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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Protests Provoke New Threats From Trump Officials; DOJ In Violation Of Epstein Files Law; Trump Escalates Push To Acquire Greenland; Patriots Face Broncos, Rams Battle Seahawks Sunday. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired January 19, 2026 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:00]

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Pamela Brown in for Jake Tapper.

And this hour, 1,500 active duty troops are on standby for possible deployment to Minneapolis as protests continue over ICE activity in the city. But sources tell CNN tonight, the Trump administration is considering that a last resort. We are on the ground in Minneapolis in just moments.

Plus, today marks one month since the Justice Department's deadline to release all of its files about Jeffrey Epstein, nut by the DOJ's own estimate, it has released less than 1 percent of them. And a new CNN pullout today shows a majority of Americans think the government is purposefully withholding that information.

Also, the fight for 2028 entering a new ugly chapter today after excerpts of Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro's book were released. Well, Shapiro was claiming about the, quote, offensive questions asked by Kamala Harris's team as they vetted him to be her potential running mate.

And from dramatic overtime wins to a quarterback season-ending injury and a coach getting fired today, it's been a crazy few days in the National Football League to say the least. NFL Veteran Donte Stallworth will join me live in studio to break it all down and give us his predictions for the Super Bowl.

The Lead tonight, the tense calm in Minneapolis, even though protests against the Trump administration's heavy handed immigration crackdown bring new threats and finger pointing from top Trump officials. Attorney General Pam Bondi threatened the anti-ICE protesters who disrupted a Sunday service at a church where one of the pastors reportedly is an ICE agent. And a social media post Bondi wrote, attacks against law enforcement and the intimidation of Christians are being met with the full force of federal law.

She blamed state leaders, as did Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, in a post today claiming more than 10,000 criminal illegal aliens have been arrested in Minnesota since the start of the Trump administration.

CNN's Julia Vargas Jones is on the ground in Minneapolis. What's the latest there, Julia?

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Pamela, despite the cold, people are continue to gather here outside the Whipple Federal Building. This is a protest that's been -- it's become also almost a perma (ph) protest with people here day and night, despite truly, truly cold temperatures and the negatives here. Most of these people are saying they want ICE out of Minneapolis. They want federal agents to leave their state.

Some of those protests now taking a different shape, as you mentioned that disruption of service in the middle of a church. Now, that has also faced some backlash not only from the DOJ but also from people here in Minneapolis. I spoke with one of the organizers, one of the people who was there and asked her why they decided to do that. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NEKIMA LEVY ARMSTRONG, ATTORNEY AND FOUNDER, RACIAL JUSTICE NETWORK: And so to think about someone claiming to be a pastor, I watched part of a sermon that he gave on Saturday that was online, you know, to see his demeanor, you know, looking calm, looking like he cared, but then on the flipside, being an overseer for these agents that, again, are brutalizing people in our community. I mean, cutting women out of seat belts in their cars, dragging them out of cars, breaking their car windows, attacking children on school grounds, spraying them with pepper spray, I don't understand how you can reconcile the two.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VARGAS: And they're talking about David Easter Easterwood. He's an acting field office director of Enforcement and Removal Operations for ICE in St. Paul.

Now, Pamela, we did reach out to DHS to confirm that that official and the pastor are indeed the same person. And in a response to CNN, Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said, DHS will never confirm or deny attempts to dox our law enforcement officers and pointed to those safety concerns that she has for those federal agents. Pamela?

BROWN: All right. Julia Vargas Jones in Minneapolis, thanks so much.

And we're getting some new details about the Justice Department's decision not to investigate the ICE officer who shot and killed Renee Good in Minneapolis nearly two weeks ago.

I want to bring in CNN's Evan Perez. You've been working your sources and you're learning that there was a shift in terms of the focus of the FBI investigation.

EVAN PEREZ, CNN SENIOR JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Right. Initially, Pamela, the FBI did have a preliminary investigation, a color of law investigation, which is a civil rights investigation, into the conduct of the officer and the shooting of Renee Good. But then shortly thereafter, the decision was made inside the Justice Department that this was going to be an investigation of Renee Good's conduct, the conduct of people around her, including that of her widow.

