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Trump Urged Iranians that Help is On The Way; China Posted Record-Breaking $1 Trillion in Trade Surplus Amidst Trump Tariffs. Aired 3-4a ET
Aired January 14, 2026 - 03:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN INTERNATIONAL ANCHOR: Hello and welcome to our viewers joining us from all around the world. I'm Rosemary Church, Just ahead.
Widespread protests across Iran and an exclusive look at the brutality of the crackdown against protesters.
President Trump delivers a series of false claims about inflation. We will dig into the real state of the U.S. economy.
And it was a mysterious illness affecting people working at the American embassy in Cuba. Has the U.S. finally discovered the truth behind the Havana syndrome?
UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.
CHURCH: And we begin with the deadly crackdown on protests in Iran. We are now getting new information on how the Iranian regime plans to deal with protesters. State media is reporting that the head of the country's judiciary says protesters charged with violence or quote "terrorist activities" will be given priority for trial and punishment.
A U.S.-based human rights group says more than 2,400 protesters have been killed by security forces and over 18,000 others arrested since late December when anti-government demonstrations began. CNN cannot independently verify those numbers.
The near total internet blackout is making it hard for information to get out of the country and U.S. President Donald Trump is urging Iranians to keep fighting against the regime.
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DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: To all Iranian patriots, keep protesting, take over your institutions if possible and save the name of the killers and the abusers that are abusing you. You're being very badly abused. I say save their names because they'll pay a very big price and I've cancelled all meetings with the Iranian officials until the senseless killing of protesters stops and all I say to them is help is on its way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHURCH: The U.S. State Department posted on social media that Iranian officials are planning to execute a 26-year-old protester today. President Trump says the U.S. will take quote "very strong action if it does."
Our Jomana Karadsheh has this exclusive report on what's happening inside Iran. A warning though the images you're about to see are graphic.
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JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Iranians are risking their lives to show the world the brutality the regime has unleashed. A ruthless crackdown it's tried to conceal under the cover of a communications blackout.
UNKNOWN (through translator): There were bursts of automatic fire, screaming, people gathering, protests, the staccato of Dushka bursts, people shrieking and slogans in the street. I opened the window briefly, the smell of gunpowder and tear gas was everywhere.
KARADSHEH: This is the voice of a doctor who's just left Iran. He's sharing his account exclusively with CNN and the pro-reform news outlet "Iran Wire." He still fears for his safety so we are concealing his identity.
We're bringing you this rare first-hand testimony of what he witnessed inside the country.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): He says the crackdown intensified dramatically on Thursday. It was just as we began getting pictures of larger crowds out on the streets of Iranian cities.
UNKNOWN (through translator): Everything fell apart. At 8:00 p.m. the internet was cut, at 8:20 I got a call from the hospital. Doctor come, you must come.
When I arrived I saw what we call a mass casualty situation. Every single one of the four operating rooms was full. I was there from 10 or 11:00 p.m. until the morning.
I don't know how many surgeries I did, maybe 10 or 11.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): This is one of the few videos to have surfaced from inside Iran's hospitals. It shows some of the injured. But the doctor's testimony paints an even more distressing picture.
UNKNOWN (through translator): From midnight Thursday onward the type of injuries changed. The live rounds started. By Friday evening all the beds were full, most had pellet injuries and similar wounds.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): Throughout these and previous protests the regime's security forces raided hospitals and hunted down injured protesters and the medical staff treating them.
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Turning places of healing into scenes of horror.
UNKNOWN (through translator): There was so much fear. Three patients contacted me through intermediaries. I was afraid to answer, wanting to make sure it wasn't security agents trying to trap me.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): The true scale of the carnage is only just beginning to emerge. Once again so many Iranians find themselves abandoned and alone in this nightmare.
UNKNOWN (through translator): The hope being pumped by external media is not what we feel inside. Inside Iran it's a mix of terror, desperation and a tiny flickering shred of hope.
KARADSHEH (voice-over): Jomana Karadsheh, CNN.
