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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Trump To Iranian Protesters: "Help Is On Its Way"; Justice Department: "No Basis" To Probe Agent Who Killed Renee Good; Clintons Refuse To Testify Despite Contempt Attempt. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired January 14, 2026 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:24]

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to our viewers joining us from the U.S. and all around the world. I'm Rahel Solomon.

It is Wednesday, January 14th, 5:00 a.m. here in New York.

And straight ahead on EARLY START.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SALMA ABDELAZIZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A police crackdown, expedited executions and brute force, that is what Iran's protesters are facing.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: To all Iranian patriots, keep protesting.

ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: The DOJ refusing to open a criminal investigation into the agent who shot and killed Renee Nicole Good.

MAYOR JACOB FREY (D), MINNEAPOLIS: The people that are now calling for an investigation of the wife of Renee, that's monstrous.

JASON CARROLL, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Beth Israel is the largest synagogue in the state of Mississippi. Its windows now boarded, the inside unrecognizable.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry.

CARROLL: It's okay

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

SOLOMON: All right. We begin this hour with a deadly crackdown on protests in Iran. We are now getting new information about how the Iranian regime plans to deal with protesters. State media is reporting that the head of the country's judiciary says that protesters charged with violence or, quote, terrorist activities, will be given priority for trial and punishment. A U.S.-based human rights group says that more than 2,400 protesters have been killed by security forces and over 18,000 others have been arrested since late December. That's when anti-government demonstrations began. Now, CNN cannot independently verify those numbers. The near-total

Internet blackout is making it hard for information to get out of the country.

Meantime, U.S. President Donald Trump is urging Iranians to keep fighting against the regime.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: To all Iranian patriots, keep protesting. Take over your institutions, if possible, and save the name of the killers and the abusers that are abusing you. You're being very badly abused. I say save their names because they'll pay a very big price.

And I've canceled all meetings with the Iranian officials until the senseless killing of protesters stops. And all I say to them is help is on its way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: The U.S. State Department posted on social media that Iranian officials are planning to execute a 26-year-old protester today. President Trump says that the U.S. will take very strong action if it does.

Let's get to CNN's Paula Hancocks live for us in Abu Dhabi.

Paula, good morning.

What more do we know about this protester and these reports of a possible execution?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Rahel, this is Erfan Soltani, a 26-year-old who, as you say, the state department has publicized his case, saying that he has been sentenced to death. The execution will be January 14th, which is today.

Now, CNN has spoken to members of his family. They have said that he was taken by plain-clothes officers back on Thursday of last week. He was not allowed a lawyer. He was not allowed a retrial. Once he was found guilty.

This is not unusual when it comes to the Iranian legal system, when they are dealing with protesters. We've certainly seen this in the past. And they say that they have that, according to the State Department, that he has been sentenced to death. Now, the family also described him as incredibly kind and a warm-hearted young man.

So, of course, the concerns are about the safety of not just this individual, but of thousands of protesters that have been arrested over recent days. According to the U.S. based human rights group, there are more than 18,000 that have been arrested. We've heard from the head of the judiciary in Iran that they're going to fast track these cases that the so-called, as he describes them, terrorists.

Those cases will take priority and they will be sped through the courts. Now, of course, critics point out that that these are not regular trials, that they are certainly one sided, that there is really only one ending to these trials, and no chance of appeals or anything that you would expect -- Rahel.

SOLOMON: And, Paula, as we just heard in that clip there, Trump has said help. Help is on its way. I mean, what can we take from that? And how is the regime sort of interpreting some of these comments from the president?

[05:05:07]

HANCOCKS: We haven't had exact details about the meeting on Tuesday that took place. This was the U.S. president with his national security team, and it was specifically so that the president could be briefed on exactly what those options are that are open to him, whether its military, whether its diplomatic.

He has imposed that 25 percent tariff on all countries doing business with Iran. He has also said that he's willing to talk to Iran, which we heard in response, the Iranian foreign minister say that they were willing to talk as well. But then he also said that there are a number of what he called very strong military options, to which Iranian officials have said that they are, quote, ready for war, if the U.S. decides to take that option.

