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Protests Erupt In Minneapolis Over Deadly ICE Shooting; New Video Shows ICE Agent's Point Of View In Deadly Minneapolis Shooting; Trump Pushes For U.S. Acquisition Of Greenland; Interview With Rep. Ami Bera (D-CA); Dozens Reported Killed During Nationwide Iran Protests; Trump Warns Iran Against Using Violence Amid Protests; Maduro Is Gone But Tensions Remain Between U.S. & Venezuela; U.S. Economy Added 50,000 Jobs In December; Flu Cases, Hospitalizations Rise In Record-Breaking Season; New Strain of Flu Adding To Increase In Cases Nationwide. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired January 10, 2026 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:01:21]

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

Hi, everyone. I am Jessica Dean here in New York.

We begin this hour with the latest out of Minneapolis where protests are underway in response to the deadly shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent Wednesday. This crowd you see here voicing its outrage and calling for accountability from the federal government, this protest happening as protests are underway across the nation with growing distrust stemming from how federal authorities immediately placed blame on the woman who was killed. More than a thousand protests are planned for this weekend all across the U.S.

CNN's Omar Jimenez is joining us now from there in Minneapolis. Omar, you've been there throughout the day over the last couple of days. Tell us where you are, what you've been seeing.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so we are at the site of the memorial right now for Renee Good just days after she was shot and killed here. I mean, just behind me is where the car crashed after Good had been shot and you can see how much this makeshift memorial has really grown over the past few days, and it has really been emblematic of a few things.

One, of course, the pain that many in this community are feeling. She lived just a few blocks from here, but also it has been the site of a lot of protests over just the presence of federal immigration enforcement in the city that even predates this shooting. A lot of those feelings had been here for quite some time.

Now, I can tell you today, we have been tracking a number of protests. We are here at the memorial site now, but miles from here, we are outside of a federal building that has also been the epicenter of some of the most contentious protests, because what typically happens there is federal agents will come out and sort of form a line around the edge of the property there and they are in the face of protesters who will show up and protesters, of course, are shouting things the entire time. There are times when vehicles pull out of that federal facility, and they believe there may be agents inside, so they throw snowballs there, and that prompts the agents to come out and sometimes take people down or use crowd repellent, things like that, so that's another dynamic we've been watching.

And then over the course of today, I mean, there were hundreds if not thousands that were marching throughout the city of Minneapolis today over some of those same feelings in honor of Renee Good, but also against the presence of federal immigration enforcement.

And then finally last night, and it may be a precursor of what comes tonight, is we saw a lot of protests in Downtown Minneapolis. What was happening there was they were targeting hotels where they believed federal immigration enforcement may have been staying. And one of the things that we thought was interesting was we actually didn't see much local law enforcement there in the presence of those protests for a while and then all of a sudden, they showed up all at once, local police, state police.

And I want you to listen to the Police Chief on how he described their response. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF BRIAN O'HARA, MINNEAPOLIS POLICE: This, what you saw last night was a disciplined and restrained response. I think it was highly professional, and I am thankful for the members of the community who understand our need to keep things peaceful and I am thankful for those officials and others that are continuing to call for peaceful protest and assembly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JIMENEZ: And that was something we saw, that there was not some -- as contentious as it was with some of the federal agents, we did not see that with some of the state and local law enforcement, though in the end, 29 people were arrested as the Chief relayed to reporters and at least one officer was injured because of a snowball, but ICE that essentially injured one of the officers as well.

And so we are going to be watching to see if that returns to Downtown Minneapolis tonight.

[18:05:10]

But that's really the range of protests we have seen here in Minneapolis, even days after the killing of Renee Good here.

DEAN: All right, Omar Jimenez with the latest reporting. Thank you so much.

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

Our Kyung Lah has more on this.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OFFICER: Out of the car --

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL 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 is 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' own phone.

CNN synced multiple perspectives of the shooting and mapped this incident in 3-D space. Taken together, they show the fullest picture yet of what happened that day.

A home surveillance camera captures the 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 is how Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem described what Good did.

KRISTI NOEM, U.S. HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: 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: 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: I said 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 approach. One tries to open the door as Good backs up.

Good's vehicle starts moving. From Ross' 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.

