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Authorities Fire Pepper Balls During Latest Clash at Federal Building; Iran Protests Intensify Amid Government Crackdown; Flu Hospitalizations and Deaths Rising Amid Record-Breaking Season; "ICE Out for Good" Protests Planned This Weekend; New Video Shows ICE Agent's POV in Deadly Minneapolis Shooting; Trump Signs Order Protecting Venezuelan Oil Money Held In The U.S.; Ex-Husband Arrested In Deaths Of Ohio Dentist And his Wife; 83rd Golden Globes Air Tomorrow Night. Aired 4-5p ET

Aired January 10, 2026 - 16:00   ET

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

BOB MCNALLY, PRESIDENT, RAPIDAN ENERGY GROUP: So he ran the system into the ground.

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Then Maduro ran it further into the ground, to the point where now Venezuela produces less than 1 percent of the world's crude oil.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: All right. Thanks so much, Brian Todd.

Hello again, everyone. Thank you so much for joining me. I'm Fredricka Whitfield.

And we continue to follow breaking news as protests are underway across the country in response to the deadly Minneapolis shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent. More than a thousand protests are planned nationwide this weekend.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (EXPLETIVE DELETED).

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Are you on this? Hey, hey.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Just a short time ago, at a federal building near Minneapolis, CNN cameras were rolling as federal agents fired pepper balls to push back a group of protesters who were throwing snowballs at law enforcement vehicles and some trying to block those cars from leaving the facility.

And at a nearby park, a huge crowd of marchers are braving cold temperatures right now as they voice their outrage and call for accountability following the shooting that happened in this city.

CNN's Omar Jimenez is at the federal building there, where agents fired pepper balls to protesters continue. We can hear them.

Omar, what's the latest?

JIMENEZ: Yes. So right now we've been seeing essentially what we've been seeing for a lot of the day, which is a line of protesters here on this side of the street. And then you you've seen them, they've been on their bullhorns. They've been yelling back and forth. At points when they believe there are federal immigration enforcement vehicles, they sometimes throw snowballs at them. We've seen federal immigration agents or federal agents, I should say, come out and show -- have a show of force, essentially, at various points of this protest.

Right now it seems like they have sort of retreated back. However, you see, the presence of that federal protection service police there in the middle, and then even this other vehicle right there, it's an ICE vehicle where there have been agents actually monitoring some of what's been going on here as well.

Now, earlier today at this particular federal facility, there were three members of Congress who represent portions of the Minneapolis area that attempted to come and try to conduct an oversight visit here, among them Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. And she explained afterwards kind of the nature of how the trip went and how it wasn't to their satisfaction.

Take a listen to some of what she said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. ILHAN OMAR (D-MN): What happened today is a blatant attempt to obstruct members of Congress from doing their oversight duties. When we appropriate funds as members of Congress, we are expected by the public to do oversight because the public requires their money be used with transparency and accountability. And what happened today is ICE agents deciding that we were no longer allowed to fulfill our constitutional duties.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: So it's unclear what may have happened during that visit. But as you heard from congresswoman, they said they got a notification that they were -- that their visit would not continue and they had to exit from there.

Now, this is one protest that we've been monitoring. These are typically some of the most contentious ones because they end up being in the face of federal law enforcement, and especially when there's a show of force. You see you see this vehicle sort of backing out of the facility. And it's vehicles like this that they tend to focus a lot of their attention on as part of this.

But there are other protests in the area that we've been monitoring. One in particular much closer to where the site of the shooting actually happened. We are miles away, but there's another one that's much closer to the closer to the site of the shooting, where it's much larger in size, I will say, but also reflects a lot of the anger that has translated to planning capability to try and organize these protests here.

I mean, even from the day of the shooting, there was a lot of anger. And prior to it, there was a lot of anger over just the presence of federal immigration enforcement because, remember, prior to the shooting, the federal government had been surging resources here on that front. And so there already was an appetite against that. So you see, this is a lot of the dynamic. As agents pull out, you have people running alongside them, taunting them as they drive away to the cheers of those here in the crowd.

