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ICE Agent's Cell Phone Captures Deadly Shooting; Unrest in Iran; U.S. Seizes Sanctioned Oil Tanker in Caribbean; U.S. Diplomats Visit Venezuela to Assess Reopening Embassy; Greenlanders Say Trump's Threats Worry Them; 2025 Worst Year of Job Growth for U.S.; Nikki Glaser to Host Golden Globes. Aired 4-5a ET
Aired January 10, 2026 - 04:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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BEN HUNTE, CNN ANCHOR (voice-over): Hello. Wherever you are in the world, you are now in the CNN NEWSROOM with me, Ben Hunte, in Atlanta. And it is so good to have you with me.
Coming up on the show, frustration intensifies over an ICE agent shooting and killing a woman in Minneapolis. What new video of the deadly incident tells us about how it all unfolded.
President Donald Trump has a warning for the Iranian regime: shoot at protesters and the U.S. will shoot back. We'll bring you a live report on that.
Plus, the latest on tensions seeming to ease between the U.S. and Venezuela as Trump makes his pitch to big oil executives.
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Ben Hunte.
HUNTE: Welcome.
We are expecting to see more than 1,000 protests against ICE across the U.S. this weekend after two separate shootings involving federal agents. Demonstrations in Minneapolis entered the third straight night. Protesters there are calling for justice for 37-year-old mother, Renee Good, who was shot and killed by an ICE agent.
Police declared an unlawful assembly and made arrests late on Friday. The move came after it appeared that some protesters had breached the doors of a hotel, which they believe is housing federal agents.
The crowd of protesters, who had been banging pots and pans, playing musical instruments and chanting slogans, began to thin as officers showed up.
All of this comes as newly released video, taken by the ICE agent with his cell phone, shows a pivotal moment surrounding the shooting. And a quick warning: some of this content is very graphic. CNN's Kyung Lah has more.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Out of the car.
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: 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 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 3D space. Taken together, they show the fullest picture yet of what happened that day. A home surveillance camera captures a moment.
Renee Good pulls up in a maroon-colored Honda SUV. Four minutes before the shooting. 20s 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.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
KRISTI NOEM, 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.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's fine. 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.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You should 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.
Goods 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.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get out of the car.
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: Oh, my God, what the (INAUDIBLE).
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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.
LAH: And 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 still says it supports the agency's position, releasing this statement saying, 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)
HUNTE: CNN chief law enforcement and intelligence analyst John Miller weighed in earlier on the newly released video. He explains why this new footage is an important piece of the investigation.
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JOHN MILLER, CNN CHIEF LAW ENFORCEMENT AND INTELLIGENCE ANALYST: We're seeing it as close as were going to get absent a body camera from the shooting officer's point of view. And first we see a very low tension situation. There's not a lot of
danger signs there but as he comes around the car, you see two important moments. One, as the car comes out of reverse and goes into drive, he unholsters his weapon. He's still got his phone in the other hand.
The second thing we get out of the video is from not the video, because at some point we lose the video but from the sound and from the groan that comes with that sound, it does sound like he makes contact with the car, that there is an impact and those shots happened within that same time.
A lot of this is simultaneously, you have to kind of separate those sounds.
And the third question is one of tactics, which is, as the car is starting to back up, why is he unholstering his weapon when it goes into drive as opposed to the tactics that are -- the preferred tactics and is written everywhere and everybody's policy is move out of the way of the car.
By unholstering and standing in that position, the argument will be that he was escalating the situation and limiting his choices, as opposed to moving back and increasing his choices.
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HUNTE: OK, let's bring in Nima Rahmani, a former federal prosecutor and president of West Coast Trial Lawyers. But right now, he is actually in Miami.
Thank you so much for joining us.
How are you doing?
NIMA RAHMANI, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR; PRESIDENT, WEST COAST TRIAL LAWYERS: Of course, Ben, thanks for having me, as always.
HUNTE: It's good to see you. Let's get into this.
From a legal perspective, does an ICE agent filming on his phone while holding a firearm undermine any claims that his actions were potentially unreasonable?
RAHMANI: It does and that's one of the biggest takeaways. The fact that you have this ICE agent using his cell phone to record this interaction is not only unreasonable, it's not protocol.
And the fact that he has a weapon in his other hand, it is a big problem. This video does not help the ICE agent or the government's position that he acted in self-defense.
