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Death Toll Surges in Iran's Crackdown on Anti-Government Protests; Emotional Testimony Resumes in Trial of Former Uvalde Police Officer; Trump Issues Proposals to Address Affordability Crisis. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired January 14, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The complaint also states have Pittman admitted to the crime while laughing, saying he, quote, finally got them. Pittman's dad turned him into police.

CNN spoke to the synagogue's rabbi Benjamin Russell.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN RUSSELL, RABBI, BETH ISRAEL CONGREGATION: Sadness, anger, bitterness, lots of emotions come up. You realize that everything around is destroyed and it's -- you feel like you've been violated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Understandably so. The synagogue says it could take at least a year now to repair the damage done to the building. And those scars run so much deeper than that when you consider that. John?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Horrible. All right, new this morning, what about the kids? Perhaps no groups swung more in the 2024 election than younger voters. They were decisive in Donald Trump's win. We've gotten new data this morning on what they think now.

With us now, CNN Chief Data Analyst, Harry Enten. There've been some pretty big shifts here.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA REPORTER: Yes, these guys are swingers. That's what we're talking about here. Take a look here, Generation Z, John, like that. Gen Z party I.D. margin Dems versus the GOP in 2024, look at this, it was just a six-point margin between the Democrats and Republicans. Democrats just led by six points, very small. Remember, Donald Trump did very well for a Republican candidate amongst the youngest part of the electorate.

But take a look here, 2025, hello, a huge widening of the lead four Democrats among Generation Z, tripling their lead on party identification from six all the way up to 20. That was in fact the largest shift considerably more so than any other group. Yes, there was a shift in the overall electorate, but this, more than double the shift that we saw among the electorate at large towards the Democratic Party. BERMAN: Okay. And we said it was decisive for Donald Trump. How have opinions shifted toward Donald Trump among this group?

ENTEN: Okay. So, this, in some ways, you know, you might say this, oh, this doesn't necessarily apply to Donald Trump. It absolutely does apply to Donald Trump. I mean, he has just fallen off a cliff when it comes to Generation Z. Look at this Donald Trump's net approval rating in February of 2025, John said it right, wow.

BERMAN: This was actually a month into the administration.

ENTEN: This was a month into the administration. He was at plus ten points in the net approval rating. He was on the right side of the ledger. Look at this, falling off that cliff, that is a drop of 42 points to negative 32 points on the net approval rating amongst Generation Z.

My goodness gracious, this, as I said, is a very swingy group, and it has swung very much away from Donald John Trump.

BERMAN: And if anyone knows swingers, Harry, as we said. But why? Why and what does it mean going forward for this group?

ENTEN: Okay. So, if I'm Democrats, you know, I'm celebrating, yay, you know, Donald Trump has fallen off a cliff, yay, we've gained in terms of the party I.D. margin. Now, what's important here includes independents who lean towards a party, independents being the key word up there, Generation Z is more independent than any other generation, and you can see it here.

Take a look here. 56 percent of Generation Z self-identify as independents when you don't push them towards a party compared to just 40 percent the average of the other generations. So, yes, they are in the Democratic camp right now. They don't like what Donald Trump is doing. But, look, that ball can easily go back into the other court. Right now, Democrats got to take that ball off the ground. We're in the NFL playoffs and they got to run with that ball. Because if they don't, I can assure you that the Republican Party will, as we saw in the 2024 election,

BERMAN: A very fickle group, to be sure.

All right, Harry Enten, thank you very much for that.

ENTEN: Thank you.

BERMAN: Sara?

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. This morning, new threats from President Trump against the Iranian regime. The president warning, the U.S. will take strong action against Iran if it executes detained protesters. Today, the U.S. State Department says a 26-year-old protester Erfan Soltani may be executed. His family saying it will happen after a rushed sham trial where he wasn't even afforded a lawyer. According to the U.S.-based human rights activist news agency, at least 2,400 protesters have already been killed, and more than 18,000 people have been arrested so far.

Joining us now is Holly Dagres, a senior fellow at the Washington Institute. Thank you for being here. I know that you spent your teenage years in Iran until the early 2000s, and you've stayed in close touch with what is going on in the country. What are you learning about the protester that the State Department and his family says is about to be executed with not even an attempt at a trial?

HOLLY DAGRES, SENIOR FELLOW, THE WASHINGTON INSTITUTE: Well, as the viewers might know, since Thursday, there was an internet shutdown and a communication shutdown. We were unable to reach our families via phone line for days. And it was only yesterday that I received call from family in Tehran that were on static, which -- and it was saying -- they were saying that they were fine, but they weren't communicating much about the developments on the ground.

