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White House Holds Press Briefing; Astronauts Return Home; Unrest in Minneapolis; Trump Meets With Venezuelan Opposition Leader. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired January 15, 2026 - 13:00   ET

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

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BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: A critical meeting with Venezuela's future at stake. Right now, President Trump is face-to-face with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado just one day after he praised the Maduro ally who is now in power. We're standing by for a White House briefing.

Unrest in Minneapolis, protesters clashing with law enforcement officers near the spot where a federal agent shot a man who had allegedly assaulted him. The president is now warning he could move to deploy U.S. troops to the state.

JIM SCIUTTO, CNN HOST: And returning to Earth. Four astronauts splashed down early from the International Space Station after an unprecedented medical evacuation.

We are following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

KEILAR: We have breaking news.

President Trump is hosting Venezuelan opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Corina Machado right now at the White House. The two are having a private lunch as Machado is seeking the president's support after Nicolas Maduro's ouster by the U.S. military.

So far, though, Trump seems keen on keeping her rival in power. Just yesterday, President Trump praised Maduro ally Delcy Rodriguez, calling her a -- quote -- "terrific person," while he has said Machado lacks the support and respect needed to lead, all of this as U.S. forces continue operations in the region, earlier, the military seizing its sixth oil tanker in two months.

Kristen Holmes is at the White House for a press conference, where the press briefing, I should say, is about to begin.

Kristen, what are you hearing there? KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this

meeting is going on now behind closed doors.

Lots of questions as to whether or not they would allow cameras in, but for now it appears that they won't. This is the first time the two of them, Machado and Trump, are sitting down face-to-face. And it should be noted, you talked about Delcy Rodriguez, the now-acting president. She is very much still part of the Maduro regime, Machado part of the opposition.

And we were told that part of the reason they focused on keeping Rodriguez in place was for this stability. But I was also told by sources and U.S. officials that President Trump had never really grown warm to Machado. And that was also part of his comments when he said she didn't have the respect or support of the Venezuelan people to lead.

So we will see what comes out of this. And, of course, one of the biggest questions looming over this is the Nobel Peace Prize. Machado was the winner in 2025, something that President Trump has coveted. And she had said she'd be willing to share this award with him. That was before they had this scheduled lunch.

We will see how that happens. But I want you to listen to what President Trump said when asked if his opinion of her would change if she did, in fact, give him that award.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: She's a terrific person. I mean, she's somebody that we have worked with very well.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN HOST: On Venezuela and your meeting with Machado next week, if she gives you her Nobel Peace Prize, will that change your view about her running that country?

TRUMP: Well, I have to speak to her. I mean, I'm going to have to speak to her. She might be involved in some aspect of it. I can't think of anybody in history that should get the Nobel Prize more than me.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: So, clearly not ruling that out. That will certainly come up in this briefing, lots of questions on that, on Iran, on the Insurrection Act that are all expected to be asked.

One thing I do want to note, despite President Trump's remarks when it comes to Machado, we have heard from a number of Republican lawmakers who are ecstatic about her, who are pushing her. We even heard from Republican Senator Rick Scott, a strong ally of President Trump's, earlier today, saying it was clear that she was eventually going to be president.

KEILAR: All right, we wonder what is going to happen there. It is a closed press event, but we will have to see if maybe we do get a glimpse of something.

Thank you so much, Kristen Holmes, for that report from the White House -- Jim.

SCIUTTO: Well, President Trump is now making a new and serious threat here at home, warning that he will invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy U.S. troops to Minnesota.

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This follows this chaotic scene in Minneapolis overnight officers deploying tear gas, pepper balls, and what sounded like flashbang grenades at protesters near the site of a second shooting involving a federal agent.

The Department of Homeland Security says a Venezuelan national was shot in the leg after DHS says he began to resist arrest and -- quote -- "violently assault" one of its officers. Earlier, after meeting with President Trump, the DHS secretary, Kristi Noem, said there are no plans to pull out of Minnesota.

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KRISTI NOEM, U.S. HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: We did discuss the Insurrection Act. He certainly has the constitutional authority to utilize that. My hope is that this leadership team in Minnesota will start the work with us to get criminals off the streets.

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SCIUTTO: CNN's Josh Campbell joins us now.

And, Josh, let's begin with the facts. What do we know about the circumstances of this latest shooting?

