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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Vance Says, ICE Shooting Victim is Tragedy of Her Own Making; Trump Fumes Over Bipartisan Vote to Check War Powers on Venezuela; Lawmakers Ask Judge to Appoint Independent Monitor to Ensure DOJ Fully Releases Epstein Files. 17 GOP Members Vote With Dems To Pass Obamacare Subsidies. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired January 08, 2026 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper.

We start with the breaking news, live images tonight from Minneapolis as protesters come and go, some clashing at times, as Border Patrol agents hold the line outside the courthouse. The scene one day after an ICE officer shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good in her car.

Here in Washington, D.C., today earlier, Vice President J.D. Vance blamed the far left for the deadly shooting, Vance also lecturing the media about coverage of the case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: That very off ICE officer nearly had his life ended, dragged by a car six months ago, 33 stitches in his leg. So, you think maybe he's a little bit sensitive about somebody ramming him with an automobile?

I think the media prejudging and talking about this guy as if he's a murderer is one of the most disgraceful things I've ever seen from the American media.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: The vice president at the same exact time had seemingly no problems making prejudged assertions about the victim.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VANCE: That woman is part of a broader left wing network to attack, to dox, to assault, and to make it impossible for our ICE officers to do their job.

A group of left wing radicals have been working tirelessly, sometimes using domestic terror techniques.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: CNN's Kaitlan Collins is here with us in studio. Kaitlan, a remarkable address --

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: That's one word for it.

TAPPER: Yes, I'm being polite -- address from the vice president.

COLLINS: I mean, and part of that sound bite there from the vice president, he was attacking CNN. He read a headline aloud over our coverage that has happened in the last 24 hours. I went and looked up the headline. It was relatively straightforward. It was certainly accurate about --

TAPPER: It was just that there was outrage in Minneapolis after the shooting.

COLLINS: Correct.

TAPPER: Which is a fact.

COLLINS: That's like literally what the headline was.

TAPPER: A fact.

COLLINS: Right. It wasn't inflammatory. It wasn't a one-sided narrative of what people have said on the ground because you've seen the administration saying one thing, as the vice president did today --

TAPPER: And, by the way, we reported on this show yesterday about the fact that that ICE officer had that prior incident in June of last year.

COLLINS: That's because you aired the comments from the Department of Homeland Security secretary, Kristi Noem, as well when she was saying that in her press conference.

TAPPER: Yes, but then I also looked it up on the Department of Justice website.

COLLINS: Right. So, the fact that wasn't part of the coverage, which is his main grievance there is just not true.

But putting that aside --

TAPPER: Well, he also -- I want to -- just because the vice president traffics in straw man all the time, which is not necessarily the sign of somebody who's confident in his arguments, he says that the media has called this guy a murderer. I don't know who in the media has done that. We haven't done that. Sorry, go ahead.

COLLINS: And, you know, the mayor of Minneapolis, Jacob Frey, last time I checked, has also not even gone that far, even though he has certainly said other statements, including telling ICE to get the F out yesterday. He has said, as he did to me last night, they're waiting for the investigation to play out.

TAPPER: Yes.

COLLINS: So, much less members of the media who would not go that far, because, obviously, we've shown the video. You can see and watch this.

But I think what stood out from that press conference today that was incredibly combative and blaming the media in the left for the coverage of this shooting and the aftermath of it was, we certainly heard him echo what we've heard from President Trump and from Secretary Kristi Noem. But also, Jake, they have come out pretty quickly and called this domestic terrorism right away. And they had very strong statements right out of this, even though there is a lot of nuance when you watch this video and a lot of things we don't know, like what was happening and what led up to this video that we see there.

But another comment that he made today, Jake, stood out where he was accusing the woman here of being part of this larger left wing network, and he was asked by a reporter about whether or not that would justify her being shot, as she was.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VANCE: Well, being part of the network doesn't justify being shot, but ramming an ICE officer with your car, that's what justifies being shot.

I'm not saying that funding some of this stuff justifies capital punishment. Nobody would suggest that.

She tried to run somebody over with her car and the guy defended himself when that happened. Next question.

REPORTER: The investigation is still ongoing.

VANCE: I said next question.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: You know, what's interesting about that, Kaitlan, I don't know exactly what was in his mind. I don't know exactly what was in her mind, but I certainly think it's possible that he thought that she was doing that, and I certainly think it's possible that she thought she was just trying to escape and flee, which she shouldn't have been doing, obviously. But, still, I don't understand how anyone can be so definitive about this.

