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The Lead with Jake Tapper

Source Says, Prospective Greenland Deal Includes Renegotiating Agreement Over U.S. Military Presence; Trump Questions NATO's Commitment To Defending U.S.; Minneapolis Print Shop Owner Says, ICE Causing Fear for Businesses. Trump Repeats Baseless Claims About Rigged 2020 Election In Davos Remarks; Duke Sues Star Quarterback, Who Wants To Change Schools. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired January 21, 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]

JAKE TAPPER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper.

[18:00:00]

This hour, a lot of buzz, very few details, after President Trump claims that there's some kind of path that he's agreed to on Greenland. He calls it, quote, a framework of a future deal. He says it, quote, puts everybody in a very good position. What does any of this actually mean? I'm going to ask Republican Congressman Dan Crenshaw. Plus, we're also going to talk to Republican Senator Thom Tillis, who joins us from Davos.

Also, Vice President Vance has headed to Minneapolis tomorrow to meet with ICE agents and give a speech defending the administration's immigration crackdown. The trip comes as a new immigration enforcement campaign begins in Portland, Maine, another state with a sizeable Somali population.

And a wild twist in college football, Duke University is now suing its own star quarterback, trying to block him from transferring schools. Is there any precedent for this? What kind of impact could this have on other college players? That's ahead.

Breaking news in The Lead tonight, CNN is learning new details of what may be part of the framework of a future deal on Greenland that President Trump announced this afternoon. A source says it includes renegotiating a 1951 agreement with Denmark that formalized the U.S. military presence in Greenland. The U.S. had more than a dozen military facilities in Greenland during the Cold War. Afterwards, all but one closed. Now, Trump wants more. A NATO spokesperson says a prospective deal could include a provision that bars China and Russia from operating in Greenland.

The announcement comes several hours after Trump spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he seemed to back off on using military force to take over the Arctic island by force.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: I don't have to use force. I don't want to use force. I won't use force. All the United States is asking for is a place called Greenland.

You can say, yes, and we will be very appreciative, or you can say, no, and we will remember.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: CNN's Kristen Holmes is at the White House for us. So, Kristen, what are the details in this supposed framework?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Well, look, there's still a lot of questions because we don't know what an actual renegotiation of this 1951 agreement would look like. As you said, this was the agreement that formalized U.S. military presence in Greenland. And at the time during the Cold War, there were more than a dozen military installations or buildings there. Now, there is one left.

But one thing to note is that. Denmark had essentially said that they welcomed more military presence from the U.S. as President Trump was issuing these threats, talking about security. So, not really clear what's different about them offering to increase military or U.S. military presence in Greenland and this renegotiation.

But the other part of this is that we have learned that the NATO secretary general, Mark Rutte, who President Trump credited with helping come up with this framework, this was an idea he had been pushing this idea of renegotiating because he believed it would help satisfy President Trump, at least in some ways.

Now, while we still don't know the details, it does seem as though this idea of acquiring Greenland is off the table. Listen to this exchange between our Kaitlan Collins and President Trump about that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Does it still include the United States having ownership of Greenland, like you've said you wanted?

TRUMP: It's a long-term deal. It's the ultimate long-term deal. And I think it puts everybody in a really good position, especially as it pertains to security and minerals and everything else.

COLLINS: How long would the deal be, Mr. President?

TRUMP: Infinite.

REPORTER: Did you speak to Denmark? Did you speak to Denmark?

TRUMP: There's no time limit. It's forever.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: Now, I did ask the White House for more details on what exactly this framework would look like if our NATO allies were on board. This is the statement I just received moments ago from the press secretary. She said that -- she said, if this deal goes through, and President Trump is very hopeful it will, the United States will be achieving all of its strategic goals with respect to Greenland at very little cost forever. President Trump is proving, once again, he is the dealmaker-in-chief. As details are finalized by all parties involved, they will be released accordingly.

So, clearly, they're saying that not everybody with 100 percent on board yet. We had learned that there was still briefing going on of all the NATO partners. But it certainly seems as though this provided somewhat of an off-ramp to President Trump, to the Trump administration, as things were growing increasingly tense with our European allies. And he was getting a lot of pushback even from his own allies, Republican lawmakers, and even within the administration when it came to his rhetoric around Greenland.