OFFICER: Get out of the car.

BECCA 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.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Shame! Oh my (bleep) God! What the (bleep)!

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 FEMALE: Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame! Shame!

OFFICER: Hey, call 911.

LAH (on camera): What we cannot see in Ross' 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 still supports the agency's position, releasing this statement, "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)

DEAN: All right, Kyung, thank you so much.

And former Assistant Director of the FBI Counterintelligence Division, Frank Figliuzzi joins us now to discuss. He was in the FBI for 25 years, was also the chief inspector overseeing all FBI agent involved shootings.

So, Frank, you have a long history looking into these types of incidents. I am curious, we just heard from my colleague there, Kyung, walking through this video.

When you watch that video, that analysis, what are your thoughts on what we've seen so far of this incident? FRANK FIGLIUZZI, FORMER ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF THE FBI COUNTERINTELLIGENCE DIVISION: Yes, look, as you said, I've investigated for a period of my career all FBI agent involved shootings, and I see here the need for a full, credible, thorough investigation. Why?

[18:10:10]

Because despite what we've just heard from the federal government, as your reporter just played, it is not a done deal that this was a legitimate threat, an imminent threat for loss of life or serious bodily harm. In fact, many Americans are adamant right now that they don't see that imminent threat to life.

And so when we are all looking at the federal government for leadership, we've got an environment where now an investigation has to be conducted, where the President, the Vice President, Secretary Noem have already seemingly declared their conclusion and the prevalence of cameras and videos, even by the agent himself, who was recording while shooting, has led Americans to be really tuned in to this and demanding some answers.

DEAN: And you're kind of getting at this, but just to underscore, just how typical or atypical it is for the federal government to say this agent is in the clear and absolved from any blame without this full investigation having been completed and in fact, you know, Kristi Noem, for example, saying that quite quickly in just moments after this had happened.

FIGLIUZZI: Twenty-five years in the bureau, I've never seen federal officials come out and say before any investigation has even started that we know what happened, and it is a good shoot. I've never seen that happen.

And similarly, Jessica, I've never seen the FBI say to a state, county, local police department, get out, we are doing this all by ourselves, and we are not even sharing our evidence with you. That is not typical.

DEAN: I am also curious, from your years of experience, in 25 years of doing this, we now know that this ICE officer, in June of last year months before, obviously this happened, before he shot Renee Good, that this officer had his arm pinned in the back window of a car as a suspect drove away from a traffic stop and dragged him about a hundred yards, causing injuries to his arm and hand.

What does that -- how does that play in to this investigation and the state of mind? Again, these things happen. You have to make split second decisions knowing that this is recent history for this officer.

FIGLIUZZI: This is a great question because the decision on whether a shooting was a legitimate use of deadly force or not hinges largely on the subjective perspective of that agent who shot and whether or not he had a reasonable -- keyword -- reasonable belief that he was in imminent threat of loss of life or serious bodily harm. So when you're dealing with an agent who has just gone through a serious incident where he was injured, I heard something about 30 or more stitches required, that does color his perspective, right?

Now, you could say it colors it in a negative way because he might be more quick to say, I am in danger of getting hurt again, where another person without that previous incident might say, I feel perfectly fine stepping to the side here. I am not in danger. That is going to be included in the FBI's shooting inquiry.

DEAN: Yes, and so they will prove -- that will be -- that will play a role in this analysis, is what you're saying. So how might they factor that in?

FIGLIUZZI: Well, it could be -- you know, it could be a mitigating factor or it could be an aggravating factor that he misunderstood the threat because of his prior recent experience. They could even look at whether he received counseling, whether he had time off, whether he should have been back on the street having already been through this.

That's all going to get looked at, if indeed it is a thorough investigation.

DEAN: And so, that's my final question to you. How much faith do you have in this investigation being a full and fair investigation, knowing what you've laid out, how different this is being put together?

FIGLIUZZI: So having myself led these teams on the ground for shootings, I can't imagine working in an environment where the President of the United States has said in an oil executive meeting yesterday, we are always going to back DHS and ICE agents. The Vice President has said something similar. Secretary Noem has said something similar, and now I am tasked with conducting that thorough, objective investigation.

