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Outage After ICE Officer Kills U.S. Citizen in Minneapolis; Trump Says U.S. Oversight of Venezuela Could Last for Years; Senate Expected Vote on Measure to Limit Trump's War Powers. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired January 08, 2026 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: -- into the matter, the Justice Department would need to make a choice to investigate this. I have a really hard time seeing how they would.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Let me get to Jason really quick as we watch this unfold. Jason, again, you were there in Ferguson during some violent protests there after the Michael Brown killing. And I'm wondering, as you see the tensions and sort of this tinderbox in Minneapolis, what your take is and how it can be de-escalated.

JASON ARMSTRONG, FORMER FERGUSON, MISSOURI, POLICE CHIEF: So, first, I want to speak to the question that was just raised about the comments that are made by some of the federal leaders that are in their position, some of the things that they said, already drawing conclusions about what happened is, you know, that is a very dangerous position to take. And when we look at this, we can't just look at it from the legal realm of what the courts have said and what is legally justified or not justified, we also have to look at it morally, and that's the bigger problem and the challenge that I have with this.

Taking the legal aspect aside from it, morally, this should not have happened. This incident was preventable, and that's what we have to talk about, and that's what needs to be a part of the conversation as we move forward, because we see too many of these incidents happen.

Now, when we talk about what has happened now, and I know you all just had Chief O'Hara on, so now this has put, you know, his department on the front lines and in the spotlight of what they're having to deal with and navigate as they try to move forward and manage the tensions of what's going on in that community and hopefully pull and rely on the relationships that they've built and the trust that they've built in that community since going through the tragedy of George Floyd being killed back in 2020 to hopefully allow people to peacefully protest and exercise their constitutional rights, and hopefully people will do that and not result to some of the violence and some of the chaos that we've seen from some of this activity in the past.

BROWN: All right. Jason Armstrong, Elliot Williams, thank you both. And we'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [10:35:00]

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning, President Trump sitting down for a brand-new, very lengthy interview with the New York Times saying, only time will tell, his words, only time will tell how long the United States aims to control Venezuela.

BROWN: And the president went on to say the U.S. could be running that country and extracting oil from its huge reserves for years.

In the last 24 hours, the U.S. sees two oil tinkers linked to Venezuela, one loaded with roughly 2 million barrels of crude, the other the U.S. had been chasing for weeks.

Joining us now in the Situation Room is National Security Correspondent Kylie Atwood. So, Kylie, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is touting the administration's three-part plan for Venezuela. What more can you tell us about that?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: This is the initial concept of what the administration envisions for their overall policy for Venezuela that we have heard, more than four days after that military operation to take out Maduro that took place over the weekend.

Rubio is saying it's three parts. It is stabilization, it is recovery, and then it's transition. He told this to lawmakers in a briefing yesterday and then spoke with reporters after it about this. When it comes to stabilization, they're really pointing to this oil quarantine as the main tool that's going to be used for that, with Rubio saying that stabilization is really already underway with these 30 to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan oil that the United States is going to sell on the open markets. We'll have to watch and see, of course, how that plays out.

He specifically said that the revenue from those sales are going to go back to the Venezuelan people, not to the regime. That could be tricky because the administration is obviously working with the regime right now to get these processes up and running.

And then step two, when it comes to recovery, he said effectively that's two parts. It's economic. It's getting U.S. and Western business access to the Venezuelan markets. It's also political, getting those opposition forces back into the country, releasing them. The opposition forces that have been in jail, we'll have to watch and see how that plays out.

And then the third step is transition. He was not specific at all in providing us meat on the bone in terms of what transition will be. But he said that when it comes to Venezuela's future, it's up to the people of Venezuela. The administration not saying, however, when or if there will actually be elections to make that determination about who is in control of their future.

BROWN: All right. Kylie Atwood, a lot of reporting there and a lot of questions remain. Thank you so much. BLITZER: And thanks for me as well. We're continuing to monitor what's going on in Minnesota right now. We've seen very, very tense moments between protesters and police. We're live on the ground. We'll update you when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:40:00]

BLITZER: All right. We're seeing some live pictures coming in from Minneapolis right now. A lot of people are there. They're remembering Renee Nicole Good, the 37-year-old woman who was shot and killed by an ICE agent as she was in her car. The ICE agent took his gun, shot through the front window and killed her. The car then rammed into some parked vehicles. She was obviously shot just before the car took off. It's a heartbreaking scene.

We see flowers being laid in her memory. 37 years old, a mother of three, and her ex-husband said she was simply driving home after dropping off her six-year-old kid at school. And we see the memorials going on right now. People in Minneapolis, indeed around the country, they are so upset about this incident.

BROWN: They certainly are. Tensions are flaring there on the ground in Minneapolis. And Democratic leaders are reacting. And we have some breaking news now to hear what the leader of the Democrats in the House has to say about this. Let's listen.