COLLINS: But you know what stood out to me, Jake, is actually, I watched the entire press conference, he wasn't that definitive at other moments because, yes, in that moment, he was -- it seems pretty clear what he thinks, that she was trying to intentionally ram this ICE agent with her car and that he was justified in shooting her and killing her, as he did.

[18:05:11] Later on, he said, look, if people want to say that we should have a legitimate debate about what she was really doing, was she panicking when she drove into this officer? Was she actually trying to ram him? The vice president said that's a reasonable conversation. That is not the same sentiment, though, that he echoed there in the moments that you just heard.

So, I actually thought that press conference was more all over the place than what we had heard from other officials in this administration who had been very adamant, it was intentional, it was willful. They have defined it as domestic terrorism, which would require it to be a willful act on behalf of this woman, if that is what they're arguing.

TAPPER: Well, and also this question of an investigation, when, A, the president, vice president and Department of Homeland Security secretary have already declared that the ICE officer did nothing wrong, and, B, apparently, they're freezing out any Minneapolis or Minnesota authorities from the investigation, which is not how it's usually done.

All right, Kaitlan Collins, thanks so much. And, of course, don't forget to watch The Source with Kaitlan Collins. Tonight on her show, New York's brand new mayor, Zohran Mamdani. That's tonight on the source with Kaitlan Collins at 9:00 Eastern only here on CNN.

Minnesota's Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, which is the state's investigations agency, says the FBI has blocked it from investigating Wednesday's fatal ICE-involved shooting. According to the BCA, the FBI told the agency that the U.S. attorney's office had reversed course and would no longer allow the BCA access to case materials or scene evidence, or investigative interviews.

Let's bring in CNN Anchor and Chief Legal Analyst Laura Coates. Laura, initially, the state was set to conduct a joint investigation with the FBI, which is how it is almost always done. Where does this investigation stand right now?

LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: You know, right now, we're on the location outside the local federal building, Jake, while there has been some Attempts to provoke the ICE agents who have now moved everyone out of the area that was on the sidewalk directly in front of the driveway. They pushed everyone out of the way with their force holding the line. And we are sitting here seeing really the essence of distrust and mistrust of this investigation.

I've heard throughout the crowd all day today, people are furious. They're furious with the presence of ICE, and they're frustrated by the idea that they will not get, they don't feel, an objective or independent investigation into what transpired. They have their own eyes who witnessed the multiple-angled videos, but they also know that the scene was cleared quite quickly and there might be additional information that they want access to as well. And they are frustrated and they are angry and they are saddened about what's transpired.

And this mistrust, remember, dates back before the murder of George Floyd. It extended after the mass exodus of many officers from Minneapolis after that -- the BLM protests and beyond continued to impact the city. Then you also had the restoration, they hoped, of some trust, and now the ICE agent's presence here has escalated the tension in the community.

There has been a lot of comments made to the ICE agents who are holding this line. Some are threatening their manhood, their patriotism, their height, their race, particularly identifying and singling out black ICE agents as well, taunting them for being black and participating in what they perceive to be not, quote/unquote, their America. There's a lot going on today, but everyone is looking to the tension that's happening as you're seeing all this transpire and these ICE agents continuing to hold the line.

TAPPER: All right. Laura Coates in Minnesota, be safe, thank you.

We're going to continue to monitor that situation in Minneapolis tonight, the protests. The FBI now leading the investigation into how yesterday shooting unfolded, freezing out Minnesota and Minneapolis authorities.

Also ahead, President Trump lashing out at five Republican senators who voted to limit his military powers in Venezuela. We're going to ask a former member of the National Security Council about potential next steps for the U.S. in the region,

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:10:00]

TAPPER: In our World Lead, earlier today, President Trump called five Senate Republicans stupid. This is after they joined Democrats and in a 52-47 vote advanced a resolution that, once passed, will require any U.S. action in Venezuela to first go through Congress. The president says the vote impedes his authority as commander-in-chief and adding, quote, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, Rand Paul, Josh Hawley, and Todd Young, the five senators in question, should never be elected to office again. This after Trump told The New York Times in a lengthy interview that the U.S. will likely be in charge of Venezuela for years.

Joining us now to discuss, National Security Council official under President Joe Biden -- under President Obama, rather, Brett Bruen, sorry about that, President Obama. I haven't said that in a while.

You were stationed in Caracas, so you know this region. If President Trump were watching right now, what would you caution him about in terms of Venezuela?

