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CNN This Morning
Protests in Minneapolis, Portland after Shootings by Federal Agents; ICE Officer Who Killed Renee Good Had 10+ Years Experience; Crockett Questions GOP 'Courage & Humanity' after ICE Shooting; Trump to Host Big Oil Leaders for Venezuela Talks. Aired 6-6:30a ET
Aired January 09, 2026 - 06:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Box office this weekend. It's already grossed more than a billion dollars, and it's expected to bring in another $20 million in ticket sales, easily beating new releases like "Greenland 2" and "Primate."
[06:00:12]
Meantime, Holllywood's 2026 award season is officially underway. On Thursday, they rolled out the red carpet for Sunday's Golden Globes awards show.
And for the first time -- talk about a sign of the times -- the Globes will honor podcasts in addition to film and television.
All right. That's going to do it for us here today. Thanks for being with us here on EARLY START. I'm Rahel Solomon, live in New York. CNN THIS MORNING starts right now.
AUDIE CORNISH, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning, everyone. I'm Audie Cornish. And we are following breaking news across the country because there's been another shooting in President Trump's immigration crackdown, this time in Portland, where the mayor is speaking out.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MAYOR KEITH WILSON (D), PORTLAND, OREGON: There was a time when we could take them at their word. That time is long past.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Minnesota is shut out of the investigation into the killing of a woman by ICE. So, why the feds are blocking them?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN): Minnesota must be part of this investigation.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: And anger is boiling over. Protesters across the country demanding accountability.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She had a name. She had a life. Donald Trump stole it from her.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Yet, Vice President Vance said this was a, quote, "tragedy of her own making."
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. JASMINE CROCKETT (D-TX): Can y'all not just have a little bit of courage and humanity?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: We're going to begin with the protests that are breaking out after another shooting by federal agents. A married couple in Portland, Oregon, now in the hospital after a Border Patrol agent shot them.
DHS says Border Patrol agents were conducting a targeted vehicle stop at the time. They claim the passenger was an undocumented immigrant who was affiliated with the Tren de Aragua gang.
DHS says the driver, who they believe is also affiliated with the gang, tried to run over the agent and that he was, quote, "fearing for his life and safety, an agent fired a defensive shot."
The couple was later arrested at the hospital. Here is the mayor of Portland.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
WILSON: We know what the federal government says happened here. There was a time when we could take them at their word. That time is long past.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Joining me now, Jillian Snider, retired NYPD -- NYPD police officer. Thank you so much for being with us.
JILLIAN SNIDER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Audie.
CORNISH: Now, because this is the second incident in two days where we have driver who has been shot in what the feds call a car ramming incident, can you talk about what is the training, if a vehicle is coming at you, as law enforcement on the scene?
SNIDER: The NYPD -- and I could speak to my training that way. We for -- it's been at least 50 years since we were trained in our department guidelines that we should not ever shoot at or from a moving vehicle, unless that vehicle posed an immediate and imminent threat of lethal force and we had no other alternative to get out of its way. I know that a lot of law enforcement agencies across the country have
followed similar patterns of training, that it is not encouraged and, instead, discouraged to ever shoot at a moving vehicle unless the only way out of the possible deadly situation was to fire your weapon.
CORNISH: Meaning if you have an option to just move, you should take it?
SNIDER: That is the assumption, that if there is an alternative that you can get out of harm's way, you will do so.
You also have to assess the scene. In any case, is there another bystander that could possibly get rammed by this vehicle, if this vehicle is being used as a weapon? That's also a consideration of the officer.
So, if that -- that's not the situation. If it's just you, the officer, standing before the car, and you can get out of the way, that is what you are supposed to do.
But again, knowing that this all happens in seconds, knowing that you're not always aware of if anyone else is in harm's way, you have to really take every situation and understand it differently.
CORNISH: What are you going to be listening for? Especially since you have one investigation happening by the FBI versus locals?
And this is something we're seeing elsewhere, right? This kind of split and tenseness between investigative agencies.
SNIDER: That's something that's really concerning to me, the fragmenting of the investigations.
Now, I understand that, you know, federal law enforcement are coming into cities and they have their objectives, they have their goals, and they have their orders from the administration.
[06:05:02]
But no matter what, they should be working with the local partners, with the local law enforcement, even if they're not doing the same job, which is this case, we know they're not. Federal agents are there doing very targeted missions. And local law enforcement are there to protect their citizens and their community.
But they still need to communicate. So, my hope was that the -- they could do a collaborative investigation to make sure that, you know, what happened on scene is what actually happened on scene. So, we're not just hearing one side of the story.
So, I'm really going to listen for, you know, what the local officials are saying, versus what the federal officials will say.
CORNISH: Jill Snider, thank you for being with us.
