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European Powers Express Support For Greenland, Denmark; Donald Trump Administration Not Ruling Out Possible Use Of Military; Crackdown On Protesters Ramps Up Amid Warnings From Donald Trump; Venezuela Investigating Dozens of Deaths From U.S. Attack; U.S. Lawmakers to Get Classified Briefing on Venezuela; White House Discussing Range of Options to Acquire Greenland; Former Uvalde School Officer on Trial; Brown University Suspect Confessed in Series of Videos on Device; Judge Cancels Testimony in Trial of Former Uvalde School Cop; White House Website Says Peaceful Protesters Provoked by Law Enforcement on January 6th; Heavy Rains Cause Severe Flooding, Power Outages in Kosovo. Aired 2-3a ET

Aired January 07, 2026 - 02:00   ET

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

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:02:24]

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church.

Just ahead here on CNN NEWSROOM, the White House is discussing options to acquire Greenland and not ruling out using military force.

Millions of barrels of Venezuelan oil bound for the U.S. as lawmakers and leaders around the globe wonder what's next for Venezuela.

Plus, protests in Iran intensify as a cost-of-living crisis rips the country.

ANNOUNCER: Live from Atlanta. This is CNN NEWSROOM with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: Good to have you with us. The Trump administration is ramping up its warnings on Greenland. The White House says it's now discussing various ways to acquire the mineral rich island, and it's not ruling out military action. These are live images from Greenland, which has now asked for a meeting with the U.S. Secretary of State. Back in Washington, bipartisan criticism is coming from both branches of Congress. Many lawmakers say this rhetoric on Greenland and NATO ally Denmark is a very bad move.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARK WARNER (D-VA): I think the first few months, people kind of joked about Greenland, but the idea that he's potentially posing a serious military threat, nothing would lead to the absolute destruction of NATO more than American aggressive action against a long-term ally like Denmark. REP. DON BACON (R-NE): This is one of the silliest things I have heard come out of the White House in the last year, and it's unacceptable.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): This will be a work in progress. I'm trying to create a new and better relationship between the United States and Greenland.

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): Ultimately, the people of Greenland would have to vote, and potentially Denmark, I'm not sure who would have to vote, but you won't get there by insulting them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: And this is the latest wording from the White House. President Trump has made it well known that acquiring Greenland is a national security priority of the United States. The president and his team are discussing a range of options to pursue this important foreign policy goal, and of course, utilizing the U.S. military is always an option at the Commander in Chief's disposal.

Meanwhile, some of Washington's European allies are showing support for Denmark and Greenland. CNN's Melissa Bell explains.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The NATO secretary general, someone known to text with Trump, is coming to the president's defense, trying to downplay the issue that is tearing NATO apart. Trump's threat to annex Greenland.

[02:05:09]

BELL: So, you believe that the United States can be convinced that cooperation, rather than annexation, is the way forward?

MARK RUTTE, NATO SECRETARY-GENERAL: It's my absolute conviction that when it comes to NATO and the assessment of the situation in the north, we are all on the same page. The U.S. is heavily involved. And again, when it comes to Greenland, specifically, I know the Danes are totally open to have more U.S. troops in Greenland. They are fine. The agreements are there.

BELL: Rutte, of course, has a history of complimenting Trump in texts meant to be kept private.

Trump posted them on Truth Social, quoting Rutte as saying that Trump's action in Iran was truly extraordinary and something that no one else had dared to do, with Trump later saying that Russia had texted him about NATO's spending. You will achieve something no American president in decades could get done.

But on Tuesday, the NATO chief found himself once again caught in the middle of a crisis caused by the Trump administration's rhetoric on Greenland. Earlier, European leaders issued a joint response to the president's renewed claims over the arctic islands, saying Greenland belongs to its people. It is for Denmark and Greenland and them only to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.

Denmark's prime minister also hit back, reiterating Greenland does not want to be part of the United States and that the NATO alliance would be dead if Trump seized it by force.

