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Dem Leaders Outline 10 Demands to GOP in ICE Funding Fight; DOJ Under Scrutiny for Revealing Victim Info and Concealing Possible Enablers in Epstein Files; Trump Delivers Remarks at National Prayer Breakfast. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired February 05, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:30:28]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, new this morning. Democrats have a new list of demands that they would like to see enacted by Homeland Security, by federal immigration officers as part of the immigration crackdown around the country. And they're putting these demands out to secure votes to fund the Department of Homeland Security. That funding runs out next week. On this list, requiring judicial warrants for searches and arrests. They want IDs, body cameras for all the agents. A reasonable use of force standard written into law. They want agents to stay away from sensitive areas including schools, hospitals and churches. And they also want to see them all wearing masks.

With us now is Congressman Mark -- Mark Alford, a Republican from Missouri.

Congressman, thanks so much for being with us. I -- I know there are things that you oppose on that list of 10 items for the Democrats. But what can you support? Where might there be areas of agreement?

REP. MARK ALFORD, (R-MO): Well, look, I think you're seeing some changes already. President Trump has sent in Tom Homan to do a great job there and straightening out what's going on in Minneapolis. They're withdrawing almost a third of the federal officers who are there for the deportation efforts.

I think that's a step in the right direction. I do not think that Republicans are going to agree to the mask issue. Number one, the reason that the federal officers, ICE are wearing mask is because they want to go home at night and there were the families to be safe.

And last year when these deportation efforts began, especially out in California, they were being doxed and they're still, their efforts by these protesters, some of them more than just peaceful protesters to so called out these agents to make their names and their identity public. That puts them at risk. I understand the trepidation and concern by some for seeing federal officers with masks on. But we've got to make sure that they are safe.

BERMAN: So, again, that's an area of disagreement. What I was looking for is areas where you might agree. So, what changes do you think should be made when the president says there needs to be a softer touch softer than what?

ALFORD: Well, look, I think you're seeing that softer touch right now with the Tom Homan going in and taking over this operation and removing about a third of the force there.

What we really need in the softer touches cooperation from these sanctuary cities. Do you look at what's going on with the deportation efforts in Texas and Tennessee? We don't have these problems and the same numbers of individuals, the illegal aliens are being deported from our nation.

The problem is the sanctuary cities, the counties, the cities, and the states that are sanctuary states are not cooperating with the federal officers. I think you're seeing that now due to the efforts of Tom Homan going in there with his experience and getting these detention centers, these prisons, to legally and lawfully cooperate with ICE and hand over the criminal illegal aliens so they don't have to be released and go out and be recaptured and put lives in danger.

BERMAN: What about -- what about judicial warrants for seizures and arrests? Do you think a judicial warrant should be required? Again, I'm trying to figure out if there is an area where Democrats and Republicans can come together here to keep Homeland Security funded.

ALFORD: I think warrants is something we can look at. But look, a lot of these individuals already have orders, final orders of deportation. If you have a final order of deportation, you've overstayed your visa, you haven't qualified for asylum, you are indeed an illegal alien, there's not a need for a warrant to go and pick you up and repatriate you to your home country.

BERMAN: Do you -- do you have confidence in Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem?

ALFORD: I do. She was a member of Congress prior to that and, of course, governor of South Dakota. I think she's doing a good job. I do not think that the press is giving her a fair shake, for one thing. They don't like her style. They don't like her commercials. They don't like her cowboy hat. Tom Homan has a different style. And he has a history of working under Democrat administrations as well, President Obama's administration. He's done an effective job. He is a bulldog, and he's going to be fair. He is -- he is, I think, proving right now that his style is commiserate with those in Minnesota, at least. And we'll see what happens.

[08:35:08]

BERMAN: I'm hoping you can help clear something up here. President Trump was asked why the Director of National Intelligence was in Atlanta for the FBI seizure of 2020 election material. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why is Tulsi Gabbard there?

DONALD TRUMP (R), U.S. PRESIDENT: I don't know, but, you know, a lot of the cheating comes from -- it's international cheating.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: So, you just heard President Trump there say, I don't know. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said, "My presence was requested by the President and executed under my broad statutory authority to coordinate."

