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Potentially Historic Winter Storm To Batter Much Of The U.S.; FEMA Halts Layoffs As Agency Prepares For Major Winter Storm; Spanberger, Sherrill Sworn In As Virginia & New Jersey Governors; NYT Poll: Voters Prefer Dem Candidates In 2026 By 5-Point Margin; Democrats Chart Path Forward, With Eye On House Majority; Top U.S. Archbishops Condemn American Foreign Policy. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired January 23, 2026 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00]

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Keep in mind, the weight of the ice alone, especially when it accumulates on things like trees and power lines, becomes too heavy so those things come down. And this in turn could end up causing some pretty widespread power outages for some of these cities and communities around them as we go through the rest of the weekend.

And because of that, you also have a lot of these winter storm impacts. Obviously, yes, power outages, but also travel on the roadways. You have very slick conditions. You also have delays and cancellations that you could be looking at it some across some of these airports.

Now, here's a look at the system as we really start to get going. It doesn't really look like all that much right now because it's not supposed to ramp up until we get later on into tonight. From there, that's when you start to see more of that pink and purple color begin to appear on the radar, indicating the snow and the ice.

By the time we get to early Saturday morning, you really start to see those two colors expand exponentially as it continues to slide off to the east, impacting states like Kentucky, Tennessee, Arkansas, Louisiana. Then you start to see it spread into areas of the Carolinas, Virginia, the Mid-Atlantic region once we get into early Sunday.

Notice you have this little bit of a swath of green starting to make its way back up, say, towards Nashville and Knoxville. As those temperatures warm midday Sunday, some of it could change back over into rain, but then back over once again into rain and snow and ice as those temperatures cool back down Sunday evening. So for some areas, it's going to be a mix of just about everything over the next 72 hours.

DANA BASH, CNN ANCHOR: Allison, thank you so much.

And Gabe, I know you've got some significant reporting today about FEMA abruptly halting hundreds of disaster worker tarnations as the storm approaches. GABE COHEN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's right. And look, Dana, the big question right now is obviously, is FEMA ready to respond to a disaster like this, potentially the biggest storm of Trump's second term? All of that, as the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees FEMA, is really deep into this overhaul of the agency that's been playing out over the past year or so.

And just this month, they have been terminating almost every FEMA disaster worker whose employment contract is expiring. We're talking about a lot of the folks who would deploy to a disaster like this, and a lot of whom would help them in the long-term recovery to help these communities get back on their feet. Roughly 300 or so of these workers have been ousted from the agency so far this month. It has been causing a lot of confusion and concern across FEMA.

But then yesterday, Dana, just hours after Secretary Kristi Noem went to FEMA headquarters, she was briefed on the storm. Suddenly, the Department of Homeland Security and FEMA abruptly halted those terminations, at least for now. We obtained these emails that show that for the time being, at least ahead of this storm, if an employee's contract expires, they are not simply going to be shown the door.

And look, based on our reporting, what this is indicative of is that it really appears that this administration is leaning into the use of FEMA for this storm and taking the storm extremely seriously. I obtained these internal documents yesterday that outline FEMA's preparations.

They say that "FEMA is on the ground and leaning forward, proactively supporting states in the path of this winter storm to ensure a rapid and well-coordinated response. Disasters are best when locally executed, state managed, and federally supported, a role that we take very seriously."

And I can tell you, FEMA has also activated their National Response Coordination Center. They've been deploying teams across the country to several of the areas that are going to be hit hard, from Texas all the way to Pennsylvania and New England. They have been stationing generators, hundreds of thousands of meals, bottles of water.

So, Dana, clearly, they're taking it seriously. But one of the big concerns right now, with the amount of staff they've lost over the past year, how is the response going to be potentially diminished? We've heard the concerns. We'll see how it plays out.

BASH: Yes, and that really is key. I mean, your reporting is fascinating about the people who were about to be shown the door will be held on. What about the people who have been cut over the last year in a big, big way, which you've also been doing excellent reporting on.

Gabe, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

Two new Democratic governors celebrated their inaugurations this week, and New Jersey's governor, Mikie Sherrill, had a ball, where else? I told you it was New Jersey, at the mall.

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[12:38:48]

BASH: Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill were sworn in in the past week as governors of Virginia and New Jersey. But the one time Capitol Hill roommates took different approaches to the president in their first days in charge.

GOV. ABIGAIL SPANBERGER (D), VIRGINIA: I believe the governor of Virginia and the president of the United States should have a productive relationship built on mutual trust. When federal actions attack and threaten Virginia jobs, I will not hesitate to push back.