TAPPER: All right. Kristen Holmes, thank you so much. I appreciate it.

We spoke with Republican Senator Thom Tillis from Davos earlier today. This was after President Trump's speech, but before this claim of a framework of a Greenland deal.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: And joining me now from Davos is Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina.

[18:05:03]

Senator, thanks so much for joining us.

I want to get to your reaction to the speech in a second, but, first, since you were in the room to hear President Trump's speech, what was the reaction in the room to what the president had to say?

SEN. THOM TILLIS (R-NC): Well, there was a lot of silence. Of course, I was sitting with the U.S. delegation and the people that traveled with the president. But I saw a lot of quiet hands down during the speech.

TAPPER: What was your reaction to the speech?

TILLIS: Well, you know, I think it was an opportunity missed. Davos -- This is the first time I've ever been to Davos. But I'm concerned with many of our allies, our partners, militarily, economically, starting to think that they have to diversify away and de-risk from the United States of America. That's very concerning to me.

Look, I get the president's goal to get the NATO members up to their commitments, and I'm glad he has done it. He has done an extraordinary job better than any president since the NATO alliance was forged. But I'm beginning to sense that they're looking at worst case scenarios for the current U.S. posture, and that could lead to a disadvantage to the United States. And more importantly, the democratic world is at its best when we're working together, we're trading fairly. I think that the president's right to hold some of the countries accountable. But when you cast them all in the same light, I think it's a mistake.

I also think that we have to continue to think the NATO partners that honored their Article 5 commitment went to Afghanistan with us and lost lives in defense of our great country. That is a profound, responsibility, the Article 5 commitment, and the fact that the only time it's ever been initiated is in defense of the United States. I think the American people need to understand.

TAPPER: Yes. I mean, that's something that's interesting. You're right, President Trump successfully pushed a lot of these countries to uphold their commitment to spend a certain amount of their GDP on defense spending, but he also, in recent days, he reposted something that said that NATO was the enemy within, and then you heard the president say a day ago that he doesn't think NATO members would honor the Article 5 commitment, an attack on one is an attack on all, when, as you note, the only time that's been invoked was other countries coming to our defense after 9/11. And, in fact, I believe Denmark, the country at issue here, that owns Greenland, I think they had the highest or among the highest per capita loss of life in the war in Afghanistan on our behalf.

TILLIS: In fact, they had almost exactly the same per capita loss as the United States. That's why I became emotional when I went to the memorial in Copenhagen. I was wondering what the families, the loved ones of those soldiers were thinking when we're showing this sort of disrespect to a nation that literally, on a per capita basis, gave as many lives in some of the most contested areas of Afghanistan, as you can find.

This is just not the way to keep the free world together. The only person or persons who are happy with the notion of causing this problem, this tumult or this uncertainty in NATO, is Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. They've got to be cheering from the bleachers.

TAPPER: President Trump said today that he, quote, won't use force to take over Greenland. That appears to be his clearest statement, yet ruling out the use of the U.S. military. Do you think that assuaged any of our European allies?

TILLIS: Well, first I think it was a false concession. I mean, with all due respect to the president, I don't believe that the Congress would sit still if he were to take this by force. I think there would probably be sufficient votes to pass a war powers resolution that would be veto-proof. So, let's just be honest with our friends and our allies and let's be respectful to them.

Jake, we could have whatever we want in terms of presence in Greenland today without having to spend a dollar. And to my fiscal conservative colleagues out there, how about this, not spending billions of dollars to take territory that we've already been given unfettered access to, and even have an agreement dating back to 1951, that Denmark and Greenland have said that they would expand and make more accommodating.

Greenland is a country or is a territory that needs massive investment in infrastructure and massive investment just to support the bases. And, by the way, a couple of years ago, they offered to sell one of their military bases in the most attractive part of Greenland, where the ports do not freeze in the winter, for a dollar.

So, to my fiscal conservative colleagues, let's project power in the Arctic. Let's get a multinational NATO force there, and let's do it on a far more economically sustainable basis than this administration is contemplating.

[18:10:02]

I just don't get it.

