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The Situation Room

Puppy Bowl; Interview With Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL); Supreme Court Allows New California Voting Map; Trump Issues Warning to Iranian Leader. Aired 11:30a-12p ET

Aired February 05, 2026 - 11:30   ET

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

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WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: Happening now: a major win for Democrats ahead of this year's midterm elections in November. The U.S. Supreme Court yesterday cleared the way for California to use a new voter- approved map designed to benefit Democrats as they push back against the nationwide redistricting war initiated last year by President Trump.

Here with us now, CNN's chief Supreme Court analyst, Joan Biskupic.

Joan, this ruling comes, what, exactly two months before the -- after the court granted a request from Texas to use a new map to help Republicans pick up seats there.

JOAN BISKUPIC, CNN CHIEF SUPREME COURT ANALYST: Right.

BLITZER: So, just how big of a decision is this one?

BISKUPIC: Right, there's a pattern here.

But first of all, just for California and for Democrats, this is a major decision. It means that this new map that they have drawn that could potentially add five more Democrats to the House will stay in place for the midterm elections.

You remember how this all started, when Donald Trump started putting pressure on lawmakers, specifically Texas starting, to add, to redistrict mid-cycle. We're in the middle of a cycle. We're not right after a census. We're in the middle of a redistricting cycle. And he pressured Texas to redistrict in a way that would help Republicans in that state.

Texas did add five more seats. California, in response, drew a new map that could potentially add five more Democratic seats. But the case that came up yesterday -- excuse me -- a challenge to that map brought by California Republicans, saying that this map was drawn along racial lines. Now, you can redistrict along partisan lines. The Supreme Court has

allowed that, practically encouraged it, but, with race, you cannot do that. A lower court said, no, this map was entirely drawn for political reasons.

And California Republicans with the backing of the Trump administration came to the Supreme Court trying to get this map thrown out. And yesterday, in a brief statement, unsigned, with no recorded dissent, the Supreme Court let that map stand. So, as I say, it's a victory for California Democrats.

But it was expected, because when the Texas map came up with a similar challenge with actually much more evidence of racial, potentially racial gerrymandering, the Supreme Court stayed out of that one too, Wolf.

BLITZER: So what is the overall signal of this latest Supreme Court decision? Will it open the door for a whole bunch of other states to redistrict for political reasons?

BISKUPIC: Not right now and not, crucially, before the 2026 midterms that we have got coming up in November.

And that's because the signal we're getting from the justices is that they want to stay out of this for now. They don't want to get too close to the election and affect it. They have a major Voting Rights Act case pending out of Louisiana right now that, if they had ruled sooner, if we had gotten that ruling, it could affect the filing period, the primaries in Louisiana.

But I think what we're getting, combined with the signal from Texas and California and this -- the kind of postponement, if you will, of what's happening in Louisiana case, is that they do not want their actions to necessarily affect what's going to happen in this election cycle.

But, Wolf, down the road, the Supreme Court definitely will affect what's going to happen in 2028 with their upcoming decisions.

BLITZER: We will see. That could be very significant indeed.

BISKUPIC: Right. Right. Right.

BLITZER: Joan Biskupic, thank you very, very much.

And coming up: Democrats in Congress are making demands to support funding for the Homeland Security Department. We're going to ask Senator Tammy Duckworth about those demands and about possible changes to immigration enforcement.

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BLITZER: Happening now: Members of Congress are scrambling to meet yet another government funding deadline. And Senate GOP leader John Thune says they're not anywhere close to a deal.

In a new letter to Republicans, Democratic Leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries outlined 10 reforms to ICE in exchange for funding the Department of Homeland Security. They include banning masks for agents, mandating judicial warrants to enter private property, and protecting sensitive locations.

Joining us now, Democratic Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois. She's on the Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committee.

Senator, thanks so much for joining us.

I know you have been pushing for independent investigations into excessive uses of force by DHS agents. Elaborate, if you will, on what you want from your GOP counterparts to move forward with funding for the Department of Homeland Security.

SEN. TAMMY DUCKWORTH (D-IL): Hi, Wolf.

I have three main areas that I am pushing for. You're right. The independent investigations is certainly one. I don't think ICE should be investigating themselves. I have been pushing for there to be a multi-department effort. You should have Judiciary in there as well.

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I also think that ICE should not be allowed to roam freely on our city streets, that they can't just go in with these administrative warrants that they're claiming allow them access into private property. They should -- if they're going to come forward with a warrant, then they need to come forward with a judicial warrant.