METTE FREDERIKSEN, DANISH PRIME MINISTER: I also want to make it clear that if the United States chooses to attack another NATO country militarily, then everything stops. That is, including our NATO and thus the security that has been provided since the end of the Second World War.

BELL (voice-over): This, after Trump adviser Stephen Miller questioned Denmark's right to sovereignty over Greenland on CNN.

STEPHEN MILLER, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF FOR POLICY: The real question is by what right does Denmark assert control over Greenland? For the United States to secure the Arctic region, to protect and defend NATO and NATO interests, obviously, Greenland should be part of the United States.

BELL (voice-over): Trump has a long-held interest in obtaining the vast Arctic territory. Both Vice President Vance and Donald Trump Jr. have visited Greenland in the past year, and now the president is once again ratcheting the threats.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security, and Denmark is not going to be able to do it.

BELL (voice-over): After the dramatic U.S. operation to remove President Maduro and take control of Venezuela, many fear that Greenland could be next in Trump's sights.

Some Danish lawmakers have called for Europe to take a tougher stance against President Trump.

RASMUS JARLOV, DANISH MEMBER OF PARLIAMENT: I don't think it's strong enough. I'm afraid the Americans are not going to stop. We don't know if they're going to attack Greenland militarily or not. We will defend it and in that case, we would be at war.

BELL (voice-over): Though the possibility of war between two NATO Allies still seems unlikely, the Western military alliance is once again being plunged into uncertainty.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Meanwhile, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado is vowing the country will be a main ally of the U.S. following Maduro's capture. The exiled politician also says she's planning to go back to Venezuela as soon as possible.

And now, Machado, who just won the Nobel Peace Prize, is openly taking on the country's new leader, Delcy Rodriguez. Rodriguez had been serving as Maduro's Vice President and Minister of Petroleum up until his capture. She currently has the cautious backing of the Trump administration.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIA CORINA MACHADO, VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION LEADER: Everybody in Venezuela and abroad knows perfectly who she is and the role she has played.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Machado also accuses Rodriguez of cozying up to America's adversaries.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MACHADO: The main link, the main actor that has relations with Russia, with Iran and other countries that, you know, obscure in criminal activities in Venezuela.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The accusation comes after this video from Rodriguez who's swearing in ceremony on Monday. There you can see the ambassadors from China, Russia and Iran appearing to congratulate Rodriguez after she took the oath of office.

Joining me now is Ivo Daalder, a former U.S. ambassador to NATO. Appreciate you joining us.

IVO DAALDER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO NATO: My pleasure.

CHURCH: So, how likely is it that the U.S. military action in Venezuela and the removal of Nicolas Maduro will embolden China and Russia to take the same kind of action in Taiwan and Ukraine, particularly now that the White House is acknowledging the president is considering a range of options to acquire Greenland by military force if necessary.

[02:10:04]

DAALDER: Well, it's not like either Xi Jinping or Vladimir Putin needed a lot of encouragement to think about, let alone act on, taking over some of their neighbors. Of course, that's what in the case of Ukraine the Russians have been doing since 2014 and in the case of Taiwan, China has been preparing for for decades.

That said, there are really two reasons why the possibility of some kind of further action, particularly on the part of China, is now more likely.

First and most importantly is the United States, with the actions of Venezuela, with the threats of against Colombia, Mexico and Greenland, seems to be saying, listen, strong powers should be able to do what they want, particularly in their own neighborhood. And that sends a signal to the Chinese and to the Russians that they are the strong powers in their neighborhood, and they should be doing what they would want to do.

And the second reason is that the United States may be biting off a little bit more than it can chew. It's one thing to move into Venezuela and take out somebody like Maduro, although militarily, quite a complicated mission, but it's quite another thing to, "Run the country, which is what the president has said he would do, and then take on others in Colombia or Mexico." Our record in running other countries is not a particularly good one. So, we may be very busy in our own hemisphere, leaving the road open for countries like Russia and China to do what they want to do in their hemisphere.

