Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

New Reporting: Mutual Distrust Derailed Joint FBI-State Probe; Two People Shot By Border Patrol Agent In Portland; Minnesota Officials Say Blocked Them From ICE Shooting Investigation; New York Times: Trump Says His "Own Morality" Is Sole Limit To His Global Power. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired January 09, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

DAVID CULVER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It's still going forward. In fact, President Petro in a BBC article this morning has made it clear that it's not all good right now, as he put it. That -- that things are still tense.

And we get a look really at what's the -- the deep-rooted issue between the two countries. It has to do with going after the drugs. And we got an embed that was quite exclusive to go along with the anti-narcotics national police of Colombia.

I'm going to give you a sample of that right now, Kate.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CULVER (voice-over): From the air, the scale is overwhelming.

Vast stretches of coca, the raw ingredient for cocaine, spread across the jungle below us. So, why don't they just eradicate it all?

CULVER: He points out, all of the plots of cocoa are protected by armed groups.

CULVER (voice-over): Which is why police say, they focus on sites they believe will have the biggest impact on disrupting drug production and trafficking.

CULVER: And police stressed to us that none of this would be possible without the support of the U.S., from training, to technology, to equipment. And most importantly, intel.

CULVER (voice-over): As we pull out, smoke rises from the jungle below. One of several cocaine labs, police say they destroyed on this deployment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right. CNN's David Culver. Thank you so much. You can see much more of "The Whole Story with Anderson Cooper" this weekend. "Inside the Raid: Venezuela's Future" airs Sunday at 8:00 P.M. Eastern on CNN. And the next day on the CNN app.

A new hour of "CNN News Central" starts right now.

All right. Breaking just a few minutes ago, brand-new data on jobs. The economy added just 50,000 jobs in December. You can see that right there.

And jobs growth was revised lower in both October and November. You can see what a bad month October was right there.

2025, now the weakest year of jobs growth since the pandemic.

Now, on the other hand, the unemployment rate dipped to 4.4 percent in December. A lot more on this coming up. These jobs numbers painting an interesting picture of the economy. People taking it into it right now.

I should say futures -- futures up a little bit on this news.

Sara?

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Thank you so much, John.

With that breaking news this morning, now we are standing by for a newly announced news conference. We are expecting to hear from the mayor of Minneapolis at City Hall there as protests have cropped up across cities from coast to coast over the deadly ICE shooting that happened in Minneapolis. That was Renee Good, who has killed a 37- year-old mother of three, shot and killed by an ICE agent.

And we have new reporting this morning on the investigation after state officials said the FBI blocked them from taking part in a joint probe.

Sources telling CNN there were concerns in the Trump administration that state officials could not be trusted with the information and that the safety of ICE agents would be put at risk.

But state officials, including Minnesota governor Tim Walz, have raised doubts about the transparency of the federal investigation and whether they can even trust the results of that investigation.

And now, there are growing calls for the ice agent involved to be arrested and charged.

Joining me now is Robin Wonsley, a Democrat on the Minneapolis City Council.

First, let me ask you about what has happened here with the state saying they have been blocked out of being able to take part in what was going to be a joint investigation. Now, it will just be run by the FBI. You heard both the president and the governor going at each other saying, they can't trust one another.

What do you make of this? Will the public have any trust in the FBI results for the investigation you think? ROBIN WONSLEY, MEMBER OF THE MINNEAPOLIS CITY COUNCIL: Yes. Thank you for having me on, first of all.

I think what is very, very blatantly clear, in this case, is the public saw federal ICE agents shoot, Renee Good in the early mornings of Wednesday.

And since the killing of Mrs. Good by federal ICE agents, we've seen the Trump administration work over time to try to craft this -- this narrative, national narrative that Renee Good was aggressor and was at fault for her own murder, when she simply was just dropping off her children and making sure that other neighbor's children made it to school safely.