So, the president said he doesn't know. Tulsi Gabbard says he told her to be there. Which is it? How do you read it?

ALFORD: Well, John, I wish I had an answer to that. I don't have inside information from the White House or the Oval Office for that matter. I do know that Tulsi Gabbard has been a stalwart in trying to -- to figure out what has gone wrong with our federal elections. How do we fix them? Was there outside interference from outside governments? And I think when you start talking about that, it's -- I understand why Tulsi Gabbard was down there.

If they feel like that, there was some outside influence or involvement or something nefarious from foreign governments involved in the Fulton County election. And so, let's let -- let's let the information come out. The chips fall where there may and -- and see what happens.

BERMAN: Yeah. Curious, the president said he didn't know why she was there.

Congressman Mark Alford, always great to speak to you. Thanks for coming on.

Sara?

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, thank you, John.

Ahead of the November midterms, what kind of power does the MAGA movement still have when it comes to the GOP? CNN's Chief Data Reporter Harry Enten is here to run the numbers.

So, how much power, and we're talking about influence here.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN SENIOR DATA REPORTER: Yeah.

SIDNER: Do they have on the GOP, especially over the long run?

ENTEN: Yeah, over the long run. That's what I think is so important here. And it's not just about Donald Trump, it's about the Make America Movement. Again, that's what we're talking about, Make America Great Again movement. And it is as powerful as it has ever been because I want you to take a look here. GOP who view MAGA favorably. Two years ago when Donald Trump was running for term number two, it was 74 percent. Today, look at this. It's 78 percent of Republicans who view the Make America Great Again movement favorably. So, we're talking about something that, in my opinion, will very much be able to outlast Donald Trump. Trump is in term number two. He can't run for a term number three. But the bottom line is this. What he brought into the GOP looks like it's going to last long beyond him.

SIDNER: It's a very populist movement. I am curious because J.D. Vance would then be the next standard bearer of this movement. Where is the GOP on how they feel about him?

ENTEN: Yeah, OK. So, you know, obviously J.D. Vance, the Vice President of the United States, at this point looks like a favorite for the Republican nomination, come 2028. And one of the reasons why he looks like a favorite is because the Republican base loves J.D. Vance.

What are we talking about here? Someone who really represents the Make America Great Again movement. This is somebody a year ago, his favorable rating among Republicans, 81 percent.

Latest Marquette University Law School poll, look at this, 84 percent, 84 percent. So, if anything, his favorable rating is somewhat up from where it was a year ago after a year of Trump. And of course that matches what we see when it comes to MAGA, right? It matches what we see coming to MAGA, whereby it was 74 percent and now it's 78 percent.

If anything, MAGA's grip on the GOP and it seems like the next in line to be the next standard bearer of MAGA, both of them, their favorable ratings are actually up after a year of Donald Trump's second term.

SIDNER: So, could we extrapolate that there are no cracks in the way in which they feel about Donald Trump and his power?

ENTEN: Yeah, OK. So, you know, we spoke -- we spoke about MAGA, right? We spoke about J.D. Vance. But what about the idea essentially, not just that Republicans like or love Donald Trump, but believe he has been a good influence on the party? And here it is. Just look at this. Say Trump's had a good effect on the GOP among Republicans. When he left after term number one, it was 71 percent. Just before he was running for that second term, right, it was 62 percent.

Now it's again 71 percent of Republicans who say that Donald Trump has had a good effect on the Republican Party. I know that there are a lot of people out there, especially on the left, who say, oh my God, we just want to grasp that one little thing that, you know, oh, there's weakness in Donald Trump's grip on the GOP, weakness in MAGA's grip on the GOP. It just simply put isn't there, even after this whole stuff that's been going on in Minnesota, which obviously hasn't necessarily been popular with the general electorate, but among Republicans, they liked Donald Trump, they liked MAGA, they liked J.D. Vance, and they believe that Donald Trump's had a good effect on the GOP as much as it has ever been.

SIDNER: It's as strong as it's ever been, not with independents, not with, like you said, the general electorate, but with Republicans, pretty clear, they're not going anywhere.

[08:40:09]

ENTEN: That's correct. Donald Trump, MAGA, J.D. Vance, they ain't going nowhere when it comes to the GOP.