TAPPER: I want to play something else that President Trump said today on Greenland about what the U.S. did after World War II.

Take a listen.

TRUMP: After the war, we gave Greenland back to Denmark. How stupid were we to do that? But we did it, but we gave it back. But how ungrateful are they now?

TAPPER: How do you interpret that remark?

TILLIS: I go back to those souls listed on that memorial wall and wonder what the mothers, the fathers, the brothers, sisters, and spouses are thinking today. They were grateful. That's why they went to Afghanistan. That's why they served along American servicemen and almost certainly saved the lives of American servicemen and gave their own lives.

This is not who we are. This is not how you maintain the most important and profound and successful military alliance in the history of this planet. It's disrespectful, it's unproductive, and it's unsustainable.

TAPPER: Several European leaders have expressed bewilderment, at the very least, at the president's threats to impose these huge tariffs on any NATO allies who oppose his attempt to take Greenland. I want you to take a listen to what the Belgian prime minister said about how Europe can now go forward.

BART DE WEVER, BELGIAN PRIME MINISTER: Europe is at the crossroads where it has to decide. Until now, we tried to appease the new president in the White House. We were very lenient also with the tariffs.

But now so many red lines are being crossed that you have the choice between your self-respect. Being a happy vessel is one thing. Being a miserable slave is something else.

TAPPER: How worried are you that the U.S. is at risk of permanently damaging relationships with some of our country's oldest and closest allies?

TILLIS: Well, I think that we can repair the relationships and I hope that the president will get the advice that will -- people with stars on their shoulders know how important the alliance is and know how important it is to our own sophistication, our capabilities. We learn far less. We are far less exquisite in our ability to execute when we're not testing ourselves among our allies.

However, it is a little bit rich that we're talking about the home of NATO and the battle, the famous battle of the bulge, not meeting their 2 percent requirement. These countries that fall short, have fallen short for years, are a part of the reason why we are here today.

And so while I've tried to say that I disagree with the president's posture right now, they own some responsibility for us being here because they combine for a $2 trillion shortfall in the first 20 years of this century. We would have an industrial base, a capability, and maybe not even an incursion into Ukraine if we had a NATO that had spent that $2 trillion, and that's just the minimum amount. Imagine if they were achieving the goals they're prepared to do now.

So, to my Belgian colleagues, pay up, get the legitimate argument off the table that has infuriated this president, and rightfully so.

TAPPER: The president also touted today what he calls the booming U.S. economy. He's saying that incomes are rising, inflation has been defeated. What was your response to that?

TILLIS: Well, you know, I think we have a little bit of a disconnect. I don't think it's productive to say that we don't have an affordability crisis. It's coming from many people who have never wanted for anything in their lives. I'll take people back to that trailer park I grew up in, and I'll ask them whether or not they're feeling good today. My guess is we've got a lot of work to do and the only way you address a problem is recognize that it exists.

TAPPER: From a trailer park to the U.S. Senate, to Davos, Republican Senator Thom Tillis. Thank you so much for your time.

TILLIS: Thank you, Jake.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TAPPER: Much more ahead on President Trump's whirlwind day in Switzerland, including the dig he took a NATO allies while some of them were sitting right there.

Plus, our small business series is back. Tonight, we're going to head to Minneapolis to see if the Trump administration's immigration crackdown is impacting local companies along with his tariffs.

Stick with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:15:00] TAPPER: Back in our World Lead today, during his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, President Trump questioned NATO's commitment to defend the United States, and he said this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: What we have gotten out of NATO is nothing except to protect Europe from the Soviet Union and now Russia. I mean, we've helped them for so many years. We've never gotten anything.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: What President Trump did not mention was the only time that the NATO alliance invoked its collective defense treaty, Article 5, was to defend the United States after the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks.

Joining us now, Republican Congressman Dan Crenshaw of Texas, a Navy SEAL veteran. And I don't have to tell you about other countries joining the United States after the 9/11 attacks. NATO formed a coalition to fight the war in Afghanistan along U.S. forces. You fought in that war. What's your response to the president questioning NATO's commitment to Article 5?

