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Trump Says He Had "Very Good Call" With Gov. Walz; Trump Says He's Sending Border Czar Tom Homan To Minnesota; Video Contradicts Administration's Account Of Fetal Shooting; More Dem Senators Say They'll Oppose DHS Funding Bill; Risk Of Shutdown Over DHS Funding Increases After ICE Shooting. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired January 26, 2026 - 12:00   ET

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

[12:00:00]

DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: President Trump is now changing who is in charge in Minneapolis, but what about his immigration enforcement strategy and tactics?

I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

We start with breaking news out of the White House. President Trump says he just spoke to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and is signaling a change in rhetoric. The big question is whether that also means a change in policy. Moments ago, this is what the president posted on his social media platform, Truth Social.

Quote, Governor Tim Walz called me with the request to work together with respect to Minnesota. It was a very good call, and we actually seemed to be on a similar wavelength. I told Governor Walz that I would have Tom Homan call him and that we are looking for -- what we are looking for are any and all criminals that they have in their possession.

The governor very respectfully understood that, and I will be speaking to him in the near future. He was happy that Tom Homan was going to Minnesota, and so am I. He wrote on Truth Social earlier that he is sending Homan to Minneapolis, apparently now to oversee that operation.

I'm joined here by a terrific group of reporters. First of all, I'm going to get to you on the policy and what's going on behind the scenes in a second. But this is just the latest signal that includes what the president said to you yesterday in an interview that the tragedy of what happened on Saturday, the killing of Alex Pretti? And the way that the Homeland Security Secretary, Greg Bovino, who is in charge of border patrol, the way that they reacted, and frankly, some coming out of the White House with Stephen Miller. It did not go over well.

JOSH DAWSEY, POLITICAL INVESTIGATIONS REPORTER, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: Well, it did not go over well in a lot of quarters. And then yesterday, what was interesting, when I spoke to the president, he did not mirror what they were saying. You saw early on, a lot of folks in the administration defended, how the government handled that, that shooting, and said, you know that the guy was to blame. Mr. Pretti was to blame. Trump said, I'm not coming to conclusion on it yesterday --

BASH: Josh, I'm just going to interrupt you, because I should have done this to begin with. I'm going to use a quote from the president to you, and I want you to pick it up. Here's what he said. First of all, you asked twice whether the officer who shot Alex Pretti had done the right thing.

And his response was, we're looking, we're reviewing everything, and will come out with a determination. I don't like any shooting. I don't like it, but I don't like it when somebody goes into a protest and he's got a very powerful, fully loaded gun and two magazines loaded up with bullets, also, that doesn't play good either.

DAWSEY: The president kept saying them as Pretti should not have brought the loader gun to the protests. But I said to him repeatedly over and over, do you think the officer did the right thing? Do you think the officer handled that well? Do you think the officer handled that well? The president would not answer. And he kept saying this that the other end.

And finally, I said, do you think the officer handled this way, it should have been handled? And he said, I don't know. We'll see. We'll let it be reviewed. And then, in the course of an answer, he said -- and soon he said, I can't remember exact words, but we'll be getting out of Minneapolis at some point. We'll be getting out at some point. And I said, how soon is that? And he said, we'll be leaving the team behind to do financial fraud. Look at all the phenomenal job we've already done.

So, his course comments to me certainly indicated he was looking for a way to get the folks the way it looks right now in Minneapolis, get that change, to get new sort of teams there, to get those teams sort of out. And he was not willing to defend the shooting the way that others had had been. And so, it was -- it was interesting to see how the president's comments yesterday, when he's been saying on Truth Social is moving the administration's messaging on this pretty rapidly.

BASH: Yeah. And you've been doing some terrific reporting about the discontent within the Department of Homeland Security itself, and the concern by many with what we've heard from the Secretary Noem and from Greg Bovino in the last 48 hours.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. Concern is almost downplaying it. The homeland security officials that I spoke with were furious on Sunday. They had been consuming the videos that had been circulating on social media, just as everyone else was. And they could not understand how this could happen and how they could square it with the Trump administration's response and their handling of the situation.

[12:05:00]

Because, of course, this came on the heels of the shooting of Renee Good, and so taken together, it puts them at risk of even more reputational harm and the long-term consequences that they as agencies are going to have to deal with. But what I think is interesting about what we're seeing from the president and his Truth Social post with Tim Walz is the repeated repetition of Tom Homan going, because Tom Homan is the White House border czar.