BRETT BRUEN, OBAMA ADMINISTRATION NATIONAL SECURITY COUNCIL OFFICIAL: Well, let me pick up, Jake, on what you just said, that we're going to be running it for years. And right now, Trump's looking at it through these green colored goggles.

TAPPER: You mean money? BRUEN: He sees money, he sees the oil. And, yes, Venezuela has huge oil reserves, the largest in the world, but has also got 25 years, 26 years of institutional rot (ph) of corruption, of criminality, and obviously all of these, you know, drug traffickers that are running through. So, we're going to get ourselves into a big quagmire. And the next time there's any major power outage, there's a crime spree, you know who's going to be blamed by Delcy Rodriguez? Donald Trump. It's el imperio. It's they who were behind these problems. So, Trump wants to own the oil, but he also owns the problems as well.

TAPPER: One of the questions I have is it does not seem like the Maduro regime is gone. It's just Maduro and his wife who are gone. But his vice president now runs the country. Four of the six people indicted, not including Maduro and his wife, remain there and in power, including his son, including the head of Tren de Aragua. How on earth is any stability going to be returned to Venezuela after decades if the Maduro regime is still largely intact?

BRUEN: And, Jake, you mentioned I served in Caracas, but I also served in Iraq. I served in Tikrit, on a forward-operating base. And there, I think, you know, we are learning the wrong lessons from Iraq, which was Saddam Hussein was in power, you got rid of him and he was that central point.

[18:15:02]

In Venezuela, it's not the case. You had Hugo Chavez. But when he passed, there were a constellation of centers of power. You have Diosdado Cabello. As you mentioned, you have Delcy Rodriguez. You have Jorge Rodriguez, her brother. All of these are different centers of power, different interests, and, yes, they're going to continue.

And this is what I think is really important for Americans to understand, Jake. There has been a level of repression. You know, they are stopping people on the streets at these checkpoints, and it's not official checkpoints. In some cases, it is these collectivos, these militia groups that are stopping folks, harassing them, checking their social media, but also checking WhatsApp. It is a new level of repression that has entered in Venezuela.

TAPPER: So, Steven Miller was on the show and he said, we control Venezuela, and he seemed to be suggesting that the armada's presence off the coast is enough to make sure that nobody in Venezuela does anything that we don't want them to do, which would be obviously the oil going to Russia or China or any of our adversaries, as Secretary Rubio talked about, the drugs continuing to flow, et cetera, et cetera. Can they do that just by having an armada off the coast?

BRUEN: Well, here's the problem, and you'll remember Obama famously said, you know, if you've got a hammer, every problem looks like a nail. Well, if our only resort is to military means, including obviously we had to chase that oil tanker all the way across the North Atlantic, one, it's incredibly expensive. Are we going to sustain that? I think a lot of the chavistas right now are betting that Trump is going to get distraction, that we are going, yes, to put up a show now, but then we're going to move on to Greenland, we're going to move on to some other problem in the world.

And I don't see right now the sustained strategy. I don't see the plan. I don't see, for instance, because they're going to test us. Are we willing to go to bat for human rights violations? Are we willing to go to bat for, you know, problems that American oil companies are having just, you know, with infrastructure? And who pays for that? Is it the U.S. government's problem to rebuild the roads out to the port, because they've been deteriorated over the last quarter century?

TAPPER: And we saw when Delcy Rodriguez, the vice president, now acting president of Venezuela, was sworn in, there were images of her hugging the ambassador from Russia, hugging the ambassador from China. We just learned that Rodriguez had what she called a warm meeting with the Chinese ambassador. Do you think what the U.S. did actually is driving Venezuela potentially closer to our adversaries, China and Russia?

BRUEN: Not just Venezuela, but we're talking about Colombia, we're talking about Mexico, we're talking about Brazil. These are massive, massive countries, bigger economies, more important to our trade, to American's lives, Jake. And right now with these threats, not just against Venezuela but against other countries, I can guarantee you that Claudia Sheinbaum in Mexico is phoning up Beijing saying, what can you do to help me with intelligence, with security? And, yes, I'll sign over more resources to you. I'll provide you the level of access that you didn't enjoy before, and that's bad for our interests.

TAPPER: All right. Brett Bruen, thank you so much. I really appreciate your expertise and your time.

Coming up, two House members want a federal judge to appoint a special master to compel the Justice Department to release all of its files on Jeffrey Epstein without unnecessary redactions. One of those House members, Republican Congressman Thomas Massie, joins me next.