REP. DAN CRENSHAW (R-TX): Look it is true. I've done operations with Canadian SAS. I've lived on a British SAS base. Yes, we're all allies. But I would also say, look, friends are allowed to fight and have these kind of bitter conflicts sometimes.

I still think NATO is stronger than ever right now. And we're having this interview on the heels of quite a day in Davos with Trump's announcement and this announcement of an agreement over Greenland with the NATO secretary general.

[18:20:04]

So -- and I would also point out, you know, when everyone was worried about Trump's commitment to Ukraine, we've seen him take much further steps that have actually put the Russians on their heels and a negotiation position, allowing Ukrainians to use western weapons to strike inside of Russia, actually putting those sanctions on those Russian oil companies that we have long called for.

So, look, he's a maximalist negotiator, like everyone should know that by now. But from his actions, you know, this is very much a pro-NATO and pro-western president.

TAPPER: So, you said NATO's stronger than it's ever been, I guess on the level of the fact that NATO countries are now spending more on their defense, as agreed to, sure. But if you talk to leaders of NATO countries, U.K., France, Denmark, Belgium, on and on and on, Italy, they seem very concerned about the alliance because of what you call President Trump's maximalist approach.

CRENSHAW: Well, yes, let them be concerned. I mean, if they want to express their hurt feelings, they can write me a letter, I'll put it on my website. But, you know, in the end it truly is just by the actions and by the facts, and you mentioned one of them, the greater spending on defense, and now an agreement on Greenland, which has immense strategic value and, you know, the US is really the only one capable of both defending it, utilizing it properly, fending off the Russians and Chinese. And, of course, it has the -- there's the mineral, the rare earth mineral aspect of this, which is incredibly important.

So, yes, I would say it's really one of the strongest times that we've seen in NATO. Look, people are allowed to have these diplomatic hurt feelings, but in the end, look, we've got our real enemies and Trump is taking them on without NATO's help. So, you know, it's -- I think it's been quite the year.

TAPPER: So, let's talk about this framework for a future deal on Greenland, the president claiming that he's arrived at this with NATO Secretary General Rutte. Obviously, the NATO secretary general does not control Greenland. Denmark does. One assumes that Denmark, you know, is part of these negotiations as well, although there's so little we know about this framework.

I do want to ask you, though, in terms of Greenland, Don Bacon, Congressman Don Bacon was on the show earlier, as was Senator Thom Tillis, two Republican Congressional colleagues of yours, and both of them seem to think that all of this could have been achieved, what the president wants to achieve, without all of the drama, as Bacon said.

CRENSHAW: Possibly. I don't have access to the multiverse, I can't create a different timeline and see if we could have just gotten what we wanted by sending nice letters. Look, the president operates how he operates and he wants deals done fast, and he uses a maximalist approach to do it. And, look, we're getting a deal pretty fast.

Again, I don't know the details, just like you don't know the details. I think the most important part of this is these rare earth mineral deposits. I mean, Greenland is, I think, the eighth largest rare earth mineral deposits in the world. And it's important stuff. It's, you know, graphite, zinc, these kind of things, but also things like words you've never heard, like dysprosium or terbium, like you might think I'm talking about adamntium or something, but I'm not. These are real and they're very real for our defense industry.

So, it's this -- yes, it was a maximalist negotiation effort, but NATO's going to be stronger because of it, because when America is stronger, and let's be honest, NATO is America, when America is stronger, NATO is stronger. Those are the facts. We need -- and what we really need to do, at least one of these -- there's two major minds in Greenland, and one is majority owned by a Chinese company. That has to be a key part of this agreement, and I'm assuming that's what we're going to be pushing for. Because when it comes to the defenses, we already have that agreement with Greenland and the Danes.

You know, we already have a space base there. It is critical to our space infrastructure, our ability to see what's coming, you know, to early warning detection missile defense, that kind of thing. But if we want to actually produce the weapons and technologies we need of the future for the next several decades, we need to start thinking a lot more about critical minerals and our ability to process them. So, I work on that on both the Intelligence Committee and on the Energy and Commerce Committee, where we oversee well critical minerals and permitting reform, all these kind of things.

