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DHS Now Allowing Immigration Raids In Schools, Churches And Other Sensitive Areas; President Trump On Bishop's Sermon: "She Was Nasty In Tone"; Rep. Jake Auchincloss (D-MA) On President Trump TikTok Ban Extension. Aired 5:30-6a ET

Aired January 22, 2025 - 05:30   ET

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


(COMMERCIAL)

[05:30:23]

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we are just about to hit 5:30 a.m. here on the East Coast. This is a live look at Atlanta, Georgia on this -- what day is today? This is the Trump administration. I can no longer keep track of what day it is -- Wednesday. It's Wednesday.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.

So-called sensitive areas are no longer off limits for immigration raids as President Trump begins to try to deliver on his immigration crackdown. Under new guidance that was just issued by the Department of Homeland Security immigration enforcement raids will now be authorized in places like schools and churches.

In a statement rolling out the guidelines a department spokesman writes, "Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America's schools and churches to avoid arrest. The Trump administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement and instead trusts them to use common sense."

The Trump administration's border czar Tom Homan also defending the new broader guidelines which could lead to even more arrests.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM HOMAN, TRUMP ADMINISTRATION BORDER CZAR: That means we've got to go to the neighborhood and find them, and we will find them. But when we find them, he may be with others -- others that don't have a criminal conviction but are in the country illegally. They will be arrested too. There's going to be more collateral arrests in sanctuary cities because they forced us to go into the community and find -- and find the guy we're looking for.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: All right, joining us now to discuss this and all things Congress, Kevin Frey, Washington correspondent for Spectrum News NY1. Kevin, good morning. KEVIN FREY, WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT, SPECTRUM NEWS NY1: Good morning, Kasie.

HUNT: Nice to see you.

So this is a situation that obviously puts a lot of teachers as well as --

FREY: Yeah.

HUNT: -- potentially clergy and others on the spot. These are places that historically -- obviously we said you know what, this is not a place where we're going to execute this kind of enforcement.

There is obviously a question about who is going to pay for this stepped up enforcement.

FREY: Yeah.

HUNT: That's a role that Congress has.

What's the reaction been so far to this announcement?

FREY: Well, I mean, look, we've seen schools and school districts -- for example, in New York City where I cover predominantly -- I mean, they have been training their staff to try to figure out how to navigate these sorts of instances and see exactly what the best way to implement this on the ground in terms of dealing with these sorts of attempts.

In terms of just the general sense though, I mean this fits into the general narrative of kind of the shock and awe that the Trump administration is trying to lay out, and so this is fitting into that aspect of the agenda. Because even if they don't go through with it in the short term the fear is perhaps the larger implication.

HUNT: Yeah. And this is setting up as well a lot of tension between state and local officials and the Trump administration.

I want to play a little bit more of what Tom Homan had to say. The Denver mayor, of course, has kind of pushed back on the federal government and said that they're not going to cooperate with some of their plans in his city. Let's watch what Homan had to say about him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOMAN: Me and the Denver mayor -- we agree on one thing. He's willing to go to jail; I'm willing to put him in jail. We're going to enforce the law, period, and they're not going to stop us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: "We're going to enforce the law and they're not going to stop us." He's willing to go to jail. I'm willing to put him there.

Like you said, you cover New York. This is a place that cities across the country are grappling with.

FREY: Yeah. And, I mean, it's a separation of powers, which traditionally you think of Republicans basically arguing that local jurisdictions should be leading the way on issues. This is very much a different opposite approach on that where it's more or less dictating down. It also then puts these local officials in this uncomfortable position. Obviously, he's threatening to essentially jail him of trying to throw out their own jurisdiction and enforce their own local regulations.

On top of this is also the idea of sanctuary city policies which, of course, has become really in the spotlight by Republicans for some time now.

HUNT: Um-hum.

FREY: And trying to, among other things we've seen Congress talk about is float legislation to essentially defund them or pull back federal funding from them and threaten federal funding in response to them not changing their local on-the-ground policies.

HUNT: Yeah.

So, Kevin, we obviously have kind of this big picture -- you know, one, two, whatever -- massive legislation that's going to move through Congress. But one of the more pressing issues facing Congress here -- and President Trump we know plans to travel to California to view --

FREY: Yeah.

HUNT: -- the wildfires later on this week and view the damage that was caused by those wildfires.

Congress needs to send help. There's a huge need. But there are questions about conditions that may be placed on the aid.

I want to show you what Mike Johnson had to say in a recent interview on Fox News about this. Let's watch.

[05:35:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEAN HANNITY, FOX NEWS HOST: Are you saying that you -- that California, if they continue to aid and abet lawbreaking and harbor illegal immigrants, money from D.C. gets cut off?

