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Trump Urges Iran to Negotiate a Deal or Engage in Military Action; British Prime Minister Meets Chinese President in Beijing. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired January 29, 2026 - 03:00   ET

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

[03:00:00]

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

Donald Trump is ramping up the rhetoric against Iran as he weighs military action.

Minnesota leaders speak with the public at a CNN town hall after weeks of violence on the streets.

And protesters clash with law enforcement in Texas over the immigration detention of a five-year-old boy.

Plus, diplomacy is on display in China as the U.K.'s Prime Minister meets with Xi Jinping.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Rosemary Church.

CHURCH: U.S. President Donald Trump is stepping up his threats of military action against Iran. He's urging government leaders in Tehran to negotiate a deal to prevent from developing nuclear weapons. If not, he says the next attack on Iran will be far worse than the one carried out last summer.

A key adviser to Iran's supreme leader is vowing to respond, naming Tel Aviv as a target if the U.S. attacks. The USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group is now in the Indian Ocean, and sources say the president is considering military strikes on Iran's leadership, government institutions and nuclear sites. He's also threatening to target security officials responsible for killing thousands of anti- government protesters.

Here's what U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio told lawmakers in Washington on Wednesday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARCO RUBIO, U.S. SECRETARY OF STATE: That regime is probably weaker than it has ever been. And the core problem they face, unlike the protests you saw in the past on some other topics, is that they don't have a way to address the core complaints of the protesters, which is that there are economies in collapse.

The protests may have ebbed, but they will spark up again in the future because this regime, unless they are willing to change and or leave, have no way of addressing the legitimate and consistent complaints of the people of Iran who deserve better.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Rubio also said no one knows who would take over if Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was removed from power.

CNN's Frederik Pleitgen is reporting from Tehran this week, operating only with the government's permission, and he sat down for an extended interview with the speaker of Iran's parliament.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MOHAMMAD BAGHER GHALIBAF, SPEAKER OF IRAN'S PARLIAMENT (through translator): How can we, given all these actions and reactions, again trust President Trump?

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Are you still willing to negotiate with the Trump administration?

GHALIBAF (through translator): If there is genuine talk to reach a deal within the framework of international regulations, then yes. But that's not the kind of talk the U.S. President is after.

He just wants to impose his will on others, he ripped up the JCPOA and threw it in the bin. Two days before the new round of talks, he torpedoed the talks by giving the green light to Israel to attack Iran.

In my opinion, if Trump is really honest and telling the truth and seeking peace and wants to have the Nobel Peace Prize, he needs to go toward real peace, and his first action must be to get free of the warmongers and those seeking Iran's submission.

The whole world knows that, even the people of the U.S., that negotiating under the threat of war won't solve anything.

PLEITGEN: The United States says it's building up these forces because it's reacting to the mass killing of protesters during the recent protests that happened here in Iran by Iranian security forces. What's your response to that?

[03:05:00]

GHALIBAF (through translator): In just two days of skirmishes, they martyred close to 300 security officers with weapons. This behavior, as I described, was a scheme that was entirely designed outside the country in order to try and carry out a terrorist pseudo-coup.

These crimes need to be prosecuted and will be pursued inside the country, and legal procedures will take place. We will never back down from seeking revenge for the blood and pursuing different aspects of this crime. We do not deny the issue that certainly part of the economic issues could be and are a result of weak management.

Where is the main root of these economic pressures? They are only the tyrannical pressures which U.S. sanctions have imposed on our nation.

PLEITGEN: President Trump has threatened massive force if no agreement is reached. What do you think that would mean for Iran and what would that mean for the region?

GHALIBAF (through translator): Maybe Mr. Trump can start a war, but he doesn't have control over the end. Thousands of American soldiers who are being deployed several thousands of kilometers from home are definitely going to be harmed, which is not a good thing. The Iranian nation throughout history has shown that it will never submit to foreigners.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: We turn now to Washington, where the White House and Senate leaders are moving closer to a deal to avoid a government shutdown. Sources say they are trying to resolve some final sticking points ahead of Friday's deadline. Democratic senators have threatened to block a massive spending package that includes funding for ICE amid calls to rein in the federal agency.