And this is just a lot of what we've been seeing here over the past few days, Fred, since the day of the shooting.

WHITFIELD: Yes. Still a lot of volatility.

Omar Jimenez, keep us posted. Thank you so much.

All right. We have other breaking news as well. Authorities in Iran say schools in parts of the country are expected to close tomorrow as the government crackdown on deadly protests intensifies.

[16:05:03]

Demonstrations have now spread to more than 100 cities.

Dozens of people have been killed in these protests, according to a human rights group. One witness told CNN that she saw bodies piled up on each other in a hospital.

Here now is CNN's Jomana Karadsheh.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

JOMANA KARADSHEH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Iran is facing its biggest internal crisis in years as anti-regime protests spread like a wildfire to every single one of its 31 provinces.

Here in the city of Mashhad, the birthplace of the supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, protesters take down the Islamic Republic's flag and tear it to pieces.

Dozens of protesters have been killed, hundreds injured and thousands detained, according to activists and human rights groups. But that did not appear to deter Iranians who poured onto the streets of Tehran and other cities. The regime shut down communications with fears now growing that they are once again using the blackout to unleash an even more brutal crackdown.

President Trump has repeated his threat to hit the regime hard if they kill protesters.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE (through text translation): This is the last battle, Pahlavi will return.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): Chants for the return of the monarchy, something we hadn't heard during previous waves of protests.

PROTESTERS (through text translation): Long live the Shah.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): Some of the demonstrators appear to be heeding the calls of this man, Reza Pahlavi, the eldest son of the last Shah of Iran.

REZA PAHLAVI, ELDEST SON OF THE LAST SHAH OF IRAN (through text translation): I invite you to come out and protest this Thursday and Friday at 8:00 p.m.

KARADSHEH (voice-over): The 65-year-old came to the United States when he was 17 and remained exiled there after his father, the former shah, was overthrown in the 1979 Islamic Revolution. For years, the exiled crown prince has sought to present himself as a man who can lead Iran's opposition and rid the country of the repressive, theocratic rule.

In a "Washington Post" op-ed this week, Pahlavi said he doesn't see protesters chanting his name as a claim to power. Instead, he sees himself as a unifying, transitional leader who would help guide the country from tyranny to democracy, but he is a divisive figure.

While he does have the support of many Iranian monarchists who are nostalgic for the days of the shah, it is unclear just how much support he really has inside the country. Many Iranians say Pahlavi hasn't set foot in the country in decades. He's too disconnected from the people who have been on the front lines of the battle for freedom and democracy.

Jomana Karadsheh, CNN, London.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: Thanks so much, Jomana.

All right. Now to brand new data on the flu in this country after a record week of flu activity in the U.S., hospitalizations and deaths continue to rise.

CNN's Meg Tirrell has details.

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Flu activity is still elevated across the United States in the most recent update from the CDC. We do see that activity possibly may be coming down a little bit, but the CDC warns it's not clear that the season has peaked yet because those declines could be potentially due to delayed holiday reporting.

What we do see is that hospitalizations are still rising from the flu. 44 jurisdictions are currently reporting high or very high levels of flu activity, with five reporting moderate levels of flu activity. The CDC has said that this is a moderately severe flu season.

Of course, we know that there is a lot of additional activity because there is a new strain of the flu known as subclade K that's been identified, and it arose in the United States after the flu vaccine had already been designed. So there was a bit of a mismatch between the flu vaccine and that strain. However, experts point out, and some data have shown, that the flu vaccine still does provide protection against the flu, particularly against severe disease. And so experts are still recommending that folks who haven't been vaccinated can still benefit from getting a flu shot.

The CDC estimates that so far this season, there have been 15 million illnesses with the flu, 180,000 hospitalizations and 7,400 deaths. We also saw in the most recent data from the CDC an additional eight pediatric deaths from the flu, bringing the total so far this season to 17. The CDC says elevated flu activity is expected at least for several more weeks.