And that's an interesting turn for the department because, as you know, from covering the department yourself, you know that typically when there -- when you have shootings like this, there's at least an investigation to determine whether there was any possible legal violation by the officer who fired the shot.

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I mean, certainly, in this case, the jurisdiction for the state authorities is even broader and the decision by the department to not only not investigate the conduct of the officer but to also block the state from being able to access the evidence, for instance, that has made a huge dramatic shift from what we traditionally see in these types of incidents.

So, we heard just a short while ago from the FBI on Twitter or on X, they posted saying that the decision here to make that switch was not made by the FBI, but they also repeated what we've heard over the last few days from Todd Blanche, from Pam Bondi and others, the department, that they believe there's no facts that would support even investigating the conduct of the ICE officer who fired the shots.

BROWN: But your understanding from talking to sources in the bureau, I mean, they -- do they believe it's political?

PEREZ: Oh, yes, absolutely. I mean, internally, it's viewed as political because agents usually, you know, do these types of investigations. And then if there are no charges to be brought, that is a decision that is made later.

At a minimum, you at least investigate to see whether there are any facts that could support any wrongdoing, if that indeed is what happened.

BROWN: All right. Evan Perez, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

And Minneapolis Community Safety Commissioner Todd Barnette joins us now. We were just talking to -- I was just talking to Evan Perez, my colleague, about the shift in the FBI probe, and it makes me wonder what's happening on the state level. Because, as he mentioned, the FBI has blocked state officials, local officials from getting access to any evidence. But can you tell us whether there is an actual local investigation going into this ICE officer involved in the Renee Good shooting?

TODD BARNETTE, COMMISSIONER, MINNEAPOLIS SAFETY COMMISSIONER: Pamela, thanks for having me, and Happy Martin Luther King Day. There's no independent investigation happening. Our attorney general, I believe also our county attorney, has started to collect information online for folks, but they're cut out of the actual investigation.

BROWN: What are you hearing from your constituents as well as other council members?

BARNETTE: You know, it is been very disappointing from the start when the State of Minnesota was cut out of the investigation. We know that when you have an independent, thorough investigation with experts that are, you know, accustomed to doing these type of investigations, and especially from our standpoint to be involved with the federal government like we have in the past to show transparency and accountability. And this really erodes the trust that we've built with our community,

BROWN: A social media post today and that Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem claims that 10,000 criminal illegal aliens, this is her words, have been arrested in Minnesota since the start of the Trump administration, including 3,000 in the past six weeks. Noem's post described some of those arrested as quote, vicious murderers, rapists, child pedophiles, and incredibly dangerous individuals. So, I mean, do you think it's a good thing some of those people are out of your community?

BARNETTE: You know, what I would say is that if that number is correct, it has not been shared with us. We've been firm with the fact that we have no issue with the federal government going after criminals. We've worked with the federal government in collaboration in the past to take criminals off of the streets in Minneapolis and other places. The real issue here is the tactics that are being used by ICE agents on our residents, which really terrorizes them to the point they don't want to come out of their homes.

BROWN: Do you have any more details about who else has been swept up in the ICE raids?

BARNETTE: You know, we know from several arrests that's been reported in the media that U.S. citizens have been arrested, taken into custody. It appears that if you have a lawyer, you'll be released. People have been held, you know, upwards of 12 hours and with no contact with their families and then released. So, I don't have an exact number of those who've been arrested and released, but there have been accounts of that happening since the surge of federal agents in the state of Minnesota.

BROWN: Quickly, do you think residents there should be bringing their papers with them?

BARNETTE: I encourage residents here to bring identification with them.

[18:10:01]

It appears that they're being stopped unconstitutionally, that they need to be able to provide some identification to de-escalate the situation, because the tactics that are being used by these ICE agents really escalate into a point that it makes it dangerous for our residents and visitors and also for those law enforcement agents.

BROWN: Let me ask you about something else that has happened. The federal government is upset about protesters disrupting a service at a church where the pastor -- apparently, one of the pastors at that church is an ICE agent. But what is your message to protesters, and your mind -- and in your mind, what are the limits? BARNETTE: You know, we have really asked people to, you know, exercise that First Amendment rights peacefully. We know that ICE agents have gone into schools and hospitals and places of worship. I really personally feel as though places of worship are sacred. I understand the frustration from our citizens, but we continue to ask them just to peacefully protest in public places.

