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Massive Protest over Fatal Minnesota ICE Shooting; Protests Spread to More than 100 Cities Across Iran; U.S. CentCom: U.S. Strikes Multiple ISIS Targets in Syria; Interview with Former DHS Acting Secretary Chad Wolf; Trump's Venezuela Pitch Met With Skepticism From Oil Executives; NASA Astronauts To Make Rare Early Return After Medical Issue. Aired 5-6p ET

Aired January 10, 2026 - 17:00:00   ET

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

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[17:00:43]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

Hi, everyone. I'm Jessica dean here in New York.

And this is a live look at the crowd of protesters gathering in Minneapolis. They are out in the cold weather voicing outrage following the deadly Minneapolis shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent. Demonstrators are calling for accountability.

And this is one of many protests underway across the country.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you on this?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Just a short time ago, at a federal building near Minneapolis. CNN was there on the scene as federal agents fired pepper balls to push back a group of protesters that was throwing snowballs at law enforcement vehicles, some trying to block cars from leaving the facility.

We're going to have much more from Minneapolis in just a few moments.

But first, we do want to get to some breaking news coming to us out of Iran, where protests against the Iranian regime are intensifying tonight. A U.S.-based human rights group says at least 65 people have been killed and more than 2,300 people have been arrested over the past two weeks.

Now, Iranian authorities cut off Internet access and telephone lines Thursday. That's been the biggest night of demonstrations so far.

The protests now spread to more than 100 cities across that country. And for context, the protests started in Tehran's bazaars or marketplaces over inflation concerns. And they have since evolved into this more general protest against the regime.

I do want to bring in CNN's Julia Benbrook, who is traveling with the president this weekend.

Julia, how is the Trump administration responding? We did hear in a post from the president just this morning

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Jessica. As you mentioned, according to a U.S.-based human rights group, at least 65 people have been killed and 2,300 arrested. This as two weeks of anti-government protests have taken place there in Iran.

Those demonstrations have spread across Iran's provinces over nationwide unrest regarding worsening economic conditions.

And Trump did comment on this today. He posted on social media, he's here in Florida for the weekend. And he said this.

He said Iran is looking at freedom, perhaps like never before, adding quote, "The U.S.A. stands ready to help. And Trump was asked about this yesterday as well. If the United States would get involved in some way now that there were reports that protesters had been killed.

I want you to listen to his response.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I just hope the protesters in Iran are going to be safe, because that's a very dangerous place right now.

And again, I tell the Iranian leaders, you better not start shooting because we'll start shooting too.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: Now, Trump did emphasize that that did not mean boots on the ground, but he added this, quote, "it does mean hitting them very, very hard where it hurts."

Secretary of State Marco Rubio has also commented in a social media post. He said the United States supports the brave people of Iran.

Iran's supreme leader, the ayatollah, has blamed the United States for inciting protests and has urged Trump to, quote, "focus on his own country".

DEAN: Yes. And the big question here is to your point, Julia, what does it mean for the U.S. to provide support? And that is the question. No one really knows the answer to it right now, but it is going to be quite meaningful, whatever it is, in terms of what direction this takes.

We're also hearing reports about U.S. strikes in Syria. What do you know about that?

BENBROOK: Yes, the Central Command did confirm this in a post. I want to pull up part of their statement for you now.

They said today at approximately 12:30 p.m. Eastern time, U.S. Central Command forces, alongside partner forces, conducted large scale strikes against multiple ISIS targets against Syria.

[17:04:40]

BENBROOK: Now, this is a part of a retaliatory campaign that was dubbed Operation Hawkeye Strike that was named after two of the army soldiers from Iowa who were killed by an ISIS gunman just not that long ago. A civilian interpreter was also killed in that strike.

And Trump has promised that they would retaliate -- that the United States would retaliate.

And in that same statement from CentCom, they offered that message again, saying, our message remains strong. If you harm our warfighters, we will find you and kill you anywhere in the world, no matter how hard you try to evade justice.

Hundreds of troops continue to be deployed in Syria. This is a part of a broader effort to fight ISIS.

DEAN: All right. Julia Benbrook there in West Palm Beach, thank you so much for that.

Going back now to Iran. CNN's Paula Hancocks has more on what's happening on the ground there. Paula, walk us through the latest.

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We know that there is a crackdown by authorities on these protests, which are gaining momentum and are larger than we have seen in recent years.