And here's the other problem, Greenland/Denmark has not been great on this, right? They put a -- in 2021, they banned certain uranium mining. They're always against a lot of this stuff. And so that's a problem. Like you we're literally tying our hands behind our back when we have real adversaries to face.

TAPPER: Republican Congressman Dan Crenshaw of Texas, thanks so much for joining us. I appreciate it. And as always, we appreciate your service.

CRENSHAW: Thanks, Jake.

TAPPER: President Trump keeps referring to Greenland as a piece of ice. So, out of all the pieces of ice in this world, why is Greenland the one he's so focused with getting for the U.S.?

[18:25:04]

We're going to break it down next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: We're back in our World Lead, and we're looking to answer the question that many of you have, why Greenland? Why is President Trump so set on taking control of this Danish territory? The answer in part has a lot to do with bases and boats.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh takes a closer look now at the heated battle for this frozen but vital landscape.

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: The race for Arctic Control has run through the Cold War and now the melting ice of the climate crisis. The Russians had long been ahead. It is really their biggest coastline in defense hub, these dots, their bases. They've expanded and developed some facilities, this likely a nuclear missile storage facility. They've added MIG-31s runways, often overshadowing NATO.

[18:30:00]

But Russia's development has, it seems, been challenged by its invasion of Ukraine. One estimate put in casualties from ground units from their Arctic ground forces at about 80 percent.

Now, remember, the capabilities of bases count more than their sheer number, but the U.S. has around eight in Alaska and is down to one in Greenland. NATO member Canada, an ally, is enhancing three, bringing it up to about nine. And Norway's coastline, also a NATO member, is peppered with military facilities.

Militaries, though, are also here partly for economic reasons. Their climate crisis and ice still has left vital shipping routes often open, like these, a shorter path that China is keen to exploit, and potentially there are rare earth minerals, other resources that are easy to get to if the ice sheet gives way.

But the Arctic's role in defense is vital to Russia and its enemies. What's important is the Kohler Peninsula here where Russia keeps its second strike nuclear submarines. They need to get through the so- called Bear Gap and the GIUK Gap in order to move on towards the United States. And so an unlikely nuclear war would also be fought over Arctic skies with most missile paths over this area. And so it's likely where most missile defenses would be best placed as well.

Look, a weakened Russia and ice melts possibly leading to more resources exposed and busier shipping lanes. This is all heightened competition up here in a series of vital races.

Nick Paton Walsh, CNN, London.

TAPPER: And our thanks to CNN's Nick Paton Walsh.

The Trump administration just scored a legal victory when it comes to how federal agents can operate around peaceful protesters in Minneapolis, Minnesota. That story's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:35:00]

TAPPER: Just in in our National Lead, clashes are continuing on the ground in Minneapolis today between protesters and federal law enforcement officers. You can see the smoke there. Protesters say federal agents detonated following a confrontation at a gas station.

The tensions continue as White House officials tell CNN that Vice President J.D. Vance plans to meet with ice agents in Minneapolis, Thursday. He is expected to deliver remarks defending the immigration operations and addressing fraud allegations tied to the Somali community in Minnesota. And a federal appeals court is now freezing an order that had put guardrails on how ICE agents and other federal agents could operate around Minnesota's peaceful protesters. That's a win for Trump and his Justice Department.

But while we're talking about Minnesota, let's turn now to our Business Leaders series, where we talk to small business owners here on The Lead about the impact of President Trump's tariff. For Smart Set Community printing, which is a 40-year-old full service printing shop in Minneapolis, it's not just the tariffs, it's the Trump administration's recent immigration enforcement that's been rapidly transforming their business and the community.

Owner Kevin Brown, joins us now. Kevin, you're the very first business owner we've had to join the series to respond to a different Trump administration policy instead of the tariffs. What has business been like for you and other nearby businesses since the Trump administration sent this surge of ICE and federal law enforcement agents to Minneapolis? KEVIN BROWN, OWNER, SMART SET COMMUNITY PRINTING: Thanks for having me, Jake. It has been profound impacts on the small business community here in South Minneapolis. I'm located in the Seward neighborhood, so we have predominantly East African businesses. I'm next door to one of the daycares that was supposedly exposed by Nick Shirley in his video a couple blocks away. We have a large Hispanic business district. And right now, things look like the darkest days of COVID. Streets are empty, stores are closed. Restaurants are shuttered. It is just almost a complete standstill of economic activity here. And a lot of that is because of the fear that's being created by the armed masked invasion of ICE agents in our neighborhoods.