BROWN: And, of course, this would be, you know, a private property.

All right, Minneapolis Community Safety Commissioner Todd Barnette, thank you so much for your time.

BARNETTE: Thank you for having me.

BROWN: Well, today marks one month since the Justice Department's deadline to release all of the Epstein files. So, why hasn't it happened yet?

Plus, a new escalation from President Trump and his quest to take over Greenland, what we're learning about the text message the president sent to the leader of Norway and how European officials are responding tonight.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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BROWN: And we are back with our Law and Justice Lead. It was exactly one month ago today that the Justice Department was required by law to release all the files it has relating to dead pedophile, Jeffrey Epstein. Remember that? But by its own admission, revealing that only about 1 percent of all Epstein files have been released, DOJ is breaking the law.

Let's bring in CNN's Kara Scannell. So, we know in recent days, Kara, the DOJ has increased the number of lawyers working on this. How's the review going? What's going on here? What's taken so long?

KARA SCANNELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, the Department of Justice just updated the judge in this case in recent days, and they said they added 80 attorneys who are reviewing these documents, some maybe 2 million or so documents. That comes -- that brings this total to about 500 lawyers and others who are working on it. Those include prosecutors from the Southern District of New York and other lawyers, some from the Southern District of Florida, the criminal division, the national security division, and also FBI analysts who are familiar with reviewing these types of sensitive records.

Now, DOJ says that they are currently looking at a batch of documents that are some of the most sensitive in this case. They are some of the statements provided by the victims, and so they're saying to the judge that requires additional care. That is about tens of thousands of documents that that includes.

SCANNELL: They also said that the leadership is conducting calls sometimes more than once a day, where they are discussing some of these issues and what they say is causing some of this delay is that there's a duplication of records from different batches that have been collected over the many years that Epstein has been under investigation, as well as his accomplice, Ghislaine Maxwell.

And they also are saying that part of this has to do with honoring the victims, the survivors, because more of them are coming forward saying that they want certain records redacted and that is causing DOJ to be extra careful to make sure that they don't step afoul of that and release victims' names.

Although, of course, there is skepticism around all of that, and as you say, it is 30 days after the law was passed that they were supposed to meet that deadline and it still remains an open up question of when they will.

BROWN: I mean, will DOJ face any consequence here? Is there a way to enforce the law?

SCANNELL: So two lawmakers, Ro Khanna, a Democrat, and Thomas Massie, Republican, have written to the judge saying that they want permission to file a brief to ask the judge to impose a special master and an independent overseer to monitor DOJ and see that it is complying. The judge asked the Department of Justice whether they thought these lawmakers had an ability to step into this case because this actual litigation involves a DOJ investigation.

And DOJ responded saying, this court asked whether Representatives Khanna and Massie have Article 3 standing and whether the court has the authority to rule upon or take action to bring about DOJ'S compliance with the act.

The answer to both questions respectfully is no. Just today there was a survivor who filed a sworn affidavit saying that she hopes the judge will impose a special master to oversee this, to give the victims some confidence that this review is being done appropriately. The judge has given the lawmakers until tomorrow afternoon to respond, and then we'll see what the judge says. Pamela?

BROWN: All right. Kara Scannell, thanks so much.

Well, many families struggle with the high cost of childcare. We're going to tell you about a small business owner who is hoping her daycare centers become a haven for working parents.

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BROWN: In our National Lead, childcare providers across the country are facing intense pressure and scrutiny. Earlier this month, the Trump administration froze $10 billion in childcare and social assistance funding in five Democrat-led states, including Minnesota, New York, California, Colorado, and Illinois. A New York judge issued a temporary restraining order against the Trump administration, saying that childcare and assistance funding for now could continue. According to the targeted states, the administration has not provided any actual evidence of fraud.

I want to bring in Britt Riley, a mother of two, who is the founder of Haven. It is a first of its kind model that combines childcare, a remote office space for parents and a fitness center. There are three Havens in Rhode Island and New Jersey with plans to expand the Chicago area and hopefully where I am here in Washington, D.C., because I could use it. Britt, thanks for coming on.