Now, one of the NGOs and human rights groups within the country says they believe at least 65 people have been killed at this point. We know that hundreds have been injured. We can't independently verify these figures.

But there are raising concerns of a potential brutal crackdown on protesters, more so than we are seeing now because of this Internet blackout, which was put in place by authorities late on Thursday night.

Now we are also hearing from the exiled Reza Pahlavi. He's the eldest son of the late shah who was deposed back in 1979. He's trying to position himself as an alternative to the Islamic regime. And he has been very publicly calling for nationwide protests. Let's listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REZA PAHLAVI, EXILED IRANIAN OPPOSITION FIGURE: And I ask all of you today and tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday, this time starting at 6:00 p.m., to come into the streets with flags, images and national symbols and to reclaim public spaces as your own.

Our goal is no longer merely to come out into the streets. The goal is to prepare to seize city centers and hold them.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HANCOCKS: Now, it is unclear how many within Iran will actually hear that message, given the fact there is that Internet blackout.

And it's also unclear exactly how much support he still has within the country. We have been seeing those chants on some of the social media posted videos saying, "This is the last battle. Pahlavi will return."

We also have heard from the Supreme Leader in response to what we heard from the U.S. President Donald Trump, saying he will intervene if peaceful protesters are killed.

He has blamed the U.S. for trying to stoke these protests. He's talking about rioters and foreign mercenaries, and also says that Trump should focus on the problems of his own country.

There are concerns, though, that this crackdown could intensify in the coming days, and we're certainly seeing no signs that the anger and frustration on the streets of Iran in 100-plus cities across the country is going to wane any time soon.

DEAN: All right. Paula Hancocks, thank you so much for that.

And we're joined now by CNN political and global affairs analyst and Axios correspondent Barak Ravid.

Barak, good to see you.

We have seen protests in Iran before. They were ultimately quashed by the regime. I think what people are wondering is, is this different, and if so, what makes it different?

BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: So first, we have to say at the outset, we do not know whether these protests will lead to a regime change in Iran. That's the question everyone are asking. And there's no answer to this yet, ok. But we do know that those protests are the most significant protests maybe in decades.

And therefore, I think not only Donald Trump is watching it very closely, the entire world is watching it very closely, because I think that when you combine what Iran went through over the last few years -- the sanctions, deep economic crisis, the 12-day war, the, decimation of its proxy network in the region and now this internal unrest. This is the biggest challenge to the Islamic revolution since 1979.

DEAN: Yes. I mean, it's really remembering what got us here in the last year -- year-and-a-half, to your point, all of those things put together.

The big question, too, is what does President Trump mean when he says that he will provide -- the U.S. will provide help.

[17:09:43] DEAN: He warned Iran's leaders against using violence against the protesters, saying that the U.S. will get involved, but not with boots on the ground. And then, you know, just this morning saying that the U.S. will support Iran. What does that potentially look like?

RAVID: So first, we don't know. What we do know is that today, Trump went one step further than he did so far. Meaning until yesterday, U.S. policy was we will use military force if the Iranian regime uses violence against the protesters.

Today, Trump already went further and said the U.S. is ready to help the protesters to topple the regime regardless. And I think this is very meaningful because we are now in a whole new situation.

And I think this was the most, clear statement by the president of the United States that he supports the protesters and their efforts to create political change in Iran.

And I'll tell you another anecdote about this post. What I heard about this post from a very senior Israeli official after Trump posted it, this Israeli official told me every time Trump speaks about this issue or posts something about this issue, this generates even more motivation with the protesters inside Iran. This gives back wind to the protest.

And I think this is part of the reason Trump is doing this.

DEAN: That's really -- that is an interesting anecdote indeed.

And Barak, give people context why -- what kind of impact it would have really for the region, but certainly for Iran itself, if the regime were to fall, if these protesters are successful at that.

RAVID: So, you know, first, it's one thing that the regime falls. It's a whole different thing what comes next? We don't know, because what might come next is something far worse. Could be a military dictatorship, ok.

Another scenario, the good scenario is the protesters managed to topple the regime. And there's a much more, let's say pro-western, much more democratic government in Iran. That's the good scenario.

The bad scenario is that the IRGC take over the country, and you have a North Korea-style military regime. So we don't know what will happen if the regime falls.

What we do know is that it will create a dramatic change, not only in the region, but in the world as a whole, especially if there is a new, more pro-western, pro-democracy government in Iran.