Of course, flu isn't the only respiratory virus going around this time of year. We are also seeing activity levels rising for RSV, respiratory syncytial virus, and COVID-19 as well, although if you look at hospitalizations for those three different respiratory viruses, by far flu is contributing the most to that severe level of disease.

[16:10:06]

So folks are saying be careful out there, get vaccinated if you haven't been. Antivirals are available, of course, for flu and for COVID. So getting tested early in the course of the illness is always recommended.

WHITFIELD: All right. Very good. Thank you, Meg Tirrell.

All right. Still to come, Nicolas Maduro may be ousted, but tensions remain between the U.S. and Venezuela. We'll ask a filmmaker and activist what the future may hold for the U.S. and its role in South America. Plus, mission aborted. SpaceX astronauts are headed back to earth early after a medical issue in space. When they're expected to splash down.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. Rain and snow from an atmospheric river are fueling the high risk of avalanches in Alaska, prompting evacuation orders for people in Juneau.

[16:15:01]

The person who captured this scene on video says he saw five avalanches in under two hours yesterday. Local officials are telling hundreds of residents in the danger zone to be ready to leave at a moment's notice. Juneau chalked up about four feet of snow in late December, making it the snowiest on record for Alaska's capital.

And heavy rain may cause flash flooding from Louisiana to Virginia while springlike warmth brings possible record highs across much of the eastern part of the country.

CNN's Allison Chinchar is tracking all of it. ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: More than 15 million people are

under the threat for flooding across portions of the southeast today, as that cold front continues to slide off to the east. But it's not the only area that's going to see the showers. This low pressure system is also going to bring some pretty heavy rain at times to areas of the northeast as we continue through the evening hours tonight. You can see by about 9:00, 10:00 tonight, the bulk of the heavy rain is actually now focused over the northeast.

Quite a different story than what we saw earlier this morning, where most of the heavy rain was actually across the Gulf Coast and southeastern region. By Sunday morning, you still have some lingering showers for places like Boston, New York, Hartford, and even Providence. But the cold air behind the front is also going to start to filter in. So you're actually going to start to see some more snow showers begin to creep in across portions of the Great Lakes and eventually into the northeast as we wrap up the rest of the day Sunday.

But it's all of that warmth out ahead of the front, and it's pretty significant warmth. All of these dots represent a potential record high for Saturday, and even going into the evening hours. Then, once that front rolls through, then we start to see the big drop off. So take a look at the temperature change here. Atlanta's high temperature Saturday 70 degrees. The normal is 54. Will be much closer to that Sunday and Monday, which may barely even make it into the 50s.

Tallahassee, Charleston, Charlotte, all seeing that similar drop once we get into Sunday after that front finally moves back through and we're going to see some cooler air coming in.

Here's that cold air Saturday. You can see it really start to push back in Sunday and Monday. Get a little bit of a brief warm up and then back to Wednesday and Thursday when another round of cold air begins to sink back into a lot of cities. Take Cincinnati, for example. Again, you can kind of see the roller coaster here of those temperatures. Average this time of year is 39, couple days in the 50s, but also a couple days in the low 30s and even into the 20s.

WHITFIELD: All right, Allison Chinchar, thanks so much. Back to the winter weather for a lot of places.

All right, just in to CNN, an arrest in the double murder of a dentist and his wife in their own home. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:22:04]

WHITFIELD: All right. Today's protests in Minneapolis join a nationwide response this weekend as communities rallied together against ICE in their areas. A coalition of advocacy groups coordinated the events in response to both the fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis and the, quote, "pattern of unchecked violence in marginalized communities," end quote.

CNN's Camila DeChalus was at a demonstration outside the White House earlier today.

Camila, what was the message?

CAMILA DECHALUS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Outside of the White House right now, outside in D.C., a significant number of protesters gathered in order to protest about what just happened in Minneapolis with an ICE agent shooting Renee Good.