And another live look in Minneapolis, protesters there outside the courthouse in Minneapolis, as well as the Border Patrol agents, we've heard a lot of yelling, a lot of profanities, small clashes at times. We're going to continue to monitor the scene and hope for peace. We're back in a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:20:00]

TAPPER: In our Politics Lead, hey, remember the Epstein files? Well, two key lawmakers, one Democrat, one Republican, on the House Judiciary Committee say the Justice Department can't be trusted to release all of the files on Jeffrey Epstein despite the fact that there's a law requiring them to do so. So, this afternoon, they asked a judge to appoint a special master or an independent monitor to oversee the process.

This request comes a few days after the Justice Department said it's released less than 1 percent of the Epstein files, and they're still reviewing more than 2 million documents. Republican Congressman Thomas Massie of Kentucky joins me now. He and Democratic Congressman Ro Khanna of California are asking for this special master. Congressman, thank you so much for joining us.

So you don't trust the Justice Department to comply with the law. Why not?

REP. THOMAS MASSIE (R-KY): Well, it's not a matter of opinion. Now they're not in compliance with the law. They've missed two deadlines. The first was a 30-day deadline to release material to the public, and the second was a 15-day deadline to release some information to Congress.

But what I'm concerned about is not the volume of material that they haven't released. It's specific documents they haven't given us, where we know there are individuals who will be named. They're withholding those documents. Also, we believe they're over redacting the file, in contravention of the law, the letter of the law.

TAPPER: So.

MASSIE: And -- yes.

TAPPER: Anyway, last month, before retiring from Congress, one of the few Republicans supporting your effort, now former Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, she spoke with The New York Times about how this issue created this rift with President Trump. And in the interview, she talked about President Trump calling her upset after she threatened to identify men who abused Epstein's survivors. And the Times writes, quote, Greene says she expressed her perplexity over his intransigence. According to Greene, Trump replied, quote, my friends will get hurt, unquote. I'm sure you saw that. What's your reaction?

MASSIE: Well, you know, I knew about that for at least a week or two before that was said because Marjorie shared that with me privately the day it happened. So, I have even more reason to believe that happened than the general public. That's what I believe. You know, I'm not concerned that the president is implicated criminally in these files. He may be embarrassed, but he's had embarrassing issues before. I think he has friends who are going to be criminally implicated. And if not, I think there are some serious reputational harm that's going to happen. Maybe you'll have names taken off of buildings and scholarships renamed as a result of these releases.

But this -- Jake, this gets to the meat of our law.

[18:25:00]

We say in the law that you can't redact names to avoid embarrassment. Yet we see that the DOJ in a letter to Congress has said that they're going to use the Privacy Act as cover to avoid releasing names under the Privacy Act.

The other thing that they've violated in our law is we say you have to release internal communications, including decisions about whether to prosecute or not, and now they're citing a FOIA standard that has no bearing on our law. And if it did, our law would override their law because it's a later law. They're citing FOIA standards that allows the government to keep internal deliberations secret.

But the president signed this bill. They have to release this information.

TAPPER: Right.

MASSIE: And that's why we're asking for a special master.

TAPPER: So, I guess the question is what can you do about it? Even if the president doesn't think that there are any limits to his power, you know, the Constitution suggests that there are three coequal branches, you've threatened to try to hold us Attorney General Pam Bondi in contempt of Congress if these Epstein files are not adequately released, when is your grace period for A.G. Bondi going to expire?

MASSIE: Well, it expired today. But we're escalating the things that we can do, and we're starting with what we feel is the most polite, expeditious way to get to a release of the files, which is to ask for a special master. And we're hoping that Judge Englemayer will receive our amici curiae well and do that. And like you said, there are next steps beyond that. There's contempt, which requires a referral to the DOJ.

Now, the problem with that is if you refer contempt of Congress to the DOJ, they're not going to prosecute it. They never do. And they wait for Congress to expire. So, there's also inherent contempt, which hasn't been practiced in over 80 years. We're drafting that. And that's more desirable than impeachment because inherent contempt is resolved in one chamber of Congress, whereas impeachment would have to go also to the Senate.

So, those are the, you know, escalating degrees of things that we can do. But I also want to remind those folks at the DOJ, you can be prosecuted by a future DOJ for violating this law because it's a law. It's not a Congressional subpoena that expires at the end of this Congress. It will last forever.

TAPPER: This is gutsy what you're doing, and President Trump is targeting you. You're up for reelection this November, obviously. On Monday, President Trump posted on Truth Social a photograph of him with your primary challenger, retired Navy SEAL Officer Ed Gallrein. Trump writing that Captain Ed Gallrein has my complete and total endorsement against, quote/unquote, Congressman Thomas Massie. He only votes against the Republican Party, making life very easy for the radical left, unquote. Obviously, that's factually incorrect. I'm sure you run -- you vote with the Republican Party like 90 or 95 percent of the time, but what's your reaction?

