Trump On Alex Pretti: “You Can’t Walk In With Guns”

23:21The sound of ICE observer whistles descending on an Indian restaurant in Minneapolis after a group tracked two off-duty federal immigration agents eating dinner inside. The observers are part of a neighborhood grassroots network. some figures in the Trump administration have labeled domestic terrorists. Hey guys, I'm on Franklin Ave just patrolling back and forth towards Lindell. Local citizens tracking and documenting ICE operations in real time. CNN saw how a local group operates from the inside. We're on Franklin Avenue and the request is for us to sort of keep an eye on this strip. This woman is fearful and didn't want to be named or show her face on camera.

24:07She drives through her neighborhood scanning for signs of ice activity, staying in constant contact with other volunteer observers, mostly through the encrypted chat platform Signal, ready to alert others if agents appear. I think people do this work because it works. Finding an ice car and observing what it's doing will deter ice from activity. I've seen more people jump in over the past two weeks than I ever have. Through local meetings and group chats, thousands of observers coordinate across the Twin Cities. Not ICE, I think. You were just looking to see if that car was ICE? Yeah. They log suspected ICE vehicle information into a shared database, then post locations in real time.

24:51There are telltale signs, tinted windows, SUV, two drivers, usually male, wearing sort of like military gear. When agents are spotted, observers swarm, whistling, chanting, and recording. I watched that network mobilize here. The observers came to this location after they learned that two off-duty ICE officers were inside having dinner. They tracked them based on the vehicle they were driving. That car was parked over here. Someone saw the license plate. They put it in a database that they have been collecting of ICE vehicles here. And then all of a sudden, several more of the observers started showing up.

25:28And at some point, they confronted the ICE officers who were inside. On Sunday, Vice President J.D. Vance tweeted about an incident matching this description, claiming the ICE officers were docks, the restaurant was mobbed, and the agents were locked inside. He blamed the ICE observers and local police for creating chaos and linked it to Alex Preddy's death. The protesters were outside here. Some of them went inside and confronted the off-duty ICE officers. They were not violent, and the ICE officers, realizing who they were, called for backup. The backup arrived and was able to take them outside, and what the protesters were doing is much of what we've been seeing, blowing whistles and yelling at them and telling them to get out of their city.

26:09ICE Observer's citizen video documenting federal enforcement activity has become vital as the encounters with ICE have escalated, often contradicting the Trump administration's public account of events. Many observers have been stopped simply for observing government activity or documenting what they're doing with their cell phones or yelling at them on the street. And that's all constitutionally protected activity. And if the government feels like the fact that people are witnessing what they're doing and spreading the word about it and protesting it is interference with it, It just shows how wrong that government activity is.

26:50After two of their own were killed in altercations with federal officers, the dangers of this work are clear. Even with that, with all the dangers associated with it, that doesn't faze you or stop you. I think it's a call for people who are in positions of privilege to go out and exercise their rights to witness what's going on and try and do something about it.

27:19And Jake, even today we saw some of these observers out and about in the streets there. There's no sign that they're going to let up, even though with Greg Bovino leaving and perhaps there is some de-escalation, they're going to continue this work. They feel it's important. And it's not only happening here, it's happening in other places that we've seen immigration and law enforcement officials. All right, Shavon Prokhobez on the streets of Minneapolis, thanks so much. What does President Trump's changing of the guard, slight de-escalation in Minnesota mean for the people on the ground? We're going to talk to the mayor of St.

27:51Paul. That's the other of the Twin Cities near Minneapolis. Live next.

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28:32Our national lead now is top Border Patrol official Greg Bovino is set to leave Minneapolis as soon as today. Minnesotans tell CNN that they are happy to see him go, but they remain apprehensive about whether anything will truly change under Bovina's replacement. Trump orders our Tom Homan. President Trump spoke about this change just moments ago. We have Tom Homan there now. We put him in there. He's great. And they met with the governor, the mayor, everybody else, and we're going to de-escalate a little bit. Let's discuss with the newly elected mayor of the other Twin Cities, St. Paul's Kayleigh Hur.

29:09Thank you so much for being with us. How do you interpret the president's claim that they're going to, quote, de-escalate a little bit? I think that having, well, you know, leave the Twin Cities is a good start. But I think that de-escalation has to go far more than just changing up an individual. And, you know, the rhetoric that is being used, the way we categorize or talk about immigrant and refugee communities, You know, the way that incidents here have been recounted by this administration, there's a lot of rhetoric that needs to be toned down, and it can't just be changing an individual who is heading the operation.

29:45Do you have any plans to meet with Tom Homan? Do you view him being sent to Minnesota to take charge of operations there as a positive development? I think that I'm always willing to have conversations, you know, that their team has been reaching out to the different mayor's offices, and that our hope is that we'll be able to, you know, get a conversation scheduled. But, you know, I look forward to it. I think that we have to always explore all options when we're dealing with a crisis of this magnitude. Madam Mayor, for people who don't know, you were just elected to this position three weeks ago and Renee Good was killed on your on your third full day.

30:18You just talked about the need to de-escalate, bring down the rhetoric. Earlier on the show, there was a former Trump administration official who was blaming Governor Walz and Mayor Fry of Minneapolis for their rhetoric. Do they need to bring down their rhetoric, too? You know, I think that it, boy, this is a really tough question, right, because I think that there is rhetoric and then there's people telling the truth. and when your community is under attack and you are screaming at the top of your lungs to tell the truth about what you are seeing, I don't know, I find that's really difficult to categorize that as rhetoric, right?

30:56When we are saying that we are seeing citizens pulled out of their homes, people with no criminal record, that's not rhetoric. That is the truth. When we are seeing the impact on our communities and businesses down 60%, 70 % and people being targeted by the way that they look and they sound, that's not rhetoric. That is actually the truth that is on the ground. And so I struggle with hearing the truth being called rhetoric, whereas categorizing whole groups of people as murders and rapists and illegal, that saying that people here are not compliant and we want criminals on the street, that's rhetoric.