Now, I spoke to several protesters that came out in attendance today, one of which was actually from Minnesota, and he said that he was shocked when he heard the news of the murder of -- when the ICE agent shot Renee Good. And he said that this was unacceptable. And it was more -- now more important than ever to come out despite the weather in order to show support for this protest, but more importantly, to send a message that what just happened was unacceptable.

Now, I talked to other protesters and I asked them quite simply, what would he like members of Congress to do? Does this mean that now lawmakers should pass legislation that would reform the federal agency of ICE, and they say that it's really important that members of Congress, not just Democrats, but also Republicans, that they come together and really try to pass legislation to make sure that this does not happen again. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CLAUDIA SCHUR, PROTESTER: The Republicans are just spineless. Spineless. They're kowtowing to Trump. And I don't understand why. He's out of control. And we need to put these agencies, I mean, Kristi Noem needs to be chucked and everybody needs to be -- there needs to be some control and some rules and the rule of law. They need to listen to the courts.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DECHALUS: Now, as you can see, a lot of protesters feel very passionate of what has happened. But most importantly, they are fearful that something like this will happen again. And so they really are looking to lawmakers and to other state officials to pass legislation in order to reform the federal agency of ICE, and really -- to really send a strong message that they do not agree with what the Trump administration is doing.

Camila DeChalus, CNN, Washington.

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Camila.

All right, Minnesota officials say the Justice Department is blocking state investigators from participating in a probe into the shooting. The highly unusual move comes as a new video reveals what could be a key piece of evidence in the case, and raises new questions about that split second decision to use deadly force.

Here now is CNN's Kyung Lah.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): For the first time, we are seeing the fatal Minneapolis shooting from the ICE officer's point of view, footage taken on his own cell phone. It's a critical angle of many cameras on the street that captured Renee Good's fatal encounter with ICE agent Jonathan Ross.

Using surveillance footage, bystander video and Ross's own phone, CNN synched multiple perspectives of the shooting and mapped this incident in 3D space. Taken together, they show the fullest picture yet of what happened that day.

[16:25:08]

A home surveillance camera captures a moment Renee Good pulls up in a maroon colored Honda SUV. Four minutes before the shooting. Twenty seconds after she arrives, her passenger and wife Becca, wearing a white beanie, gets out of Good's car. Good then parks the SUV perpendicular in the road.

Here's how Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem described what Good did.

KRISTI NOEM, SECRETARY OF HOMELAND SECURITY: ICE officers and agents approached the vehicle of the individual in question who was blocking the officers in with her vehicle and she had been stalking and impeding their work all throughout the day.

LAH (voice-over): Available video doesn't show any possible contact Good may have had with ICE before this confrontation. What this video does show is that for a few minutes, while she is perpendicular to the roadway, several vehicles drive by. Even large SUVs are able to drive around her as she moves back and forth on the street. And that includes this light colored SUV. It slowly drives around Good's car from the rear and stops.

Agent Jonathan Ross is recording video from his cell phone as he crosses in front of Good's car, recording as he sees her up close. She looks calm and you can see both of her hands as she talks to the officer.

RENEE GOOD, FATALLY SHOT BY ICE AGENT: That's fine, dude. I'm not mad at you.

LAH (voice-over): Renee Good's wife Becca, who had been the passenger in the car, approaches. Cell phone cameras on the street start recording as Ross walks around Good's car with Good's wife following.

BECCA GOOD, RENEE GOOD'S WIFE: I say, go get yourself some lunch, big boy. Go ahead.

LAH (voice-over): Renee Good backs her car up as the agent walks around the front of the vehicle. At the same time, on the other side, two more agents approached. One tries to open the door as Good backs up. Good's vehicle starts moving. From Ross's cell phone video, you see Becca, the woman in the white beanie, trying to get into the car again. You also see Renee Good turning the steering wheel to the right.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of the car.

B. GOOD: Drive, baby, drive.

LAH (voice-over): She then accelerates. Slowing this down again and matching the exact time of these two angles, this angle appears to show the vehicle moving close to the agent, but in this angle, he does not appear to be in the path of the vehicle when he fired.