[08:35:04]

But what we're receiving now from brave Iranians via Starlink, via some of those calls is that what -- the scenes are horrific. There was a killing spree. The Tehran's largest cemetery, Behesht-e Zahra, is over -- they're deciding that they're not even going to charge for the graves, that they're not even going to charge for the burial shrouds because of how cost -- because of how many bodies have piled up. And I should note that there's credible documentation that there's over 12,000 that have been killed.

SIDNER: We're looking at some of the images that have been able to come out of Iran. As you said, the regime is trying to crush any kind of information coming out from the protester's perspective.

You argue in your title for your op-ed for The New York Times, Iran is teetering, the west isn't prepared. What did you mean by that?

DAGRES: What I was saying is that we've had cyclical anti-regime protests for years now, and instead of heeding the calls to the Iranian people, that they want -- no longer want this regime, we've decided we're always going to push for diplomacy and live with the status quo. And given the events in the post-October 7th world, the maiming of the proxies of the Islamic Republic, the fall of its top ally, Bashar al-Assad, the outcome of the 12-day war that has left its nuclear program in shambles, and, of course, the domestic events on the ground, where Iranians are unable to feed their families and they're running out of water in Tehran at some point, at least according to some reports, it's created a dynamic where it seems that it's on the path to regime collapse.

And it's not just something I've said. We've had Iran expert Karim Sadjadpour and Jack Goldstone, an expert on revolutions and social uprising, saying that for the first time in the Islamic Republic's 47- year history, they've checked all five boxes for regime collapse this winter. SIDNER: These protests, which began back in December and, and spread across all Iran's provinces, and there's now this brutal deadly crackdown by the regime, are protesting Iranians expecting U.S. intervention after all the comments that President Trump has made, from what you can gather?

DAGRES: It's hard to read exactly what the protesters want given that we're unable to contact them. But I have to say that before the communication shut down, there were videos of protesters changing the signs that in Tehran, for example, to President Trump and making plea videos and asking for help. And I've seen at least one video of a protester that fled the country that's going viral, and he's talking about the massacre that's happening under this dark internet shutdown, and it's asking for help. So, you're hearing different messages right now.

And I think there is an expectation once you start making those kind of comments as president of the United States, I think there is an expectation, at least from some Iranians said, that he is going to make good on that promise.

SIDNER: You talked about the several things, the boxes that were checked when it comes to the potential of regime change. Are you seeing any sense from inside the regime that regime change could happen?

DAGRES: Again, with the internet shutdown, it's really hard to see what's happening inside the country and the conversations being had. I should note that the Islamic Republic has been resorting to its old playbook of accusing this organic uprising as being something, a plot of foreign agents and calling them, quote/unquote, rioters. So, they're saying that Israel and the United. States are the reason that these protesters are out in the street and that they have armed and paid them.

And so I think that we should highlight again that this is an organic uprising, that the Iranian people don't want this regime. And this is the kind of language that the regime is going to be resorting to, to cover up the atrocities that they've committed, which, by the way, they've committed crimes against humanity in the past. We saw this in the 2022 Women Life Freedom uprising, which the United Nations fact- finding reported on at the time.

SIDNER: Holly Dagres, thank you so much for giving us some insight, even though it's very, very hard to figure out exactly what is going on because of the crunching of the communications from regular everyday Iranians. We do appreciate you coming on. Kate?

BOLDUAN: So, this morning is set to -- this morning, testimony is set to resume in the trial of former Uvalde School Police Officer Adrian Gonzales. Yesterday, emotions were running very high as witnesses took the stand to face questions about the 2022 tragedy at Robb Elementary, when 19 students and two teachers were killed. A surviving teacher recalled her experience on that horrific day.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I was in so much pain towards the end there. My body was -- I know I was going into shock because my legs were already starting to shake.

[08:40:02]

My whole body was starting to shake. And I knew -- I kept praying, you know, God, please don't let me die. I said I was just (INAUDIBLE).

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Also in court, a warning from the judge after the sister of one of the teachers killed broke down with an emotional outburst and was then taken out of the courtroom.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VELMA DURAN, SISTER MURDERED TEACHER IMRA GARCIA: Do you know who went into the fatal funnel? My sister went into the fatal funnel. Did she need a key? Why do you need a key?

