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DOJ Releases over 3 Million Files from Epstein Investigation; Massive Crowds Nationwide Turn out for Anti-ICE Protests; Iran without Proxies as It Faces Standoff with U.S.; U.S.-Venezuela Relations; Trump Threatens Tariffs over Supplying Oil to Cuba. Aired 3-3:30a ET

Aired January 31, 2026 - 03:00   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, the U.S. government releasing its final batch of files related to the late convicted sex trafficker, Jeffrey Epstein, as new documents reveal allegations against Donald Trump.

Americans taking to the streets of major U.S. cities in protest over Washington's immigration enforcement tactics, with a former CNN anchor becoming part of that story.

And Donald Trump suggesting Tehran has been given a deadline to reach a nuclear deal as Washington weighs potential military action.

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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is CNN NEWSROOM with Ben Hunte.

HUNTE: Welcome.

The U.S. Justice Department has released more than 3 million files from its investigation into late financier and sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The DOJ says the release fulfills its obligations under transparency legislation that has been passed by Congress.

CNN is still going through all of that information but we can tell you about this key takeaway. The documents contain multiple references to a host of powerful figures, including president Donald Trump, who hasn't yet been charged with any crime related to Epstein and has long denied any wrongdoing. MJ Lee has more.

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MJ LEE, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL ENTERPRISE CORRESPONDENT: He is in these files with some frequency. His name is mentioned in a bunch of different contexts. But one thing that was noteworthy, from what we learned from these

batch of files that were released today, is that there appears to have been internal discussions inside the FBI as recently as last summer, where they were discussing allegations of abuse leveled against Donald Trump and Jeffrey Epstein.

We are talking about this one document where FBI officials are compiling a list, basically, of allegations of abuse leveled against Donald Trump that came in via an FBI tipline.

Now we are not detailing these allegations. They are not verified. But what is noteworthy is that these FBI officials go to some lengths to even color code and categorize these claims, saying that yellow is going to be for the more salacious ones.

We don't know exactly what happened with all of these tips, because there's not a lot of information in this document. We can tell that some of them the FBI followed up on; others they didn't. Some tips they actually deemed at the time as not credible.

But what is important here, politically speaking, and giving us an inside look at the process and the internal conversations, is the fact that these internal discussions about Donald Trump did happen as recently as last year.

Now one more quick thing that I want to mention, something that we saw for the first time related to Donald Trump in these documents is an FBI complaint form, where one woman says that she was raped by Donald Trump when she was 13.

As you noted, though, and importantly, these are allegations that are mirrored in this Jane Doe's allegations in previous lawsuits from 2016. And those lawsuits, we should note, were dropped. And Trump, of course, has vehemently denied these allegations.

Previous statements, repeated statements from the president, calling all of this a hoax, basically trying to say there's nothing to see here about me.

Well, there are certainly a lot of references about Donald Trump and you can certainly get a better picture of why he and those around him wouldn't have necessarily wanted these kinds of details to come out into the public light.

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HUNTE: The U.S. government is now partially shut down but the disruption isn't expected to last long or have a major impact. The Senate approved a funding deal just hours before Friday's deadline. The House is expected to vote on it on Monday. The main sticking point has been funding for the Department of Homeland Security.

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SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY): Senate Democrats will not support a DHS bill unless it reins in ICE and ends the violence. Some may have thought they could ignore us, confident the news cycle would change and the public outrage would fade. Those people were wrong.

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HUNTE: The spending package funds three-quarters of government agencies through the end of September, except Homeland Security. It includes just two weeks of DHS funding.

Democrats are hoping to use that time to push for changes in how ICE operates following the fatal shootings in Minnesota. But some Republicans doubt that they will be able to reach a compromise before that funding expires again.

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SEN. JOHN KENNEDY (R-LA): This is not about a budget. This is about the fact that the karen wing of the Democratic Party is in control and they want to defund ICE.

SEN. LINDSEY GRAHAM (R-SC): Can we find compromise?

I don't know. I don't know if it's possible for them to abandon the idea that ICE is the root of all evil.

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HUNTE: Protests swept across the U.S. on Friday from coast to coast. They marched, chanted and carried signs, too.

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Students walked out of schools and businesses closed their doors. The nationwide demonstrations are demanding an end to the Trump administration's immigration enforcement operations.

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HUNTE (voice-over): This is what it looked like in Minneapolis, which has been the epicenter of the federal actions in recent weeks. Thousands marching, spurred in part by the killing of two U.S. citizens by federal agents in the city earlier this month.