SIDNER: All right, Harry Enten, thank you so much.

ENTEN: Thank you.

SIDNER: John?

BERMAN: All right, just in, the U.S. and Russia have agreed to resume high-level inter-military communication for the first time in nearly five years. That's according to the U.S. European Command. The agreement comes as the U.S., Ukraine, and Russia have been holding three-way peace talks in Abu Dhabi. I want to get to CNN Senior International Correspondent Fred Pleitgen in Moscow for the latest this morning.

Fred, what are you learning?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Hi there, John. Well, this inter-military communication was actually cut between the U.S. and Russia in late 2021, just months before the Russians invaded Ukraine, and now it is being restored.

We just got a statement from the U.S.'s European Command where they're saying maintaining dialogue between militaries is an important factor in global stability and peace, which can only be achieved through strength and provides a means for increased transparency and de- escalation.

So, clearly they're saying there are operative reasons for restoring this inter-military communication. You're absolutely right. It does, of course, come as those negotiations between Ukraine and Russia under the auspices of the United States, those trilateral negotiations, have continued in Abu Dhabi.

They have actually finished for the day. This was the last of two days that these negotiations took place, the Ukrainian side saying that there was truly progress that was achieved. This comes in the form of Kyrylo Budanov, who is, of course, the head of Ukraine's presidential administration and one of their most important negotiators at these talks, also thanking Abu Dhabi and the United States.

We heard from the Russians before the talks began this morning that they also believed that progress was being made. We know that the way that these talks unfolded is that they started in a trilateral way and then broke up into working groups. The U.S. says there are still a lot of things that need to be sorted out, some very key issues that need to be sorted out, but they do expect there to be progress in the coming months as well.

One of the things, however, John, that was indeed achieved is that the U.S. announced that there was a prisoner swap involving 314 prisoners from Russia and Ukraine. That has been completed with a lot of those prisoners, some of them in custody for several years, now back in their respective countries. So, the U.S. saying those negotiations are already yielding some results, John.

BERMAN: Prisoner swaps often provide the type of coordination that proves useful in finding common ground for next steps.

Fred Pleitgen in Moscow this morning, thank you so much for your reporting on all of this.

Sara?

SIDNER: All right, thank you, John.

New this morning, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, or the EEOC as it's known, is launching an investigation into Nike. Because it's being accused of discrimination against white employees, the federal agency is on the attack over DEI, now investigating Nike's diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives.

The filing does not identify individual victims. The agency filed the enforcement action after Nike failed to voluntarily provide all the information required by a subpoena in a statement. Nike called the probe, quote, "a surprising and unusual escalation and said it had already shared thousands of pages of information."

All right, a DUI arrest leading to a bizarre discovery, a disturbing discovery. What officers found inside a man's trunk as they were handcuffing him. And a robot dog sent out to sniff out danger on Europe's most active volcano. We'll take you there.

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[08:47:57]

BERMAN: This morning, the Justice Department facing new pressure for its handling of the Epstein files. Epstein survivors have blasted the department after people inside the Justice Department said private information -- no, the survivors said private information was revealed in the latest document release. Others are criticizing what some are calling the over-redaction of the documents, protecting people believed to have aided Jeffrey Epstein.

CNN's MJ Lee has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MJ LEE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The Justice Department under fire, facing criticism for over-redacting information about individuals who may have aided Jeffrey Epstein. In a 2014 email released in the files, a person writes to Epstein, quote, "Thank you for a fun night. Your littlest girl was a little naughty." But the identity of the individual who wrote that message is redacted.

And in this image of Epstein's inner circle from the files, we see associates like convicted co-conspirator Ghislaine Maxwell and Epstein's assistant, Lesley Groff, but several others in the graphic are blacked out. The release files also showed numerous email exchanges that appear to describe the procurement of women. New Brazilian just arrived, sexy and cute, 19 years old, a 2013 email to Epstein reads from someone at a Paris modeling agency. That sender's name, redacted.

"I found at least three very good young poor." A 2018 email to Epstein reads, "Meet this one," the person continues, not the beauty queen but we both likes her a lot. This sender's name also redacted.