This comes as new videos show federal officers clashing with Alex Pretti more than a week before he was shot and killed by Customs and Border Protection agents. Pretti is seen shouting at officers and kicking their vehicle's taillight. The agents then stop, get out and tackle Pretti to the ground.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MAYOR JACOB FREY, MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA: I actually haven't yet seen the video, but are we actually making the argument that Alex Pretti should be killed for something that happened like 11 days prior to the shooting itself?

No, I think we should be talking about the circumstances that actually led to the killing and what took place. And those circumstances, I mean, you can believe your own two eyes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey speaking there at CNN's town hall also reacted to President Trump's warning that he's, quote, playing with fire if Minneapolis doesn't enforce federal immigration law.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FREY: It's not about safety, nor is it, I believe, about immigration. You don't need to take my word for it. Listen to the words that are coming directly from the federal administration and people in it. This is about political retribution. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi is back in Minneapolis now, and she says they will not stop enforcing the law. CNN's senior crime and justice correspondent Shimon Prokupecz has more.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SR. CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: In Minneapolis right now is a city that very much is just trying to heal. And you could see that behind me with people who continue to show up at the site where Alex Pretti was killed. And all day long, people have been coming and laying flowers and paying their respects and just trying to heal.

But there's still many unknowns here as the federal law enforcement continues operations here in Minneapolis. The Attorney General Pam Bondi tweeting that a number of alleged protesters who allegedly assaulted federal officers were arrested, and she also claims in her tweet that they impeded arrests.

And it's a time that people are trying to see some de-escalation. And there are some that are worried that this continued presence is going to escalate things that are happening here.

On Thursday, we expect to hear from the border czar who is now running the immigration operation here, Tom Homan, for the first time. And hopefully there we will get some details on the next steps here. But everyone here certainly hoping that this de-escalation can continue.

Shimon Prokupecz, CNN, Minneapolis.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[03:10:05]

CHURCH: U.S. Representative Ilhan Omar says the man who sprayed her with liquid from a syringe during a town hall in Minneapolis will be taken into federal custody in the coming hours. The congresswoman was not hurt in the incident.

Police tell CNN the FBI is now leading the investigation into that attack. They believe the liquid that was used was apple cider vinegar.

Meantime, Omar is dismissing claims by President Trump that she staged the attack, telling CNN his administration has lied about both ICE killings in Minneapolis. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ILHAN OMAR (D-MN): This is a President who presides over an administration that when they assassinated, Renee Good told us that she was a domestic terrorist that was trying to kill the federal agents. When they assassinated Alex Pretti, they told us that he was a domestic terrorist who burnished a weapon.

None of those things are true. They are known to be liars. They have constantly told us not to believe in our eyes.

Fortunately, both of those assassinations were caught on camera. And so was what happened to me last night, caught on camera.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The man accused of attacking Omar is facing a third degree assault charge.

Jeff Duncan, the former lieutenant governor of the U.S. state of Georgia, is slamming an FBI search of an elections office here in Atlanta, calling it, quote, "another disgusting attempt by Donald Trump and his administration to try and rewrite history."

Fulton County Commissioner Mo Ivory says the FBI had a warrant for all of the ballots cast in the county during the 2020 election and that agents collected 700 boxes of ballots. Since winning a second term, President Trump has repeatedly warned that anyone connected with what he calls the widespread voter fraud of 2020 would face consequences.

Laura Coates spoke earlier with investigative journalist Michael Isikoff, author of "Find Me the Votes - A Deep Dive into President Trump's Failed Effort to Overturn the 2020 Election." And she asked him what stood out about this latest move by the FBI.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL ISIKOFF, INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALIST: There's several interesting things about it.

First of all, it was signed at 2:31 p.m. The first CNN story about this search moved at 1:15. So before the magistrate actually signed the warrant, the FBI was already in there.

Apparently, the first warrant, there was an early warrant to the wrong office, right. And they had to correct that.

But the fact is they were doing the search when they didn't have the signature of a federal magistrate. That's number one.

