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Trump Warns Iran Against Using Violence Amid Protests; Trump To Meet With Venezuelan Opposition Leader This Week; Tensions Flare In Minneapolis As DHS Secretary Denies A Rush To Judgment; New Data Shows 2025 Historically Weak Year For Job Growth; New Year, Same Trump, What The Polls Are Saying; South Carolina Reports Record Spike In Measles Cases. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired January 11, 2026 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:19]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean here in New York.

And tonight protests against the Iranian regime intensifying, the death toll there rising. A U.S. based human rights group is reporting at least 490 protesters have been killed, more than 10,000 people have been arrested over the past two weeks since these demonstrations began. The Iranian government has declared three days of mourning to honor the individuals who've been killed.

But authorities in Iran have also imposed a near-total internet blackout. Internet connectivity data showing that starting on Thursday usage dropped to about 1 percent of normal traffic, meaning it is very hard to see what's actually happening there. And now, sources say President Donald Trump is weighing a series of potential military options there in Iran.

Let's bring in CNN's Julia Benbrook, who's been with the president in Florida over the weekend.

Julia, walk us through what we know about the president and his team's thinking right now.

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, it's important to note here off the top that President Donald Trump has not made a final decision on this. But we do know that he is weighing several different options, potential plans for intervention there in Iran. This, as you pointed out, that death toll continues to rise. Thousands have been arrested as Trump is looking to make good follow through on his promise to help the people there.

Now, there is some concern within the administration that military strikes could backfire, that they could actually undermine the protesters. But according to U.S. officials who spoke with CNN, a number of these plans have centered around targeting Tehran's security services, which have been trying to tamp down those protests. There's also under consideration cyber operations that would target Iran's military or other regime targets. And then there's that issue of internet connectivity potentially

trying to help there and helping people that have been in an information blackout going on for days now with a lot of questions. Now, Trump made it clear in a social media post that he made from here in Florida just yesterday that he wants to do something potentially. Again, not a lot of details here but he said exactly, "Iran is looking at freedom perhaps like never before," adding that, "The USA stands ready to help."

Both Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth posted similar type messages or reposted what Trump had posted. But again, lacking a lot of details there. Trump was pressed on recent days if that death toll continue to rise, would there be a point where the U.S. got involved. He said that that could happen. He did, though, emphasize that he was ruling out boots on the ground.

Now, we do expect more formal briefings to take place next week. And on Tuesday, that would be a meeting with some of his top national security officials to discuss how to proceed here.

DEAN: And Julia, obviously, members of Congress had a lot to say about not being informed about Venezuela and the taking of Maduro and his wife before it happened. What are they saying about his comments about Iran?

BENBROOK: Yes, lots of concerns here, questions here, as he continues to use this escalating rhetoric. Now, we did hear from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle raising some of those concerns, similar to what I alluded to coming even from within the administration, that if there were military strikes, that it could potentially backfire. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TIM KAINE (D-VA): U.S. military action in Iran would be a massive mistake. It would have the effect of giving the Iranian regime the ability to say, it's the U.S. that's screwing our country up.

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): We're always hopeful that, you know, a freedom movement will develop and overwhelm the authoritarian government there. The only problem I have with saying, oh, we're going to bomb Iran is that sometimes it has the opposite effect. So when you bomb a country, then people tend to rally around their own flag.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: So there you have one Democrat, one Republican, voicing some of the concerns we're hearing from many more lawmakers as well -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Julia Benbrook with the latest from Florida. Thank you for that.

And taking a look now at Venezuela, where major questions remain about that country's future after the ousting of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro about a week ago. [18:05:03]

President Trump is expected to meet with opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Machado in Washington in the coming days.

Let's bring in CNN's Paula Newton, who has the latest on this front -- Paula.

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jessica, it will be another eventful week for Venezuela, and anyone wondering what that -- what the country holds for the opposition. I believe that the opposition has already capitulated in a way they are not talking about taking over immediately as the government in waiting and then with the backing of the Trump administration being able to run that country, likely Maria Corina Machado when meeting with the president, will instead discuss how quickly he believes they can transition to elections and then hopefully having a new legitimate government in Venezuela.

