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Erin Burnett Outfront
DHS Report: Two Agents Opened Fire; Driver Takes On Bovino; "Melania" Ticket Sales. Aired 7-8p ET
Aired January 27, 2026 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[19:00:26]
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: OUTFRONT tonight:
The breaking news. A new DHS report reveals Alex Pretti was shot by two ICE agents as Trump backtracks from his aggressive crackdown in Minnesota, creating new controversy tonight by saying, "You can't have guns".
Plus, coming face to face with Bovino. I'll talk to a rideshare driver, an American citizen who stopped and questioned by Border Patrol agents, including Greg Bovino. We have never before seen video of that now viral encounter. He'll tell you about it.
And "Melania" about to hit the big screen. Trump says tickets are, quote, "selling out fast", but are they?
Let's go OUTFRONT.
(MUSIC)
BURNETT: And good evening. I'm Erin Burnett.
OUTFRONT tonight, the breaking news, Alex Pretti was shot by two officers. Now, this is according to a breaking report to Congress from DHS and the disaster of the federal government's handling of Pretti's killing now has Trump ceding to the obvious, replacing the man who said Pretti was planning a mass murder of federal officers with border czar Tom Homan.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Why did you decide to shake up your leadership team in Minnesota and send Tom Homan?
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I do that all the time. I shakeup teams. Everybody here, these are a lot of owners of farms and places, and you shake up your team. If they can't do the crops fast enough.
Bovino is very good, but he's a pretty out there kind of a guy. And in some cases, that's good. Maybe it wasn't good here.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: The shakeup, though, may not be enough to quell the outrage on the ground. Here's the Wisconsin Governor, Tim Walz.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. TIM WALZ (D), MINNESOTA: The end of this is not Greg Bovino leaving. The end of this is a sane policy on how you do immigration reform and stop an attack by the federal government on a state.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Obviously, the Minnesota governor, Bovino, who has often been seen, of course, in his long double breasted army green coat, had been the face of Trump's aggressive crackdown in Minnesota. But he's gone, now, making his way back to the agency's El Centro sector in southern California.
And as for Kristi Noem, more Republicans think she should also go. Just listen to this. Just out now from Republican Senator Thom Tillis.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): I mean, I think if Noem looks at her body of work, I could not be if I were in her position. I can't think of any point in pride over the last year. She has taken this administration into the ground on an issue that we should own.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And Trump is now trying to soften his own tone when it comes to Minnesota, obviously looking for an off ramp to the crisis
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REPORTER: Do you agree with the assessment from some of your own officials that Alex Pretti is a domestic terrorist or an assassin?
TRUMP: Well, I haven't heard that.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Hard to imagine that's the case. The president of the United States not only should know what his know what his administration is saying, but here's what they're saying.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: This individual who came with weapons and ammunition to stop a law enforcement operation of federal law enforcement officers, committed an act of domestic terrorism.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: And Trump's top aide, Stephen Miller, posted online, I quote him, "A would-be assassin tried to murder federal law enforcement." A comment that Trump's vice president reposted. But as Trump is trying to get out of this crisis, he has found himself
at the center of another controversy of his own making. When it comes to something that is untouchable for conservatives in the United States and for pretty much every Republican in America. That's the Second Amendment.
Here's what he had to say about Alex Pretti, who had a legal concealed carry permit.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: That being said, you know, you can't have guns. You can't walk in with guns. You just can't.
And you can't -- listen. You can't walk in with guns. You can't do that. But it's just a very unfortunate incident.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: You may be having memories of Kyle Rittenhouse.
Well, the president of the United States is, of course, the leader of the Republican Party. And he just said, quote, you can't have guns.
Well, then he was given a chance to -- did he really mean this? He doubled down.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: But certainly, he shouldn't have been carrying a gun. I don't like that he had a gun.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Can you imagine if Barack Obama, Joe Biden or anybody like that said that somebody with a legal concealed carry permit shouldn't have a gun at a protest? Kyle Rittenhouse? Republicans would, of course, be up in proverbial arms, but they would also be having a fundraising field day.
[19:05:04]
But coming from Trump, of course, is causing such a stir. It flies in the face of what Trump has been telling his supporters about guns for years.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: So, I'm a second amendment person all the way.
I have an obligation to protect the Second Amendment.
I will defend the right to keep and bear arms, our Second Amendment.
Your Second Amendment will be safe.
I will fully uphold the Second Amendment.
We love the Second Amendment, folks. Nobody loves it more than us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Well, the NRA, obviously, the most powerful lobbying group in America for guns, issued a statement after Pretti's killing and after multiple administration officials said that he shouldn't have taken a gun to the protests, saying the mere presence of a firearm is not evidence of criminal intent. Anyone who claims to be pro-gun should never suggest otherwise.
Shimon Prokupecz is OUTFRONT live in Minneapolis.
And, Shimon, what is the latest you're learning there?
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Well, certainly, I think the information, this new information that we're learning that's coming from the Customs and Border Protection and Border Patrol, it's part of what we call the OPR. It's the Office of Professional Responsibility, and they are mandated by Congress to provide information within 72 hours after an incident.