He's very in line with the Trump administration. On immigration enforcement, he's not so in line, however, with the homeland security secretary and the person the homeland security secretary backs, which is Gregory Bovino, the top border patrol official who is among those leading the charge in Minneapolis. So, sending Tom Homan sends a message that there could be a difference in strategy here.

BASH: Not aligned in what way. I know they don't personally like each other.

ALVAREZ: My sources tell me, they generally don't talk with one another. But in terms of policy for people to understand, Tom Homan has been about go after the public safety the national security threat. If there are other undocumented immigrants around, then they're called collaterals and they too can be swept up. But these broad immigration sweeps that have been happening in cities, that's not really Tom's style.

BASH: Go ahead, Manu.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: I was just going to say, you know, these signs are the clearest indication yet that Trump is looking for an off ramp with this post that he just put out to Tim Walz. His rhetoric is changing. What he said to Josh, sending in Tom Homan as well. All signs that a president who never wants to back down in the face of the biggest controversies is trying to figure out a way to back down.

And, you know, I also think it's just striking, just a mish mask of messages coming from the administration, from the get go, from whether it was known, whether it was Kash Patel and whether it was Trump. Why not say part of what Trump said to Josh, like we need to figure out and make a determination first before rushing to judgment. It was the rush to judgment which is causing so much blow back and anger on the ground.

BASH: And there was a editorial in the free press which is among the -- not necessarily left leaning editorial pages that over the past 24 hours have written very critically of what the administration, not only is doing in Minnesota, but the way that they have reacted and responded in the face of what we're all seeing with these videos.

And it's -- I think it's really pinpointing the way that the administration, those who are talking see the reality of their MAGA politics. Here's what they wrote. Trump and his administration, too often govern like political opponents are mortal enemies, and his supporters are easy to fool. I just think that is so key in helping us, reminding us why they are taking that to the nth degree with what we saw in Minneapolis and how they are responding.

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN ANCHOR & CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT: And it's also a good window into why it has, in this particular moment, in this particular case, fall apart so quickly to the point where the president has identified, as I think all of us as astute observers of this politician or business man who became politician over the course of the last decade, immediately identified when we read Josh's story.

Oh, this is -- this is a shift.

BASH: Yeah.

MATTINGLY: And he is nothing if not a very astute observer of, kind of the structural elements of public sentiment that matters to his support, not necessarily the general consensus on public sentiment, of what maybe national polls are saying or where independents are. But he can see, and kind of has a innate sense of when the critical components of his coalition are starting to move away or are uncertain about things.

And in this case, it was so clear cut. The video was so unambiguous. And the statements that were made initially right after matched up with none of it, and it was so obvious for everybody to see, and it was also so egregious that you can see the shift starting to happen in real time right now.

And you can see with Todd Blanche this morning as well, but the number of kind of cross cutting elements of Second Amendment folks, guns rights groups were furious about what they saw, law enforcement officers who were furious about what they saw, Republicans who were saying, whoa, OK, your interview yesterday, not just with Bovino, but with the Oklahoma governor was one of the most interesting elements of the entire weekend.

BASH: I'm glad you brought that up. And hang tight for one second because let's play. Just want to sort of show you the broad swath of Republicans who are very uncomfortable with what they are seeing. Let's start with Kevin Stitt. He's a Republican governor of Oklahoma, also the chair of the National Governors Association.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. KEVIN STITT (R-OK): So broad agreement, President Trump closed the border, promised to get violent criminals out of our country, and I think everybody agrees with that. But now Americans are asking themselves, what is the end game? What is the solution? And you know, we believe in federalism and state rights, and nobody likes Feds coming into their state. And so, what's the goal right now? Is it to deport every single non-U.S. citizen? I don't think that's what Americans want.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[12:10:00]

BASH: It's a really different kind of approach than what we're hearing from Greg Bovino and Stephen Miller at the White House. Just going to sort of put on the screen a graphic that shows you the Republicans who are raising concerns about what happened on Saturday. And more broadly, the approach that the administration is taking in its strategy there.

And then, real quick. These are some examples of rhetoric -- language that we heard. Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana who is dealing with a primary against a Trump backed supporter. The credibility of ICE and DHS or at state there must be a full joint federal and state investigation.

Pete Ricketts, a Republican of Nebraska who almost never speaks out against the president, forcing our immigration laws makes our streets safer, but we must also maintain our core values as a nation, including the right to protest and assemble. And Dave McCormick of Pennsylvania, I agree with NRA, and others, we need a full investigation. We need all the facts.