REP. HAKEEM JEFFRIES (D-NY), MINORITY LEADER: That the killing of Renee Nicole Good was an abomination, a disgrace. And blood is clearly on the hands of those individuals within the administration who've been pushing an extreme policy. That has nothing to do with immigration enforcement connected to removing violent felons from this country.

We support the removal of violent felons from this country who are here illegally. But that's not what this administration has been doing under the so-called leadership of Kristi Noem, who's a stone-cold liar. There's no evidence at all that this was a justified shooting. So, let's deal with the tragedy right now.

She hasn't even been buried. Her family is grieving. She was a single mom and an American citizen. And we all are outraged by what took place in Minneapolis, and we will respond decisively. Go ahead.

[10:45:00]

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), MINORITY LEADER: Go ahead. And I just want to -- I watched the video. You felt like your stomach was being punched. Looking at the video, there seemed no justification for what these agents did. There needs to be a full investigation at the federal level, although I have little faith in the FBI at doing a fair investigation, or DHS, but at the local level as well. Yes, go ahead. Yes, go ahead. Yes.

BLITZER: And clearly, you know, Pamela, what's outrageous, Kristi Noem, the secretary of Homeland Security, without any evidence at all, accuses this 37-year-old mother of three, who just dropped off her kid at school, of being part of a domestic terrorism operation, and cites her as a domestic terrorist.

BROWN: Right, and everyone we've spoken to, Wolf, experts, law enforcement officials, those who used to work at ICE, say it's simply too early in the investigation, based on what we know, based on what we've seen, to make any sort of claim like that.

BLITZER: Yes, ridiculous claim. And we have some new CNN reporting that we're about to share with you. Multiple, multiple Department of Homeland Security officials are privately expressing shock over the department's immediate response to the shooting.

BROWN: CNN's Priscilla Alvarez joins us now. So, you've been talking to your sources within the agency, and it's different, it's interesting to see how Tom Homan has been handling this, as it compares to Kristi Noem. Tell us more about what you're learning.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, and Tom Homan being the White House border czar, who took a more measured response when he, in an interview with CBS, where he said he didn't have all of the evidence yet, for all the reasons that you two just walked through, in terms of the Homeland Security Secretary's statement and press conference, where she called this an act of domestic terrorism, where she said that this woman was trying to, quote, "run over" the law enforcement agents.

There was so much shock among Homeland Security officials over all of that, because typically the precedent is that you don't get ahead of the investigation, that you say there's an investigation ongoing, and you don't draw firm conclusions. So, I was getting multiple messages about just the sheer surprise that the Department of Homeland Security would reach that conclusion so quickly, only a few hours, actually, after the shooting, and reiterate that later on in the day during that press conference.

Now, the officials I've spoken with also caution that they don't know all of the set of circumstances here, and that they stress that there does need to be an investigation. But what they have seen in the videos doesn't seem to align with the training. The secretary said that the training was followed, but typically, for example, ICE officers wouldn't get in front of a vehicle, which appears to have happened here with this officer.

In fact, they are trained to form what is called, quote, "a tactical L," to that 90-degree angle, to avoid being in front of the vehicle and to avoid injury. So, it's these little maneuvers that are made that Homeland Security officials I've been speaking with say have called into question the conduct of this officer.

I want to reiterate, however, we don't know a lot about this officer yet. The secretary said that he is, quote, "experienced." But I will also add that in my sourcing calls, I have also been told that when the hundreds of agents arrived to Minneapolis and Minnesota in recent days, they did have extensive briefings about the possibility of protesters and agitators.

So, this is something that prior to this incident, they had been aware of could happen. They had been told that if it got violent, they were to call local police for backup. I'm also told that in those briefings, they were told not to engage if people were just yelling. So, certainly, there were agents who coming into this assignment from all over the country, including places like Florida, California, Georgia, had been advised that there could be protesters but were given some level of guidance as to how to deal with that.

Lastly, I will say the officer that we don't know much about him, he had been hospitalized and discharged. According to my sources, that would be typical in an incident like this. And he would also typically be put on administrative leave. I've asked the Department of Homeland Security if that is the case, and they have not responded yet.

BROWN: And just to be clear, IC agents aren't required to wear body cameras, right?

ALVAREZ: That's right.

BROWN: And so, do we have any indication whether they have to?

ALVAREZ: We don't know if they had the body cameras on in this particular case. In the Minneapolis region, they are not required to have those body cameras on, according to a law enforcement source that I spoke with. So, we'll see if any of them did. But certainly, they are not required across the board.

BROWN: All right. Priscilla Alvarez, thank you so much.

BLITZER: And coming up, we're going to get reaction to what's happening in Minneapolis. Also, a critical Senate vote from Democratic Senator Adam Schiff. He'll be joining us. That's coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:50:00]

BLITZER: Happening now, the first test of Congress' support for the president's intervention in Venezuela. The U.S. Senate is set to hold a vote on blocking further military action against the country. The vote could come as soon as today.

Joining us now, one of the lawmakers who filed what's called the War Powers Resolution, the California Democratic Senator Adam Schiff. Senator, thanks so much for joining us. Earlier this week, your colleague, Senator Tim Kaine of Virginia, said he was still trying to get votes needed to pass this legislation. Where do you think things stand right now?