A DOJ official said in a statement to CNN, "And fully redacted names are of victims. In many instances that it has been well documented publicly, those who were originally victims became participants and co-conspirators. We did not redact any names of men, only female victims."

Names of law enforcement officers were also among the redactions. Also included in the released Epstein files, a highly controversial draft indictment from the 2000s that would have charged Epstein along with three others. They were described as having been employed by Epstein and having conspired to persuade, induce and entice individuals who had not attained the age of 18 years to engage in prostitution. Their names are redacted.

[08:50:09]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. RO KHANNA (D-CA: So, you have a justice department that's leadership cared more about protecting the men who committed these crimes than the survivors who were victims of the crime.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: The law that forced the DOJ to release the Epstein files mandates the DOJ to make certain redactions, such as identifying information about victims and child pornography. Some individuals who helped connect Epstein with young women were also victims. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche acknowledging errors were made and that his department is working around the clock to correct failures to redact victims' information.

TODD BLANCHE, U.S. DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: You're talking about pieces of paper that stack from the ground to two Eiffel Towers. And so the minute that a victim or their lawyer reached out to us since Friday, we immediately dealt with it and pulled it down and we're continuing to do that. We knew that there would be mistakes.

LEE: Epstein survivors are outraged.

SHARLENE ROCHARD, EPSTEIN SURVIVOR: Publishing images of victims while shielding predators, it's just a failure of complete justice. Why should anybody come forward? Because the justice system is not going to be the justice system.

LEE: MJ Lee, CNN, Washington, D.C.

(END VIDEOTAPE) SIDNER: All right, on our radar, police in Colorado making a shocking discovery when they pulled over a man for driving recklessly. They found three children locked inside his trunk in freezing temperatures. The driver was arrested on suspicion of DUI, reckless driving, and three counts of child abuse. The children were eventually released to family after officers contacted Child Protective Services.

All right, terrifying moments in New York when 67 skiers got stuck in a malfunctioning gondola in the -- why can't I ever say this? Help me, John.

BERMAN: Adirondack.

SIDNER: Adirondack. I don't -- I even have a chair and I still can't say it. We're able to get them to safety, but the way they do it with ropes, it was -- it was scary. The group that manages the mountain tells CNN the gondola stopped because of a non-emergency mechanical alignment issue.

All right, a high-tech robot dog is sniffing out danger on the slopes of Mount Etna. Researchers are using the robot dog to determine when eruptions might happen. It's already helping keep humans safe because it reduces the risk of sending people into dangerous terrain to do some of the same work. The dog robot is able to gather data, identify volcanic gases around craters, and it uses a range of sensing equipment and A.I. to make decisions based on its environment.

John.

BERMAN: All right, let's go to Washington, D.C. now. President Trump is at the national prayer breakfast there, I believe. There we go.

Live pictures right now. The president arrived just a short time ago. He was introduced. I do believe the next order of business is for him to speak at this national event. We're obviously waiting to hear the remarks on a number of subjects. Immigration has become a big issue inside the faith community.

Pope Leo, many faith leaders have been critical of some of the administration's immigration action of that. It'll be interesting to see if President Trump addresses that head-on. I will say one other thing I think we're all listening for is if the president talks about the Guthrie family, the abduction of Nancy Guthrie, the 84-year-old mother of Savannah Guthrie.

There's new video out from Guthrie's family. The president has spoken to Savannah and has talked about the federal efforts to find Nancy and really all of our prayers to get her back home safely.

Let's listen to the president.

TRUMP: Well, thank you very much, and thank you to Pastor Paula. Paula is an incredible woman. She's been with me a long time, right from the beginning.

This is a beautiful American tradition, and it's a true honor to be back with so many incredible leaders and people of faith at the National Prayer Breakfast. I think I've been here just about every time. It's hard to turn it down. I don't have the courage to turn it down. Sometimes I want to.

I come back from a horrendous trip fighting people that can't stand us, keeping us out of wars and seeing things that nobody would believe that anybody would see.

And last time I came, it was -- I got in at 4:00 in the morning. They said, "Sir, you're going to be speaking at 7:00." I said, really? Oh, that's wonderful. I said, "where?" National Prayer Breakfast. I said, "I'll be there. I'm afraid not to be." I need all the help I can get.