CHURCH: Right. And Fiona Hill, a Russia expert at the Brookings Institution, and previously, the Senior Director for European and Russian Affairs at the White House, during part of President Trump's first term, told a congressional hearing back in 2019 that Russia quietly signaled it was ready to cut loose its ally, Nicolas Maduro, in exchange for the United States stepping back from Ukraine. Is that what's going on here?

DAALDER: Yes, I don't think that's really what's going on. I don't think Russians were in a position to prevent the United States from doing what it did with regard to Maduro. I don't think the Russians were part of the military operation, and they condemned it quite strongly. They, in fact, may be able to put a Spaniard in our works here to make life a little bit more difficult.

But I do think that what Fiona Hill was talking about was a Russian interest in saying, why don't we divide the world into spheres of influence, in which we get the European sphere. China, of course, gets the Asian sphere, and the United States gets the Western Hemisphere.

The only problem with that is there's no reason for the United States to cede its influence in Asia and Europe, although that is in some ways what the United States is now doing when it's saying we should control our hemisphere and do so even if it gets into conflict with our allies, say Denmark over the issue of Greenland, for example.

CHURCH: So, what impact has Donald Trump's military action in Venezuela? Of course, his threats to take Greenland had on the world order. And is Trump ushering in a new era of colonialism and imperialism?

DAALDER: Well, he's certainly ushering in an end to the kind of rules based order that the United States since 1945 has been creating, and then maintaining an order that says there are certain rules about how states behave with regard to each other, an order that says that working together with likeminded countries is more likely to be beneficial for not only the United States, but for the rest of the world as well.

And returning to a kind of old-fashioned power politics in which, has back in the -- in the times of the Greeks, the strong will do as they -- as they will, and the weak will do as they must.

And it's that kind of order where we are emphasizing that power, particularly military power, is what matters. That suggests that we're going to be dividing the world into strong countries, each having their own spheres of influence, and weak countries having to do what they want.

The problem with that is that we now live in a world that is far more complicated and even small countries can make big trouble for large countries. We saw it in Afghanistan. We saw it in Iraq. I hope we're not going to learn it in Venezuela, but if we will, if we're going to try to do what we try to do in Iraq and Afghanistan. I fear we run up into the same kinds of problems, sometimes power as expressed in pure military capability or even economic coercion just isn't enough to get what you want.

CHURCH: Eva Daalder, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.

DAALDER: My pleasure.

CHURCH: President Trump says Venezuela will be turning over 30 to 50 million barrels of oil to the U.S. The president says it will be sold at market value worth as much as $2.75 billion with the proceeds controlled by the U.S. Mr. Trump says that money will be used to benefit the people of Venezuela and the U.S., with no further explanation.

[02:15:15]

A senior administration official tells CNN the oil has already been produced and will be shipped to the U.S. for refining.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I'm also meeting with oil companies. Let's go. You know -- you know what that's about. We got a lot of oil to drill, which is going to bring down oil prices even further.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: On Monday, the president said he thinks U.S. companies could rebuild Venezuela's oil infrastructure in less than 18 months.

Well, despite the Trump administration's recent claims, Venezuela's acting president Delcy Rodriguez insists the U.S. is not running the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DELCY RODRIGUEZ, ACTING VENEZUELAN PRESIDENT (through translator): We are a people who do not give up, who do not surrender, and we are here governing together with the people. The government of Venezuela governs our country, no one else. There is no external agent that governs Venezuela.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: She has declared seven days of mourning for those killed in the U.S. operation in Venezuela. The government has not yet released the total number of casualties from Saturday's attack, but the country's attorney general confirmed officials are investigating, "Dozens of deaths," and this comes as Cuba confirms 32 of its citizens were killed.

Still to come, Iran's security forces cracked down on antigovernment protesters amid warnings from President Trump about possible U.S. action.