When federal chaos creates uncertainty for Virginia families, I will work to provide stability. When Washington fails to lead with dignity and respect and follow the rule of law, Virginia will.

GOV. MIKIE SHERRILL (D), NEW JERSEY: We see a president illegally usurping power, unconstitutionally enacting a tariff regime to make billions for himself and his family while everyone else sees their costs go higher. Here, we demand people in public service actually serve the public instead of buying themselves planes and cars and extorting money.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: My panel is back. It is interesting. I think it tells the tale of somebody who's newly representing a pretty blue state in Mikie Sherrill and somebody who's newly representing a more purplish state in Virginia.

[12:40:09]

AARON BLAKE, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL REPORTER: Yes, I thought Sherrill's -- rather Spanberger's comments were really interesting. She's obviously got a little bit different dynamic because there's lots of federal workers in Virginia.

BASH: That too.

BLAKE: But I thought it was interesting that both of them really kind of went there on talking about the president. You know, sometimes we see these new governors come into office and they want to talk about local issues. They want to keep their head down and do the work and show that they're kind of focused on what's going on in their state.

But, of course, Donald Trump looms over everything in this country right now. And Democrats kind of -- when you elect somebody like Spanberger and Sherrill, you want to see them come in and say something about these issues, especially with something like the ICE enforcement operations taking up so many -- so much of the oxygen in the room right now.

BASH: Yes. And both of them, particularly Mikie Sherrill, focused so much during the campaigns last year on affordability and on the economy. But the question at such a good point about the fact that, you know, you don't always see new governors focus on the president.

Well, this might be an example of why. Just look at, this is just the latest poll. This is from The New York Times. It's not unlike CNN's poll that came out last week. His net approval overall is 16. And if you kind of go down the list, it's not great except for the border, which, you know, he closed and that's what he said he was going to do.

But immigration more broadly, like what we were talking about earlier, is not great. But look at the cost of living. He's underwater almost 30 points on that. And yet we have some new reporting just staying on Democrats from Sarah Ferris and Annie Grayer a great piece on CNN.com talking about how Democrats in this election year, midterm year, are trying to capitalize on that.

"If they take one or both chambers in the midterms, they'll have newfound oversight powers and the ability to make Trump's life miserable. But they'll also face critical decisions about how to keep the government running, how to try to get things done with a man they despise and distrust. Ten years after he was first elected president and one year into his second term, Democrats still face deep ideological divisions about their party's broader identity beyond being a foil to the president."

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I think when we talk about affordability and we talk about the cost of living and particularly President Trump's very low approval rating and they seem to be declining every day, the thing that Democrats will have to remember to do is to link him to those issues. And what we've seen in the past is instead they just focus on the man.

And when you're out there in the middle of the country talking to people, enough people already don't like him, but they still voted for him because they voted for him hoping that they would increase the affordability crisis would go away that they felt was going on. They need to focus on linking him to these issues, not just on him as an individual.

ASMA KHALID, CO-HOST, THE GLOBAL STORY PODCAST, BBC: It is a weakness, though, for him. Certainly, I will say that cost of living. I mean, he said it himself. He diagnosed why he won the election shortly after the November 2024 race. And he said, you know, I won because of the border and groceries shorthand for the cost of living. And people don't feel like the latter issue, the cost of living has improved.

I do think it'll be key to see how they're able to connect the dots. I will say I think going back to even Biden's first midterm, I heard from people out on, you know, the campaign trail, key counties with people were saying they were frustrated. It has been an ongoing issue for a really long time. And I think a lot of voters feel like Biden hasn't been able to improve it. Trump hasn't been able to improve it either.

BLAKE: And it's not just that the results haven't gotten there as far as affordability goes. It's also the lack of focus that the American people are saying. And that's the thing that we kind of undersell right now. There's a CBS News polling that shows 75 percent of people think Trump is not focused enough on lowering prices.

We had a CNN poll last week that showed 64 percent said that Trump wasn't focused enough. Half of Republicans say he's not focused enough on this issue. And so while he's out here, you know, going to Davos and talking about taking over Greenland, talking about striking Iran, you know, ousting Maduro in Venezuela, all of these things that are very much not focused on affordability for people.

You know, if I'm Abigail Spanberger and Mikie Sherrill and these Democrats, I think the strategy is very much kind of keep your head down, focus on those affordability issues and let Trump be his own worst enemy.

BASH: Yes. And as we go to break, despite all of this, this is just another snapshot that we political nerds like to look at, particularly as we go into a midterm election year. It's still pretty close.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

BASH: This is what we call the generic ballot. Democrats, 48, Republicans, 43. It's pretty close to the margin of error there.