REP. ADAM SCHIFF (D-CA), JUDICIARY COMMITTEE: I think things are very close. I just saw yet another Republican member issue a statement of support for the resolution. We think we're very close. And look, we've seen these shifting rationales given by the administration. First, all the blowing up of these boats was supposedly about drugs. Then we see what it's really about, it's really about oil. It's about seizing the oil reserve. They plan to leave the corrupt number two in the regime in place. This is not about restoring democracy to Venezuela. They have no intention of bringing Maria Corina Machado or Edmundo Gonzalez back to Venezuela.

No, this is just about working now with a different corrupt regime or a different part of the corrupt regime in order to seize that country's oil. And it risks getting us bogged down in Venezuela. All the more shocking given that this president ran on a campaign of not engaging in more foreign wars, not doing nation building, but really focusing on problems here at home. And that's not happening. The problems here at home continue to plague Americans, the cost of living, the cost of medicine, groceries and everything else. That's being ignored while we engage in this military intervention.

BLITZER: And basically, this resolution, this joint resolution, would stipulate that no more military action is allowed in Venezuela unless Congress authorizes those actions according to the War Powers Act. Have you spoken, Senator, with any of your Republican colleagues about this? Have any of their positions changed since yesterday's briefing, for example?

SCHIFF: Well, I haven't spoken with them since the briefing yesterday, so I don't know whether that briefing changed any minds. My guess is that a number of Republicans who I spoke to previously and were apprehensive, uncomfortable with the blowing up of these ships, but accepted at least at that point the rationale that this was necessary to stop drugs coming to this country.

Now, that they see this is about oil, now that they hear the president say that he is committed to running the country of Venezuela perhaps indefinitely, but certainly for a period of months or years, that calculus changes. I think it's changed at least for one member, one Republican member, who didn't support the last resolutions and we hope is now supporting this one. We just need one more. We just need four Republicans and we can pass this in the Senate and that will make a very powerful statement. We also, of course, need the House to act.

But nevertheless, if we don't exercise this power under these circumstances, then if we see further military intervention in Colombia or Mexico or Greenland or Iran or Nigeria or anywhere else, the Congress will have only itself to blame for letting this power given to us by the founders atrophy to the point of complete non-use.

BLITZER: And it needs a simple majority in the Senate to be approved. Speaking of yesterday's highly classified briefing that you and other senators received, how much more can you share with us about the plan for Venezuela that the Secretary of State Marco Rubio laid out for the lawmakers yesterday?

SCHIFF: I was back briefed on it today, Wolf. I was actually in California meeting with fire victims on the anniversary of our terrible fires in California. But the briefing that I got really just echoed, I think, the public rationale we're hearing that really just doesn't pass the smell test. And that public rationale the administration is now advocating was that this was a law enforcement operation with merely military support. That's absurd.

[10:55:00]

If this were a law enforcement operation to seize a fugitive, that is Nicolas Maduro, it would have ended with his apprehension. But, of course, our intervention in Venezuela is only beginning. We're going to be running that country, apparently, and that is not any kind of law enforcement operation. This is a military and political operation. So, the legal rationale doesn't really pass muster in any way.

But I think also members of Congress, particularly those that were here during Iraq and the aftermath, seeing all of the hopeful statements from the administration that we can run this country at a distance, that we don't have to have boots on the ground, that the regime can be made compliant and pliant by our withholding of their oil sales. It sounds so eerily reminiscent of the hopes of democratic transformation in Iraq and the absence of necessity of getting Meyer down there. We saw how well that turned out, or rather how very, very poorly. And I think there's a lot of concern, bipartisan, that we could be stepping into another quagmire here.

BLITZER: As you know, the president gave a very lengthy interview to the New York Times. I assume you read chunks of that interview. What was your reaction to what he sees happening in the immediate period ahead?

SCHIFF: Well, there's a dissonance between what you hear Marco Rubio say, how essentially this is going to be time-limited, it's just going to be a transition. You know, the same kind of sentiments obviously we heard in the very beginning in Iraq, that transition lasted for all too many years and at a grave, grave cost. But then you hear the president say something very different, which is we're going to be there indefinitely as long as it takes. When he was asked in particular in that interview, are you talking about months or a year, his response was something along the lines of, well, no, no, I think it will be much longer than that.

So, whether it is vis-a-vis Venezuela or what the president is saying about Greenland or other countries, it seems to be very much at odds with the much more limited statements, promises, pledges that we're hearing from the secretary of state. But as we have seen throughout the past year, it's the president's word who goes here, not whatever kind of positive gloss we're hearing about it from Marco Rubio.

BLITZER: Good point. Senator Adam Schiff, thanks as usual for joining us.

SCHIFF: Thanks, Wolf.

BLITZER: Pamela.

BROWN: All right. Wolf, we're continuing to monitor Minneapolis. We're going to speak with Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison up next.

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