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The Situation Room

DHS Says, Federal Agent Shoots Man Ambush in Minneapolis; Trump Threatens to Use Insurrection Act, Deploy Troops to Minnesota; U.S. Military Seizes Another Oil Tanker in the Caribbean. Aired 10-10:30a ET

Aired January 15, 2026 - 10:00   ET

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

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[10:00:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: Happening now, breaking news, protests flare and violence erupts. Federal agents in Minneapolis shoot a man and a city swells with anger. Leaders urging for calm as the president now threatens the Insurrection Act to deploy troops to Minnesota.

Also ICE in America, machine guns, tactical gear, how America's streets have changed in the ten years since I last rode along with ICE.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: And live from the border, The Situation Room with truly amazing access. Our reporter on the Iran-Iraq border right now, what he's seeing as the world waits.

And aftermath of arson, Mississippi's largest synagogue and the community repairing and rebuilding. The synagogue's rabbi joins us.

Welcome to our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown. And you're in The Situation Room.

And we begin with the breaking news in Minneapolis, a city on edge erupting into chaos after a second shooting involving a federal agent.

Protesters and law enforcement clashed near the scene of that shooting with officers unleashing multiple tear gas canisters, pepper balls, and what sounded like flash bang explosives.

BROWN: So, here's how it all started. The Department of Homeland Security says an officer was, quote, violently assaulted before shooting the suspect in the leg. Both are being treated for non-life threatening injuries. Even vehicles swallowed by the crowds took the brunt of protesters' anger.

CNN's Whitney Wild was in the middle of it all when it spilled over, and here is her live report from overnight describing the hectic scene.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: It was at this general area where earlier we saw multiple tear gas canisters thrown at protesters. At one point, the smoke became so thick that we actually got separated as a team. And there were tear gas canisters detonating all around us. One hit me, hit my foot, hit my side. One went off right beneath photographer Jonathan Schaer's face. And he was coated in that tear gas liquid here.

And so now I just -- I want to come to the end of the street here, Alex, because I want to see what this scene looks like now, because it was quite chaotic earlier. And what you're seeing is fireworks apparently here. That looks like civilian fireworks. I don't see any law enforcement here now. But earlier, it was actually hard to tell what was a firecracker, what was firework, what was the tear gas canister, because it was so dark, so smoky. And all you'd see were, as you just saw, like bursts of bursts of what looked like a firework actually in the air, and then we would later find out that it was tear gas. The area had been completely coated in tear gas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BLITZER: And this morning, The Minnesota Star Tribune has this blaring headline, quote, our community is in crisis. Local and state officials are pleading for calm. The state's governor is saying, be peaceful, but don't walk away.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOV. TIM WALZ (D-MN): Tonight, I want to share another way you can help, witness. Help us establish a record of exactly what's happening in our communities. You have an absolute right to peacefully film ICE agents as they conduct these activities. So, carry your phone with you at all times. And if you see these ICE agents in your neighborhood, take out that phone and hit record.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: All right. Let's continue our coverage now, going live to CNN's Whitney Wild. Whitney, you were caught up in a very chaotic scene last night. How is it there this morning?

WILD: Pamela, right now, we are in downtown Minneapolis, and it is quiet. This is any American city at the height of rush hour here. And so last night was a very different scene.

And what was interesting was there were two locations that were around the corner from one another. And that first location that we saw earlier where there were flash bangs going off, or there were tear gas canisters going off, the way that the street was sloped, the tear gas canisters came right down into the protesters, and as I had mentioned, got caught up among our team.

[10:05:15]

They were getting stuck under vehicles. At one point, we saw a tear gas canister that was in the ice. And then you saw from each side that dark spray that came out from either end. And then around the corner where the shooting happened, it was a different scene. There were dozens of federal agents who were shoulder to shoulder behind a law enforcement tape, behind yellow police tape, being confronted by dozens of protesters. But there we saw very little confrontation. It was completely verbal. We didn't see tear gas canisters or flash bangs at that location, even though it was much closer to where the shooting had actually happened.

There was only one moment where it looked like someone had thrown what we thought was a firecracker. We still don't know exactly what it was. And then you saw law enforcement come out and take two people into custody who were released just minutes later. But that was really the only flare up that we saw. But it was a striking contrast because they were only a block from one another.