Plus, a look at potential security guarantees outlined by Ukraine's allies following a major meeting in Paris, we'll have details.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:21:9]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. U.S. Special Envoy Steve Witkoff says security protocols for Ukraine are largely finished. The announcement follows a meeting of Ukraine's allies in Paris, where officials from 35 countries vowed to provide security guarantees.

The U.K. and France signed an agreement that would deploy forces on the ground and build military hubs in Ukraine should a cease fire with Russia take effect.

While Ukraine remained the central focus of the meeting. There were also questions over U.S. pressure toward Greenland.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What value do these commitments have on the very day that at the highest levels of government in Washington they are talking about seizing the sovereign territory of a fellow NATO member?

STEVE WITKOFF, U.S. SPECIAL ENVOY FOR PEACE MISSIONS: The president does not back down from his commitments, he is strong for the country of Ukraine and for a peace deal, and we will be there for the Ukrainians in helping them to get to that final piece. And we're confident we will get there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The security guarantees for Ukraine would include a continuous cease fire monitoring system led by the U.S. There was no immediate reaction from Moscow over these developments, but the Kremlin has repeatedly rejected the idea of a foreign peacekeeping force operating inside Ukraine.

Since the U.S. captured Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro, President Trump has been warning a long list of countries, including Iran, nationwide protests there against a cost-of-living crisis are ramping up, and President Trump has warned that Iran will get hit hard by the U.S. if protesters are killed. CNN's Paula Hancocks has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A female protester is dragged from a street in Tehran. Demonstrators run for cover as gunfire is heard in Malekshahi, a city in Iran's western Ilan province. It is a familiar and brutal response to nationwide protests, now in their second week.

The Iranian currency is collapsing, inflation rising, and the cost of living becoming hard to bear. Shopkeepers, traders and students on the streets blame government mismanagement. Officials say publicly they are willing to talk.

SANAM VAKIL, CHATHAM HOUSE: The government is trying to be more amenable to dialogue. President Pezeshkian has offered to mediate and engage. He's acknowledged responsibility.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): But as the president offers dialogue, the security forces are cracking down, attacking protesters holed up in this hospital in Ilan. Social media footage shows forces inside looking for injured protesters and those trying to hide. The U.S. State Department said, "The assault on the injured with tear gas and live ammunition is a blatant crime against humanity." The U.S. president has already threatened to step in if protesters are killed.

TRUMP: We're watching it very closely. If they start killing people like they have in the past, I think they're going to get hit very hard by the United States.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): A move against the Iranian regime that Israel's prime minister has been encouraging.

ESMAIL BAGHAEL, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESPERSON (through translator): Actions or statements raised by figures such as the prime minister of the Zionist regime or some radical American officials regarding Iran's internal affairs amount under international norms to nothing more than incitement to violence, incitement to terrorism and incitement to killing.

[02:25:00]

HANCOCKS (voice-over): U.S. military attacks on Venezuela over the weekend and the capture of President Nicolas Maduro will be watched closely in Tehran.

VAKIL: I think Venezuela adds icing to a really clearly baked cake for Iran. The Islamic Republic has learned the hard way that President Trump is unpredictable.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): Although the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, does still have some support, there are increasing calls for his removal, both inside and outside the country.

Paula Hancocks, CNN Abu Dhabi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: People across Europe are honoring the lives of the 40 people killed in a fire on New Year's Eve in Switzerland. Skiers formed a giant heart in the snow in the Swiss mountains as a tribute to the victims. And France's National Assembly observed one minute of silence out of respect for those who died, more than 100 people were injured in the fire.

Local officials now say the bar where they were celebrating had not had a mandatory fire safety inspection since 2019. Prosecutors believe sparklers in champagne bottles ignited foam sound proofing material in the ceiling. The bar's managers are under criminal investigation on suspicion of three crimes, negligent manslaughter, bodily harm and arson.

The Trump administration plans to brief us lawmakers on the Venezuela raid.