JUDGE SID HARLE, PRESIDING OVER ADRIAN GONZALES TRIAL: Ma'am, go ahead and let her --

DURAN: (INAUDIBLE) saying she didn't lock her door. She went into the -- she went into that fatal tunnel. (INAUDIBLE).

HARLE: I want this case to go to verdict. Any further outburst will just echo the attempt for another motion for mistrial. So, please think about that. We're trying to get this case to the jury and these are not helping. And soon enough, if it continues, I will have no choice but to grant a mistrial. So, please think about that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Joining us right now is CNN Legal Analyst and Criminal Defense Attorney Joey Jackson. So, Joey, you hear the judge warning that moments like that could very well lead to a mistrial. Why would that, just on the basis of to how -- I mean, you've been in so many trials you've been involved with. Why would that be the case? How problematic is something like that in a jury trial?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: So, Kate, good morning to you. It's very problematic because you have a jury that's impaneled and they're susceptible to a motion. Now, a jury is not supposed to really consider a motion at all. They're supposed to be dispassionate and just evaluate it on the facts. But, Kate, we're human beings. And I think when we speak about this, you know, we have to look at it from the perspective of the person who had the outburst.

Now, should it have happened? Absolutely not. Is it appropriate? It's not. But this is the sister of a victim, a teacher, one of two that was killed. How do you anticipate or expect they would react? But the judge has to take control, because if the jury is inflamed with passions, now they can be susceptible to making a determination, not based on the facts and the evidence inside that courtroom, but based upon wanting to really get vengeance for what happened here, and that's not the way trial should be conducted.

BOLDUAN: The -- Adrian Gonzales, the man on trial is charged with 29 counts of child endangerment and abandonment, what is this trial really going to come down to, do you think?

JACKSON: So, it's a battle of narratives. On the one hand, you have the prosecutors who are saying, sir, we didn't expect you to commit suicide, but we did expect you to do something to impede this shooter, to distract him, to delay him, to engage in some action. In order to do that, you have to establish he had a duty. How do you establish that? He was the school resource officer, the person responsible for keeping him safe. He didn't, according to prosecutors, do enough in order to do that. And when you do that, you consciously disregard the risk when there's a shooter that someone should be killed.

From the defense's perspective, what they're saying is, not so fast. There were about 400 law enforcement officials who responded. Why are you scapegoating my client? And, by the way, my client did do things. He radioed for help. He helped evacuate people, the students, out of the building. But they're arguing, the defense is, that there's one shooter, one monster, according to them, he's dead. So, keep your eye on the prize.

And also, Kate, very quickly, you know, this is very uncommon. What I mean by that is prosecutions like this. We saw it in Parkland in Florida.

BOLDUAN: Right.

JACKSON: And in that situation, the officer was acquitted in Florida because there was an evaluation based upon, yes, people are upset, and they should be. We don't send our children to school for anything like this to remotely happen. But the issue is, was it the officer's fault and responsibility or was it the fault of the gunman, and were there other breakdowns that could be improved for future reference?

BOLDUAN: The jury also heard, I think it was the full hour of one of his first interviews, one of the first interviews with Adrian Gonzales. It now seems to be a pretty key piece of evidence in this trial. What is it about that, or what are you seeing in that?

JACKSON: So, what happens is that always the question is asked, will the defendant testify? Now, there's various ways to testify. Remember that you can get on the witness stand and be subject to cross- examination. He still might. The defense has a case. But he actually gave testimony, right? Not in that courtroom live, but he really gave an insight into his mindset why he did what he did, why he failed to act, what specific steps he took justifications as to not specifically knowing where the shooter was, justifications as to going in and then running back from the hallway.

And so it gives the jury a sense, Kate, of his state of mind. And I think that's significant when they're evaluating, did you act? And if you didn't act, why didn't you? And should you be criminally responsible based upon all the carnage caused by this gunman.

[08:45:00]

So, very important hearing from him, again, not on the witness stand, but hearing the recorded testimony when he was interviewed the day after.

BOLDUAN: And the testimony is set to pick back up this morning. Thank you, Joey.

JACKSON: Always. Thanks, Kate.

BOLDUAN: John?

BERMAN: Actor Kiefer Sutherland arrested and accused of assaulting a ride share driver.

And hundreds of teenagers and bicycles take over a lane on a busy highway. Kate Bolduan tells me she's seen this before and lived to tell the story.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right. This morning, an Arizona teenager has what might seem like an unusual request for his birthday.