B. GOOD: Shit. Oh, my (EXPLETIVE DELETED) God. What the (EXPLETIVE DELETED)?

LAH (voice-over): Seconds later, Becca Good runs to her wife, followed by the agent who fired his weapon. He briefly looks into the driver's side of the car and then walks away.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Hey, call 911.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shame! Shame! Shame!

LAH: What we cannot see in Ross's cell phone video is if the SUV made contact with the agent because the camera angle jerks up to the sky. But DHS says it's still supports the agency's position releasing this statement, quote, "The footage corroborates what DHS has stated all along, that this individual was impeding law enforcement and weaponized her vehicle in an attempt to kill or cause bodily harm to federal law enforcement. The officer was in fear of his own life, the lives of his fellow officers, and acted in self-defense. The American people can watch this video with their own eyes and ears and judge for themselves."

The shooting itself is not visible. You do, though, hear three gunshots.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Thanks so much, Kyung.

All right, straight ahead, President Trump making promises of lower gas prices. More details on how oil and Venezuela could impact prices at the pump and when.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: All right. New today, President Trump signed an executive order protecting Venezuelan oil revenue being held in the U.S. That came just hours after the president held a meeting with oil industry executives on investing in Venezuela. It also capped off a tumultuous week that saw the U.S. capture of Nicolas Maduro in Caracas and Trump threatening Mexico, as well as Greenland, with military action.

CNN Correspondent Julia Benbrook is near Mar-a-Lago, in Florida. So, Julia, take us through the latest on Venezuela. JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Fred. There is a lot to unpack here. Just a week ago, President Donald Trump confirmed that the United States was behind explosions in Venezuela and that the ousted Venezuelan leader, Nicolas Maduro, had been captured and taken from the country. He is in New York Now. He faces drugs and weapons charges.

Trump has said that the United States is working with, is in communication with, a Maduro loyalist and Venezuela's vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, who is now serving as acting president. He recently said that he does see Rodriguez as an ally "right now." Trump has plans to speak with representatives from the country sometime soon, and has added that he does not believe a second wave of attacks will be necessary.

Now, I also want to highlight what he said recently about Venezuela's opposition leader, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, Maria Corina Machado. He has said that he does not believe that she has the support and respect needed in the country to lead right now. We are learning that she is expected to visit the United States sometime next week, and Trump has said that he is looking forward to saying hello to her. Those recent developments were revealed as Trump hosted roughly a dozen of -- more than a dozen executives -- energy executives to discuss and try and convince them to reinvest in Venezuela.

[16:35:04]

Now, as he left the White House to travel here for the weekend, Trump categorized this as a good meeting. He said that they had sort of made a deal. Those oil CEOs, though, have been more skeptical and have largely declined to commit at this time. Exxon's CEO, even in that roundtable, said that the country was uninvestable in its current state.

Also related to Venezuela on Capitol Hill, a handful of Republican senators joined Democrats in advancing a resolution that would limit the U.S.'s ability to take further military action in Venezuela without congressional approval. And that move even surprised some Democrats. They weren't sure exactly where those GOP votes were going to fall. But could this be some insight that, as Trump's second term continues on and he makes these sweeping moves that some members within his own party are getting a bit more comfortable challenging some of those specific decisions?

WHITFIELD: OK. And then, Julia, you know, there have been further questions, you know, including among Republicans, about where Trump might deploy U.S. military forces next, including Colombia or Greenland. What is the president saying about that?

BENBROOK: Yes. Those are two examples of where these questions are coming from, even within Trump's own party. And he has continued to use that escalating rhetoric, specifically when it comes to Greenland. He said this yesterday. He said that if he's not able to make a deal to acquire it the easy way, then he would have to "do it the hard way." I want to play you exactly what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not. Because if we don't do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland. And we're not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor. OK? I would -- I would like to make a deal, you know, the easy way. But if we don't do it the easy way, we're going to do it the hard way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: And then on Colombia, Trump made several strong statements throughout the week, specifically calling President Gustavo Petro a "sick man." Those two leaders have spoken on the phone since then, and Trump says that Petro will be visiting the White House early February.