And in my home state of Illinois, we will adhere to judicial warrants. So I think that's a reasonable ask, a reasonable demand. And then, lastly, I think that ICE should be identified. They shouldn't be masked. They should be wearing identifying information that that's who they are. They shouldn't be masquerading as military or masquerading as local law enforcement.

And we should be able to clearly see that this is ICE that is approaching us on the streets of our cities.

BLITZER: Senator, I want to play for you and for our viewers what your Republican colleague Senator Josh Hawley told CNN's Manu Raju about these talks. Listen and watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. JOSH HAWLEY (R-MO): Here's what my Democrat colleagues really want. They want to abolish ICE. And some of them are more candid about that.

And, listen, that's fine that that's their position. They're totally wrong about it. And I'm not going to help them do it. And I think what they really want in this funding bill is, they want to hold hostage the Coast Guard, FEMA, the Secret Service, all in order to impose restrictions on ICE that would effectively hamstring, if not eliminate the agency.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Senator Duckworth, what's your response to that?

DUCKWORTH: Well, Trump's ICE is out of control. It's ironic that he would say that since I actually helped push through a largest increase in the Coast Guard's budget in recent years.

Frankly, I want to make sure we fund local law enforcement. The Trump administration has actually siphoned off hundreds of millions of dollars from local law enforcement, from programs like child violence prevention, domestic violence prevention, police training. We need to get these dollars back to local law enforcement.

And the demands that I want for ICE, as I have said before, three main categories, independent investigations when there's ICE-involved violence. We need to make sure that ICE clearly identifies themselves and that they use judicial warrants. Those, I think, are very reasonable requirements that most Americans would support.

BLITZER: Senator, do you believe that ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, should be abolished?

DUCKWORTH: I think the way ICE operates under Trump needs to be changed significantly. I do think that we have a need for Customs and Border Protection.

We do have a need for professional well-trained agents. But what we have right now in Trump's ICE is people who are only put on the streets after just 45 days of training. Again, let's put the money towards local law enforcement. We need to reform ICE.

We need to make sure that the basic demands that we're asking for that will get my vote are things like, hey, you know what, you can't investigate yourself when you're involved in violence. You need to identify yourself to the American people that you're ICE and you're not local police and you're not the National Guard.

And you can't just range freely and issue yourself these administrative warrants and enter into private property. If you truly are coming after criminals, then get that judicial warrant and bring that and show that to us.

BLITZER: Senator, let's turn to some major foreign policy news unfolding right now.

I want you to watch what President Trump said in an interview with NBC News earlier. Listen to this.

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QUESTION: Should the supreme leader in Iran be worried right now?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I would say he should be very worried, yes. He should be. As you know, they're negotiating with us.

QUESTION: I know they are, but the protesters have said, where are the Americans? You promised them we would have their back. Do we still have their back?

TRUMP: Well, we have had their back. And, look, that country is a mess right now because of us. We went in, we wiped out their nuclear. If I didn't take out...

(CROSSTALK)

TRUMP: You know, we have peace in the Middle East.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: You're on the Armed Services Committee. Do you have any idea what President Trump means? Is that a threat or -- of regime change? Is that what he's talking about?

DUCKWORTH: I rarely understand what President Trump means when he rambles on this. He often contradicts himself.

If we truly want to oppose Iran, there's a couple of things that we can do. For example, to help their protesters, we should put money back into the program that Trump eliminated that helped us to provide Internet services and access to the Internet and social media for those protesters. They're cut off from the outside world by the Iranian regime.

We had a program through the State Department that would actually allow us to provide that Internet service. We should do that. We should also make sure that people understand that the only reason that Iran is approaching becoming a nuclear state is because President Trump pulled us out of the JCPOA.

So, if you want regime change in Iran -- and I agree that the leadership in Iran should be afraid. They should be afraid of their own people protesting against them for their terrible policies within their own government.

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But what we can do as Americans is re-fund some of those programs that Trump has eliminated that would actually allow protesters to organize, allow them to be able to communicate with the outside world.

BLITZER: As we all know, the Iranian regime has killed so many Iranian protesters on the streets of Tehran and other cities in Iran.

As you know, Iran has agreed to resume talks with the U.S. to avert the threat of more military strikes by the U.S. Do you give the Trump administration any credit for getting Iran to the table?

DUCKWORTH: No, I don't give them any credit for it, because the Trump administration -- again, Iran's closer to becoming a nuclear state because Trump pulled us out of the JCPOA. And, frankly, President Trump just likes to flex his muscles. And I

don't think the American people voted for Donald Trump for us to enter into more wars around the globe. What we can do is our diplomacy. We can continue with the sanctions. There's a lot more that we can do.

