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Minneapolis: Officer Training, DHS Funding, & the American Brand 1/26/26
00:48:04
After an ICE officer shot and killed another U.S. citizen in Minneapolis, CEOs of Minnesota-based companies have urged for calm as tensions rise. CNBC’s Eamon Javers reports on the federal, local, and corporate response to the fatal shootings, and CNBC’s Emily Wilkins reports on the Senate standstill over DHS funding that could lead to a partial government shutdown. Author and Tulane professor Walter Isaacson examines the shift in America’s international reputation amid anti-ICE protests around the country. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy points to Minnesota Governor Tim Walz and Minneapolis local law enforcement as culpable in the shootings. Plus, as much of America digs out of a massive winter storm, Secretary Duffy expects travel to be back on track by midweek. Eamon Javers - 2:58 Emily Wilkins - 13:19 Phil LeBeau - 15:59 Walter Isaacson - 24:26 Sec. Sean Duffy - 37:08 In this episode: Sean Duffy, @SecDuffy Eamon Javers, @eamonjavers Emily Wilkins, @emrwilkins Phil L...
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Commercial Announcer
This episode is brought to you by Schwab Market Update, an original podcast from Charles Schwab. Join host Keith Lansford for this information packed daily market Preview delivered in 10 minutes or less, including projected stock updates, monetary policy decisions and key results and statistics that may impact your trading. Download the latest episode and subscribe@schwab.com Market Update podcast or find Schwab Market Update wherever you get your podcasts.
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AT&T Business Representative
Before we had AT&T business Wireless coverage.
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Eamon Javers
Our delivery GPS wasn't the most reliable. Once our driver had to do a.
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AT&T Business Representative
14 point turn to get back on route.
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Commercial Announcer
A 14 point turn.
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Eamon Javers
An influencer even livestreamed the whole thing. Not good for business.
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AT&T Business Representative
Now with AT&T business Wireless, routes are.
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Eamon Javers
Updating on the fly and deliveries are on time.
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AT&T Business Representative
And the influencer did get us 53.
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Commercial Announcer
New followers though at&t business Wireless connecting changes everything.
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Eamon Javers
Bring in show music, please.
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Becky Quick
This is Squawkpod and I'm CNBC producer Cameron Costa. On today's episode, another American citizen fatally shot by an ICE officer in Minneapolis. CNBC's Eamon Jabbers reports on the federal, local and corporate response.
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Eamon Javers
The Minneapolis Police Department, right. They're saying, you know, we arrest people all the time and we haven't shot anybody in a year. And this is three, three shootings in three weeks, two of them fatal.
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Becky Quick
After that shooting, funding for the Department of Homeland Security prompts a standoff on Capitol Hill. CNBC's Emily Wilkins reports.
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Emily Wilkins
Senate Republican leadership, they are not planning to remove DHS funding from this larger package. That increases the chances of a partial government shutdown.
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Becky Quick
How the unrest at home is affecting America's reputation abroad and what business leaders are doing about it. Author and history professor at Tulane Walter Isaacson joins us.
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Walter Isaacson
This is affecting America around the world.
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Becky Quick
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy also shares his own perspective.
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Sean Duffy
The question should not be should we take a pause and give additional training? Maybe the president should bring in more assets. But really the question is Tim Walsh, what are you doing?
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Becky Quick
Plus digging travelers out of a winter storm around the country. It's Monday, January 26, 2026, a snowy Monday for many of us. And Squawkpod begins right now.
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Andrew Ross Sorkin
Stand Becky by in 3, 2, 1.
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Eamon Javers
QA, please.
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Becky Quick
Good morning, everybody. Welcome to Squawk Box right here on cnbc. I'm Becky Quick along with Andrew Ross Sorkin. Joe is out today. Andrew is live at the NASDAQ. I'm in CNBC's headquarters in Inglewood Cliffs. Made it back from Davos, Andrew, but we brought the snow with us in Fact, we have far more snow, snow here and it's a lot colder than it was in Davos. But we're here. We're back.
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Andrew Ross Sorkin
The city of Minneapolis on edge this morning following the second fatal shooting of a US citizen there this month. Amy Javers joins us this morning with the latest. Eamon?
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Eamon Javers
Yeah, good morning, Andrew. I want to start today with this horrific video of the shooting in Minneapolis over the weekend. I just want to give you a warning. This video is extremely difficult to watch. It shows the killing of a man as he struggled with federal ICE officers on the street. It begins with protesters, they're blowing their whistles and attempting to observe or disrupt the ICE officers and you see a scuffle there and officers wrestle the man to the ground and they remove a handgun from his holster and then shots. As the officers move away from the man on the ground, as many as nine more shots ring out and, and bullets tear into the victim who's lying on the ground. Now the man killed was 37 year old Alex Pretty who worked as an ICU nurse. The department of Homeland Security says he was armed and quote, violently resisted attempts to disarm him, although that's not apparent in the video that we just saw.
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Sean Duffy
Now.
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Eamon Javers
The awful images of his death quickly became the center of a heated debate. Was it a justifiable use of deadly force or a cold blooded killing? Administration officials blamed Democrats and the victim himself.
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Andrew Ross Sorkin
It's a tragedy when anyone dies, but I can tell you the situation on.
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Sean Duffy
The ground there is being stirred up by Governor Waltz.
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Eamon Javers
But Minneapolis Police Chief Brian o' Hara and Democratic Governor Tim Walz blamed ICE and President Trump.