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CHURCH: And CNN's Paula Hancocks is live in Abu Dhabi, she joins us now. Paula, horrifying images there. What more are you learning about this brutal crackdown on protesters in Iran?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Rosemary, we certainly know that the death toll took a sharp rise and we know that the number of arrested has also taken a sharp rise according to a U.S.-based human rights group. So the concern of course is that this brutal crackdown is continuing. It is the internet blackout still so it is very difficult to know if people are still coming out onto the street.
What we have been hearing from a number of people who have managed to contact their families from inside Iran is that the protests do appear to be quieter, certainly with the level of violence that appears to be used against them that would not be a surprise.
Now we have been hearing from the U.S. President Donald Trump calling on Iranian protesters to continue saying that help is on its way. We know that he did have a meeting with his national security advisors on Tuesday. We don't have details of exactly what came out of that, we know that there are a number of different options that they are considering when it comes to Iran.
The U.S. President saying he's cancelled all meetings with Iranian officials. It's not clear what meetings he had at this point.
But of course the concern is what options he will take. There are the military options, there are also diplomatic options. He has said that he was willing to speak to Iran.
Iran's foreign minister saying he was also willing to speak. But at this point the concern as well is what is happening to those protesters who have been arrested.
We heard from the head of the judiciary in Iran that they were going to take the protesters that they considered quote "terrorists" and they were going to be dealt with quickly and as a priority. And as we know there is already one individual, a 26 year old man Irfan Soltani who is expected or was sentenced to a death sentence on January 14th today.
There are great concerns as to what will happen to those many thousands who have been arrested as well. Rosemary?
CHURCH: It is a great concern indeed. Paula Hancocks, joining us there with that live report. I appreciate it.
We are following breaking news out of Thailand. Reuters reports at least 22 people were killed after a construction crane collapsed north of Bangkok hitting a train and causing it to derail. We're hearing there are more bodies in the wreckage that rescuers have not yet recovered.
And Kristie Lu Stout has the latest.
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KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Disaster struck Wednesday morning in northeastern Thailand when a crane collapse derailed a train taking lives and injuring scores of people and this is the aftermath. Footage from the scene show carriages overturned next to the tracks with smoke from the train cars pouring out. Emergency workers clamor over the debris to search through the damaged train cars but had to pull back when the crane started shifting.
Now the train was traveling from the Thai capital of Bangkok to the province of Ubon Ratchathani. It was derailed after a construction crane fell onto its carriages causing multiple casualties. The Thai transport minister says that there were 195 passengers on board and those killed were in two of the three carriages hit by the crane.
And when the crane collapsed it was working on an elevated high-speed rail project. It's one of several under construction in Thailand. A full investigation has been ordered and is underway as a community searches for answers as well as the remains of their loved ones.
Kristie Lu Stout, CNN.
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CHURCH: U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are set to meet with the foreign ministers from Denmark and Greenland at the White House today. The talks are expected to focus on the relationship between all parties. President Trump has repeatedly threatened to take over Greenland, a Danish territory, saying last Friday that if he's unable to make a deal the easy way then he will have to do it the hard way.
The Danish foreign minister says the face-to-face meeting will allow everyone to quote "look each other in the eye and talk about these things", unquote.
But on the eve of the talks Greenland's leader had this blunt message for President Trump at a joint news conference with his Danish counterpart.
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JENS-FREDERIK NIELSEN, GREENLAND'S PRIME MINISTER (through translator): Greenland will not be a part of the USA. We choose the Greenland we know today which is part of the kingdom of Denmark. Now we are faced with a geopolitical crisis and if we have to choose between the USA and Denmark here and now we choose Denmark, we choose NATO, we choose the kingdom of Denmark, and we choose the E.U.
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CHURCH: Greenland's government says it will not accept a takeover by the U.S. under any circumstances.
Well new data shows 2025 was the third hottest year on record. That news coming as Copernicus, the European service that monitors climate change, released its final climate data for last year. We're also learning the last 11 years have been the warmest on record with the past three years being the worst as average temperatures exceeded 1.5 degrees Celsius, that was the temperature limit set by the Paris climate agreement to prevent the climate crisis from worsening.
Well Donald Trump is making some bold claims about the U.S. economy, we will separate fact from fiction after his visit to Michigan right after the break. Stay with us.