JOSH CAMPBELL, CNN SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, Minneapolis remains a flash point, as evidenced by what we saw last night.

What the Department of Homeland Security says is that agents were conducting a targeted arrest on a man who was unlawfully in this country from Venezuela. They say he fled, was involved in a car accident, and then fled on foot. An agent gave chase, and they say that man then began to assault the agent.

Again, you had them trying to take this person into custody. DHS also says that two other people came out of a nearby residence and also began to assault the agents. Take a listen here to additional comments that Secretary Noem said about what occurred last night.

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NOEM: Last night, what we saw was three individuals weaponized shovels and brooms that attack an ICE officer that had to defend himself. Our agent is beat up. He's bruised. He's injured. He's getting treatment. And we're thankful that he made it out alive.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAMPBELL: Now, one of those agents did open fire. The suspect there was shot in the leg.

But, after that, what we saw erupt later that evening, there were crowds that were gathered near that scene, at times becoming -- appearing to become unruly. There were vehicles that were vandalized. And we saw this really show of force by the feds there, launching, as you mentioned, tear gas, pepper balls, other projectiles to clear that crowd out.

And as you look at that imagery, I think that's what probably the White House is watching and the president as well. As you mentioned, he's now threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act based on some of the unrest that he has described there.

SCIUTTO: You have been looking at the tactics that these agents are using. And when you look at those tactics, both in terms of crowd control, but also the arrests that they're carrying out, are they escalatory or are they following training, regulations, and the law?

CAMPBELL: Well, that is another flash point here, because we have certainly heard from members there of the community who say that this is over the top, some of the aggressive actions that we have seen by agents as they're interacting not just with suspects, but also with some of these demonstrators, protesters that have shown up.

There have been certain videos that have come out that have certainly raised questions about the tactics. There was one incident I will show you where there was a man who was standing in front of an ICE vehicle filming, and you actually see an agent come around the front of that Ford Expedition there and shoves the man to the ground into oncoming traffic.

What you could barely see is that there's a bus that's coming that stops just as the man hits that lane. And so that has certainly caused controversy, that kind of tactic. It is unlawful to impede ICE, but to then see them responding that way, that has certainly become the latest flash point.

And there's another incident that we saw with the woman here who was driving near an area where ICE was conducting their operations. You see her proceed, even though they're telling her to stop. They eventually drag her out of the car. You can hear her saying: "I'm disabled." We believe she was on the way to some type of doctor's appointment.

So things are certainly tense there, based on what we're seeing. I will point out, as far as what the administration's line is, they say that these agents have the stamp of approval from the top. I want to get her words exactly right. Secretary Noem spoke a short time ago. She was asked about the tactics.

She said they are doing -- quote -- "everything correctly. Every single action that our ICE officers take is according to the law and following protocols that have been around for years used by various administrations."

And so, even though we continue to see these questions raised by the video, they're getting that stamp of approval from the top, saying that you're doing everything right.

SCIUTTO: Stamp of approval from the top. Serious legal questions.

CAMPBELL: Yes.

SCIUTTO: And many who look at police training raise questions as well.

Josh Campbell, thanks so much.

Still to come: We have splashdown. Four astronauts return to Earth after a medical issue forced them to leave the space station early. What's next for the sick space traveler?

Plus, as life slowly returns to normal in Iran, some Iranians say they are bracing for a possible response from President Trump.

And later: Grok gets more guardrails. Elon Musk says his A.I. chatbot has new restrictions after it generated revealing images of real-life people.

That and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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KEILAR: We're looking here at night-vision video of what is a successful space mission. This is splashdown here, the final stage of the first medical evacuation from the International Space Station that began yesterday afternoon.

The Dragon capsule ended up in the Pacific off San Diego at about 3:40 this morning, Eastern time carrying the four astronauts of Crew-11. One of them suffered a medical issue a week ago that prompted NASA to bring the crew back more than a month early.

With their return to Earth complete, Crew Commander Zena Cardman gave her thanks.

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ZENA CARDMAN, CREW-11 COMMANDER: SpaceX Dragon (INAUDIBLE) splashdown and mains are tied. SpaceX Dragon, it's so good to be home, with deep gratitude to the team that got us there and back.

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KEILAR: Now, the four members of SpaceX Crew-11 exited the capsule smiling and waving. NASA says they're spending the day undergoing medical checks, as is normal procedure.

