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1,500 Federal Troops on Standby for Possible Deployment to Minnesota; DOJ: No Plan to Investigate Fatal ICE Shooting of Renee Good; Trump Links Greenland Threats to Nobel Peace Prize Snub; European Allies Unite Amid Trump's New Tariff Threats; East Wing Demo Removed the Old Secret Bunker. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired January 19, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This year, Dolly was not there in person, but she did share a message on social media thanking fans for celebrating her birthday, and she sent her love. Thank you, Dolly, and happy birthday to you.

A brand new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Will the president send federal troops into Minnesota? That is the question this hour. 1,500 U.S. soldiers are on standby. No signs that protests against ICE operations are slowing down.

Plus, is Trump's laser focus on Greenland now all about what he perceives as a snub over the Nobel Peace Prize? Wait until you hear what he just wrote to the prime minister of Norway.

And a high-speed train derails, crashes into another more than 30 people, now confirmed dead, and an urgent search for answers to the question of how did this happen?

Sara is out today. I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BERMAN: All right, happening now, the Pentagon has ordered 1,500 active-duty soldiers to prepare for possible deployment to Minneapolis in case the president invokes the Insurrection Act. There were new clashes between protesters and federal officers. A U.S. district judge issued a preliminary injunction saying federal agents cannot arrest or detain peaceful protesters or deploy certain crowd-control measures against them, again, against peaceful protesters. They can't use chemical agents. DHS Secretary Kristi Noem responded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KRISTI NOEM, HOMELAND SECURITY SECRETARY: We only use those chemical agents when there's violence happening and perpetuating and you need to be able to establish law and order to keep people safe. That's the only situation, so that judge's order didn't change anything for how we're operating on the ground because it's basically telling us to do what we've already been doing. (END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Anti-ICE activists disrupted church services in St. Paul. They say a local ICE official serves as a pastor there. The Department of Justice is vowing to press charges, launching an investigation into civil rights violations against the protesters for demonstrating inside a church.

CNN's Julia Vargas Jones live in Minneapolis this morning. Another eventful stretch in a very cold Minneapolis, we should note -- Julia.

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, but I will say, John, the cold changed very little here on the ground in Minneapolis. We still saw a large presence of protesters here outside the Whipple Federal Building on Sunday. And on Saturday night, I will add, we did not see those chemical restraints or measures to disperse crowds used yesterday, perhaps in part because we've seen these new barricades set up here by the Hennepin County Sheriff's Department.

But to that church protest or disruption of service in St. Paul, just on the other side, they were chanting, ICE out, justice for Renee Good, of course, referring to the 37-year-old mother of three who was shot by ICE on January 7th. The protesters were there because, John, they alleged, they believed that David Easterwood, the local pastor, is also a leader for the ICE field operations here in Minneapolis. The U.S. Department of Justice Assistant Attorney Harmeet Dhillon said that her agency is now investigating federal civil rights violations.

And I will quote here what she said on social media, "By these people desecrating a house of worship and interfering with Christian worshipers. A house of worship is not a public forum for your protests. It is a space protected from exactly such acts by federal and criminal civil laws." One of the people who were there, a protester who participated in, who told the Associated Press she was herself an ordained reverend, said that it was unfathomable for a reverend, for a man of God, to also be participating in the raids that ICE has been carrying out here in Minnesota. And that if people are more concerned about service being disrupted than by the behavior of the agents here in Minnesota, that they should check their hearts.

But, John, I do want to just say that the protests here have remained quite peaceful, in part heeding the calls of those local leaders who have said that not doing so would only escalate things further -- John.

BERMAN: All right, but obviously still an ongoing situation there in Minneapolis. Julia Vargas Jones, thank you so much for your report -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Joining us now to talk about the situation on the ground in Minneapolis is CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig.

[08:05:00]

Elie, we heard there the DHS secretary responding to the judge's ruling about the use of chemical agents, ICE, using chemical agents against protesters. What does this mean for people in Minneapolis? The judge's ruling, the secretary's response to it. What is the real impact?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, very little, Kate, as a practical matter, and I think DHS's response illustrates that. So this is not the lawsuit brought by the authorities in Minnesota. This is not the lawsuit brought by the state.