My concern is not with the rank and file agents that are going to conduct that, but rather where that report draft goes after that and who may look at it, who may edit it, who may change it.

DEAN: Those are critical questions.

All right, Frank, thank you so much. We appreciate your time.

FIGLIUZZI: Any time.

DEAN: And still ahead, the U.S. will take Greenland, "the hard way" if it can't do it "the easy way." President Trump's new message as he doubles down on his threat to control the Danish territory.

Plus, disappointing new jobs data shows that 2025 was the worst year for hiring in more than 20 years.

And we are now dealing with the worst flu season in decades. We are told it hasn't even peaked yet. We've got the warning from health experts. (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:19:08]

DEAN: President Trump isn't letting up on his goal for the United States to acquire Greenland, telling reporters this on Friday.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: 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 are not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor, okay?

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 are going to do it the hard way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Greenland continues to insist it is not for sale. Earlier this week, sources telling CNN, top Washington based diplomats for Greenland and Denmark met with White House officials. Trump's push for the Danish territory sets up a potential conflict with one of the founding members of NATO.

Let's bring in CNN's Julia Benbrook who joins us now with more on this.

Julia, there are a lot of questions about where this administration might go on this issue.

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A lot of questions and a lot of concerns.

[18:20:10]

There are concerns coming from within President Donald Trump's own party on this. In fact, CNN spoke with several Republican lawmakers on the Hill last week, and one Republican Congressman told us that this is just simply not a realistic scenario. House Speaker Mike Johnson was pressed on it during a news conference as well, and he downplayed the administration's recent comments.

Now, I will note that his comments came before that clip that you just played there. But he acknowledged the importance of Greenland, both the geopolitical and strategic importance, and said that he believes the administration would be looking at diplomatic channels. He said that he does not believe that military force there is even really a possibility.

Trump, though, has not ruled out that possibility and White House officials have been discussing different ways that the United States could eventually have control of Greenland.

Trump says that he believes that the United States does not have control, that China or Russia would take control of the territory. And as you heard him say there, he said that he would like to acquire it the easy way, but is not against taking control the hard way.

Now, Greenland's party leaders, including the opposition, they released a joint statement on this and made their stance very clear. I want to read you part of it. They said: "We do not want to be Americans. We do not want to be Danes. We want to be Greenlanders and the future of Greenland must be decided the Greenlandic people."

It remains unclear how other members of NATO would respond if the United States decided to use force as they try and gain control of Greenland, but many leaders have warned that it would have major consequences for the military alliance and in fact, several leaders of those member countries have released a statement saying that Greenland belongs to its people -- Jessica.

DEAN: All right, Julia Benbrook for us, traveling with the President in West Palm Beach, Florida, thank you so much.

Meantime, CNN's Nic Robertson is on the ground in Greenland. He has the latest on what people there are saying about the President's comments -- Nic.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: It is hard to imagine this remote, tranquil Arctic wilderness is at the heart of a geopolitical crisis that is pitting the United States against its NATO allies and threatens to upend decades of global security.

People here in Greenland are worried about what President Trump is saying. The latest things that he is saying is he can either have Greenland the easy way or the hard way, and what it is the people of Greenland treasure most? It is the tranquility. It is the closeness to nature. It is their culture here. Their right to go hunting, to go fishing, and they are worried that if the United States takes control of Greenland, all of that changes, plunging the world's 12th largest country, a population of only 57,000 people, into uncertainty.

And now speaking to someone here just a little earlier, and he said to me, look, what can we do if President Trump wants to take this country by force? We don't have a choice.

So people are really concerned at this moment.

Nic Robertson, CNN on Nuuk Fjord, Greenland.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

DEAN: All right, thanks to our Nic Robertson there.

And we are joined now by Democratic Congressman Ami Bera from California. He serves on the House Foreign Affairs and Intelligence Committees.

Congressman, thank you so much for your time tonight. We sure do appreciate it. And I do want to start there on Greenland, which I think for a long time kind of seemed like this far-fetched idea that no one really ever thought would happen. Now it is becoming increasingly talked about.

The President is saying its either going to come the hard way or the easy way. Some Republicans, though, even voicing concerns about any sort of plan to take Greenland.