In the meantime, though, it seems that the repression and the security situation is actually getting worse, Jessica. I want you to look at the State Department and a warning that it put out saying specifically to U.S. citizens, "The U.S. citizens should take precautions and be aware of their surroundings. There are reports of armed militias, colectivos setting up roadblocks and searching vehicles for evidence of U.S. citizens or support for the U.S., for the United States."

Jessica, that is an escalation in terms of the government could tell those colectivos to stay in their neighborhoods, and yet they seem to have been given free rein to set up these checkpoints at will. Also, though, is the issue of political prisoners.

Now, earlier in the week, Jessica, some political prisoners were released. According to Foro Penal, which is a human rights organization we check in often with CNN. They say that more than 800 political prisoners remain, and that only about 17 have been released.

I want you to listen now to one of those family members.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

EVELIS CANO, DETAINEE'S MOTHER (through translator): We are here to ask in the name of God. Put your hand on your heart. Hector Rodriguez and Delcy Rodriguez. If they were your family members, what would you be doing? Because they have just taken away President Nicolas Maduro. And you were asking for proof of life. And if you want the human rights of the president to be respected, what about Venezuelans? What about us?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

NEWTON: And she goes on to say that there are hundreds of innocent Venezuelans still incarcerated, and that will be quite a test. She named -- name-checked Delcy Rodriguez there who is the acting president now, Jessica. And again, the Trump administration, especially Marco Rubio, will likely be looking for signals in the coming week that this government is moving more towards freedom rather than oppression.

DEAN: All right. Paula Newton, with the very latest. Thank you for that reporting.

And we're joined now by former acting U.S. ambassador to Venezuela during President Trump's first term, Todd Robinson. He's also previously served as U.S. treasury affairs in Caracas and former ambassador to Guatemala.

Mr. Ambassador, thank you for being here with us. We really do appreciate you coming on and your time tonight. Let's look ahead to this meeting between President Trump and Maria Corina Machado this week. What are you watching for? And also thinking about what my colleague Paula Newton was just saying there about those who are still incarcerated there in Venezuela, what are you looking for in terms of movement in the coming days and weeks?

TODD ROBINSON, FORMER ACTING U.S. AMBASSADOR TO VENEZUELA UNDER PRES. TRUMP: Well, thank you. First, thank you for having me. I think it's really important that the administration show greater signs that they, in fact support the democratic opposition. I think people forget that there was an election not too long ago and Venezuelans, ordinary Venezuelans, overwhelmingly, at the risk of their lives, voted for change and they voted for the democratic opposition.

I think it's incumbent upon the administration to show support for the democratic opposition and to show signs that they are taking real change into account. Secondly, I think it's really important that they look at this issue of political prisoners. As your reporter mentioned, 800 political prisoners. They may be released 20, I think the Venezuelans that I've been in touch with on the ground are looking for all of the political prisoners to be released and for greater care about their security on the ground.

DEAN: And what kind of pressure points does the administration have on that front?

ROBINSON: Well, I mean, the administration said that they were willing to consider more military operations in Venezuela if they didn't get cooperation from Delcy Rodriguez and her new government. You know, I guess that's what they were talking about when they were talking about pressure.

[18:10:01]

But I think it's really important that, you know, these little details be put -- be focused on and right now what we're seeing is I think as was mentioned earlier, a little bit of discord between the what the administration is saying and what's actually happening on the ground with the Delcy Rodriguez's government.

DEAN: And you mentioned you think it's imperative that this administration show support toward Machado and you noted the elections that recently happened there. What is -- what would that look like to you? Because the president had been somewhat tepid. Obviously, he's meeting with her now but had not fully embraced that idea. The administration has not so far. What would that look like to you, the more support for her?

ROBINSON: Well, I think in the beginning, I think the meeting with Maria Corina is a first start. But we have a president-elect, Edmundo Gonzalez is the president-elect of Venezuela, recognized not just by the United States by, but also by the international community. I mean, I think we should be talking about maybe this is happening behind the scenes, but we should be talking about a transition.

We should be talking about how to get Edmundo Gonzalez back into the country. We should be talking about what legislative -- new legislative elections look like. And we should be talking openly about support for the democratic opposition. None of those things were happening earlier in the press conference the president did. They disparaged the democratic opposition and said Maria Corina didn't have support, which was totally wrong.

DEAN: Let's talk about the oil piece of this. Those American oil executives meeting with the president late in the week this week. And they pointed to security issues as one of the many barriers, they think, to investing. The president saying it's safe.