[08:50:02]

Trent Carson doesn't want anything for himself. He wants to help others. It started when he was young.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELISSA CARSON, TRENT'S MOM: He just was like, you know what? I don't want presents for my birthday. Like can you guys just give me, you know, stuff to make a bag lunch and give sandwiches and blankets out to the homeless? And it kind of took me by surprise, because what five-year-old is going to ask for that for his birthday?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: That was when he was five. Trent's founded his own non- profit, Trent Cares, feeding the homeless in Arizona. Kate?

BOLDUAN: I mean, that is the example for everyone we need. That's amazing.

Let's turn here now. It has been a busy few days on Wall Street as investors digest and try to make sense of a whirlwind of action and new proposals from President Trump, as he tries once again to tackle the affordability crisis plaguing Americans from coast to coast.

Just yesterday, we learned inflation remained at 2.7 percent in December, capping off a year that saw progress, but only slight progress in consumer prices coming down. And consumers making clear they don't feel it. Some of the proposals that Trump is pitching now, capping credit card interest rates at 10 percent and rolling out a $200 billion mortgage bond purchase to try to make housing more affordable. And, again, he's floating using tariff revenue to issue $2,000 rebate checks to America.

And then there is the Fed fight, the unprecedented criminal investigation into the Federal Reserve, and its chairman, Jerome Powell, the president just yesterday, once again attacking the Fed during his speech to the Detroit Economic Club.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Last week, the average 30-year mortgage up below 6 percent for the first time in many years. It's coming down very rapidly, and that's not with the help of the Fed. If I had the help of the Fed, it would be easier. But that jerk will be gone soon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: That jerk will be gone soon.

Joining me now is Madison Mills, senior markets reporter with Axios. It's good to see you, Madison.

I like the way you wrote about kind of this deluge of action, if you will. The fire hose of policy from Washington hasn't shaken investors yet. Why?

MADISON MILLS, SENIOR MARKETS REPORTER, AXIOS: Yes, it's sort of the flood the zone mentality, but it's coming from Washington to Wall Street this time. And investors that I talk to say that it's two things that are making them sort of shrug off everything coming from the president right now. One of them is that a lot of these policies that we talk through, it's not clear that they're official yet.

For example, the president talked about a cap on credit card interest rates. The bank earnings that are happening this week, which is why I am at home this morning, because I've been on these bank earnings calls all morning, the bank CEOs are telling us that they are not even pricing out what that could look like because they don't necessarily think that's going to be a reality.

So, part of it is that thinking that policy is maybe not going to come true. And the other thing is the A.I. rally happening in the stock market right now. None of the policies that the president has talked through to address the affordability crisis would negatively impact the big tech names. And those are the companies that are defining the rally in the stock market right now.

So, sources tell me that as long as the president's policies don't impact those A.I. stocks, the stock market's going to continue to grind higher.

BOLDUAN: It is really interesting. We'll deal with reality when it becomes reality. I mean, I guess that's a realistic way of thinking.

Why does A.I add up to mean so much more than what is right before them, if you will? Is it just keeping an eye on kind of the real, long game that is looming out there, or is it something that you're gathering is kind of Trump-specific when it comes to how investors are acting and reacting?

MILLS: Yes. You know, there's always been this sort of adage on Wall Street that like the money matters and the policy in Washington doesn't. And, in fact, investors just prefer if there's a lot of gridlock and policies don't end up coming true, because then they don't have to worry about trading off of those policies, but they don't really care what the policy is. They just want clarity so that they can trade off it.

But to your point on A.I., which you put so well, what is the long game there? Investors, you know, want to get into companies before there's a huge growth rally in them. You buy low and sell high. And there's an idea that A.I is going to define our future, completely change the world, and investors want to be in on that trade.

Having said that, these A.I. stocks, they've gotten pretty expensive, so there's also a lot of back and forth about whether or not we're going to see an A.I. bubble, ala the dotcom bubble, that happened heading into the year 2000. But stock market right now, the A.I. names driving it are making up about half of the gains that we see. So, it's impossible to ignore how critical those tech stocks are to this rally.

BOLDUAN: That's an important perspective that kind of data point that you're putting in there.

Real quick, when it comes to Jay Powell's investigation, you told me earlier that and how the investors are shrugging it off, that it, really, everyone's keeping an eye on the bond markets to kind of set the real reaction, but now you added a new, fun twist to it. What does gold have to do with it?

MILLS: Oh, yes. Well, the -- it's fascinating. We're seeing a lot of central banks around the world de-dollarize. What does that mean? It means that a lot of countries store their money in dollars, and they're starting to store their money in other assets, particularly as trust in U.S. institutions starts to erode globally. So, that's part of why we're seeing such a huge rally in gold because a lot of banks around the world are putting their money in gold instead of the dollar.