And what makes this so significant, that this is the first credible -- and this the group of people who do this work have a lot of credibility. And it's our first really look inside, and first time we're getting any kind of transparency.
And what we're learning is significant here, that there were two individuals, two officers, essentially a Border Patrol agent and a Customs and Border Protection officer that fired their weapon. We're also learning that it seems right now, based on this preliminary information, that this agency provided to Congress, that someone, a Border Patrol agent, yelled "gun!" multiple times. Gun multiple times, and then five seconds later, that is when Alex Pretti is shot.
Now, a couple of things to note here, based on sources that I've been talking to who are familiar with how the group that is doing this investigation tells me is that it is very interesting here that they note that Homeland Security Investigations, HSI, is doing this investigation. That is a little odd, and that is not the norm. So we'll see how that unfolds.
The other thing, we don't know how many body camera -- how much body camera they have. That is going to certainly be a big question. How many shots were fired. And also, I think we can learn a lot here that at this point there's no information that indicates that this was any kind of accidental discharge. And I think there are a lot of questions about that.
But certainly, at this point, it seems based on this that there are two officers who fired their weapon. And in the coming days and weeks, perhaps this same group of investigators will likely release more information to Congress.
BURNETT: All right. Shimon, thank you very much, on the ground in Minneapolis tonight.
OUTFRONT now, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty. Her office is investigating the shooting of Alex Pretti.
And I appreciate your time, ma'am.
So, CNN's reviewed this initial report to Congress from DHS about Alex Pretti shooting. DHS says the two officers fired their guns, as they are saying two officers now and then they say, quote, CBP personnel attempted to take Pretti into custody. Pretti resisted CBP personnels efforts, and a struggle ensued.
Obviously, like many Americans, you have seen all these videos and you -- no doubt -- have seen ones, perhaps, that we have not even yet seen. Have you seen anything that supports that conclusion?
MARY MORIARTY, HENNEPIN COUNTY ATTORNEY: You know, I would say the troubling thing is the fact that the federal government isn't allowing our own state law enforcement agency to see any of that. So, the fact that I have to hear about it in the news or, you know, from a report, it's just additional -- I mean, I don't my job here and our job here is to collect as much evidence as we can and put it all together and see what makes sense here.
We certainly collected a bunch of videos. We put those together and we're sinking those. And the BCA is interviewing witnesses. But it's really troubling. And this happened in the Renee Good case that the administration either releases something that we're hearing about in the media, and it just isn't a good way to conduct a thorough and complete investigation.
BURNETT: You've actually filed a lawsuit, I know, against ICE, DHS, Border Patrol to stop them from destroying evidence related to the shooting, and the judge actually has granted you a temporary restraining order in that case. But I'm curious as to whether you know of any evidence that you believe was specifically destroyed.
MORIARTY: Well, it's a very unusual motion to file, because you would presume that the federal government would preserve evidence.
[19:10:06]
Here's how that lawsuit came about. When I learned that somebody had been shot, I was in contact with the BCA, and we had a prosecutor on site there, and we learned that ICE, the federal government was actually blocking physically the BCA from entering into that scene to process it. And by physically blocking it, I mean, they were about two feet apart with batons, not letting them into that scene. We then got a search warrant the BCA drafted, and we made sure a judge was available to get a search warrant so that they could serve that on DHS and enter the scene to process it.
But even though they had a search warrant signed by a judge, they were refused access to the scene. And so that was yet another indication that we had no control. We were not going to be able to get access to any of the evidence, at least at the scene. And so, we were very concerned about whether they were what they were going to do. As you will recall, in the Renee Good case, they had decided that they were not going to do an investigation at all over her shooting.
BURNETT: Right.
MORIARTY: They were actually going to do an investigation of her and her widow. And so, we took the extraordinary step of filing that federal lawsuit, and it included a request for a temporary restraining order to make sure that they didn't destroy or alter any evidence. And so, when the judge heard that -- oh, sorry. Go ahead.
BURNETT: No, I just was going to ask you. So, when Todd Blanche says and he has said that protesters and rioters overtook the crime scene, right? He's saying it wasn't federal law enforcement. You know, that that description that you had, they were two feet away with the batons. His version is very different. But that his version, it sounds like from what you're saying, you don't believe to be true.
MORIARTY: Well, it's not true. I don't know if it's a lie or people are telling him that, but I had a prosecutor at the scene. I was in contact with the BCA. I was watching video live stream from community members at the scene. So what -- I don't know where he's getting his information, but that's simply not true. It was not to the crowd that prevented the BCA from entering the scene. It was the federal government.
BURNETT: Do you know where Alex Pretti's phone and his gun are right now?
MORIARTY: I -- you know, that is -- his phone is one of the items that we think was probably seized as well as the gun, the guns that were used to shoot him, shell casings, that kind of thing. And once again, like the Renee Good case, we don't know what we don't know.