CNN's Tom Foreman is here with the latest.

All right, Tom, what more are we learning about the astronaut with the medical issue? Do we know who, what, why?

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No. And we're learning almost nothing about it.

They have been very careful about guarding the privacy of these astronauts and the health concern here. They get off there, they're put onto gurneys, they're taken to a hospital. All of that's normal. And what we would expect is that, over the next few days, maybe they will all come out of the hospital, maybe one won't, but we may -- won't know which one.

NASA administrator Jared Isaacman spoke a little bit about it, but he didn't say much. Listen to his comments.

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JARED ISAACMAN, NASA ADMINISTRATOR: Without going any -- without going into specifics beyond what was already shared, obviously, we took this action because it was a serious medical condition, right?

So, in that respect, it was a serious situation. The astronaut in question is fine right now, good spirits and going through the proper medical checkouts.

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FOREMAN: So, doesn't really tell you what it is. It tells you it wasn't an urgent thing, they were able to stabilize it. But it also tells NASA and other folks, look, if you're going to go to Mars, you're going to go somewhere else further, you're going to have to have more robust measures on board, because you're not going to be able to bring them back if they're that far away.

KEILAR: Yes, it's a good lesson.

There are now only three people to staff the International Space Station, which, remember, is the size of a football field. You have got one American and then two Russians. So it's one American for their size of the football field. How does that work?

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FOREMAN: Well, it should work out pretty well. Remember, back in the early 2000s, this was normal. The ISS was three people back then. Then it slowly expanded to more folks.

So the general take that we're getting is that this will be fine, little more work for the people who are left there, but not something they can't handle. And NASA has talked about boosting up the next flight to get more people up there sooner. Probably won't be by that much, even if they can do it. Everything seems to be fine. The only issue now is to figure out what was going wrong with the

astronaut in question and whether this is something that can be better addressed in future flights.

KEILAR: Yes. Tom, thank you so much for that.

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KEILAR: And next: Forensics experts are now testifying in the double murder trial of a Virginia man accused of plotting and killing his wife -- of plotting and killing his wife -- plotting the killing of his wife with the family's au pair.

Plus, we have new unemployment data, what it tells us about the economy -- coming up.

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FOREMAN: Breaking news, White House press briefing under way. We join it in progress.

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QUESTION: ... Machado. Is it under way? What can you share about that?

And then, also, the president said yesterday that the Delcy Rodriguez was -- quote -- "a terrific person." Does the president trust the remaining members of the Maduro regime?

KAROLINE LEAVITT, WHITE HOUSE PRESS SECRETARY: I will say to your first question, the meeting was about to begin as I was stepping out of the Oval Office moments ago. So my understanding is that it's under way right now.

I know the president was looking forward to this meeting and he was expecting it to be a good and positive discussion with Ms. Machado, who is really a remarkable and brave voice for many of the people of Venezuela. So the president looks forward to obviously talking to her about the realities on the ground in the country and what is taking place.

As for Ms. Rodriguez, the president did speak with her directly this week, as you know. He revealed that to all of you yesterday. And Secretary Rubio and the administration have been in constant communication with Ms. Rodriguez and other members of the interim government in Venezuela.

They have been extremely cooperative. They have thus far met all of the demands and requests of the United States and of the president. And I think you have all seen that play out. We obviously had a $500 million energy deal that was struck in large part because of the cooperation from Ms. Rodriguez. Venezuela and Ms. Rodriguez have also confirmed that they will be

releasing political prisoners from Venezuela. There were five Americans who were recently released this week as well. So the president likes what he's seeing and will expect that cooperation to continue.

QUESTION: And regarding the investigation into the leak that the president referenced yesterday, what is the administration's position on "The Washington Post" reporter?

"The Post" has reported that she was told that she is not a target of the investigation. Does the administration believe she did anything wrong? And then, also, what is the administration's position on the Pentagon Papers case from the 1970s that affirmed reporters' right to publish classified information under certain circumstances?

LEAVITT: Well, since this is an active investigation, I don't want to comment on it much more than what we did yesterday to obviously confirm the investigation.

And I can confirm what the attorney general stated and the president as well, which is that the individual, unfortunately, a contractor at the Pentagon shows to unlawfully leak classified and very serious information to this "Washington Post" reporter, hence why the reporter's home was looked into by the FBI, rightfully so.

