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New Videos Emerge of Iran Protests After Internet Blackout; Interview with Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA): Senate Advances War Powers Resolution to Rein in Trump on Venezuela; House Passes Bill to Extend Obamacare Subsidies for 3 Years; Interview with Dan Rayfield, Oregon Attorney General: Oregon Investigating Border Patrol Shooting in Portland; Remembering Black Maternal Health Advocate Dr. Janell Green Smith. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired January 09, 2026 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, the first social media videos are emerging now, watch this. During an internet blackout and amid widespread protests that are continuing now into a couple weeks in Iran, I believe this might be the twelfth day of it. In some of this new footage that is finally coming out, protesters can even be heard chanting death to the dictator in one southeastern city.

This is coming as these massive crowds of protesters have been seen and have been growing over the days. Protesters even targeting banks and hospitals, government buildings, mosques, mounting anger and frustration against the regime in Iran and over dire economic conditions that exist in the country.

Joining me right now is Democratic Senator Tim Kaine. He sits on the Senate Foreign Relations and Armed Services Committee. Senator, thanks for being here. These protests are happening in every province in that country.

And President Trump has just come out to threaten Iran now, saying if they -- the regime -- if they start killing people when they, which they tend to do during their riots, we're going to hit them very hard. Do you think the U.S. should get involved in this?

SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA), FOREIGN RELATIONS AND ARMED SERVICES COMMITTEE: No, no, the U.S. should not engage in any military action within Iran unless Congress authorizes it. So if the president wants to come to Congress, that's one thing. He has no legal authority to do it.

But I will say this. I celebrate, I celebrate this independent spirit among the Iranian people. And they're protesting because their government, instead of delivering results for them on the economy and other key issues, has spent all their time focused on issues outside their borders, fomenting disruptions in Yemen, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon.

And there's a lesson there for leaders around the world, for Vladimir Putin, even for Donald Trump. If you focus outside the border, instead of delivering the results that your people expect from you, you're going to face uprisings like this.

BOLDUAN: All of this is related, quite honestly, to what you have been working so much on. You were the driving force behind the War Powers Resolution that passed the Senate yesterday. It passed with Republican support, which is a, you know, rebuke of President Trump.

[09:35:00]

But the criticism of the War Powers Resolution is, I'll sum it up, is twofold. Like this. Lindsey Graham saying this.

"Today's vote in the U.S. Senate on the Venezuela War Powers Resolution was a gift to our enemies, will encourage more bad behavior in Venezuela, and it is an unconstitutional attempt to restrict the power of the Commander-in-Chief."

The other criticism coming in the form of, you know, what's the point? Because Donald Trump will veto it if it makes it to his desk. What's your response?

KAINE: Kate, the point is the Constitution. The Constitution says we're not supposed to be at war without a vote of Congress. And to Lindsey Graham's point that it's unconstitutional, here is what my vote was.

My vote was that this war that essentially began in September in which about 200 Venezuelans have been killed and American troops are now injured and hospitalized, it's time to get it out of the secure facility and put it before the American public. My vote was to take a bill that was being locked up in committee with no chance of a hearing and instead put this debate on the floor of the Senate so the entire American people can see it. We don't want to send our sons and daughters to war on the say-so of a president without a congressional debate and vote.

We will now finally, four months into this, have that debate and vote next week. And that's the way it should be. And in terms of is it meaningless, you're right that the president could well veto it if it gets to his desk.

But guess what? He said at about 4 a.m. this morning that he had just called off a second round of military strikes against Venezuela. The president is very sensitive to public opinion.

He understands what it means when Republicans start to vote against him saying, hold on a second. You haven't given us a plan. You're saying you want to occupy the country for years.

You're saying you want to go after other nations like Mexico and Greenland. We need to have a debate. And so, yes, the president has now called off a second wave of strikes against Venezuela because he realizes that Congress, acting on behalf of the American public, is telling him this does not look good to us.

BOLDUAN: Also, another pressing issue before you all right now is the House just passed an extension to the health care subsidies that was the driving force for the extended government shutdown at the end of last year. A reminder to all, you voted to reopen the government with that promise. You were a small group that did in order to reopen the government at the very end.

It's not going -- it passed the House is not going to survive the Senate, likely. You were part of a bipartisan group, though, trying to figure out a compromise that can actually make it through the Senate. Candidly, how far are you from the finish line on on this?

KAINE: Kate, I think we have a fighting chance. So I've been backing and forthing via text and e-mail this morning before I'm on your show with this bipartisan group. The House passed a three year extension that will come over.