31:30And so I think that we have to be really honest about the conversations that are being had and the way that conversations are being spun and what is rhetoric and what is truth. with. So please understand this is not me making the argument, but I'm just the messenger as it were. The Trump administration officials taking issue with what the governor and the other mayor are saying. What they cite is references to federal agents as the Gestapo, Mayor Frye saying that ICE needs to get the F out of town. That's more what they're talking about, not factual descriptions of how Minnesotans are feeling in the situation.

32:10So that's what they're talking about. I hear that. And I hear that. And I think that a reset is really important. Tensions are very high. There is a lot of chaos. People are afraid. There's anxiety. There is a lot that's going on in our cities here. And it's been going on for weeks now. And people have died. They have died at the hands of federal agents. And so it is important for us to reset. It is important for us to restart conversations and I agree that you know I think that we can all come to the table and reshape this conversation. President Trump's backing the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem after a two-hour long meeting with the Oval Office.

32:45But House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries says Democrats are going to seek to impeach Secretary Noem if they regain the House in the fall if she is not fired. Do you, does the community of St. Paul, do you have faith in Secretary Noem's ability to continue to lead the Department of Homeland Security? I think that anytime anybody is in charge of leading really important work, and if there seems to have been either events or actions that are not consistent with our laws and with people's rights, I think that it is important for us to investigate and for us to look into that. And I think that regardless of what side of the aisle you're on, I think that we all want there to be law and order, We all want people in powers of position to work within those powers.

33:34And so, you know, we are always for transparency and always for looking for truth and justice. St. Paul, Minnesota Mayor Khali Herr, congratulations, I guess. And thanks so much for being with us today. I mean, it just seems like it just seems like a tough job is all I mean. It's a tough job, but that's what we get elected to do is to meet people in the moment that they're in. And this is the moment right now. All right. Thank you so much, man. As mentioned, Democrats are demanding Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem be fired for this chaos in Minnesota. They're threatening impeachment. If she's not removed, should she stay or should she go?

34:10My panel will weigh in next.

34:16The relationship between the FBI director and the president has always been complicated. Unravel the complex dynamic in the CNN original series, Standoff, the FBI, Power and Paranoia, premieres Sunday, March 22nd on CNN and next day on the CNN app. Today, Democratic Senator John Fetterman, Democrat of Pennsylvania, is urging President Trump to immediately fire the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Christine Noem. He posted on social media, quote, Americans have died. She is betraying DHS's core mission and trashing your border security legacy. Do not make the mistake President Biden made for not firing a grossly incompetent DHS secretary, unquote.

34:53When asked if Noam would step down earlier today, President Trump said, quote, no. Let's talk about this with our panel consisting of former Republican congressman from Florida, Francis Rooney, CNN's Jamie Gengel, and CNN political commentator and Democratic strategist Paul Begala. Congressman Rooney, yesterday you posted on social media, quote, in the last two weeks, ICE has killed two U.S. citizens, and now the DOJ, FBI, and local law authorities are prevented from joining in the investigation. This is unprecedented U.S. government behavior. common in authoritarian regimes, but not places based on the rule of law, unquote.

35:29Today, President Trump said he wants a, quote, very honorable investigation. Do you think that investigation should include local law enforcement and, you know, field agents, career agents in the FBI and Congress? Well, the historical practice is to include the DOJ, the FBI, and local law enforcement in any geographically-based investigation like this Minnesota thing. And what are they trying to hide? Why don't they let everybody in, get all the different opinions? Well, you tell me. What are they trying to hide? I think they're trying to hide the fact that these ICE guys—I talked to two police people today that I trust, that I work with in Congress.

36:09They reminded me that these ICE guys are not trained law enforcement officials. Deeply respectful of the Fourth Amendment. They're kind of goons. And I think that that needs to be reformed. I think some of the people that you've had on earlier are saying the same thing, that you can't have these vigilantes out there shooting innocent Americans. Today, House Minority Leader Democrat Hakeem Jeffries of New York posted on social media, quote, Donald Trump must fire Kristi Noem immediately, or Democrats will initiate impeachment proceedings against her in the House. We can do this the easy way or the hard way.

36:42Little Brendan Carr of the FCC language there. Paul, Democrats plan to conduct their investigation without Republicans and are unlikely to be able to actually remove the secretary if they do this when they're in the minority. Is that a good idea? Well, they should continue to reach out to Republicans. There are a lot. And Congressman Rooney is not the only Republican speaking. He's showing a lot of courage. But I think they could find Republicans to join them, and I hope they'll try. There has to be accountability. There has to be. You know, the president and the vice president are the only ones who have a four-year no-cut contract.

37:17Okay, everybody else serves the pleasure of the president, but they work for us. She lives, Christine Noem, paid by us, lives in our housing. Everything she does is in our name. Those poor people, Renee Good, Alex Preddy, they were killed in our name by our employees. and we demand accountability. And this is the fundamental job of Congress. They have to look into it. I think Congressman Rooney is exactly right. But it's been said, Jamie Gingell, that Trump's policy for this second term is, it's been shorthanded, is no scalps. Meaning, I'm not going to appease the mob by firing anybody. Let's just say not yet.

37:53I mean, I think that this time Bovino getting pushed out may have saved Kristi Noem for now. but his polls are terrible. The public reaction to this is not with him. Look, he repeatedly has now said that protesters can't bring guns to protests. Heads are exploding at the NRA right now. You wouldn't know it to read their social media posts. But let's just have a reality check. Let's go to the other side. So let's think back. Michigan State protesters on the other side brought guns in. The McCluskeys in St. Louis. Spoke at the Republican National Convention. Kyle Rittenhouse. Met with President Trump.

38:43And last but not least, President Trump pardoned January 6th protesters who brought guns to the Capitol. So Congressman Rooney, I'll be honest, I haven't researched your record on gun rights, but I assume as a traditional Republican, especially one from Florida, you've been a supporter of gun rights. What do you make of the fact that the administration is saying all these things like he shouldn't have had a gun, having a gun, if you have a gun on you, even if you have a licensed concealed weapon permit, you should expect that's going to like maybe inflame law enforcement reaction. I mean, there isn't, as far as I know, a carve out for people who don't support President Trump in the Second Amendment.