What we did on the ground was talk to protesters, find out why they were out there in the dark, in the cold, why they were making their voices heard, why they felt like it was important to tell ICE agents to their face, how they feel about what they're seeing. Here's what one woman told me about why she was out there and what she's seeing in her own neighborhood.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: From my house, like in where I live in my apartment, they come in without warrants, without official anything. They just come in and barge into people's houses, gunned, armed up with no one being spoke to or anything, masked up. This is kidnapping and everything above. That is not okay.

I am very scared. I am worried that I'm not even able to go to school and feel safe.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WILD: Pamela, as you heard, officials here in Minnesota are urging calm. They are supporting peaceful protests, but say that, you know, any violent confrontation is just not acceptable. And so, again, they're urging peaceful protests here. Back to you.

BROWN: All right. Whitney Wild, thank you so much both. Wolf?

BLITZER: I want continue our conversation right now. Joining us now, Andrew McCabe, CNN senior law enforcement analyst and former deputy director of the FBI. Andrew, thanks so much for joining us.

Last night, as you know, Minneapolis saw yet a new wave of very disturbing protests and clashes with police one week ago was the ICE shooting death of Renee Good, and now the president is threatening to invoke what's called the Insurrection Act. Five years ago, Minneapolis was rocked by violent protests after the police murder of George Floyd. Andy, is Minneapolis sitting on a powder keg right now?

ANDREW MCCABE, CNN SENIOR LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST: Absolutely they are, Wolf. And I think you saw that very clearly last night. I think the chaos, the escalation in violence, the overly tactical way that law enforcement responded to that assemblage of protesters, they're all very obviously related to the fact that the law enforcement team on the ground having to deal with this situation is not one that is trained for or equipped for or experienced in dealing with large crowd control.

These are federal agents. They're not police officers. There is not as many of them as you would need to handle a large crowd. Think about the way that we've seen effective law enforcement responses to large crowds, large protests, whether they be over the George Floyd death or whatever, you typically see a massive number of police officers in riot gear, not carrying shoulder-fired weapons, but rather carrying shields and sometimes batons, less than lethal weapons. And they basically move together in a very systematic way to regain territory and disperse the protesters.

Right now, you have a much smaller force totally focused on a tactical response. Half of them are carrying M-4s and other very heavy shoulder-fired weapons, rifles. This is a powder keg, and last night you saw it just about go off.

BROWN: Yes. It's just not good all around, right? And now you have the president threatening this morning to invoke what's called the Insurrection Act. He said, quote, if the corrupt politicians of Minnesota don't obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the patriots of ICE who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the Insurrection Act.

Let's remind everyone of what the Insurrection Act is. It allows the president to deploy the U.S. military domestically and use that force against citizens. It can only be employed if there's an insurrection or interference with state or federal law.

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So, Andy, as a former deputy director of the FBI, acting director, do you see any grounds to legitimize the use of the Insurrection Act here?

MCCABE: No, absolutely not. I think there's a lot of indicators on the ground that point towards the need for a much better and very different law enforcement response.

This is -- you know, we have had unfortunately, violent protests in this country for a, a number of different reasons, different issues over the last couple of years, and in not one of them has any other president declared to bring in the United States military to take over a city under the Insurrection Act.

What you have here is a -- you know, the government, unlike the response to George Floyd, this is an issue in which the government could very quickly deescalate the tension and the violence on the ground simply by conducting their business differently, right? By pulling back some of these ICE officers, by bringing a less aggressive tactical approach to this entire issue of finding people who are illegally here in this country. That's why there's violence and unrest on the street. Now, I'm not saying that violence by protesters is ever necessary or justifiable under any circumstances. It is not. But it is the government that's ratcheting up the tension and the violence here, and they could easily turn that off by simply conducting themselves differently.

BROWN: Just really quickly to follow-up, I mean, you had the situation with the shooting overnight and DHS says that a Venezuelan national tried to flee and attacked the ICE officer trying to arrest him. I mean, in that situation, do you think a shooting was justified, in that case, he was shot in the leg that Venezuelan national?