WHITFIELD: OK. Julia Benbrook, thanks so much.

And now, this breaking news in to CNN. Police in Ohio have arrested a suspect in connection to the killings of an Ohio dentist and his wife in their Columbus home. And he is being identified as the ex-husband of the wife. News of the arrest comes just days after police released video footage showing what they described as a person of interest walking near the couple's home around the time of the murders. Let's get right to CNN's Rafael Romo with more on what you're learning.

RAFAEL ROMO, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, we've been following this case from the beginning, and we just heard the news that Columbus division of police published a statement in the last hour regarding an update in their investigation into the deaths of Monique and Spencer Tepe, a couple shot dead in their home on December 30. The statement published by police confirms that an arrest warrant was issued for a man identified as Michael D. McKee for murder, adding that he was taken into custody without incident in Rockford, Illinois. Court records identify McKee as Monique Tepe's ex-husband. In the statement, police do not specify whether McKee is a sole suspect or whether there may be other people they may be looking for.

A notable development in the case came Monday, when the Columbus division of police released surveillance footage showing a person of interest walking in the alley near the couple's home in the Wineland Park neighborhood, just north of downtown. It was taken during the time frame. Investigators believe the couple was killed, police said. Spencer and Monique Tepe, 37, and 39, were killed in the early hours of December 30, while their two young children were inside the residence. Columbus police said their children, ages one and four, were not physically harmed.

Both minors and the family's dog are now in the care of relatives, as Rob Misleh, Spencer's brother-in-law, earlier told CNN. Misleh also described Monique Tepe to CNN affiliate, WSYX, as warm, charming, and strong. And Spencer as calm, steady, and kind.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROB MISLEH, SPENCER'S BROTHER-IN-LAW: How do you tell -- How do you tell a 4-year-old that you know, she's never going to see her parents again? It's just awful. But we've -- you know, we've been giving them all of our love.

This person didn't just take two lives, right? They took a son and a daughter. A brother and a sister. An aunt and uncle. Cousins.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMO: Misleh also told WSYX the couple would have celebrated their fifth wedding anniversary in just a few weeks. In a statement to CNN, relatives of the couple said our family is devastated by the tragic and senseless loss of Spencer and Monique. They were extraordinary people whose lives were filled with love, joy, and deep connection to others. The Franklin County Coroner's Office tells CNN that Tepes' deaths are apparent homicides by gunshot wounds, but said the official autopsy reports could take weeks to complete. Just a tragic, horrific story.

[16:40:31]

WHITFIELD: It's so sad. It really is. All right. Bring us more details as you learn. And, Rafael Romo, thanks so much.

All right. We're also learning when the NASA SpaceX crew, 11 astronauts, will return to earth from the International Space Station. Their mission cut short over a medical issue with an unnamed crew member. NASA says they will undock no earlier than Wednesday with a splashdown expected on early Thursday. It's unclear what kind of medical issue led to the mission being shortened by more than a month, but NASA says the person is in stable condition. This is the first time a crew has ever come home early from the ISS over a health concern.

All right, straight ahead. A look ahead at the weekend's Golden Globes. Host Nikki Glaser talks about her plans to poke fun at Hollywood's biggest stars

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[16:45:45]

WHITFIELD: All right, welcome back. Just moments ago, we heard from our Juliet Benbrook, who is traveling with the president in South Florida, ticking through quite a week for President Trump and the country from the Venezuela strikes and apprehension of Nicolas Maduro and his wife to renewed comments on U.S. interests in Greenland. For more on all of this, I want to bring in CNN presidential historian Tim Naftali.

Tim, great to see you. So, I mean, this was a busy week. I mean, understatement of the year, right, for President Trump on foreign policy. So, let's start with Venezuela.

