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Trump Begins Immigration Raids in Multiple Cities; Trump on Gaza: 'Just Clean Out That Whole Thing'; Flood Advisories Issued for Burn Scars Across California. Aired 6-6:30a ET

Aired January 27, 2025 - 06:00   ET

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

KASIE HUNT, CNN ANCHOR: It's Monday, January 27. Right now on CNN THIS MORNING.

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TOM HOMAN, TRUMP'S BORDER CZAR: If you're in the country illegally, you're on the table.

GOV. J.B. PRITZKER (D), ILLINOIS: It's quite disturbing, is they're going after people who are law-abiding.

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HUNT: Cracking down. The Trump administration launches immigration raids across the country and claims victory in a tariff stand-off with Colombia.

Plus --

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And we just clean out that whole thing.

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HUNT: Reshaping the Middle East? President Trump facing backlash after suggesting a, quote, "clean-out" of the Gaza Strip.

And --

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SEN. TOM COTTON (R-AR): He wants new people in there. He has a right to -- to get in there who he wants.

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HUNT: A late-night purge. President Trump firing more than a dozen independent watchdogs from the government.

And then --

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SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): I tend a vote for almost everybody of both parties. But I want to see how the hearing goes.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I do not believe she's qualified for this role.

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HUNT: Confirmation fights. Two of the president's most vulnerable cabinet picks try to win over skeptical senators on Capitol Hill this week.

All right. It is 6 a.m. here on the East Coast. This is a live look at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City, just hours after the Chiefs secured their spot in the Super Bowl. One win away now from that exclusive three-peat.

I am going to trust that my Eagles and Saquon Barkley, in particular, are going to potentially put a dent in those dreams.

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

Donald Trump claiming victory at home and abroad as his administration continues to implement his vision for mass deportations.

Late Sunday, ICE announcing the arrest of almost a thousand people in locations across the United States, including in Puerto Rico.

In Colorado, the DEA arresting almost 50 people, seizing weapons, drugs and cash during a raid at a makeshift nightclub near Denver. Officials say that dozens of those arrested have connections to Venezuela's Tren de Aragua gang.

In Georgia, a video doorbell capturing the moment when homeland security officials arrested a man at his home in an Alabama suburb. A family member telling CNN the man is an undocumented immigrant from Honduras but claiming his only criminal record was a ticket for driving without a license.

And in the Southwest, officials from the Navajo nation report that at least 15 indigenous people have been stopped or detained since Wednesday. Those officials saying those Navajo Americans were asked to provide proof of their citizenship.

Trump's border czar Tom Homan on the ground in Chicago on Sunday to oversee arrests there. In an interview with CNN, Homan described the Chicago arrests as a, quote, "good day and a game changer," end quote.

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HOMAN: If you're in the country illegally, you're on the table, because it's not OK to violate laws of this country. You've got to remember: every time you enter this country illegally, you violated a crime under Title VIII, United States Code 1325. It's a crime.

So, if you're in the country illegally, you've got a problem.

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HUNT: New this morning, sources telling CNN that the Trump administration has directed federal agents involved in the raids to wear clothing clearly identifying their law enforcement agency with the explicit goal of generating media attention.

In case you were wondering how Donald Trump used this as a campaign issue.

Joining us now to discuss: Stephen Collinson, CNN politics senior reporter; Alex Thompson, CNN political analyst, national political reporter for Axios; Meghan Hays, Democratic strategist and former director of message planning for the Biden White House; and Matt Gorman, Republican strategist and a former senior adviser to Tim Scott's presidential campaign.

Welcome to all of you. Good morning. Thank you for being here.

Stephen Collinson, big picture here. This is clearly a concerted effort. And, you know, we didn't even talk about the standoff that the Trump administration had with Colombia over the weekend, where they didn't want to take military deportation flights. Trump threatened tariffs. Ultimately, Colombia backs down.

But this is a concerted push, not just to actually execute on this campaign promise, but to show Americans what is happening.

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT: Right. You've got the policy here. They want to get a tough, quick start on this issue that many Americans showed in the election that they wanted Donald Trump to fix. And you've got the politics.