And, frankly, President Trump continues to push us towards military options as his first choice, when it should be his last option.

BLITZER: Senator Tammy Duckworth, thanks so much for joining us.

DUCKWORTH: Thank you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: Coming up, we have very, very special guests coming up right here in THE SITUATION ROOM. But guess what? They're a little furrier than our normal guests.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: And it's not a wolf, right?

BLITZER: No, not a wolf.

(LAUGHTER)

BLITZER: We're in the green room right now.

And, as you know, and all of our viewers know, this is where our very special guests on our show, they wait after they have gone through makeup already. And you can see these special guests.

BROWN: VIP right here, VIP guests. Oh, my goodness. These are (OFF- MIKE) hound puppies.

BLITZER: So cute.

And let me just welcome them, as I welcome our viewers all over the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

And I say that to these beautiful puppies. And they are beautiful puppies.

BROWN: They are.

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BROWN: Puerto Rican powerhouse Bad Bunny racked up multiple trophies at the Grammys last weekend, including album of the year. He keeps breaking barriers while gearing up for the Super Bowl halftime show this Sunday.

BLITZER: His presence on that very high-profile stage is not without controversy. A CNN documentary traces his rise from supermarket bagger to streaming

behemoth.

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UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Bad Bunny took home album of the Year, which became the first entirely Spanish project to do so. He and other stars used the stage to speak out as well against the president's immigration enforcement program.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What a moment for Bad Bunny. He's about to headline the Super Bowl, and now this.

ELIZABETH WAGMEISTER, CNN ENTERTAINMENT CORRESPONDENT: This is a huge moment for Bad Bunny, and we know a moment that has gotten a lot of attention, both in Hollywood and D.C., and certainly around the world. Bad

M.J. ACOSTA-RUIZ, NFL SIDELINE REPORTER: Bad Bunny is the most streamed artist in the world. That is globally.

DR. PETRA RIVERA-RIDEAU, PROFESSOR: I think he rivals someone like Beyonce or Taylor Swift in terms of popularity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: "Bad Bunny and the Halftime Show: Rhythms of Resistance" airs this Saturday night 10:00 p.m. on CNN or you can watch it on the CNN app.

And speaking of Bad Bunny, there's a big game this Sunday, but I'm not talking about the Super Bowl, Super Bowl LX, between the Patriots and the Seahawks. No, this game is between Team Ruff and Team Fluff to take home what we're calling the Lombarky Trophy, not the Lombardi Trophy, Lombarky Trophy.

BROWN: Lombarky.

(LAUGHTER)

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And he leaps into the stands to celebrate another touchdown.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's football, only better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BLITZER: All right, that's right. We're talking about the 22nd Puppy Bowl. It will simulcast across our sister networks, including Animal planet and Discovery+.

It's the original and longest-running call to adoption TV event.

BROWN: And we have some special VIP guests to help preview this. These are the Operation Paws for Homes pups. They are not going to the Puppy Bowl, but some puppies from this rescue organization are in it, although, I don't know, I think Kenzie (ph) here might be a good contender in the Puppy Bowl. What do you think?

BLITZER: Kenzie looks like she's ready to do a little sleeping. She's literally still in my heart. And I think my husband would kill me if I bring her home, but I really want to bring her home.

BLITZER: Well, you have Bingo at home.

BROWN: I think we need a SITUATION ROOM mascot, though, Wolf.

BLITZER: Yes.

These puppies are adorable.

Joining us now is lead puppy wrangler for the Puppy Bowl, Victoria Schade.

VICTORIA SCHADE, LEAD PUPPY TRAINER, THE PUPPY BOWL: Hi.

BROWN: So, Victoria, you have one of the best jobs, of course, in the world. Tell us how this year's event is breaking records.

SCHADE: This year is going to be the cutest ever. And I think I can tell based on 20 years of working on the show. I am so excited. We have got 150 puppies from 72 different shelters across the country all raring to go out on that gridiron.

BLITZER: And I want to show our viewers just some of the puppies that will be participating.

Look at this. Matt Snifford plays for team -- Mutt Snifford, I should say, plays for Team Fluff. Mia Muffin, she, of course, place for Team Fluff. Chappell Bone, she's a Pembroke Welsh corgi from Florida. And Carrie Pawshaw, an elkhound, an American Eskimo mix, who moves with grace and calm control.

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But my personal favorite, not a surprise to those of you who know me, we're talking about Josh Howlin'. He's a beagle and pit bull mix from my hometown. That would be Buffalo. We will see if he will do the tail push, instead of the tush push. You know what the tush push is?