The president meeting with major oil company executives yesterday about the potential involvement -- their potential involvement in Venezuela. The response was skeptical. How do you see this potentially playing out? TIM NAFTALI, CNN PRESIDENTIAL HISTORIAN: Well, the United States made clear initially it looked as if the operation was just primarily to get rid of a dictator and help the people of Venezuela. And then the president made clear that the United States had an interest in Venezuela's resources, especially oil. The challenge for the administration is that not all of big oil wants to spend the money in Venezuela. There are two big reasons for that.

The first is the question of stability. In order to remake the Venezuelan oil infrastructure, which had been left to decay under the Chavez-Maduro dictatorship, it's going to cost money. And big oil doesn't want to invest that kind of money unless the area is secure. And the administration is making the argument that no problem, we'll work with Delcy Rodriguez, the former vice president, now sort of the interim president. Even though she was part of the Maduro government, shell be able to stabilize the country.

Well, why would Venezuelans want to live in a country that is still governed by the same secret police that it was governed by before? Yes, Maduro is gone, but the structure of the state is the same. And big oil is going to ask, how stable is this country going to be?

The second issue is one about the oil price. The oil price is quite low now. And is this really the time for big oil to create more oil and thus depress the cost of oil? So, the administration says it went in for oil. But people really interested in oil don't really expect or want Venezuela's oil. That's the problem.

WHITFIELD: Yes. And I wonder now if the president's -- the president's efforts on the whole oil right now potentially undermines the legal route that DOJ is pursuing on justifying why the U.S. went into Venezuela in the first place to remove its president.

NAFTALI: Well, Fred, you know, I'm not a lawyer, and there are lots of very good lawyers who can talk about that. The issue for me, looking at this, is the United States has taken upon itself since the 1980s to render -- that is, using rendition to take people who are indicted, who have been indicted for crimes against Americans, and bringing them back -- if they live abroad or operate abroad, bringing them to the United States to stand trial. That is a long-standing tradition.

I can't speak to the indictment for Maduro. And I don't know how important the president's motives are to the indictment. But certainly, the motives which we thought were behind this at the very beginning, when we heard about the operation, seem to have changed. And that may impact in some way the legal case.

WHITFIELD: OK. So, now let's talk about something that the president has made very clear for a while now that he wants that Nobel Peace Prize. And Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado said, you know, she'll give up hers. But the Norwegian, you know, Nobel Institute says no, that's against the rules.

NAFTALI: Yes.

WHITFIELD: So, what do you make of this kind of offer, the president's obsession, and you know what the real reality check is here?

NAFTALI: Well, if we lived in a -- in an alternative universe, Miss Machado would now be the leader. Because what the United States, certainly in the case of Panama in 1990-91 did was that it was responding in part to a stolen election and put in power the group that had actually won the election. Well, Machado wasn't allowed to run for president in 2024, but that's her party. And if we had installed her, I'm not suggesting the United States should go around installing leaders, but that would make more sense than the situation we're in now.

[16:50:24]

Now, she would like to be part of the future of Venezuela. And it is not stupid on her part maybe to buy a little bit of goodwill from President Trump by physically giving him the Nobel Prize. But, of course, the Nobel Prize is not awarded by the person who receives it. It's awarded by the Norwegian Academy. So, she's still the winner of the Nobel Prize, even if physically, it's in the future Trump library.

WHITFIELD: OK. Well, let's talk about Greenland, because the President of the United States was -- has been pretty clear, right? He says we are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not. So, I mean, those were his words. How do you see this playing out potentially?

NAFTALI: I went to Greenland in June. I had a chance to talk to people -- to some people. And, my sense is that the people of Greenland do not at all wish to be part of the United States. It's not that they're anti-American. It's just they're pro-Greenland.

And there was a lot of offense taken at the manner in which the administration had sort of treated their interests. There are about 56,000 people who live in Greenland, most of whom are indigenous people. Their struggle with Denmark is important. And it's not that they see Denmark at all as their savior, but they are working through the process of becoming more and more autonomous, maybe even becoming independent.

They don't want to exchange that for dependence on the United States. So, we don't have any popular support there. So, the question is, are we as Americans going to do something that we haven't done since the 19th Century? Are we going to impose ourselves on indigenous people and take their land from them?