You've described the U.S. childcare system as broken. Tell us more about why you decided to start this.

BRITT RILEY, FOUNDER, HAVEN: Thank you so much for having me. I -- so when I had my own kids, I have two, I started looking into childcare options and I realized that childcare over the past 30, 40 years really hadn't evolved with the needs of the workforce. And so I definitely lost some sleep over the idea that while the cost of childcare is very much so centered around the wages, which we pay our teams, which they're so, you know, well-deserving of, the least that I could do was hopefully put together a model which adds to the quality of life of families during their first five years.

So, that's how I came up with the idea for Haven, which it's fully licensed childcare as well as workspace and fitness for all the parents.

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And it's been absolutely fantastic to see it grow over the past seven years.

Since childcare as well as workspace and fitness for all the parents, and it's been absolutely fantastic to see it grow over the past seven years.

BROWN: Yes. Tell us more about the demand for it and what you're seeing.

RILEY: So, what we're seeing is that people absolutely are looking for something which fits their lifestyle. They really want to see their kids in high quality care and so many more people these days are empowered by remote and flexible work. And so what we're able to offer is that Haven, where they can drop their kids off, they know that they're okay, that they're good, and then they head upstairs and they can work, they can work out. You oftentimes see a bunch of parents standing in front of a window with a cup of coffee watching their kids play and then they can really be very productive.

So, this is an answer to, you know, a need that has been, you know, I think building over the past few decades, and I can't tell you how powerful the feeling of giving people tours through a Haven club is when they realize the amount of stress that's going to get lifted off their shoulders. So --

BROWN: Yes. Because there is so much anxiety, right, among families, like military families maybe that may worry about federal funding given all the debates over funding, right, and who's going to watch their child while they work. I mean, I've even had the situation where I was working late and the babysitter never showed up and my husband was gone and I was scrambling. I mean, I think we all have our stories as moms who are working, right?

RILEY: Exactly. And the way that I've always looked at it is childcare is -- it's not, you know, a social problem. It really is economic infrastructure. And these days, the way that you look at childcare is if there were an issue with the electric grid, for example, or funding, then you wouldn't turn it off. You wouldn't turn the whole grid off.

And so when I look at childcare and the support for childcare, what I hope that, you know, our country is starting to see, and I'm seeing it with lots of CEOs and business leaders, is their employees actually work better if they know that their kids are cared for. And so for us, what we try and do is just provide that environment, which helps them. And so it really is economic infrastructure. And the more that it's bolstered, the more it's going to perform and the better families are going to thrive.

BROWN: I just think about the childcare workers. It's a tough job and, you know, they just get paid so little overall, right, when you look at daycare centers across the country. It's just it's so unfortunate given the need.

RILEY: Exactly. And so that's why it's really imperative that public- private partnerships start to kind of help to bolster the industry because the high cost of childcare really only boils down to childcare providers want to pay their teams as much as they can because the people who take care of our kids are people who were born with this kind of innate calling to take care of other people's babies. And I think that that's as valued to me as a brain surgeon or a frontline worker. I mean, they're doing such critical work during the first five years, when 80 percent of brain development is taking place.

And so the least we could do is put them on that pedestal that they deserve to be on and I think it's going to be a group effort to be able to start to compensate them in a way which, you know, they really deserve.

BROWN: I could not agree with you more. Britt Riley, thank you so much and thanks for all of your efforts to help out.

RILEY: That's my pleasure. Thanks for having me.

BROWN: Of course.

Well, the extraordinary new message from President Trump to a key NATO ally at his quest to take over Greenland and how it's linked to his fixation with the Nobel Peace Prize, that's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

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BROWN: Topping our World Lead, in a stunning text message to Norway's prime minister, President Trump linked his renewed push for the U.S. to take over Greenland to not winning the Nobel Peace Prize, saying that he blames Norway for the loss, and adding he no longer feels obligated to, quote, think purely of peace because of that snub.

That message coming in response to a request from Norway to speak about tariffs Trump says that he will impose on several NATO allies to pressure Denmark into selling Greenland to the U.S. Norway's prime minister released this statement responding to President Trump, quote, I have clearly explained, including to President Trump what is well known. The prize is awarded by an independent Nobel Committee and not the Norwegian government.