Just ahead, we will look at some of the key questions Democrats and Republicans want answered, back with that and more in just a moment.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:31:10]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. Venezuela's Attorney General has announced an investigation into dozens of deaths from Saturday's U.S. military raid. The government in Caracas has not specified the exact number of people killed or wounded, but Cuba says 32 of its military personnel were killed.

Meanwhile, members of the U.S. Congress will receive classified briefings on the operation in Venezuela in the day ahead. House Democrats are said to be working on legislation to limit the president's war powers on Venezuela, Greenland, and other potential targets. More now from CNN's Chief Congressional Correspondent, Manu Raju.

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: House and Senate lawmakers still are in the dark over President Trump's plans when it comes to Venezuela, the next steps, how long this will take, how much money it will cost, whether troops will be involved, and also the next phase of what Trump is calling the Donroe Doctrine. Does that mean taking over Greenland? Does that mean going after Cuba? Does that mean going after Colombia?

All big questions for members right now, and that's why the classified briefing that will occur on Wednesday with the full House and Senate will be very revealing. How much information will they give those members at this moment, in the aftermath of Saturday's attack against Venezuela, the arrest of Nicolas Maduro and his wife, and all that President Trump has said in the aftermath of that? Will the top briefers in the room, Marco Rubio for instance, Pete Hegseth for instance, Pam Bondi, will they detail precisely the next phase? Will they hold the information back?

And will that cause significant pushback, particularly from Democrats, at this critical moment? Now, there are some Republicans who have raised concerns. Most Republicans are aligning themselves with President Trump, but one of them critics is Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who I caught up with on Tuesday evening, and I asked him about the contention by the Trump administration that this was not a law -- not a military operation. It was a law enforcement operation, meaning they did not have to get authorization from Congress, and they did not have to get -- give any prior notification of this attack. And if that passes the smell (ph) test, according to him.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. THOMAS MASSIE, (R-KY): I mean, they kidnapped president of another country. They claim to have taken over -- Donald Trump does at least -- taken over the operations of the country, and he's going to take over their oil. I mean, this is -- this is a war. This is the definition of war. These are acts of war, and this is not an arrest. He said we would put America First and there wouldn't be regime change, there wouldn't be interventions, but that's what is happening.

And I find it ironic that today, at the conference, he said we can't lose the majority. If we do, he's going to get impeached. But he's doing the exact things that would cause him to lose the majority. He's causing his base to be disaffected and uninterested in the outcomes of these midterms.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RAJU: But despite Massie's concerns, we're hearing support from the top Republican leaders in the House and the Senate of Donald Trump's actions. And they are not raising any concerns about what Trump is saying about U.S. running the country, the U.S. being in charge of Venezuela, in fact, making very clear that they are on board with what Trump is saying there, but still not being clear about what the next steps are, because they themselves don't have all the answers about what the next government of Venezuela will look like and whether they'll work with the United States and all the rest.

And also, huge questions about whether the president does plan to go ahead with any further escalatory action when it comes to places like Greenland as well. All big questions that still remain on Capitol Hill ahead of these key briefings and as lawmakers come back to Washington demanding some answers.

CHURCH: Todd Belt is a Professor and Director of the Political Management Program at The George Washington University's Graduate School of Political Management. Thank you so much for joining us.

[02:35:00]

TODD BELT, DIRECTOR, POLITICAL MANAGEMENT PROGRAM, GSPM, THE GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY: Great to be with you, Rosemary. Thank you for having me on.

CHURCH: So let's start with President Trump claiming he is now in charge of Venezuela after ordering the ouster of Nicolas Maduro. That's causing some confusion because he removed Maduro but kept the same regime in place. And now, Trump says this interim government has agreed to send him up to 50 million barrels of oil as a gift. Is that answering more questions for you? And what do you see as the political fallout for Trump as a result of all of this?