HUNTE: We have seen a lot of arguing online about whether the ICE agent placed himself in front of the vehicle.
If an agent does place himself in front of a vehicle, can he legally claim self-defense when some would argue that his danger was caused by his own positioning?
RAHMANI: He can. But again, it's not typical. You see, the agent in this case circle the vehicle not once but twice and place himself in front of a vehicle.
We've all been pulled over and we all know that police officers and federal agents, they don't place themselves in front of a vehicle. That was unreasonable.
It also appears that he seems and the agent seemed to be agitated not by Rebecca Good, who seems to be calm and friendly -- maybe she was mocking them -- but by Good's wife. And that's why they asked her to get out of the vehicle.
That's a problem for the case as well, because it seems to be a case more about agitation than self-defense.
HUNTE: How much does officer provocation or agitation matter when evaluating the legality of deadly force?
RAHMANI: It matters a lot, especially in this case. I think probably one of the most damning pieces of evidence is the expletive that seems to be uttered after Renee Good was shot.
That seems to indicate that this was about revenge or anger, rather than any real self-defense. Again, this is a problem and probably the best evidence we've seen so far. Obviously, I would like to see the body cam video.
But the fact that we even have this cell phone video and we have an ICE agent shooting not once but twice, three times and then uttering an expletive afterwards, that's a problem for any defense in this case, whether it's a civil or criminal case.
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HUNTE: One thing that really shocked me in the new video that was released was the swearing. It was quite aggressive by the agent.
Does the agent's conduct after the shooting, including the personal insults, which he did say, factor into whether this was self-defense or retaliation?
RAHMANI: It absolutely does. You're trying to get into the agent's state of mind.
What did he believe?
And we know it's an objective standard and he has to be reasonable. But the fact that you have an agent shooting someone and killing them and then uttering an expletive, that's a problem.
Maybe the government will argue that he's saying that because he was hit by the vehicle but that is not how we want our agents to act. They're supposed to de-escalate, not escalate the situation. And for everyone who's saying that she was obstructing, she assaulted
the officer or agent, well, that's a reason to potentially arrest her, not kill her. So they're conflating two important legal issues.
HUNTE: The Trump administration is very clear on where it stands but we are seeing so much backlash at the moment.
What do you think are the realistic chances of criminal charges here and how often are federal agents actually prosecuted?
RAHMANI: I think the chances of criminal prosecution is actually high; not at the federal level, there is no way that Pam Bondi and the Department of Justice is going to prosecute this agent.
When you have the president of the United States, the vice president, the secretary of Homeland Security defending this action, you can guarantee that there's not going to be a federal prosecution.
But the state is its own dual sovereign and they can move forward with criminal charges regardless of what the Feds decide. And I think in this case, I wouldn't be surprised if Attorney General Ellison there in Minnesota decides to file either manslaughter or murder charges.
They can do so even though the Feds declined prosecution or don't cooperate in the case.
HUNTE: OK. Learned a lot from that. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Nima Rahmani, thank you
RAHMANI: Of course. Thanks for having me, as always.
HUNTE: Let's keep going. Oregon state authorities and the FBI are both investigating the Border Patrol shooting that wounded two people in Portland, Oregon. The Portland police chief says the man and woman are in a stable condition and recovering and remain in federal custody.
The shooting happened on Thursday during a targeted vehicle stop. The assistant secretary of Homeland Security says the driver tried to run over a Border Patrol agent and the agent opened fire in self-defense. The incident has renewed questions about the Trump administration's handling of its immigration crackdown in American cities.
Iran is in a near-total internet blackout amid widespread anti- government protests. Authorities cut off communication more than 36 hours ago, raising fears of a brutal crackdown to suppress dissent.
The demonstrations have raged for nearly two weeks in more than 100 cities.
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HUNTE (voice-over): This is footage from the capital, Tehran, where some protesters chanted "long live the shah." They called for an end to the Islamic Republic and the return of the shah's exiled son. Meanwhile, U.S. president Donald Trump issued another stark warning,
threatening to hit Iran where it hurts if it uses violence against protesters. Iran's supreme leader has said that Trump should focus on his own country. For more on what's taking place across Iran, I want to bring in our Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi.
Thank you so much for being with me, Paula. President Trump is weighing in on the protest with a pretty strong warning to Iran's leaders there.