And so, we are continuing to collect information. We put out a request to the public to submit information to that same portal that we used for Renee Good. And we've gotten a lot of information. We've also had the public reach out to us and the public -- there are people who were there who have information, and they are frightened. They're frightened to come forward. They're frightened for their safety.
And so, we are making sure that we connect them to the BCA so that they can be interviewed. But I think it says a lot when you've got people who were just witnesses there who are very frightened of the federal government.
BURNETT: Yeah. Mary Moriarty, I appreciate your time. Thank you so much. The Hennepin County attorney -- appreciate your time tonight.
MORIARTY: Thank you
BURNETT: And we've got some breaking news coming in here to CNN right now. And this is what it is.
One of Trump's top aides on immigration, Stephen Miller, is admitting tonight a possible breach of protocol by the officer who shot Alex Pretti, which is a pretty stunning thing to come out of this administration, especially given what they said initially.
It comes as Republican Senator Thom Tillis, whom you just heard slamming Kristi Noem, has taken on Stephen Miller.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): Stephen Miller is in the same boat. This guy, after doing the stupid comments he made about Greenland, getting the president in a difficult circumstance, is one of the people that came out publicly and said that this guy was a terrorist before he had even talked with anybody on the ground, and that's clearly not the case now.
So, I mean, it's just -- I mean, Stephen Miller never fails to live up to my expectations of incompetence.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: I mean, that's a pretty stunning thing to hear Republicans say, right? Stephen Miller never fails to live up to my expectations for incompetence.
Kristen Holmes broke this news about Miller. She joins us now from the White House.
So, Kristen, what are you learning right now?
KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, Erin, this is quite stunning coming from Stephen Miller, who, of course, has been one of the most hard line immigration enforcers when it comes to president Trump's administration. He is essentially conceding or acknowledging that there might have been a breach of protocol when it comes to the shooting of Alex Pretti.
And just a reminder, this is the same person who said that Pretti in the aftermath was a would-be assassin. This is what the statement says. And he lays this out very clearly, says that the White House provided clear guidance to DHS, that the extra personnel that had been sent to Minnesota to force protection should be used for conducting fugitive operations to create a physical barrier between the arrest teams and the disrupter teams.
[19:15:13]
Goes on to say, we are evaluating why the CBP team may not have been following that protocol. So that's the first piece of news that we're learning here from Miller. The White House is looking into this and that they're acknowledging there might have been a breach of protocol, but there's more here.
We had learned that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem had been in constant touch with the White House leading up to her press conference, leading up to the first tweet that DHS put out about the shooting of Alex Pretti. She had been talking to Miller. She had been talking to a number of various officials. She had briefed them on how she was going to comport herself when she got up there. Here's what Miller said about that, said, "The initial statement from
DHS was based on reports from CBP on the ground." The reason why that is notable is that he is not disputing that he gave talking points to Noem, that the White House was behind that, but instead they are saying that they got that information, that he got his information from reports on the ground from CBP officials now saying they're evaluating if there was wrongdoing by those agents.
BURNETT: Yeah. And fascinating to putting it on CBP. I guess if we're looking at where the fingers are pointing, it's the pointing going down to Bovino at some level.
All right, Kristen, thank you very much. Yeah.
And all right, incredible new reporting here. An important from Kristen.
I want to go on the heels of her reporting to longtime conservative columnist and radio host Erick Erickson.
Erick, I'm glad to have you and talk -- have a chance to talk to you. So, you hear this finger pointing going on from Kristen's new reporting.
Stephen Miller suddenly realizing the winds are blowing and changing his tune, pointing the finger, it appears that Customs and Border Patrol -- appears at Bovino. Noem on thin ICE.
How do you see this playing out?
ERICK ERICKSON, CONSERVATIVE COLUMNIST: Oh, it sounds very much like Bovino is going to be the Icarus who flew too close to the sun. He's the one who's going to take the fall for this. You know, there's lots of reporting in the conservative press over the last number of months that Kristi Noem, Corey Lewandowski and Stephen Miller elevated Bovino even above his boss at Customs and Border Protection to be able to do this because they liked his hardline approach. They liked the images of the arrests.
They thought it would placate the president in the base, and now it's blown up in their faces w with the death of Alex Pretti and conservatives, because the reaction both on Pretti's gun ownership and the way they defined a dead man, it's not working for the president. He had to make the pivot back to Tom Homan and re-empower Tom Homan, who Kristi Noem had tried to sideline.
BURNETT: So, when you hear Thom Tillis -- and, obviously, Thom Tillis is retiring, right? So, when people retire, suddenly they do start --
ERICKSON: Right, he's got nothing to lose.
BURNETT: Right. All right. But when he says his comment about Stephen Miller at the end there, that he never fails to live up to my definition of incompetence or whatever the exact words are, that Thom Tillis said, do you think that anything is shifting here because of this, or is this going to be something that this White House is able to put in the rearview mirror?