All right, let's discuss this with the former NATO Supreme Allied commander, retired Air Force General Philip Breedlove, along with the director of the Counterterrorism Program at the Atlantic Council, CNN National Security Analyst Alex Plitsas.

All right, so I want to go to you first, General Breedlove. There has never before been an attack by one NATO member against another since its alliance was formed in 1949. But given President Trump's repeated refusal here to rule out the use of military force, do you see that as a realistic possibility?

GEN. PHILIP BREEDLOVE (RET.), U.S. AIR FORCE: Well, thanks for having me on. I don't, I think that this is all negotiations the way that this president talks about in his book in chapter six, and I'm very hopeful that this will work out because every security need we need to accomplish can be done through cooperation with NATO, Denmark and with Greenland.

BROWN: So, where does this go from here, Alex, because the president and other Trump administration officials are not backing down? Even this -- if this is a negotiating tactic, where do you go from here?

ALEX PLITSAS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: You know, it isn't really clear because we have a treaty with Denmark dating back to 1951 that pretty much allows us to do whatever is necessary for defense, including basing, et cetera, in Greenland. So, what more does the administration want? That part isn't completely clear.

[18:35:00]

The president has made statements that, you know, he feels that he needs to, quote, own the territory that it needs to be part of the U.S. in some fashion, but what exactly he wants to do beyond what we're already allowed to do by treaty obligation is not clear.

I agree with the general's assessment based on, you know, the use of military force and this being a negotiating tactic, but it's not being particularly well received in Greenland. You know, the feedback I'm getting from folks on the ground were there this week is that they actually would rather be independent. They don't want to kind of be caught in between the U.S. and E.U. members. So, we'll see where this goes, but the administration hasn't made that ask clear yet.

BROWN: And, General Breedlove, if the U.S. say, we're able to secure Greenland, somehow acquire it, but if it came at the cost of losing our NATO allies in the region, would the U.S. actually better off in our ability to secure the Arctic?

BREEDLOVE: NATO is the most successful alliance in the history of the world, and I would offer to you that NATO is more important in the next 75 years than it has been in the last 75 years. So, we need to get through this with the alliance intact and get the protections that we need through cooperation.

BROWN: Alex, how do you think Vladimir Putin is looking at all of this?

PLITSAS: Well, I think it plays right into the Kremlin talking points on Ukraine. So, for him, he finds this to be helpful. You know, the president, particularly in the letter that you were mentioning earlier on in the opening part of the segment, you know, speaks the fact, well, you know, some boats landed there and that's the claim. There's no legal paperwork. We had boats landing too. And it kind of comes across as a message, you know, that Putin would sort of deliver when he gives his, you know, history lessons on Russia dating back to, you know, several hundred years that's, you know, concocted for the most part. So, it definitely helps play into Kremlin propaganda, so it is not helpful in that regard.

BROWN: And so you understand, General Breedlove, why European allies are so concerned about this, right? Because what would stop Russia from just going beyond Ukraine if the U.S. does this?

BREEDLOVE: Well, this is one of the things that's hard to understand about why we find ourselves where we are. If Russia was to make a big move in Greenland, then Article 5 would be invoked and NATO would, including the United States, take care of that issue. So, I just -- I'll now say it for the third time. I think that the path ahead, the path to success is through cooperation.

BROWN: What is, Alex, the current Russian and Chinese threat to Greenland? Because that's been part of Trump's justification here, that the U.S. needs to own Greenland in order to protect it from these Russian and Chinese threats.

PLITSAS: Sure. There's been a couple of national security concerns that have sort of been leaked coming out of the administration, that that is at least been the central focus of some of the discussions. So, as we know with warming, there's obviously transit that's now opening with the ice melting in the area. The U.S. has taken that quite seriously.

Well, we have now purchased or commissioned additional icebreakers to free up navigation in that area. You know, you also have access to the Arctic Circle from there, and the nation states that are on the border can then claim, you know, underwater minerals and things there. We've obviously heard about rare earth elements, and then there's been comments made as well regarding, you know, intercontinental ballistic missile launches if you were ever to go to war, would come over the territory. So, perhaps that speaks to missile defense given the president's commitment to his golden dome, you know, or missile defense system.