What does that tell us about how the White House is viewing this moment?
PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Ben, he's making it very clear that that he is watching very closely what is happening, this perceived momentum of the protests against, first of all, the economic woes in the country but then widening out to calling for the collapse of the regime.
Now he has mentioned Iran a number of times, saying that they will potentially get involved if they see peaceful protesters being killed. Let's listen to the latest that he has said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: 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)
HANCOCKS: Now we have heard that dozens have been killed from human rights groups within the country. The Norway-based Iran human rights NGO says that hundreds have been injured as well over 2,000 arrested.
So we are seeing an increase in the crackdown from authorities. Now we did hear from the supreme leader as well, in response to president Trump taking such an interest in what is happening.
We did hear on a statement -- in fact, it was a public comment, the first we've seen since these protests started almost two weeks ago from ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
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And he did say that Trump should focus on the problems of his own country. We have been hearing from authorities that they acknowledge there is an issue with the economic woes but they are trying to differentiate what they see as some of these protesters calling them rioters and foreign mercenaries.
But we are seeing the numbers increase. As you say, more than 100 cities across the country are now seeing protests. Every single province in Iran has seen protests over recent days as well. And we're hearing from Reza Pahlavi. This is the oldest son of the
deposed shah of Iran, back in 1979, deposed by the Islamic Revolution.
And he is very publicly calling for more protests, saying he wants today and tomorrow to see more protests, specifying that it should be workers in the key sectors of the economy coming out -- transportation, oil, gas and energy. Let's listen to his very public statement.
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REZA PAHLAVI, ELDEST SON OF SHAH MOHAMMAD REZA PAHLAVI (through translator): And I ask all of you today and tomorrow, Saturday and Sunday, this time starting at 6 pm, 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 Pahlavi has been trying to position himself as an alternative, a credible alternative to the Islamic regime. At this point, it's unclear who in Iran would have seen that message, though, given the fact that there is this internet blackout by authorities, which was first put in place late on Thursday.
And, of course, there are also questions as to how much support he does have and how much support the monarchy does still have within the country. We have been seeing some protests through social media, where there has been chanting, pro-monarchy chanting, saying that they want to see the monarchy back.
This is the last battle. Pahlavi will return. But as I say, unclear how much support he does actually have within the country itself.
What is clear, though, is that these protests are building. The numbers are more significant but the great concern now is with this internet blackout as well.
Will the crackdown become even more brutal than it has been in recent days?
HUNTE: OK, thank you so much for now, Paula. We'll speak to you again in the next hour. Paula Hancocks in Abu Dhabi.
It has been one year since wildfires ravaged parts of Los Angeles. When we come back, a look at the communities that are still grappling with the damage and the strength that's been built in the face of adversity.
Plus, president Trump hosts a meeting with oil executives their concerns about investing in Venezuela next.
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HUNTE: Welcome back.
One year after wildfires wiped out entire neighborhoods in the Los Angeles area, the wounds are still fresh for many residents. The fires rank as two of the three most destructive in California's history, killing 31 people and decimating more than 16,000 structures.
While residents cope with how the fires upended their lives, many of them are still aiming to restore the communities that they love. Here's CNN's Marybel Gonzalez.
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MARYBEL GONZALEZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): From above, the literal scars of California's palisades and fires in 2025 are unmistakable.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The winds that morning strengthened with every passing minute. The pace of the fire quickened until the air was thick with smoke.
GONZALEZ (voice-over): The historic blazes reshaping entire neighborhoods in Altadena and Pacific Palisades.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: As the fire spread, the streets emptied and, one by one, houses burned. Churches and businesses, schools and beloved community landmarks were lost.
GONZALEZ (voice-over): More than 16,000 buildings were collectively destroyed in the fires. A year later, recovery, for some, still seems unattainable.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Recovery doesn't happen on an anniversary timeline. For many families, the road back has been slow, uncertain and deeply frustrating.
GONZALEZ (voice-over): The Los Angeles mayor's office says, to date, over 400 projects are confirmed to have started construction in Pacific Palisades. California state senator Sasha Renee Perez, who represents Altadena, says, while many residents here have broken ground to rebuild, others remain in limbo.
SASHA RENEE PEREZ, CALIFORNIA STATE SENATOR: They're staying with friends. You know, they are having to be more creative and figuring out, you know, how to survive during this time.