When you talk to your colleagues and obviously are looking around, what is the consensus right now and is there support in Congress to push back on any sort of action that the President might want to take?

REP. AMI BERA (D-CA): Well, Jessica, thanks for having me on.

You know, what was just kind of side conversation a year ago? I think we've got to take the President seriously, and I do think Democrats and Republicans need to come together.

Denmark is a NATO ally. Greenland is a place that we already have an Air Force Base and when I've talked to the representative from Greenland or the Danish Ambassador, they are more than willing to enter into security conversations so we can establish more security there.

[18:25:03]

Russia and China are not going to take over Greenland, whatever Donald Trump thinks, that is an Article V violation, which would take us all to war with Russia or China. So I hope my Republican colleagues, you know, we saw the Senate, five Republicans break in support the War Powers Resolution.

And again, Greenland is not a threat to the United States. You know, they are more than happy to have us establish a security agreement there.

DEAN: I also want to ask you about Iran and what we are seeing coming out of Iran tonight and that has grown in the last couple of weeks. The President posting a message of solidarity with these protestors earlier today and he added at the end of his post that the U.S. stands ready to help.

So first, I want to get your thoughts on these protests and where you think they might be headed. And then I want to get your thoughts on what ready to help might be and what you think it should be.

BERA: Yes, I think these protests are very real. There were protests that occurred under President Obama. I don't know that we were as forthright in supporting the protesters. I actually think it is really good that we are doing this right now, and I will support the President for saying that we are ready to help.

It sends the right signal to the protesters. I don't think that's military intervention, but it is sending signals.

This is very real, you know, the drought in Iran is incredibly severe. The economic situation, the monetary situation is severe. And we will see what happens next. DEAN: Yes, and it was interesting. I had AXIOS reporter, Barak Ravid on in the last hour. He was saying that in his reporting, one anecdote he had come across was that he was talking with people who said with officials that said, when the President posts something like this, that it really does add fuel to the protesters there in Iran.

And it sounds like you are supportive of the President encouraging them and saying that he will be supportive.

BERA: I am supportive to stand with the people of Iran. They've been oppressed. You know, you've seen the economic situation. This was once a very lively, educated population, still an educated population, but it should be doing much better. Again, I don't want us to get entangled in a war in the Middle East, but I do want to support the people of Iran who are looking for a better life.

DEAN: Yes, and in 2022, during the Women's Rights protest, the U.N. estimated more than 500 people were killed. In these protests, a U.S. based human rights group says so far, at least 78 have been killed. Knowing all of that, what kind of intervention would you support? Do you think your other Democratic colleagues might support?

BERA: So thus far, the President of Iran has been talking about the plight of the people of Iran, the fact that, yes, there are real economic issues and so forth. But obviously, we know that Revolutionary Guard, the Ayatollah, control the real power.

I think sending signals that we support the people of Iran. You know, again, we've got other mechanisms by which to support them. But again, sending those right signals, and if there is a right time for us to provide some support, we will -- we should discuss that in Congress.

DEAN: I do want to ask you about Venezuela also before we let you go. You, like many in Congress criticize the administration for not briefing congressional members before taking action.

Where are you today? We are a week later from all of this happening. Do you feel like you have appropriate information at this point?

BERA: You know, not as much as I would like. Again, we are where we are. So I am hopeful that the rosy picture that the president paints of a stable Venezuela with a thriving oil industry is a good one. You know, it has been relatively calm in Venezuela, but if the President, as he states, intends to stay there for a long time, they've got to come to Congress because they're going to ask us for support. They're going to ask us for funding. It is better done with the support of the United States Congress.

DEAN: And do you think that that is a reasonable expectation that you all will have more of a hand in anything moving forward?

BERA: I mean, one, I think it is still a rosy picture. They're overly optimistic. Even in their own war games, it suggests if you remove Maduro, you would end up with chaos. Again, I hope I am wrong. I hope there is stability and the Venezuelan people thrive. I am not optimistic that the President will show up in Congress, but I hope, you know, you're seeing some polls coming out of the Senate with Republicans. I would hope that we start to exert our Article I authorities as the first branch of the United States government.

DEAN: All right, Congressman Ami Bera, we really do appreciate your time tonight. Thank you.

