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Trump Threatens to Deploy Troops to Minnesota; Fed Agent Shoots Man in Minnesota; Robin Wonsley is Interviewed about Protests in Minneapolis; Iran Claims Misinformation Campaign; Military Action Still on the Table for Iran; Musk Announces New Changes to Grok. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired January 15, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

BEN FRITZ, ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY REPORTER, "WSJ": Legal approach nobody's tested before. So, if they sue and somebody takes them to court, we have to see how a judge rules.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: This is really interesting. It also comes at a really interesting time, I was just in kind of preparation to talk to you, it was reminded that the Hollywood actors and writers unions are about to kick off a whole new round of negotiations. Last time when this -- what sparked the -- really drove the strikes that we saw was this conundrum of A.I. and protecting ones likeness. So, this is, again, this conversation very much ongoing.

It's good to see you, Ben. Thank you so much. Really interesting reporting.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking news this morning, tensions erupting once again on the streets of Minneapolis after another shooting involving a federal officer who they say was attacking them. What we're learning about the man shot in the leg as DHS is claiming an officer was, quote, violently assaulted.

And developing this morning, President Trump is backing off what appeared to be an imminent action against Iran. Where the threat of military action from the U.S. stands right now.

And a fiery return through earth's atmosphere. NASA SpaceX crews back on earth. What we're learning about the medical issue that triggered their early return.

I'm Sara Sidner, with Kate Bolduan and John Berman. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BOLDUAN: The breaking news this morning, President Trump is now making a new and serious threat after protests in Minneapolis grew even more chaotic overnight. And there was another shooting involving a federal agent. This agent allegedly ambushed. The president posting this, we'll put it up for you, saying that if Minnesota's politicians "don't obey the law and stop the professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the patriots of ICE, I will institute the Insurrection Act." So, that could lead to him deploying U.S. troops on U.S. soil in that state. That threat following scenes like this.

(VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Federal agents deploying tear gas, throwing flashbangs, as the protests escalated.

Here's what DHS says happened with that one officer in this new shooting, that an officer was allegedly assaulted by a Venezuelan national during a targeted traffic stop, and that the officer took -- the way they describe it is defensive shots as he was being attacked by that man and then -- and two other people who came out of a nearby apartment building with a shovel and broom handle. Officials say the man was shot in the leg. The suspect, that man, and the officer were both taken to the hospital and are expected to be OK.

CNN's Whitney Wild is live on the ground for us in Minneapolis. Alayna Treene is at the White House for us as well.

Alayna, let me start with you.

This -- I mean, this has now been taken to a whole new level by the president with this threat. What are you hearing about this?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, this is a very big deal. And I should note that this is something we've heard President Trump, of course, threaten in the past. He did so during his first term, particularly around the George Floyd protests that had erupted in 2020. But he also recently did it as well when talking about, you know, wanting to crack down on, you know, different types of protests. But even more specifically, maybe having the military help with law enforcement and trying to crack down on crime and deportations in cities like Los Angeles, Portland and Chicago.

But part of the reason this is such a big deal, let me just break down what the Insurrection Act actually is. It is a 19th century law. It's normally considered a last resort for presidents, but it gives presidents the authority to call on active duty military. So, you could see potentially people like the Marines or soldiers, National Guard included in that, going into the streets of U.S. cities for law enforcement activities. And it's normally used only in certain specific cases. It can be used at the objection of local leaders. And so that carries its own weight here.

Now, in my conversations with Trump officials, this was true during the first term, but even more so now, I should argue, in the president's second term. They have essentially told me that this is something they do not want. That they've been very hesitant to essentially go there despite the president threatening this. Some of that is because of the legal complications but even more so because of the political ones.

And, you know, having this type of law enforcement, military in the streets, of course, would potentially escalate things so much further. And so, this has all been a calculation behind the scenes. Of course, our goal today is to figure out how serious the president is actually about this and whether they're actually making plans potentially to do something to invoke this act.

Kate.

[09:05:05]

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Alayna, thank you so much for that.

Let's go back -- now let's go to the ground in Minneapolis, where Whitney Wild has been standing by.