We'll have a vote on it. If that passes, great. We've solved this.

But we also are talking with Republicans in case it can't get 60 votes in the Senate. Are there other things we might be able to agree to? And it's a small group and obviously the group is too small to on our own do anything.

But we're we're moving toward a place where we hope to be able to have a proposal we could present to each of our caucuses. So I would say no guarantee we're not there yet, but we've got a fighting chance and we have to do it. Twenty four million people's health care is at stake.

BOLDUAN: Senator Tim Kaine, in the middle of quite a lot right now that's happening in Washington and beyond. Thank you so much for coming in this morning -- John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: There's a lot going on all over the place this morning, breaking this morning. The economy added just 50,000 jobs in December, the weakest year of job growth since the pandemic. One analyst says the economy is undergoing a jobless boom.

And black women two to three times more likely to die in childbirth. A health advocate who dedicated her life to saving others.

[09:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: This morning, Oregon state officials have launched an investigation into a shooting by a federal Border Patrol agent that injured two people. DHS officials say the Border Patrol agent shot in self-defense and the two people shot were affiliated with the Venezuelan gang, Tren de Aragua.

With us now is the attorney general of Oregon who launched this investigation, Dan Rayfield. Mr. Attorney General, thanks so much for being with us. Bring us up to speed.

What have you found? What are you investigating specifically?

DAN RAYFIELD, (D) OREGON ATTORNEY GENERAL: Yes, I mean, it's pretty simple. Here in Oregon, I think in any community across the United States, especially right now, what we want is transparency and what's going on, especially when we've had two shootings in two days and we want accountability when it's appropriate. It's very early on right now.

So we are conducting an investigation in partnership with the Portland police that is going to be a parallel investigation with the FBI. And right now we have good cooperation as we're starting to move forward and just kind of uncovering some of the initial facts as we begin this investigation.

BERMAN: Is there any reason to believe that the agent involved, the agents involved, were not acting in self-defense?

RAYFIELD: Right now, it's very early to make conclusions one way or the other. I think that's the tough thing right now at this point in our democracy, the trust in our judicial system where there's a lot of doubt given the aggressive nature that the federal government has been pushing some of their interactions. So having a concurrent or what I would say parallel investigations, we're really trying to disclose in a transparent fashion what actually occurred.

Hopefully we'll lend trust and credibility to the result of any investigation at the end of this. So it's still pretty early to be able to say whether, you know, what happened and what did not happen.

BERMAN: You said parallel investigations, which is interesting phraseology.

[09:45:00]

In Minnesota, the state basically said, we're not getting any cooperation from the federal government, so we can't actually do an investigation the way we should right now. What is the cooperation you're getting from the federal government?

RAYFIELD: Well, right now we had local police on the scene with the FBI. And so it's a situation where you kind of have concurrent, what I would say responsibilities or authority in this situation. So the federal government -- the FBI -- can pursue their own independent investigation, as well as we have jurisdiction here under state laws for things that go on.

And so that's why you'll see a parallel or a concurrent investigation. And again, right now, I think we're very fortunate to have cooperation as we're looking into what's going on on the ground.

BERMAN: OK, that appears to be a different situation from Minneapolis. If there is cooperation, is there a sharing of evidence?

RAYFIELD: Yes. And again, this is very early on and this was just happened yesterday. Right now, what it is and you think about a typical investigation, there's going to be interviews, there's going to be collection of evidence, the normal things that go on in any investigation for any crime, those types of things.

Often it's very routine that you have multiple law enforcement agencies that are working together in kind of, as you say, evidence sharing, kind of having conversations being a liaison between different law enforcement agencies. And so far, you know, it's very early. We've had some positive results.

It does sound a little bit different than what's going on in Minnesota. But again, it's very early. Things can change.

I think ultimately we're values based here in Oregon. And what we know is that Oregonians demand transparency and they demand accountability when it's appropriate. And so we have a responsibility as a state, independently of what the federal government does, to draw out these facts and make sure that we shed light on what did or did not occur.

BERMAN: Any word on the identity of the people who were shot? Were they, as Homeland Security is saying, connected to the Tren de Aragua gang?

RAYFIELD: Yes, and I know the federal government really likes to toss out and kind of posture very early on in some of these cases, which I think, you know, if you are representing those law enforcement agencies, that's probably what you're going to do is we're conducting investigation. You know, the details of those things, we're not prepared to discuss those at this time.

