up with. Considering the hate, the rhetoric, the attacks, I think they've performed remarkable. And I'm proud of them.

We came here. President Trump sent me here. I didn't ask to come here. President Trump sent me here to help de-escalate what was going on. We're not surrendering our mission. We're not walking away from our mission. We're just making this more effective and more smart. This is smart law enforcement. Smart law enforcement makes it safer.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE).

REPORTER: Realistically, how much work is there left to do here? And with this unprecedented cooperation, how long could this take, best case scenario in your eyes, to get the job done?

HOMAN: Look, I -- we want -- I said it, we want to get out. We want to get back to the normal operational footprint here. But that depends on the people out there putting up illegal roadblocks. That depends on people that want to intimidate and interfere and put hands on ICE officers. Tone down the rhetoric. Stop violating the law and impeding and interfering with us, and the draw down will be quicker. I still got more discussions to have with some local law enforcement officers looking for their cooperation. The more cooperation we get, the less rhetoric and hate we see and the less attacks means we can draw down even more quicker.

So, you know, a lot of this has to do with assistance from the community. We want to get these men and women home. They got -- they got a job to do at home. And I think we've come a long ways.

I'm actually, yesterday afternoon I was sitting down with my chief of staff. I'm actually amazed at the cooperation and agreements we already talked about and the willingness to work with us. We're doing better than I ever thought we would. Seriously. And I'm excited about getting back to the business of enforcing immigration law without this -- without arresting people for 111, for interference and impeding. We just want to do what we've done for 30 years, 40 -- I've done this for 40 years. We want to get back to doing the job. And that's what we're planning on doing.

And we're not -- I want to keep this -- because I keep hearing it and hearing it and hearing it. We're not surrendering. The president's mission, on a mass deportation operation. If you're in the country legally, if we find you, we'll deport you. But this is about targeted enforcement operation, and that's what we're going to be doing.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (INAUDIBLE), go ahead.

REPORTER: You've been talking about these filter blockades. People, just regular people, protesters, are checking I.D.s, they're running peoples plates, and they're not letting people who they think are ICE agents through. But we've seen Minneapolis Police Department roll by and ask these protesters, are they doing OK, and they let these things stay up for extended periods of time. What do you make of MPD's lack of action on this matter?

HOMAN: When I was made aware of the roadblocks yesterday, I called the chief of police and he went and disbanded them after I got off the phone with him. He has promised to take enforcement actions. It's illegal. You can't do that. And again, a message to those folks. What are you doing? Do you really think you're going to stop ICE and CBP from doing their job? It's a joke. The only people you're hurting is your own community who wants to go and get groceries, pick up their dry cleaning, or go to work, whatever. You're just hindering them. Stop. Stop.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: One more question (INAUDIBLE).

REPORTER: I just have a quick clarification on the body cameras.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: No more question, guys, thank you.

REPORTER: Just a clarification.

REPORTER: Mr. Homan, could you just talk about the targeted list? How big is that list?

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we just heard from border czar Tom Homan for the second time publicly in Minneapolis after he took over the operation there. After agents, both the Border Patrol and ICE, killed two Americans, he took over.

He says that they are now, and has given a number for the first time, drawing down 700 federal personnel from Minneapolis. That leaves some, he says, 2,000 still there. Normally it is in the hundreds who are there, around 150. So, still a lot of federal agents on the ground in Minneapolis, which dwarfs the police department.

But he also made very clear that they are not going to be stopping their operations in Minneapolis for the time being, but they are looking to eventually draw down completely, depending on the cooperation that they get.

We will have much more on this after the break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:38:47]

SIDNER: All right, joining me now is Democratic Congressman Ami Bera of California.

Look, your state was one of the first to see a huge increase in ICE activity, which brought out a large protest downtown. I was there covering that protest in Los Angeles.

I do want to get your thoughts on what border czar Tom Homan has just said. While a huge number of federal agents are going to remain in Minneapolis, he is now saying 700 federal personnel will be withdrawn. He said, and I'm quoting here, that "there is a success" there in Minneapolis and that he has taken or they "have taken a lot of people off the streets, a lot of bad people. Everyone should be happy about that."

Are you happy about what you've seen happen in Minneapolis?

REP. AMI BERA (D-CA): You know, I'm glad that there's coordination with the governor and the mayor and that there's some de-escalation happening. But I wish Mr. Homan had started by saying, two American citizens were shot and killed and that we mourn the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, and that there will be a full and transparent investigation here. After that, I do want them to work with local law enforcement to reduce kind of these random stops and searches. If there is coordination to go after violent felons, you know, coordination, you know, at the jails and local jails, that's one thing.

[09:40:05]

You know, I've talked to my local sheriff. They're not told when these ICE raids are happening. And that's a dangerous situation. They should -- local law enforcement should have some forewarning on this because otherwise they -- they're getting these 911 calls saying, hey, there's a kidnaping happening, et cetera. Again, I would like to see more coordination with local law enforcement.