And one would imagine that modern Americans would find that an offensive act. Leaving aside Denmark and NATO, do we really want to steal the land from indigenous people who don't want us to be there in the 21st Century?

WHITFIELD: All right. Tim Naftali, great to see you. Happy New Year, by the way. I meant to say that at the top.

NAFTALI: Thank you. Happy New Year to you, Fred.

WHITFIELD: OK. Happy New Year. All right. Take care. NAFTALI: Bye.

WHITFIELD: All right. The Washington National Opera is cutting ties with the Kennedy Center after more than a decade, the opera board voted to leave, citing in part, the center's policy changes under President Trump's hand-picked board, including requiring productions to be fully funded in advance. A spokesperson for the Kennedy Center blamed the split on a "financially challenging relationship with the opera."

The opera says it will scale back its spring season and move upcoming performances to new venues around the Washington, DC area. Tomorrow afternoon at 4:00 Eastern Time, I will speak with Grammy Award-winning banjo player Bela Fleck, who has canceled his upcoming appearance at the Kennedy Center. Lots to talk about.

All right. Comedian Nikki Glaser says she is preparing to handle the hosting duties for a second time at the Golden Globe Awards on Sunday. CNN's Stephanie Elam sat down with Glaser to talk about her jokes, the stars, and how she decides who gets roasted.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What does the pre-show pep talk from Nikki to Nikki sound like?

NIKKI GLASER, HOST, GOLDEN GLOBES AWARDS: I'm strong. I'm prepared. This is easy. You say it all day, thousands of times, muttering to yourself, and you just start to believe it.

ELAM (voice-over): Perhaps it's easier to believe for Nikki Glaser, who's back after universal praise last year as host of the Golden Globes.

GLASER: And I want people to tune in to be like, what will she say? What might they bleep? What might happen? Who's going to fall?

ELAM (voice-over): But the roast comic has learned Julia Roberts, who will be in the room, might be untouchable.

GLASER: But I found out she's a very protected entity in this world from running jokes around town and having people get very, very upset. I found a way to make a joke in which she's involved. But it wasn't easy.

ELAM (voice-over): Glaser revealing during our chat on a Hollywood backlot, she limits the roasting to the nominees, except this joke last year about Selena Gomez's now-husband.

GLASER: And Benny Blanco is here because of the genie who granted him that wish. Man, lucky guy.

ELAM (voice-over): Glaser tells me she got permission from Blanco ahead of time because she considers the less famous to be off limits. Stars like Leo and Clooney? That's another story. GLASER: I don't have these people's numbers. I'm not disconnected. And I don't even know that I want to text them that because it would just -- I think they would just be like, no, don't do that. But I think if I could just do it, I can get away with it, and I just avoid them the rest of my career.

ELAM (voice-over): Not much is off limits, she says. Even the cancellation of Stephen Colbert and other controversy at CBS.

[16:55:01]

GLASER: I mean, I'm on CBS. Do you bite the hand that feeds you? Maybe a little bit.

ELAM: Last year, you talked a little bit about politics right after the election.

GLASER: Yes.

ELAM: One or 19 more things have happened since then. Is that going to factor into your show?

GLASER: Of course. There's so few things TVs and -- TV shows and movies that we've all consumed. But like, we're all consuming -- it is all consuming, the news.

ELAM: Yes.

GLASER: So, I got to use those when I can get them.

ELAM (voice-over): Glaser says she takes her job seriously, so viewers don't have to.

GLASER: We are living in a hellscape at times, and as award shows used to feel like escapes from all that, where we could just celebrate this royalty that we've crowned in our country for whatever reason, because they're good at pretending on screen. And it's all ridiculous. But so what? We really enjoy it. And lets just, like, escape into it and have some fun.

ELAM (voice-over): Stephanie Elam, CNN, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right. Thank you so much, Stephanie. And she will be live, Stephanie, on the red carpet for us tomorrow right here in the CNN NEWSROOM. And thank you for joining me today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. CNN NEWSROOM continues with Jessica Dean.

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