Whitney, you and your crew got caught in -- got really caught up in -- in these clashes as they really went to a whole new level of chaotic last night.

WHITNEY WILD, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CORRESPONDENT: That's exactly right, Kate. I'll walk you through what happened.

We arrived on the scene about two hours or so after the shooting happened. By then, that scene was already rocking. I mean there were protesters all over the streets. They were following law enforcement. There were two major scenes here. One was where you see that those multiple law enforcement officers, federal immigration officials, rolling tear gas into the crowd. We got there as they were rolling those canisters out. So, we didn't see what prompted them to do that. All we saw was the gas canisters get rolled out, and then they began exploding all around our team. One hit my foot. One hit my side. They detonated at the feet of our fearless photographer, Jonathan Schaer, our fearless producer, Meridith Edwards. And then the smoke of the teargas became so thick that we actually lost each other in the crowd for a few minutes. And then were able -- we were able to regroup. But that heavy cloud of tear gas sat in that neighborhood for quite a while.

And then there was a second location, Kate, around the corner where dozens of immigration officers from ICE, from Customs and Border Patrol, from their tactical units, were lined up behind a police tape, which is where we believe that that shooting happened. So, that was around 23rd and Lyndale (ph) area. It's about ten minutes north of downtown Minneapolis. And that scene was completely different. It -- there was no detonation of tear gas. No detonation of flashbangs at that scene, even though it was closer and there were lots of protesters there screaming at law enforcement directly to their face. Although the federal agents there maintained calm, basically held the line until there was one moment where we saw someone throw what looked like a firecracker. We just saw kind of the tail end of it. And then that's when law enforcement came out into the protesters. And we saw two people who were detained. Then, a few minutes later, we saw them be released. But that was really the scene that we saw there, Kate.

You know, I spoke with a woman there about why she was there. And she said that she is -- she's scared. She's seen federal immigration officers go through her apartment. She's -- she doesn't like what she's seeing. And so she felt like it was absolutely critical that she got on that front line, told those immigration officers to their faces that she does not like what they're doing. And that is echoed by dozens of people at that protest last night, and hundreds more throughout the city of Minneapolis.

Back to you.

BOLDUAN: Whitney, thank you so much. And always worth repeating, we're so thankful for the work that you, Jonathan and Meridith are doing, continuing to do on the ground there. We really appreciate it. Much more to come from there.

Sara.

SIDNER: All right, thank you so much.

Joining me now is Robin Wonsley, a Democrat on the Minneapolis City Council.

I want to start with this. The president has just amped things up, saying he is threatening to use the Insurrection Act if things do not calm down there in Minneapolis, in Minnesota. What is your response to that?

ROBIN WONSLEY, MINNEAPOLIS CITY COUNCIL: Yes. So, just first, I want to offer clarification I am the city's first black Democratic socialist city council member, minority leader. I'm not a Democrat. So, I wanted to offer that clarification.

In terms of Trump threatening to use the Insurrection Act, I don't think any of us on the ground here are surprised. Essentially what Trump has been inching to do since he first deployed ICE agents to Minneapolis about six weeks ago was really to build to this place where he can normalize using his administrative powers to go to war with local cities who do not fall in alignment with his administration's political goals, which is to divide people, terrorize people, keep people in poverty, deprive working class people of their basic needs, and also their civil liberties. And Minneapolis is a testing ground in which he's trying to normalize, legalize these very terroristic actions that's coming from our own administration here in the U.S. that we often see happen abroad. Actions that we wage against communities abroad. He's doing that right here in his own homelands, his own country, that he took an oath to serve and protect.

So, I am not surprised. And it's because of these dynamics that it's even more imperative that elected officials like myself needs to be doing everything we can to get ICE out of Minneapolis, ICE out of Minnesota. Strongly worded statements or strongly worded letters to the administration is just simply not sufficient. We need an eviction moratorium right now, today.

[09:10:02]

And Governor Walz needs to declare that as one of the first measures we can do to protect our residents here.

