Bovino exits Minneapolis as Homan steps in amid backlash (Full Transcript)

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Joining me now is Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison. I appreciate you being with us here in the freezing cold. First of all, just the latest developments of it seems the reassignment of Mr. Bovino and the bringing in of Tom Homan. What do you make of that?

[00:00:14] Speaker 2: Well, it sounds like they need to change tempo in their eyes. But I can tell you that Minnesotans have had quite enough of Mr. Bovino. Glad to see him go. And the fact is that this city is outraged, is upset. 50,000 plus marched in this freezing cold weather, nine below, just a few days ago. The day before Mr. Pretty was shot down and killed, we marched 50,000 strong in the cold. So people are really, really upset. And I think Bovino leaving can only be a good development, and we'll hope for the best. But we're going to continue to press the claim of our state, no matter who's there.

[00:00:54] Speaker 3: Trump now touting a meeting between Mayor Frye and Homan, his borders are. And Homan is now taking the lead in Minnesota. Trump's controversial top Border Patrol official Gregory Bovino is expected to leave Minneapolis within the next 24 hours. And he's taking some of his 2,000 masked and armed border agents with him. CNN is learning administration officials are frustrated with Bovino, who you may remember went before cameras when Alex Pretty was shot just within four hours of that shooting. In fact, he said this.

[00:01:27] Speaker 4: This looks like a situation where an individual wanted to do maximum damage and massacre law enforcement.

[00:01:37] Speaker 3: It was clear that that was not true, according to the video, which contradicts what Bovino claimed. And Bovino's claims caused massive problems for this administration. Pretty, of course, is a lawful gun owner with a permit to carry, according to Minnesota police. And he wasn't threatening them with it at the time. He was carrying his cell phone, according to the video. And Bovino is not the only one who's standing with Trump is quickly deteriorating because of his handling of this thus far. The White House distancing itself today from Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security secretary's claims that Pretty committed an act of domestic terrorism.

[00:02:16] Speaker 5: Secretary Noem said Alex Pretty committed an act of domestic terrorism. Stephen Miller labeled Pretty a domestic terrorist. Does the president agree with them?

[00:02:24] Speaker 6: Look, as I've said, I have not heard the president characterize Mr. Pretty in that way.

[00:02:30] Speaker 3: And that comes as Republicans are now openly questioning the administration's aggressive tactics and demanding answers.

[00:02:38] Speaker 7: We certainly should not be labeling him as being a domestic terrorist who is going to execute cops. There is no evidence to support that.

[00:02:47] Speaker 8: What I think the administration could do better is, is the tone with which they're describing this. That, that immediately when an incident like this happens, they come out guns blazing that, that we took out a violent terrorist.

[00:03:04] Speaker 9: Hooray. So what's the goal right now? Is it to deport every single non-U.S. citizen? I don't think that's what Americans want.

[00:03:15] Speaker 3: I mean, it's pretty stunning when you hear that, right? It's loud and clear. And we've now got new video, as I said, coming into out front of the incident in Minneapolis that shows the moments leading up to the shooting. And I'm going to speak to the two witnesses who filmed this encounter with these videos. But first, let's go to Sarah Seidner. She is out front live in Minneapolis. And Sarah, you were there when Alex Priddy was killed. You were there when Minneapolis erupted afterwards. And now, obviously, Bovino leaving real repercussions from him are very significant. But what are protesters telling you?

[00:03:50] Speaker 10: They are significant from a 35,000-foot view. But on the ground, it's too little too late. They have already killed two American citizens and shot another person in less than a month. And people here are like, look, we have asked again and again for ICE to leave this community, not just the protesters, not just the resident, not just some of the business owners here, but the governor and the mayor. And so, for those who are here, those who are mourning Alex Priddy, the 37-year-old ICU nurse who worked at the Veterans Hospital, for them, it is almost a slap in the face. They want ICE and federal agents out of here, all of them, not some of them, not a few of them, all of them.

[00:04:33] Speaker 11: Sources now tell CNN that Border Patrol Commander Bovino and some of his agents are expected to leave Minneapolis tomorrow. Now, this shift in tone from the White House follows two days of top Trump administration officials making what can only be called blatant misrepresentations about Saturday's killing of Alex Priddy, a 37-year-old VA ICU nurse from Minneapolis. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Christy Noem said, without evidence, that Priddy brandished a gun and committed an act of domestic terrorism. Trump senior adviser Stephen Miller called him an assassin. Bovino said Priddy assaulted law enforcement. False, false, false, false. Those statements all, at best, inconsistent with what we can all see on the videos of the shooting and, at worst, egregious lies. Either way, these officials are being called out as such, even by opinion journalists who are normally quite supportive of the administration. The Wall Street Journal and the free press editorial boards, even the New York Post editorial board, wrote today, quote, Mr. President, the American people didn't vote for these scenes, and you can't continue to order them to not believe their lying eyes, unquote. Even Leavitt wouldn't stand by the Noem and Miller lies today.

[00:05:59] Speaker 5: Secretary Noem said Alex Priddy committed an act of domestic terrorism. Stephen Miller labeled Priddy a domestic terrorist. Does the president agree with them?

[00:06:07] Speaker 6: Look, as I've said, I have not heard the president characterize Mr. Priddy in that way. However, I have heard the president say he wants to let the facts in the investigation lead itself.

[00:06:16] Speaker 5: Was he alarmed to hear his top officials referring to him in that way, rushing to that judgment? Danny, go ahead.

[00:06:21] Speaker 11: Let's start with CNN's Anderson Cooper, who's in Minneapolis. Anderson, tell us what you're seeing and hearing there today, now that it appears as though the president is sidelining Bovino and sending in Border Czar Tom Homan.

[00:06:35] Speaker 1: Yeah, look, I certainly think there's a lot of people who have been out in the streets, a lot of people who have been out at the memorial for Alex Priddy, as we have seen over the last couple of days, who will certainly be relieved to hear about the reassignment or the demotion or whatever one wants to characterize it as of Greg Bovino. There certainly has not been much confidence in his ability to tell the truth or his ability to control any of the agents or many of the agents under his alleged leadership. People I've talked to are pleased by that news, unclear exactly what it means to have Tom Homan coming in. Obviously, there's some people who are going to read that as a good development, anything that brings some sort of order and a sense of decent policing by some of these agents from Border Patrol or ICE. I mean, we've all seen the images of what happened to Alex Priddy, the tactics that the local police here, the city police, have been decrying by many of these Border Patrol agents, by these mass ICE agents who seem to answer to no one. And as you know, the federal government is now in charge, the Border Patrol, ICE is in charge of investigating what happened, whether they're investigating their own officers or investigating Alex Priddy as a domestic terrorist, as the Secretary of Homeland Security labeled him, as you've been reporting, and Gregory Bovino as well, and Stephen Miller. That is unclear. So there's a lot of skepticism. There's a lot of fear and anger here. But certainly, it does feel like something is changing. And how that actually reflects on the ground, in terms of actual operations, will people still be ripped out of their cars, have their seatbelts cut, be pushed on the ground, be maced with chemical agents is unclear. So a lot remains to be seen. But it certainly has been a day of breaking developments and some sort of sense that there is some sort of change.

[00:08:46] Speaker 11: Greg Bovino being pulled back is not exactly a vote of confidence. Anderson Cooper in Minneapolis. Thanks so much.