BELT: Right, there's a lot there and there's a lot going on here that we didn't expect. Of course, we saw Donald Trump on Saturday talking about the raid and talking about it as an attack, when in fact, a lot of his administration is talking about it as being an extradition in terms of being a legal issue, not outright aggression as covered under international law. And then we saw Marco Rubio making the rounds and discussing what was going to happen next and didn't really do a very good job of that. So, they sent Stephen Miller out last night to talk and to talk about U.S. power and how we're going to take the oil. And that is something that Donald Trump has been talking about.

When Donald Trump did talk about the oil and getting U.S. companies in there, a lot of the U.S. companies were pretty surprised by that. And supposedly, he's going to be meeting with them on Thursday to talk about how he might provide some incentives for that. And of course, Maria Corina Machado, who's been waiting in the wings, the Nobel Prize recipient, sort of got discarded by the administration in terms of what they thought would come next.

The CIA actually issued a study saying that they didn't think that she had the support of the military or of the people in order to govern effectively. And that's why we see the Vice President, Delcy Rodriguez, assuming the presidency, not that the United States could have supplanted her, but decided not to get even further involved. And that's where we are now.

CHURCH: Right. Of course, as you touched on, President Trump is also threatening to do the same to Greenland, Colombia, Cuba, Mexico and Iran. And now, the White House is acknowledging that Trump is considering a range of options to acquire Greenland, including possible military force, if necessary. What would be the political consequences of that action for the president, do you think?

BELT: Well, the political consequences of military action against Greenland is that it would trigger Article 5 of the NATO Convention and all of the NATO nations would have to respond to a U.S. attack against the United States, who is the titular head of NATO, which is kind of strange. But of course, the Danes aren't going for this. And we don't know why Donald Trump is so obsessed with it.

I think a lot of it has to do just with the idea of security around the Arctic, and there's also rare earth minerals there. And that's something that's been very interesting to him. But a lot of this within his party has really taken a lot of them aback. You see a lot of the hardcore MAGA Republicans, you know, screaming blasphemy and heresy because this was supposed to be America First. And here's Donald Trump turning his sights on the rest of the world and talking about how this can happen in other places instead of dealing with things like the economy at home.

CHURCH: Right. And on that very issue, late night TV had fun with the timing of the ouster of Maduro coming just as the Department of Justice faced another deadline relating to the Epstein files. This time, the requirement to explain why the DOJ made such extensive redactions in the limited files that have been released so far. Democrats also weighing in, calling the timing an extraordinary coincidence. What's your response to this suggestion that some of this may have been an effort to distract from the Epstein files and other domestic issues?

BELT: Yes, certainly. And you could even say that the whole issue of Venezuela was botched, that they had to start bringing up Greenland. It's just -- it's one distraction after another with this administration. Donald Trump has always been the master of distraction. He'll tell you to look somewhere else. And a lot of times, he does it in a way where a lot of the press just can't help but follow. And he weaves from one thing to another, even within one particular sentence within his speech. And this sort of obfuscation has worked for him. So he's going to continue to do it.

CHURCH: Todd Belt, I want to thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate it.

BELT: Great to be with you. Thanks so much for having me on.

CHURCH: Still to come, a former officer is on trial for his response to one of the United States' deadliest school shootings. CNN examines the details of the case when we return.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[02:44:38]

CHURCH: Welcome back, everyone. The suspect in last month's mass shooting at Brown University confessed to the attack in a series of short videos, according to the Justice Department. Claudio Neves Valente is suspected of carrying out the attack at Brown University before later killing an MIT professor. Valente died by suicide, but authorities recovered the short videos from an electronic device.

[02:45:00]

He reportedly did not offer any motive or apologies for the shootings.

The trial of a former Uvalde Texas school police officer is on hold for now, after the judge canceled testimony on Wednesday, prosecutors say Adrian Gonzales failed to act to save children after a gunman stormed Robb Elementary School in 2022. 19 fourth graders and two teachers were killed in the attack.

CNN's Shimon Prokupecz has the latest.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When you guys made that entry into the hallway, there was four of you. Did anyone in that group of four say, "Hey, we need to go down this hallway and we need to find this shooter?"