And this you're seeing there was the scene in Los Angeles on Friday. Police and federal officers clashed with protesters outside a federal building. At least two people were arrested. A protest outside L.A. city hall earlier on Friday remained peaceful.

But as the day went on, tensions outside the federal building did lead to a bit of trouble. A CNN crew was there as officers sprayed chemical irritants at protesters.

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HUNTE: For more on all of this, let's bring in CNN senior political analyst and Bloomberg opinion columnist, Ron Brownstein. Ron, thank you for being with me.

How are you doing?

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SR. POLITICAL ANALYST: Good. Good to be here, Ben.

HUNTE: Good to see you. This shutdown is partial and we're expecting it to be quite brief.

But politically, who actually has leverage right now, Democrats hoping to add pressure or Republicans betting that they'll give up again?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, look, I mean, I think, you know, as we've talked about before, the mechanism of using government shutdown to try to get what you want has mostly frustrated, almost entirely frustrated the people who have used it.

I mean, it's very hard to get a president to do something he doesn't want to do through the threat or the actual implementation of a government shutdown.

The question is, what does Trump want to do at this point?

Because what Democrats have going for them is this really rather remarkable change over the last year. I mean, immigration was certainly one of the issues, probably the second issue behind inflation, that drove Trump's return to the White House.

But as one of the Republican senators lamented this week, the party has turned what has been a strength into a liability. There's still a lot of support in the U.S. for the steps Trump has taken to regain control of the border.

But polling is unequivocal that somewhere around 60 percent of Americans now consistently say they believe ICE has gone too far. People do not believe either of these killings were justified.

And so when Democrats are pressing for reform to ICE, they are on a very, you know, they are on very strong ground. And Trump may be more leery than it would have looked a few weeks ago, certainly before these killings, about drawing a firm line in the sand and simply trying to stonewall.

HUNTE: It makes sense to me.

Is this two-week extension a real opening for change after what happened in Minnesota or is this just people playing politics?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, I mean, again, I think -- I think the key variable here is Trump. I mean, you know, you heard the comments from Republican senators, who don't want to move toward any changes in ICE operations.

If Trump says he will accept them, enough Republican senators will accept them. I mean, really, that is the variable. Does he feel this issue has moved against him enough that he needs to

make changes?

Now, look, I mean, the offensive in ICE is occurring in the context of a much broader range of actions, designed to unilaterally expand presidential power in ways that we just have not seen in U.S. history.

In the last week, the administration has killed a protester in Minneapolis, arrested a journalist in Los Angeles and raided an election office in Georgia to obtain ballots. I mean, these would all be extraordinary things on their own.

To have them happen all in one week, you know, is a sign of just how far into uncharted waters we are as a country.

So does Trump decide that on this front he needs to make a tactical retreat and give some ground to Democrats to try to defuse an issue that has turned from a strength into a weakness?

I doubt he will give up too much but he may be willing to concede something.

HUNTE: We are seeing nationwide protests and walkouts, business closures, with Minnesota at the center of it all.

If we look at history, do demonstrations like this actually ever change the political plan in Washington or do they make presidents double down?

BROWNSTEIN: It's an interesting question.

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You know, the people -- you got to broaden the lens, I think, Ben, not only to the U.S. I mean, there is a rule of thumb among people who study democratic backsliding and authoritarianism that if you can get -- I think it's 3 percent or 3.5 percent of the population into the streets on a sustained basis, it is very hard for a regime to survive.

That would be something like 10 million people. We probably had, what, 5 million or 6 million during the last No Kings rally. There's another one coming up in March. Certainly the idea that public resistance to Trump was diminished from his first term, I think that's been exploded.

You look at what's happening with cultural figures. I mean, Bruce Springsteen, the song he released, being in Minnesota today; many others, the Grammys on Sunday night is likely to feature, I think, intense criticism of ICE.

There is a galvanizing going on among the opposition now.

Again, you know, the question is, does that by itself force change on Trump?

Probably not. But if enough Republicans feel as though the -- that is a reflection of intensity and the overall climate, they may begin to put more pressure on him to set a different course.

I know people who study this kind of thing, not only in the U.S. but internationally, feel that, in addition to protests in the street, ultimately, if you want to change the course of a regime that is eroding democratic freedoms, which I think is what we have to say we are in now in the U.S., there has to be an economic boycott dimension as well.

And that's something that's been slower to develop.

HUNTE: All right. We will leave it there. I love you never hold back. That was so fascinating. Ron Brownstein, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

HUNTE: The U.S. is putting Iran on notice over its upcoming military drills in the Strait of Hormuz. The statement is urging Iran to not interfere with maritime traffic in the key trade route. And it says any unprofessional behavior could lead to an escalation.