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Sean Duffy
People have had enough.
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Walter Isaacson
This is the third shooting now in.
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Commercial Announcer
Less than three weeks. The Minneapolis Police Department went the entire year last year recovering about 900 guns from the street, arresting hundreds and hundreds of violent offenders.
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Sean Duffy
And we didn't shoot anyone.
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Eamon Javers
Now the President himself also weighed in over the weekend. He took to social media here. He blamed Democrats in this truth social post that he put up last night saying they are encouraging left wing agitators. Tragically, the President wrote, two American citizens have lost their lives as a result of this. Democrat ensued chaos. Andrew, back over to you.
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Andrew Ross Sorkin
Eamon, I want you to stay with us because we want to bring viewers up to speed on what has been the corporate response over the weekend. Major Minnesota business leaders calling for calm following this weekend's shooting. In a letter that was released by the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, more than 60 CEOs of Minnesota based companies urging state, local and federal officials as they say, to work together to find common ground. Now, the letter was signed by the incoming CEO of Target, as well as the CEOs of 3M UnitedHealth, Cargill and dozens of others. They say the recent upheaval in Minnesota has caused, in their words, widespread disruption and tragic loss of life. The letter didn't mention President Trump or any other political leaders involved in the situation in Minnesota, but it did say representatives of the Minnesota business community have been working behind the scenes with federal, state and local officials to advance what they call real solutions. EAMONN it was really the first time we've seen the business community say anything about this thus far, mostly coming from the Minnesota community, not the rest of the CEOs of America, all of whom have been watching this play out on social media and on their TV screens. Interestingly, the Business Roundtable Josh CEO Josh Bolton came out to support what what the Chamber in Minnesota said. But I think there's a larger question that I just want to raise this morning about, you know, when the business community can and should speak out about things that they believe and are seeing with their own eyes as deeply troublesome. Even if you believe that these officers were scared for their lives and acting in good faith in that moment, it is clear that the training that they have that has led to this situation is problematic. And I use the word training because I think that's a word that the business community understands. Business meeting trains its employees. And I think when you have circumstances like this now, two times in three weeks where clearly things have ended tragically and terribly, most business leaders stand up and they press the pause button and they say we need to rethink how we're doing it. That's not to say we shouldn't be dealing with illegal immigration. It's not to say we shouldn't be dealing with folks who assault others. But clearly what is happening is not working. And I would just call, literally, if you are watching this and you are a CEO watching this, for folks to raise their hand. And I know people are scared of raising their hand. And I think it can be done collectively as the chamber did. But I do think there's an opportunity. I think this is one of those moments where you do, I do want to show you, by the way, I don't know if you saw this. EAMON JAMIE DIMON actually, that's what I.
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Becky Quick
Was just going to say. Last time Jamie Dimon did say something.
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Andrew Ross Sorkin
It would look immediate. BECKY I have a tape of that and I want to show that tape right now.
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Sean Duffy
I don't like what I'm seeing, you know, with, you know, five grown men beating up little women. Okay. So I think we should calm down a little bit on the internal anger about immigration reasons.
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Andrew Ross Sorkin
I wanted to show that tape is a. He had the courage to say that, and I think that's about his moral conviction rather than marketing or something else. But the other piece of this is that a lot of CEOs in America are scared, scared, retribution. And the truth is that Jamie Dimon potentially, and we will see what happens, has is now in the crosshairs of this administration, not necessarily for those comments, but. But for other things that he has said. And the President, the administration suing Jamie Dimon and JP Morgan for, quote, unquote, debanking the president after January 6th. So I recognize it is a super.
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Eamon Javers
Just.
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Becky Quick
Go ahead.
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Eamon Javers
Just the day after Jamie Dimon made those comments, I was just going to say just the day after Jamie Dimon made those comments, that's when you saw the president hit him with a $5 billion lawsuit. Right. So there is the specter of retaliation, though the folks involved say that that was not related.
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Andrew Ross Sorkin
That's what I wanted to say. Those were those. The comment of last week in Davos was unrelated insofar as the President had actually previewed about a week or two earlier that he intended to sue J.P. morgan, in fact. So. But, but nonetheless, I think there's a question about lawfare, and I recognize that there's a lot of CEOs who don't want to raise their hand, but my, my prayer is that at some point they do. And I would also suggest for those who actually have the ear of this president and, and don't want to offend him, but, but talk to him regularly and do so privately, that there's a conversation to be had. Because if there's no conversation being had, I think it's hard to say when we look back on this period of time being on the right side of history. I really do.
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Eamon Javers
Yeah. You know, it's hard, Andrew, because you look at that statement from the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, and, you know, it is anytime you're going to get that large of a number of people to agree to a statement, it's going to have to be ironed pretty flat. And that statement, you know, calls for people to come together. It calls for a de escalation, but it doesn't call for, you know, ICE to be out. It doesn't of the state. It doesn't criticize any particular political leaders. It doesn't criticize law Enforcement or the ICE officers themselves, you know that a lot of the sharp edges of what might. Some of the people might have wanted to say are clearly not there, as they, you know, clearly sought to find some consensus about what they could agree upon. So when you get that large number of people weighing in together collectively, it kind of gets flattened out a little bit. I mean, that statement is fairly innocuous in terms of what you're doing.