MASSIE: Yes, I vote 91 percent of the time with a party. But when they're covering up for pedophiles or starting a new war or doing regime change or bankrupting the country, and that 9 percent, Jake, I'm not with my party. It definitely hurts me to campaign with the president against me. I've got a Republican primary. It's going to be hotly contested. And that's why, Jake, you don't see other members of the Republican Party sticking their necks out. They're afraid of the president. Ironically, though, after that tweet, I raised $80,000 in people who want to see somebody up here who will speak their mind and speak for their constituents instead of just for their party.

And, by the way, most of those donors are Trump supporters. They just want to see a Republican who will exhibit some independent thought.

TAPPER: Republican Congressman Thomas Massue of the great Commonwealth of Kentucky, thanks so much for joining us.

MASSIE: Thanks, Jake.

TAPPER: A former high-profile Republican lawyer who became one of President Trump's fiercest critics is now a Democratic candidate for Congress. George Conway on The Lead, next.

But, first, this, we're starting to see vigils in a number of cities in the wake of yesterday's ICE shooting in Minneapolis. We see them in Philly, in Boston, in Asheville, North Carolina. We're going to continue to watch these scenes. Much more when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:30:00]

TAPPER: And we're back with breaking news in our National Lead. You're looking right now at live pictures of protestors gathering in the streets of Minneapolis tonight in response, of course, to Wednesday's fatal shooting of a U.S. citizen by an ICE agent. A live look in Boston right now, a similar rally right now in the wake of yesterday's shooting. We're seeing these in several cities, New York City, Philly, Asheville, North Carolina. We're going to continue to watch these scenes.

Turning to our Politics Lead, George Conway, the longtime conservative lawyer, is now running for New York's 12th Congressional district to run for the House. He's running as a Democrat. A prolific critic of Trump, Conway's building his campaign on the claim that the president is running the U.S. government like a mob operation. He joins us now. George, good to see you.

I'll get to your race in one sec, but I do want to get your take on the situation in Minneapolis. What's your take on how President Trump and Vice President Vance and Secretary Noem have been handling it?

GEORGE CONWAY (D), NEW YORK CONGRESSIONAL CANDIDATE: Mendacious and heartless, absolutely horrible the way they've talked about this. I mean, the notion that Donald Trump thinks that this is somehow, or claims that this is somehow making the country safer is absurd. It's making the country more dangerous. It's making people on the streets have to fear federal agents. And it's -- and as it -- as we saw in Minneapolis, it's just asking for some tragedy to occur, and that's exactly what happened.

And as for the claim, you know, that Kristi Noem made that this woman was a domestic terrorist, I mean, this is -- it's ridiculous. I mean, she was just an ordinary woman, who -- with a six-year-old kid in an SUV. And, I mean, the domestic terrorists are ICE. This is what's happening here in this country, which is just hard to believe. We have a criminal president running a lawless government trying to intimidate the people of this country through force.

TAPPER: So, this is not on like or not dissimilar from your announcement video, which was on January 6th, in your focus on President Trump, your criticism of him.

[18:35:11]

Do you think that that is going to be key to winning this Democratic primary even though you were a Republican until relatively recently?

CONWAY: Look, I mean, I was an -- I have not been a Republican in eight years, like in seven years. I quit the Republican Party in 2018 because I saw that it was no longer the Republican Party that I joined in 1980, and it was a personality cult. And I have to say, I think that the, you know, people who are former Republicans, never Trump Republicans, and moderate to liberal Democrats of the sort that we see in the district that where I'm talking to you from don't have a lot of differences on policy issues. And the one thing that we do share is a belief in democracy, a belief in the rule of law, and a belief in constitutional government.

And if you have any policy differences about anything, if you're in good faith of any party, any part of the Democratic Party, whether it's Mamdani, or whether it's anybody else, we can't get to handle those and deal with those policy issues and figure out practical ways to fix problems, like the cost of living like that affects all of us, including people in this district, and affordable healthcare. We can't do that until we have a government that is not being run essentially as, as I say, a mob operation that is for the boss, of the boss, by the boss for his cronies instead of a government that is actually devoted to people -- run by people who live up to their oaths to help the people.