But the warning comes as the U.S. is ramping up its own military buildup in the Middle East after president Donald Trump threatened potential strikes if Tehran doesn't agree to a new nuclear deal.

Mr. Trump said on Friday he communicated directly with Tehran about a deadline for such a deal but he didn't say if he actually set any timelines.

Iran's foreign minister, who was in Turkiye on Friday, says if negotiations are fair and just that Tehran is ready to talk.

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ABBAS ARAGHCHI, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: The Islamic Republic of Iran is ready to reenter the nuclear negotiations. The Islamic Republic of Iran has never sought nuclear weapons and such weapons have no place in our security calculations.

We have always been and still are ready to build confidence regarding the peaceful nature of our nuclear program.

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HUNTE: Iran is facing this standoff with one major disadvantage: many of its proxies across the Middle East are gone. Paula Hancocks explains.

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PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Iran has long been accused by the West as being the puppet master of its allies across the Middle East with its axis of resistance. But Iran is weaker and more isolated than it was before October 7th, 2023, when Hamas attacked Israel.

It may threaten retaliation for any U.S. military strike following Tehran's violent crackdown on anti-regime protesters, where thousands have been killed and arrested across the country.

But does it have support?

One by one, these proxies have faltered. Let's take a look at what's happened. We'll start with the most powerful, Hezbollah in Lebanon. They once boasted the largest non-state military in the region. They fired rockets toward Israel shortly after the Hamas attack.

And after more than a year of conflict, Hezbollah is a shadow of its former self. Its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, assassinated; hundreds of Israeli-rigged pagers and walkie-talkies simultaneously exploded inside Lebanon, killing or maiming countless fighters as well as civilians.

Much of its missile arsenal is gone. When Israel attacked Iran, Hezbollah, long considered Iran's last line of defense, was largely silent.

Meanwhile, in Syria, the fall of Bashar al-Assad in late 2024 severed Iran's critical weapons supply route to Hezbollah via Syria. He has been replaced by a former Al Qaeda affiliate leader, Ahmed al-Sharaa, who is embracing Gulf leaders and the West. Iran has lost another key ally.

And then, of course, there's Hamas. Israel's war in Gaza has decimated their military capabilities. Yahya Sinwar, the Hamas leader, considered the architect of the October 7th attacks, killed along with most of his political and military leadership. Its ability to govern or wage war is crippled, so its role as an Iranian proxy is for now negligible.

Pro-Iranian militia in Iraq and, to a lesser degree in Syria, have launched attacks on U.S. bases in those countries for years.

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Their pledge to attack U.S. interests if president Trump decided to attack Iran's nuclear program amounted to very little.

The Houthi rebels in Yemen, once considered the least significant threat, appear to be militarily intact. Their most damaging impact has been largely economic, targeting commercial shipping in the Red Sea with drones and missiles as a means to punish Israeli interests.

The U.S. carried out airstrikes on the Houthis before signing a ceasefire agreement last year, canceling it out as a useful Iranian proxy.

And finally, Iran itself. The Israeli and U.S. attacks on Iran's missile and nuclear program in June 2025 exposed Tehran's vulnerabilities. A country that has always boasted about its influence in the region to its people can no longer do so.

So what is next for Iran and what next for the axis of resistance?

(END VIDEOTAPE) HUNTE: OK, Mexico is caught up in a diplomatic triangle between the United States and Cuba. Coming up, how the latest threat from president Donald Trump has America's southern neighbor walking a tightrope. See you in a moment.

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HUNTE: Welcome back.

As Venezuela begins to reopen its oil industry to foreign companies, acting president Delcy Rodriguez is torn between trying to fulfill president Trump's wishes and maintaining support within her own country. CNN's Stefano Pozzebon has the latest for us.

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STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Venezuelan acting president Delcy Rodriguez is treading a very fine line between her rhetoric and the speech that she gives to her supporters and the legislation and reforms that she is enacting in the first few weeks as acting president of Venezuela.

Since taking over from her predecessor, Nicolas Maduro, after Maduro was ousted and captured in a dramatic fashion in that nighttime raid by U.S. forces on January the 3rd, just late last week, Rodriguez was saying to her supporters that enough is enough and that she would no longer receive orders from Washington.

Well, instead, this past week, both on Wednesday and Thursday, we did see a closer coordination between Washington and Caracas. Some of that has to do with commercial airlines aiming to return to Caracas in the upcoming days. This is how the acting president referred to them just yesterday on Thursday night.

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DELCY RODRIGUEZ, INTERIM PRESIDENT, VENEZUELA (through translator): Today I spoke with U.S. president Trump and secretary of state Marco Rubio.