Iran has been one of the most destabilizing -- I mean the Iranian regime, the Islamic regime in Iran, the IRGC, the ayatollahs were the most destabilizing regime in the region, maybe even in the world.

Therefore, if this regime falls, and especially if something better comes next, I think it will dramatically change things in the whole world into a positive direction.

DEAN: Yes.

And so knowing all of this, what are you watching for in the coming days out of Iran?

RAVID: So I think the most interesting thing to me is to see first, if more parts of the Iranian society join the protest.

That's number one, big parts has joined have joined, but not all parts of the Iranian society.

Number two, whether we see a more public and open dissent within the security services, the police, the army, the Revolutionary Guards Corps. If we see more dissent, if we see people that are part of the regime coming out and saying, that's it, we're out. If we see defections, think this is the next -- this is the next thing to look for.

Another thing to look for is if the regime escalates the violence that it is using against the protesters, we don't know exactly how many protesters have been killed. It depends who you ask. But I think it's clear that a quite significant number of protesters have been killed by regime fire.

But this could escalate. Jess, I'll give you an example. Since the 12- day war I think there were something around 1,700 executions in Iran. And I think this is a huge number.

If we start seeing those numbers now with, you know, police or IRGC shooting protesters and killing that number of people, this will dramatically change the situation.

[17:14:46]

DEAN: Yes. All right. Things to watch for.

Barak Ravid, great to have you. Thank you.

RAVID: Thank you.

DEAN: Protests in Minnesota and across the U.S. after the deadly shooting of a mother by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. A CNN team is on the ground as protesters and immigration agents face off.

Plus, an oil executive says Venezuela is un-investable. What does that mean for the president's plan for Venezuela's oil industry?

And NASA announces how long it will take to bring home an astronaut suffering from a medical issue in space.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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DEAN: All right. This video from just a little bit earlier today, you see a crowd there in the cold where the snow is on the ground protesting in Minneapolis. These people voicing their outrage, calling for accountability following the fatal shooting by an ICE agent on Wednesday.

[17:19:45]

DEAN: Today, the mayor of Minneapolis urged demonstrators to remain peaceful and warned that anybody who is not will be held accountable.

There is growing distrust stemming from how federal authorities immediately placed blame on the woman who was killed, and outrage from Minneapolis has spilled over nationwide, with over a thousand protests planned for this weekend.

In Washington, D.C., people are gathering with the group Refuse Fascism, holding a protest in front of the White House over the shooting.

Let's bring in CNN's Omar Jimenez from Minneapolis. Omar, you've been on the ground throughout the day, the last couple of days. What are you seeing?

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So today, we've been following a number of different protests throughout the Minneapolis area where we started. The day was outside of federal building, miles from here near the airport.

That's where we saw a lot of confrontations between federal law enforcement and some of the protesters that were there, in some cases, throwing snowballs at vehicles that they believed had federal immigration enforcement.

And then more in the city of Minneapolis, there was a large protest that really emanated from one of the main parks here in the city. I mean, from the air, it was it was hard to tell exactly how many, but a huge mass of people that we observed marching through the streets.

And one of the places they marched right by was where we're standing, which is -- has become the memorial site for Renee Good. This is where that vehicle crashed after Good was shot and where many in this neighborhood witnessed some of those final moments, especially after those gunshots rang out.

This has been a major focal point of a lot of protests and a lot of the anger over federal immigration enforcement here in Minneapolis to begin with.

Now, you'll notice it's a lot more quiet right now. That has tended to be the tone at this particular site, a little bit more somber.

But just a few minutes ago, that protest that we've been tracking from the park walked right by here, loud, chanting as they typically have in places throughout the city. And that has been much more typical of what we've seen.

Now, I mentioned that federal building. Earlier today, there were three members of Congress that attempted to do a congressional oversight visit to that federal building. Among them Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, who represents portions of the Minneapolis area.

And they said they weren't able to do that visit to their satisfaction. I want you to take a listen to how she described it.

(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: Now, to be clear, they were allowed inside the facility. It's just that visit, from what we heard from the congresswoman, was cut short because they say they got a notification once they were inside that they were no longer allowed to be there.

And so that's what precipitated -- what preceded those comments there. And I should also mention that as we get into -- as we get into nightfall here, last night in downtown Minneapolis, that's actually where we saw some pretty contentious protests in the sense that there were hundreds on the streets. They were targeting hotels where they believed federal immigration agents may have been staying.