TAPPER: So, I hear what you're saying and I understand your focus, but, obviously, you're going to be running in a Democratic primary in a very blue district, and people are going to say -- you know, they're going to hold your conservative past against you, your opponents will, at the very least, Jack Schlossberg and Cameron Kasky and others, they're going to say, you voted for Trump in 2016, and your focus on Trump is great, but there's going to be a ton of other stuff that you vote on, especially if Democrats will take the House in November. How is George going to vote on abortion rights? How is George going to vote on LGBT? So, what is your --

CONWAY: I'll give you an example on abortion.

TAPPER: What's your response to that? Okay. CONWAY: I'll give you an example on abortion. I fully support the Women's Health Protection Act. I fully support Tammy Baldwin's Bill Senate 2150, that would basically make sure that women have the right to terminate or continue an abortion through viability and that protects physicians and other healthcare professionals from the absolutely absurd things that are going on in some of the states, like in Texas, where, basically, they're turning people into Stasi informers against their co-citizens.

No, look, I don't -- I honestly think that when people get to hear what I have to say on issues, they're going to say, well, that's perfectly reasonable, I agree with that and I look forward to talking about all those issues.

TAPPER: All right. George Conway, well, don't be a stranger. Thanks so much. I really appreciate it.

There we're showing you right now largely peaceful protests in the United States after yesterday's ICE shooting in Minneapolis. Not entirely, but largely. In overseas, a different scene, anti-government demonstrations turning quite violent In Iran. A fierce critic of the regime once hunt down by would be assassin sent by the mullahs while she was just at the White House. In minutes, Masih is going to be here on The Lead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:40:00]

TAPPER: In our World Lead, demonstrations in Iran continue to sweep that nation today.

Residents have been storming the streets for more than a week now in protest over the crippling economic conditions and a plummeting currency. This is Tehran, where we saw fires burning through the northern part of the city. Authorities are reverting to their usual playbook, responding with violence instead of offering any solutions to the country's problems.

My next guest, you know, Iranian journalist and activist, she just finished the White House, this follows an open letter she wrote to President Trump that reads in part, quote, you have said publicly that the killing of Iranians by their own government matters and will not be ignored. Inside Iran, those words were heard, they mattered. They gave people hope that the world would not stay silent while a regime wages violence against its own population, unquote.

And Masih Alinejad joins me now. Masih, what can you tell us about your White House visit and what you asked the administration to do?

MASIH ALINEJAD, IRANIAN JOURNALIST AND ACTIVIST: First of all, I have to say this is not economic -- this is not a protest against, you know, the collapse of Iran -- the collapse of Iranian currency.

TAPPER: Okay. ALINEJAD: It went beyond that from the day first, people chanting against the entire regime. This is very clear that they saying that this regime no longer can be reformed. So, they're saying, we want an end for Islamic Republic.

So, I met with some senators, some people in State Department, White House, to actually inform them that people of Iran, they welcome the strong and forceful message of President Trump. But they want to see action.

TAPPER: What action? Because, obviously, this comes after on Saturday, the president, you know, they removed the leader of Venezuela.

ALINEJAD: So, maybe to people in America, it's radical because I see that people are busy criticizing President Trump about capturing Maduro. But Maduro is not the president of Venezuela. He is a criminal. And he is not alone. The Islamic Republic invaded Venezuela. You see the Hezbollah presence in Venezuela. They're sending weapons to Maduro.

So, I strongly believe arresting Maduro should have been done by international court.

[18:45:00]

And now, this is the right thing that Iranian people celebrating this. I ask Iranian people, Jake, before coming here, I asked them what they really want from President Trump.

They say the same thing because Ali Khamenei is not just targeting the lives of innocent people inside Iran. They're not just targeting them. Ali Khamenei is the one who ordered my killing.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: In New York.

ALINEJAD: In U.S. soil, on U.S. soil here.

TAPPER: Yeah.

ALINEJAD: Three times. Ali Khamenei is the one ordering the killing of President Trump.

So, basically, this is the guy actually expanding terror everywhere, not only in the region, but in Europe, in America.

TAPPER: I want to show this video. It went viral on social media. It's Iranian security forces storming a hospital in Ilam. That's a city that's found itself at the center of these protests. You see this in this horrible.

We're nearing now two weeks of these protests. Do you think the nation might reach a breaking point?

ALINEJAD: First of all, President Trump actually mentioned that some people were killed because of the crowd. This is misinformation. I have to make this clear that the Iranian regime opened fire in 10 days, 40 people got killed. They're not just numbers. They're not just statistics.