What do you make of that meeting that happened at the White House and what those executives were saying versus what the president and the administration continue to say?

ROBINSON: Well, I wasn't surprised by what the executives, the American executives said. They know that the infrastructure, the oil -- the infrastructure for oil production in Venezuela is disastrous. It's been declining over the last 25 years. They know that the oil that comes out of Venezuela is, one, really hard to get out of the ground, and two, has to be heavily refined before it's usable.

So they're talking about billions of dollars of investment that will need to be made. And they're talking about, you know, long-term investment. I think all of that is really true. The other part of this, of course, is security. You know, we heard some talk late last week about the possibility of reopening the embassy. I think that is essential and would be a sign that security is getting better in order for American businesses to consider putting people on the ground in Venezuela.

We need to get the embassy open again. We need to start getting real time information from people on the ground about what's going on, what the situation is, and whether or not, in fact, it is safe to go back right now. I think there's a lot of anxiety all over. And I'm -- you know, if they're talking about colectivos on the streets harassing people, then we're not talking about security.

DEAN: All right. Ambassador Todd Robinson, thanks for your time. We appreciate it.

ROBINSON: Thank you.

DEAN: What's next for Venezuela and its ousted president, Nicolas Maduro? David Culver reports on "THE WHOLE STORY WITH ANDERSON COOPER," "Inside the Raid: Venezuela's Future." That is airing tonight at 8:00 Eastern and Pacific. Only here on CNN and then tomorrow on our CNN app.

Still ahead here, how the deadly ICE shooting in Minnesota is revealing stark political divides in our country. Plus, leaving the 2025 job market behind a preview of what one economist expects to see in the coming years. And we run the numbers on President Trump's new approval ratings.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:18:44]

DEAN: Happening now protesters demanding federal immigration authorities leave Minneapolis. Thousands of people gathering in parks along residential streets and outside federal buildings less than a week after the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent there in Minneapolis. The incident continues to divide America, with DHS Secretary Kristi Noem standing by her version of events.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: If you look at what the definition of domestic terrorism is, it completely fits the situation on the ground. This individual, as you saw in the video that we released just 48 hours after this incident, showed that this officer was hit by her vehicle. She weaponized it and he defended his life and those colleagues around him and the public.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Many Americans take a very different view of that.

We're joined now by CNN political commentators Shermichael Singleton and Maria Cardona. Shermichael is a Republican strategist. Maria, a Democratic strategist.

It's good to see both of you. Thank you for being here.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Thanks, Jess.

DEAN: Shermichael, I want to start with you.

SHERMICHAEL SINGLETON, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: It's good to see you, Jessica.

DEAN: It's good to see you, guys.

The administration, we just saw Kristi Noem there this morning, standing by their version of events. There are a lot of Americans deeply upset about this, voicing their outrage. I'm curious if you think now that we're about a week out and we've seen what the administration has been saying, we've seen from local leadership.

[18:20:00] When it comes to the president and their administration, do you believe this is real leadership that we're seeing in this moment that is really tearing people apart and really upsetting people? Or is it playing politics, do you think, with actual life and death?

SINGLETON: Well, first of all, Happy New Year, Jessica, to you and my dear friend, Maria.

To answer your question, look, I think there is a bit of politics on both sides of this, and I know people don't typically like to both- sideism. I completely get it. But let me just explain what I mean. We've heard some comments from the mayor, from the lieutenant governor, from the governor that speaks directly to their supporters. I understand that. I'm not a Democrat, but I get it. From President Trump and from Secretary Noem, you've heard messaging that speaks directly to Republicans.

There's a political side of this, and there's a legal side to this. The legal side, in my opinion, I think the officer may indeed be found in the clear the minute the person decided not to exit the vehicle. I know people may not like that, but a lot of lawyers have seemingly led to that conclusion or come to that conclusion.

On the political side of this, look, of course, we want calmer heads to prevail. This is a very delicate moment where you have individuals who are angry about how the administration is going about the immigration process, but then on the other side, my side, Republicans do want to see the administration aggressively go after people who are in the country illegally, particularly after four years of the previous administration where there did not appear to be a sense of urgency to address the immigration crisis in our country.