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Andrew Ross Sorkin
It's fairly innocuous. And that's why I think the answer, at least in the moment, and this is why I put it in the language of training and process, is pause. Doesn't mean you have to change your strategy long term. It doesn't mean you have to be saying that this is the wrong way to go for the future. It just means that you pause, you reassess how you're doing it. You think about the training, you think about the process, and hopefully there can be a moment where if this is the strategy they want to pursue, they can go back and pursue it, but they can do it in a way that doesn't end in these tragic deaths.
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Eamon Javers
Yeah. I mean, you go to the point of training, Andrew, and the question in my mind, watching this video and the other fatal killing is that moment where the ICE officer takes the gun out of the holster, right? They're armed, they've got the gun on the hip, and then at some point, they make a decision to draw their weapon and point it at the protester. And in both of these cases, you wonder why that had to happen. You know, there are people who argue that in the first case, the officer felt his life was in danger from the vehicle. In this case, you had a man who was armed, but who was on his hands and knees on the ground. And you wonder, what is the decision point where an officer is drawing their weapon and pointing at the protester at the ground? That's the point, you know, sort of the point of no return, beyond which it gets very difficult to avoid a tragedy.
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Andrew Ross Sorkin
And that's why, Saymond, why is that you believe that these officers. You can believe these officers were acting in good faith. You can believe these officers were scared for their life. I don't. I will not try to dissuade you of that view. But at the same time, clearly, there's training. And I think we've seen example after example where this clearly doesn't happen repeatedly with other officers who have been.
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Eamon Javers
And you saw that from the.
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Andrew Ross Sorkin
In these circumstances.
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Eamon Javers
You saw that from the Minneapolis Police Department, right. They're saying, you know, we arrest people all the time and we haven't shot anybody in a year. And this is, you know, three shootings in three weeks, two of them fatal.
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Andrew Ross Sorkin
Eamonn, want to thank you for your report. I'm sure we're going to be talking to you a lot more.
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Becky Quick
The Senate getting back to business this week and lawmakers could be facing another potential shutdown. Emily Wilkins joins us right now with more on that. Emily, good morning.
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Emily Wilkins
Good morning, Becky. Well, yeah, look at the chances of a shutdown. They've spiked after this weekend. Senate Democrats are now opposing funding for the Department of Homeland Security, saying that they need to address the federal agent who shot and killed a man this weekend and policies and procedures around that. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said in a statement that what's happening in Minnesota is appalling and unacceptable in any American city. Democrats sought common sense reforms in the Department of Homeland Security spending bill, but because of Republicans refusal to stand up to President Trump, the DHS bill is woefully inadequate to rein in the abuses of ice. Now, DHS funding, it's only one of six parts of the government that are set to run out of funding end of Friday. That's midnight on Saturday. And while the other five pieces of government funding have strong bipartisan support, sources tell me that Senate Republican leadership, they are not planning to remove DH as funding from this larger package that increases the chances of a partial government shutdown that would include the Defense Department, would include health care programs, financial services service agencies and the Labor Department, which remember they do, of course, the jobs numbers and other collect other data. Now, it's not clear exactly how a shutdown of DHS would impact ICE operations. If you remember Trump's mega bill last year that provided a windfall 170 billion for the Department funding that they can use to continue current operations. Becky?
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Becky Quick
Emily, we just came off the longest government shutdown in our, in our history. Has there ever been a precedent where you go through a long shutdown followed by a second shutdown within months?
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Emily Wilkins
Becky, that the last shutdown, as you mentioned, was historic in terms of how long it was. And frankly, it was something that senators continually told me on both sides of the aisle that they wanted to avoid. And it really seemed up until this weekend that they were going to be able to do so. Democrats had gotten some reforms in the DHS bill to address some of the things that were going on, things like funding for body cameras. But I think what you saw this weekend, the response that you've seen to it, you've seen Democrats who have partnered with Republicans repeatedly trying to open the government last time, who are now saying, look, there need to be some changes made. There needs to be a discussion about how to go forward. And until that happens, we cannot support additional DHS funding.
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Becky Quick
And Jeremy Siegel, the professor, just told us that this is a big issue that could impact the markets as well. Emily, thank you. Emily Wilkins. All right. To our other top story of the day, the huge winter storm that's blanketing a large part of the country with snow and ice knocking out power and upending travel plans. Phil LeBeau joins us for that. And Phil, if you were planning on traveling, good luck.
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AT&T Business Representative
Well, if you haven't changed your plans, they're going to be changed for you. For most of the people who are headed to the major airports on the eastern half of the United States, the big cancellations probably happened yesterday, though there are a substantial number today. Between yesterday and Saturday, there were more than 16,000 flights canceled today. There have already been more than 3,600 flights canceled. That number will increase, though I don't think it's going to get up to that 12,000 mark that we saw yesterday. We're starting to see the storm pull away here in Chicago. Dallas, Fort Worth may start to improve. So as you start to see some of the airports in the central part of the United States get a little bit back to normal, things might start to improve. But again, we're still in the heart of this, and we will be today, probably tomorrow as well. East coast airports scrapped thousands of flights. Take a look at the major airline stocks. We're talking about American, Delta, Southwest, United, most of the airlines. And I've talked with all of them over the weekend. They have repositioned their aircraft as much as possible. They do not want to have their aircraft, did not want to have their aircraft sitting at a place like LaGuardia if they could avoid it. So they moved them out if possible. Nonetheless, you see the airline stocks under some pressure today. Not sure how long this lingers around. Nor is it unclear, nor is it clear, guys, what the economic impact is going to be from this. The reason being that there was so much advance notice that the airlines were able to as much as possible get get out in front of this, cancel a number of flights in advance. And also, this is the slowest month of the year for airline travel. I asked the people at Cirium to do a check on all of the weekends last year. If you do that comparable same weekend, January 24th and 25th, it was the fourth slowest last year probably is going to be the fourth slowest weekend of the year here in 2026. Bottom line is this, it's going to be a mess today. This will have an impact on travel continuing today, probably into tomorrow as well. And that's when you start to see things really start to improve and normalize.