BERA: Thanks, Jessica. Be well.

DEAN: Thank you.

Still ahead, he sat down with his colleagues with the President for a wide ranging, exclusive interview. And after the break, David Sanger of "The New York Times" joins us to talk about which part of the President's plans stood out to him.

You're in CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:34:38]

DEAN: Tonight, protests against the Iranian regime are intensifying. A U.S.-based human rights group estimating at least 75 people have been killed in connection with the demonstrations over the past two weeks. That group also reporting more than 2,500 people have been arrested.

Now, CNN cannot independently verify these numbers. President Trump is warning Iranian leaders against using violence. Today, sending this message of support saying the U.S. stands ready to help.

[18:35:05]

And we are joined now by CNN Political and National Security Analyst and New York Times correspondent David Sanger.

David, thank you so much for being here with us.

You have a great perspective on the President's thinking right now after you sat down with him for this long and wide-ranging interview this week. Knowing all of that, what is your sense of how far he's willing to go in support of these protesters in Iran and his thinking around that issue?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: Well, thanks for having me on, Jessica. It was a really fascinating interview, which I did with three of my colleagues. And I think we were in the Oval Office for a little under two hours and then had some additional conversations with him as he showed us around some of his building projects along the way.

You know, on Iran, he's extremely proud of the strike that he did against the nuclear sites. In fact, he keeps a model of the B-2 bombers that were used on those -- on his desk right next to a bust of -- of Abraham Lincoln. But I think there's a -- a recognition that he didn't articulate this with any depth, that helping the protesters is a very different kind of thing than trying to take care of burying uranium at the three sites.

It's not clear to me what it is he would strike. We think the administration is looking at some traditional military targets. But striking IRGC bases, the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, isn't going to have much of an effect out here on the streets. What might is getting them more Internet connectivity through Starlink and -- and similar technologies.

DEAN: And again, just kind of drawing on your time with him and where he is right now after Venezuela and Maduro, what -- where is his thinking in terms of how inclined he is to intervene in some of these things? Did that shift? Is he feeling emboldened in any way?

SANGER: You know, I think in the first term, people made the mistake of thinking, Erica -- thinking, Jessica, that -- that he was an isolationist, and I don't think he is. I think what he is, is an interventionist, a unilateralist. And, you know, his national security strategy laid out a -- a reason that he would go in and defend or defend American interests in the Western Hemisphere.

But his interests in Iran, apart from the nuclear program, are pretty distant. They don't really reach us. And so, there's nothing in the theory of the -- the Trump case about why you would send in forces. I think he's very reluctant to put people on the ground. And I think that -- that you're going to see that if he does anything, it will be sort of long-range fires, similar to what they attempted with the nuclear program.

DEAN: Yeah. In Venezuela, the President meeting with those American oil executives yesterday who seemed pretty skeptical of investing at this moment in time in the current environment, how is the President thinking about that? Do you think he read that as a setback or that it would shift kind of how they want to move forward in Venezuela?

SANGER: Now, we saw him before he met the oil executives. I was struck in that meeting by how many of them wanted to sound supportive, but also noncommittal.

DEAN: Yes.

SANGER: And when the CEO of Exxon said that Venezuela is uninvestable right now and noted that twice they had had their facilities there expropriated, they had to write them down. They had billions of dollars in losses. They've gone to court, but haven't been able to recover it. You know, Donald Trump is thinking about the investment he can get in now in the next three years of his presidency.

The people you saw arrayed around the table were thinking, if we put billions of dollars in, it's got to be with the confidence that we can get that out over a period of 20 or 30 years and make a profit. And the President hasn't offered them a reason to believe that yet. And I think the President would run into some trouble in Congress if he tried to guarantee this with taxpayer dollars. DEAN: And just generally for people out there watching, we're now a

little bit almost a year into the President's second term. How would you -- what do you -- what kind of struck you about sitting with him, both as someone who's -- who's covered him now for many years and in both --

SANGER: Yes.

DEAN: -- administrations, but also about where we may be headed because of where he seems to be headed?