GONZALEZ (voice-over): Insurance claims have proven to be a lengthy and sometimes complicated process for some of Perez's constituents. Add to that a pending lawsuit against Southern California Edison, the electrical utility for Los Angeles, for its alleged role in starting the fire. That investigation is ongoing.
PEREZ: I have talked to so many people that have been burning through their savings, burning through their retirement, trying to figure this situation out.
GONZALEZ (voice-over): But what the fires could not destroy, many here say, is their sense of community. This week, Los Angeles-based rock band Dawes organizing a sold out concert to raise funds for Altadena's fire victims.
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GONZALEZ (voice-over): For the band's drummer, Griffin Goldsmith, this is personal. He lost his own home during the fire.
GRIFFIN GOLDSMITH, DRUMMER, DAWES: People move off as they would because there's a lot going on in the world. And -- but for us that were impacted, the reality is that the real work is just beginning.
GONZALEZ (voice-over): The road to rebuilding may be long but Griffin says they are banding together to make sure those affected are helped along the way.
GOLDSMITH: Obviously, it's not going to be the same but I think that we're all just embracing like, oh, this will be something else beautiful because the fact is the people are what make it beautiful.
GONZALEZ (voice-over): In Los Angeles, Maribel Gonzalez reporting.
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HUNTE: Storm Goretti swept through the southern English coast with strong winds on Friday. The brutal weather caused extensive damage, destroying several coastal structures in the town of Folkestone.
Storm Goretti has hurled gale force winds and heavy snow across much of northern Europe for days, closing schools, causing power outages and disrupting travel, too. With the winds over 93mph, it's grounded aircraft and disrupted train services.
"If we don't do it the easy way, we're going to do it the hard way."
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That was Trump pressing for control of Greenland with an intense threat for the Arctic territory. More on that after the break.
And a week after arresting the Venezuelan president, the U.S. sends its diplomats to the South American country. When we come back, the shaky effort for friendlier relations. See you in a moment.
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(MUSIC PLAYING) HUNTE: Welcome back to CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ben Hunte in Atlanta.
Donald Trump emerged from a White House meeting with oil company executives, apparently short of a deal, to invest billions of dollars in Venezuela's oil industry.
Although the president said a deal had "sort of" been formed, his Energy Secretary said the executives showed tremendous interest but made no firm commitments. Trump earlier said oil companies would invest at least $100 billion of their money to build up Venezuela's oil infrastructure but the executives raised a variety of concerns.
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DARREN WOODS, CEO, EXXONMOBIL: If we look at the legal and commercial constructs and frameworks in place today in Venezuela today, it's uninvestible and so significant changes have to be made to those commercial frameworks, the legal system.
RYAN LACE, CEO, CONOCOPHILLIPS: The debt needs to be restructured in the financing to deliver the billions of that are required to restore their energy infrastructure.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: The U.S. military has seized another sanctioned oil tanker in the Caribbean Sea on Friday, according to the U.S. Southern Command. It's unclear where the tanker is registered.
But it was listed as sailing near Venezuela under a Timor-Leste flag, as well as an unknown flag. Called the Olina, it was also included under sanctions linked to Ukraine-Russia war.
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The U.S. has seized at least five tankers since the Trump administration imposed an oil blockade on sanctioned vessels.
On the diplomatic front, a team from the U.S. State Department is in Venezuela right now for the first time since president Nicolas Maduro was ousted.
The visit comes as the U.S. looks to reopen its embassy in Caracas. The outreach is said to show the Trump administration's desire to reestablish a diplomatic presence in the country that Trump maintains that the U.S. is going to run.
Trump told reporters that he would likely meet representatives of the country soon. He also praised interim president Delcy Rodriguez for her cooperation so far, saying she seems to be an ally, quote, "right now."
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QUESTION: I'm curious in terms of the future of Venezuela, do you see Venezuela, now led by Delcy Rodriguez, as an ally of the U.S.? Is that the way that you view that country?
TRUMP: Well, right now, they seem to be an ally and I think will continue to be an ally.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: Rodriguez is walking a delicate balance, trying to appease both the Trump administration, along with leaders in both the country and region. On Friday, she acknowledged the possibility of the U.S. and Venezuela reopening diplomatic channels.
But in a statement that same day, she described, quote, "serious criminal, illegal and illegitimate aggression by the U.S."