Now, it's not clear what the targets would be, where or who would be targeted by the U.S. military, but we are certainly hearing consistently from the U.S. president that there will be some repercussions, saying to protesters, you should continue. Help is on its way. But, of course, it's not clear what that actually looks like -- Rahel.

SOLOMON: Yah. What exactly he means by that.

Paula Hancocks reporting there for us in Abu Dhabi -- Paula, thank you.

To Minnesota now where tensions are mounting as protesters and ICE agents keep clashing in Minneapolis.

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SOLOMON: Hundreds more immigration officers are descending on the city following the deadly ice shooting of Renee Good last week. A few blocks away from where she was killed, another woman in another car was confronted by federal agents on Tuesday.

(VIDEO CLIP PLAYS)

SOLOMON: A court hearing is expected today as Minnesota sues the federal government over the escalating immigration enforcement. The lawsuit is seeking a court order to halt the statewide crackdown by the DHS.

Here's Minnesota attorney general on what motivated the state to take legal action. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEITH ELLISON (D), MINNESOTA ATTORNEY GENERAL: There was ICE presence before we filed this lawsuit. But this dramatic escalation of poorly trained, poorly recruited people who have been instructed by the president that Somalis are garbage, right, is a recipe for disaster.

I do not believe that the president will stop, simply because there's evidence, clear evidence that this surge is not doing what he said he wanted it to do, which is to deal with crime. It's not achieving that goal. It's actually creating more disorder.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: This comes as President Trump warns that a reckoning is coming to Minnesota.

He took to Truth Social on Tuesday, attacking Minnesota Democrats and calling ICE agents patriots. The U.S. Justice Department says that there is no basis for a criminal investigation into the ICE agent who fatally shot Renee Good.

CNN's Evan Perez has the latest on how federal prosecutors in Minnesota are responding.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: At least six federal prosecutors at the Minnesota U.S. attorneys office resigned amid pressure from the Trump administration to investigate Renee Good and others around her, not the ICE officer who shot and killed her in Minneapolis last week. Sources tell CNN that the federal investigation, now ongoing, is looking at good activities. Those of her widow and those and others involved in monitoring ICE operations.

Meanwhile, the Justice Department's number two official now says that there's no reason to investigate the officer. Todd Blanche, deputy attorney general, issued a statement saying there is no -- there is currently no basis for a criminal civil rights investigation. That's the clearest indication so far that federal investigators are examining whether the ICE officers actions were justified, while at the same time they're blocking local authorities from using their jurisdiction to investigate the shooting.

Federal prosecutors in Minneapolis initially struck an agreement with local prosecutors and the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension to jointly investigate the shooting. A routine arrangement that typically follows a federal officer involved shooting incident.

Minnesota authorities said that they were later told by the FBI that local investigators would no longer be allowed access to that investigation. Minnesota authorities have appealed to the public to provide state investigators with all the video and other information to assist their review of the incident. But the local prosecutors are hobbled by the federal block on access to evidence that the FBI has collected in this case. Evan Perez, CNN, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

[05:10:01]

SOLOMON: And the Minneapolis police chief also weighing in on the federal prosecutors who resigned this week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF BRIAN O'HARA, MINNEAPOLIS POLICE DEPARTMENT: Five of them are the most senior leadership of the U.S. attorney's office. And they're incredibly dedicated. I think obviously, when you see whole scale, wholesale resignations like this, it's very concerning.

I believe they did everything that they could to continue to do the right thing for the people of this state and for our country. And I think it just came to the point for each of them have their own reasons, I'm sure. But I think it just came to the point where they felt like they could no longer be a part of that organization.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: Criticism is growing in Washington over the Justice Department's criminal investigation into the Federal Reserve and Chairman Jerome Powell.

Sources tell CNN that there is frustration in the White House, with officials blaming Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. attorney for D.C., claiming that she was blindsiding them by launching the probe in the first place. Multiple Republicans have voiced concerns, including Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who says that the DOJ better have a smoking gun if they decide to bring charges.

And while many critics claim that the probe appears to be politically motivated, President Trump told CBS News, quote, "I can't help what it looks like," in response to the backlash.