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Becky Quick
So maybe middle of the week, don't worry about it. If you have plans Wednesday, Thursday and beyond, you're probably okay.
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AT&T Business Representative
Probably okay. Your major airports will come back much quicker. That's, that's always the case here. Your regional flights, it's a little dicier, to be honest with you. It's unclear how quickly some of them, especially in the south, are going to be able to get back and ready to put their aircraft in position. So look, the worst of it has gone through. Probably today's going to be bad, though Tomorrow it really starts to improve. And then Wednesday and Thursday should be back closer to normal.
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Becky Quick
Okay, Phil LeBeau. Phil, thank you very much. And by the way, folks, a programming note for you. We're going to be speaking with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. Don't miss that interview. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney says that his country has no intention of pursuing a free trade deal with China. That message coming after President Trump threatened to hit Canada with 100% tariffs on exports if it made a deal with China. The back and forth coming against a backdrop of rising tensions between the United States and Canada. Last week, President Trump withdrew an invitation for Canada to join his new Board of Peace after Carney warned at the World Economic Forum against economic coercion by the world superpowers. On Saturday, President Trump posted on Truth Social that China will eat Canada alive if the two made a deal. But earlier this month, the president was supportive of a trade agreement that Canada and China had reached to reduce tariffs on electric vehicles and canola oil. At the time, President Trump said if you can get a deal with China, you should do that. But Andrew, obviously this fallout's still continuing after Mark Carney really became the leader of note to stand up and kind of push back against President Trump last week.
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Andrew Ross Sorkin
I was still hearing from people over the weekend who were in Davos about that speech. You know, it's so interesting because I think we made a lot of and it seemed like the news of the week was Greenland. And in so many ways it was. But I think underneath that, which was sort of a man made creation, meaning it was sort of built up in one way and then taken away in a moment by that NATO deal, which was so Similar in truth to what was on offer before, but that underneath it, the big conversation remains actually what Mark Carney was talking about, which was ultimately what happens to the allies and relationships and loyalty between so many different countries that have been working together for so many years. And this idea of effectively partnering with China, our neighbor, partnering with China and what that could potentially be.
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Becky Quick
Yeah, it felt to me at the time that it was really more of a situation where you have to use China to play off of us. I mean, it's smart. It's probably what I would do in that scenario. But it's interesting how he became the person who really took the brunt of the pushback on any of these things that happen. By the way, I'm impressed that you're here. I didn't think you were going to make it back because you were supposed to fly Sunday, so impressive.
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Andrew Ross Sorkin
I was. I got on a standby flight on Saturday and got off the standby.
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Becky Quick
So well done. Well done.
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Andrew Ross Sorkin
It all happened.
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Becky Quick
You know, Don Chu actually spent the night here at CNBC headquarters and it was pretty creepy. Show me the picture. It's one thing to not have people around, but to not have people around and not have lights on in a place this big and dark. Yeah, I'd be a little creeped out.
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Andrew Ross Sorkin
Well, the streets actually. By the way, credit to to New York City, most of these streets have been pretty cleaned up. Not, not completely, but I think by the end of today the plows were going on.
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Becky Quick
Yeah.
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Andrew Ross Sorkin
A lot of kids very happy for their snow days.
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Becky Quick
For their snow days.
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Andrew Ross Sorkin
Except by the way, public school kids in New York City who are going to have to do this virtually. So we'll see how happy or unhappy they are. That's a new Mayor Mondame escalation of sorts.
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Becky Quick
Let them play in the snow.
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Eamon Javers
Teas will be next.
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Becky Quick
Coming up on Squawk podcast, more on the corporate calls to lower the temperature. In Minneapolis, Walter Isaacson joins us to break down CEO reaction to violence on the ground and its impact to America's reputation.
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Walter Isaacson
We're not talking about border patrol or even immigration enforcement here. We're talking about the type of things happening on the streets that can totally SAP the American spirit and economy.
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Commercial Announcer
Comcast business helps retailers become seamlessly restocking frictionless paying favorite shopping destinations. It's how nationwide restaurants become touchscreen ordering quick serving eateries and how hospitals become the patient scanning data, managing healthcare facilities that we all depend on. With leading networking and connectivity, advanced cybersecurity and expert partnership. Comcast business is powering the engine of modern business powering possibilities. Restrictions apply. This episode is brought to you by Schwab Market Update, an original podcast from Charles Schwab. Join host Keith Lansford for this information packed daily market Preview delivered in 10 minutes or less, including projected stock updates, monetary policy decisions and key results and statistics that may impact your trading. Download the latest episode and subscribe@schwab.com Market Update podcast or find Schwab Market Update wherever you get your podcasts.
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Becky Quick
Not every sale happens at the register before AT&T business Wireless, checking out customers on our mobile POS systems took too long. Basically a staring contest where everyone loses. It's crazy what people will say during an awkward silence. Now transactions are done before the silence takes hold.