BROWN: Oh, we all know the tush push.

BLITZER: Yes. Well, these puppies are doing the tail push.

BROWN: That's right.

BLITZER: It's a big deal.

BROWN: We're going to be watching that closely.

BLITZER: And it's going to be a heartwarming adoption story that we can expect to hear, a lot of that.

BROWN: Yes, tell us more about that.

SCHADE: Yes, so we have a 100 percent success rate for all of our adoptions. So, we film in October, spoiler alert.

And by the time the show airs, all the puppies have found their forever homes. And I think those two in your laps perhaps have found their forever homes. What do we think?

BROWN: I mean, I'm obsessed.

BLITZER: They're so cute, so adorable.

BROWN: The problem is, I have a dog, Bingo, at home. And I worry he likes all the attention. So...

BLITZER: And I think these two puppies already love us. What do you think, Pamela?

BROWN: They love us, and they haven't peed on us yet, which I think it's a good sign that they're showing us respect. There's Bingo right there. He's sort of -- he's a star. Bingo's a star. I think he likes having all the attention.

That's my sweet Bingo, a black Lab that my son named when he was 3. But, man, I don't know, Kenzie here is adorable. And you know what? I understand that there is a puppy combine. Tell us more about that, Victoria.

SCHADE: Yes, yes. So this is the second year that we're doing the puppy combine. And I get to step out from behind the camera doing my puppy training duties and get to get out there and train on camera with scout Dan.

And we are looking at 10 recruits to see if they have got the right stuff to make it to the big game. That starts at 1:00.

BLITZER: Tell us a little bit more about the new events in Puppy Bowl this year.

SCHADE: We have a lot of special needs dogs coming to the show. We have tripods. We have differently abled, hearing-impaired, vision- impaired. So we have a lot of really special pups.

You can see a couple on screen. And then we have our senior dogs and adult dogs for the halftime show. And they definitely bring a different kind of energy to the field, but they are just as cute.

BROWN: I love -- this little one just fell asleep in my lap.

BLITZER: Mine's moving all the time.

(CROSSTALK)

BROWN: But this one over here is rowdy. What's that? SCHADE: You're not the only ones with lap puppies.

This is actually my Puppy Bowl adoption from last year. This is the artist formerly known as Mr. Pickles, who I adopted from the last year's Puppy Bowl.

BROWN: I love that, Mr. Pickle.

SCHADE: His name is Boris (ph) now.

BLITZER: So cute.

And I got to tell you, we have had a lot of guests, Pamela and I, here in THE SITUATION ROOM. These are two of the most exciting.

BROWN: And the most rowdy right here with this little guy here, Wolf.

Just really quickly, Victoria, as we wrap up, how do you pick the rescue dogs and which rescue organizations? I love this rescue organization, Operation Paws for Homes. I signed up to volunteer to foster, but I know that if I do foster, I will be a foster fail.

But tell us more about how you select them to compete in the Puppy Bowl.

SCHADE: So we have a wonderful team that works with the volunteers and shelters throughout the country. Like I said, we had 72 shelters participating.

And because this is such a long-running event, we have had the same shelters coming back year after year after year. So between the size of the pups and the age of filming, that's a big predictor, but it's cuteness. Cuteness counts.

BROWN: I mean, listen, we got a yawn going on over here. We got all kinds of...

BLITZER: I think he wants to talk.

BROWN: We got some whining. He wants to talk. I mean, he's a redbone coonhound. So coonhounds, I think...

BLITZER: So cute.

BROWN: ... are typically very vocal.

All right, Victoria, amazing talking to you. This is maybe my favorite segment of all time as a dog lover. And we can't wait to watch.

SCHADE: Likewise.

BROWN: Bye. Thank you, Mr. Pickle, right?

BLITZER: Puppy Bowl XXII, that's coming up.

BROWN: Coming up 2:00 p.m. Eastern Sunday, that's right. BLITZER: We will be watching.

And there's much more from our meet-and-greet with these adorable puppies. You can see more of it on social media @WolfBlitzer and @PamelaBrownCNN.

BROWN: I don't know, guys. I might bring this one home. We will see. We will let you know tomorrow when we see you back here in THE SITUATION ROOM and, of course, every weekday morning at 10:00 Eastern.

"INSIDE POLITICS" with our friend and colleague Dana Bash starts right now.

I don't know, three kids, two dogs, is that too much, Wolf?

BLITZER: It's too much.

(LAUGHTER)