SIDNER: Let me ask you about trying to get ICE out of Minneapolis. So far you have the state attorney general who has gone through the courts and put a lawsuit in place asking for that to happen, that this surge be stopped. And a court has denied his initial ask, which is for a temporary restraining order. What do you do now?

WONSLEY: So, once again, this is where we are seeing one of many elected officials using the fullest extent of their authority to protect Minneapolis and Minnesota residents who are having to endure this occupation by federal ICE agents. Our attorney general is doing everything that they can. And we're at the local level doing what we can, starting with today. I'm bringing a resolution calling on Governor Walz to declare eviction moratorium because, as we're living under this occupation, people can't, as we've seen with last night's shootings, they can't even travel on the expressway safely. They can't go to their schools and drop their children off safely. They can't go to their places of worship or even take a bus safely without risk being abducted, assaulted, or shot and killed by a federal ICE agent. And they are destabilizing the day-to-day living of our communities.

So, this is why we need to give residents the ability to shelter in place. Our public schools are already doing that through extending e- learning opportunities to families who are justifiably scared right now to go and drop their children off because ICE have targeted our schools.

So, this is why we need the governor to also demonstrate an ounce of courage in this moment and make sure people can shelter in place as a protective measure for our (AUDIO GAP) while ICE is in our community.

SIDNER: Let me -- let me --

WONSLEY: And then he and our current mayor and other elected officials need to do more as well.

SIDNER: Let me quickly ask you about that. Do you think there is any justification from DHS, from ICE, from federal authorities for shooting someone? They did so, in this case, saying that they were attacked as they were trying to arrest someone and that they were attacked by this person and then they ended up using their weapon. Do you think there's any justification there?

WONSLEY: We saw them use the same narrative tactic that was circulated by numerous media outlets when Renee Good was shot and killed around this time last week, where they blamed the victims. Same with they're blaming the protesters. And regular people who are going out every single day risking their lives while federal agents point flash grenades, tear gas canisters, and AK-47s in their faces. Residents are demonstrating a huge amount of courage right now. And it's not being matched by our elected officials to do everything we can to get ICE out of our community. And there's no justification for the cruelty that they've demonstrated in our -- in our communities.

And what I hear when they say that is, we want you to stand by the sidelines and allow us to separate families, allow us to racially profile residents at our discretion, and even shoot and kill civilians at our discretion. And we expect immunity, and we expect you to allow us to set that as the new norm when we leave Minneapolis and go to our next city to terrorize. That is not what we should be accepting. There's no justification for

it. And this is something that I'm proud that Minneapolis and Minnesota residents are standing up against.

SIDNER: You don't want the protests to stop, I understand, correct?

WONSLEY: I'm sorry, could you repeat that?

SIDNER: You don't -- you do not want the protests to stop? You do not want people to stop in their -- in their protesting? As the mayor has sort of requested that people calm down. As he put it, he's like, this is -- you know, it's -- while it's unacceptable what's happening, it's not sustainable. And he's saying, don't take the bait. Do you agree with him?

WONSLEY: I'm confused as to what bait is being taken. And I think what people on the ground hear when our mayor, Mayor Jacob Frey, say those type of things, or when our chief of police says, we need you to stand down, what people are hearing is, stand down, don't take action. We're -- we're not going to take action either because our local leaders have not taken any action to actually -- or protect their residents. We need you to stand down and allow ICE to do their jobs and do their jobs of shooting residents and expecting immunity, to profile residents during traffic stops or on their way to take the bus to get to work. We want to allow you, ICE agents, to do that job.

[09:15:03]

And residents, justifiably for the past several weeks, have said, no. If elected leaders are not going to show up in this moment to protect and care for our neighbors, we will. And we will do so, as seen in the video footage, with whistles. Whistles from residents to federal law enforcement agents holding AK-47 should never be equated as the same level of violence or threat to our communities. People literally are walking around using whistles, using pots and pans to make noise, to alert neighbors of ICE being in their communities. They're doing fundraisers to help residents cover rent. Our residents are showing so much courage and I'm glad that they're out in our communities because they're doing a lot more than elected officials, like myself, who were charged with delivering material changes in moments like this to truly get ICE out of Minnesota.

SIDNER: Understood.