Because our -- our kids here have not been able to go to school in peace. Families haven't been able to leave their home without risking being abducted. And God knows what else by federal agents.

[09:05:11]

So, in the course of -- of doing this smear campaign is very clear that the FBI, with the support of the Trump administration, is already doing this piece of discredit what was very clear to be a murder of a 37-year-old woman who also was a U.S. citizen, who was also of -- of -- of parents. And -- and we can't allow this new standard to be set because they will love to normalize this for other cities as well that they're occupying.

SIDNER: The vice president has come out very strongly disputing the idea of murder, saying that this officer did his job and is completely immune. He also blamed the victim saying the tragedy, and I'm quoting here of the -- this is the tragedy of the victim's own making.

How do you see these statements? How do they sit with you? And how do they sit with your community? Because I know you had a big meeting with community members in the last day or so.

WONSLEY: Yes. And this is why the demand for an independent investigation, one that is owned by state agencies as opposed to the FBI, is so needed because this is it. This is the smear campaign.

What they want to do is discredit and dismiss ultimately the -- the events that happened here in Minneapolis where they ultimately took the life of a civilian, a 37-year-old mother. And they want to be able to set that tone legally so that they can continue going into various cities across the country and occupying them and give federal ICE agents the ability to shoot and kill with impunity and we cannot allow that to happen.

That is why we are raising the demand that Jonathan Ross, the federal agent responsible for Renee Good's murder, should be arrested. And there should be a prosecution that's moved forward. And that process needs to be hold by our own local agency.

We should not acquiesce to the Trump administration on this investigation. We cannot allow them to normalize this. Because this means that any other resident living in a city where Trump is sitting federal ICE agents to, this means this can happen to you. And we cannot --

SIDNER: OK.

WONSLEY: -- normalize this -- this campaign of cruelty.

SIDNER: I know that there are a lot of people hurting there. I know this happened not too far away from where George Floyd was murdered.

But I do want to ask you about some of the things you've said in the past. And as these things are going on where ICE is in the community, you have called for abolishing ICE entirely.

But we have seen polling from the American people who have said, look, they did put Donald Trump in office, in part, because they were concerned about immigration. They wanted better immigration enforcement. Immigration consistently pulled to the second most important issue behind the economy.

So, if you want to abolish ICE, what should replace it in your mind?

WONSLEY: We have not always had ICE. And in fact, the billions of dollars is going to ICE right now absolutely needs to be rerouted towards supporting our communities.

Right now, we have working class families who are struggling to make rent, who have lost their jobs since this administration has taken power. We have residents who've lost access to critical social services that have been defunded and the efforts to uphold this violent agency that's separating families and that's also doing it indiscriminately.

Let's make it very clear, this has nothing to do about immigration. This was used as a wedge issue to divide Americans thinking that these immigrant law enforcement agents are going to go out and get the bad guys off the streets. No, they are the bad guys. And they are targeting residents indiscriminately.

It does not matter if you're an immigrant. It does not matter if you're a U.S. citizen. You can be shot killed in a residential area on a random weekday morning, as what took place here.

So, I'm really hoping that this incident and the many other incidents that's transpired since ICE agents have continued to wage this -- this work of cruelty across various cities. I'm hoping Americans and residents of -- of different cities are seeing that this was a blatant lie sold to American people to distract us from the fact that they are depriving us of the resources that we need to cover our basic necessities to make sure that we have a -- a standard quality of life that's accessible to everyone.

That is what they're trying to distract us away from with this whole illusion of them using immigration as a tool to remove criminals off the streets. They are the criminals. They are the ones murdering civilians. And they should be held responsible, traditionally and nothing less.

[09:10:18]

SIDNER: And we're expecting to hear from the mayor of Minneapolis as well. Of course, the Trump administration saying the opposite, saying that its officer was completely in -- in his right to do what he did. The community, obviously, and you not agreeing. We will hear from the mayor as well and be in contact with you as well to see what you're hearing from the community.

We do appreciate it, Councilwoman.