TAPPER: Is the daycare center next to you a legitimate daycare center?

BROWN: Absolutely. You see kids playing there every day, at least when it's warm around.

TAPPER: Yes. There seemed to be this idea that if you didn't let some strange guy you didn't know with a camera into your daycare center, that somehow that was some sort of evidence of something. It sounds like it wasn't, at least in this instance.

You've stayed open and set up an ICE resistance resource center to help support the community. Tell us how that came about.

BROWN: Well, so, you know, it's very important to us to protect our neighbors and our fellow small business owners here. I'm also the president of the Neighborhood Business Association. And there are a lot of requests for information such as, you know, what legal rights our citizens have, our business owners have.

And so we worked with community groups to compile those resources and make them available to anyone who wants them free of charge.

TAPPER: Are you concerned at all about retaliation or intimidation from ICE agents?

BROWN: I expect it will happen. I know other business owners who have spoke to national media and the next day ICE shows up with an audit of their I-9 forms. You know, we've been in business for 40 years. We are very involved in the community and, you know, there's no reason to stop doing what we've always done right now, but it is scary.

You know, it's -- what's happened is it's no longer about illegal aliens here. The scale of the occupation here is so disproportionate, with 3,000 federal agents here, everyone of color is afraid to leave their house.

[18:40:11]

They've pretty much gone through their targeted list. Then they went after people who are legal non-citizens. Now, they're going after just anyone of color. So, we have 20 percent of our workforce in Minneapolis is people of color and 10 percent of our business owners. Those people don't want to leave their house because they don't know what will happen if they accidentally run into ICE agents.

TAPPER: The business again is Smart Set Community Printing. It's in South Minneapolis. Kevin Brown, thank you so much for your time today, sir.

BROWN: Thank you, Jake.

TAPPER: In between taking swipes at key U.S. allies and teasing a deal on Greenland, the president returned to one of his favorite topics at the Davos World Economic Forum. Colorado Governor Jared Polis is here to respond. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

TAPPER: In our Politics Lead, as President Trump hit the global stage today at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, meeting with world leaders as trade and peace agreements hanging the balance, he could not help but return to one of his favorite subjects, his baseless claims that the 2020 election was rigged.

[18:45:13]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's a war that should have never started, and it wouldn't have started if the 2020 U.S. election weren't rigged. It was a rigged election. Everybody now knows that. They found out people will soon be prosecuted for what they did.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: Of course, it was actually President Trump and his associates who faced charges for attempting to overturn the results of that election based on the wild and unhinged election lies. Let's discuss this. And education issues also with Democratic Governor Jared Polis of Colorado.

Good to see you, Governor.

I want to bring up the 2020 election subversion effort because one of President Trump's associates is former Mesa County, Colorado, Clerk Tina Peters, who was convicted of related crimes, sentenced to nine years in prison. You have drawn the ire of President Trump because you hold the power to potentially pardon her. He does not, because it's a state charge.

In a Truth Social post on New Year's Eve, the president wrote, to the scumbag governor and the disgusting Republican RINO D.A. who did this to her, I wish them only the worst. May they rot in hell, free Tina Peters.

We should note that it wasn't just the Republican district attorney who went after her, but a number of Republicans who thought what she did was tremendously offensive and damaging. What's your response to the president and his claims about the 2020 election? GOV. JARED POLIS (D), COLORADO: Well, I think you're elevating her by

saying she's somehow an associate of the president. I -- maybe they've met, maybe they haven't, I don't know, but at most it would have been once or twice if they've ever met.

She was a clerk who went broke -- basically broke into a office of machines. There were no ballots in that office. She was not part of January 6th or any of that. I don't know what her own political views are, on whether elections were fair or not, but there was a crime she committed. And obviously, we're looking at what the appropriate sentence is for that crime.

This charge that the president's making, that somehow the election was skewed really hits at the heart of our democracy, which is fair and free elections. I have a very high degree of confidence in elections across this country, especially in Colorado, where I certainly have firsthand knowledge. We have paper ballots there that can be recounted. They're there.