SIDNER: There is some coordination. He talked about coordination with the police chief there.

Let me ask you about some of the rhetoric or some of the things he's been saying about rhetoric. He is blaming hateful rhetoric for the bloodshed. I have to note, as you have done, that the bloodshed has come from his own officers that killed two Americans there. Do you think this is a rhetoric problem or something else?

BERA: No, I don't think this is a rhetoric problem. Take -- ask Mr. Homan to listen to the president of the United States, the secretary of homeland security, Kristi Noem. They are delivering hateful rhetoric against immigrants, against folks, many of them who are here legally, who have temporary protected status or are legal immigrants or American citizens.

Again, we should tone all of this down. The American people do want secure borders. They are OK with us going after violent criminals. But they're also very concerned about the folks that may not have the proper paperwork but have been here for years, perhaps decades. They're neighbors, their friends, running small businesses. We should do our job as Congress, Democrats and Republicans, to provide some protections for those individuals that are not a threat to our community.

SIDNER: All right, I want to move on to something, because you're on the Intelligence Committee, that has come up. "The Wall Street Journal" was the first to report this, that the U.S. intelligence officials has alleged wrongdoing by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard in a whistleblower complaint. There is this allegation out there, and Tulsi Gabbard's office is responding, saying they're dismissing this complaint, saying it was, quote, "baseless and politically motivated."

But it is so highly classified it has sparked months of talks over how to share it with Congress. It has now been shared with the Gang of Eight.

You're on the Intelligence Committee. What do you know about this complaint, if anything?

BERA: You know, we've not seen the actual complaint. I'm glad that the Gang of Eight has seen it. It does seem like there's very serious allegations here. Again, I've not seen the complaint. We've seen documentation around the complaint.

Again, the fact that you've got this complaint and that it does seem like Tulsi Gabbard has been sidelined. We've not seen her in committee for months at this juncture.

If there are national security issues, if they're, you know, critical information was released, we ought to deal with this. And again, that's the Intelligence Committee. We're sworn to secrecy. We do things in a very classified way. I'm glad the Gang of Eight has seen this. Again, I would share more information with the full committee.

SIDNER: Congressman Bera, the attorney for the whistleblower spoke to Erin Burnett last night flagging concerns about what information from the complaint was delivered to the White House.

I just want you to listen to what he said here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDREW BAKAJ, LAWYER FOR WHISTLEBLOWER IN GABBARD COMPLAINT: The office of the Director of National Intelligence just informed us that -- that they've received guidance about how to get this information to them, to the -- to Congress, and it's so classified that it can only go to the Gang of Eight. I mean this is highly sensitive, classified information.

Questions I have is, what information is really being sent to those members? Because the fact of the matter is, the underlying intelligence is of grave concern to our national security.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: He said that the -- there was conversation also with the White House and the chief of staff. What questions do you have?

BERA: Yes, I've got tons of questions. Again, if Miss Gabbard, who I've served with and I know very well, is putting our country at risk, our job as Congress is to do oversight. I'm surprised that she's still employed as the Director of National Intelligence. Again, she's been sidelined for a number of months. We've not seen her in committee. She hasn't come and testified.

Our job is to do oversight as members of the House and Senate Intelligence Committee. We're not able to do that if we're not given the information.

SIDNER: Congressman Ami Bera, thank you for talking us through this. You know, you're here for other reasons, but there is always breaking news that happens on this show.

And the breaking news was that Tom Homan, the border czar, was talking about Minneapolis and saying he's going to withdraw 700 federal personnel there, leaving about 2,000 federal agents still in the city and continuing to do their work there, with pushback from protesters.

We'll have much more on that, and we'll be right back after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:49:14]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Democrats are hoping for a blue wave in the November midterms after overperforming in a series of recent special elections that we have covered. But what does this look like right now?

CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten is here with that.

Let's look through some of the big states.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes.

BOLDUAN: You want to start with New York and what that means. Donald Trump made gains in New York.

ENTEN: Yes, Donald Trump made huge gains in 2024 versus 2020 in New York. But now we're looking at a huge Democratic rebound.

What are we talking about here? OK, so you go back, Democrats margins in New York. In 2024 Kamala Harris won New York by just 13 points. Not a very wide margin at all. But take a look here for New York. Look at how the House Democrats or Democrats going for the House of Representatives are polling now for 2026. Look at that wide, huge advantage.

[09:50:01]

That is doubling the margin that Kamala Harris had back in 2024. They're up by 27 points.

And, of course, there are a lot of Republican representatives in New York. You know, talk about Mike Lawler up on the Hudson Valley, right? When you see numbers like this, you have to be really worried if you're Mike Lawler because we're talking about a huge Democratic rebound in New York. And oftentimes Democratic majorities are built on states like New York, eliminating the few Republicans that actually represent it in the House.

BOLDUAN: So, going from New York, go to California. I know you wanted to look at that, too. You've got this. This is what it's looking like in New York. How about California?