WONSLEY: So, yes, I am grateful for our community members for showing up.

SIDNER: All right. Understood. Thank you. And to correct your title, Democratic socialist Robin Wonsley on the city council. Thank you so much.

John.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, overnight, President Trump said Iran has called off scheduled execution of detained protesters. There had been some speculation of a U.S. military strike if the executions had taken place. President Trump is still not ruling that out. The Iranian foreign minister says any bombing from the United States would not be wise.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABBAS ARAGHCHI, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: My message is, do not repeat the same mistake that you did in June. You know, if you -- if you try your failed experience, you will get the same result. You know, in June you -- yes, you destroyed the facilities, the machines, but you -- but the technology cannot be bombed. And the determination also cannot be bombed.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: This morning, a human rights group estimates more than 2,400 protesters have been killed in the last two weeks. Amnesty International says the killings are being committed on a, quote, "unprecedented scale."

With us now, CNN chief international correspondent Clarissa Ward.

So, where does this leave things this morning, Clarissa?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, things are definitely a little bit calmer now, John, particularly in terms of the airspace over Iran that 'had been closed for five hours. We're now seeing that domestic flights have resumed. We're also hearing that it's business as usual at a number of European embassies. The U.K. embassy in Iran closed for a couple of hours yesterday. Europeans had ordered some of their citizens to leave. That has now changed. Also, the Al Udeid Air Base, U.S. base, the largest in the region in Qatar, yesterday, a number of personnel had been ordered to leave. Again, things are feeling a little more relaxed as it appears that President Trump is kind of pumping the brakes, if you will, on his threat to bomb Iran. He said, as you mentioned yesterday that effectively he believes that the killings have stopped for now, that the executions are not going forward, particularly that 26-year-old man who had been the focus of so much media attention. But he didn't rule out the possibility of using force in the future, saying, effectively, we are going to watch and wait.

And you played that clip there from Iran's foreign minister, who effectively denigrated the protest movement, said that these were foreign-backed terrorists backed by Israel, backed by the U.S. From what we know about what's happening on the ground vis-a-vis those protests, though, John, they are very much quieter. They have effectively been stomped out and there is still a complete internet blackout in place, which makes it extremely difficult to get up to date information from on the ground.

John.

BERMAN: Yes, I was just going to ask, how do we know about what's happening there and what do we know about what the actual opinion on the ground is? WARD: Well, it's interesting. It really depends who you talk to. I

mean we rely primarily on a number of human rights organizations that have been doing this work for many decades. At the most conservative estimate we're talking about more than 2,400 people. And there really is no dispute as to the fact that these are the deadliest quashing or crackdown on the -- on any protest movement that we've seen in Iran in recent history.

There is, however, when you talk to Iranians, some disparity of opinion vis-a-vis whether or not a U.S. military strike would be a good thing. There is a loud and very vocal portion of the Iranian protest movement that feels it's crucial. I spoke to one man who said, listen, we can't take down this regime, quote, "with our own bare hands." But there are others as well who feel that precisely because the Iranian regime has tried to categorize these protests as somehow being an offshoot of Israel and the U.S., that that kind of military intervention is effective really -- really damaging to the cause, that it casts it in a different light to the authentic Iranian movement that it is.

[09:20:00]

What both sides do tend to agree on, though, that this vacillating or prevaricating that we've seen President Trump do over whether to strike or not does create something of a moral hazard on the ground, because when it's indicating that there will be a strike, people will go out in force, they will risk their lives, and often they will lose their lives if they believe that the U.S. will come to the rescue, John.

BERMAN: Clarissa Ward, great to speak with you, to learn what we can from inside Iran this morning. Appreciate it.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Joining us right now is Admiral James Stavridis, the former supreme allied commander of NATO and CNN's senior military analyst.

It's good to see you, as always.

What do you think -- you and I have spent a lot of time talking chances, first with Venezuela and now let's talk about Iran. What are the chances, do you think -- where do you think the chances are or the odds are right now and calculations are right now of direct U.S. military action inside Iran?