So, not completely clear, but those are the ones that have been at least leaked out in terms of what's being discussed at the White House.

BROWN: How much do you think, General Breedlove, this is really about the threat from these countries or about President Trump's own sort of imperialist ambitions here to control the Western Hemisphere, which was laid out in that national security document from the administration in the fall?

BREEDLOVE: So, my colleague hit some really important points. For China, this is almost completely about commercial interest, the shorter trade route on what is called the northern passage along the top of Russia is what it's all about.

For Russia, this is a little more militaristic. We haven't talked about the GIUK gap, GIUK gap, as we call it, which is the body of water between Greenland, Iceland, and U.K., where all of the Russian boomers and most sophisticated submarines go in and out of their northern bastion waters into the Atlantic. That is a military concern.

Everything that we want to do for missile defense can be done under existing treaties now. So, I'm not sure why that is a big point of discussion. We can go to Greenland and do the things we need now under existing agreements to take care of our missile defense concerns.

BROWN: All right. General Philip Breedlove, Alex Plitsas, thank you.

Republicans are publicly divided on President Trump's Greenland strategy with one going as far as saying he would lean toward impeachment if Trump invaded the territory.

[18:40:06]

Our panel weighs in, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BROWN: In our Politics Lead, as tensions over President Trump's ambition to annex Greenland continue to escalate, here's what speaker Mike Johnson said to the BBC about how the United States could acquire the Arctic island.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA): I don't foresee military intervention in Greenland. It's a small population of people. And I think diplomatic channels is the way to go and I think the president's appointment of an envoy, you know, recognizes that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So, should we not pay attention to the president's threat to use military action?

JOHNSON: No, we should pay attention to his words.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: All right, here to discuss this and more is our wonderful panel. All right, so let's jump into it here. This, of course, was a major topic on the Sunday shows.

[18:45:01]

Everyone was asked about it because, obviously, it's a big deal when the president of the United States says he's going to acquire Greenland and not taking military off the table.

Here's some of what we heard from top Republicans.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. TED CRUZ (R-TX): I believe it is overwhelmingly in America's national interest to acquire Greenland.

MIKE PENCE, FORMER U.S. VICE PRESIDENT: I would just rather see the president use his persuasive powers and U.S. investment in Greenland to lay a foundation for ultimately achieving that goal.

SEN. RAND PAUL (R-KY): I'm hoping that we don't get to a military invasion. I kind of actually don't think we're going to, because quietly, there is not a Republican that's come up to me and said, oh, yes, I'll back him to the hilt.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: And, Rina, we've heard from other Republicans like Congressman Don Bacon, who, by the way, is retiring. We should note who said he would lean toward impeaching Trump if he invades Greenland. How far are Republicans willing to go on this?

RINA SHAH, GEOPOLITICAL STRATEGIST: I think time can only tell on that bit. And this matter we have heard President Trump joke about Greenland before. It used to be a quirky kind of fixation of his. It's not anymore. It's a reckless power play that has got our allies scared. And it is fracturing some of these really good relationships that I think he could even take some degree of credit for last year.

And moreover, I would say it's embarrassing, but not to Donald Trump, because in Donald Trump's schoolyard bully always wins. And it's smart Republicans like Thom Tillis and Don Bacon, who are warning that this will absolutely torch NATO. And this will also hand a win to Russia when we don't need that. So, it's these guys who are saying, let's go further.

And they're getting support. Privately, there are whispers that there are so many more Republicans who are aghast that the president continues on when he could again take other routes, rather than acquisition.

BROWN: It's interesting, though, as the president is focused on these overseas matters. Greenland, Venezuela imposing tariffs on European allies, there's new polling out from the wall street journal, and it asked who in Congress is best able to handle issues such as the economy. And actually, 38 percent say Republicans, over 32 percent who said Democrats. On inflation and rising prices the same, 32 percent say Democrats, 38 percent. Republicans. On immigration, 33 percent say Democrats in Congress, and 44 percent say Republicans in Congress.