39:30No, there's not. And it's a bit ironic, as you alluded to, that the people that are opposing guns now are the people that stand most strongly for guns in other circumstances. By the way, I was a proud co-sponsor with Congressman Clyburn of the eliminating the Charleston background check loophole. Yeah. Do you think, Congressman, do you think the president should fire Secretary Noem? We've just heard from Republican Senator Tom Tillis that he thinks she should go. I think he's got to certainly think about it. Her performance yesterday or the day before wasn't very good. And I think she better clean that up.

40:09Or maybe go do something else. Jamie Gengel today, White House Porter's our time home and met with Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, a Democrat in this leadership shakeup as it is. You've been covering Hohman since he worked with the Obama administration. I mean, he did this job under President Obama. Why do you think President Trump is sending Hohman in there and ousting, at least now, physically, Bovino? So President Trump just said to de-escalate a little bit was the quote, let's see what happens. Let's see if the agents actually start conducting themselves differently, not just in Minneapolis, but across the country.

40:51But Homan, for a minute, this is someone who's been career there. He has served under six presidents. He got an award from President Obama. Jay Johnson, the former DHS secretary, said he was pleased that Homan was going. What I'm told about Tom Homan is we have seen him be very bombastic in public statements. But behind the scenes, he can read a room. Yeah. And, Paul, I think you're a gun owner, right? You're from Texas. I have two dozen guns. Big gun. I'll be hunting on Friday, by the way. I'll be out bird hunting on Friday. Bird hunting? So a local official say Alex Freddie lawfully owned his gun.

41:32Right. He had a concealed weapon permit, although he didn't have his ID on him, which is a fixable$25 ticket, not the felony offense you'd hear from some people. Take a listen to what President Trump said about having a firearm at a protest.

41:59So just, I mean, that's over the sound of Marine One, Trump saying you can't have guns, you can't walk in with guns, you just can't, you can't walk in with guns, you can't do that. He wasn't brandishing it. He wasn't even holding it. He was disarmed. Some of the reporting has been in the video that the way I interpret it. He was disarmed before they shot him. So this is a total red herring. I mean, and again, as a gun owner, you shouldn't bring a gun into Mother Emanuel Church. And I didn't hear Mr. Trump speaking about that when parishioners did Bible study were slaughtered or at the El Paso Walmart, where a man came for the purpose of murdering Mexicans and Mexican-Americans.

42:34And I didn't hear President Trump saying he shouldn't have had a gun. So there's a lot of people shouldn't have guns, but a peaceful protester with a legal permit. And that's not where I would begin on gun control. Thanks to one and all. And our national lead weather forecasters are fine-tuning predictions for another major winter storm that could impact the U.S. East Coast this coming weekend. This one could be a bomb cyclone somewhere off the East Coast. It comes as the death toll from last weekend's winter storm. Bitter cold and prolonged power outages rose to at least 30 people across multiple states.

43:03The most significant damage stretches from East Texas through Louisiana, Mississippi, and into Nashville, Tennessee. And that's where we find CNN's Isabel Rosales following the struggle to get back to normal. Heck yeah, baby. Line workers in Nashville capture the moment they flip the lights back on. Got lights. From dawn till dusk, more than 700 of them working to repair the damage. Left behind by the winter storm. Thousands of customers are still without power in Davidson County, Tennessee. Peaking Sunday at a whopping 230 ,000 customers, marking the largest outage in the history of the Nashville Electric Service.

43:42What's been the biggest surprise to you once you finally were able to grasp the extent of the damage? Just the amount of people that are without power. Downed trees, electric lines, and a bitter cold, making the task all the more challenging. It's very demanding. Long hours, cold weather, but these guys are tough. Our cameras rolling as one lineman rescued his colleague, stranded up high on his bucket truck. His hydraulic system not working, they believe, from the frigid cold. Scenes like this, power lines over the road, not just dangerous, but also blocking first responders from doing the job they need to do.

44:19Some families bunkering down with pets and kids in warm hotels. And others in Music City relying on luckier friends. Raise your hand if you don't have power right now. Okay, so that's everybody except you. Yeah. What is happening here? So everybody just started losing power with the storm. So everybody came over and we've been like sharing food, pulling resources, kind of just trying to stay warm. People are bringing, there's cats and dogs. And in Bellevue, about 13 miles southwest of downtown Nashville, Danielle Sauterholm is outraged. I was extremely angry, plus concerned. My mom is 85 years old.

45:00She tells me she was forced to pull her elderly mother out of an assisted living facility for her safety after a power outage left their rooms without heat as temperatures plummeted. I think they were extremely unprepared. She shared this picture, her mother's room measuring just 52 degrees. Oh, it's freezing. I wore heavy sweater, heavy pants, a big, thick, heavy pullover. I want to be independent, but I can't take that cold. Isabel Rosales, CNN, Nashville.

45:58he's frequently brought up in any conversations about the 2028 election. Democratic Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro is here to talk about his plans if ICE starts operations in the Commonwealth, why he ultimately pulled his name out of VP contention in 2024, and the alarming rise in anti-Semitism on not just the right, but also the left. Also, this week marks one year since 67 people were killed in that horrific collision between an American Airlines plane and an Army Blackhawk helicopter. What top safety officials said today as they met to discuss ways to prevent any similar tragedies from ever happening again.

46:39The lead tonight, President Trump, is on the campaign trail trying to sell his economic policies and change the conversation away from the controversies and death toll in Minneapolis. Before his rally, the president called the shooting of Alex Preddy by Border Patrol agents a, quote, very unfortunate incident. But he also claimed that Preddy should not have been carrying a gun, despite the fact that there is no law in Minnesota, barring concealed weapons holders, permit holders, from attending protests. CNN also has some new reporting tonight that two officers fired their guns in Saturday's deadly encounter, according to an initial report sent to Congress by DHS.