DAWSEY: That's interesting, him saying, I agree with NRA and others. There were a lot of gun rights activists, Second Amendment supporters, NRA folks who are really angry that the administration seemed to blame him for bringing a pistol to the March. They said he had a concealed carry. He had a right to carry, and you can't blame someone just for having a gun there.

Now the interview with I did with the President yesterday, he continued to blame Mr. Pretti for having a gun. But it's interesting that has been a schism among some Republican supporters, saying, how do we start attacking someone who's right to carry a gun for bringing a gun there? They don't like that. And so, that's been really interesting to watch.

BASH: I think at his heart, he's not a gun guy.

RAJU: There was one other thing that picture on that screen that was important to know is Andrew Garbarino, who's the chairman of the Homeland Security Committee and in the House --

BASH: Put it back up.

RAJU: And he's represented swing district in New York, and someone who to watch in the midterm, someone now who says that he wants to have hearings, bring in ICE officials and actually investigate this. This is not what we heard in the aftermath of Renee Good, but it's a big shift among the GOP.

BASH: And before we go to break, because we're going to sneak in a quick break. I just want to put back on the screen where we started this conversation. The big news about half an hour ago or less, with the president posting that he had this wonderful conversation with the Democratic Governor Tim Walz, who he has been just completely railing against left and right. And by the way that's happening in reverse. Tim Walz is doing the same.

This is a big moment. The question is whether this moment leads to a real change in the way that the administration is dealing with the tactics on the ground. And I know you talk to sources about the answer to that question.

ALVAREZ: Well, I think the unspoken thing here is that there is support among the general public for the deportation of undocumented immigrants, but it's always come down to how you do it, and that is where they're losing people. And it's not just about it happening in your backyard, as you've been seeing it. Oklahoma governor key -- behind the scenes, the Department of Homeland Security sees the state of Oklahoma as a supporter, as someone they can work with to do and execute on this agenda. If they start to lose him, that's a problem.

I've also talked to Tony Gonzalez, Republican lawmaker, who said his constituents all the way in Texas are nervous about what they're seeing. So, as soon as you start to lose people on how you're doing things, I think that is what the president is picking up on.

BASH: Yeah. Stitt said is, it is our goal to deport every single non- U.S. citizen. I don't think that's what Americans want again, the Republican governor of Oklahoma. All right, coming up. Shutdown odds are rising as Democrats threaten to block a bill that funds ICE and border patrol. And this is all happening in the wake of Alex Pretti's killing on Saturday.

Plus, you'll hear an interview that I did with the border patrol commander at large, Gregory Bovino, about the multiple videos that deadly encounter -- of that deadly encounter, that do contradict what we have heard from him and other homeland security officials. Stay with us.

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[12:15:00]

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BASH: We got two extremely pointed statements about the Minneapolis shooting from two former Democratic presidents, Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, called Alex Pretti's death, a quote, heartbreaking tragedy. Adding, it should also be a wakeup call to every American, regardless of Pretti, that many of our core values as a nation are increasingly under assault.

Bill Clinton wrote in part. Over a course of a lifetime, we face only a few moments where the decisions we make and the actions we take shape our history for years to come. This is one of them. If we give our freedoms away after 250 years, we might never get them back. It's up to all of us who believe in the promise of American democracy to stand up, speak out and show that our nation still belongs to we, the people.

Our panel is back. Now, look in today's day and age, we have become more accustomed to former presidents speaking out. But it isn't historically that typical, and especially with the kind of statements that we just heard from these two former presidents.

RAJU: Yeah, no question about it. I mean, this is typically, you see presidents withhold judgment, not weigh in, but this is a different time. I mean, what happened on Saturday? And the videos that everybody saw and the statements coming out from the administration is causing so much alarm across the board, which is why the president realizes that he needs to figure out another way out of this. What he actually decides to do remains to be seen, but the pressure is going to only continue to mount, including within his own party.

[12:20:00]

BASH: OK. So, what are the Democrats tools, besides saying how they feel very strongly? The power of the purse, which, again, it's not a big power, since they're in the minority in both chambers. But just to kind of rewind the clock a little bit, remember the last time there was a shutdown. The reason it got fixed is because there were a group of Democrats in the U.S. Senate who decided to vote with Republicans to reopen the government.