ERICKSON: I think they'll put it in the rearview mirror. Stephen Miller is not going to be a sacrificial lamb. The president values his counsel and a host of matters not just this, but they are going to -- Tulsi Gabbard, Kristi Noem, I think, they're not going to fire her and give a scalp to their opposition, but they'll just make her disappear.
You're not going to see her regularly, much like they've done to Tulsi Gabbard. She won't be someone they rely on for advice. Tom Homan, the border czar will be really empowered.
And, you know, Erin, it's important, I think, for people to understand the border czar doesn't have any power. The czar positions have to get people in a room and get other people to do stuff because they're not appointed or nominated and confirmed by congress. Noem was able to sideline him. And now that this has blown up in her face, he gets re- empowered.
BURNETT: So with all of that, you have Trump doing something that's quite confounding I can only imagine to conservatives, okay, and that is that he has -- I've counted five times I think today managed to say something contrary to the Second Amendment, talking about Alex Pretti, right? He certainly shouldn't have been carrying a gun. You can't have guns. You can't walk in with guns repeatedly, even when given the when pointed out that that that that the man was carrying had a legal gun and that would be consistent with the Second Amendment.
How much damage will this do? I will say, when I was sitting here on Saturday night with the breaking news and the crisis and the tragedy, all those videos coming out that were showing what we were hearing from the administration to be false, one of the most shocking things that evening was when the NRA came in and said, what the is happening here on the Second Amendment and people saying, this guy shouldn't have had a gun
ERICKSON: Look, here's the problem. Environmentalists, abortion advocates, one way or the other, and guns, those three have constituencies that are single issue voters.
[19:20:03]
And the Republicans have the Second Amendment group in lockstep with them. They need them to turn out in November. They tend to turn out for Republicans in midterm elections. They may not when they have this administration, including the president, badmouthing the Second Amendment.
I'm in group chats with conservative groups today just begging the president to shut up on this issue and move on.
BURNETT: All right. Well, he has chosen not to do that, at least thus far.
ERICKSON: Not yet.
BURNETT: Erick, thanks so much. I appreciate talking to you. ERICKSON: Thank you.
BURNETT: All right. Good to see you.
And next, a rideshare driver and a U.S. citizen confronted by Border Patrol agents. Moments later, he's face to face with Gregory Bovino.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- in Germany.
GREG BOVINO, BORDER PATROL COMMANDER: No, come on. No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you guys want to do today? You guys want to take me in or something?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: What happened? Well, he is next.
And an OUTFRONT exclusive tonight, our David Culver with unprecedented access to a Border Patrol training academy.
Also breaking, a judge now blocking the Trump administration from deporting the five -year-old boy taken by ICE agents along with his father in Minneapolis. The boy's principal is our guest.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:25:19]
BURNETT: Breaking news, we've got new video shared with OUTFRONT of the now viral encounter between a rideshare driver who is an American citizen, and Border Patrol agents, including top official Greg Bovino.
Ahmed Bin Hassan is now sharing more than 10 minutes of this video with us. He was stopped by agents just hours after Renee Good was killed. Ahmed is an American citizen originally from Somalia, but he's an American citizen for a decade. He was ordered, though, by agents to identify himself. His video confronting the agents has gotten nearly 3 million views just on his own Instagram account alone.
Here's a clip.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
AHMED BIN HASSAN, DRIVER: I'm here working. You're working too, right? So, it says U.S. Border Patrol. This is not the border.
Go to the Canada border or the Mexico border. I'm working. Dude, if -- what do you mean? What do you mean if I'm from this country?
BORDER PATROL AGENT: I can hear you don't have the same accent as me. That's why I'm --
BIN HASSAN: Oh, so you're going by accents now? Is that what it is? BORDER PATROL AGENT: Where were you born?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Well, after that moment, you see him interact directly with top Border official Greg Bovino for several minutes. Here's a little bit of that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIN HASSAN: Hey, the famous guy. I've seen this guy on TikTok. Look at him.
He's got gas canisters. What's up officer?
BOVINO: What's going on?
BIN HASSAN: How you doing?
BOVINO: I got better than I deserve.
BIN HASSAN: Man, let me step out, man. Let me talk to you guys in person.
What's up, man?
BOVINO: You doing all right?
BIN HASSAN: I've seen you. Oh yeah? Yeah, with the soundtrack and everything. These guys, your office is coming over here arresting the hell out of me.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
BURNETT: Well, Ahmed bin Hassan is OUTFRONT now.
And, Ahmed, I'm going to play more of your interaction with the officers in Bovino in a moment. But I guess let's just start with where you were when this happened. You're sitting in your car at the airport in Minneapolis. You're waiting for your next ride request.
And so, you're sitting there waiting. I'm sure this is what you do many times a day, and then you get a knock on your window. So, tell me what happened then.
BIN HASSAN: Yeah, it was basically sitting in my car at the rideshare parking lot for Lyft and Uber, and I was looking at my phone, watching the link that was sent to me basically the link was online and I was watching different angles of how ICE agent killed Renee Good. And I heard the knock, and I was kind of startled a little bit.