John.

BERMAN: All Right. In Portland, Oregon, two people were shot by U.S. Border Patrol agent after their car was stopped. There were protests outside of Portland ICE facility overnight. At least six people were arrested.

Let's get right to CNN's Nick Watt, who was in Portland with the latest. Good morning, Nick. What are you seeing?

NICK WATT, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, John, what we know is no CBP officers were injured. That's according to one source, but two people suspected to be members of Tren de Aragua, the transnational criminal organization, were shot. A man shot in the arm, a woman shot in the chest.

The FBI is investigating what they say was an assault on agents during a traffic stop trying to apprehend these people. The ATF is also involved.

Now, the mayor of Portland, he says this, we know what the federal government says happened here. There was a time when we could take them at their word. That time has long passed.

So the Oregon DOJ is now also launching an investigation. They say to see whether the CBP officers here acted outside the legal scope of their authority.

Now you mentioned there were some vigils last night, a couple of hundred people here in Portland, also some protests at an ICE facility, six arrests mainly for just getting in the way of traffic and not obeying police officers commands.

Now, I want to read you what we heard from Tricia McLaughlin, DHS Assistant Secretary about what happened here. 2:19 yesterday afternoon, "When agents identified themselves to the vehicle occupants, these two suspected Tren de Aragua members, the driver weaponized the vehicle and attempted to run over the law enforcement agents. Fearing for his life and safety, an agent fired a defensive shot. The driver drove off with the passenger fleeing the scene."

Now, the background to all of this, remember the protests here last year? Trump said that the Portland was burning to the ground. That was not true. He tried to deploy National Guard here. That met a lot of protests, also legal -- legal ramifications got in the way.

Now, on Monday, when the last of those National Guard were stood down, none of them ever really deployed. Trump said we got crime down to zero here. Not true. He also said, we'll go back in when the crime starts. The crime will start soon because they now know that we're out. Could that be a pretext to try and re-launch the National Guard here? We'll watch that space. John.

BERMAN: Full night of activity. Nick Watt there where it's really just dawn at this point. Great to have you there. Thanks so much for your work this morning.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right. Joining me right now is Greg Ehrie, the Chief Security Officer for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and CNN chief law enforcement, intelligence analyst, John Miller. Both of you with vast experience also with the FBI and with, well, let's just say pretty much everything.

So leaning on both of you in your law enforcement background, I want to focus in if we can, gentlemen, on -- on what the developments that we're seeing in Minnesota.

John, we have J.D. Vance who spoke out yesterday, the vice president, saying that this officer is protected by absolute immunity.

The way that he's talking about it, the way that we have heard the Homeland Security Secretary talk about it, do you think this investigation is effectively over? Or is there a way to somehow change the course that this appears to be on?

JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: Well, it's a complicated question because the FBI is in charge of the investigation. Normally in cases like this, the FBI would work with the local authorities on the investigation. We're seeing a statement saying that they've been cut out of the case --

BOLDUAN: Right.

MILLER: -- which is concerning.

On the other hand, the vice president's points are that there -- there is the supremacy clause which would come into any discussion about whether the state can enforce rules or laws against federal agents in the performance of their duty. There's the immunity that comes with that, which is not absolute.

And remember, the states in this country and the federal government are separate sovereigns. If the attorney general of Minnesota launched an independent investigation, interviewed their own witnesses, collected their own forensics, examined their own videos and charged this agent, that could happen. But it would be met by challenges by the federal government in court about those very issues and would have to be litigated.

[09:15:01]

BOLDUAN: On this, I want to get your take on this as well because it folds into this, Greg. This reporting that John was just talking about. There was -- the CNN reporting is that the mutual distrust between federal and state authorities is what led DOJ to box out the lead state agency on this.

The state agency in issuing the statement, it -- I mean, it's pretty -- from the outside observer looking in, it's a pretty remarkable statement to hear, which is we "would no longer have access to the -- to the case materials, seen evidence or investigative interviews necessary to complete a thorough and independent investigation."