Really loud protests -- I mean, quite literally banging on drums, blowing whistles. They were shining lights into some of the windows of those hotels as well.

And while we didn't see law enforcement for a lot of the night, they essentially all banded together and showed up in force towards -- as we approached midnight and we heard from the police chief that it was 29 people that were arrested and that it was all part of a methodical plan to try and maintain order, Jessica.

But that's the range of protests we've been seeing here in Minneapolis since the killing of Renee Good.

DEAN: All right. Omar Jimenez there on the ground in Minneapolis. Thank you for that reporting.

And we're joined now by former Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary during the presidents first term, Chad Wolf. He's now executive vice president of the America First Policy Institute.

Secretary Wolf, thank you for being here with us. We really appreciate it.

As Omar just outlined, there are numerous protests. Tensions are quite high after this has happened. My question to you is how does this situation de-escalate and how does that happen? And as the former head of DHS, that would be your expertise.

What role does DHS have? And these ICE Agents and the people on the ground have in trying to deescalate the situation?

CHAD WOLF, EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT, AMERICA FIRST POLICY INSTITUTE: Well, I think a couple of comments. I think you know, lowering the rhetoric from public officials demonizing ICE you know, calling them all sorts of names.

[17:24:45]

WOLF: I think that sometimes encourages folks in their communities to take action, to take violent action, in some cases against ICE. So I think the rhetoric needs to come down.

I think local police should support ICE. Where we see a lot of these incidents is when local police has -- obviously is not with ICE, right, because of sanctuary city policies.

And then I think if ICE was allowed to go into jail settings, pick up these criminal illegal aliens, the ones that they are searching for, that makes it safe for everyone and you don't have to have ICE in such large numbers out onto streets.

They're only out there in such large numbers because they can't do what they do in almost all other communities and jurisdictions, which is to go into jail settings and to remove people.

DEAN: Ok. And so to that -- to that end, I have two questions for you on that front, because you just mentioned what they're trained to do, which is go into jail settings and remove people. That's generally what they should be doing.

They're now on the streets with protesters. What kind of training do these officers have in being on the streets with protesters? Because a lot of -- most cities' police officers are highly trained in de- escalating situations face to face with protesters. What kind of training does ICE have to be in these situations?

WOLF: Yes. Yes, pretty extensive training. They go to the federal law enforcement training academy in Georgia, much like all other federal law enforcement, as well as state and local law enforcement.

When I said they go into jails, that's their preferred setting to make that handoff. But they are very adept in going into communities and arresting individuals, putting them in jail settings, and then -- and then eventually deportation.

So they're trained extensively, and the majority of their of their work is actually done more in urban settings than it is elsewhere.

Border patrol, for instance, does a lot of their work not in urban settings. So they are trained for this type of work, absolutely.

DEAN: Right. But we don't normally see them face to face with protesters. And these situations -- the shooting, the deadly shooting being obviously the most recent and violent. But where these clashes happen and they have -- the temperature turns up very, very quickly.

And you know, we do see them taking really aggressive action in some situations. And obviously there are a lot of factors that go into situations when they're out there, but really aggressive.

Do you think that's the appropriate tactic in trying to de-escalate when they're out there with citizens?

WOLF: So in most circumstances, when ICE goes and does an enforcement operation into the streets of any community, they prefer to have local law enforcement there, right? For that crowd control, for any local arrests that need to be made.

Usually the local police will arrest because that's sort of their jurisdiction. That's what they do.

Unfortunately, in places like Minneapolis, Portland, Chicago and others, the local police, at the direction of the mayor and the governor and others, has all but abandoned ICE. They will not show up until after something occurs.

So instead of being a partner with ICE going out there, providing that support, de-escalating, making the whole situation safer, they don't.

And so now it's up to ICE to go out on their own, usually in overwhelming numbers, so that they can continue to carry out their mission that they have.

DEAN: So, are you blaming police departments for this?

WOLF: I'm placing blame at local policies that don't allow their police departments to coordinate with ICE, absolutely. When ICE goes into a community, they need the support of local police for a variety of different things.

And when they don't get that right and what these policies are meant to do is to say we're not going to provide you that support so therefore, please don't come into our community.