So I looked and I seen a Border Patrol agent, female officer with her face covered, just her eyes visible, and wearing a helmet with a GoPro on top. And, I kind of was shocked and startled, so I opened the door and I engaged her and said, hey, what can I help you with? And this time, I'm literally zoned in to my job. I was just watching
this clips coming in while I wait for my car to be called to pick up a customer. So I'm in queue. I'm in the right place, in the right parking spot. I wasn't improperly parked, you know, and now there's somebody here that wants to question me about something.
So I looked, and it's the Border Patrol lady, and I'm like, hey, what can I do you for? And she said, I need proof of citizenship. Can I have your ID? There was no --
BURNETT: So she actually said, I need proof of citizenship?
HASSAN: Yeah. She literally said, I need to -- I need you to prove that you're a U.S. citizen. And then she kept repeating. Are you a U.S. citizen? Can I get your ID?
You know, and I was like, this is kind of strange. You requesting this while I'm not even driving a car, I'm just sitting at work in a parking lot. And you want me to, like, go ahead and tell you these details about my life that seem very personal to me.
And I was startled. I was like, hey, are you sure? She's like, yes, I need your papers. Are you going to give it to us or not?
BURNETT: Your papers?
HASSAN: I said, yeah, straight up. So I was shocked because this language, I've seen it in movies, you know, that show, the Holocaust and how 19 -- Hitler's Germany was asking some of the, people that they considered non-human to wear uniforms and have their papers on them, and there's curfews and you can move around in certain areas based on the time that your race or your identity is allowed to be out. So you don't have any control of your destiny, basically, right?
So I was like, are we in Germany? If you look at the video, I was like, what is this, Germany? And she said, listen, I don't need you to even, give me your identity. Were going to find out by running your plates on your car. And I looked and turned and all of a sudden, I seen two men on their phone checking something about my plates.
[19:30:00]
I was like, well, you know, I'm not going to come and tell you anything else. But since you guys are already making yourself welcome to profiling me and checking my personal data and my property without my consent, I can't do much, right? And that was three hours after they had shot down Rene Good --
BURNETT: And we just heard --
BIN HASSAN: -- on the street.
BURNETT: Yeah. We just heard that that agent saying, I can hear you don't have the same accent as me. That's why I'm asking you, which I think is a pretty stunning thing to hear. I mean, then you. So you're talking to them. You talk about the woman first, then there's him, and then actually
Greg Bovino, right? The guy -- the top guy at the time, on the ground of all of this, shows up by your window and you've shared some more of that exchange. Let me play it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
BIN HASSAN: The big boss over here.
BOVINO: What's going on?
BIN HASSAN: They're just harassing people based on skin color. Are we in Germany?
BOVINO: Oh, no. Come on.
BIN HASSAN: What are you guys going to do today? You guys want to take me in or something?
BOVINO: Oh, that depends. Are you an illegal alien?
BIN HASSAN: Illegal alien man? Yes. I might be from another planet.
BOVINO: Okay.
BIN HASSAN: Yeah.
BOVINO: If that's the case, if you're from another planet, that counts, too.
BIN HASSAN: Well, if that counts. Well, I'm an alien. Guys, lets do DNA tests. And you got -- you got a lab. We can run some blood tests. See what the hell -- are you guys shooting up, people, man. Somebody just got shot for what?
Why did you guys shoot that lady? Answer me that. There's an officer today that shot a lady in the head, dude.
BOVINO: Really?
BIN HASSAN: For what.
BOVINO: Huh?
BIN HASSAN: You got all this stuff? You could have just got her, man. She's not going to, like, fly out of the country.
BOVINO: Like an alien.
BIN HASSAN: Like an alien with a spaceship.
BOVINO: A spaceship?
BIN HASSAN: Yeah.
(END VIDEO CLIP) BURNETT: So, obviously, you sound confident there, but I can only imagine. Obviously, this is hours after Renee is shot and killed, and you're sitting there feeling that guys already told you that because of your accent, you have to prove you're an American. American. Greg Bovino walks up.
Yeah. Did you feel scared a bit that things could go wrong?
BIN HASSAN: I mean, it was very obvious to me, by the way, Border Patrol was acting with me unprofessionally that they really didn't care about my identity. Theres something else other than what was obvious that was going on. So when he said, you know what? I know you're not an American citizen, and I -- and I demand that you show me proof of that American citizenship verification documents, whatever I need that, what's making me ask you this stuff is you do not sound like me. You don't have the same -- and then he pointed to his face. You don't have the same accent as me.
So I was shocked. I was startled and I said, we're using accents now to verify citizenship. Are we using -- it was just absurd to hear that. You know, for the first time in my life, I'm like, accents. Wow. Theres so many different accents in America, right? Theres the Spanish accent, there's the Italian accent, there's the Boston accent, there's the Texas accent, there's the Arkansas accent, which I'm not a big fan of.