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: Yeah. We're at -- we're talking about conditions to this disaster aid.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Is that going to get through? I mean, are there going to be conditions on this disaster aid?

FREY: Uh, well, let's start with a couple of different things. There are many different pieces that are at play here in terms of how Congress is going to figure things out over the next couple of months. Because on top of that you also have the idea of tying disaster aid to the debt ceiling. You have the question of specific regulations, which it's ironic given that Speaker Johnson is from Louisiana. Of course, they have dealt with plenty of disasters and plenty of money funneled into that state.

It's not clear to me exactly how this ends. Democrats are already very much adamant that 1) conditions are a nonstarter and the idea of throwing the debt ceiling into all of this is also a nonstarter. And part of that is because Democrats coming into this Congress after it wasn't touched in December despite Trump's last-minute push --

HUNT: Yeah.

FREY: -- view the debt ceiling as one of their bargaining chips in their ability to actually kind of extract something from Trump.

HUNT: Yeah. They're going to need Democratic votes to raise the debt ceiling --

FREY: Completely.

HUNT: -- so they have to give them something.

FREY: They have to get something in exchange.

HUNT: Yeah. Fair enough.

All right, Kevin Frey. Thank you very much for being with us today.

FREY: No problem.

HUNT: Appreciate it.

All right, let's turn now to this story. President Trump not pleased with the sermon that was delivered by the Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde, the Bishop of Washington at Tuesday's National Cathedral prayer service.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REV. MARIANN EDGAR BUDDE, BISHOP OF WASHINGTON: I ask you to have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now. There are gay, lesbian, and transgender children in Democratic, Republican, and Independent families -- some who fear for their lives.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Throughout the sermon Trump -- you can see him there -- remained relatively stoic. Afterward he was asked what he thought of it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Not too exciting, was it? I didn't think it was a good service, no. They can do much better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: After midnight the president escalated his critique. He posted this on his Truth Social platform. "The so-called bishop who spoke at the National Prayer Service on Tuesday morning was a radical left, hardline Trump hater. She brought her church into the world of politics in a very ungracious way. She was nasty in tone and not compelling or smart." Trump goes on to say, "Rev. Budde owes the public an apology."

I'm joined now by Josh Wingrove, senior White House reporter for Bloomberg. Josh, good morning.

JOSH WINGROVE, SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER, BLOOMBERG: Good morning.

HUNT: You attended that service as part of the pool?

WINGROVE: Yeah.

HUNT: Yeah, as the presidential pool. And you also saw that colonnade interaction that President Trump had afterward.

Talk a little bit about what it was like to be in that room at that time and how President Trump reacted?

WINGROVE: Yeah. Until then it had been pretty run of the mill. I mean, this was a multi-faith service. There was all the trappings that you would expect with that. It began with the Anthem. In other words, Trump was sort of the elephant in the room. No one was speaking directly to him. And then her sermon just kind of perked everyone's ear up because she was the first person to address him directly.

And, of course, you heard the clip there talking about not -- you know, asking him to have mercy on LGBT kids, in particular, as well as illegal immigrants or, I suppose, migrants. People working in fields and overnight, and as cleaners in America. Essentially, calling on him for mercy overall.

It wasn't a particularly controversial statement but, of course, she is pushing back on core elements of his platform and what he's trying to do, so he took it as a political attack.

Sometimes, as you know, when you try to shout questions to presidents they walk on by. You saw from that clip we were pushing an open door. He stopped pretty quickly to talk about it. So it's gnawing at him.

Trump -- he's basking right now in the early days. He's doing a lot of executive actions and taking a lot of first term moves. Not a lot of criticism is necessarily breaking through that I think, and so that -- this is sort of the first real bump in the road for him in the sort of celebration that he's been seeing for these first 36-48 hours of his presidency.

HUNT: Yeah.

Rev. Budde was -- also spoke a little bit about why she decided to do this later in an interview. Let's watch what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUDDE: And I was speaking to the president because I felt that he has this moment now where he feels charged and empowered to do what he feels called to do. And I wanted to say, you know, there is room for mercy. There's room for a broader compassion.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Trump, of course, seems more focused typically on the old testament than the new. He has said an eye for an eye is his favorite bible verse. The message she has there more along the lines of blessed are -- blessed are the merciful for they will be shown mercy.

[05:40:00]

Is Trump -- we're also -- we have a congressman calling for Budde to be deported as well.

I mean, is this going to escalate from here?

WINGROVE: I mean, it seems like he's escalating it. I don't necessarily know where it goes from here. I would put obviously the thoughts of deportation at pretty much zero here.

I don't know. Like, Trump sees everything transactionally. You know this. You know we've covered him. He -- this is sort of a feud now in his eyes so he's going to escalate. If the reverend is on air he's going to keep responding, and that's where we're going to be.