Number two is they cite two provisions of the federal code, section titled 52, section 20701 and 20511. People can look it up and Google. The first one is a misdemeanor.

It's retention of records. The penalty for that is a fine of $1,000. Not real serious.

The second one, though, 20511, that's a general election fraud statute.

LAURA COATES, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF LEGAL ANALYST: Very broad.

ISIKOFF: Very broad. It says, among other things, that anybody who deprives, defrauds or attempts to deprive or defraud the residents of a fair and impartially conducted election process, that's very loose language that can a lot of conduct could be put into that. (END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is defending the Trump administration's work with Venezuela's interim government. The top U.S. diplomat says there has been progress, but the transition to democracy requires a phased approach, which will take time.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUBIO: I can point to a number of places, Spain, Paraguay, two examples of places in which there was a transition, you know, from an autocratic regime to a democratic regime, and it took time. I can't give you a timeline of how long it takes. It can't take forever, it can't.

It's only it's not even been four weeks, it's a year or two.

Well, I think we need to be put to this. We need to be much further along six months from now, even three months from now. And it also depends on the rest of Venezuelan society.

How quickly can we get all these Venezuelans that want to go back to Venezuela and participate in civic and economic life back to Venezuela? That's going to be critical here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Rubio also told lawmakers the Trump administration would like to see regime change in Cuba, but he suggested the U.S. wouldn't necessarily be involved in it as it was in Venezuela.

[03:15:00]

Well, after his testimony, Rubio met with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. She says she's working from abroad on important agreements regarding her country's future, but she wants to go back to Venezuela as soon as possible. Machado also had harsh words for the interim Venezuelan president.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIA CORINA MACHADO, VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION LEADER: I think no one has faith in Delcy Rodriguez.

What she is, she has run out of options. Everybody knows what this regime is all about. We're talking about criminals.

They have killed people intentionally. They have made a third of our population leave our country and flee. They have designed the most criminal torture and repressive system in history in this hemisphere.

This is state terrorism, and she's an essential part of it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: Emergency workers face horrific scenes after Russia's strike on a passenger train in Ukraine. Still to come, a dramatic rescue operation as Russian drones set train cars on fire.

And a British prime minister is visiting Beijing for the first time in years. Details on his meeting with the Chinese president.

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[03:20:00]

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CHURCH: Dramatic scenes after Russia's deadly strike on a passenger train in Ukraine.

Video recorded on Tuesday shows a rail car burning with flames streaming out of the windows. Emergency workers face sheer horror as they saw victims' remains amid the wreckage. Officials say DNA tests are needed to identify them.

Other videos showed passengers, including small children, being hustled away from the flames. As CNN's Melissa Bell reports, Ukraine's president had strong words about the strike.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MELISSA BELL, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: At least five people were killed as a result of a Russian strike on a train near the northeastern Ukrainian city of Kharkiv. The train, we understand, it was used to carry families visiting soldiers on the front line, an attack that President Zelenskyy described as an act of terror given its focus on civilians.

At least five people there in desperate searches to try and rescue as many people from the wreckage of the train as possible in the aftermath of that strike. It comes even as Russian strikes have continued these last few days against Ukrainian infrastructure targets.

There are now millions of Ukrainians living without electricity or heating in the freezing temperatures and across the country as a result of the strikes and desperate attempts being made nonetheless to try and restore some of that electricity desperately to those parts of the country that are without it.

This, as the trilateral talks between Ukrainians, Russians and Americans that began last weekend are to pick up again on Sunday in Abu Dhabi. We understand that the sticking points remain the Russian insistence on getting the entirety of Donbass. There are also questions, of course, now that the security guarantees for Ukraine have been agreed upon between the United States and Europe and that would involve Western troops, namely British and French troops, being on the ground in a post-war Ukraine. Moscow's recent comments that it would consider them legitimate targets.

These are a couple of the sticking points that remain. Very little concrete progress appears to have been made last weekend, although still there is hope, according to one American official, that at least all of the parties are now speaking together and that that could lead to some progress.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Britain's prime minister is on a rare visit to China. His mission strengthened ties with the world's second most powerful economy.