And so overall, who is the ultimate victor out of this? In my opinion, no one. And I say no one, because you're seeing a lot of anger, distrust, and frankly even anxiety on both sides when I think the objective at a moment like this should be to try to bring people together.

DEAN: Yes, and maybe turn down the temperature.

Maria, what are your thoughts?

CARDONA: You know, Shermichael, my dear friend, Happy New Year to you and to Jessica. But I think he actually underscored what the problem is, that is that this administration and this president is dividing people. They are fearmongering. They are focused on a narrative without even going through an investigation. And while politics is playing into both sides, you know, in an ideal world, the administration should be above politics and should be asking for a fair and objective review of this, an investigation. And in fact, what they're doing is denying that.

And so when you have that coupled with video from many different angles that shows, in my opinion and the opinion of many Americans, very clearly that this woman, Renee Good, was trying to drive away from a scary situation after an ICE agent tried to forcibly open her door when she was doing absolutely nothing but sitting in her car, then I think you have a lot of Americans saying that agent, those agents are overreaching.

They are acting in a rogue manner. They are trampling on her constitutional and civil rights. And as she was driving away, and you see very clearly she's turning the wheel away from those agents, the rogue agent reaches in and shoots her three times in the head? I'm sorry. What I have heard from legal analysts is that that agent should actually go into a plea deal now because he's not going to get away with this.

And so from the standpoint of this being something that is dividing the nation, absolutely it's dividing the nation, and instead of the president and Secretary Noem trying to inject some calm to say, we're going to work with the authorities in Minneapolis and in the state and in the local areas, we're going to try to really figure this out and bring people together, what do they do? They say they're going to bring in more agents.

And the fact of the matter is, Jessica, I come from a community that feels attacked, that feels hunted as a Latina and every other community of color feels the same way. They don't feel safer. So many communities in this country right now are scared. They feel terrorized. That is not what they voted for in '24. This administration is not going after the criminal elements. They are going after innocent people. And in fact, we just saw they're now even going after American citizens and killing them.

DEAN: And listen --

SINGLETON: If I could --

DEAN: Go ahead, Shermichael. Yes.

SINGLETON: Jessica, look, you've seen and heard from the mayor and the governor instructing law enforcement officers under their jurisdiction not to cooperate with ICE. You've had Democratic officials saying that they should protect their neighbors by impeding federal officers. I don't think either one of us, Maria, would agree with that. And there is a process in this country when you believe your constitutional rights are trampled on to challenge that. Your elections, through the legal system. I still believe that those things do matter.

[18:25:01]

Now, look, I agree with Maria. You do want to protect people's due process and rights. We are a constitutional republic. That's the cornerstone of who we are as a society. But we do have laws and those laws must be implemented.

CARDONA: But you know what, Jessica? I actually -- I need to clarify something for my friend Shermichael, but for I think a lot of people because a lot of Republicans use this talking point and it is absolutely wrong. I used to be communications director under the former INS, and the fact of the matter is, Shermichael, that many local police departments don't want to cooperate with ICE and in fact have laws that the Department of Homeland Security and prior administration agrees with, that they should not be cooperating with ICE.

It should be two completely separate law enforcement mechanisms. Why? Because local law enforcement, police officers, need for their communities to trust them. If you do not have trust between a local police officer who is policing their communities and the people that they are trying to keep safe, you will never have safety in those communities.

So what you're saying should actually be the way that things are, where you have local police officers doing their thing, and then ICE doing their thing. And in fact, what this DHS department is doing is completely injecting chaos.

SINGLETON: But, Maria, Maria, if I could just --

DEAN: Shermichael, I'll give you one quick --

SINGLETON: But, Maria --

(CROSSTALK)

DEAN: Yes. Go ahead. We're running out of time.

SINGLETON: Because you're saying that you want the president and the secretary to encourage the FBI to work hand in hand with local and state investigators. I actually agree with that even though I think the officer is probably going to be found in the clear. But you don't want local officials to work with ICE in assisting removing people who are in the country illegally?

CARDONA: That is correct. That is correct.

SINGLETON: And again, and I don't mean in a predatory sense.

CARDONA: No, no.

SINGLETON: I certainly take what you said --

CARDONA: That is absolutely right.

SINGLETON: You know, great importance, but they should work in a collaborative effort all around. I think we would both agree with that.

CARDONA: Not to go after people who they're not supposed to be hunting.