They're trying to build support, and there's only so much they can do without getting extra momentum from funds in Congress.

The Colombia situation was particularly interested after President Petro, whose Twitter feed makes Donald Trump's look tame by comparison, back down, because apparently, as you say, he objected to military flights. Plenty of civilian flights carrying undocumented migrants come back.

I think that victory for the Trump administration is politically important, and it's going to embolden people inside the White House who see the use of tariffs as not just a trade tool, but a way to coerce other countries into doing what Trump wants them to do, whether that's, you know, smart policy over four years.

[06:05:06]

Alienating allies is another question. But politically, I think that was a win for them. HUNT: So, one of the things that, of course, were running into here.

And Matt Gorman, this has kind of been my central question all the way along, because it's clear from the polling, from the results of the election, Americans wanted tougher immigration enforcement at the border. They wanted some changes in that regard.

But we're starting to run up against the humanity of it. These-- reporting of these members of the Navajo nation being held for long periods of time, and one not being allowed to call a member of her family to be provided with proof of -- of American citizenship. Raises all the questions about profiling. We're also reporting that ICE agents, they were outside of a church during a sermon looking for someone by a certain name who actually left during the sermon.

And then, of course, Tom Homan has been saying they're going to go to schools, maybe even middle schools, because there could be gang members. Right?

At what point does it become too much?

MATT GORMAN, REPUBLICAN STRATEGIST: I mean, I think when it comes to hunting down gang members, I think I have a pretty large tolerance. I don't know about other people.

But look, I think a lot of what you read in the opening, whether it's Tren de Aragua; you have a lot of stuff happening in New York right now, as well. Obviously, the Colombia stare-down. It was a good weekend for President Trump on this issue.

Like, he has executed exactly what he said. And I mean, look, you also have the fact that I think 475 flights of this similar fashion happened between Colombia and the U.S. over the last four years, 124 in just this year alone.

This was a test for the Trump administration, whether or not they were going to back down and have some sort of negotiation. And it was clear, I think. I think the Trump administration thought very clearly that, if they do any sort of amending on what they were planning to do, other countries in the region, Guatemala and others, might follow suit and take a tougher line.

And I think you had a very strong stance, and it worked. Even the fact that you mentioned the Twitter feed, Petro accidentally -- I don't think he meant to -- retweeted Karoline Leavitt post about this late last night where it didn't exactly put Colombia in the -- in the best light, and he retweeted that later.

But reading of what you talked about at the start, most of it, pretty good weekend for President Trump.

ALEX THOMPSON, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, this -- you're saying -- basically echoing the Trump administration's line, which is it's just gang members and criminals.

But in actuality -- and Tom Homan has already said this over the weekend -- is that there are what he calls collaterals, which basically is, if they do a raid and they -- to find potential gang members, if there are any other undocumented immigrants that are even in their proximity, they're deporting them, too. So, it's not just gang members.

MEGHAN HAYS, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, they're doing this in a -- in a way of fear, right? To your point, they're looking for anybody that they can deport.

And I think that a lot of Americans did want a pathway to citizenship for a lot of people who have been here and who've been active citizens or, you know, good citizens here.

I understand nobody wants criminals here. Nobody wants gang members here. Everyone can agree on that. But there are people who are upstanding citizens that have been here for years and decades that do deserve a pathway to citizenship. And deporting them and splitting up families is not -- is not what I think that people wanted.

GORMAN: I would say that they did. You know, 4 or 5 years ago, maybe even three years ago, I think with the -- with the crisis at the border you've seen over the last couple of years, you don't hear those words anymore coming out of even Democrats' mouth.

I mean -- I mean, that was the first time I've heard that among, you know, Democrats in quite a long time. The Overton window on this has shifted. And I think the pathway to citizenship is something that, you know, that is -- it's not the same way it was, say, in 2019 or 2018.

HAYS: It was -- it was part of the bipartisan bill that Democrats put forth last year in the Senate.

GORMAN: That didn't go anywhere.

HAYS: But it was a bipartisan bill. And it was -- it did have a pathway to citizenship. So, I hear what you're saying, but also to your point about the flights that went to Colombia, we did that. The Biden administration did that, and they didn't have any issues. So why now are they having issues with Colombia?