But, you know, she's speaking for herself and presumably broader -- her broader community, her church, and her faith, and he's speaking for the MAGA movement, and that's where we are on it.

I think -- I think, you know, he has, of course, curated so much support from evangelical leaders and groups, and people across the U.S. There's no sign of that shaking. There's never been any sign of that shaking. That support was demonstrated in November's election/ And so I think, you know, he feels like there's not a lot of risk to him pursuing this right now, but we'll see.

This was, of course, a day when he was doing -- taking other steps and he was -- had a big announcement around AI funding pledges that are a little bit murky and, of course, continues to roll out these executive orders.

HUNT: Yeah.

WINGROVE: But what had him posting on Truth Social at 12:40 in the morning, this.

HUNT: Someone who criticized him, yeah.

Worth noting that evangelical and more conservative churches have diverged from the modern Episcopalian church -- WINGROVE: Yes.

HUNT: -- which Rev. Budde obviously represents.

Thank you very much, Josh Wingrove. Appreciate your time this morning.

WINGROVE: Thank you.

HUNT: All right. Coming up here on CNN THIS MORNING President Trump's sweeping pardons and commutations over January 6. Ahead, what some of those people are saying now that they're out of jail.

Plus, Congressman Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts will join me. He'll discuss the ongoing battle over TikTok, including President Trump's thoughts about what should happen to it.

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[05:46:23]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JIMMY FALLON, HOST, NBC "THE TONIGHT SHOW STARRING JIMMY FALLON": I heard about a tattoo artist who inked his wife with "RIP TikTok, 2016- 2025" before finding out the ban was lifted. That's a shame because it ruins what otherwise would be a beautiful tattoo. That's right.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: TikTok is still intact, at least for the next 73 days. President Trump signing an executive order granting the extension, giving him time to negotiate a deal with the app's Chinese parent company ByteDance. The company has been required by law to sell the majority of its stake or be banned.

Trump floating the idea of a 50-50 joint venture with ByteDance and an American investor. As for potentially buyers the president has a few names in mind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REPORTER 1: Are you open to Elon buying TikTok?

TRUMP: I would be if he wanted to buy it, yeah.

REPORTER 2: Larry Ellison?

REPORTER 1: On your inauguration -- on your inauguration --

TRUMP: I had -- like, I heard it. But I have the right to make a deal.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Joining us now to discuss, Democratic Congressman Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts. Congressman, good morning to you. REP. JAKE AUCHINCLOSS, (D-MA): Good morning.

HUNT: Trump brought back TikTok. This is something you focus on a lot -- the influence of China. Was that the right move -- was it the right move to restore it now?

AUCHINCLOSS: No. In fact, it was illegal. The statute allows the president to grant a 90-day extension if there is a deal in progress and negotiations require more time. That is not the case here. He does not have a right to just grant an extension because he wants more time to try to make a deal happen. ByteDance has had almost a year. So one, it's illegal; and two, it's unwise.

I approach this issue not just as a member of the China Select Committee but also as one of the youngest parents in Congress. I've got a 4-year-old, a 3-year-old, and a 1-year-old. The way I see it I have four years before they start scrolling.

And these tech executives get richer the more time my kids and your kids spend on their smartphones. But instead of taking them on Donald Trump invites $12 trillion of their market cap to sit in front of his cabinet at his inaugural address.

Who is going to fight for the digital town square in this country to reclaim it from the attention fracking of the corporate powers? Not just the Chinese Communist corporate power but American corporate power. That's what Congress needs to step up and do.

HUNT: What do you think it would mean if Elon Musk were to be the investor -- the other 50 percent? Would that satisfy your concerns?

AUCHINCLOSS: No, and, in fact, I don't really know what Trump is talking about with this 50-50 deal where the U.S. owns half and the Chinese -- that's again not within the statute. The statute is quite clear it has to be a company answerable to U.S. law -- an American company.

Now, I'm not going to weigh in on the exact form of this acquisition. That's not the job of Congress. But what is clear is that it needs to be a company answerable to U.S. law. And that then Congress needs to act against all of these social media corporations -- not just TikTok but X, Facebook, Instagram -- to puncture their section 230 shield and hold them accountable for a digital town square that's not purely monetizing people's attention spans.

HUNT: When you saw those tech executives arrayed on stage with Donald Trump does that -- did that visual give you any confidence that Congress was going to be willing to puncture that shield in the next four years?

AUCHINCLOSS: Last term, the top Democrat and top Republican on the Committee of Jurisdiction wrote an op-ed in The Wall Street Journal calling for a sunsetting of section 230. Section 230 is that law that basically makes these social media corporations not liable for any of the toxicity on their platforms, including online deepfake pornography. Ninety-eight percent of deepfake videos online are non- consensual pornographic content targeting young women.