BOLDUAN: So, stand by to stand by, let's see what happens tomorrow.

It's good to see Madison. Thank you so much. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, Kate.

On our radar for you this morning, a dangerous scene on a California freeway, dash cam video showing more than a hundred teens and some younger kids riding their bicycles in the slow lane. It's apparently an ongoing issue in the city of Manteca. And the mayor says, parents need to do more to keep their kids safe and stop this. He posted on Facebook blaming a, quote, lack of supervision and accountability.

All right, after Kiefer Sutherland was arrested for allegedly assaulting and threatening a ride share driver in California, Los Angeles Police say it happened just after midnight. The actor is best known for his role in the T.V. series, 24, among many other things. Sutherland has since been released from jail after posting bail. CNN has reached out for comment, but we have not heard back.

All right, this morning, dramatic dash cam video showing the moment two toddlers are saved after wandering into a busy freeway intersection. Look at that. The person who rescued them, by the way, complete stranger, he was driving his car. He jumped out to try to do something to help them. He immediately pulled over and, and grabbed those two little girls from the middle of the road. The toddlers were reunited with family. They are fine. But the family said that they had no idea that the children had gotten out. They had escaped through a back gate. John?

BERMAN: Glad that man was there.

SIDNER: Yes.

BERMAN: All right. New this morning, fed up because World Cup tickets are too high, the prices? Can't make the long flight to Italy for the Winter Olympics, which are actually about to begin? Never fear, the first step to buy tickets for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, it all opens today.

With us now is Casey Wasserman, he's the chairman of L.A. 28, very nice to see you. So, I can go online and buy tickets to the Summer Olympics in 2028 today?

CASEY WASSERMAN, CHAIRMAN, L.A. 28: In about an hour, you can go on and register for tickets. So, we'll have a couple months of registration. And then starting in early April, you'll get a notification of what your window is to buy tickets. And people in L.A. and Oklahoma City will go first for a few days, as they're the host cities, and then after that, open to the world to buy tickets. And we're going to put about 2.5 half million tickets on sale to start with.

BERMAN: So, it's the beginning of a process for a lottery where I can buy tickets in a few months, yes?

WASSERMAN: We want to control the madness, so to speak, and make it fair for everyone. We're really trying to treat Olympic tickets differently than it has in the past. We're not actually forcing people to package tickets, so buy good events with events that they don't want. And, obviously, the affordability tickets is a big opportunity to make sure everyone sees the games.

BERMAN: Yes. I mean, affordability is a big thing. I can just tell you anecdotally, I'm a huge soccer fan. World Cup tickets, all my friends who are trying to get them. You need to take out like a, you know, multiple mortgages to buy nosebleed seats. How will you guarantee that Olympics tickets will be affordable?

WASSERMAN: Well, a couple things. One, we think this phased approach, we'll manage the best we can, people who have other agendas with buying tickets early. But more importantly, we've got a million tickets at $28, every single event, every session, which means even gold medal men's basketball has a ticket for $28 and a third of our tickets are under $100. And two thirds of our tickets are less than a cost to go to an NFL game in Los Angeles.

And so it's important to make these, the people's games and have everyone able to have access to experience the, the majesty of an Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

BERMAN: A third of your tickets are under $100. I hadn't heard that statistic.

BERMAN: Yep. It's really important given the venue sizes we have, we really wanted to make sure to take advantage of that from a pricing perspective to make the venues really accessible.

BERMAN: So, this is the third time Los Angeles will host the Summer Olympics. You know, what will be different? What have you learned from 1932?

WASSERMAN: Yes. The history books are well-written. Although we are adding flag football in 2028, and actually American football was a demonstration sport in 1932. So, they had a good vision back then.

Look, what we need to do is make sure that these games make the city of L.A. better than before the games.

[09:00:00]

And that's about legacy. That's about putting L.A., continuing on a trajectory like we did after 1984 and making sure these benefit the entire communities we are in, whether it's Los Angeles, Oklahoma City, or some of the soccer preliminary cities. These games, because they are privately funded and privately operated, they are truly a gift to the communities we operate in.

BERMAN: I don't remember 1932, but I do vividly remember 1984 and those were seminal games, so big for the United States, so big for Los Angeles, so big for so many different types of amateur athletics.

Casey Wasserman, great to see you this morning, thank you.

A brand new hour of CNN News Central starts now.