Well, that's not going to work. ICE has a mission. They need to enforce immigration law. And so they'll continue to go into these communities. But they would prefer to do it with the support and in coordination with local authorities.

It happens almost everywhere else across the country except in certain cities. And unfortunately, that's what we saw in Minneapolis.

DEAN: But they -- yes. And I -- in terms of just the again, I just keep going back to how these things because when we see situations like this, they happen in a matter of seconds, right.

And these decisions are made in a matter of seconds. And they are -- they are deadly, as evidenced by what we just saw.

Again, I go back to and I hear you on what you're saying, that they -- in the sanctuary cities, it is set up differently than it would be in a different city.

But do you think it's appropriate that they continue on the track that they're on? Or do some adjustments need to be made to prevent this from happening again? Because this absolutely got out of control very, very quickly.

WOLF: Yes. Look, they need to continue their mission. I mean, just in Minnesota alone during this operation, they've taken off the street over a thousand criminal illegal aliens. These are murderers. These are pedophiles and rapists.

WOLF: So there are dangerous people in a variety of communities that ICE is their mission to remove these individuals.

[17:29:58]

So, we need to figure out -- I agree with you. We need to figure out a way that they can continue to do their mission.

I think, it's also important that somehow, over, you know, these last several years, people think it's somehow funny or humorous to interfere with ICE operations. You know, well, they will -- they will block the street, or they will pull in front of an ICE officer and go really slow, and do a variety of things. That's against the law. Right? Not adhering to their commands. That's against the law.

And I think over time, people either have become desensitized to that and they think that they can -- they -- that somehow that's going to help the situation. We wouldn't do that with the with FBI agents. We wouldn't do that with NYPD. We wouldn't do that with a variety of law enforcement agencies.

So, I think people need to understand, this isn't a game. When ICE is out there doing an enforcement operation, they have targets in mind, and sometimes they are very dangerous targets in mind. And when other, you know, just regular citizens interfere with that, it's usually not a good thing, and you'll have bad outcomes, such as an arrest, or if a vehicle or other weapons are targeting, you know, an officer, they will take the appropriate force that they believe is necessary.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. I do. I would push back against though, the categorization of it. They all think it's funny or amusing. I do think there is real outrage on behalf of some Americans, who were very upset that while, in addition to taking actual criminals who have a criminal record, who, I think everyone can agree, please get them, you know, please arrest them, children are being picked up, people without any sort of record are being picked up, and they are getting thrown to the ground.

It's the tactics, it's the blanket approach that they are very concerned about. That their neighbors are being thrown to the back of the car, and they never hear from them again.

WOLF: Well, I don't -- this -- I don't necessarily agree with that. I mean, again, it's one thing to say you need to target criminal illegal aliens, which, of course, they are doing. But of course, they also come into contact with other individuals that are here in the country illegally, which, again, is against the law.

Now, we saw under four years of President Biden, where they simply ignored the law. They said, well, we are not going to remove anyone unless they commit another crime here in the United States.

And frankly, I think, that's not the right approach for law enforcement. Law enforcement's job is actually to prevent crimes.

I don't know why we would wait until someone that was here illegally would commit another crime against U.S. citizens only then to remove him. So -- or her. So, I think law enforcement, obviously, ICE has, you know, they have -- they have got to juggle a variety of different scenarios and priorities. But they continue to target criminal illegal aliens. But again, they are not going to ignore others that are here in the country illegally.

Now, as far as tactics go, I think, a large majority of you know things that we see reported on the news and elsewhere actually comes from incidents where you have criminals or the target absconding. Right?

We saw that, I think, in Minneapolis, or certainly in Portland, where they are given a command, whether they are pulled over, they are given a command, and they somehow start to speed away. And in one case, they then made it into a school setting.

And there was all sorts of reports about how ICE went into a school and was tear gassing students. None of that occurred. They followed a dangerous individual who went on to a school campus. So, there is -- the details matter in a lot of these things. And much like any other law enforcement, you know, agency and officials, they have rules, they have regulations that they have to abide by as well.

DEAN: Yes, yes. No, the details do matter. And I think in some cases, obviously, these are criminals, and in other cases, these are people that, you know, are just being targeted, and people are very upset about the way the taxes -- tactics that they are using.

(CROSSTALK)

WOLF: But, but --

DEAN: But -- I know we got to leave it there. I would love to keep going, but we are out of time. Secretary Chad Wolf, thank you. We do appreciate your time. Thank you.