47:16The report does not say, however, whether bullets fired from both officers hit Alex Pretty. CNN's Caitlin Collins joins me now in studio. Caitlin, does President Trump, what's the degree to which President Trump understands how many Republicans are horrified, not just by what happened, but some of the rhetoric and lies and, frankly, anti-Second Amendment rhetoric we're hearing from his administration? Yeah, I mean, pretty much everything that came out of the White House for the first 48 hours after Alex Preddy was killed was comments and statements that left a lot of Republicans flabbergasted.

47:52I think it not just the fact that he was killed on Saturday, but the way that they handled it and they believe that they made it worse. And so the president is downplaying the staffing changes that are happening on the ground in Minnesota. The fact that Tom Homan is replacing Greg Bovino, but make no mistake, that would not be happening had the president not registered and understood the backlash that they were facing, even from people within their own party with how that they've handled this. And he said today that they're going to deescalate a bit in Minnesota. I think it remains to be seen what exactly that looks like.

48:20Obviously, Tom Homan's actually meeting directly with Governor Walz and with Mayor Frye in hopes of bringing down the temperature on that front. But I think internally, you know, one thing that people have said is they're just shocked, I think, at how badly this has been handled. And the statements coming from Secretary Noem, obviously Stephen Miller, which was reposted by the vice president. And despite the president saying today he is confident in Noem, I've heard from a lot of people internally who were very upset with how the Department of Homeland Security was handling this and how they were coming out.

48:50Because, yes, I mean, obviously Stephen Miller coordinates a lot of immigration policy from inside the West Wing, but she is a cabinet level official. She is a cabinet head who is out there speaking with the president about this. And so that's why they had that lengthy meeting at the White House last night with Secretary Noem and President Trump. On the Second Amendment comments, so that is something the president himself has kind of doubled down on repeatedly. It's not something that he's changed his view on. He was posting the gun, remember, immediately on Saturday. And today when he got to Iowa, he was asked about if he would call Alex Preddy an assassin and a domestic terrorist, as some of the people in his administration has.

49:25But this is what he said about him having that gun on him at the protest. I don't like that he had a gun. I don't like that he had two fully loaded magazines. That's a lot of bad stuff. And despite that, I say that's a very unfortunate. That obviously sounds a lot like what the FBI director, Cash Patel, said on Sunday that he kind of had to walk back yesterday because that he had a permit. He was allowed to carry that weapon. It was perfectly legal for him to have it, according to the police chief there in Minneapolis. And so hearing those comments, you've seen people like Thomas Massey coming out and criticize them.

50:00Even Kyle Rittenhouse, someone the president has praised and congratulated when he was acquitted at his trial, was saying, basically speaking out against the administration and their views on the Second Amendment and what they've said about Freddie carrying that gun. Do you think they have any idea how much it sounds as though they're saying that people who support the president have rights that the rest of the American people don't? Or that you can exercise one right but not the other. Yeah, January 6th people can bring guns and anti-COVID shutdown people can bring guns to protests. but people who don't like ICE can't.

50:32Or you can assault police officers if you're with January 6th, but anyone else, that's like a federal offense. I mean, meaning like a capital offense, I meant. Like, that's really, honestly, what the administration seems to be saying. Well, and that's why you're seeing people who are, you know, dyed-in-the-wool conservatives, believe in the Second Amendment, you know, the don't tread on me kind of people coming out and saying, okay, no, this is actually our entire argument, is that you can carry this gun, even if you're at a protest. He's in a public place. He wasn't in a Capitol building bringing a gun, like obviously the January 6th protesters, some of them were.

51:05And so that has obviously been the entire argument here. Yeah, some people who believe in gun rights and don't tread on me. Some people have been saying that. A lot of them have not. Caitlin Collins, thanks so much. And of course, do not miss Caitlin on her show. It's called The Source with Caitlin Collins. Her guests tonight include Senator John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, who's making a lot of news tonight. That's a good booking, Caitlin. He's calling on Secretary Noem to be fired. And obviously that's tonight at nine Eastern. Notable statement only on CNN.

51:34And here to discuss the Democratic governor of the great Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Josh Shapiro, his new book is out today. It's called Where We Keep the Light Stories from a Life of Service. Governor, I'm going to talk about your book in a sec, but obviously a lot going on in the world. Let's start with Minnesota. You have said that Trump has to terminate the immigration operation there and fire DHS Secretary Kristi Noem. Today, Governor Walz's office said that Walz met with Trump. Borders are Tom Homan. The two agreed on the need for an ongoing dialogue. Do you think Homan taking the reins while Customs and Border Patrol Commander Bovino is being shown the door, do you think that suggests things are going to improve?

52:15Or do you think Bovino is just kind of the administration's fall guy here for what's been going on in the last few weeks there? Look, Jake, until I hear that the mission has changed, I don't think it matters who's in charge of it. I'm glad they're communicating with Governor Walz. Don't get me wrong. But until I hear the president of the United States say, we're not going to target people just because they have an accent. We're not going to wreak havoc on a community. We're going to demask these federal officials so that there can be some trust in the community that they really are there to remove real criminals from a community.

52:50Until I hear that the mission has changed, I don't really care who's in charge. And look, I hope the Congress of the United States exercises its authority this Friday when they have a vote on this. I'm encouraged to hear more and more Republicans speaking up. There should be easily the ability to put together a majority that stops funding this type of mission and put some guardrails on the Trump administration. The White House and their supporters have accused the governor and Minneapolis Mayor Fry of making immigration enforcement operations harder than they need to be in terms of their actions and their rhetoric, encouraging protesters.

53:29Let's look at one comment that Governor Walz made that's under scrutiny right now. Take a listen. 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's going to write that children's story about Minnesota. Now, the U.S. Holocaust Museum wrote in response, quote, Anne Frank was targeted and murdered solely because she was Jewish. Leaders making false equivalencies to her experience for political purposes is never acceptable, unquote. What's your take on what the governor said? Look, here's what I know to be true in Minnesota.