A source tells CNN that Venezuela has freed at least four U.S. political prisoners. It's the latest move by the government of interim President Delcy Rodriguez, who started releasing detainees last week. The Trump administration is demanding that Venezuela release all of its political prisoners. The human rights group says that so far, only 56 out of more than 800 detainees have been set free.

Meanwhile, new U.S. Justice Department memo is outlining President Trump's legal authority for capturing Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro. According to sources, it says that the president is not constrained by international law when carrying out law enforcement operations overseas. It also concludes that Trump didn't need to notify Congress because of the limited scale, scope and duration of the raid.

U.S. Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio are set to meet with the foreign ministers from Denmark and Greenland at the White House today. The talks are expected to focus on the relationship between all parties. President Trump has repeatedly threatened to take over Greenland, a Danish territory.

He said last Friday that if he's unable to make a deal the easy way, then he'll have to do it the hard way. The Danish foreign minister says that the face-to-face meeting will allow everyone to look each other in the eye and talk about these things. But on the eve of the talks, Greenland's leader had this blunt message for President Trump at a joint news conference with his Danish counterpart.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENS-FREDERIK NIELSEN, GREENLAND'S PRIME MINISTER: Greenland will not be a part of the USA. We choose the Greenland we know today, which is part of the kingdom of Denmark. Now we are faced with a geopolitical crisis. And if we have to choose between the USA and Denmark here and now, we choose Denmark, we choose NATO, we choose the kingdom of Denmark, and we choose the E.U.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: Greenland's government says that it will not accept a takeover by the U.S. under any circumstances.

All right. Still to come for us, the Clintons refusing to testify on Capitol Hill about the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. What the House Oversight Committee plans to do about it, coming up next.

Plus, the latest on the child sex abuse case against director and actor Timothy Busfield.

Also ahead, jurors hear key evidence, plus an emotional outburst in the trial of former Uvalde school police officer. We'll take you inside the courtroom after this break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:18:08]

SOLOMON: Welcome back to EARLY START.

The Department of Justice is feeling the pressure to release more of the Epstein files and fast. An email from a top DOJ official to their team said that they need attorneys reviewing the files to process 1,000 pages every day. According to "The New York Times", prosecutors have more than 5 million pages in their possession.

The email went on to say that the sooner they processed the bulk of files, quote, the sooner this is over. Last week, the Justice Department said that they had reviewed around 209,000 pages so far.

The House Oversight Committee is set to begin contempt proceedings against former U.S. President Bill Clinton, after he failed to appear for questioning in the Jeffrey Epstein investigation. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton also subpoenaed, but both have refused to testify. They say that they're being singled out by Congress. Republican Chair James Comer says that is not the case.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. JAMES COMER (R-KY): I think it's important to note that this subpoena was voted on in a bipartisan manner by this committee. This wasn't something that I just issued as chairman of the committee. This was voted on by the entire committee in a unanimous vote of the House Oversight Committee to subpoena former President Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: A Clinton spokesperson says that the former president cut ties with Epstein before his arrest in 2019 and was unaware of his crimes. A successful contempt vote would be referred to the Justice Department, which would then decide whether to prosecute them.

Former federal prosecutor Jeffrey Toobin explains the potential ramifications of the Clintons' refusal to testify. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JEFFREY TOOBIN, FORMER FEDERAL PROSECUTOR: It makes sense politically. I don't think they have great legal arguments. You know, the law gives Congress very wide discretion about who they can call as witnesses. And the argument that this is a political stunt, that it's not relevant to any, any legislation, I think that's true.

[05:20:03]

But I think it's also true that this is usually within the -- within the realm of what Congress can do.

I think they recognize that this is an attempt to distract -- to distract attention away from President Trump and Epstein. But they do have a secret weapon, the Clintons do, which is that this process, even if they're held in contempt, which seems likely at this point, will take a long time. And certainly, it will take past the midterm elections. And if the Democrats retake the House, which seems like at least a decent possibility at this point, the Democrats will take -- will take the Oversight Committee and they'll get rid of the subpoena.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: Director and Emmy Award-winning actor Timothy Busfield is now in police custody on child sex abuse charges. He turned himself in to New Mexico authorities on Tuesday, just a few days after the Albuquerque Police Department issued a warrant for his arrest. Busfield faces two counts of criminal sexual contact of a minor and one count of child sex abuse. He's accused of inappropriately touching a young boy on the set of a tv series that he was directing.