DEAN: We got to leave it there. I know we could talk a lot more about this. This is why this issue has -- is creating, you know, so people have a lot to say about it. It has really, really struck a nerve.

Shermichael and Maria, good to see both of you. Thanks so much.

CARDONA: Thank you, Jessica. DEAN: We'll be right back.

SINGLETON: Thank you, Jessica.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:31:39]

DEAN: New government data showing the U.S. employers -- that U.S. employers hired fewer people during the first year of President Trump's second term. The economy adding 584,000 jobs in 2025, marking the weakest annual job growth in more than 20 years.

Joining us now is Natasha Sarin, former deputy assistant secretary for economic policy. She's also the former counselor to Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and current president of the Yale Budget Lab.

Natasha, thanks for being here with us. Walk us through what struck you and what stood out to you about this jobs report and the overall trend we saw.

NATASHA SARIN, FORMER DEPUTY ASSISTANT SECRETARY FOR ECONOMIC POLICY: So I think what you're definitely seeing is that you are seeing signs of a labor market that is continuing to cool. So job growth for the most recent month that we have data in December was around 50,000 jobs added. That's a relatively low print. And it comes -- it's kind of the first read that we're getting about the labor market that isn't contaminated by the fact that there was a government shutdown that prevented us from being able to record data over the course of much of the fall.

The thing that's important to understand about this economy is not just that it's not really adding jobs, and really it has not added jobs since April outside of sectors like health. So essentially the rest of the market is very much slowed. But it's also a low hire and low fire economy. So what you're seeing is both firms and workers are a little bit nervous about all this uncertainty. Where are tariffs going to land? What's happening geopolitically?

And the result is they're kind of staying put. They're not hiring new workers. And workers who have jobs aren't taking the leap into new opportunities for employment because of that instability and that nervousness that they feel.

DEAN: That's interesting. So it's almost like it sounds like what you're describing is like a stagnation of everything. It's kind of just like staying put almost. So what does that mean when you factor it into the broader economic picture?

SARIN: It's really quite interesting because if you look at the sort of economic data right now, what you see is you see GDP growth that's relatively strong. You see employment, unemployment levels that are ticking upwards but are relatively low unemployment rates. And yet you see essentially no hiring in the economy. And we potentially are on the sort of brink of this massive shift in productivity on the heels of all of these investments that are being made in artificial intelligence, that might well be sort of an immense technological boom in this country.

But if they are, they're going to be disruptive for workers because it's going to be the case that a lot of the work that you and I do today is going to be automated in ways that are going to require a transition and new types of employment opportunities in the future. So I'm a little bit kind of nervous as I sit and watch this labor market in part because it's already cooling. There might be another sort of big shock that is on the horizon, and we have inflation that is ticking upward as a result of the tariffs that this administration has levied, which makes it really difficult from the perspective of the broader economic picture and makes it difficult for actors like the Federal Reserve to try to think about what happens with interest rates.

DEAN: I want to ask you, too, about some moves that the president has been making on the affordability front, trying to curb some of the affordability crisis that the -- that Americans are feeling right now.

[18:35:02]

He announced Friday he wants to cap credit card interest rates at 10 percent for a certain amount of time. We don't have any details on how that would happen. So what -- how might he do this? Is it realistic and would it help people?

SARIN: There are sort of massive questions about legality and administrability associated with proposals like these, but it's also important to understand that proposals like these are just bad economics. They're bad economics because, although they sound good, like it seems like we should be in a situation where people like the idea that interest rates that they pay on credit cards won't be as high as they are today, the reality is what that means from the perspective of credit card issuers and from banks is they're going to be in a situation where they are not going to offer credit to people because they're going to be of the view that they're not able to generate profits and those are risky borrowers.

And so the result is they're going to be priced out of the market. When you're priced out of the credit card market, it means you turn to even higher cost alternatives. You go to things like payday lenders in order to be able to borrow funds to meet whatever consumption needs that your family has. And so it's a very bad idea from the perspective of price controls, it's likely to be massively disruptive to the market and make the problem that we're trying to solve with respect to affordability worse, not better.

If you want to solve that problem and you're the administration, I have a very sort of quick fix from your perspective, which is unwinding tariff rates that are the highest levels we've seen in the last century, are going to do more for affordability than any of these other ideas that we've seen come down the pike.