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DELCY RODRIGUEZ, INTERIM PRESIDENT, VENEZUELA (through translator): I said it yesterday, the Venezuelan people don't deserve this treatment. They don't deserve this aggression from a nuclear power.
But our response will be in the diplomatic arena. And I said it, we're going to meet face to face in diplomacy and we'll go with our Bolivarian diplomacy of peace to defend Venezuela's peace, Venezuela's stability, the future, to defend our independence and to defend our sacred and inalienable sovereignty.
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HUNTE: Joining us now to discuss more on Venezuela is Carlos Sala. He's a senior research fellow of Latin American security at the Royal United Services Institute.
Carlos, thank you so much for joining us.
How are you doing?
CARLOS SALA, SENIOR RESEARCH FELLOW, LATIN AMERICAN SECURITY, ROYAL UNITED SERVICES INSTITUTE: I'm good. Thank you.
HUNTE: Good to see you. We have learned that a U.S. State Department team has just gone to Caracas for the first time since Maduro's ouster.
How critical is what happens next for U.S. and Venezuela ties?
SALA: Well, it's been a week since the Saturday, 3rd of January, attacks and things have moved at a fast pace.
This case resembles an onion. You have so many layers happening at the same time -- politics, international politics and then the global order. This is not just an issue between the U.S. and Venezuela anymore.
You have the internal -- the inner circle of the White House, its cabinet and what's going on between Republicans and Democrats in the U.S.
Then you have the relationship between these opening channels, between the White House and Delcy Rodriguez.
And clearly the oilers, the tankers, there is a connection there with the United States and what's going on with Europe, Greenland and, by proximity, of course, what's happened between the relationship between Donald Trump and Russia, sanctioned oil from Russia and so on.
So we've seen so many different pieces of this chessboard moving since Saturday and what's going on in Caracas is also quite important. I think you closed this segment with a declaration from Delcy Rodriguez. We'll keep hearing that that type of rhetoric against the U.S., against anti-imperialism, anti-Western.
But clearly there is a new channel of communication. There's a new dialogue between Marco Rubio and others in the United States and Caracas. You didn't have that before with Nicolas Maduro.
So there's clearly been a reset of relationships over the last week. And we'll see that more things will keep moving. The meeting with the oil executives is another signal that there is a clear commitment to build a path forward for Venezuela.
But the political economy of the country, its development clearly anchored toward the oil industry, needs to be solved. So I think that will be part, an essential part of these many parts moving.
HUNTE: President Trump has floated meeting opposition leader, Maria Corina Machado, in Washington but he's also questioned her leadership.
Do you see her playing any meaningful role in a transition?
SALA: Absolutely. I think that the United States has clearly identified a timeline in its relationship with Venezuela. And the most immediate phase was to deal with the regime, because it was not a regime change. It was clearly a capture of Nicolas Maduro.
And taking that out of the equation but I will definitely -- and I can assure you that Maria Corina Machado will play a role in the near future.
She's an important figure both within Venezuela and to hold together the international support, both in the diaspora and other leaders that clearly recognize the election of Edmundo Gonzalez and Maria Corina as part of that team that got elected in 2024.
[04:35:11]
But they've been expelled out of the country. I think she has energy behind her. I think she still has the relationship with Marco Rubio, who supported her candidacy toward the Nobel Peace -- Nobel Peace award.
And we'll see. There will be this meeting and we'll see how she comes into the formula that the United States is preparing toward Venezuela. HUNTE: All right. We've obviously seen strong reaction across Latin
America after the U.S.' moves on Venezuela.
How worried are regional leaders that their own countries could be next?
SALA: Two elements there. I think they are worried because of international law and because the long, sustained peace that has happened in the Western Hemisphere.
And I talk about long sustained peace between interstate wars. Of course, there is a -- there is a threat of transnational organized crime which taints the whole region as a violent region.
But when you come to these surprises, such as the military operation that happened on Saturday, clearly we hadn't seen that since Haiti in 1993; Haiti again in 2003. And then, of course, everyone's thinking about Panama in 1989.
So, of course, that there is a conversation among leaders in Brazil, in Chile and Mexico, in Colombia and so on.
But then the second part of the -- of that question is whether the United States could hit another country in Latin America. I think that's opening another stage, another complicated stage that the United States, I'm not sure it's willing to sustain, given the complexity of Venezuela.