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Andrew Ross Sorkin
That means I can focus on the task at hand and make an extra sale or two.
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Becky Quick
Sometimes I do miss the bonding time.
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Commercial Announcer
Sometimes AT&T business Wireless connecting changes everything.
- [24:18]
Becky Quick
This is Squawk Pod Today with Becky Quick and Andrew Ross Orkin.
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Andrew Ross Sorkin
The city of Minneapolis on edge this morning following the second fatal shooting now of a US Citizen there this month. Major Minnesota business leaders calling for calm. In a letter that was released by the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, more than 60 CEOs of Minnesota based companies urging the state, local and federal officials to work together, they say to find common ground. They are not working together in this moment. The letter was signed by the incoming CEO of Target, the CEOs of 3M UnitedHealth, Cargill and dozens of others. And joining us right now is Walter Isaacson, author and advisory partner at Corella Weinberg, also Tulane History Professor Walter it's great to see you this morning on what has been a tragic weekend. A bit of a Rorschach test once again for the nation as we continue to watch these videos on television, social media and the like. And the big question this morning is what you think the role of business leaders should or should not be about speaking out either publicly, privately or otherwise.
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Walter Isaacson
I think throughout our history there have been times when business leaders step forward. You were just at Davos and Larry Fink has been one of those leaders. And in this moment when he's the de facto person running Davos, I think people like him should speak out and say this is not just an issue for, you know, for civic, local issues. This is affecting America around the world. And I think we have to also look at the larger perspective, which is there's been a whole lot of immigration. Davos in some ways was helped create the international order of free movements and free people. You're seeing A backlash against that right now. And you're seeing an administration in America that's exploiting the tensions and the backlash about immigration to do things that are clearly against the spirit of the Constitution.
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Andrew Ross Sorkin
So what is the path forward? You talk to a lot of business leaders, especially tech leaders. It's my view, by the way, Walter, that there's clearly a. No matter what you think, there's a training and process issue. The fact that these are the results of what's happened suggests that there's some kind of larger systemic issue. That's not to take away from the idea that we shouldn't be enforcing, you know, illegal immigration or if people are assaulting other people, but that for whatever reason, between the process, the training, and the accountability in that, there's been, you know, at least in the previous example of this recently, an effort not to investigate how this is supposed to work.
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Walter Isaacson
Yeah, I mean, what we're seeing are tactics on the streets of our city, the like of which we haven't seen a long time, with people wearing masks and not being accountable and nobody saying, let's. A few people saying, let's look into it. Now you're having Republicans such as Bill Cassidy say, now we've got to start looking into this thing. And I think at some point there just has to be a national consensus that we're not talking about Border Patrol or even immigration enforcement here. We're talking about the type of things happening on the streets that can totally SAP the American spirit and economy.
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Andrew Ross Sorkin
But here's where the rubble meets the road. Walter, we've seen over the last year that if in fact, you speak out against the administration and their efforts, it is possible that there will be retribution. And so you have a lot of.
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Walter Isaacson
CEOs, worst part of it, who do.
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Andrew Ross Sorkin
Not want to say anything.
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Walter Isaacson
That is all the more reason to speak out. You know, the greatest speech given at Davos was Mark Carney, of course. In fact, I think that may have been one of the most significant speeches given since the Iron Curtain Curtin speech that Winston Churchill gave exactly 80 years ago. And part of it was the sign in the window, which is everybody just goes along. The tale that Carney told is that in Communist Russia, people put Workers of the World Unite signs in the window. But at a certain point, he said, they none of them believe that. At a certain point when you started taking them down, the whole system crumbled. You have people lining up looking like vassals at Davos behind a rope, hoping to shake hands with President Trump when that type of servility and taking, you know, kneeling before somebody, acting like a king. When that recedes, I think. I think it'll happen quickly.
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Andrew Ross Sorkin
Walter, what do you say to the viewer? And there are, there are many who have tweeted in this morning that are ardent Trump supporters that believe that immigration is a massive problem in this country, that believe that ICE officers are doing what they're supposed to be doing and that it's inappropriate for business leaders to be talking about any of these issues.
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Walter Isaacson
Well, I think that the massive immigration that came into this country became a problem. I think there's a lot of truth to it. That's why this is a difficult problem, because there was a problem that had to be solved here. Doing it this way in ways in which we're seeing people just being killed on the street without any accountability. Now, maybe you do an investigation, maybe certain things would justify. But you got to have accountability in our law enforcement officers. That is fundamental to the American system. And you can believe in accountability, having some decency as you do it and still believe you have to have immigration law enforcement. Not that hard to believe both things.
- [30:05]
Becky Quick
Yeah, Walter, that's what I was going to say. I mean, the videos that we've seen are pretty horrible videos, but we do need investigations, and not opaque investigations, very open investigations, to tell us what happened, what went wrong, why is this occurring, why is it happening in Minneapolis, taking down the temperature a little bit to maybe get to the bottom of some of these things. I don't know how, how that happens. I don't know.
- [30:30]
Walter Isaacson
How do we get interesting if J.D. vance, who made tentative steps in that direction, can help lead the way to at least. I mean, he used the phrase, as you did, Becky, about lowering the temperature, about saying, ok, let's see if we can do this in a more responsible way. So somebody has got to help lead us away. And I assume it's going to be some. A lot of Republican senators, as Andrew said, it's got to be a lot of business leaders and maybe some people within the administration, maybe Trump himself, who, shall we say, has shown that he has a way to pirouette in a way that Diaghilev never could have done, and start saying we're going to have some sense of responsibility and even some decency as we pursue these important goals of immigration enforcement.