In a video obtained by TMZ, Busfield said, quote, "I'm going to confront these lies. They're horrible. They're all lies." Jurors in Texas have heard a key piece of evidence in the trial of former Uvalde School District Police Officer Adrian Gonzalez. The jury watched a police interview where Gonzalez talked about making a mistake. It was recorded just hours after a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers, and the deadliest U.S. school shooting that happened in May 2022. The jury also witnessed an emotional outburst by the sister of one of the teachers who was killed.

CNN's Shimon Prokupecz has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: The emotions of this trial on full display in court Tuesday, when the sister of a teacher who died that day, Irma Garcia, her sister Velma Duran, had an outburst in court after testimony had ended. An officer was testifying about tactics and positions and where officers were, and the threat that sometimes officers face and what is called a fatal funnel.

And at the end of that testimony, she had this just heart wrenching outburst over what was being said and what was being discussed in court.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you know who went into the fatal funnel? My sister went into the fatal funnel.

JUDGE: Yes, ma'am.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Did she -- did she need a key? Why do you need a key?

JUDGE: Ma'am, go ahead and have a seat.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Y'all are saying that she didn't lock her door. She went into the. She went into the fatal funnel. She didn't. (INAUDIBLE)

JUDGE: Okay, ladies and gentlemen, I'm asking you to disregard the outburst I forewarned these folks. If they do that, there's not going to be any warnings. They're going to be removed for the rest of the trial. That's unfortunate. Very unfortunate.

So, thank you very much. We'll see you back here at 1:30. And remember my instructions, 1:30.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

PROKUPECZ: The judge there warning the remaining family members and audience members in the gallery that if there's another outburst, there could potentially be a mistrial because this happened in front of the jury. And so, he had to warn the jury to disregard that, and then said that if this happens again, there's a chance that there could be a mistrial. Shimon Prokupecz, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOLOMON: And still ahead for us, a stunning shift in U.S. politics. Gen Z voters flocking to the Democratic Party in numbers that are shocking, even our Harry Enten.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:28:01]

SOLOMON: Welcome back.

It's news that might worry President Trump, but Gen Z voters, many of whom used to back him, are flocking, apparently to the Democratic Party. New numbers show a rare double-digit shift ahead of the crucial midterm elections.

CNN's chief data analyst Harry Enten breaks it all down for us.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Take a look at party identification. Those who identify as Democrats or Republicans, look at the margin that Democrats have now versus where it was a year ago. Look at this. It goes from plus six points in 2024.

Look at that ballooning. That's more than a tripling of their advantage that Democrats have up to plus 20 points. I will note there was movement among the adult population overall towards Democrats, but less than half of the movement that we saw among Generation Z. This is not just about party identification.

I mean, look at the hard results on the ground. Look at Trump's net approval rating among Generation Z. Compare it where we were at the beginning of 2025 to now look at this shift on the net approval. It was plus 10.

He was in the positive territory among Generation Z a year ago. Now he is 32 points underwater. That is a 42-point swing in less than a year. So, what we're seeing in party identification isn't just staying there. It's moving over and affecting how Generation Z feels about the president himself.

And of course, Trump had made gains among Generation Z going from the 2020 to 2024 election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: Our thanks to Harry Enten.

Now, we do want to get to some breaking news though out of Thailand. That's where officials say that at least 29 people were killed after a construction crane collapsed north of Bangkok, hitting a train and causing it to derail. We're hearing that there are more bodies in the wreckage that rescuers have not yet been able to recover. Dozens of people were hurt. Police say that the crane was part of a high rate, high speed rail project and crashed onto a passing train, which briefly caught fire.

Still ahead, the latest consumer price index, or CPI, shows U.S. inflation holding steady. President Trump, though, telling a very different story, his comments from a visit to Michigan, just ahead.

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