So this state agency says, they have to reluctantly withdraw. What do you -- I mean, what's your reaction to that? And what do you see in this?

GREG EHRIE, CHIEF SECURITY OFFICER, PORT AUTHORITY OF NEW YORK AND NEW JERSEY: This is highly unusual. And what we're seeing is this breakdown all throughout this really tragic incident of the cooperation between the federal, state, and local authorities. And this is what happens all throughout this.

Normally after shooting or an incident with the FBI is investigating, you do it side by side, as John alluded to with the local authorities. The federal supremacy cause comes into effect, but they'll do a thorough investigation and everybody knows what's going on.

If you cut them out, it leaves questions. It leads people to believe there's something going on and you're not being transparent.

BOLDUAN: I'm going to play something else if I can from what J.D. Vance, when he was -- when he was speaking about this. Because he pointed to the fact that the -- the agent involved in the -- that did involve in the shooting in -- in Minnesota, he talked about another incident that he was involved with when this agent was -- this ICE agent had been dragged by a car in a previous incident six months ago.

Listen to this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: 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?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Give me your -- what you hear in that. Because if he's -- if he's suggesting that he's allowed to be jumpy and fearful as an agent because of past experience, should that have bearing a relevance in an -- and an examination if he followed policy correctly?

MILLER: Well, this is a very experienced agent. He's got 10 years with the federal government. But prior to that, he was in the military in Iraq as part of a machine gunning squad.

BOLDUAN: Right.

MILLER: He has been in stressful situations. He's on the special response team. He's a firearms qualified trainer. This is not a new agent who went through the shortened training. This is a very experienced street agent.

So, one of the questions the vice president raises is if he was so affected by that incident, should he have been out on the street? I doubt that's the case.

One of the things that you could consider is having had that experience in his own mind when he sees his partner has got both of his hands on that car as it starts to take off. Is he thinking, I cannot let happen to him what happened to me where I was seriously injured?

I read his testimony in that trial about being dragged for a hundred yards by a speeding car on and off the sidewalk swerving to shake him off.

Could that have been going through his mind? We don't know what it -- is in his head. But I think it's something that would be considered when they investigate this case.

BOLDUAN: What do you think, Greg?

EHRIE: I think John's absolutely correct. And I think that statement muddies the waters. If you're alluding to his experience and he's seen things like this before, that's one thing.

But it seems to point to that he is jumpy, that there's something like that. That doesn't seem to be the case. I agree with John watching what we've seen in the media and the videos we've watched, that he was engaged and he took action, but not based on a jumpiness. He took action based on the situation at hand and his experience.

MILLER: And, Kate, one of the real things that we're going to confront here that's going to anger people on both sides of this discussion is, there's the legal case.

Is he criminally liable for each one of those shots, the three that he took? But then there's the administrative part. Was he within agency policy and tactical training? And those would be two separate considerations.

BOLDUAN: Considerations, if there really is an investigation. It's good to have. Thank you both so much for being here.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, Kate.

President Trump now saying the only limit to his presidential powers is his own morality. What else he said in a new "New York Times" interview?

And severe storms and tornadoes bringing chaos and destruction to the American heartland. That same storm system could create new havoc today.

And one of America's most popular fast foods chain is giving loyal customers a chance to live their wildest chicken dreams, Willy Wonka style. I don't know what all that means, but that's what you're going to get.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:47]

BERMAN: All right. New this morning. President Trump claims the only thing that could limit his powers around the globe, quote, his own morality. He said that in an interview with "The New York Times."

And one of the reporters who was there is with us now, Zolan Kanno- Youngs. He's also a CNN political analyst. Great to see you.

Saw the pictures of you talking to the president in the Oval Office. Sound quite a -- quite a two hours there.

I want to read that quote so people just can see it. As if there are any limits, he said, "Yes, there's one thing, my own morality, my own mind. It's the only thing that can stop me. I don't need international law. I'm not looking to hurt people," he said.