- [31:21]
Andrew Ross Sorkin
Walter, also speak to this, because we do have a number of viewers that have been writing in saying, why is this happening in Minneapolis? Happens repeatedly. Is the governor there inciting these things? Are the protesters effectively asking for it by showing up At a protest with a concealed carry weapon. I ask these things not because I agree with them. I ask them because this is what some of our viewers are asking this morning.
- [31:46]
Walter Isaacson
Well, that's what makes it difficult. You know, down here in New Orleans, we had immigration enforcement and a Operation Catahoula. Things went pretty calmly. There was some resistance, but people weren't showing up with weapons. Yeah, things get out of hand in places. We've seen it, by the way, you can go back 60 years, whether it's the streets of Chicago or Portland or Seattle or places like that, but that's America. In America, you have the right to film your government. By the way, you have the right to resist things you think are going wrong. And Minneapolis has a pretty strong tradition of doing things like that. And I think we have to kind of lower the temperatures. You said respect the right of people to protest and for that matter, use their phones. No, if they're carrying weapons, that's a real problem.
- [32:39]
Sean Duffy
But.
- [32:40]
Walter Isaacson
But there's still a training method to de arm people, not just shoot them.
- [32:44]
Andrew Ross Sorkin
Walter, you know, I spent some time on X last night, and you've written the biography, the definitive one, on. On Elon Musk, just to see what some of the folks in Silicon Valley and maybe Elon and others have been thinking about this. There's very little actually commentary on this topic at all. And if it is, it seems to be more questions about the. Either the protesters or supportive of efforts to stop illegal immigrants than necessarily even recognizing some of these issues that you're referring to. Can you speak to that, given what you know about that part of the world?
- [33:28]
Walter Isaacson
Well, first of all, the algorithms of social media, be it X or other places, are not designed to say let's lower the temperature. In fact, by raising the temperature, they get more enragement, which means more engagement. And I, you know, I think it's bad to go there to any social media site and say, let's see if we can get some reasonable discourse where people understand both sides of the issue. I think you put your finger on it. There is a collaborationist, let's get along mentality where, whether it's, you know, people meeting with the president, wanting to be there, opening movies on Netflix, conflicts with the president, and they're not willing to stand up. I think that's deeply unfortunate. I think the tech leadership is in that group and so are the Republican Party leadership, other than people like Bill Cassidy and Thom Tillis. And the only thing I can hope for is that Mark Carney's right. Once people realize that the fiction and charades cannot continue. It crumbles rather quickly.
- [34:38]
Andrew Ross Sorkin
Walter Isaacson, it is always good to talk to you and we look forward to talking to you again very, very soon. Thank you.
- [34:45]
Becky Quick
Up next on Squawk Pod Digging Americans out of a massive snowstorm with Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy clearing our runways, salting.
- [34:54]
Sean Duffy
Putting sand in our runways. But then we have staffing issues, right? Just like everyone has trouble getting to work, whether they're going to the office, a lot of our airport workers are having trouble getting in as well. So we're navigating that and we're hoping by midweek we're going to be back to normal.
- [35:09]
Becky Quick
Plus how he is thinking about the fatal shootings of U.S. citizens at the hands of federal ICE officers. We'll be right back.
- [35:19]
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Sean Duffy
That you're not even happy with.
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- [37:22]
Andrew Ross Sorkin
You're watching Squawkbox on cnbc. I'm Andrew Oz Darkin along with Becky Quick who is at CNBC hq. Joe is off today. We got a lot going on, though.
- [37:33]
Becky Quick
President Trump just posting a new message on Truth Social. It says, I am sending Tom Homan to Minnesota tonight. He's not been involved in that area, but knows and likes many people there. Tom is tough but fair and will report directly to me. Separately, a major investigation is going on with the receipt back to the massive $20 billion plus welfare fraud that has taken place in Minnesota and is at least partially responsible for the violent organized protests going on in the streets. Additionally, the DOJ and Congress are looking at Congresswoman Ilhan Omar who left Somalia with nothing and is now reportedly worth more than $44 million. Time will tell all. Thank you for your attention to this matter. PRESIDENT DJT A massive winter storm pummeling the United States with ice, freezing temperatures and large scale power outages. Joining us right now is Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy. And Secretary Duffy, thank you for being here today. We've heard an awful lot about this storm, but maybe you can give us the latest about where it has been the worst and where the problems are most severe at this point.
- [38:38]
Sean Duffy
Yeah. So in the southwest, to the south, a lot of ice, anywhere from a half an inch to an inch of ice. By the way, Becky, if you have that much ice, just a half an inch will add 500 pounds to a power wire. So we have over a million people who have lost power during this storm. As we sit right now, the, the, the snow is subsiding in the Northeast and so now it's dig out days. We have our trucks, our plows are salt trucks on the road clearing the way. We have some lanes that are closed across the country. So we plow and salt. We have reduced speed limits. Jersey and Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, commercial vehicles have been banned at least thus far from the roadways. And I guess my message is if you can stay at home, if you can work from home, you should give our, our DOT workers the time and space to clear the roadways, make them safe again. Yesterday was the largest cancellation day since March of 2020 when Covid hit. So it was a massive disruption in aviation. Today we're already over 4,000 cancellations, almost 10,000 delays in the airspace. And so that is, that's also, that's digging out, right? That's clearing our runways, salting putting sand in our runways. But then we have staffing issues. Right. Just like everyone has trouble getting to work, whether they're going to the office, a lot of our airport workers are having trouble getting in as well. So we're navigating that and we're hoping by midweek we're going to be back to normal. Just one of the points. This storm is unique. You get the ice and you get the snow. And on top of that, we have now a cold weather snap that comes after it. So in the south, again, it's going to be below freezing until midweek. In the Northeast, it's going to be until the end of the week. So it makes it more challenging to navigate the ice that's, that's fallen over the last three days.