This is a lawsuit brought by six individual protesters. And the judge's ruling, essentially, is that DHS cannot use physical force, cannot use chemical irritants, cannot arrest people who are protesting peacefully, nonviolently, and un-obstructively. Well, guess what?

That's the law anyway. Hence Kristi Noem's response there. Now, if ICE does go ahead and do that, if ICE does go ahead and arrest someone or use physical force against someone improperly, that person certainly can sue, but they can do that anyway.

So this decision by this judge, I think, is more about public signaling and sending a public message than any real practical impact on the ground.

BOLDUAN: And then you have the Pentagon has ordered about 1,500 active-duty soldiers to prepare for a possible deployment to Minnesota. President Trump is threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act, continues to in response to the unrest there. Can you explain for everyone, remind everyone, as we start this week and what that could mean, the Insurrection Act and what it does and doesn't allow?

HONIG: So, Kate, the Insurrection Act would be a very dramatic step by the president. This is a law that allows the president essentially to take our military forces, and I don't mean National Guard, I mean Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and turn them into local police, local law enforcement, which ordinarily is not permitted. A couple of things to know about the Insurrection Act.

First of all, it gives the president very broad authority. He can use it if there is a rebellion or insurrection or much more broadly, even if it's necessary to enforce federal laws. Second of all, it hasn't come up much because it doesn't happen that often, but when it has reached the courts, the courts have given the president very, very broad deference to invoke the act as he sees fit.

But, Kate, just for historical context, this Insurrection Act has not been used since 1992 after the Los Angeles riots. And before that, it was used in the 50s and 60s to desegregate our schools when certain towns and states resisted the Supreme Court's order in Brown v. Board of Education.

So, Donald Trump certainly does have broad authority here if he wants to invoke the Insurrection Act. But I think it would be wildly out of step with the way it's been invoked over our history.

BOLDUAN: The deputy attorney general was out and talking yesterday, defended the Justice Department's decision to not investigate the ICE agent who fatally shot Renee Good. I want to play what he said in part.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD BLANCHE, DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: We don't just go out and investigate every time an officer is forced to defend himself against somebody. We investigate when it's appropriate to investigate. And that is not the case here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: Is that accurate, Elie?

HONIG: No, I mean, that is cart before the horse. You investigate essentially any time a police officer uses lethal force. There's a long history of DOJ investigating excessive uses of force by local and federal police officers.

Without even judging it, you can look at that video and say, well, it's a close enough call that they need to investigate. And Todd Blanche seems to be on this campaign to justify closing the books before it's even opened. He has said, for example, well, there's a video, people have seen the video. Case closed.

I think the video, even if you're looking at it, sort of fairly or objectively, it all raises various questions. And there's more information we need than what is in the video. We need to know, for example, the ballistics, how many shots exactly were fired, which shot was the fatal shot.

We need to know the speed of the car, the angles. All of those things you would get in an investigation are extremely relevant to a determination of whether you would bring charges. And so I think this approach we've been seeing over the last several days from DOJ of we're not even going to look at this.

I think it's inexcusable. I think it's the opposite of the way the Justice Department ordinarily does its business.

BOLDUAN: Elie, thanks for coming in. I appreciate it.

Ahead for us. Is Greenland all about a grudge? President Trump is now linking his quest to take Greenland to what he sees as being snubbed over the Nobel Peace Prize. Wait till you see what he said in this extraordinary letter.

Plus, new details on plans to rebuild a top secret bunker beneath the White House.

And a rescue caught on camera after a woman and dog fall through thin ice in a frozen canal. We'll be right back.

[08:10:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: An extraordinary new development in President Trump's push to take over Greenland as European leaders meet to discuss an emergency response to his new tariff threat. The president sent a letter to Norway's prime minister. According to a diplomat who's seen the note, he wrote in part, quote, "Dear Jonas, considering your country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped eight wars plus, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America."

CNN's Melissa Bell joins us live from Paris this morning.

[08:15:00]

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: It's a remarkable tone that struck in that letter, dear Jonas, that fit of peak almost at not having received the Nobel Peace Prize used as justification for all that we've seen over the course of the weekend. And that is, John, this extraordinary ratcheting up of this pressure on Europe to try and force them essentially to hand over or sell Greenland to the United States. Which is an extraordinary turn of events that now tariffs should be being used at this particular moment to try and exert pressure on Europe. And that timing is really unfortunate, John, for a number of reasons.