DEAN: Yes. One of the other ideas is that the president said this week he's going to call on Congress to ban Wall Street investors from buying more single family homes. What would that potentially mean for housing affordability? SARIN: It wouldn't do much of anything at all, in part because

institutional investors are a very, very tiny sliver of the broader housing market. So they're not really responsible for much of anything at all. And again, it's sort of a problem -- a solution in search of a problem, particularly housing supply is a really big constraint. It is the case that housing is too expensive in this country, and it's too expensive in part because there aren't enough homes.

What we need to be doing is thinking about responsible ways to be able to add to the stock of housing supply and encourage more people to invest in this important economic asset. Ideas like banning certain types of investors from being able to have access to this particular stock of housing is actually going to exacerbate these issues. It's sort of a good soundbite, I presume, but it doesn't actually address the broader problems that exist in the market.

DEAN: All right, Natasha, thanks for your time. We appreciate it.

SARIN: Thanks so much for having me, Jess.

DEAN: Good to see you.

The White House is moving full steam ahead with President Trump's agenda, and it's having an impact on his popularity. Harry Enten will run the latest numbers on where he's standing with Americans when we come back.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:42:20]

DEAN: Less than two weeks into the new year, and the Trump administration has not slowed down in advancing its agenda.

CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten joins us now to run the numbers and take a look at how the events of the past two weeks have impacted the president's approval rating -- Harry.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Hey there, Jessica. Happy New Year to you. I know we're a little bit past new year, but I figure I can just sneak it in just right now.

Look, a lot has been happening over the first few weeks. In fact, we're not even two weeks into 2026. And I think there are a lot of people wondering, has this had any impact on the president's standing amongst the American public? And the short answer is nah, not really. No. You know, just take a look here at the CBS News-YouGov poll. Trump's approval rating in December, they had him at negative 18 points, way underwater.

Look where he is now. The same. The same. 18 points under water. If you look at my own aggregate of polling, it's a little bit higher than this, but still very, very negative. The president way underwater. This poll conducted at the beginning part of the prior week, January 5th, through the 7th. So not capturing all the events that's been going on, but there's just been so much happening.

Yet I really don't think a lot of it will actually matter. Why is that when it comes to President Trump's net approval rating? And that is because it has been negative for so long. It's been negative for so long. Look at this. Trump's negative net approval rating every day since March 12th of 2025. If you want to put that in terms of numbers of days, we're talking about 305 days in a row in which Donald Trump has been swimming with the fishes when it comes to his negative net approval rating.

My goodness gracious. Off to the worst start of a second term in the polling era. That's really what we're talking about. Now one, of course, the events that may have changed his negative net approval rating or perhaps risen his approval rating might have been the events in Venezuela. And the first numbers we have on that give you an indication of why it really hasn't shifted his approval ratings. The events, of course, taking out of Nicolas Maduro.

Well, take a look here. The net approval rating of the U.S. military removing Maduro, not that bad. Not that bad. Considerably higher than Trump's net approval rating at minus four points. We're talking about 48 percent of the American public approving that operation according to CBS News-YouGov. But take a look here at Trump's handling of Venezuela, considerably lower, considerably lower, at negative 14 points. Ten points below the net approval rating of the U.S. military removing Maduro.

So the American public, far more liking the removing of Maduro than they like Trump's actions when it comes to Venezuela. But it's more than that, right? Because, again, we had so much going on during these first less than two weeks of this year, and I don't want us to lose sight of the issue that is most important in the minds of the American public.

[18:45:04]

And that is it's the economy. It's the economy. You know, James Carville used to say it's the economy, stupid. In the case of you, Jessica, I say it's the economy, smarty. And take a look here. Trump's net approval rating on the economy, according to CBS News-YouGov, you know, this was the reason why Donald Trump got elected to a second term. And even as late as February of 2025 last year, he was still on the plus side of the ledger, at plus two points on his net approval rating.

But look at where he is now. Negative 22 points, 22 points below water. Look, I know something about American politics. I may not know everything, but I know enough to know that when you're 22 points below water on the economy, which right now is the most important issue, some form of the economy, whether it be the economy, jobs, inflation, what have you, you're 22 points below water, it ain't going to turn out to be too hot to trot.