And the administration is not going to tolerate leaks, especially from within the national security apparatus of the United States government, that put our nation's integrity and our national security at risk, full stop. The president will not support that.

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I know the secretary of war will not support that, and it will not stand. And legal action will be taken against anyone, whether it's a member of the press or whether it's an employee for a federal agency, who breaks the law. If you break the law and if you endanger our men and women in uniform, you are going to be held accountable, period, full stop.

Jacqui.

QUESTION: Does this administration believe that this reporter or any reporter has a right to publish classified information under certain circumstances?

LEAVITT: Look, I think that we do not believe that individuals who have been given the privilege of holding a top secret clearance should be illegally leaking that classified information, and I know the American people agree with that.

And I think it's a basic tenet of journalistic integrity not to publish information that could directly endanger the operational security or the brave men and women who are serving this country in uniform and putting themselves in harm's way to protect not just the people of this administration, but all of you in the press and all of their fellow Americans as well.

Jacqui.

QUESTION: Thank you, Karoline.

I wanted to get the White House reaction to Iranian state TV broadcasting an implicit threat to the president's life. It was images of the assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, according to reports with the message: "This time, it will not go wrong."

LEAVITT: I have not seen that, to be honest with you, Jacqui. We will take a look, and I will let the president and his national security team examine that footage to ensure its legitimacy. Again, I haven't seen it, so I can't comment on it.

What I will say with respect to Iran is that the president and his team have communicated to the Iranian regime that, if the killing continues, there will be grave consequences, and the president received a message, as he revealed to all of you in the whole world yesterday, that the killing and the executions will stop.

And the president understands today that 800 executions that were scheduled and supposed to take place yesterday were halted, and so the president and his team are closely monitoring this situation, and all options remain on the table for the president.

QUESTION: Is it true that Netanyahu encouraged him against strikes?

LEAVITT: Look, it's true that the president spoke with Prime Minister Netanyahu, but I would never detail details about their conversation without giving the expressed approval by the president himself.

Weijia.

QUESTION: Thank you, Karoline.

Is it still the president's assessment that it would be very hard for Ms. Machado to lead Venezuela because he says she lacks the respect and support in that country, and will he raise that with her today?

LEAVITT: I think the president's assessment that you just pointed out was based on realities on the ground. It was a realistic assessment based on what the president was reading and hearing from his advisers and national security team.

And at this moment in time, his opinion on that matter has not changed.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: He has also said that he would like there to be elections in Venezuela when the time is right.

LEAVITT: That's right.

QUESTION: Do you have any update on when that might be? And is he committed to a transition to democracy for Venezuela?

LEAVITT: Yes, and he is also committed to hopefully seeing elections in Venezuela one day, but I don't have an updated timetable for you today.

Reagan in the back.

QUESTION: Thanks, Karoline. I have a question for you on Minnesota and then also Venezuela.

LEAVITT: Sure.

QUESTION: President Trump threatened invoking the Insurrection Act today in TRUTH Social post. I'm wondering what his tipping point is. Like, what would it take for him to revoke the Insurrection Act?

LEAVITT: Look, that's only a president -- question, frankly, Reagan, the president can answer. But the Insurrection Act is a tool at the president's disposal. As you know, it has been used sparingly, but it has been used by previous presidents in American history.

And I think the president's TRUTH Social post spoke very loud and clear to Democrats across this country, elected officials who are using their platforms to encourage violence against federal law enforcement officers, who are encouraging left-wing agitators to unlawfully obstruct legitimate law enforcement operations.

And if you talk to any law enforcement officer, no matter what level they work at, they want to be working with their counterparts, whether that's at the federal level or the federal authorities wanting to work with their counterparts at the state and local level.

And it's truly shameful that, now for more than a year, you have had elected Democrat governors and mayors who have basically held their state and local law enforcement hostage and told them, you cannot cooperate with federal law enforcement. Why? They cooperated under the Biden administration.

It's because these Democrats are deranged in their hatred for President Trump, and they are holding their state and local law enforcement hostage as a result. And these Democrat mayors and governors are doing this over what? Over the un -- over the lawful and legitimate law enforcement operations to remove violent criminals from the streets of Minnesota, from the streets of California, from the streets of New York, and from the streets of every state across this country.

And you don't see these -- these riots and -- and these -- this vandalism taking place in states like Florida. Why?