MCCABE: Well, it's very hard to say, Pamela, because we know almost nothing about this. And the reason is that the government's response, their comments in the media following the Renee Good shooting one week ago, have proven to us all that we cannot take their statements for granted. We cannot accept what the government is telling us whole cloth (ph).

They have no credibility in terms of the way that they are talking about and characterizing the people involved in these events. They absolutely mischaracterized, deliberately mischaracterized Ms. Good and her partner as terrorists. They are not terrorists. They didn't commit any active terrorism. They haven't been, you know, alleged to have committed a crime with an indictment or anything like that.

So, we know that we can't trust what the government is saying about what's happening on the ground. So, now you think about what happened last night and we essentially know nothing at this point. So, it's really hard to evaluate that.

BROWN: We're waiting to hear from the Minnesota officials to get some more details, because right now, we only have the DHS side of things.

BLITZER: All right. Andrew McCabe, as usual, thank you very, very much.

BROWN: Thank you.

Still ahead, breaking news, the U.S. military ceases another oil tanker in the Caribbean. The late reporting just coming into The Situation Room.

BLITZER: And in just a couple of hours, President Trump will meet with Venezuela's opposition leader. What this means for the future of Venezuela, as Nicolas Maduro's vice president remains in control.

Stay with us, lots going on right here in The Situation Room.

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BLITZER: More breaking news, the United States has now seized another oil tanker in the Caribbean. U.S. Southern Command posting this to social media, saying, quote, in another pre-dawn action, Marines and sailors from Joint Task Force Southern Spear, in support of the Department of Homeland Security, launched from the USS Gerald R. Ford, an apprehended motor tanker Veronica without incident, end quote.

Joining us now is CNN's Kylie Atwood. Kylie, what more do we know about this?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, we received some video that U.S. Central Command tweeted out. Also Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem tweeted out saying that this seizure that occurred in the wee hours of this morning took place according to sent to the U.S. Southern Command, excuse me, without incident, that this is now in the custody, this oil tanker.

This tanker, they're saying, is motor tanker Veronica of the United States, and this was because it was going in the Caribbean waters in defiance of President Trump's moment where they're saying that none of these tankers that are actually sanctioned tankers can be moving through these waters. And the U.S. is going to continue to capture them if they try to go in and get Venezuelan oil.

We don't know if this tanker was actually carrying Venezuelan oil or if it was actually trying to go in to get that Venezuelan oil, but this is the sixth tanker that has been seized by the U.S. Coast Guard and the U.S. Navy in recent weeks. And it's the fourth tanker that the U.S has seized since they ousted President Maduro just a few weeks ago. So, this is something that the administration is really focused on as they're trying to control Venezuela's oil.

BLITZER: And the oil from those attackers stays in the United States?

ATWOOD: The oil from those tankers exactly is going to move eventually to the United States. We don't know exactly if the U.S. is going to keep that oil or sell it on markets. We'll watch and see. But President Trump has been very clear in saying that this illicit sale of Venezuelan oil that is taking place can no longer take place. And we should note that it comes on the heels of the first U.S. sale of Venezuelan oil that, according to administration officials, just took place. But we're still learning the mechanisms for how that whole process is actually going to unfold in the coming weeks.

BLITZER: It's easy. This oil potentially could wind up with a lot of cash for the U.S., if that's what's going to happen.

All right, Kylie, thank you very, very much. Pamela?

BROWN: All right, Wolf. We are also following breaking news out of Washington, where President Trump is expected to meet soon with Venezuela opposition leader and Nobel Peace Winner Maria Corina Machado.

[10:20:00]

Their meeting comes after President Trump declined to endorse Machado following the ousting of Venezuelan president Nicholas Maduro and President Trump's pronouncement that the United States would run Venezuela. The country's current acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, is Maduro's former vice president. President Trump spoke with her just yesterday, and she's set to make a state of the nation address this afternoon. But new CNN polling released this morning shows 58 percent of Americans oppose the United States' efforts to control the government in Venezuela.

BLITZER: And joining us now, CNN Contributor Stefano Pozzebon, who's in Bogota, Colombia, for us right now. Stefano, put all of this into some context for us. What's the significance of both these women having conversations with the White House?