It's administered through a system of county clerks with oversight by the state. And I have a high degree of confidence that every vote is counted. And if people try to vote illegally, then their votes are thrown out. And there's actually been people been prosecuted for trying to cast other people's ballots.

TAPPER: So you have recently indicated you're considering clemency for Tina Peters. Do you have any concerns that any sort of clemency might help validate Trump's wild claims about the 2020 election? We just learned that DOGE officials, for example, improperly accessed Social Security data last year, apparently in some sort of attempt to validate Trump's lies about fraud.

POLIS: Who did that? I'm sorry, not -- not this particular inmate.

TAPPER: No, no, no, no. DOGE officials. My only point is that like this --

POLIS: Oh, DOGE. DOGE. Yeah,

TAPPER: Yeah, it continues is my point.

POLIS: Yeah, yeah. And if people in DOGE did that, then, of course, they should be prosecuted. I don't know the facts of this, but, you know, in any particular case you look at what did somebody do, how did they try to subvert the system?

We did have somebody who tried to cast other people's ballots. We -- they were discovered, we have a signature verification system that works quite well. So, you know, in our state, you can check on your status of your ballot. You get updates over text. So, it all works quite well.

If anybody tries to subvert that, of course, they should be held accountable to the law. And that is the same across the entire country. So, I hope that if there are people that are trying to illegally cast votes or people that are trying to somehow game the system, that of course, we have enough checks and balances where we can catch that.

And I'm confident we do in Colorado.

TAPPER: Let's turn to another important issue, education. Enrollment in Colorado public schools dropped by more than 10,000 students this school year. The report from your state's education department also notes, quote, the enrollment of Hispanic students also declined by 4395, which was in contrast to 2024, when Colorado saw an increase of 8,722 Hispanic students from the previous year. What do you attribute this decline to?

POLIS: Yeah, so this is really interesting because our population is going up. People are moving here. Our population increased about 1.1 percent. Number of kids in school decreased.

Two factors. The slow burning one is demographics that's happening across the country. People having less kids. The bigger one is immigrants that were part of our community are either going underground in some cases are being deported or in some cases leaving.

So, we did lose a lot of first generation students. But there's also that slow burn of people having less kids. Even while our overall population continues to increase.

So, it's something that we care a lot about what's happening to these kids and where they're going. We certainly hope that families aren't afraid to send them to school. A lot of the messaging we're doing is it's safe as possible in school.

We can't guarantee any place being safe. But you should be confident knowing that the state will not cooperate in immigration enforcement except when it's related to a crime.

[18:50:02]

TAPPER: We've seen Rahm Emanuel, the former ambassador and Chicago mayor who's contemplating running for president in 2028. He's a Democrat, obviously.

We've seen him talking a lot about education on the campaign trail and talking about successes that some conservative states have had by embracing phonics as a way of reading and how he's basically making the argument that Democrats, Democratic states should learn from Republican states and vice versa.

What are your thoughts?

POLIS: Absolutely. And Rahm's a good thinker in this area. We need a national strategy around education. That's what's so alarming with President Trump sort of breaking up the whole department of education, whether we even have one or not. I don't know.

It's a matter, of course, of national preparedness, of our -- of our economy succeeding, but it's also a matter of individual opportunity at the learners level for every kid across the country. So, making sure we have good school choices, making sure we have science backed curriculum like phonetics for kids to learn reading is absolutely critical. I'm really thrilled to see presidential -- potential presidential candidates not only talking about it, but really putting the thought into developing real plans.

TAPPER: Governor Jared Polis of Colorado, thank you so much, sir. Appreciate it.

POLIS: Thank you.

TAPPER: He just led their team to its first ACC title in more than 60 years. So why is Duke University now suing its star quarterback? That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:55:42]

TAPPER: Our sports lead now, the quarterback who led Duke University to its first conference title since John F. Kennedy was in the White House. He wants to change teams. But wait, there's a flag on the play.

Duke is now suing its own quarterback, Darian Mensah, who announced Friday he wants to enter what's called the transfer portal for student athletes who want to go to a different school.