One independent who caucuses with the Democrats is Angus King. Here is what he said about the current moment where we are now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. ANGUS KING (I-ME): I hate shutdowns. I'm one of the people that helped negotiate the solution to the last -- the end of the last shutdown, but I can't vote for a bill that includes ICE funding under the circumstances. Take up DHS by itself. Let's have an honest negotiation. Put some guardrails on what's going on, some accountability, and that would solve this problem. We don't have to have a shutdown.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Tom Suozzi, who is a Democrat from New York, is in a swinging district there, who also voted to reopen the government. Last time, said that he made a mistake last time.

MATTINGLY: There is -- and Manu does this better than anyone, as to you Dana. There is always a group, particularly in the Senate, on both sides, that hate shutdowns and will inevitably be the deal makers, even if we get into a shutdown, that deliver an outcome eventually. At some point when the political kind of temperature starts to lower enough for them to be able to move.

You're not going to see that, this, I've got. Nobody I've talked to over the course of the weekend sees any of those Democrats, at least, or the bulk of them enough to give John Thune 60 votes in the package that was expected to pass fairly easily this week. Of six appropriations bills, including the DHS bill to move anytime soon, which means, almost certainly there will be a shutdown, or a partial government shutdown related to the six bills, unless Republicans are willing to agree to strip out the DHS bill.

And I haven't talked to anybody on the Republican side who sees any possibility of that procedural mechanism occurring, which means I -- literally during the break as Manu, what's the offer up? We have no idea.

RAJU: The problem is that there's a process, a problem and a policy problem and a timing problem. They have a Friday deadline here in order to -- BASH: This Friday.

RAJU: -- this Friday, and that's just not the DHS money, he has all these other major agencies, defense department, labor department, health and human --

MATTINGLY: Democratic priorities, major ones.

RAJU: There's much of the federal government would be funded by this bill. So, this would be a significant crisis if this is not resolved. And so, if they don't reach an agreement on the policy, which just means the ICE and the ICE demands that Democrats are seeking here. Then they have to reach an agreement on the process, because any one senator can vote to essentially delay things past the Friday deadline. That's going to be very hard to get all 100 senators to agree to essentially expedite things or change things on the fly.

Meantime, the House is out of town. Remember, they are on recess right now too. So, this all is pointing to a very, very damaging shutdown. The change in the democratic approach in this has been remarkable, because last week it seemed like they let this go. Now they are dug in and they're ready to fight.

BASH: Yeah. And I said -- I mentioned Tom Suozzi. I'm just looking at it again. He voted last week on this current bill, yes, and there were a lot of Democrats who were not happy with him that did it. I just want to, before we go to break switch gears a little bit. And I want to play something that Tim Walz said yesterday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN): We have got children in Minnesota hiding in their houses, afraid to go outside. Many of us grew up reading that story of Anne Frank. Somebody is going to write that children's story about Minnesota. And there's one person who can end this now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Anne Frank, Priscilla?

ALVAREZ: Before the shooting that happened on Saturday, remember what news cycle we were in? We were talking about a five-year-old and his father who were taken to an immigrant detention facility. And the conversation at the time publicly was about children being swept up in enforcement operations that weren't targeting them, but they were swept up in and them not having any control over the situation.

So, I think part of that too is tugging at the heartstrings, tucking on history and saying that essentially Walz, as in -- most of his remarks, have said, what side are you going to be on when you're retelling.

BASH: It's a big tug towards history there. But just real quick. Your sources on this whole question about funding and a shutdown?

[12:25:00] DAWSEY: Yeah. Well, on the White House side, I don't see how they give up. They give them the way to take DHS out that would be sort of a big capitulation for many of the Trump and Republican side. But I do think the politics on this in general are moving in the White House, right? Like, up until the past couple of weeks, I think there was a full throttle effort behind the Stephen Miller approach to deportations, to DHS, to funding everything, right?

And I think if some of this has gone further and further and further, the people in the White House increasingly queasy, saying that's going to hurt us in the mid-terms, the polling is not there with us. We don't like what we're seeing in the videos. We don't think we've gone too far now, right? And so, what's really playing out inside the White House?

I think in the last 48 hours in particular, are lots of conversations about, what are we doing here, right? Do we keep doing this just as we've been doing it, or do we scale back some of this -- some of these operations or some of these DHS efforts. And I think you're going to see that play out over the course of this week, with the president involved as well, obviously.

BASH: All right, everybody standby. Snowstorms. They have caught New York City mayors in the past, flat footed. So, what about the new New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani? Because he's facing a very big test, with record snowfall just weeks into his time in office. We'll go to New York after a break.

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