GORMAN: It's a new administration. I think they're testing it.

THOMPSON: Also, because they -- I mean, to your point, like the public showdown is part of the point. It is -- it is a messaging.

And it's not just for domestic politics. It's also for the world. It's also for anyone that want -- that, you know -- they're trying to say -- basically, they're trying to say, if you're thinking about coming here, if you're undocumented, don't try.

HUNT: Well, and Stephen Collinson, this is actually what you write today. You say that this reversal represents a concession to the U.S. -- to U.S. power, the Colombian reversal to Trump's aggressive personal style. It will embolden administration officials on the tariff threat.

But still, you say the spat with Colombia was also a reminder of how Trump's hardline approach will cause massive global disruption. Four years of such tactics could harm U.S. global relationships. Hardened attitudes to Americans among foreign populations.

"The Colombia dispute quickly got the attention of China, which is seeking to increase its influence in Washington's backyard, underscoring the potential downside for the U.S. If Trump chooses incessant confrontation that alienates key regional nations."

COLLINSON: Yes, this was really interesting. During this whole backwards and forwards of rhetoric between Trump and Petro, the Chinese ambassador to Colombia inserted himself into this situation.

He tweeted that the Colombian foreign minister was in Beijing last year and had said that the relations between the two countries were at their best-ever level for 45 years.

This is quite nimble for the Chinese, and it's a little bit unusual. But I think it reflects the broader picture in Latin America, which is that the Chinese will pounce on any -- any alienation of U.S. allies to try and build their own profile in Latin America.

[06:10:15]

That's the kind of -- the big picture, great game of diplomacy that's unfolding.

And that is, I think, one of the reasons why Trump has been so strong on Panama, on the migrant issue, even on Greenland. He's looking at the Western hemisphere in an almost 19th century perspective, thinking about the U.S. must control its own sphere of influence.

HUNT: Yes, well, and especially when the Chinese are spending so much money on infrastructure and other things in Latin and South America.

All right. We have much more to discuss. Straight ahead here on CNN THIS MORNING, President Trump firing more than a dozen inspectors general, paving the way for his own independent watchdogs. We're going to speak live with one of the men who was dismissed by Trump.

Plus, the president urges Egypt and Jordan to open their borders to Palestinians. Why that proposal is drawing criticism.

And Vice President Vance, defending the blanket pardons issued for January 6th rioters.

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J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Violence against a police officer is not justified, but that doesn't mean that you should have Merrick Garland's weaponized Department of Justice expose you to incredibly unfair process, to denial of constitutional rights.

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HUNT: President Trump says he has a plan for the more than 1 million Palestinians who call Gaza home. He wants them to leave.

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TRUMP: And we just clean out that whole thing. It's, you know, it's over the centuries -- it's had many, many conflicts. That's right. And I don't know. It's -- something has to happen. But it's -- it's literally a demolition site right now. Almost everything is demolished.

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HUNT: Trump telling reporters there on Air Force One that he asked Jordan's King Abdullah to take in more Palestinians. He plans to request that Egypt do the same.

That idea, swiftly rejected Sunday by Egypt and Jordan, both countries insisting the only way forward is Palestinian statehood.

All of this as tens of thousands of displaced Gaza residents began returning to what is left of their homes.

And let's also just remind everyone what Donald Trump has said about this in the past. So now, in this moment as president, he's saying he wants to clean it out. Here's what he said back on October 7, 2024, during the campaign.

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TRUMP (via phone): It could be better than Monaco. It has the best location in the Middle East, the best water, the best everything. It's got -- it is the best. I've said it for years. You know, when I've been there, and it's rough. It's a rough place before the, you know, before all of the attacks and before back and forth. What's happened over the last couple of years.

And I said, wow, look at this. They never took advantage of it. You know, as a developer, it could be the most beautiful place. The weather, the water, the whole thing, the climate. It could be so beautiful. It could be the best thing in the Middle East.

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HUNT: "It could be the best thing in the Middle East," he says. Stephen Collins, we can show you a little bit of this with some CNN footage of what Northern Gaza looks like now.