But then again, this guy chose to say, you got to sound like me to be a U.S. citizen. So I was like, hey, I'm not going to partake in this nonsense. What I'm going to do now is I'm going to use the same energy he's using towards me, on him, you know, and the outcome, as far as fear is concerned, I'm a Muslim man, a Muslim man, and my faith tells me to fear God.
But we're humans. Obviously, when there's overwhelming force and terror facing you, especially when its being given a label of legitimacy because of the uniform or the officer that's using the gun or the badge on you. You could definitely be startled a bit or be fearful, but I wasn't, because I've had so much interactions with law enforcement in my American life, you know, for over two decades. I've been here since I was technically 17, 18, I was very young. And I've had I have had a lot of interactions with law enforcement.
But this was different. The -- this is Border Patrol and I'm in a parking lot in the city, 600 miles from the nearest border, and they have decided to come to me and harass me at my job and impede my income by saying, we have identified you not to be one of us. You're not an American. You know, I'm a black male Muslim.
So -- and then Bovino was over there, so I didn't notice Bovino the whole time I'm engaging this officer because it was absurd to me. Like he got really close to me. So I told him, listen, I can hear you from where you're standing.
You don't have to get up close. So I knew he's trying to instigate and escalate the situation, you know, to mess with me and my energy and my temperament, you know? So I said, I'm going to let him know I know what he's doing. He's trying to bully me. And I'm not a big fan of bullies, especially when they're carrying a gun.
So the lady got out of the picture, the lady Border Patrol lady, and then he got close, and then he moved back. And then I realized he's just getting close to not only to intimidate me, but to profile and get a good up close picture of my face so that he can upload it to a database and run and do his further profiling.
So, he took the picture, walked away, and I was like, Mr. Mills, because I seen that there was the name Mills C20 that was written on his vest, but the Mills was written on the back of his phone. He used his personal phone to take a picture of my face, and I didn't give him consent. So, he walked away.
So I called him Mr. Mills, come back because I know I touched a nerve because once I said, oh, now I know your name, you're called Mills. And how do I know you're an American citizen? You know, just because you have a uniform and you come and engage me, you tell me you're an officer. Border Patrol. Can I read?
I can read, but you could get these uniforms off of Amazon. There's people that lost their life based on trust in a uniform, a UPS uniform. We know there\s a story like that. I don't know if you're aware of it, Erin.
So, I'm pretty conscious of how people can manipulate law enforcement. But when I see Greg Bovino, I knew it was official. I was like, okay, I got to go because I had seen Greg Bovino on MAGA content, you know?
BURNETT: Yeah.
BIN HASSAN: So again I was like, ill approach him. I shook his hand, and then I said, hey, why did you guys shoot that lady? You know, I wanted to know. And I complained to him and said, one of your officers is profiling me based on my accent. Is that even something normal? And he said, no, that can't be so.
But he was earshot of this. He was he could hear us from the guy asking me. He never corrected it. So I was like, Greg Bovino is unprofessional as well. So, what do you do now?
So, I told him, listen, why did you guys gun down? He said, what woman? There was no empathy on his face. And then they made a joke. That's very disgusting. Some of his officers saying, why do they have to do the head like that? Making fun of how Jonathan Ross shot down Renee Good. And that made me even more angry. But I couldn't do much because of the overwhelming force they had around me.
You know, there's so many officers, over ten, surrounding me from every side, and I had my back to my car, you know? So, I continued to record. I continued to record because I was like this, even if I end up losing my life, this is going to show people that the law enforcement is getting used in a very weird way to dehumanize people.
BURNETT: All right. Well, Ahmed, I appreciate your explaining all of this and sharing it and being willing to come out and still put your face on it. Thank you very much for taking the time you're sharing with me.
BIN HASSAN: You're welcome. Thank you so much, Erin Burnett. Because I want to I want to take control of the narrative. It's just disgusting what's happening on our streets.
BURNETT: Well, I appreciate you're doing that and taking the time here. So thank you.
And next, David Culver with this OUTFRONT exclusive that we promised, taking you to a Border Patrol training academy. So, who are these agents that Ahmed's talking about? Right. He was finding people who were choosing to sign up now, who are they? You're going to see.
Plus, President Trump weighing in on the five year old who was taken into federal custody along with his father as a federal judge, is now blocking their deportation. The boy's principal is OUTFRONT.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:42:03]
BURNETT: Breaking news, new details about the Border Patrol agents being deployed to cities across the United States. David Culver just learning that multiple veteran agents say they want nothing to do with ICE's operations. And that a majority of the agents volunteering for the ICE operations are said to be less experienced and lack proper training.
David Culver has this exclusive reporting from inside the Border Patrol training academy.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
DAVID CULVER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It's not the setting most associate with Border Patrol.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Let me see your hands.
CULVER (voice-over): Inside buildings, clearing rooms, guns drawn.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm one of you. I'm U.S. Border Patrol.
CULVER (voice-over): In recent months, we were granted rare access inside the Border Patrol academy in Artesia, New Mexico. At the time, these men and women were trainees. Many have since graduated, now serving as agents in the field.