So although there will be a sour rhetoric with Gustavo Petro, for example, Colombia is going into elections this year, 2026. So there will be a little reset between Colombia and the United States.
And then again president Lula, it's a (INAUDIBLE) communicator. He presents a dialogue between the BRICS, Latin America and then back to the United States. So we'll see a local rebalancing between the Donald Trump relation with the Western Hemisphere. But I can discard a future military operations.
HUNTE: OK, we'll leave it there. Carlos Sala, thank you so much for that. Appreciate it.
SALA: Thank you.
HUNTE: President Trump is doubling down on his threats toward Greenland. He told reporters on Friday that if he couldn't manage to make a deal to acquire the Arctic territory, that he'd forcibly take it.
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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not, if we don't do it in the easy way, we're going to do it in the hard way. We're going to be doing something with Greenland either the nice way or the more difficult way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
HUNTE: Diplomats for Greenland and Denmark met with White House officials on Thursday, insisting that Greenland is not for sale. Still, Greenlanders say they're worried about Trump's threats to take over their home. CNN's Nic Robertson is there.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Greenlanders here have woken up to not just the ubiquitous snow and, of course, they're used to it. I mean, just look at their dogs here. They can handle this stuff, the snow, the freezing temperatures.
But what they've woken up to as well is President Donald Trump doubling down on his desire to have and control Greenland. He says that it's not enough just to have the current arrangement, that it's important to own it, psychologically important to own it.
He says he gets more out of it that way. That's a better deal for him. So this is what Greenlanders here have woken up today, an uncertain future, increasingly uncertain.
And I was speaking to some Greenlanders a little earlier today and they said, look, we've heard that Donald Trump wants to offer us $100,000 each per person. This is being reported by Reuters, $100,000 per person. And they said, look, for some people here, think about the fishermen whose livelihoods are being changed.
I mean, we're looking at snow, right?
But climate change, they say, is making the temperature here much warmer. Some of the traditional jobs, the hunting and fishing, that the Inuit and a large part of the population here do, that's not possible.
This person said to me, look, there are some people for whom that $100,000 is a huge amount of money. And I said, well, would you go for it?
And they said, look, no, we don't want to sell the country, even if it's a lot of money.
But the reality is, all the minerals here in Greenland, they say that's worth so much more than 57,000 people, a $100,000 each. The message coming back from people here again is, this is Greenland.
We don't want the United States to have it. We're going to defend it. This is the message that's coming from Danish and Greenland politicians, their ambassadors in the U.S. have been on Capitol Hill, lobbying lawmakers there.
At the European Union, Denmark is putting the issue of Greenland in the United States, Donald Trump's claim to it, putting it on the agenda there for ambassadors of the EU to talk about.
[04:40:02] This isn't going away. Donald Trump isn't making it go away. And just before we started filming, a man came up to me and said, we're going to defend Greenland. And I said, well, how America is big?
And he said, look, this is our country. This is for us. We want it this way. Nic Robertson, CNN, Nuuk, Greenland.
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HUNTE: For only the second time in its war on Ukraine, Russia has unleashed one of its most advanced weapons. It's an Oreshnik missile.
Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy is warning that the Russian missile strike was very close to Ukraine's border with the European Union. He suggested that the medium-range ballistic missile posed a challenge to countries such as Poland, Romania and Hungary.
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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT (through translator): Everyone should understand the same thing and take it equally seriously. If the Russians don't even try to come up with a plausible reason for using such weapons, then personal connections or any rhetoric won't get you away from it.
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HUNTE: The Russian missile strike targeting Western Ukraine brought a tide of condemnation from European allies against Moscow. The Oreshnik missile can contain multiple warheads and carry either conventional or nuclear payloads. Some more now from CNN's Nick Paton Walsh.
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NICK PATON WALSH, CNN INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT (voice- over): Russia struck Lviv late Thursday with a rare Oreshnik ballistic missile.
Last January, CNN saw the remains of the first Oreshnik fired at Ukraine. It hit Dnipro in November 2024, killing nobody.
(on camera): Well, these are the remnants of what Ukraine has of a missile that Russia claimed was a huge breakthrough in technology and that got the
world's attention when it landed around Dnipro in late November. This burned-out remains studied for signs of exactly what Vladimir Putin might
have been referring to when he talked about this Oreshnik missile being a new phase in Russia's ballistic missile program.