(APPLAUSE & CHEERING)

TRUMP: And, you know, I never get a fair break from the fake news, which is back there. That's a lot of fake news. Because last time I was having a lot of fun. We had a big read. We had 60,000 people, and I'm talking about the fact that I will never make it to heaven. I will never, ever -- and I was being funny. I was trying to be. You know, you can't be sarcastic with them because they write your words, and the people are reading the words are much different. But I said, I'm never going to make it to heaven. I just don't think I qualify. I don't think there's a thing I can do.

[08:55:20]

But all of these good things I'm doing, including for religion. You know, religion's back now hotter than ever before. I have to tell you.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: But I said, even though I did that and so many other things, I named things, I said, I won't qualify. I'm not going to make it to heaven. The "New York Times" did a front-page story that Donald Trump is questioning his life and the meaning of his life. No, I was just having fun. I really think I probably should make it. I mean, I'm not a perfect candidate, but I did a hell of a lot of good for perfect people.

That's for sure. Right? Right, Mr. Speaker?

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: But I want to thank the dozens of members of Congress here this morning, including a man of immense faith and immense talent. He's a very talented man. He's a small minority. It's just really because we go back and forth between minority and majority, and half the time we're minority and we still win. How do we win with a minority? You know, we have a couple of people that I consider to be negative. But we're one up, two up. Sometimes we're three up.

In fact, we'll have two more victories very soon. We'll be three up. And we consider that having a massive majority, OK? Right, Mike? That's like, that's considered -- we're not spoiled. Can you imagine if we ever picked up, like, 20 or 30 seats? Wouldn't that be pretty? That'd be too easy. I think it would be too easy. It wouldn't be fun.

I get these calls from Mike. Sir, could you speak to so-and-so at 3:00 o'clock in the morning? You know, we have two types. We have the type that goes along with us and believes in us and they're with us all the way. And that, I would say, is 95 percent, right?

And then we have the type that needs a little love all the time, no matter what it is. For the easiest thing on religion or republicanism, the easiest thing to pass, they always make it difficult, but they always get there. But I have to call them always at 3:00 in the morning. I'll always get that call. Sir? Speaker Johnson's calling.

So, I get a, hi, Mike, what's up? What time is it? It's 3:00 in the morning. Sir, we have nine names that are giving us difficulty. They want to have a phone call. I said, all right, let's go. Here we go. Same nine all the time, right? You know? So, I call up. I say, Chip, how you doing, Chip? Hello, sir. Sir, I can't quite get there. I just don't know. Could I come over for breakfast?

You know, we have a 9 o'clock vote, right? I said, really, is it night? Sir, I just -- you got to get me there, sir. Let's have breakfast, Chip. Great. Then I get others. Pretty much the same nine. I don't want to name too many, but I would. And they always get there. We have one that doesn't get there. We have one guy. He's an automatic no. No matter what. If we did welfare reform, if we did the greatest thing in history for religion, no matter what we did, no matter how good it is, greatest tax cuts, and we just did the greatest tax cuts in history, he voted against. He voted.

Now, no matter what we do, this moron, no matter what it is, we could put them all together. I think, Mike, what would you say the top five things? Name them. We'll put them in one bill, and we'll put them before we get 100 percent vote, except for this guy named Thomas Massie. There's something wrong with him. We call him Rand Paul Jr., you know? It's like, they just vote no. They love voting no. They think it's good politically. The guy is polling at about nine percent. It's not good. But we have great support, and we have great support for religion.

You know, I've done more for religion than any other president. When Paula was saying that, it was so nice. I was proud of it. And I said, that's true. I told the people backstage. What she said is true. Who else would say that, right? But it is true. But then I said, but that's not saying much, because not too many presidents have done too much for religion, I want to tell you that.

(APPLAUSE)

TRUMP: Certainly modern-day. Certainly modern-day presidents, they didn't -- they bailed out on you. They bailed out. They want to be neutral. They want to be neutral or against. You know, the Democrats are against. I don't know how a person of faith can vote for a Democrat. I really don't.

[09:00:03]

And I know we have some here today. And I don't know why they're here, because they certainly don't give us their vote.