AGENT JEREMY DAVID, FIREARMS INSTRUCTOR, U.S. BORDER PATROL ACADEMY: We do have a lot of veterans coming in now, so we tend to have a lot of people that do have prior experience with handling firearms. Per the 60-man class, we have about, I would say, 10 to 15 individuals per class that would have never handled a firearm or have minimal knowledge of it.
CULVER: So their first time really firing a gun would be right here.
DAVID: Yes.
CULVER (voice-over): Academy leaders say over the past 12 months, the Trump administration has funneled new resources into facility upgrades and tactical tech.
(GUNFIRE)
DAVID: The dot comes right back.
CULVER (voice-over): Including adding red dot sights for better aim.
CHIEF JARED ASHBY, U.S. BORDER PATROL: So when they have to use use of force and they have to use their pistol, they have an advantage over potentially the adversary.
MICHAEL ODEA, U.S. BORDER PATROL: I wouldn't be anywhere else.
CULVER (voice-over): Some arrived to the academy with several careers already behind them.
ODEA: Marine Corps, D.C. police, cybersecurity.
CULVER (voice-over): At 43, Michael Odea said he mentored his younger classmates, many in their 20s who never served in the military or worked in law enforcement.
ODEA: Border Patrol, for me, was securing our border, securing our nation and securing the American people.
LEVI MELOY, U.S. BORDER PATROL: I started my own business about three years ago, but it wasn't the stability I needed.
CULVER (voice-over): Levi Meloy joined Border Patrol to give back to his country, he said, but also for a consistent paycheck.
MELOY: Especially after I found out my wife was pregnant.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We're here today to provide opportunities for you guys. You guys want to stop by and ask questions?
CULVER (voice-over): Under the Trump administration, CBP has stepped up recruitment nationwide to meet the need for 3,000 new agents.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You get a $10,000 incentive if you graduate the academy and you get another $10,000 if you stay with our agency three years. We're not a contract agency. So, you could leave at any time.
CULVER (voice-over): Some are driven by duty, others by events.
PFC JOSEPH SAPP, U.S. ARMY, BORDER PATROL PROSPECTIVE RECRUIT: That's kind of what's been motivating me more was the violence against the ICE and the law enforcement.
CULVER (voice-over): Back at the academy. We're told instructors are rotated in from the field every three years so as to keep the training current. CHIEF ANTHONY "SCOTT" GOOD, U.S. BORDER PATROL: That real world
experience of what goes on at the border is being taught here.
CULVER (voice-over): But that real world experience is increasingly far from the southern border that many of these agents had signed up to secure.
GOOD: We're in places like L.A., Chicago helping out our partners in Washington, D.C., making America safe. It's not an easy job, but it's a rewarding job.
[19:45:00]
And America loves you for it. So, thank you. God bless you all. Honor first.
BORDER PATROL AGENT: Thank you, Chief!
BORDER PATROL AGENTS: Thank you, Chief!
(END VIDEOTAPE)
CULVER: Erin, most of the veteran agents and the recruits that we spent time with over several days, mind you tell me repeatedly that they signed up expecting to serve close to home, typically along the southern border. One recruiter even told me that's how they sell the job. They say you'll be home at the end of the shift.
But now, under this expanded ICE partnership, you've got agents who are being asked repeatedly to deploy into U.S. cities far from where they expected to be stationed. And they're put into these situations that even veteran agents tell me they're not trained for, no matter how many years you've been part of Border Patrol.
So, these agents are increasingly now uncomfortable with what's playing out. Many of them, mind you, have been very supportive of President Trump, this administration and the investment into Border Patrol. They genuinely say they want to serve this country. But one told me flat out, when it comes to these deployments, we want nothing to do with it. This is not what we signed up for.
BURNETT: All right, David Culver, thank you very much.
And next, a judge stopping the Trump administration from deporting that five-year-old boy taken by agents along with his father. For now, as Trump is just weighing in. The boy's principal is next.
Plus, Melania Trump's multi-million dollar documentary about to hit theaters. Will it pay off for Amazon, which bankrolled it to the tune of tens of millions of dollars?
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:50:08]
BURNETT: Breaking news, President Trump on Fox News calling reports that five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos was detained by federal authorities totally false. Trump saying this is five-year-old Liam, is being held in Texas tonight, more than a thousand miles from his home in Minnesota. A federal judge today moving to block a possible deportation of Liam and his father. But Liam was taken into federal custody along with his father a week ago today.
ICE agents taking Liam just steps from his home while his mother was inside.
OUTFRONT now, Jason Kuhlman, he is the principal at five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos's school.
Jason, I appreciate you taking the time to talk with me. Obviously, we spoke a week ago and now here we are. He's still in detention.
President Trump tonight calling reports about his detention, though, totally false, of course. As I pointed out, Liam does remain in custody in Texas as we speak. What do you say to this?
JASON KUHLMAN, LIAM CONEJO RAMOS' PRINCIPAL: Wow. I don't know what to say to that. I think -- it's false. I think he was detained. He was picked up. Without an order of deportation, even though there was an active case happening for asylum.