- [40:31]
Becky Quick
I guess the silver lining on this is that there, there was plenty of warning about this. People were able to not only get themselves prepared at home, but also you had the airlines that were moving many of their plants, planes and their people out of the way. If you look ahead, when do you anticipate that we'll kind of get back to normalized schedules? Is that a one day issue? Is that a two day, three day issue?
- [40:54]
Sean Duffy
I think for the faa, we're looking at Wednesday as our hope to get back to a normal schedule. Again, still significant disruptions today. And so our hope is on Wednesday and then you have to navigate those, you know, those who had their flights canceled, they can get a full refund or they can get a credit if they want and they won't travel. But some still have to travel and they were canceled. And so we're going to have more capacity as we come back to, to a, to a full running schedule. So you'll expect more full plane, more full flights as you fly this week, just as people are going to their destinations. But, but again, Wednesday is our target date to get back to normal.
- [41:32]
Becky Quick
Mr. Secretary, you mentioned the power lines that are down. That's been a huge issue, particularly when you think of the cold weather coming behind it. The snap freezes. It's going to take longer to get those fixed. What are you telling people right now who are without power just in terms of what they can expect?
- [41:48]
Sean Duffy
Well, again, we've deployed, this doesn't fall under dot, but Energy has deployed the line trucks across the country in anticipation that there was going to be ice and sleet. And so, you know, again, this is just, you know, slow and steady work to get everybody back online. And what's, what's great about our linemen is they will Deploy from around the country to these targeted areas. Whether it's a hurricane or whether it's a snowstorm like this, they, they come in from parts that aren't affected and assist their, their fellow partners in states. So, but again, this is that this hit 40, 40 states. I mean, this is a massive storm and so it's just going to take a little bit longer. But I know they're working overtime to make that happen. And by the way, our truck drivers are snowplow salters. They come in, they're working massive hours to make sure our roadways are clear. I want to thank them. I know our truck drivers. We've cleared the hours of service for them so they can drive a little bit longer on the roadways that are open so they can get food and other critical assets across the country. Will randomly do that in emergencies. We've done it during this one to make sure they can deliver again, critical assets.
- [42:59]
Becky Quick
Yeah. We did talk earlier this morning about the local plow drivers, both in New Jersey and New York City, doing a pretty remarkable job. Andrew and I both noticed that on our way in this morning. Mr. Secretary, I know this is not your purview either, but we just read this truth state social statement from the president about sending Tom Homan to Minneapolis. What's happening there? How does this resolve? How do we get to a better place?
- [43:24]
Sean Duffy
Yeah, I think it's a great question. How do we get to a better place? Again, I've been focused on the storm, but I was a former prosecutor and again, everyone has a right to protest. You can go out with a sign and a whistle and you can protest ICE as, as they're arresting criminal illegals who are in the country. But listen, you can't impede their work. They're enforcing federal law. Those are the laws in the books that they're enforcing. And to think that you can, you know, you get in their face, you can impede their efforts to arrest violent criminals. You can ram their cars and throw, you know, ice bricks at their vehicles. Listen, this is fully unacceptable. And I think we found ourselves in this situation after Joe Biden let's, you know, 10, 15, 18 million people in the country. And then Tim Walls has chosen not to enforce the law. Again, you can protest all you want, but we start to get to some very dangerous territory when leadership in Minnesota will, will not push back on their protesters who are again getting in the way of ICE officers who are doing their, their good work to arrest, to arrest people who really don't belong in the community. So Again, I think leadership could take the tensions down. But the alternative, Becky, would be, does, does President Trump say, well, we're just going to allow violent illegals to stay in Minnesota or in any state throughout the country? I think the answer to that is no. I would just note that in Texas, they have arrested and deported 10 times the number of people in Minnesota. But in Texas, the state government has partnered local law enforcement has partnered with ice. I mean, these aren't, these aren't the good people who you think have been here for 15 years that are working a construction job or doing a different job. The president's going after the violent element of those who come into the country illegally. I don't know why Tim Walls is trying to defend them during this, during this very critical time. Your people stand down.
- [45:20]
Andrew Ross Sorkin
Mr. Secretary, let me ask you, though, a different question. Do you believe that ice, as currently constituted, has the appropriate training not to deal with apprehending illegal criminals and illegal aliens that are here and shouldn't be here, that have assaulted others and the like, but to actually deal with protesters, even protesters that we don't think are behaving the way they should be behaving because we've now seen two deaths, tragic, both of them. And I think there's a lot of people in America that look at that and say, whatever is happening, the end result is not what we want. And the question is whether there should be a pause on whatever's happening here so that we can get the appropriate training, we can take the temperature down, we can get to a place where this is not a reoccurring event.