So, what was your takeaway with that comment there?

ZOLAN KANNO-YOUNGS, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: I then followed up after that quote too and asked directly, do you feel you need to abide by international law? And he said, I do. But then he would go on to say, it sort of depends what you -- what your definition of international law is indicating that almost, he was the arbiter of international law.

Look, all of this if you zoom out, speaks to the power that President Trump feels that he has gathered here and just how unconstrained he feels on the global stage.

[09:25:01]

It's probably among allies, provoked some concern as well as other foreign leaders as well that the leader of the United States, at this point, is brushing aside international law and feels that he is only constrained by himself.

And this is particularly relevant when you've heard recent comments about his approach to Greenland. He told us that he psychologically feels that he wants ownership of Greenland. And, of course, as well as the extraordinary military operation that we've seen in Venezuela.

Another key comment he made to us was that he feels this U.S. oversight over the Venezuelan government could last for years, right? And we've already seen ripple effects across his own party.

Senator Rand Paul, after members of Congress passed that War Powers Resolution that would seemingly constrain the White House when it comes to military operations overseas. He said that he felt that part of the reason they got some of the votes from Republicans for that might have been president's comment to us about oversight lasting for years.

BERMAN: Yes. It may have had a direct impact on the number of Republicans who ultimately did vote for it.

You were there. I said, I mean, for two hours plus and it was a key period. I mean, this was the day that the ICE agent killed a woman in Minnesota. And you asked him about it.

You said -- you -- you asked him -- the president about it. And he said, quote, "She behaved horribly and then she ran over him. She didn't try to run him over. She ran him over."

Talk to me about the timing here. When this was a relation to -- to the actual incident and what the behavior of the president and his aides was at the time.

KANNO-YOUNGS: Yes. So this -- this was just hours after this news broke of -- of this deadly shooting in Minneapolis.

And, John, you know, before I covered the White House, I -- I covered law enforcement. I covered the NYPD. And I think we both know that when these shootings happen, when these tragedies happen, usually public officials and law enforcement officials might say, hey, let's wait before we draw conclusions to examine all of the facts to wait for this investigation.

And the president didn't do that almost initially when -- when we turned to domestic policy, this was the first thing that I asked him. And he immediately cast a blame on the victim of this shooting, the driver as well.

He made this claim that she ran him over. And I -- and I pushed him. I said, well -- well, sir, you know, based -- that's disputed by local officials as well on the ground. They're disputing the federal account of this.

And -- and then something pretty extraordinary happened where he said, OK, well, let's watch the video together. And he had an aide bring a laptop right over behind him, the resolute desk, and she opens it. And now we're watching this video.

And my colleague, David Sanger, said at the time, as we're watching it, that doesn't appear to clearly show that she's running him -- the -- this ICE officer over.

And the president, at that point, sort of takes a softer tone and sort of mumbles. And then when the video was over, he said, OK, well, this was a terrible scene, right?

You know, we pushed him and said that these videos did not clearly back up the assertions that his administration had put out.

My colleagues and video investigations have analyzed various videos that actually show that it appears that this driver was moving away from the ICE officer at the time. But as we've seen from the vice president's comments yesterday as well, they're sticking by this assertion, even as the investigation continues to play out.

BERMAN: And just so interesting that it was so soon after and he was speaking to you was such a certitude.

Zolan Kanno-Youngs, really interesting for your perspective on that. Thank you.

Sara.

SIDNER: Wow. That was fascinating that maybe he hadn't seen the video before he made the statement and then they watched it together.

All right. Ahead, speaking of which, and -- and just the next half an hour or so, press conference expected now with Minnesota lawmakers set to take place. A few minutes from now, the latest details coming out of Minneapolis.

And a critical day for accused healthcare CEO killer, Luigi Mangione, the plan his legal team could put together to try to help him avoid the death penalty.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)