[05:50:05]

These execs don't care. None of those people at the cabinet -- sitting in front of the cabinet have any interest whatsoever in resolving that issue because they don't have to legally.

So I do see bipartisan support for it on Congress, but we are undermined in doing so when Donald Trump invites the TikTok CEO to the inaugural address. I mean, what message does that send 1) about our ability to stand up to China, but 2) our ability to stand up to the tech oligarchy that has really taken over what should be a public good -- the town square?

HUNT: Congressman, let's change topics a little bit because immigration has obviously gone -- become front and center as Donald Trump has taken office. He issued this litany of executive orders.

One new development overnight is the lifting of the general policy of not -- of ICE not going after undocumented immigrants in their schools and in their churches. That's something that now the policy is going to say that's an acceptable move.

Do you think that's the right thing to do?

AUCHINCLOSS: No. Schools and churches should be places where everybody can feel safe and welcome. They have by tradition been places that have been set apart from that type of enforcement.

Now, if the president is trying to deport criminals, we should work with him on that. Criminals should be deported. If the president is working to seal up the border we can work with him in good faith on that. And, in fact, Democrats negotiated a bipartisan border security deal last Congress that he then torpedoed.

But if he is trying to violate the norm of Posse Comitatus and turn the military into a domestic law enforcement arm that's sowing fear and indiscriminate immigration raids, no. That's not who we are as a country.

HUNT: I was speaking with a former head of ICE yesterday on the show and he noted that inside one of the first executive orders was a directive to house immigrants in U.S. military bases, essentially to create deportation camps on those military bases.

Is that an appropriate use of military space?

AUCHINCLOSS: What the law says is that the military can provide ancillary support to domestic law enforcement. There is some gray area about whether providing housing and other sort of infrastructure to support immigration authorities in a deportation campaign is appropriate, and I think that's going to be a case-by-case basis.

What is very clear though is that deputizing military officers, including the National Guard, and having them go door-to-door, having them stop people for immigration authorities is illegal and no governor should be complying with that.

HUNT: Congressman, we're looking at potentially also conditioning disaster aid -- we were talking about that earlier -- as part of kind of some of these overall things that are moving through Congress right now. And I'm interested to know if you think that could actually pass muster in the House. Obviously, Republicans have this very narrow majority, but this is a world where they may need Democratic votes.

Do you think there would be Democratic votes for a bill to condition disaster aid to California?

AUCHINCLOSS: I'm not going to negotiate that one because it's going to be tied into so many other issues. My sense is ultimately California disaster aid gets intertwined in the larger issues at play right now -- taxes, tariffs, energy, immigration, the debt limit. And not all of it is going to be resolved. Every single one of them is resolved, as Hakeem Jeffries likes to say. And so it's going to be one issue on the table.

HUNT: All right, Congressman Jake Auchincloss. You're going to stick around and join our panel at the top of the show. Thanks for being here.

All right, coming up next here on CNN THIS MORNING teaming up. Tech titans at the White House to unveil major investments for AI infrastructure.

Plus, a Justice Department shakeup. Donald Trump wastes no time pushing top prosecutors to the sidelines. His first steps to overhaul the agency he's repeatedly criticized.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: This is all weaponization of DOJ and FBI. They raided my house in violation of a thing called the Fourth Amendment. They're not allowed to do that. They raided my house in Florida -- Mar-a-Lago. No notice, no nothing. They raided it. I can't believe it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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[05:58:33]

HUNT: It's Wednesday, January 22. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They've been given a pardon. I thought their sentences were ridiculous and excessive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Sweeping pardons. Violent January 6 rioters and far-right extremists freed. Now, President Trump facing backlash from some in his own party for that day one decision. Plus --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HOMAN: If they're in the country illegally they have a problem. It's not OK to enter this country illegally.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: Immigration crackdown. President Trump rolling out new policies. Places like schools and churches no longer safe.

And this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BUDDE: Have mercy upon the people in our country who are scared now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HUNT: A plea from the pulpit. A bishop begs Trump to "have mercy." Overnight, the president demanded an apology.

And later --

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's a winter wonderland here in Florida.

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HUNT: A once-in-a-generation storm from Texas to Florida. Some southern cities seeing their snowiest day on record.

All right, it is 6:00 a.m. here on the East Coast. A live look at snowy New Orleans. Some spots across the city saw up to 10 inches of snow shattering the city's previous record of 2.6 inches. Pretty wild.

Good morning, everyone. I'm Kasie Hunt. It's wonderful to have you with us.

We're just three days into the second Trump presidency. Already friction between the White House and Capitol Hill as Republican lawmakers grapple with Trump's decision to grant clemency to almost everyone convicted or charged in connection with the January 6 insurrection.