Keir Starmer told the Chinese President that it's, quote, "vital that we build a more sophisticated relationship." And he pointed to climate change and global stability as areas of possible cooperation. President Xi Jinping had this to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

XI JINPING, CHINESE PRESIDENT (through translator): China is willing to develop a long-term, stable and comprehensive strategic partnership with Britain, which will benefit the people of both countries and also the world. Your visit has attracted a lot of attention. The road to success is often strewn with setbacks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CHURCH: The Prime Minister's visit is sure to be closely watched by the White House. He is the latest in a series of Western leaders to look east amid the United States tariff threats and unpredictable foreign policy.

I spoke earlier with CNN's Mike Valerio, who had this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: So we're waiting on the deliverables, but we do know that this is a remarkable reset visit because after years of suspicion really permeating the relationship between the U.K. and China, we now have the British Prime Minister here in town in Beijing saying that he wants a relationship between the U.K. and China delivering security and prosperity for the British people. Quite a reversal from what we've heard from some members of the British government in recent years.

So to that end, let's listen to Prime Minister Keir Starmer in his own words. We'll talk about it on the other side. Let's listen.

KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: China is a vital player on the global stage and it's vital that we build a more sophisticated relationship.

VALERIO: Okay, so quite a statement there in 8.5 seconds. Chinese leader Xi Jinping very much echoing the sentiment saying in quote, in part a couple of minutes ago, quote, "China is willing to develop a long term, stable and comprehensive strategic partnership with Britain, which will benefit the people of both countries as well as the world."

[03:25:07]

So this reset visit is so remarkable in part because of the primary ally, the largest and most important ally of the United Kingdom, and that would be the United States. And we see more and more often allies of the United States, leaders of those allies from Emmanuel Macron of France, Mark Carney of Canada, coming back to this town, Beijing, re- evaluating their ties with China.

So we have not only with the British Prime Minister traveling with members of his government, but also bringing with him big business names. We're talking about representatives from Jaguar, Land Rover, GSK, HSBC, big business brands from the U.K. And this is happening as so many companies around the world, myriad companies are trying to diversify their trade portfolios, perhaps reduce their reliance on trade with the United States.

So it will be interesting to see what are the deliverables, what are the tangible results of this trip, especially considering where the U.K. and China have been. I think one of the low points was certainly in 2020 when the British government said that Huawei needed to be removed from Great Britain's 5G network, a deadline of next year still existing to remove all installed elements of Huawei technology from Britain's 5G network because of allegations and security concerns that have been leveled by the British government.

But on the flip side, we have Keir Starmer just about a week ago, greenlighting the so-called mega embassy project across the street from the Tower of London in the shadow of London's financial district, the heart, financial heart of Great Britain. So we have both of these things happening, a new path that seems to have emerged, the British prime minister saying that he's not going to choose between relations -- good relations with China and the United States.

And the next leader that perhaps will follow in this parade of Western allies coming to Beijing, we're watching for February for German Chancellor Merz, perhaps to make his way to Beijing also.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: After the break, a U.S. lawmaker meets with a five-year-old who's being held at an immigration detention center with his father. Well, we're learning about how the little boy is handling the situation. That's just ahead.

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[03:30:00]

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CHURCH: Welcome back to "CNN Newsroom," I'm Rosemary Church. I want to check today's top stories for you.

President Trump is demanding that Iran agree to a deal to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons. If not, he says the next U.S. strike will be far worse than the one last year. Tehran says talks with the U.S. must be genuine and any military aggression would be met with a powerful response.

Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey says he had a productive conversation with Border Czar Tom Homan, but didn't receive any assurances the immigration crackdown would end. President Trump is accusing Frey of playing with fire by insisting local police won't play a role in enforcing federal immigration laws. This comes after the president had said he planned to de-escalate the situation in Minnesota.

An FBI search of election offices in Georgia is raising concerns. A county commissioner says federal agents came with a warrant for all ballots cast in the county during the 2020 election. It's reportedly part of the FBI investigation into President Trump's false claim that widespread voter fraud cost him the White House five years ago.