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CHURCH: Welcome back everyone.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says hundreds of thousands of households in the Kyiv region are without power. This after Russia launched another massive aerial barrage which included hundreds of drones as well as ballistic and cruise missiles. The assault on Ukraine's energy infrastructure comes as temperatures in Kyiv remain well below freezing.
U.S. President Donald Trump is teasing plans to bring down health care costs and housing prices. He says he'll announce some this week and others at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland next week.
The President spent Tuesday in Michigan first at a Ford plant in Dearborn where he touted his efforts to bring manufacturing jobs back to the U.S. Then he spoke to the Detroit Economic Club where he rattled off a familiar series of false claims saying inflation has stopped, grocery prices are falling rapidly and the cost of prescription drugs is coming down by up to 600 percent. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: And now after less than 12 months in office this is the easiest speech to make. I have great people and all I'm doing is spewing off what the hell we've done.
Right now I'm feeling pretty good though I will say. Oh you're so lucky to be here. Under our administration growth is exploding, productivity is soaring, investment is booming, incomes are rising, inflation is defeated, America is respected again like never before.
The results are in and the Trump economic boom has officially begun.
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CHURCH: The latest government data shows inflation actually rose 2.7 percent in December compared to the year prior, slightly higher than expectations. Housing related inflation sharply rising, food prices and higher energy costs all contributed to the increase.
Well meantime concerns are growing across Washington over the Justice Department's criminal investigation into the Federal Reserve and Chairman Jerome Powell with critics claiming the probe appears to be politically motivated. President Trump told CBS News quote "I can't help what it looks like in response to the backlash."
For more I'm joined by CNN global economic analyst Rana Foroohar. She's also a global business columnist and associate editor at the "Financial Times" and she joins me from New York. Good to have you with us.
RANA FOROOHAR, CNN GLOBAL ECONOMIC ANALYST, AND ASSOCIATE EDITOR, "FINANCIAL TIMES": Great to be here.
CHURCH: So President Trump declared Tuesday that inflation is defeated and he credited his own tariffs for reviving the economy saying quote "The Trump economic boom has officially begun." As an economist what do you say to that?
FOROOHAR: Well we know that tariffs have had nothing to do with America's economic growth which has continued really against all odds. You know Jerome Powell who is of course under threat himself now from Trump actually said that tariffs are one of the main reasons why inflation was rising.
You know we've got a big issue right now with trying to control inflation while also not toppling the labor market which is showing signs of slowing. So you know really it's hard to argue that we're in a boom. We're probably at the tail end of whatever growth is you know was left in the system and possibly going into tougher times ahead I would say.
CHURCH: And on Tuesday specifically on tariffs again President Trump said this and I'm quoting "every prediction the critics made about our tariff policy has failed to materialize."
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The evidence shows overwhelmingly that the tariffs are not paid by American consumers. So what's your response to that statement?
FOROOHAR: Well again I just don't think that you can argue that. You look at where inflation is now it's higher than when Trump came in.
There are a number of factors in inflationary pressures right now but tariffs are completely one of them. It's also possible that we're going to see more chaos. What if the Supreme Court actually says that the President's tariff policy is illegal, you know, that's going to create more turmoil in the markets.
It's really amazing to be honest that there hasn't been more trouble yet but I think that the U.S. is still enjoying this sort of prettiest house on an ugly block phenomenon that it has for many years now. Europe is growing slowly there's a lot of uncertainty about China and how it's going to handle its own economic woes and so you know investors have not pulled capital out en masse from the U.S. That said we have seen the dollar weakening.
We are seeing gold at record highs and we are seeing with every treasury auction a little bit more diversification out of the dollar and into international currency. So I think it's pretty hard to argue that we're in the middle of some kind of boom right now.
CHURCH: Right and as you touched on President Trump continued his attacks against Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell who's now under a federal criminal investigation. Do you think Powell would have been the subject of this investigation if he had done Trump's bidding and cut interest rates again? Do you think this is political?
FOROOHAR: I do Rosemary.
I think it's really hard to argue that it's not. You know we're seeing a president that has repeatedly politicized not just the Fed but other government agencies, the Bureau of Labor Statistics. He has long said that Powell should be cutting rates, he's made it clear he wants them out, he's said who he would like to have in and I think that it's hard to see this attack as anything other than completely political.