They are the people with empty hands took to the streets chanting for freedom, dignity. They want to have a normal life, and they are being killed by IRGC, the Revolutionary Guards. I think this is the Berlin Wall moment in Iran.

If international community gets united the same way when they were all united to help East Germany, to bring down the wall. Now Iranian people are trying to bring the wall of dictatorship down. We need to see action from Europeans, from, free world. Otherwise, believe me, Jake, they will kill more innocent people.

TAPPER: You and I have been talking about this for years. And I've been covering this for years. I remember covering the murder of Neda in the streets of Iran when Ahmadinejad was --

ALINEJAD: You were the first one you actually covered the brutal murder of Mahsa Amini in 2022 as well.

TAPPER: So, you've -- you've been obviously focused on this for years. Does this moment feel different than previous moments of unrest?

ALINEJAD: I even smell the freedom. I even feel like when people go to the streets, they show their face. They take on their own social media. They say that we have no fear because we have nothing to lose. As you mentioned, we have seen six major massive uprisings in Iran in 2009. You mentioned about Nidal al-Sultan.

At the same time when people were in the street chanting "Obama, Obama," you're either with us or with them. President Obama was sending secret letter to Ali Khamenei, the supreme leader of the Islamic Republic.

In 2022, when Massoud got killed, women took to the streets. Women. Life, freedom. One of the most progressive slogan. What happened?

President Biden was handing out billions of dollars to the same regime that hired killers to target U.S. citizens on U.S. soil. They even asked me to go under witness protection. I mean, it's a joke.

So, for the first time that we now see United States of America's president taking a strong action, saying that he is ready to save the lives of Iranians. Iranians are welcoming that. I want to see action. Otherwise, empty words are not going to save lives, are not going -- let's be very clear. People of Iran are better allies compared to these backward mullahs, for America, for the rest of the world.

And Iran without Islamic Republic will guarantee global security. And this is the moment that we want to see.

TAPPER: Well, I certainly hope for freedom for the people of Iran. Masih --

ALINEJAD: I want to invite you to my beautiful Iran.

TAPPER: I'd love to go.

ALINEJAD: That's my dream. I haven't seen my mother for 15 years.

TAPPER: I love to go. I'd love to go with you. When -- when and if that ever happens.

Masih, it's so good to see you.

ALINEJAD: Thank you so much.

TAPPER: Breaking news tonight on Capitol Hill, 17 Republicans in the House bucked leadership to join Democrats to pass a bill to extend Obamacare subsidies for three years. Speaker Mike Johnson has just reacted. We're going to bring you that news next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:53:04]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: On this vote, the yeas are 230, the nays are 196, the bill is passed and without objection, the motion to reconsider is laid on the table.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So, in our politics lead, just moments ago, pretty dramatic rebuke of the House Republican leadership. Seventeen House Republicans voting with 213 House Democrats to approve a clean three-year extension of the Obamacare subsidies, which already expired at the end of the year at 2025. The bill now heads to the U.S. Senate, where the future is uncertain.

Here's the panel.

Jamie, the extension I don't think there are 60 votes for this in the U.S. Senate, but is this significant, this moment?

JAMIE GANGEL, CNN SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. Can you say midterm elections when Republicans break with Trump? That says something about what's going on politically. So that's good for Democrats who are trying to win back the House. To your point, reality check this is not expected to pass. In the Senate, it also sends a message to those people at home whose premiums have jumped. This goes back to affordability.

TAPPER: Yeah. And, Shermichael, just four Republicans signed. The reason there even was a vote, we should point out, is because of this thing called a discharge petition, which there's been an explosion of uses of the discharge petition. Usually, the speaker of the House gets to decide what goes to the floor. But if 218, a majority, members of the House sign a discharge petition, they can force something onto the floor. Four Republicans signed the discharge petition and every Democrat to bring this to the floor vote.

Seventeen House Republicans voted for it. Speaker Johnson said, quote, I think it's a really bad policy. And, you know, I wish they hadn't, but everybody had to vote. Their conscience.

Is this bad for the speaker, do you think?

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: No, I don't think so. And strategically, I think it's wise for the speaker to allow some, I guess, longitudinal space for some of these members to vote in a way that may be beneficial to their election. The reality is, you have some Republicans who are running in districts that the president won last year.

[18:55:02]

Some of those numbers have indeed gone down. Those races appear to be a lot tighter.

The speaker recognizes this. He understands that those folks are going to have to go back home and tell their constituents how they voted. And if you want to keep that House, you got to tell the president, Mr. President, you got to give our guy some room to vote, however they need to in order for us to keep the seats that we got.