And that is why, Jessica Dean, Donald Trump remains underwater when it comes to his overall net approval rating, something that hasn't changed during the new year. And I -- and that's the same way I started it. Happy New Year. I hope it's not too late.

Back to you.

DEAN: It's all right. We'll always take a happy new year from you, Harry Enten. Thanks so much.

Health officials are tracking an outbreak of measles, this time in South Carolina. What's driving that outbreak?

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:50:46]

DEAN: One person is in custody for setting a fire that destroyed the only synagogue in Mississippi. Investigators saying that fire broke out at Beth Israel in Jackson early Saturday morning and caused extensive damage to the library and sanctuary. It isn't the first time the synagogue has been targeted. The Ku Klux Klan bombed it in 1967, the congregation says local churches have offered their buildings to hold services as they rebuild.

Measles cases are spiking across the country, particularly in South Carolina. Health officials last week reporting a 68 percent jump in cases there.

CNN's Meg Tirrell has more now on what's behind that outbreak.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: South Carolina's measles outbreak has been growing since early October, but this most recent update is the largest number of cases we have seen at one time. So far, 99 new cases being reported by the state between Tuesday and Friday, on top of 26 cases that were reported in the state on Tuesday.

That's the most weekly cases we've seen reported since the height of the West Texas measles outbreak earlier in 2025. This brings the total number of cases in South Carolina's outbreak to 310, mostly centered around Spartanburg County in the northern part of the state.

Now, as state health officials are trying to contain this outbreak, they have been asking people who have been exposed and who aren't protected against measles, either by vaccination or by having had the virus, they're asking those folks to quarantine. And right now they say there are about 200 people currently in quarantine.

But they're warning that there are likely hundreds more people who have been exposed who aren't aware that they should be in quarantine because they don't have that immunity. So they are warning that this outbreak is likely to continue for weeks or even months to come.

Now, among those 310 identified cases, the vast majority are unvaccinated. 256 with 50 additional cases whose vaccine status is unknown. The vast majority of the cases also are children. More than 200 school age kids between the age of 5 and 17, and an additional 69 cases under the age of 5. We are seeing these cases being reported in churches and in schools, and the state epidemiologist, Dr. Linda Bell, telling us that it's likely that holiday gatherings, as well as lower vaccination coverage in the area, these are contributing to the really high number of cases we are seeing added.

So they are trying to ask folks to get the MMR vaccine. They are providing mobile clinics to try to ask people to get vaccinated. Of course, this is not the only measles outbreak that is going on right now in the United States. There's another quite large one along the border between Utah and Arizona, where several hundred cases have been reported as well.

So these are likely to continue even after we already saw a record year for measles in 2025. And there are concerns that even as soon as this month, possibly the U.S. could lose its measles elimination status, although that is unknown at this point.

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DEAN: All right. Meg Tirrell, with the latest on that measles outbreak. Thank you.

Known for her stunning looks on the red carpet and on tour, so many are anticipating Taylor Swift's wedding style. And now, in a new CNN documentary, wedding dress designer Hayley Paige imagines how Swift might look on her wedding day.

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HAYLEY PAIGE, WEDDING DRESS DESIGNER: I felt like she needed something Shakespearean and Victorian and super accentuating of her stunning silhouette.

I love going into fabric behavior because it can really take on different forms and shapes and express different personalities. Is it something that feels structural and architectural? Is it something that you want it to kind of wrap the body and feel almost like it's this effortless drape? I think she would probably wear this look as a second look for the cake cutting in the first dance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: "I Do: The Taylor and Travis Era" now streaming on the CNN app.

Still ahead in our next hour, as the death toll climbs in Iran amid anti-government protests, President Trump weighs a potential response.

You're in CNN NEWSROOM.

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DEAN: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica Dean in New York. And tonight, sources saying President Donald Trump weighing a series

of potential military options in Iran as protests against the regime there intensify. Authorities in Iran have imposed a near -- imposed a near-total internet blackout. Internet connectivity data showing starting Thursday usage there dropped to about 1 percent of normal traffic.

A U.S. based human rights group reporting at least 490 protesters have been killed. More than 10,000 people arrested over the past two weeks since the beginning of these demonstrations. And without that internet connectivity, it is hard for the world to really know what's going on there.

CNN's Julia Benbrook joining us now.

Julia, you've been in Florida with the president over the weekend. He's now in route back home here to D.C.