- [46:12]
Sean Duffy
Rosa, you're right, it is tragic. You don't want to see any loss of life. The problem is that you do have protesters who are getting in the way of ICE that aren't just protesting, they're actually impeding ice's work. And so could there be more training that these are ICE officers, these are not riot controlled police. But the question should not be, you know, should we take a pause and give additional training? Maybe we should bring in more. The President should bring in more assets. But really the question is, Tim Walsh, what are you doing? Why don't you have local law enforcement? Why don't they step up and provide assistance to make sure they can, they can give some control to the citizens of Minnesota and keep them back from ICE when they do their work? I mean, that's the real question. That Tim Walls would sit back and go, I'm not going to do anything. I'm going to tell law and local law enforcement to stand down when these are, these are legitimate actions to arrest violent, illegal criminals. I think again, it doesn't make your, it doesn't make your community more safe. It makes it more dangerous. And we believe in law and order. And so could there be more assets deployed? Yes. Should Tim Walls partner in this effort? Absolutely. Do I think the rhetoric that's inflamed people, do I think that's dangerous? Yes. Do I think the fact that he's told local law enforcement to stand down, is that dangerous? Yes. And so I think the question should be to Tim Walls and Democrats, what are you doing? Who are you trying to protect and why are you trying to protect them when they really have no place in America or in an American community? Because you're here illegally. And not only that, you're committing crimes.
- [47:50]
Becky Quick
Mr. Secretary, just on that point, I don't think anybody would defend and say that we want any violent criminals here. There have been cases where it has not been that, where it's been a five year old on their way to school. Those are the cases that have gotten some attention and I think concern people.
- [48:04]
Sean Duffy
Well, again, you can pick and choose. Was every intelligence binder accurate? Most of them are. But again, by and large, as a, as a, as a position of the Minnesota government is they're not going to cooperate, they're not going to help. And that, what does that tell you, Becky, is that they probably want these people to be in their community. They don't want them arrested, they don't want them deported. Even in the prisons, in the jails, they have violent illegal criminals and they won't tell ice. So what's the purpose behind that activity? Why are you defending those people? Do they make your community richer and stronger and safer? The flat out answer to that is no. And so the President believes in law and order. He's going to step in and make sure that the folks that don't belong in this country aren't in the country. And again, it's easier if Tim Wallace would, would partake in that effort. And again, tell your people to calm down, protest, bring your whistle, bring your sign, but you can't get in the way of law enforcement, especially when they're going to arrest someone or they're driving through a community. You can't use your car and ram them. Like what's happening in America when there's such a lack of respect for law enforcement doing a legitimate job that you're going to attack them who are trying to keep you safe. It, I think it's a mind numbing exercise that we're going through. And frankly, we shouldn't be in this situation. And we're here because of the Joe Biden letting millions in and Tim Walsh, not one to cooperate with.
- [49:33]
Andrew Ross Sorkin
Secretary, do you think that there's any responsibility among the ICE officers though, to be able to deal with these things in a way that does not end in tragic death? I mean, I do think that, you know, you've blamed Tim Waltz, you blamed Biden, you blamed lots of people that have not shot people. You go back and look at what's happened in Minnesota over the years, even a second.
- [49:56]
Sean Duffy
No, no, you're shooting people. I mean, you had a woman who was using her car to ram ICE vehicles as they were in a legitimate operation. Again, whatever you start, you start. But you said we have an officer who had his finger bit off. You have officers who are trying to do their job and they're getting rammed and pinned in by other vehicles. This gets to be very, very dangerous.
- [50:16]
Andrew Ross Sorkin
You have another individual, Mr. Secretary, because you look at some of those videos and they've become a Rorschach test. And people look at some of those videos, including the police officer who was standing in front of the car, something that everyone has been trained in the military and police not to do. And yet they did. And the question is, should there be accountability? Should there be proper investigations? Should there be investigations that Americans can believe in? And part of what's happening here is.
- [50:44]
Sean Duffy
That you have the federal government coming.
- [50:46]
Andrew Ross Sorkin
Out, coming out, everything.
- [50:49]
Becky Quick
Go ahead, Go ahead, sir.
- [50:51]
Sean Duffy
The President said we should investigate these, and I agree with him. But again, if you come, if you come to a protest with a 9 millimeter firearm, that's fine. I believe in the Second Amendment. But you, you stand on the, on the sidewalk and you hold your sign, you take that 9 millimeter and you start to engage with federal ICE officers and then you resist arrest. Listen, I don't, I don't want anyone to die. But also, this becomes very, very dangerous when you start to take protesters and encourage them to interface with ICE officers who are doing their work. Again, Tim Wall, stand up. Get your law enforcement to support. Is this the federal side or is this the state side that it should be enforcing?
- [51:30]
Becky Quick
Secretary Duffy, thank you for discussing all of this with us today. We appreciate your time. We know you're working hard to get things up and running again with the storm. And we do hope to see you again soon. Thank you very much.
- [51:44]
That's squawk pod for today. Thank you for listening. Squawk Box is hosted by Joe Kernan, Becky Quick and Andrew Ross Sorkin weekday mornings on CNBC at 6 Eastern. To get the smartest takes from that TV show right into your ears, follow Squawk Pod wherever you get your podcasts. Seriously, follow us. You'll see there are a number of episodes from our trip to the World Economic Forum in Davos waiting for you on the Squawkpod feed. You go check those out and we will get ready for another big day of coverage. Have a great day.
- [52:17]
Eamon Javers
We are clear.
- [52:19]
Andrew Ross Sorkin
Thanks guys.
- [52:28]
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Sean Duffy
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