TAPPER: So I'll be honest, I have been wondering for years, literally for decades since I learned what the discharge petition was in 1993 why this isn't used more often. Because it's a good way for the minority party to pressure the handful of people who represent districts that are borderline. What's your take on all this?

YEMISI EGBEWOLE, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: I mean, this is a testament to Jeffries. At a time when Jeffries and Schumer were maligned throughout the Democratic Party for most of 2025, he ended it on a high note, grabbing those centrists and having them vote alongside him for the discharge position.

But to start the year at a time when people are looking at his leadership. He was knighted by Pelosi, but now he really has to stand on his own two feet. I think it really is a testament to how he can gather his caucus together, and I do think it's going to start to be a little bit of an indictment on Johnson. I think people are really satisfied with the work that Senate Majority Leader John Thune does. But Johnsons got a lot to prove.

TAPPER: Let's turn to the political fallout over that shooting in Minneapolis today. Vice President Vance took issue with this CNN headline. The headline is, quote, "Outrage is mounting after Renee Good was killed by ICE in Minneapolis," unquote. That's -- that's what it says.

Here's what Vice President Vance said about it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: That headline leaves out is the fact that that very ICE officer nearly had his life ended, dragged by a car six months ago, 33 stitches in his leg. So, you think maybe he's a little bit sensitive about somebody ramming him with an automobile? What that headline leaves out is that that woman was there to interfere with a legitimate law enforcement operation in the United States of America. What that headline leaves out is that that woman has is part of a broader left-wing network to attack, to dox, to assault, and to make it impossible for our ICE officers to do their job.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: First of all, he's saying that the headline leaves out things that are his opinion, not fact, at least not established as of this second. But beyond that, I mean, it seems like a fairly benign headline. And by the way, not the only one. One of dozens of headlines in CNN.

SINGLETON: This was -- this was a split second decision that the officer had to made. A woman is now dead. Officers typically go through a lot of PTSD after instances like this.

I think this is why you have to have an investigation. We need to know what occurred before. We don't really have a lot of details about this particular individual who lost her life. I don't know if she was radical left or whatever.

TAPPER: Yeah.

SINGLETON: We don't know. But an investigation would certainly help that. And look, emotions are high, right now, Jake. And I think it would just be wise to tell the American people we get it. The president wants to enforce immigration laws. Some people may disagree with that. We want to do it in a way -- that's constitutional. We want to protect people's rights. And as it pertains to this particular instance, we're going to be transparent as we possibly can until we get to the end of this.

TAPPER: What's your take on this -- the media criticism part of this?

GANGEL: So, they're going to criticize us if we're not saying exactly what they're saying, they're going to criticize us.

But two things. One is policing 101 deescalate, if nothing else, that did not.

TAPPER: They're not police. They're ICE.

GANGEL: Right. But --

TAPPER: Yeah.

GANGEL: This is -- but they're -- DHS should be following similar things. The other thing is I spoke to a former law enforcement official who noted that after J.D. Vance's statement that the officer is a 10-year veteran. And my source said if he's a 10-year veteran with training, why did he do what he did? So other law enforcement officials are looking at this. And again,

investigation, yes, but it doesn't look great.

TAPPER: Yemisi, what do you think?

EGBEWOLE: I mean, I think that was a train wreck of a press briefing for him. I mean, I understand the administration's point of wanting to defend law enforcement, but you can defend law enforcement without prejudging an incident and creating a narrative. And it was interesting, the framing, when he talked about the law enforcement officer being sensitive because of previous trauma on the job, then why was he on the job, I would ask what was, what was he done, what counseling he did afterwards.

I think if you enter into law enforcement, you have to make those snap decisions that can be fatal at times. And I think if anything, he pushed the narrative that maybe this officer wasn't up for the job.

TAPPER: It's interesting. Any final thoughts?

SINGLETON: There's just so many unknowns. Everything you just laid out, we don't know. And the only way we will know is a thorough investigation. And I stand firmly by that.

TAPPER: Well, once again, you know, you have my vote but --

(LAUGHTER)

TAPPER: I mean --

SINGLETON: I've told you, Jake.

TAPPER: I've told you this before, Shermichael.

Thank you so much for being here, one and all. Appreciate it.

And welcome to THE LEAD. It's great to have you.

We have this breaking news just into CNN. Two people have been shot by federal agents in Portland, Oregon. That is according to local police there. And we're going to have much more on that breaking news on "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT," which starts right now.

Take it away, Erin.