54:10The federal officials have eviscerated the trust that should exist between law enforcement and the community by virtue of how they've gone about the operations. I'm the former chief law enforcement officer of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Jake, you know, we've talked about these issues over the years. I think the most important tool that law enforcement needs when they go into a community to try and keep the peace or make people safe is to have trust with the community they are policing. I think it is undeniable that people are scared, that people feel fearful, and it is undeniable that that trust that needs to exist between law enforcement and the public simply does not exist between these federal agents and the community that they are in theory to serve.

54:56And so I think that the mission needs to be terminated. It needs to end. Fear is a real thing. But the reality is we need to end this mission and move forward. Fear is a real thing, but do you have any issues with Governor Walz equating kids hiding in their attics in Minnesota with Anne Frank? Yeah, look, I get the point that the governor was trying to make. I'm not sure that I would articulate it that way, but I think the underlying point that he's trying to make is a real one, that people are fearful. And that trust that should exist between a community and the people that are there in theory to protect and serve them, that has been eviscerated.

55:37It needs to be returned. And the best way to return that is to get these federal officials out of Minneapolis and allow the Minneapolis police to continue to do the important work they do to keep people safe. Get those officials out of Minneapolis. They might be coming to Pennsylvania cities. You've said that if Pittsburgh or Philly or any other city in Pennsylvania is the next spot for the ice raids, you've been planning for it, you say, and the courts and communities have started preparing. What exactly does that look like? You write in your book about having a track record of working across party lines.

56:08Will you work with the Trump administration or what is the plan? I'll work with anyone to keep the people of Pennsylvania safe. And I will also stand up to anyone that tries to undermine the safety and security of a community. We work with our law enforcement partners at the federal, obviously state and local level to keep people safe. And as a result of that work, violent crime is down 12 percent in Pennsylvania. Fatal gun violence is down about 43 percent in our Commonwealth. We've invested in hiring 2000 more police officers and we've invested hundreds of millions of dollars in violence prevention initiatives at the local level.

56:48What we are doing is working. What we don't want are outside forces coming in and eroding that trust and creating chaos. You know, Donald Trump and his administration love to put themselves out there as the party of law and order. What we see from them is not law and order, but chaos and division. And I would argue that I believe they are acting outside the bounds of the law in Minneapolis and not just the two incidents that resulted in the death of Mr. pretty and Ms. Good, but just the very premise of their mission being there, I think that's outside the law and the bounds of the 10th Amendment.

57:28And so it is something we are prepared for, and I will work with anyone to keep people safe, but I'll stand up to anyone that undermines that safety. Governor Shapiro, stick around. We have much more to discuss about your book, about your future in politics. We're going to squeeze in a quick break. We'll be right back. Thank you.

57:49Some things are just better in person. High fives, hugging your dog, and shopping for Crocs. If you've never been to a Crocs store, you're missing out. Sure, you can find us online, but when you step inside our shop, you'll get it. And your feet will feel fantastic with a fresh pair of classic cloths, or cozy slippers, or beach-ready sandals, or even sneakers. Everything's ridiculously comfy, and you can even pick out Jibbit's charms to personalize your new pair. Go check out your nearest Crocs store. You deserve that in-person moment. And we're back with our politics lead. Pennsylvania's Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro and former Vice President Kamala Harris, they're likely not exchanging friendship bracelets these days, despite the fact that Shapiro was on Harris' VP shortlist when she ran for president in 2024.

58:35In Shapiro's new book, Where We Keep the Light, he says the VP vetting process featured unnecessarily contentious questions, including, quote, have you ever been an agent of the Israeli government? He writes in the book, quote, had I been a double agent for Israel? Was she kidding? I told her how offensive the question was. And we're back with Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro. So, Governor, let's talk about your book. You say you ultimately decided to take your name out of the vice presidential running with candidate Kamala Harris, then the vice president, after a one-on-one meeting with her that featured some clashes, including about Israel, the one like I just talked about.

59:11You say it was offensive and that the Harris-Shapiro pairing was not a great fit. Did you also have deeper concerns about maybe hitching your wagon to a losing campaign? No. And look, I did everything in my power to try and help the vice president win. And I wish she would have. The country would have been in a far better place than it is right now. I would just respectfully push back on your word clashes. I actually appreciate to this day the fact that the vice president was direct with me and honest with me. And I hope she appreciates that I was direct and honest back with her. I thought that we had a really constructive conversation.

59:49And after that conversation and reflection and conversation with my wife and our kids, I think we just determined that this was not the best way for me to serve. This was not the best way for me to have an impact on making people's lives better. And that's why I picked up the phone and called, I guess, roughly 48 hours before she made her announcement that Governor Walz would be her running mate, that I did not want to be included in those deliberations. I went after that and did everything in my power to support Governor Walz and Vice President Harris, both in Pennsylvania and across the country, traveling for them, filming an ad for them, doing everything I could.

1:00:29I wish she would have won. And so to the heart of your question, this was not a political calculus about her winning or losing. This was about the best way I could possibly serve. It was also a period where you were being criticized more than other Democrats for your position on Israel and the war in Gaza from Israel, even though you were more critical of Benjamin Netanyahu than at the time Vice President Harris or Tim Walls or Andy Beshear or any of the other possible candidates for VP. And, you know, activists were calling you genocide. Josh, there was a really ugly explosion of anti-Semitism.

1:01:12You write about anti-Semitism at the start of your book because of that horrific attack on the governor's mansion during Passover. And you write in your book, quote, quote, of course, anti-Semitism has gotten impossible to ignore over the last few years. Much scarier, much more real, both in the number of incidents and how present it feels around us. I often have people come tell me they were comforted by the fact that I was willing to live my life openly and proudly as a Jew, that it gave them confidence to do the same. And I wonder if there has been this explosion of anti-Semitism on the right that we've seen conservatives grappling with and refusing to grapple with in some cases.