We'll be right back.

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[17:38:20]

DEAN: American oil executives meeting at the White House, say they are reluctant to invest in Venezuela for now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DARREN WOODS, CHAIRMAN OF EXXONMOBIL: If we look at the legal and commercial constructs and frameworks in place today in Venezuela, today, it's uninvestable.

And so, significant changes have to be made to those commercial frameworks, the legal system.

RYAN LANCE, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, CONOCOPHILLIPS: The debt needs to be restructured in the financing to deliver the billions of dollars that are required to restore their energy infrastructure.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Those remarks are complicating the White House's plans for Venezuela, as the Trump administration looks to assert its dominance over Venezuelan oil.

Joining us now, Carrie Filipetti. She is the former -- principal deputy assistant secretary of state for Cuba and Venezuela during the first Trump Administration. Thank you so much for being here with us. We really appreciate it.

I want you to respond and give us your thoughts on those clips that we just heard from those executives. Do they have a point? Are those concerns valid? And what do they mean going forward?

CARRIE FILIPETTI, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, VANDENBERG COALITION: I think the concerns are very valid. You have to remember that even though Maduro is no longer in Venezuela, his entire regime apparatus is. This is the same apparatus that abducted the Citgo Six, Venezuelan American oil executives for about five years and held them in prison.

It's the same leadership under Delcy Rodriguez, whose father actually kidnapped an American businessman as well. The legal structure is also not appropriate. The National Assembly, which is their parliament, needs to approve any contracts in the oil sector, and there is no national assembly anymore because there haven't been free and fair elections.

So, overall, the only way to make sure that American oil companies can really have a safe place in Venezuela and invest what they need to is to make sure that we do see a transition to democratic actors who have promised the privatization that's necessary for them to feel secure in their investments.

[17:40:10]

DEAN: And so, to that point, I think a big question here is, just generally, what comes next in Venezuela? The president has said that, you know, we will be running Venezuela. Marco Rubio has said, you know, from a policy perspective, but the -- but the bottom line is a hand in what happens next in Venezuela.

So, where do you see this going? What might that effectively look like moving forward? FILIPETTI: I think what we can glean from Secretary Rubio's remarks about this three-phase plan, so, stabilization, recovery, and then transition.

The stabilization seems to be the United States putting demands on Delcy Rodriguez and the remaining members of the Maduro regime to do certain things. He spoke specifically about pushing China, Russia, and Iran out of Venezuela, making it safe for American oil companies, and ending narcotics trafficking and weaponized immigration.

But as we mentioned earlier, it's really important that they also start insisting on some of the democratic reforms, because even though short-term stability may be necessary in order to have free and fair elections, those free and fair elections are really necessary for the long-term stability that President Trump says that he's interested in.

DEAN: And so, how likely do you think that they can get all of those things done?

FILIPETTI: Well, it's really going to depend. The Maduro regime, yes, Delcy Rodriguez is there, and it seems like right now, she is doing a few things to try to appease the president of the United States. But she is not the only actor there. We still have Diosdado Cabello, who essentially controls the security forces and Colectivos. We have Padrino Lopez, who is very close to the Russians, who controls the armed forces.

So, each of them have a -- have a significant influence as chaos agents to potentially turn things around and make things worse. And so, this is why, right now, we need to see steps being made towards those democratic reforms.

Right now, they suggested that they were going to release political prisoners. Well, there is nearly thousand political prisoners in Venezuela, they only released somewhere between 10 to 18 of them, and they have been barred from speaking or engaging in political activities.

Their charges are still against them. So, at the end of the day, this was an effort to try to appease the administration, but not really doing anything to move towards democracy. So, whether we achieve America's objectives inside Venezuela for our own security really depends on whether we empower the democratic actors.

It is good news that Maria Corina Machado, it's being reported, is going to be meeting with President Trump, and I hope that will be a step more in the direction of pushing for those democratic reforms, in addition to some of these other security-related reforms.

DEAN: All right. Carrie Filipetti, thank you so much. We appreciate your time.

FILIPETTI: Thank you.

DEAN: Still to come, the Trump administration rolling out new dietary guidelines, prioritizing protein and healthy fact. We are going to talk about this new food pyramid with a registered dietitian here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[17:47:24]

DEAN: Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., this week, unveiled new dietary guidelines for Americans, echoing past advice with some notable changes. The inverted food pyramid places a higher emphasis on protein and full fat dairy, while advising people to avoid sugar and highly processed foods.