ADM. JAMES STAVRIDIS (RET.), CNN SENIOR MILITARY ANALYST: I'd say about 50/50, Kate. And the reason is, with the Iranians saying, oh, we've stopped the killing. We are holding off. I think you got to kind of turn Ronald Reagan upside down. It's not trust but verify. It's don't trust and verify.

So, I think over the next 24 or 48 hours, the U.S. intelligence community has its work cut out for it. This is becoming an information war in a certain sense, meaning, we need to be amplifying the voices of the protesters, getting their stories out, and at the same time we need to be shining a light on the malfeasance of this regime. We have the capability to do that. You don't need boots on the ground. You don't need a carrier off the coast to do it. I think that's where this is going to unfold over the next 24 to 48 hours.

BOLDUAN: Question also becomes, if the U.S. does take military action, what do you target? What is most effective? What won't backfire? And how do you do it?

John Bolton, the former national security advisor to Trump and his first term, a man who has long wanted to target the Iranian regime and see regime change there, he was talking about this last night. Let me play this for you.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO U.N.: After clearing away whatever air defenses Iran may have to safeguard any planes we're going to be sending in, I would go after headquarters for the Revolutionary Guard and their besieging militia, who are really the thugs killing most of the people in the streets. I'd go after their bases and facilities and I'd -- we'd be very discriminate in how we tried to do that. I would go -- I would go again after the nuclear program, the ballistic missile production program. I'd go after the Iranian navy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: What do you think of that target list, Admiral?

STAVRIDIS: It's a pretty extensive one. And in order to do that, you'd need a very significant force. And it would be helpful in that scenario to get a U.S. carrier or two off the coast. That would also send a significant signal. I can't argue with that target set.

I'll add to it a couple of other things. We mentioned one a moment ago, Kate, and that is information warfare. Figuring out how to get the video, how to get the numbers of what is happening out. I think also cyber. Using offensive cyber to go after the capabilities of the Revolutionary Guard, the thugs on the street, all of that. Those are things you can do without whistling up the big bombers.

But at the end of the day, the ayatollah is not Nicolas Maduro. He's not going to go quietly into that good night or gently into that good night. We're going to have to, I think, follow Ambassador Bolton's prescription of escalating this. I'm sure all of those options are under discussion in the White House right now.

BOLDUAN: Yes. Just showing -- it would be, regardless, taking military action in another country, but what the considerations really do need to be in taking this on if they decide to do so.

Admiral, thank you so much, as always.

Sara. SIDNER: All right, ahead, Elon Musk's A.I. chatbot rolls out new guardrails against editing real people into revealing images. The backlash and investigations that have prompted this change. And snow sweeping across the Midwest as cold weather makes a potential powerful return. We bring you the forecast on the snowstorms that could hit millions across the country this weekend.

Also, thank goodness we couldn't be happier than Ari and Jonathan are reuniting. Details on the "Wicked" costars teaming up live on stage.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:28:43]

SIDNER: New this morning, global outrage has finally pushed a little change in social media. Social media company X says Elon Musk's artificial intelligence chatbot Grok will no longer edit, quote, "images of real people in revealing clothing." The change comes following global outrage after Grok was found to be complying with user's requests to digitally undress images of adults and, in some cases, children.

At the same time, California's attorney general says he has launched an investigation into X A.I., saying the artificial intelligence company is, quote, "facilitating the large scale production of deepfake intimate images that are being used to harass women and girls online."

CNN's Hadas Gold is joining me now.

What is X saying about this change? This is a really disturbing move that Grok has been able to make.

HADAS GOLD, CNN MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so it's been about a month that this controversy has sort of engulfed Grok's public X accounts. Because there's a difference between when you tag Grok on X and it responds to you publicly, versus when you chat with Grok privately.

But what X said last night is it put way stricter guardrails on what Grok can do. And I'll read you part of their statement. They say, "we have implemented technological measures to prevent the Grok account from allowing the editing of images of real people in revealing clothing, such as bikinis. This restriction applies to all users, including paid subscribers.

[09:30:00]

So, previously, anybody could tag Grok and say, hey, at Grok, can you take the clothes off of this image of a person, whether they consented to it or not. And as you noted, in some cases this