1:01:49you know, it's split, it's really ripped apart the Conservative Heritage Foundation and other places. Do you think your party, the Democratic Party, has had the reckoning on anti-Semitism that it needs to? Look, I think it is clear and an undeniable truth that anti-Semitism is a problem on the political left and on the political right. And it shouldn't be hard for anyone to acknowledge that. I think it is important to separate out the two different conversations need to be had. And both were kind of lumped in to your question. I mean that respectfully, Jake. One is about the policy in the Middle East and Israeli policy.

1:02:27And as you correctly noted, I have over many years been a critical, very critical of the Netanyahu administration and what they've done both in Israel and in Gaza. And at the same time, while there's nuance around that, we need to have the ability to have that foreign policy conversation that is critical of Israel, along with other countries and certainly of Hamas, a terrorist group. On the flip side, if I may just finish the thought, on the flip side, there is no nuance when it comes to anti-Semitism or hatred or bigotry in any form. It should not be hard for the right or the left to stand up and condemn it.

1:03:08And I think it is critically important that voices come together in the Democratic Party, Republican Party to stand in unity against anti-Semitism. We should. That is a black and white issue, while the other issues are much more nuanced. So last question before you go, sir, and I know you have a big calendar ahead with this book, but you have won every election you've ever run for, with the exception of one, when you ran for student body president at the same high school that I went to. I'm four years older than you, so we didn't really overlap in terms of our social circles. Did you vote in that election?

1:03:45I guess you wouldn't have voted in that election. I wouldn't have voted. I was the outgoing. I was gone. I was gone by the time you ran for president. I was in college. I had other things on my mind, but I was the student body president when I was there. And I'm wondering, what do you think it is about me that I was able to win that election? The one election in your entire life that you were not able to win. So you're 1-0. And as I write in the book, I'm 12-1. I think I would take my record over yours. Look, Jake, I think I ran for student council president in the high school to impress a girl who ultimately was not particularly impressed by that.

1:04:26But I did get to marry her a few years later, and we've been married 28 years. And I think if you would have asked her at that moment in that election where I was embarrassing myself, if I'd be the one guy in class to end up as governor of Pennsylvania, I think she'd probably pick everybody else in our class over me. So I'll just say this. Thank you for acknowledging that my record is a thousand. And second of all, I definitely didn't impress any girls by winning student body president. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, thanks so much. Good to be with you. Nearly one year after the tragic crash here at D.C.'s Reagan National Airport, officials are meeting today to discuss ways to make sure something like this never, ever happens again.

1:05:05Their findings are next.

1:05:12In our national lead, two days shy of the one-year anniversary of the deadliest U.S. commercial aviation accident in 16 years, the National Transportation Safety Board, or NTSB, is meeting to determine the probable cause of that tragic in-flight collision between an Army Blackhawk helicopter and an American Airlines jet, which took the lives of 67 people just outside Reagan National Airport. CNN's aviation correspondent, Pete Muntean, is at NTSB headquarters. And Pete, there's new animations reconstructing the final minutes before the collision. What stood out to you from today's hearing? Well, the NTSB just officially adopted the final probable cause of this tragic and avoidable crash.

1:05:55This has been a difficult and dense day with so many family members in the NTSB boardroom, also in an overflow room here. The probable cause essentially laid out a chain of errors dating back years. Going back to the initial design of the airspace around Reagan National Airport and the placement of that helicopter route near the approach path for planes going into DCA's runway 33, they also called out the over-reliance of air traffic controllers on airplanes and pilots visually avoiding collisions, something called visual separation. And then there was the big finding here that the Army Black Hawk helicopters were likely looking at the wrong aircraft when they said that they had American Eagle Flight 5342 in sight.

1:06:45Perhaps the most emotional evidence we saw here today were the visual recreations made by NTSB investigators from the viewpoint of the pilots of each aircraft. There was one for the helicopter, also one for the airplane, the commercial jet in question here, from the right seat. That is the seat where First Officer Sam Lilly was sitting. And in it, you can barely perceive the location of the helicopter coming from the right side. It's impossible to perceive it because it blends in with the bright city lighting. The other big thing here, and this was a huge point by NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy, She really hammered the Federal Aviation Administration for not looking at its own data.

1:07:30Close calls averaging 18 times a year between airplanes and helicopters near DCA. And she said the FAA had systemic failures and did not pay attention to their own data. Listen. We couldn't find any evidence of annual reviews, nor could FAA tell us who did them. We should be angry because for years no one listened. This was preventable. This was 100 percent preventable. The NTSB right now is laying out dozens. We're talking 40 or more safety recommendations here to the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of War, the Department of Transportation, and beyond to make significant changes here.

1:08:23The other most sobering image we saw today was a piece of the tail rotor of the UH-60 Blackhawk lodged in the side of American Eagle Flight 5342. The other huge finding today is that as that airplane was in a left bank to line up with Runway 33, the helicopter's main rotor hit the left wing, meaning it was so, so close. We're talking only a few feet of difference, and potentially everybody here could have survived. All right, Piedmontine, thank you so much. Coming up, we're marking another tragic chapter in history, a film on this Holocaust Remembrance Day, documents what Jews went through in one small Polish town, and the creator of that film will be here next.

1:09:19In our world lead 81 years ago today, Soviet troops liberated Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest of the Nazi extermination camps. And that is why January 27th, today, is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. So the world never forgets the 6 million Jewish men, women, and children, one-third of the Jewish people, along with countless members of other minorities, according to the UN, killed by Nazi Germany and its allies. The new film Among Neighbors carries on this mission, uncovering the dark history in a small Polish town where Jews were murdered, not by Nazis, but by their own Polish neighbors.

1:10:05I could not imagine what the Polish people did to me.

1:10:14Death came for me. And Yoav Potash, the director of the film, joins us now. Yoav, tell us more about your documentary and how you would distinguish it from other Holocaust documentaries. Not that they're not important, but there have been a lot of them. Absolutely, and I recognize that. There's really a couple of significant ways. First is that this film is not about what the Germans did to the Jews. It's about the relationship between Polish Jews and the rest of Polish society and what happened as the Holocaust really tested those relationships. Did the Polish neighbors of the Jews choose to help them or harm them?