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Yes, Wolf. Well, it's a busy day in Washington with essentially two women both competing for the attention, but also the favor of the U.S. president, Donald Trump. And you can imagine that given Trump's own background as a former T.V. judge, is a comfortable ground for him with two different women coming to him, two different leaders coming to him with different visions for Venezuela.

On the one side, the one who seems to have the upper hand is the current acting president of Venezuela, Delcy Rodriguez, who used to be a close ally of the ousted and captured leader, Nicolas Maduro. She has been courting Trump's favor by offering, of course, business deals with the exports of oil. It's what Kylie was referring just a few minutes ago. And we know that she spoke with the president just yesterday. The president said that they had a lengthy conversation and that their cooperation is going up just as fine.

On the other hand, you have Maria Corina Machado who seemed up until halfway last year to have the favor of the president. At some point, Donald Trump even posting on Truth Social that Maria Corina Machado was an icon, a freedom fighter who should be respected and celebrated around the world. But then, of course, that relationship has somehow soured since Maria Corina Machado won the Nobel Peace Prize, which, of course, we know that Trump coveted for himself for quite some time.

And now Maria Maccha arrives to Washington on the back of her triumph in Oslo to present a different vision to Donald Trump, a vision of a free and democratic Venezuela, ready to open herself up, not just investments we've done with Washington, but also with a very strong geopolitical alliance. So, you'll see how these two visions will compete.

And then, Wolf, just before you let me go, one for the history book. It's actually not the first time Maria Corina Machado comes to Washington. She was once received in the Oval Office in 2005 by George W. Bush. You can probably see the photo already on the screen, and I was in high school back then. But I think it's important you probably were already around there and it's interesting to see how history sometimes just repeats itself.

So, we'll be tracking very closely that meeting at the White House in a few minutes.

BLITZER: All right. Stefano Pozzebon, Thanks very much. Stefano is in Bogota, Colombia, for us. Pamela?

BROWN: All right. Coming up here in The Situation Room, Wolf, a brand new threat from President Trump, why he wants to use a law from the 1700s to send U.S. troops into Minnesota, where we saw protest protests erupt overnight after a shooting involving a federal officer.

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KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: -- from the most vulnerable individuals in this country, people who needed mental health services, developmental services, autism, daycare. Instead, individuals came in, much from the Somalian community, and stole dollars from those people who needed it and put it in their own pockets and enriched themselves, did it right under Governor Walz's nose. And we believe that he didn't just know about it, that he may be complicit in it as well.

REPORTER: (INAUDIBLE). Do you believe there are any cases in Minnesota where the ICE agents have gone too far?

NOEM: Our ICE agents are following the law and running their operations according to training. Last night, what we saw was three individuals weaponized shovels and brooms and attacked an ICE officer that had to defend himself. So, we're hopeful that we don't see that and again, that we as protesters and violent rioters will be held accountable for the actions that they're taking and that our officers can do their work safely.

REPORTER: Can I ask about that officer that you were mentioning. Can you give us an update on that ICE officer's condition after he was hit with the shovel? And then also we're seeing those cars looted in Minnesota. Can you provide an update on what the agency's going to do about that and if you're concerned with the documents that were taken by those?

NOEM: Well, I believe that those vehicles were FBI vehicles, not our Department of Homeland Security vehicles. So, I'm not certain what documents were in there that those criminals may have taken and seen. But I would say that our agent is beat up, he's bruised. He's injured, he's getting treatment, and we're thankful that he made it out alive.

REPORTER: Secretary Noem, are you okay with federal agents and officers violating people's Fourth Amendment rights by asking for papers without reasonable suspicion?

NOEM: Every single action that our ICE officers take is according to the law and following protocols that we have used for years, that this administration has used, that the previous administration used. They're doing everything correctly, and over and over again in litigation in the courts, we've proven that they've done the right thing.

REPORTER: Why is it within their right to do that? Why is it within their right to ask for papers without reasonable suspicion?

REPORTER: You said you discussed the Insurrection Act with the president.

[10:30:00]

You said you discussed the instruction act with the president. Did you recommend that?