It's also something that is really, really worrying investors. I mean they will take a lot. They'll deal with tariffs, they'll deal with escalation in places like Venezuela, the blow up of NATO.
But the idea that we do not have an independent central bank is something that I think is really going to come back to bite Trump in the form of higher costs for borrowing, higher risk premiums for the U.S. which is exactly what he wants to avoid.
CHURCH: And that Department of Justice probe into Fed Chair Powell is prompting a wave of Republican pushback and has many investors uneasy as well. If President Trump persists with this and uses it to push Powell out, what impact could that potentially have on the markets and of course the U.S. economy overall? FOROOHAR: Well you know whenever you see economics and politics mixing
in a country, whenever you get a sense that the economic policy making is not distinct from politics, you tend to get more volatility, slower growth.
Sometimes you get a full-blown financial crisis which is what you saw a few years ago in Turkey when you had a very similar situation. The President saying I don't like the central banker, he's out. Then you see the markets responding with chaos.
You saw the lira really plummeting, inflation going into double digits. And so the only reason that's not happening is the U.S. is the economy of last resort. The dollar is the currency of last resort.
But China, Russia, other countries have been trying to push against that. They're stockpiling gold. China's trying to do more business in digital RMB, its own payment system.
And so this is a drip, Rosemary. It's not going to happen all in one go, but at some point it could be some combination of problems with the Fed and the fight between Powell and Trump colliding with an A.I. correction, colliding with some other geopolitical strife that eventually corrects the markets. I would not be surprised if that happened this year.
CHURCH: Rana Foroohar, thank you so much for joining us. I appreciate it.
FOROOHAR: Thank you, Rosemary.
CHURCH: Tensions are mounting in Minnesota as protesters and ICE agents keep clashing in Minneapolis. Hundreds more immigration officers are descending on the city following the deadly ICE shooting of Renee Good last week. A few blocks away from where she was killed, another woman in another car was confronted by federal agents on Tuesday.
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A court hearing is set for Wednesday in the Minnesota lawsuit against the federal government's escalating immigration enforcement. The suit is seeking a court order to halt the statewide crackdown by the DHS. Here's the Minnesota attorney general's take on why President Trump is targeting the state.
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KEITH ELLISON, MINNESOTA ATTORNEY GENERAL: He's clearly mad at Minnesota because we rejected him at the ballot box three times straight. He's upset about that. And he said so recently and I'm sure you can probably roll tape on that.
But I believe that he is. That's why we have to go to court to stop him. That's why it is necessary for the state of Minnesota, city of St.
Paul, city of Minneapolis to ask a court to intervene, because I do not believe that the President will stop simply because there's evidence, clear evidence that this surge is not doing what he said he wanted it to do, which is to deal with crime.
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CHURCH: And this comes as President Trump warns that a reckoning is coming to Minnesota. He took to Truth Social on Tuesday attacking Minnesota Democrats and calling ICE agents patriots.
The U.S. Justice Department says there's no basis for a criminal investigation into the ICE agents who fatally shot Renee Good. At least six Minnesota prosecutors have now resigned after pressure from the Trump administration to shift the probe to the actions of Renee Good and those around her.
Still, to come after nearly a decade of investigations, the U.S. Defense Department may be closer to solving the Havana syndrome mystery. We'll take a look at that.
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CHURCH: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom," I'm Rosemary Church. I want to check today's top stories for you.
U.S. President Donald Trump is urging Iranians to keep protesting and says, quote, "help is on the way." He also says he will pursue strong action if Iranian authorities execute protesters who have been arrested, Iran's ambassador to the U.N. says those comments violate international law. According to a U.S.-based rights group, more than 2400 protesters have been killed.
Donald Trump says he will unveil some new plans to boost the U.S. economy in the coming days. The president told the Detroit Economic Club he would announce some health care initiatives this week and he plans to outline housing affordability plans next week in Davos, Switzerland.
A source tells CNN Venezuela has freed at least four American political prisoners. It's the first known release of U.S. detainees under interim Venezuelan President Delcy Rodriguez. A human rights group says so far only 56 of more than 800 political detainees have been freed.