1:10:58And, of course, the truth is they did both. And this film does reveal that even after the Holocaust was over, that Jews were still being killed by their Polish neighbors. And then the other key way that you see that it's different, even in the clips you're showing, is that we use animation to bring the past to life, to really bring history life, history to life as you've never seen it before. You interviewed many people who witnessed the tragedy firsthand. What was the most surprising thing you learned? Well, I was shocked to learn that Holocaust survivors were killed as late as a year after the Holocaust was over and it was supposedly peacetime.

1:11:43That really shook me, especially when I heard it from a Polish person who was alive at the time. And that just really struck me as a unique window into this period of time, a type of story I hadn't heard before, and a last chance to get it directly from the people who were either the eyewitnesses or the survivors. And so that was really how this story began. And the two individuals at the heart of the film are a Holocaust survivor and a Polish eyewitness to the murder of Jews, both from the same small town. People might be surprised to hear this, but accusing Poland of being complicit in the Holocaust remains a crime in Poland.

1:12:34But I wonder, now that this film is out, have things changed at all just in the small town that's the focus of your documentary? Are they finally acknowledging the reality of Polish complicity? I think in the town itself, it's out and it's known. And I'm sure much like in the rest of Poland, it's debated. It's a very divided country. I think we can relate to that here in the United States. And there's roughly half of the country that is willing to reckon with the darkest parts of their history, including the fact that Polish people did, in fact, murder their Jewish neighbors even after the war.

1:13:14And yet there's another half of the country that wants to kind of live in a historical fantasy and just only tell the stories in which they themselves can feel good about their country, their history, their society. And so it's still hotly debated. And in fact, after this film had a national public broadcast on Polish television, the extremist faction of the Polish government, which includes the president's office, moved to silence and ban this film. and they initiated proceedings essentially from the Polish equivalent of the FCC. So this film is actually under investigation currently in Poland, but I look at it as a situation where they protest too much.

1:14:10And that kind of attempt to silence the film will only bring more attention to it. Yeah, it's relevant to the efforts by some in this country to pretend that slavery didn't happen in the United States. It's a weak country that cannot acknowledge its shameful chapters. The film is Among Neighbors. Yoav Potash, congratulations and thank you so much for being here. Thank you, Jake. Appreciate it. Two high-profile Democrats facing off in a closely watched Texas race. Who are Democratic voters going to choose our political panel weighs in next?

1:14:49Our politics lead now. President Trump traveled to Iowa today to rally Republican supporters, to tout his economic wins, and to try his best to redirect the nation's attention away from the streets of Minneapolis. This marked his first speech since the killing of Alex Preddy. Before the speech, he did an interview with Gas, Gas, Fox. We have Tom Holman there now. We put him in there. He's great. And they met with the governor, the mayor, everybody else. And we're going to de-escalate a little bit. But I will tell you, you look at the numbers, they're doing better than they've done in many years because we took thousands of criminals out of Minnesota.

1:15:27So my panel joins me now. Brian Lanza, what did you make of the tone the president struck today regarding the situation in Minnesota? And his, he said, we're going to de-escalate a little bit or something like that. His basic approach to this in the last 24 hours. Listen, I'm happy with it. I mean, at the end of the day, we had a U.S. citizen who was killed. We were told one story. And then the overwhelming evidence says something completely different. That was a tremendous hit on the president's credibility and his administration. So to see that they're turning around, looking at de-escalated issues, bringing in a leadership change in Minnesota, it says the right tone.

1:15:59The policy is not going to change. I mean, we still, in this administration, these people feel that mass deportation needs to take place. It just doesn't need to be in this type of disruptive way where you're having 3 ,000 ICE officers coming into a small city. It's overkill at this point. Two Republican senators now. Republican Tillis of North Carolina and Murkowski of Alaska have now said that the Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem should go. Right. That's only two. Right. Is this the sign of something more, do you think, or what? I do think it's a sign of something more. I think it's a sign that Republicans are very concerned about the images that they have seen on their television screens, about the polls that they are seeing in terms of these kinds of draconian, cruel immigration tactics.

1:16:44And it's not just an issue of the president sort of acknowledging that this is a problem by saying that he's got to de-escalate. The policy is the problem, because what you have is these ICE agents who clearly have gone rogue. And that's why you're also seeing many people calling for ICE to be repealed, replaced, right, retrained, defunded. But but there has to be some kind of immigration enforcement. But this cadre of ICE agents is what is the problem. They have not been trained well. And regardless of what the president says in terms of de-escalation, they're going to be all over the country doing exactly what they're doing in Minneapolis.

1:17:24Unless you change the way that they're supposed to be doing what they're doing. So maybe Tom Homan understands that. Maybe he's going to sit them down and say, we cannot do this anymore. You can't go in there with masks. You can't go in there without warrants. You can't go in there and grab people from their houses or from their cars. you can't detain and deport American citizens. But that's a big ask because that will be a change in policy. That's where I think the administration has a problem. There is definitely, well, first of all, I should say, I know we all use the term ICE as kind of like a shorthand for any of these immigration enforcement individuals.

1:17:59I mean, some of the people there, I mean, Greg Bovino is with Border Patrol, right? He's not with ICE. And my understanding is a lot of the guys involved in what happened to Alex Preddy were Border Patrol agents. But there are a lot of, I mean, I don't want to get too much in the weeds on this, but none of these folks are really schooled in crowd control or things like that. And that's one of the issues here. Well, that's the bigger issue, Drake, because normally when you have in red cities, you know, in red states, you have local law enforcement that are assisting in crowd control. So you have ICE or Border and Customs come in.

1:18:36You've got local law enforcement that are assisting with the crowd control. And you avoid these situations. The problem when you go into a blue city and in a blue state is you don't have the same cooperation because they're sanctuary cities. So you don't have the same cooperation. So now you have to stretch the resources of ICE and Border Patrol who don't have that experience, who the locals are supposed to have it. And now they're supposed to do it and learn it at the last minute. They're learning this process. And this is because you don't have cooperation from locals. And that's a problem. Maria, I want to get your take.