ADRIAN GONZALES, FORMER UVALDE SCHOOL POLICE OFFICER: No.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No? OK. Did you think about that or did it ever cross your mind? GONZALES: It did cross our mind, you know, but we just never, nobody ever made -- you know, we were just covering each other. You know, that's what basically we were doing.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): That's Adrian Gonzales in an interview with investigators the day after the shooting. It was video obtained by CNN through sources. Now on trial for child endangerment, prosecutors argue Gonzales should have done more to try and stop the shooting before the gunman can make entry inside the classroom. Our team analyzed his movements using unredacted body camera and security footage after we obtained the entire investigative file.

It shows opportunities to stop the gunman before he entered the classroom might have been missed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Be advised, the subject has jumped the fence. They're going to be in the school --

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Gonzales arrives on scene here less than two minutes after the shooter began walking toward the school with an AR- 15. You can see his white cop car slow down where the gunman crashed this truck, then speed up toward the school.

The shooter at this point is still outside, now in the school parking lot. As he pauses among the cars, Gonzales drives right past him.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And when you drove through it, did you see anybody?

GONZALES: I didn't see anybody.

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Gonzales continues to the school south entrance and slams on his brakes.

What happens next is not captured on camera, but is recounted by Gonzales and a school coach, Melody Flores, who saw Gonzales pull up.

GONZALES: I made contact with her and she tells me, there -- he's over here. He's -- she's pointing this way. He's over there. He's dressed in black. I go where and she goes to the teacher parking lot. I want to say I saw a black car at that end. And then I started hearing the rounds go off and they're like banging, like somebody hitting a metal door. You know, I can't see nothing because it's behind the building. I can't see it. So, I notify everybody on the radio, the best I could.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Shots fired, shots fired, Uvalde at Robb School.

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): At that time, the gunman was still outside the school, firing his AR-15 at the walls. The coach also told investigators about this conversation with Gonzales. She was unable to identify which officer she spoke to during the interview.

MELODY FLORES, COACH, ROBB ELEMENTARY SCHOOL: That's when one of the cops with this car just slams his brakes there, and I'm telling him, I said, "He's going into the fourth grade building. We need to stop him. We need to do something. We need to do something." And he comes out, and he's panicking too. He's running back and forth. And I told him, I said that we need to go in. We need to stop him before he goes in.

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): It's now a race to stop the killing before it could even begin. But Gonzales armed with his Glock pistol calls for cover and warns fellow officers to stay back.

GONZALES: Take cover guys, take cover. Shots fired.

On my radio, I don't know if I break. I said, "Hey, shots fired, shots fired at Robb School." And then I tell them, you know, the general location where he's at. So I started moving up, trying to get in front of my vehicle to the back. There was the only thing that was the tree and then the building. So I started walking towards there. And then I see an officer, one of the PD officers coming.

And then all of a sudden, I see like glass coming out and firing, you know, somebody firing in glass, you know, a couple of rounds come out of the glass. And I told the guy, I told the PD officer, "Get back. It's coming from over there."

He's going to be on the west school -- on the west side of the school by those vehicles. He's wearing all black, all black.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: As the rounds are being fired, is there a reason why you don't fire?

GONZALES: Because I don't see where the rounds are coming from.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (Inaudible).

GONZALES: Yeah. I know they're coming from the back over here. I just don't know where they're coming from.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: If somebody could give me some cover, unit over here, the back perimeter by the gym (ph).

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): Gonzales does not find the shooter who has made his way to the west door, which was unlocked. The shooter is now inside, more than a minute after Gonzales arrived on scene.

GONZALES: He may be inside the building.

FLORES: And then by the time he knew it, he already had made his way into the fourth grade building and all you heard, it was just shots, shots, shots. And I told him, I said, he -- and I did cuss, you know, and I am going to say, you know, he [expletive] made it into the fourth grade building.

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He's in there already. You know, we need to do something. We need to stop him, stop him.