BERMAN: Attorney General Dan Rayfield from Oregon, we appreciate your time this morning. Thank you -- Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Ahead. It's not a golden ticket. It's a golden cup that you need to watch out for. Chick-fil-A giving you a chance to win something that could go a long way in helping your personal economy.

And tornadoes ripped through parts of the United States. The storm system now threatens a new round of severe weather and flooding ahead of this weekend, where all that is happening ahead.

[09:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: Black women in America are three times more likely to die from childbirth. It's a reality Dr. Janell Green Smith spent her life trying to change. She became a certified midwife in 2021, dedicating her work to protecting Black mothers.

But at just 31-years-old, in a cruel twist, Dr. Smith died from complications during the birth of her first child earlier this year. The National Black Nurses Association, heartbroken by the turn of events, said this about her death. "It is inseparable from a national Black maternal health crisis shaped by inequity, bias and structural neglect. Dr. Green Smith's knowledge did not shield her. Her credentials did not protect her. That reality demands more than reflection. It demands accountability."

Joining me now is Dr. Chris Pernell, director for the NAACP Center for Health Equity. Thank you for being here. This is an important story with all that is going on.

We didn't want to not mark what happened here. And I just want to get your thoughts first on Dr. Green Smith and the tragedy that unfolded in her case.

DR. CHRIS PERNELL, DIRECTOR, NAACP CENTER FOR HEALTH EQUITY: Yes, good morning, Sara. It's a gut punch. And this nation has to have the accountability and the resolve to solve this crisis.

What we know is actually the Black maternal mortality crisis is worsening compared to other racial and ethnic groups. Coming out of the pandemic, when we saw a spike, we started to see improvement among certain groups of people, but that number actually got worse in Black and African-American birthing people. If you think about the fact that we live in a system where there is systemic injustices and inequities, if you think about there are maternity care deserts across the United States, and also we're in a time period where we're retracting access to care, this is more than a wake-up call.

This is a yell and an unfortunate, a tragic hurdling off of a cliff.

SIDNER: It was really shocking, just because she had dedicated her life to trying to help other women, and here she, on her first child, ends up dying. Why is it? What are the -- are there many reasons, or can you point to one very big, specific reason as to why black women are in so much more peril than their counterparts and their white counterparts in particular?

PERNELL: Well, let's start with the fact that 80 percent of postpartum or pregnancy-related deaths are preventable, and that in and of itself is shocking. The fact that there could have been some intervention, there could have been something done differently, the fact that there could have been a greater level of vigilance would have saved a lot of lives. When you start to think about Black women, what we know is that Black women disproportionately suffer from the leading causes of the complications of childbirth.

Whether that is issues with the heart, whether that's high blood pressure, whether that's mental health issues or even severe bleeding or hemorrhage. We know that there's a disproportionate burden on Black women. And then you layer on top of that systemic discrimination and bias.

You layer on top of that neglect because of the lack of socially and culturally fluent care. Look, we just saw two other Black women go through very painful experiences around childbirth, not being addressed or validated when we were in discomfort or pain, being forced to deliver in a vehicle. So this is a problem due to racism and not so much due to race.

SIDNER: Look, we just heard the statement for the National Black Nurses Association saying her credentials didn't protect her. The reality demands more than reflection. It demands accountability.

What does that look like? And can you give advice to women on how they can start to help protect themselves, even though it should never be put on just them?

[09:55:00]

PERNELL: Yes, so we talk a lot in the Center for Health Equity at the NAACP, and just as a part of my practice as a public health and preventive medicine physician around the role of advocacy, right? Learning how best to advocate for yourself or a loved one, and then how to advocate for the resources in community that will promote health and well-being.

So we know that a lot of the predisposing factors that might contribute to that high blood pressure or that heart problem or those mental health conditions are present before a person even is pregnant. So making sure that people have timely treatment, making sure that people have broad access to healthcare that is safe, that is high quality, that is socially and culturally fluent. Demanding of your doctor an explanation if you ever don't understand in something or if you feel like you're not being heard.

SIDNER: Now, those are all good pieces of advice and infant mortality rates are also high across the board in this country. So there's a lot of things that women have to deal with throughout this. Thank you so much, Dr. Pernell. I do appreciate your stance on this. All right.

BERMAN: Thank you all for joining us. This has been CNN NEWS CENTRAL. Go Patriots, go Rams, go Hoosiers.

BOLDUAN: Oh, yes.

BERMAN: We all got skin in the game over the next couple days.

"THE SITUATION ROOM" up next.