1:19:02We saw two Democrats in the closely watched Texas Senate primary for Democrats face off for the very first time this weekend. Jasmine Crockett and James Tallarico. Let's take a little snippet. James and I served in the state house together. He's actually been elected longer than I have been elected. Yet he's not as known right now because I have engaged in these fights and they have been right there on the front lines where people could see me out front. The best indicator of future behavior is past behavior. And the people in this room know that I have fought tooth and nail for our values in the Texas House of Representatives.

1:19:44Maria, what do you think? I think it was a draw. For most of the clips that I saw and what I have read, I think it was a draw because there wasn't a whole lot of difference in policy. There was a lot of difference in the way that they presented themselves, right? And style. And I think that's going to be the fundamental difference between how they run their campaigns. Jasmine Crockett, huge firebrand. She ran on that. Her opening announcement was Trump attacking her. That's going to be what she is going to be selling. Texans saying this is a moment in time where we need fighters. Tallarico is a little bit more moderate.

1:20:19A lot of folks think that he might be the one that is electable in Texas. But we're in a different moment in time in politics. And so we'll see. I think it's going to be very much of a fight between what kind of style Texas residents voters want. Republican Senator John Cornyn says that he's most worried about Tallarico because this race could, I mean, if Cornyn loses the primary to the very controversial attorney general, yeah, that Tallarico might be able to grab that middle group. Do you agree with Cornyn's concerns? Listen, I know Ken Paxton. I dealt with Ken Paxton in 2016. He's just too hot at this particular moment for anything.

1:21:02Even for Texas? I agree, even for Texas. And the Senate's too important. I mean, what we've seen and what I've heard from people is that Texas itself is going to be a half-billion-dollar race on the Republican side. I suspect it's a half-billion on the Dem. Then you go to Ohio, another half-billion. These small states are spending a tremendous amount of money because we know that's where the race, that's where control of the U.S. Senate lies. I think it was at Everett Dirksen. Somebody famous said you have a half billion here and you have a half billion there. Pretty soon you're starting talking about a lot of money.

1:21:30A lot of money. Something like that. I'm paraphrasing. Thanks to both of you. Appreciate it. Small businesses in Minnesota say they're feeling the impact of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in their cities. That story is next.

1:21:45And our national lead as President Trump's immigration crackdown across Minneapolis continues. businesses in every corner of the city are feeling the squeeze. CNN's Sarah Seidner spoke with several local business owners about how they're fighting to keep their businesses alive. ICE should be abolished. I got nervous and I got scared and I don't know what to do. Those are the voices of Twin City business owners trying to navigate the chaos of President Trump's immigration crackdown here. Tracy Wong owns MyHuong Kitchen. She was here when tensions exploded right outside her window. I met her with a face full of tear gas, unable to breathe.

1:22:24I'm going to get ready to open up my store and somehow that I see outside kind of like boom, boom, boom. She quickly closed down, but seeing the desperation of strangers, she opened her doors offering free snacks, warmth, and shelter. People were crying, people were throwing up, throwing up. How can I not to open the door to that people that to come in that I can help. Her younger brother Alex broke down in tears at the sight of his sister's kindness. I love America. Their parents fled the Vietnam War only to find war-like conditions on their doorstep in America decades later. Our story starts with us why we're here.

1:23:06We're immigrants. And our parents, They're older now.

1:23:17They left this behind. It's at our front door now. On the same street, a couple blocks away, the award-winning Greek restaurant Christos saw all hell break loose. It's very unfortunate that they would have to tear-cast people and pepper spray them. they're not violent people here. Gus Parpas started his family-run restaurant 38 years ago. He says his own staff member, legally allowed to be in the country, was snatched up by ICE agents at a random checkpoint and held for days. Someone from your own restaurant. Yes. Yeah, they grabbed him, yanked him out of the car, and handcuffed him and took him away, despite his protestations that, hey, I'm legal.

1:24:09We reached out to DHS for comment. So far, have heard nothing. Standing in front of a street art sign that he used to board up his business in 2020 during the George Floyd protests, Pardpa says he cannot believe what he's seeing, the strong-arm tactics being used by federal agents here. Do you want ICE to leave the community? I think everyone in the Twin Cities wants them to leave. You've seen what they do. I feel it's unsustainable. Across the river in St. Paul, a family-run toy store is in ICE's crosshairs now. Owner Dan Marshall says hours after the family went on national television criticizing ICE, federal agents knocked on their doors.

1:24:51Three hours later, we were served with an audit from two ICE agents that came into the store. So after you publicly spoke out against ICE, you suddenly got two agents at your door. Yep, exactly. Demanding what? They're demanding our I-9 records for our five part-time employees, none of whom are immigrants. They're all born in the U.S. Marshall says agents told them not to talk about the audit. Are you afraid? Yeah, we're deeply afraid. I think every Minnesotan right now is afraid and traumatized, and we just want this to end. The response from the community, enormous. Now, on top of toys, they sell hundreds of anti-Ice signs every day.

1:25:39We watched person after person from the neighborhood. They have people coming from outside of the state who have been trying to order online, crashing their website because they're trying to help their business after what they went through. And we're seeing that happen for many businesses, especially those on each street that had to close during all this. Jake, there is a lot of worry, but there's also a lot of love that we're seeing from the business owners and for the business owners. Jake. All right, Sarah Seidner in the streets of Minneapolis. Thanks so much. And don't miss a special CNN town hall tomorrow night.

1:26:16It's called State of Emergency, Confronting the Crisis in Minnesota. Sarah and Anderson Cooper will moderate the discussion with residents in Minneapolis and community leaders. That's tomorrow night at 8 p.m. Eastern here on CNN and on the CNN app. Until tomorrow, you can follow the show on X, Instagram at The Lead CNN. If you ever miss an episode of The Lead, you can watch a show on the CNN app. Our good friend Erin Burnett and her show out front starts now. See you tomorrow.