ENTEN: Yes, OK, California has a ton of Republicans, right? And, obviously, there's a redistricting where Democrats want to eliminate as many Republicans as possible from the House of Representatives.

Take a look here. Kamala Harris, again, she won, but this is actually a relatively small margin for Democrats. She won by 20 points out on the West Coast in the -- in the big state of California.

But take a look at the 2026 House polling. Again, Democrats, a big rebound. This looks a whole heck of a lot more like 2020 than it does like 2024 with Democrats up by 28 points on the House ballot. Again, this is the type of thing that can help aid a Democratic majority. As I said, you go back to the big Democratic waves, 2006, 2018. Those House majorities were oftentimes built on getting rid of those few Republicans that exist in those big blue states. And this is the type of number, if you're Democrats, you're giving two thumbs up for because this looks like the type of number you want if you want a Democratic majority in the House.

BOLDUAN: You've got New York. You've got California. But let's talk about Texas, which has been such a central focus when you look at redistricting efforts and just a lot that has been going on there, especially in just the last couple weeks.

ENTEN: Yes, there's been a lot going on. You know, we mentioned, of course, that Texas Nine special election that happened on Saturday, right?

BOLDUAN: Right.

ENTEN: That did not happen in isolation. That did not happen in isolation. Again, Republicans have been hoping to squeeze out more Republican seats from that state with the redistricting efforts, right? These are the types of numbers that should really worry Republicans. OK, Republicans margins in Texas. Trump won it by 14 points. But look

at the generic ballot, the generic House ballot. Now we're talking about a Republican advantage of just one, two points. That was a big influence in terms of what happened in Texas Nine.

BOLDUAN: Yes.

ENTEN: Yes, they got a good candidate, but it was also the environment has shifted so much to the left, right? This looks a whole heck of a lot like what we saw in 2018 when Republicans barely won that House vote. You put this together with this, together with this, and all of a sudden you can see how Democrats can really get -- wring out a lot of seats from the big states, the blue ones in California and New York, and, of course, the red one, historically, in the state of Texas.

BOLDUAN: So, what about the -- what are the prediction markets saying about this?

ENTEN: Yes, OK.

BOLDUAN: About the House.

ENTEN: Yes. So, just take a look here. The chance of a blowout. This is the chance that the GOP wins under 193 House seats. Three months ago it was just eight percent. Look at where we are today, up to a 26 percent chance. Not just that Democrats win back the House, but that Republicans really fall through the floor.

BOLDUAN: All right, Harry, thank you so much. Really appreciate it.

ENTEN: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: We'll be right back. Lots of news.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:57:28]

SIDNER: On our radar, we take you to Colorado, where police say someone tried to intentionally run over a group of children on Sunday. Officers say luckily the children managed to run and avoid getting hit. A day later, police chased the car down with three juveniles inside. They haven't determined if those juveniles were involved in trying to run down the group of five kids. But police say the car was stolen and was badly damaged after hitting several vehicles while trying to evade police. Sheesh, that was scary.

All right, an Australian teenager is being hailed super human and a hero this morning after he swam nearly three miles in choppy ocean waters and battled huge waves to save his family, who were stranded at sea. Thirteen-year-old Austin Applebee was kayaking off the coast with his mom and two siblings when they were suddenly swept miles from land. Austin first tried to kayak back to get help, but then his kayak started filling with water, so he decided to try and swim the whole way back. He swam for hours and fading light before finally making it to shore. Austin then sprinted more than a mile to get help for his family.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AUSTIN APPLEBEE: I was fighting rough seas because I thought I saw something in the water and I was really scared. And I was just thinking -- I was just thinking in my head, like thinking I was going to make it through. But I was also thinking about, like, all my friends at school and friends at my Christian youth. And, yes, I just said, all right, not today, not today, not today. I have to keep on going.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: That just must be the power of love. What an incredible feat. More than two hours he spent without a life jacket. And he made it all the way there. A rescue team did eventually find his mother and brother, who were sitting there with him, and his sister clinging to a paddleboard.

All right, now to the Westminster Kennel Club that John Berman loves so much. It has officially crowned a new top dog

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: For best in show at the 150th Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show is the Doberman Pinscher.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Here's the doodle. Yes.

Oh, Penny. That's Penny. What a good girl. The stunning four-year-old Doberman Pinscher was crowned best in show. She beat nearly 2,500 dogs for more than 200 breeds.

BOLDUAN: Look at this.

SIDNER: I mean, the faces are so cute. You just want to play.

BOLDUAN: You see that big fluffy one?

SIDNER: Yes.

BOLDUAN: You see that fluffy one?

SIDNER: I like the fluffy one. But that's just me. That's just me. It's the fifth time a Doberman has won top honors at Westminster.

[09:59:57]

Some of the other winners included Cookie, the Maltese from the toy group, and JJ, short for your favorite name, Jingle Juice.

BOLDUAN: I can't even -- I don't --

SIDNER: In the non-sporting group, because you can't be in the sporting group and be named Jingle Juice.