We are now joined by registered dietitian Carrie Glassman. Carrie, good to see you. Thank you.

Meat, cheese, vegetables, now the broadest, biggest category. The American Heart Association agreed with the need for Americans to eat more vegetables. They are a little worried, though, that promoting meat consumption could lead to more cardiovascular disease. What do you think about these new recommendations?

CARRIE GLASSMAN, FOUNDER, NUTRITIOUS LIFE: So, I think overall, the recommendations are a really great step in the right direction. They are not perfect by any means. No guidelines ever are, but they really are taking us in a great direction, and that is because, first and foremost, they are recommending whole, nutrient dense foods, and they are calling for in the most dramatic way they ever have a much more dramatic reduction in ultra processed foods. And that overall, I think, is going to be helpful for many Americans.

As far as what you were just asking about, as far as red meat goes, I do love that these recommendations do promote more protein. They increase the recommended amount of protein, and they place a greater emphasis on protein at each meal, which I think is incredibly important for satiety, for helping us eat less, also for our overall metabolic health and preventing muscle loss as we age. So, I think that's really important.

I do think, however, they did not place a great enough emphasis on lean meats and also incorporating more plant protein. Did you mention plant protein, but not necessarily enough.

DEAN: There is also this around the dairy products. The previous guidelines recommended fat free, low fat dairy products. I, you know, grew up in the time when skim milk was obviously all the rage and what you were supposed to drink.

GLASSMAN: It's true (PH).

DEAN: But now -- yes, now, full fat is in, according to this. What's the evidence behind this? What's driving that shift?

GLASSMAN: So, there has been evidence showing that full fat, plain dairy products. So, unsweetened products are not any worse for you than these low fat or fat free products, and that is because when they are, when there are in their more natural form, and they are less processed, and they don't have that added sugar or other unhealthy chemicals, they are not any worse for you.

[17:50:01]

Now, with that said, there are some people that are more prone and have their genetics put them at greater risk for heart disease, and those people may, you know, full fat dairy may not be as appropriate for them. But in general, I have no problem with full fat unsweetened dairy products.

DEAN: I think, yes, I feel like emphasis on unsweetened there.

Carrie Glassman, thank you so much for walking us through it. We really appreciate it.

GLASSMAN: You are welcome.

DEAN: All right. Still to come, NASA is racing to return four astronauts to Earth after one experienced a medical issue. We are going to look inside this return mission. You are in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[17:55:09]

DEAN: NASA says four astronauts aboard the International Space Station will return to Earth next week. This, after a medical issue experienced by one of the astronauts cutting short the crews -- Crew- 11th mission. And CNN's Tom Foreman has more for us. Tom.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, Jessica. This is really quite unusual for a space crew to be brought back a full month early from the International Space Station.

Crew 11 arrived at the space station in early August on a Dragon capsule made by SpaceX. They were up there to do their work, and they have been doing their work all along.

The first we knew of a problem was some days ago when a spacewalk was canceled and we were told there was a health issue.

Who is involved? What's the issue? We don't know. We know who the crew is. There is a Russian cosmonaut, there is a Japanese astronaut, and there are two Americans, Zena Cardman, the commander, and Mike Fincke, who is the pilot.

So, because NASA is calling it back, it might involve the Americans, but we just don't really know.

What we are told right now is that whoever this person is involved, that this person is in stable condition. But you have to bear in mind that anything that can go wrong on Earth can go wrong up there. You can have a toothache, you might have a blood clot, you might have a broken bone. There are all sorts of things that could happen in space, and a lot of astronauts go to space, and they struggle with motion sickness and things like that, just because of the oddity of the environment. We don't know. We know that in 2024, a whole crew came back and was taken to the hospital. One staying longer than the others, but they very much guard the privacy of the astronauts, and say, look, the goal here is to find out what went wrong, how we can be better prepared to deal with in the future, not to talk about specifically who was involved.

So, we know the person is stable. We know they are coming back early. We'll have a lot more to find out down the road. Jessica?

DEAN: We certainly do. Tom Foreman, with the latest. Thanks for that.

We continue to follow this developing story as protests are happening in dozens of cities across the country, days after a fatal shooting by an ICE agent in Minneapolis. We are going to take you in Minneapolis when we come back in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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