U.S. investigators believe they may have the source behind the mysterious illness known as Havana syndrome. It first emerged in late 2016 when U.S. diplomats stationed in Cuba reported symptoms of vertigo and extreme headaches. CNN's Natasha Bertrand reports from Washington.
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NATASHA BERTRAND, NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: The Defense Department has spent more than a year testing a device purchased in an undercover operation that some investigators think could be the cause of a series of mysterious ailments impacting U.S. spies, diplomats, and troops that are colloquially known as Havana syndrome, according to four sources briefed on the matter.
Sources told me and my colleagues that a division of the Department of Homeland Security, Homeland Security Investigations, purchased the device for an eight-figure sum in the waning days of the Biden administration using funding that was provided by the Defense Department.
Now it's not clear who they purchased the device from and there's ongoing debate and skepticism in some parts of the U.S. government that the object is linked to the roughly dozens of anomalous health incidents over the last decade that remain officially unexplained.
The device obtained by the U.S. is also very small. It can fit into a backpack, according to our sources, and it produces pulsed radio waves that some officials believe could be responsible for the symptoms.
But officials have long struggled to understand how a device powerful enough to cause the kind of damage that some victims have reported, like traumatic brain injury, could also be made portable. In any case, defense officials consider their findings serious enough that they briefed the House and Senate Intelligence Committees late last year and the testing of the device remains ongoing.
Natasha Bertrand, CNN in Washington.
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CHURCH: There's the art of war and then there's the art of the tariff war. Just ahead, how China was able to hit a record trillion dollar trade surplus despite President Trump's aggressive tariffs. We'll take a look.
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CHURCH: The parent company of luxury retailer Saks Fifth Avenue has filed for bankruptcy. Saks Global filed for Chapter 11 in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas on Tuesday.
The company was formed in 2024 after the owner of Saks acquired Neiman Marcus. The idea was to create a luxury giant. Instead, shoppers shunned high-end retailers as the affordability crisis hit.
Well, it seems President Trump's tariff war is not hurting China's economy. Earlier today, Beijing reported a record $1.2 trillion trade surplus for 2025. CNN's Mike Valerio has the latest from Beijing. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, the headline here is certainly record-smashing. China has just posted the world's largest trade surplus ever. That is a milestone that certainly highlights the country's resilience at a time when we are still very much dealing with tariff tensions.
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So to tell you what you need to know about this expansive storyline, the surplus stood at $1.189 trillion for the entire year, which, to put that in context, is roughly the size of the GDP of Saudi Arabia. The huge surplus here in China, analysts say, is bolstered by a strategic shift.
With President Donald Trump back in the White House, Chinese manufacturers are focusing on really trying to diversify their markets, turning to Southeast Asia, Africa, especially Latin America, in order to offset the impact of U.S. tariffs. So, while China is focusing on exports big time, this is really happening as the country is still grappling with a pretty sluggish domestic economy and a prolonged property slump. Exports notably rose 6.6 percent in December, beating economists' forecasts, while imports were up by 5.7 percent.
Now, one of the standout sectors has been China's auto industry, where exports jumped by nearly 20 percent last year. E.V. shipments from China soared by almost 50 percent, cementing China's place as the world's top auto exporter for a third straight year.
Now, despite this headline-grabbing record surplus, China is aware of the imbalances that this creates. We have heard from markets like the European Union raising concerns about too many Chinese goods flooding into their economies. And to that end, Chinese Premier Li Cheng recently called for more balanced imports and exports, signaling Beijing's efforts to moderate industrial exports.
Now, the question going forward is whether this global dominance from China can continue amid shifting trade dynamics and an ongoing tariff dispute with the United States.
Mike Valerio, CNN, Beijing.
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CHURCH: The South Korean President is in Japan for a high stakes meeting with the Japanese Prime Minister. It's a major summit between two neighbors that have shared a long history and now a surprise jam session.
Yes, that is Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and South Korean President Lee Jae-myung banging on the drums. They played along to two K-pop hits in this video posted to social media. Prime Minister Takaichi surprised President Lee after he previously told her that it was his dream to play the drums. Thanks so much for your company, I'm Rosemary Church. Have yourselves a wonderful day. "World Sport" is coming up next.
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