BURNETT: So, a judge tonight is blocking. I understand Liam's possible deportation to another country, which obviously could be hugely significant, but how significant do you think that news really is in terms of him coming home?
KUHLMAN: I think it's a first step. We were very excited when we heard that I think it's exciting for all of our children who are detained. But for us, it's a huge win.
BURNETT: So, when we spoke last week, you were with Liam's mother and you had just been with her hours after her son was taken. You know, you were the first there, and you were telling me about that. How is she doing now? I mean, you were talking about how she.
The reason she didn't open up, open the door. You know, federal officials had said, oh, well, they kept repeatedly knocking on the door and she refused to open sort of the sentiment from them was that she had abandoned the child. That was the way it felt.
You said that the truth of it was she couldn't open the door because she felt shed be taken to. And she had another child that would then be left without a parent. So, she was put in this horrific situation, is how you described it. How is she doing? Has she been able to speak with Liam in the past week?
KUHLMAN: Yes. I got confirmation that she was able to reach out to him this weekend and have a conversation with, he and his dad. I think she's doing all right. She's getting a lot of support from our community and abroad. So, she's -- she's getting the attention, medical attention that she needs with her pregnancy. But, as best as you can when your five-year-old is 1,000 miles away. BURNETT: And Liam's classroom, you know, his teacher shared some
images, right? All of his stuff is still there in his cubby his classmates obviously are having to deal with this. I mean, how are -- how are teachers telling them? I mean, how are they processing this?
KUHLMAN: That's a great question. I think we're looking at it and we know a lot of our families know that ICE is in the area, and they're having conversations, but the way we approach it is using a book called "The Invisible String" by Patrice Karst to talk about love. And you can share love and receive love without people that are right in front of you. And so, Liam's teacher read that book this week.
And had a lot of discussions with her class, about that. One of the things that came up in meetings is that Liam is missing, that he's absent from the classroom and his peers notice that. So we're really trying to help them come to terms without directly causing fear. But in a very developmentally appropriate way to know that love is still there.
BURNETT: Yeah, which is hard to do, but thank you for sharing the book and the name too, for those who I'm sure would be very curious to share that with their own kids. Thank you so much, Jason. I appreciate your time.
And Harry Enten is OUTFRONT next to talk about tickets for Melania's documentary. Are they selling or not? The big storm on social media.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[19:57:42]
BURNETT: Tonight, early ticket sales for the new documentary "Melania" not pointing to a blockbuster at this time. The president, though, says tickets are selling fast.
Harry Enten is OUTFRONT to tell us something we don't know.
So, Harry will the president be right?
HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: I don't think the president is going to be right. Erin Burnett its not the first time he was incorrect. And you know what we're expecting right now in terms of how the movie is going to be received, just take a look at the projections for the Rotten Tomatoes for "Melania", the chance of the score, in fact, being below 20 percent.
That's not good, Erin. That's not good being below 20 percent. A majority chance according to the prediction market odds.
And why is it why do they feel that the odds might not be so hot to trot? Well, it comes back to the fact that's the same reason that we don't think that its going to necessarily be selling out a whole heck of a lot of tickets. Why? Because what's the projection for opening weekend for "Melania"? It's just $1 million to $5 million, which is again, not so great. That's a forecast. Take a look at "Fahrenheit 9/11", the top
documentary of all time. In the first weekend, it was $41 million for inflation. "Melania" not anywhere close.
BURNETT: Right, even if Trump or somebody goes in and buys a whole lot of tickets. I think --
ENTEN: I don't even think Trump could do it.
BURNETT: -- with the scrutiny on this, people might be able to see what's happening.
Okay, but there's also the -- you know, things might not make a lot of money, bring in a lot of money, but it's all comparative to how much money was spent on it.
ENTEN: Yes.
BURNETT: How much money was spent on "Melania"?
ENTEN: Yeah. Okay. So, you see that $1 million to $5 million in the opening weekend projection. How about the fact that $75 million spent by Amazon, that includes the money they spent on the film to purchase the rights, $40 million and then $35 million spent on all of the advertising, all of that jazz to try and build up that audience, which right now doesn't seem like they're rushing to actually see.
BURNETT: And one would think, given their marketing savvy, perhaps they were aware of that, despite the spending.
Amazon CEO went to the premiere at the White House. Tim Cook went from Apple. Tell me something I don't know.
ENTEN: I will tell you something that you don't know Erin Burnett. The film "Melania" might not be doing so hot to trot come this weekend, but Jeff Bezos is doing quite well under Donald John Trump.
BURNETT: Amazon chairman.
ENTEN: Amazon -- yep, you got it right. His wealth, booyah, up $35 billion since early November of 2024 I think there are some people who might see a connection between that and the money being spent. I'm not necessarily making that connection. But some people certainly are.
BURNETT: Harry Enten, thank you very much.
ENTEN: Thank you.
BURNETT: And thanks so much to all of you for being with us.
"AC360" starts now.