PROKUPECZ (voice-over): 23 seconds after the gunman entered the school, he would use his high-powered rifle to unleash more than a hundred rounds. One of the worst school shootings in American history was unfolding.

CNN analysis of body camera video from arriving officers shows that Gonzales did not enter the school for another two-and-a-half minutes. When he did enter, it was more than four minutes after driving onto the scene. He's behind another officer and just in front of the Chief of the Uvalde School Police, Pete Arredondo. While officers were finally approaching the classroom from the other end of the hallway, the gunman fires at them and they all retreat.

Even though the gunfire had stopped, the gunman would be left alone with those children and teachers, some dead or dying for 77 minutes. A key part of prosecutor's evidence against Gonzales is his interview with investigators where Gonzales admits he made a mistake.

GONZALES: Now that I can sit back, I went tunnel vision, like I said, with the lady that was running. Like I said, they said she was -- they were running to the school and that's where I saw. And you know --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You locked in on her.

GONZALES: I locked in on her, you know, that was my mistake, but it was just the adrenaline rush going and you know, shots fired and stuff like that.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

PROKUPECZ (on camera): Tuesday started out as a very emotional day. We had 9-1-1 calls and a witness who testified to seeing the gunman and prosecutors laying out this timeline that you see here. But there was a significant development late in the day when a witness was testifying, a teacher, who said she had seen the gunman on the day of the shooting and had never revealed that before. And prosecutors never provided that information to the defense team. And the defense team was pretty upset over this.

The judge has canceled testimony here for Wednesday as he potentially decides how he's going to remedy this situation. And the defense team, while they haven't necessarily said they're going to do this, they haven't ruled out that they can ask for a mistrial. The judge is going to have to make a decision on how to handle this on Wednesday.

Shimon Prokupecz, CNN, Corpus Christi, Texas.

CHURCH: A new White House website is rewriting history on the anniversary of the January 6th Capitol riots. It claims peaceful protesters were provoked by law enforcement at the U.S. Capitol five years ago. And it depicts Donald Trump as a hero for pardoning nearly 1,600 rioters. Democrats held a candlelight vigil on the Capitol steps while members of the House Select Committee staged an unofficial hearing to reinforce their conclusion that President Trump incited the violence.

Some of the pardoned rioters marched to honor Ashli Babbitt, a protester who was shot and killed when she tried to breach the House chamber.

Just ahead, people in Kosovo are grappling with flooded homes and vehicles, and the disaster could get worse. We'll have details after a short break, stay with us.

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CHURCH: Heavy rains over the past 24 hours have caused severe flooding in Kosovo. The floodwaters swamped homes and businesses and submerged cars. Some regions lost power as rivers overflowed their banks.

Officials had to cut off electricity in other areas in case water reached local power stations. In some places, water companies were forced to suspend drinking water supplies after the flood reached local basins and pipes. Emergency authorities warn the situation could get worse in the coming days as the forecast calls for more rain and snow.

Well, you are looking at snow in Hawaii. This video was taken from the summit of Mauna Loa on the big island of Hawaii as a winter storm sweeped through the area. Mauna Loa is the world's largest active volcano and it's not uncommon to see snow there at the highest elevations.

Well, there is just a month to go until the start of the Winter Olympics in Italy. The Olympic torch made its way through an appropriately heavy snowfall as it heads towards the city of Bologna. It began its journey across Italy a month ago and has already traveled through the southern part of the country. It's now making its way to Milan where the opening ceremony will be held on February 6th.

And finally this hour, Lego sets are getting more high tech. The company has unveiled what it calls smart play bricks at this year's Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. They look a lot like regular Lego pieces, but they have chips inside that can make the bricks light up or make sounds when they're placed near one another. The new bricks launch in March with the first sets featuring Star Wars themes.

I want to thank you so much for joining us this hour. I'm Rosemary Church. I will be back with more "CNN Newsroom" after a short break. Do stay with us.

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