Up next, America's most senior Catholic leaders are issuing a scathing warning about the Trump administration's foreign policy. And that includes my next guest, the archbishop of Chicago.

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[12:49:26]

BASH: America's three most senior archbishops are taking aim at the Trump administration's foreign policy. Cardinals Blase Cupich of Chicago, Robert McElroy of Washington and Joseph Tobin of Newark issued a statement this week that said in part, "In 2026, the United States has entered into the most profound and searing debate about the moral foundation for America's actions in the world since the end of the Cold War. The events in Venezuela, Ukraine and Greenland have raised basic questions about the use of military force and the meaning of peace."

I spoke with Cardinal Cupich, Archbishop rather, of Chicago earlier this week for our Have a Little Faith segment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[12:50:11]

BASH: Thank you so much for being here. It really is a remarkable --

CARDINAL BLASE J. CUPICH, ARCHBISHOP OF CHICAGO: Thank you, Dana.

BASH: -- and historic statement. Why did you feel it was so needed right now? CUPICH: Well, the three of us were at the meeting of the Cardinals January 7 and 8. And we heard from a good number of Cardinals from around the world a sense of alarm about the breakdown of the consensus that we've had in world politics since the Second World War, a consensus that involved pursuit of world peace, respect for the territorial integrity of countries, and also the ability to make sure that we settle our differences in a peaceful way. But secondly, right after our meeting on the 9th, the Holy Father Pope Leo addressed the diplomatic corps in the Vatican and gave us a framework to talk about the issues that prompted that statement that we made.

BASH: Yes, and his framework talked about the worry about weakness of multilateralism and a zeal for war is spreading. Look, you don't say President Trump's name in this, but your three U.S. Cardinals clearly issuing a warning about his policies. It's pretty thinly veiled.

CUPICH: We wanted to make sure that we broaden the discussion within the American citizenship, that we help people understand how they should begin thinking and talking about these issues. It wasn't directed at an individual simply because we thought that could be a distraction. We wanted to speak convincingly to people about what principles of moral conduct were needed as we pursue foreign relations.

BASH: You -- the President of the United States is not a Catholic, but the Vice President is, as you well know. I'm wondering if you got any response from either the Vice President's office or really anybody else in the administration.

CUPICH: I have not personally. I can't speak for the other two. The person who's closest would be Cardinal McElroy in Washington, but I have not.

BASH: If you could give a message directly to the Vice President, who obviously is a man of deep faith, what would it be?

CUPICH: I would say this to all elected officials. Let's make sure that we understand that peace is a great gift we should not squander. It should be the priority that we pursue rather than dominance over another nation because of military force or the request, the decision to dominate over another country.

We have a consensus since the Second World War about how we settle differences, but also how we respect integrity of other nations. The same message would go to leaders in other countries that don't respect the integrity of another country. We're talking about Ukraine as well as Venezuela, of course, and as we said, Greenland.

That message is for all leaders throughout the world.

BASH: You are the Archbishop of Chicago. Pope Leo, of course, famously is from the great city of Chicago, the Windy City. And I know the two of you know each other quite well. He's relatively new in his position as pontiff. How do you sort of see the way that he is navigating, not just being the leader of Catholics around the world, but as an American in this particular time, given what is happening in the country of his birth?

CUPICH: Well, I think that whoever was elected pope would have the same message that Leo did. And so it is simply because it's rooted in what we believe and what our Catholic social teaching is about. There is an advantage, however, that he is an American and speaks like an American, and his address to the diplomatic corps was in English.

I think that gives him a more ample hearing in this country as we hear someone who speaks like an American, like -- speaks like a Chicagoan. I think that is to his advantage as this same message is being proclaimed.

BASH: What's your message to Americans who may be struggling with their faith during some pretty turbulent and divisive times right now?

[12:55:04]

CUPICH: That America is a great country simply because people take responsibility for the future. And that very hopeful approach has always been to our benefit. So let's make sure that we take responsibility for our calling as citizens to be faithful to the principles of democracy in our own faith traditions. We will move forward to the benefit of the country if we take our responsibility as citizens seriously.

BASH: Cardinal Blase Cupich, the Archbishop of Chicago. Thank you so much for joining me. I really appreciate it.

CUPICH: Thanks, Dana. Good to see you again.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Thank you for joining Inside Politics. Please tune in this Sunday, the State of Union. Among my guest is New Jersey Governor, new Governor Mikie Sherrill. That is 9:00 a.m., 12:00 p.m. Eastern right here on CNN.

CNN News Central starts after a quick break.

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