As we discussed, we are achieving a lot in our shared agenda. And as part of that, we have talked about lifting restrictions for U.S. airlines who wish to travel to Venezuela. Let all the airlines come over.

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POZZEBON: And, of course, the main piece of legislation passed this past week is the reform of the hydrocarbon law that regulates how crude oil is extracted and exported from Venezuela.

Over the last 20 years, Maduro before and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez, had both kept a very tight grip on the export of crude oil with a nationalist approach, insisting, for example, that the control of natural resources should stay with the rulers and with Caracas.

Instead, the new law seems to answer to all the demands that foreign oil executives have made through Donald Trump to the Venezuelan government, asking for reforms to support investment and to allow them to freely operate inside Venezuela.

It's really a dramatic and record speed U-turn that Rodriguez is operating in Caracas, as she's looking for closer and closer commercial ties with Washington to remain in power -- for CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Bogota.

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HUNTE: Cuba has declared an international emergency in response to recent threats made by the U.S. The order mirrors one made by president Donald Trump on Thursday. In that order, Trump threatened to impose tariffs on any country importing oil to the island nation.

In turn, Cuba has declared that the U.S. poses a, quote, "unusual and extraordinary" threat to it.

This recent escalation of tensions is creating diplomatic hurdles for many, especially Mexico, which is a major exporter to the U.S. and supplies Cuba with oil. Mexican president Claudia Sheinbaum has asked for the U.S. to clarify the scope of the tariffs.

In 2025, Mexican exports made up 44 percent of Cuba's foreign oil supply. So the latest threat from the U.S. president has put the country in a bit of a bind. CNN's Valeria Leon has more details.

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VALERIA LEON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The message from Washington is clear: keep sending oil to Cuba and you could pay a price.

Under president Trump's new order, the U.S. is now threatening tariffs on countries that continue supplying oil to the island and that puts Mexico right in the middle. Over the past month, Mexico has become a key oil supplier to Cuba, stepping in after Venezuela's shipments collapsed following the arrest of Nicolas Maduro.

What Venezuela wants provided Mexico is now helping replace.

President Claudia Sheinbaum sought to downplay Mexico's exposure. She said Mexico exports less than 1 percent of its total oil production to Cuba, stressing that the shipments are limited.

CLAUDIA SHEINBAUM, MEXICAN PRESIDENT (through translator): It accounts for less than 1 percent of Mexico's total oil production, whether through contracts or humanitarian assistance. LEON: President Sheinbaum also acknowledged she doesn't want Mexico

to be affected by potential U.S. tariffs but said her government is focused on avoiding a deeper crisis on the island.

In an unexpected move, she even suggesting that the U.S. Itself could supply oil to Cuba, framing the issue as a humanitarian concern rather than a political one.

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SHEINBAUM (through translator): If the United States were to send the oil, this would be about supporting the Cuban people. Of course, we don't want to put Mexico at risk of facing more tariffs.

That's why we're choosing diplomacy, looking for a framework for dialogue and communication that avoids a serious situation for the Cuban people, who are already going through very difficult times.

LEON: Mexico has maintained relations with Cuba for decades, right wing or left wing governments. And under president Claudia Sheinbaum, that historic relationship has been reinforced. She has repeatedly defended oil shipments to Cuba but pressure from the U.S. has clearly intensified.

So Mexico now finds itself at a crossroads. On one side, a longstanding diplomatic relationship with Cuba and a government that insists on its sovereign foreign policy. On the other, a direct threat from Washington, once again using tariffs as leverage -- Valeria Leon, CNN, Mexico City.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

HUNTE: A winter storm that's very quickly gaining strength is set to hit parts of the eastern U.S. with massive snow, damaging winds and dangerous coastal flooding in the coming hours.

The storm, which is known as a bomb cyclone, will begin with snow and hurricane force winds, possibly whipping up blizzard conditions along the coast of Georgia, North Carolina and Virginia before moving north to coastal New England and eastern Massachusetts later in the weekend.

More than 27 million people are under winter storm warnings.

Bit of a turn: if you're looking for a Labubu, you may want to head to the U.K. Pop Mart, the Chinese manufacturer of the plush and toothy dolls with pointy ears, has just named London as its new regional headquarters.

Seven new U.K. stores are in the works. British prime minister Keir Starmer's trip to China this week sealed that deal. Pop Mart's founder praised London as the heart of global creativity.

Love me some London. That's all I've got for you. Thanks for joining me and the team. I'm Ben Hunte in Atlanta. "INSIDE AFRICA" is next. See you tomorrow.