SNIDER: Thank you. CORNISH: OK. This morning, we're also learning more about the officer who killed 37-year-old Renee Good in Minneapolis.
Jonathan Ross is the deportation officer with more than a decade of experience in ICE. Six months ago, he allegedly was dragged 100 yards across the pavement by a car in Minnesota during an arrest. At that time, he suffered injuries to his arm and hand.
His background reportedly includes a tour of duty with the National Guard in Iraq as a gunner from 2004 to 2005.
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KRISI NOEM, DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: He's an experienced officer that has served a number of years, and we recognize that he acted according to his training. And we expect that all the policies and procedures of review will be exactly that he had acted appropriately to protect his life and the life of his colleagues and fellow law enforcement officers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Now, the feds are taking control of this investigation. Minnesota officials claim that they're being blocked from even participating, and that the FBI is denying them access to evidence.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do we want?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Justice!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Justice!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Justice!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When do we want it?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now!
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Now!
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Now!
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: And in the meantime, protesters demanding justice for Renee Good. You've got hundreds of people pouring into the street just a few blocks from where she was killed.
Earlier in the day, protesters and federal agents actually clashed. A CNN team at the scene says agents pushed their way into the crowd and deployed clouds of smoke.
I'm going to bring in now, CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Elliot Williams. We're also bringing you here, because you have experience working for ICE --
ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Yes.
CORNISH: -- in the law. So, first of all, I want to talk about something that J.D. Vance said, because this is very important for how we think about the context of all these events. And he was sort of defending the department. And here's what he had to say.
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J.D. VANCE, U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: The precedent here is very simple. You have a federal law enforcement official engaging in federal law enforcement action. That's a federal issue. That guy is protected by absolute immunity. He was doing his job.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Absolute immunity.
WILLIAMS: That is not correct. And the vice president of the United States went to literally the most prestigious law school on the planet and knows that that's not accurate.
Now, certainly law enforcement officers enjoy tremendous and very broad immunity for the actions that they carry out on the job. And they should, because they have to make very stressful, on-the-spot decisions without the benefit of hindsight that we all have, watching things on TikTok.
That said, when someone steps far outside the bounds of either state or local law or frankly, even their own guidelines as law enforcement officials, absolutely, they can be held accountable, both by the agency they work for, or state, local, or federal authorities. So, that's just simply not an accurate statement from the vice president.
CORNISH: One more I want to play for you.
WILLIAMS: Absolute. Absolute.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: This the word "absolute." Yes. Minnesota attorney general Keith Ellison, who is raising questions among many state officials about why they are not just not collaborating on an investigation, but they feel completely shut out.
Here's what he had to say.
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KEITH ELLISON, MINNESOTA ATTORNEY GENERAL: If federal authorities are saying they won't even entertain a joint and inclusive investigation, that is deeply disturbing. And my question is, what are you afraid of? What are you afraid of an independent investigation for?
(END VIDEO CLIP) WILLIAMS: I think -- I think he's absolutely right.
Now, to be clear, let's pull back for a second. The idea of turf battles between law enforcement --
CORNISH: Yes.
WILLIAMS: -- it's nothing new and even, frankly, within agencies.
ICE, where I worked, the deportation folks and the customs folks have been at odds since the founding of the organization over turf and who gets to investigate what, and so on. So that's nothing surprising.
Now, let's -- let's be clear. There was a homicide that was committed in Minnesota, right? It may not have been a murder. It may not have been unjustified, but it was a homicide. And that entitles state and local officials to investigate it.
And so, the fact, or at least the implication that they are being held out of any sort of looking into what happened here is quite problematic.
And to be clear, the federal authorities can really gum up the state because, you know, look, there's perhaps videos, documentation, any other statements that were made inside that -- the state doing its own lawful, proper investigation just simply won't have access to.
CORNISH: Before I let you go, I want to ask how this does -- is legally or sort of emotionally different from cases of police-involved killings, which people were protesting five years ago.
[06:10:04]
And I ask, because I've gotten the sense that legally, ICE is sort of unaccountable in the ways we think that police are accountable.
WILLIAMS: Well, in practice, perhaps they're unaccountable. They are as accountable as any other law enforcement officer.
This gets back to the J.D. Vance point. When an ICE official steps outside of the law and, you know, certainly, he or she can be held accountable for it.
I just think it gets a little problematic here, where federal officials have made clear -- Look, the president said it. The secretary of Homeland Security said it, that they believe this person's actions --
CORNISH: So, they're sort of exonerated him already?