And of course, this is what we're also seeing, these live pictures. These are not live. These are -- this is tape from January 19th. People are now making their way back. You can see the live on the right. These people are coming back to what is left of their homes.

As you can see, it is not the place that they -- that they departed. COLLINSON: Right. And I think the juxtaposition between that comment

and those pictures gets to why this won't work, because you just have to think about the humanity of this. And if you go to Gaza, even before the conflict, the latest conflict, you know, it was a massive refugee camp with impoverished conditions.

But the people that have a deep connection to this land, so there's that issue. You can't just solve it by moving them somewhere else in the Middle East that historically, you know, hasn't -- American presidents haven't had success when they're trying to change the geopolitics of the Middle East.

Practically, the Jordanians don't want it, because they've already got millions of Palestinian refugees, which is destabilizing.

The Egyptians would be worried that there would be cross-border terrorist attacks that could bring into doubt the Camp David Accords that we talked about when President Carter died; start a conflict with Israel.

And more broadly, this is contradictory to Trump's wider goals in the Middle East, which is to expand the Abraham Accords, create this anti- Iran front between Arab states and the Israelis.

So, you know, he might view it as a real estate dispute, but it has deep practical diplomatic implications, the suggestion.

THOMPSON: I would also add that this is a sign of just how much Trump is aligning himself with Bibi Netanyahu and his government. This idea is not the first time we've ever heard of this.

Bibi Netanyahu brought this up with Egypt long before Egypt also told them. And then even some people on the far right of Israel's -- of Israeli government were celebrating Trump for suggesting this.

So, I think, you know, you've also seen Trump authorize the 2,000-ton bombs in -- to use in Gaza. This is part of a larger pattern that, when it comes to Netanyahu, Trump is basically giving him a green light.

HUNT: And we're very, very far from Republican President George W. Bush and his insistence on a two-state solution in the region.

[06:20:04]

All right. Coming up here on CNN THIS MORNING, a busy week of Senate confirmation hearings. Can President Trump run the table on some of his more controversial picks?

Plus, Vice President Vance flip-flopping on President Trump's January 6th pardons.

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HUNT: All right. Welcome back.

Fire-ravaged Southern California finally seeing some rain. But that rain bringing its own set of issues.

Let's get to meteorologist, our weatherman, Derek van Dam. Derek, good morning.

DEREK VAN DAM, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes. Good morning. Kasie. Just kind of sifting through social media this morning from Los Angeles particularly.

There was a collective sigh of relief that it was, indeed, raining and continues to do so this morning. But we all know that the ground is so volatile, so extremely dry, and especially in and around the recent burn-scarred areas.

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This is going to cause some concerns and some problems with too much rain too quickly. So, doesn't take much for this volatile ground to move.

And here's an example of just that. Topanga Canyon in Southern California. Seeing this mudslide debris flow. And we will likely continue to see that.

But a far more insidious risk that's not often talked about is that the rain that's moving across these charred, burned landscapes is picking up contaminants from burned homes and vehicles. And that water will eventually go towards the coastline.

So, there is an advisory for all Los Angeles beaches right now. Stay away from the water. We don't want that to impact the drinking water either.

Los Angeles, currently under a flood warning. We still have rain moving over the Palisades, Eaton Fire burn scars, as well as the Hughes Fire burn scar in the North. So, we'll look out for the potential of mudslides.

Remember, we only had three-hundredths of an inch through Saturday the entire water year, but we had -- on Sunday, we had over a half an inch.

So, the rain largely coming to an end here in the next 24 hours. But we're going to watch out for mudslides and debris flows going forward -- Kasie.

HUNT: All right. For sure.

Derek van Dam for us. Derek, thank you. I appreciate it.

VAN DAM: OK.

HUNT: All right. Coming up after the break here, President Donald Trump firing a number of inspectors general late Friday night. How he went about it is causing criticism. We're going to talk to one of the ousted I.G.'s, up next.

Plus, more of President Trump's pick for his cabinet head to Congress for confirmation hearings this week.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It should not be a situation where you feel that you can't exercise your -- your conscience, your judgment, because of fear of retribution.

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