A Democratic lawmaker from Texas has called on President Donald Trump and his advisor Stephen Miller to visit the immigration detention facility in Dilley, Texas. That's where a five-year-old is being held, Liam Cornejo Ramos and his father were detained by ICE last week.

Since then, Dilley has seen fresh protests calling for Liam's release. Congressman Joaquin Castro met with Liam and his father.

CNN's Ed Lavendera has that report and how the congressman is describing the poor conditions inside Dilley.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

REP, JOAQUIN CASTRO (D-TX): You can see from the picture that I posted that he was lying in his father's arms. His father said that Liam has been very depressed since he's been at Dilley, that he hasn't been eating well.

I was concerned with, you see how he appears in that photo with his energy. He seemed lethargic.

ED LAVANDERA, CNN SR. U.S. NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Congressman Joaquin Castro met with five-year-old Liam Cornejo Ramos and his father Adrian during a visit inside the South Texas Family Residential Center in Dilley, Texas. For more than three hours, the congressman says he met not only with Liam's family, but also with hundreds of other detainees. Castro said Liam has been asking about his family and his classmates back in Minnesota.

CASTRO: He said that he misses his classmates and his family and wants to be back at school. And he keeps asking about that hat and that backpack that are in the picture. I think they took that from him.

[03:34:55]

LAVANDERA (voice-over): Liam and his father were taken into ICE custody last week in suburban Minneapolis amid the Trump administration's immigration crackdown in the state, sparking anti-ICE anger within the community and across the country.

The Department of Homeland Security says Liam's father was in the country illegally and that agents only took the five-year-old boy after his father asked that he stay with him. An attorney for the family disputes that, saying Adrian Cornejo Arias hadn't committed any crimes and was following, quote, "all of the established protocols for seeking asylum in the U.S."

Outside the facility in Dilley, Texas, hundreds of protesters clashed with Texas State Police, demanding Liam and his father and other families be released immediately. While federal officials claim the family inside are cared for, an attorney who says he represents a family there says the conditions are, quote, "worse than people think."

ERIC LEE, IMMIGRATION ATTORNEY: The water is putrid. They have to mix baby formula with water that nobody wants to even smell. The food has bugs in it, the food has dirt in it.

LAVANDERA: After spending more than three hours in this family detention facility in Dilley, Texas, Congressman Joaquin Castro says these families should be released. He says he met a two-month-old baby who has spent days inside the facility already. And after emerging from his visit there, the congressman went on to call for the disbandment of ICE, as well as the impeachment of Department of Homeland Secretary Kristi Noem.

Ed Lavandera, CNN, San Antonio, Texas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CHURCH: Tesla sales have been on a steady decline in recent years. Now the carmaker is saying goodbye to two of its most enduring models. What Elon Musk says Tesla will focus on instead, that's coming up.

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[03:40:00]

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CHURCH: Welcome back to CNN. This is your Business Breakout and here's a look at the Asia markets. Japan's Nikkei, the Hang Seng in Hong Kong, and the KOSPI Index in South Korea all closing up today.

And here are some of today's business headlines.

The U.S. dollar hit a four-day losing streak, its worst since April. The dollar's value had lost 2.6 percent on speculation the U.S. might boost the Japanese yen. When asked about a possible intervention, the U.S. Treasury Secretary told CNBC, absolutely not. And that appears to have calmed the markets.

Well, despite ongoing threats from President Trump, the Federal Reserve is now lowering interest rates. The central bank is keeping its benchmark lending rate at 3.5 to 3.75 percent and hinting the pause may persist for some time. Chair Jerome Powell says dropping rates doesn't make sense right now because the economy seems to be holding up. Well, amid declining sales and plunging profits, Tesla is pulling the plug on its Model S and Model X cars. CEO Elon Musk says the company will shift focus to building humanoid robots and expanding its self- driving robo-taxi service. Tesla's earnings have fallen in nine of the last ten quarters, its income last year was just 30 percent of its peak in 2022.

And I want to thank you so much for your company, I'm Rosemary Church. Have yourselves a wonderful day. "World Sport" is coming up next.

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