They claim that it could get through western air defenses. But the experts we've spoken to here are saying that in the technology they had looked at,
it doesn't seem to be an enormous departure. In fact, they've pointed at some of the components seeming relatively old.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: There was nothing so terrible about its use. Here's a gyroscope from Oreshnik. Yuri Gagarin flew with one of these.
WALSH: Putin said this is a new phase in their weaponry. Is that not true?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE (from captions): His job is to say something. And we have to listen. The people are listening. We found lamps, Soviet lamps. Old.
Everything is old. And everything is Russian.
WALSH: And this they pointed to as well was the thing that seems so different. It's the multi-stage part of the missile. Each one of these
segments dropped off a separate part of the missile that landed targeted around Dnipro. And that's what terrified so many in the night sky to see
these separate projectiles landing over Dnipro. They were carrying conventional payload but normally something like this could potentially
carry a nuclear device.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTE: The final jobs report for 2025 is in coming up, what the latest data is telling us about the labor market in December and for the overall year.
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[04:45:00]
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HUNTE: Welcome back.
President Trump is calling for a 10 percent cap on credit card interest rates. He said on social media that Americans are being, quote, "ripped off." Mr. Trump wants the cap to go into effect on January 20th but he didn't say how it would be implemented or whether participation would be voluntary for credit card companies.
The cost of living issue is an increasing liability for the president and his proposal is a bit of an about-face for him. Last year, he scrapped an $8 credit card fee limit that was imposed by the Biden administration. The latest jobs report has been made public and it appears the United
States ended 2025 with a slower-than-expected December and one of its weakest years of job growth in decades.
The U.S. economy added an estimated 50,000 jobs last month, less than what economists predicted. CNN's Matt Egan reports on those numbers.
We're going to get that for you in a moment.
But new data suggest Americans are feeling better about the economy. The University of Michigan released its latest consumer survey and preliminary results showed this month's consumer sentiment at its highest reading since September.
Researchers reported a preliminary reading of 54, up from December's 52.9. They say consumers are less worried about tariffs but still concerned about overall business conditions and the labor market.
We now have the package for you. Let's go to that now.
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MATT EGAN, CNN BUSINESS SENIOR WRITER: 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 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 that 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 2,000,000 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.
[04:50:00]
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 on all cylinders. Back to you.
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HUNTE: OK. When the Golden Globes award show airs on Sunday, viewers will see a very familiar face in the hosting role. Coming up, CNN sits down with comedian Nikki Glaser. See you then.
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HUNTE: Welcome back.
Comedian Nikki Glaser says she's prepared to handle the hosting duties for a second time at the Golden Globes 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.
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STEPHANIE ELAM, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What does the pre-show pep talk from Nikki to Nikki sound like?
NIKKI GLASER, HOST GLODEN GLOBE AWARDS: I'm strong. I'm prepared. This is easy. You say it all day 1000s of times, muttering to yourself and you just start to believe it.
ELAM: Perhaps it's easier to believe for Nikki Glaser, who is 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: But the rose 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 when which she is involved. But it wasn't easy.
[04:55:00]
ELAM: Glaser revealing during our chat on a Hollywood backlot, she limits the roasting to the nominees, except this joke last year about Selena Gomez is now husband.
GLASER: And Benny Blanco is here because of the genie who granted him that wish. Ben, lucky guy.
ELAM: 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 think if I could just do it, I can get away with it and I just avoid them the rest of my career.
ELAM: Not much is off limits. She says, even the cancelation of Stephen Colbert and other controversy at CBS.
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, so I got to use those when I can get them.
ELAM: Glacier says she takes her job seriously, so viewers don't have to.
GLASER: We are living in a hellscape at times and it's 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 let's just like, escape into it and have some fun.
ELAM: Stephanie Elam, CNN, Los Angeles.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
HUNTE: The college football national championship is set. Indiana University will face off against the University of Miami on January 19th in Miami Gardens, Florida. Indiana scored its ticket to the title game after trouncing the University of Oregon in the Peach Bowl on Friday.
It was an all-star performance from Heisman trophy winner Fernando Mendoza, who had five touchdown passes. The final score was 56-22.
All right, that's all I've got for you. Thanks for joining me and the team for this hour of CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Ben Hunte and I'll be back with more news in just a moment. See you later.