Let's go quickly to our replay analyst, Christine Brennan.

Christine, a university suing its own student athlete. What's this about?

CHRISTINE BRENNAN, CNN SPORTS ANALYST: What they're saying is that the contract that he signed, a two-year deal, basically 4 million a year. That's NIL -- name, image and likeness that that contract includes this wording, according to "The Duke Chronicle", that he cannot play anywhere else until end of December of 2026.

So, if he can't do that, and if this contract also Duke says that they have the licensing agreement for his NIL and that this needs to go to arbitration. So, he wants to bolt. He wants to go. The word is to the University of Miami, where he could be the starting quarterback. They need a quarterback after their quarterback, who lost to Indiana the other day, is now gone.

And, of course, Duke went to court and has now has a temporary restraining order saying not so fast. We have to play this out. You can't just leave.

TAPPER: So, you mentioned nil, which is name, image, likeness. It's a way that student athletes can make money. Is the fact that Duke is suing him directly related, do you think, to the introduction of all this money now that college athletes can get?

BRENNAN: Yes. And also, the winning that Duke did with this quarterback. The idea being they flooded it with money. We're in the basically, Jake, this is the Wild West.

TAPPER: Right.

BRENNAN: And you know we will find out what a court in North Carolina rules probably in early February on this particular case, whether he will go to Miami or he will stay at Duke -- although it's hard to imagine him staying at Duke now that you've got this legal back and forth going on.

This is the new normal for college sports, especially big-time college sports, especially football, men's basketball, even women's basketball to a certain degree. Everyone's transferring. There's money to be made.

And of course, most people are very pleased that the athletes, the student athletes can now get some money.

TAPPER: Yeah.

BRENNAN: That is a -- now a new standard. But within this, the idea of who controls the athlete. And if he did in fact sign a contract saying he can't play anywhere else for -- until the end of this year, well, then obviously the court would certainly look at that.

TAPPER: And we should note, just for context, Mensah transferred from Tulane to Duke. So it's not like this is the -- you know, he has a history of transferring. If he wins. What does that mean? I mean, if it goes to trial and he wins, it's an arbitration. But if it ultimately goes to trial and he wins, what does that mean for the future of college sports?

BRENNAN: Well, I think again, it's probably the same step that just a step further, Jake, which is that it's the Wild West. Anything goes. There are again the players having control. This all started when coaches would make all their money and then just decide to bolt and leave the kids they recruited in the lurch as they went to another program and went to the pros.

So, the idea was, let's give student athletes the opportunity to make money. And that's worked very well. It's worked well for gymnasts, for Caitlin Clark, it's not just male athletes. It's not just football players.

But this is about what kind of contract he signed and what he is able to do as a, quote/unquote, free agent. Can he go somewhere else or is he bound for that second year at Duke?

TAPPER: So weird. Also like this also just comes as like, college football is so kind of strange now. I mean, in the ACC, the Atlantic conference that Duke's in, you have teams that are on the West Coast and Pacific --

BRENNAN: Stanford.

TAPPER: Stanford, Cal, right? I mean, so can you make any sense of this for us? Is it just like, as you say, wild west, anything goes?

BRENNAN: It is that. Then there are the feel-good stories within this. So, for those who loved Indiana winning and I have three siblings that --

TAPPER: Oh, yeah.

BRENNAN : Brother in law and a niece.

TAPPER: We did a profile of that quarterback like a month or two ago. Amazing story.

BRENNAN: Well, that's also the transfer portal. He transferred and that's also NIL money. So there's a lot of great feelings about it. But there's also the other side of it.

Bottom line is we're going to have this kind of moving around. This is the new normal for these big money sports, football, men's basketball, women's basketball. And the athletes deserve -- I think many people think -- they deserve some of this money. The question is what kind of chaos ensues because of this?

TAPPER: Yeah. If college sports should be exactly the same as professional sports in terms of just bopping around wherever you can get the best deal.

BRENNAN: Exactly.

TAPPER: All right. Christine Brennan, thank you so much. Appreciate it.

If you ever missed an episode of THE LEAD, you can watch the show on the CNN app.

"ERIN BURNETT OUTFRONT" starts right now.