So, Democrats score better than Republicans on health care. But on the other issues, you see Republicans in Congress leading the charge. What do those results tell you?

ARSHI SIDDIQUI, DEMOCRATIC STRATEGIST: Well, I think there have been a whole slew of polls that have come out in recent days, and they're all trending towards Democrats. So, intensity is up on the Democratic side. The generic is up on the Democratic side, significant at levels of before -- at levels that were comparable to the last time Democrats took over.

Health care has been, as you as you mentioned, is a solidly Democratic issue. But I think on all of these other pieces, we're seeing more and more there -- actually, there was a CNN poll just on Friday that talked about how Trump's economic policies are doing more harm and a majority of more than a majority of Americans believe that.

So, I think there are some good trend lines for Democrats. And it's a far cry from where Democrats were a year ago. So, you see momentum building into the midterms. And I think the most significant part of the poll -- polling, recent polling has been more on how intensely Democrats and independents really do want some sort of checks and balances.

BROWN: How do you look at these poll numbers?

SHAH: We know the name of the game is independence, right? And here we are with less than ten months to go to the midterms. But I think in this, in this sort of time that well start to see, some people in the parties, both sides feeling really crunched and saying, we've got to save the moderates, right on the other side, for example, I think it's really important to understand that this president has an outsized impact, like we've never seen in the modern American presidency on the party, because the party tends to fall in line.

But on this Greenland issue, which has dominated the headlines, I bring it back up because he's looking outward every time things inward are going poorly. This is how Donald Trump does his business in 2.0 as well. We saw a little bit of it at one point.

But what I'm saying mainly is that this Greenland grab, it's not a strategy. It is a temper tantrum and it's a temper tantrum that has got so many Republicans again, his fellow party members saying, not on our watch. And so, you know, what they should be saying to him is were better than bullying our friends for a frozen trophy.

But what I'm also trying to explain to folks is that every time you see Donald Trump try to be a strong man abroad, trying to bully our allies abroad, it is because things at home are hurting. Things at home are not changing. When we talk about the price of daily commodities, they haven't come down all that much. We know inflation has cooled, but again, daily necessities have not come to a point where we feel it, as everyday Americans.

BROWN: I mean, but what I mean. Okay, focusing on overseas matters, how is that really a distraction when the everyday American is experiencing this, right?

[18:50:01]

I mean, you can't distract from what you're actually experiencing --

SHAH: I have a very simple answer. It's all about the campaign promises. It's a campaign promise to make other countries pay their fair share, bully Europe, even though they've been our allies. There's a great interdependency there.

I just spent last month with the top brass at the E.U. They have such admiration for us. They talk about our alliance being so very important, whether it's about trade, whether it's about defense. And I could obviously spend a lot of time talking about numbers.

But the reality is, is that Donald Trump says all that's out the window, because guess what? Those folks have been leaning on us for too much for too long. And so with that strong man narrative, he believes he brings some people back into the fold. The independents who sort of believe, well, hey, maybe him shaking things up will continue in a good way.

It's all about the hope, the prayer, the unicorn and rainbow.

SIDDIQUI: Well, it feels also like it's a little bit about the Nobel Peace Prize. I mean, I think we woke up to those texts.

BROWN: We know -- that's been a factor in foreign policy there.

SIDDIQUI: So there's that.

And I think going back to your point on the preoccupation with world events and in terms of some of these manufactured issues -- I mean, Venezuela was one piece where that was very much there was a shared bipartisan support for getting rid of Maduro. But you look at Greenland, this is I mean, we woke up on Saturday morning to talk about tariffs on our allies. And the litmus test for these 10 percent tariffs that will hurt American consumers, no doubt.

Add to the all the slew of tariffs that are already intact. Was that they were opposing his -- him. The Donald Trump's and the United States of America's -- you know, acquisition of Greenland.

SHAH: I take your point, but I must say, I'm really impressed by the Republicans, the White House, rather, they're able to -- ability to keep messaging well on this and saying that this is about national security and about keeping the Arctic for us, for the future.

BROWN: All right. Rina, Arshi, thank you both. Appreciate it.

It has been a crazy few days for NFL fans, from overtime joy to season ending heartbreak. NFL vet Donte Stallworth is here to break it all down, up next.