First of all, because in front of European lawmakers was due this week the very deal that was signed last summer to avert a trade war between the United States and Europe, the trade deal that sets American tariffs at 15 percent and that prevents the European Union from imposing levies on the United States. What we understand now is that European lawmakers are not going to pass that deal as a result of these renewed threats of fresh tariffs on European Union countries. What that means is that if the deal is not agreed upon, the retaliatory 93 billion euro worth of European counter tariffs that had been threatened at the time before the deal was reached would come into effect in February.

So really what you're seeing is the European Union preparing to answer very forcefully after a great deal of outrage expressed over the course of the last couple of days as a result of these renewed threats. The reimposition therefore of retaliatory tariffs being prepared even now by the European Commission, even though officially what we've heard this morning from the Commission spokesman, John, is that Europe is looking for de-escalation. They're looking for compromise, dialogue and negotiation, even as they prepare for these very forceful tactics.

And beyond the imposition of these frozen retaliatory tariffs lies the possibility of what's been described as a bazooka option. This is the Europeans anti-coercion tool, which would see an even greater number of limits placed on the United States' access to European markets. So a ratcheting up of the pressure, but a ratcheting up as well of the response, even as negotiations soar -- John.

BERMAN: Yes, talking in ways they really just haven't before. Melissa Bell in Paris this morning, thank you for your reporting on this.

Happening now, rescuers searching for survivors after a deadly high- speed train crash with new questions about how it even happened on a straightaway.

And Prince Harry in a London courtroom as we speak in what could be the final battle of his privacy case against the tabloid.

[08:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: All right, you're looking at a live look, live pictures of the White House right now in Washington, D.C. When we look at that, there's new reporting to tell you about out today on what may be going on beneath that building. In addition to the construction already underway to build President Trump's controversial 90,000 square foot ballroom where the East Wing once stood, we're now learning of plans for potentially big upgrades to a nearly 80-year-old secret safety bunker beneath that site.

CNN's Betsy Kline is in West Palm Beach this morning and has much more on this new reporting. Betsy, what are you learning about this?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Well, Kate, one of the most interesting things I learned in the course of reporting this out is that this is actually not the first time that this has happened. Back in 1941, after the attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt ordered the secret construction of a secure underground facility and built an extension of the East Wing on top.

Now, historians did not -- said that there was not public acknowledgement of this underground bomb shelter during this construction project. So fast forward 80 years, the East Wing once more under construction. That secure underground facility has been dismantled and there is a lot of secrecy about what is going on down there.

Now, one source with knowledge of the plans tells me that there are plans to rebuild and reimagine that underground facility with new technology to counter evolving threats. But again, there has been very little acknowledgement that this part of the project even exists. The White House declining to respond to my request for comment for this story.

But we saw a court filing last week that the White House essentially defended their process. They said that stopping underground construction would, quote, endanger national security and that the reasoning would be provided in a classified setting. Now, let's talk about what was down there.

This started as that World War II era bomb shelter, but it did evolve. It was used during the Nixon era, during protests, during 9-11 to secure President Bush and Vice President Cheney, as well as for secret planning meetings for President Biden's clandestine trip to Ukraine. You would enter through the East Wing, go down a couple flights of stairs and then through this massive vault style door.

It's unlikely at this point that we're going to get any details on what's going to go down there. But in time, we could learn more. What's more unlikely is if we'll ever know how much this costs -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: All right, big questions, though, remain. Betsy, great reporting. Thank you so much for bringing it to us.

Coming up still for us, Prince Harry in court today to continue his fight against a British tabloid. What's going to happen? Got all the details.

And Gen Z now turning more and more to AI for financial advice. New reporting on that and why that could be a risky move.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, federal officials continue to push their immigration efforts, anti-immigration efforts in Minneapolis and around the country. We've been talking about how the president's poll numbers on immigration have flipped over the last few months.

But what about the specific numbers about parts of his policy, specifically deportations? With us now, CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten. And again, this is a very small slice or a partial slice of the president's overall efforts.

We're talking about the effort to get people who are illegally out of the country.

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yes, that's exactly right, John. This we're talking about a specific poll question here, and that is the deportation program in particular when it comes to immigration.

And these numbers have just completely flipped.

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