WILLIAMS: They exonerated him. Which -- which, by extension, means that if the Justice Department or even internally, the Department of Homeland Security were to investigate it, they don't really have an interest in getting to the bottom of whether there was wrongdoing here. Who knows if there was? And everybody's rushed to judgment. But the
idea that, from the top of the government, folks are saying that there's no chance that there was anything wrong, really puts a big cloud over any possible investigation that could be brought.
CORNISH: All right. We're going to talk more about this. So, Elliot, please stay with us.
In the meantime, coming up on CNN THIS MORNING, Homeland Security says that Renee Nicole Good was stalking ICE agents. We're going to talk to a woman who actually trains people to monitor ICE.
Plus, is filming illegal of ICE agents? We're going to look at what the law says.
And Vice President Vance says there's only one person to blame for the ICE shooting. The group chat has some thoughts on that, next.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VANCE: What young mother shows up and decides they're going to throw their car in front of ICE officers who are enforcing legitimate law?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:15:45]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
VANCE: I can believe that her death is a tragedy, while also recognizing that it's a tragedy of her own making and a tragedy of the far left, who has marshaled an entire movement, a lunatic fringe, against our law enforcement officers.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Before Renee Good's family has had a chance to say their goodbyes, their mother, wife, daughter being blamed for her own death by the vice president of the United States.
We're talking blame, not just responsibility. That's part of this conversation.
Democratic Congresswoman Jasmine Crockett now urging lawmakers to shift the focus to decency.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
CROCKETT: I'm just asking if there's any decency or heart or courage on that side of the aisle. The fact that a woman was killed, she was shot in her head, and y'all are pretending like nothing happened.
I remember when Charlie Kirk got killed. Do you? Is it OK because you have a badge? Because the last time I checked, allegedly, no one is above the law.
Can y'all not just have a little bit of courage and humanity? A child -- a child has lost her mom. And y'all want to pretend that it is OK.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Joining me now in the group chat, Noel King, co-host of the podcast and radio show "Today, Explained"; Rob Bluey, president and executive editor of "The Daily Signal"; and Jerusalem Demsas, founder and editor of "The Argument."
Rob, I want to start with you, because I think that a very consistent story now is being told. I want to give an example. Here is "The New York Post," talking about a "'Warrior' of the Left."
And there is a conversation emerging that she somehow deserved it, that she had somehow put herself in that place. Can you talk about that conversation? Because, like, her child just got orphaned. And I am sort of shocked at the way the vice president came out, literally swinging.
ROB BLUEY, PRESIDENT/EXECUTIVE EDITOR, "THE DAILY SIGNAL": Well, I don't think anybody deserves to -- to die, particularly in a situation like this. And I mourn for her and her family and pray for them.
I think that the vice president was right to call it a tragedy. And I also think he was right to point out that some of the rhetoric from people like Governor Tim Walz may have contributed to those who have flocked to Minnesota and other cities to attack law enforcement.
I mean, we've seen the attacks on law enforcement go up significantly under President Trump's watch.
And Audie, as we've -- you and I have talked about in the past, I mean, they are not even deporting immigrants at the level that President Trump promised during the campaign.
And so, if this is only going to increase, if the administration is only planning to increase its enforcement activity, I suspect that this is probably only going to be a situation that gets worse.
And -- and what I'd like to see, hopefully, in this is people like Tim Walz toning down some of his rhetoric, because he is on the same page as some of the -- I mean, he's being called a neo-confederate --
CORNISH: Right.
BLUEY: -- because he's being compared to Jefferson Davis and George Wallace. Because he's going to resist the federal authorities.
CORNISH: Jerusalem, can I let you weigh in here?
JERUSALEM DEMSAS, FOUNDER/EDITOR, "THE ARGUMENT": Yes. I mean, I think there's just a question here always of -- of who holds, who's held to a high standard. And I think there's this problem where, constantly, civilians are
being told, You need to have a level of decorum and calm in the face of an emergency higher than law enforcement.
But a law enforcement agent can be afraid and concerned and shoot someone. But a civilian can't be afraid and act a little bit confusing in a situation that is new to them.
And I think that that is, to me, the bigger conversation here of like, what is happening to the professionalization of the law enforcement of ICE.
When they shoot someone, they all just kind of mill about for a solid minute. I'm watching this video. No one runs to administer aid immediately. They block a physician from administering aid. They don't have the ability to deescalate the groups that are around in the immediate vicinity.
Her wife is on the scene, and all of this is happening while a conversation immediately erupts from people within the administration, blaming the woman before we have any information.
[06:20:07]
CORNISH: I want to ask you something, Noel, because one of the things I'm hearing a lot about is the professionalization of the left. The radical left.
And it somehow feels like there is no such thing as a backlash to the administration. There's only, somehow, professional agitators.
NOEL KING, CO-HOST OF "TODAY, EXPLAINED": Yes.
CORNISH: And everyone else at home is loving it and had voted for it.