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[18:56:15]

BROWN: In our sports lead, after a weekend of wins, losses and heartbreak in the NFL, now just four teams remain in the run up to Super Bowl LX. Up next, the NFL conference championships. The New England Patriots will take on the Denver Broncos, and the Los Angeles Rams will face off against the Seattle Seahawks.

Former NFL wide receiver Donte Stallworth joins us now.

All right, so before we get into the remaining teams, let's talk about some of the games from over the weekend. What a weekend it was. You had the controversial interception call against the Bills and their overtime loss to the Denver broncos. Bills quarterback Josh Allen very emotional after the game, telling reporters he felt like he let his teammates down.

What do you think? Do you think it was an interception and what did you make of Allen's response to such a tough loss?

DONTE STALLWORTH, FORMER NFL WIDE RECEIVER: Yeah, I'm a little biased. I'm a wide receiver, so I'm definitely going to say it was a catch. I know a lot of friends around the league, whether they played or not. Guys that are currently playing, former players, they all think that that was a catch.

And the NFL rules have changed over the past few years. And it's been a little inconsistent. So, we kind of really don't know what a catch is. And you listen to some of the referees that are explaining this. And it's really difficult to really grasp between what happened here and what happened in other games.

People are comparing and contrasting and putting it in juxtaposition. These two different situations that look the same. But one was called a catch and the other was called an incomplete pass. So it's really hard to tell.

But Josh Allen on the other hand, he's the reason why they even got that far. He hasn't had a lot of help on offense besides -- besides Cook his running back. But you know, that's the kind of player he is. He takes -- he puts the onus on himself.

I've been in that position before where, you know, you feel like you let your teammates down. It's not a good feeling. But all those guys they rallied around Josh. He's -- he is the reason why they even got to that point in the first place.

BROWN: And then today, the Bills announced they're firing the head coach Sean McDermott. It's so hard to be a coach, right. I mean my goodness.

STALLWORTH: Yeah, especially --

BROWN: What do you think?

STALLWORTH: Yeah, especially today, Pamela, they -- the NFL has become this kind of rat race to get this new -- the new Sean McVay, the new young talented head coach, Ben Johnson actually the guy that's coaching or that's coaching the Chicago Bears. This is his first year. And they've done -- they've done a really good job.

I mean, they got all the way to the divisional round when people thought that they take them a couple of years to do that. So, coaches are getting fired faster and faster. And I think really the Ravens' John Harbaugh -- the Ravens firing John Harbaugh really kind of set the path for other coaches who have had long tenured at their teams to be fired, too.

BROWN: Yeah. So, what do you think? Was it the right call?

STALLWORTH: It's difficult. It's -- you know, there are a lot of coaches that are out there and sometimes, you know, Sean's been there for a really long time. I was with Sean in Philadelphia, but I think, you know, sometimes you do need a new face. But he'd been there for a while and had a lot of success.

But, you know, I love the Bills. I wish them luck. And I hope they do well.

BROWN: All right. So, now, it's the conference championships. You have New England Patriots versus Denver Broncos. Broncos quarterback Bo Nix is out for the season with a broken ankle. His replacement played just one game this year. And then there's the Los Angeles Rams versus the Seattle Seahawks.

Which two teams do you think will make it to the Super Bowl and why? The obvious question.

STALLWORTH: Yeah, it's difficult to say. The Broncos, they're playing a guy who hasn't thrown a pass in two years. And the is really almost three years. He played a couple of games in '23, 2023. But it's hard to say that that the Patriots won't go in there with that defense and that offense and go in there and control the game. I think the Patriots will come out of the AFC and in the NFC.

It's going to be a tough match up. These two teams are in the same division. The NFC West. They've battled all year to get to this point. I like the Rams. I think the Rams are -- you know, they have the probably the future MVP, and Matt Stafford. He's a great quarterback.

And when these games come down to it at the end, Pamela, it usually comes down to the players to the quarterback that makes the least mistakes and the best plays at the end of the game.

BROWN: All right. Donte Stallworth, thank you so much. Great to see you.

STALLWORTH: Thank you.

BROWN: And "ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts now.