[18:40:00]

SANGER: Well, Jessica, that's a great question. I -- I had a couple of observations. First of all, he is more and more engaged in foreign policy, as many presidents are in their second term, because he realizes that he's got much more leeway that way. You know, at -- at home, he's got to deal with the courts, with state politics, with Congress, he's worried about the next, you know, midterm elections. Foreign policy, he feels like he's got a freer hand.

Second, I think he feels emboldened by the success, first of the Iran strike and then of the effort to get Maduro out, which was, you know, pretty brilliantly executed by the special operators. But when I asked him if he had studied previous occupations, Japan in 1945, Iraq in 2003, he answered me by discussing moments where the U.S. moved in to try to extract or rescue people. But he didn't really say very much about what he had learned about how you would actually run a country, particularly if you're doing it from afar. So, I think that part is -- is a significant vulnerability for him in coming years.

DEAN: That's very interesting. All right, David Sanger, thanks for being with us. Great perspective. We appreciate it.

SANGER: Thanks, Jessica.

DEAN: After the break, President Trump wants you to pay less on your credit card balances.

Plus, we're going to break down the new jobs numbers and the concerning picture it paints for the economy. That's when we come back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:45:54]

DEAN: President Trump is proposing a one-year 10 percent cap on interest rates for credit cards, saying the American public is being ripped off, in a Truth Social post. It's unclear how the plan would work. It comes as the President is trying to persuade Americans that he's making headway on affordability. And according to CNN's most recent poll, 61 percent of Americans believe the economy is worse off since he returned to office.

And taking a look at the latest jobs data, hiring slowed more than expected in December, with the U.S. adding just 50,000 jobs, a sluggish end to one of the weakest years in jobs growth in years. Still, unemployment edged slightly lower to 4.4 percent. And Matt Egan explains the numbers for us. Matt?

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: The latest report confirms that the job market remains in a fragile place, and that 2025 was a lousy year for job growth. It ended on kind of a mixed note. The good news is that the unemployment rate unexpectedly dropped in December to 4.4 percent. The bad news, however, is that job growth remains very soft, with a weaker-than-expected 50,000 jobs added last month. And when you look at the trend, you can see how job growth has really slowed down this year.

In fact, there were three months over the last seven where the economy lost jobs. And in particular, October was revised sharply lower to show the economy lost 173,000 jobs. Of course, some of that was driven by the government shutdown, and also the fact that a lot of federal workers who took buyouts, they came off the federal payrolls. But still, this is the worst month for the job market since late 2020.

And when you zoom out and you look at the year in total, the economy added a little less than 600,000 jobs in 2025. Might sound like a lot, but that's down from about 2 million in 2024. In fact, if you exclude recessions, this was the worst year of job growth for the United States since 2003, when George W. Bush was in the White House.

And when things are going well in the job market, you want to see broad-based job growth. But that's just not happening. In fact, virtually all of the job gains last year came from one sector. That's private education and health services and, really, that's all-health care and the demand that's being driven by America's aging demographics.

If you took this sector away, the U.S. economy would have lost jobs last year. And some of the very economically sensitive parts of the economy. They're losing jobs, including transportation and warehousing. Manufacturing has lost jobs eight months in a row. And so, look, bottom line -- job market, it's not imploding right now, but it's clearly not firing at all cylinders. Back to you.

DEAN: All right, Matt, thanks so much for that.

And still ahead here, flu activity continues to climb as vaccine rates decline. The new warning from health experts about the worst flu season in decades. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[18:53:22]

DEAN: Flu cases and hospitalizations are rising at a record pace. The CDC says about 40,000 people were hospitalized in the week ending January 3rd. Now, that is a 10 percent increase from the week before and the CDC says things probably haven't peaked yet. Meg Tirrell has more. Meg. 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.

Forty-four 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.

[18:55:07]

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.

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.

DEAN: All right. Meg Tirrell with some good tips there, thank you.

Coming up in our next hour, a violent crackdown on protesters in Iran as President Trump, again, warns Iranian leaders the U.S. is watching and may step in. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

And tomorrow on CNN, what's next for Venezuela and for its ousted President Nicolas Maduro. David Culver reports on the whole story with Anderson Cooper, Inside The Raid: Venezuela's Future. That's tomorrow night at 8 Eastern Pacific on CNN and the next day on the CNN app.

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