KING: Yes, I don't -- I think we will see in the midterms whether people really did vote for this. I'm going to say it every time I'm on the air. Right? Do people think that ICE is out of control? We will see it when they go to vote.
I don't see any evidence. I mean, look, I -- I am reading everything you guys are reading. I don't see any evidence that this woman was a professional agitator. It just does not seem to be in her bio, based on what her family is saying, based on what -- what was happening with that car.
And I don't know, I mean --
CORNISH: Yes. And never mind that, even if she was. Again, we're dealing with --
KING: The shame of it. Here's the shame of it. The agent will get the chance to tell his story. He will get the chance to say, I thought she was going to run me over. And I did what I thought I had to do.
And she is dead. And she will not get the chance to tell her story. Whatever it was: I was trying to turn the car; I was panicked. I'm not a professional.
If somebody outside my vehicle had a gun, I would be freaking out. I know that personally.
CORNISH: Yes.
KING: She doesn't get to tell that story, and he does.
CORNISH: OK, you guys stay with me. We're going to talk more about that and the implications of all of this for people who are protesting now and that sort of thing.
After the break, though, we're going to talk about the oil executives heading to the White House today. They've got some demands before they're pouring money into Venezuela.
Plus, Iran cuts the Internet after protesters take to the streets.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[06:25:56]
CORNISH: In just a few hours, President Trump will host big oil executives at the White House. The goal is to convince them to reinvest in Venezuela.
Now, oil companies are bracing for the president to pressure them to spend billions of dollars to rebuild the crumbling oil industry in the country.
In a social media post just hours ago, the president seems to have that expectation, writing, quote, "At least $100 billion will be invested by big oil, all of whom I will be meeting with today at the White House."
Now, CNN has learned that oil executives have their own list of demands heading into the meeting. It includes things like establishing the rule of law, changing the political environment, and lifting oil sanctions in Venezuela.
Some companies are also asking for debts to be repaid after the Chavez regime seized oil production from international companies more than 20 years ago. Since then, production, of course, has plummeted from a high of more than 3 million barrels of oil a day to now, less than a million.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
LUISA PALACIOS, FORMER CITGO CHAIRWOMAN: Members of the opposition have estimated it's somewhere between 100 to $150 billion in the space of ten years to be invested so that -- so that you have a -- that you can go back to that kind of oil production levels. But all of that will have to be borne by the private sector.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CORNISH: Joining me now to discuss, Neil Atkinson. He's visiting fellow at the National Center for Energy Analytics.
Neil, I want to ask you about some reporting that we had here at CNN that suggests that oil executives are kind of preparing for an ambush. They feel like -- the quote was, "These guys are lined up, and Trump's going to start throwing balls at them, and they're wondering how they're going to duck."
What are their concerns going into the meeting?
NEIL ATKINSON, VISITING FELLOW, NATIONAL CENTER FOR ENERGY ANALYTICS: Well, the concerns are very simple. You mentioned it a moment ago.
Venezuela is not a stable country. There is not law and order throughout the country. There isn't stable electricity supply. There isn't stable food supply. There isn't stable fuel supply. Medical facilities and so on and so forth. It's a collapsed economy.
So, unless the oil companies can see that stability is restored or is in some way guaranteed, they're not going to be very enthusiastic about investing billions of dollars, putting their employees, perhaps, at risk.
So, they're going to need some assurances from President Trump that there will be stability.
CORNISH: What kind of assurance -- assurances would they need? Would it be boots on the ground? Would it be some other -- just the sanctions? Give me an idea of what would assure them.
ATKINSON: Well, sanctions, obviously. So, if they can go in and start raising production, then they can remove -- sell the oil from Venezuela freely anywhere in the -- in the world.
Because the oil companies operate in a global market. And that is very important to stress. It's not all a question of taking oil from Venezuela and sending it to the U.S.
The companies will want commercial freedom. They'll want certainty with respect to the fiscal regime that may operate in Venezuela, which presumably will be negotiated between the Trump administration and the Venezuelan government.
The theme here is they need stability. They need certainty. And I would imagine that, if I was in the room today with President Trump representing an oil company, that is what I would want to know. What are you going to do to ensure that I can carry out my business in Venezuela in free and fair conditions?
CORNISH: We've seen other industries, companies that deal with the Trump administration and end up having to give, you know, a slice of ownership, or there's always, like, very serious strings attached.
Is that a concern in the oil industry, as well? Like, what it means to do business with this White House?
ATKINSON: Well, the White House has, since President Trump's second term started -- you know, it started out with the "Drill, baby, drill" mantra.
So, you could say that the Trump administration, certainly in terms of rhetoric, has been very, very supportive of the oil and gas industry and through other measures.
