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Trump Links Greenland Threats to Nobel Prize Snub; Trump's Greenland Tariff Threat; Troops on Standby for Deployment to Minnesota; Train Collision in Spain; Bitterly Cold Temperatures Sweep the U.S. Aired 9-9:30a ET

Aired January 19, 2026 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

JAMES UTHMEIER, FLORIDA ATTORNEY GENERAL: Filing a lawsuit against Roblox for what we believe are serious failures to protect our kids. Roblox aggressively markets to young children but fails to protect them from sexual predators.

HADAS GOLD, CNN MEDIA CORRESPONDENT (voice over): If your child is playing Roblox, experts recommend the following tips. Register your child in the appropriate age range. Set up a parent account, link to your child's, and engage parental controls. Only put approved friends on their chat list. Monitor their activity and keep open the lines of communication.

For Mason's mom, Lena, figuring out how to manage the risks of a game like Roblox is just part of modern parenting.

LENA HEBDEN, MASON'S MOM: There's really only so much a parent can do without fully taking the game away. So, we have to make them as prepared as possible

GOLD (voice over): Hadas Gold, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: An extraordinary new letter from President Trump to Norway. He's directly now linking his laser focus on taking Greenland with what he perceives as a snub over not winning the Nobel Peace Prize.

Also, right now, active-duty U.S. soldiers are on standby, ready to deploy if the president and the Pentagon give the order to send them in to Minneapolis.

And the college football national championship, it's tonight. Indiana versus Miami. And wait until you hear what the Hoosiers coach has to say about milk, cookies and war.

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

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking this morning, hungry for Greenland or green with envy? Maybe both. The extraordinary news this morning that President Trump has linked his desire for the U.S. to acquire Greenland to his not winning the Nobel Peace Prize. He wrote a letter to the prime minister of Norway saying, 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."

Norway is one of eight countries that President Trump is targeting with new tariffs beginning February 1st unless, he says, a deal is reached for the U.S. to take over Greenland. Those countries warn this could all trigger a, quote, dangerous downward spiral. Thousands protested in Greenland and Denmark. Denmark, of course, the NATO ally that controls the island. And the E.U. is weighing the use of so- called a trade bazooka, which could block U.S. access to Europe's markets and impose export controls.

This morning, the prime minister of the United kingdom, Keir Starmer, condemned the president's tariff threats against the NATO allies.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: Alliances endure because they're built on respect and partnership, not pressure. That is why I said the use of tariffs against allies is completely wrong. It is not the right way to resolve differences within an alliance.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Now, this could all come to a head and get very awkward when President Trump attends the World Economic Forum in Davos in Switzerland.

CNN's Richard Quest is already there.

I have to believe this will hang over the entire festivities, Richard.

RICHARD QUEST, CNN ANCHOR AND BUSINESS EDITOR AT LARGE: Oh, I think that's a massive understatement. There is only one dominating topic of conversation. All the participants were here because they're also setting up President Trump's board of peace for Gaza. And now, of course, Greenland was in the background, smoldering away. And all of a sudden it's erupted with this letter, or the text I believe it was, that was sent to the Danish prime minister. Sorry, it's the Norwegian prime minister.

On the issue of Denmark and Greenland, it says, "why did Denmark have a right of ownership anyway. There are no written documents. It's only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago. But we had boats landing there also."

The truth is that the European leaders are being funneled and forced into action they don't want to take because seemingly President Trump does not want to take any off ramp from further action. He's pushing harder, further, faster on the Greenland issue. And the Europeans are saying they are not going to budge on sovereignty.

BERMAN: When the president speaks there, what was his speech -- I mean, what were the plans for the president in Davos, Richard?

QUEST: Well, he was going to give a speech on dialog. I mean that was supposed to be what he was talking about.

[09:05:01]

That's the theme of this year's Davos. And -- but who knows. I mean there's just nothing that anybody can guess that's going to happen here. We are so out of the realms of normality, John. You and I have been covering this sort of stuff all our professional lives. We are way off the charts. So, can anybody say what the president is going to do? If you would have said to anybody that he would have tariffed European countries because they won't force Denmark to hand over Greenland, we would have all said you were barking mad. But we are in this situation, the Europeans do have to come up with a response with a president that is mercurial at best. And frankly, no one has any idea of what's going to happen.

BERMAN: And just a reminder, it's the president's own words linking all of this to the not winning the Nobel Peace Prize. This isn't speculation. He put it in writing.

Richard Quest in Davos, going to be a heck of a week there. Great to have you there. Thank you so much.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: And to talk about this, joining us right now is CNN global affairs analyst Kim Dozier and CNN national security analyst Alex Plitsas.

It's good to see you guys. Thanks for being here.

Kim, does -- with what -- with what President Trump has now put out there in terms of these tariffs, unless and until when it comes to Greenland, do you think this is fine -- this is finally just the United States pushing Europe too far?

KIM DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: I have just heard from a senior European official, as I'm pulsing people overseas, about how they're responding to this, and they said that, "there is a sense that a red line has been crossed or is about to be, and people are getting sick and tired of this B.S. and it's now a matter of pride and principle to stand up to him and his bullying."

So, that's just one take of how European officials are feeling about getting put into this corner where their trade is threatened, which would affect their economies, could affect the global economy, but they feel like, no, this is too far. You say yes to Greenland, then what's next? Is it Svalbard off the coast of Sweden? You know, where does it stop?

And they also feel like Trump sounds a little bit like Putin with his logic about why Russia has the right to seize the sovereign territory of Ukraine. It doesn't make sense to them.

BOLDUAN: Alex, the president has maintained, President Trump has maintained that if the United States doesn't control Greenland, Russia or China will. He's long coveted it for its strategic Arctic location, the natural resources and so on and so forth. Keir Starmer, the British prime minister, this morning said, you know, as other European leaders agree that the security of Greenland matters, as does a strong collective defense. How real are the national security issues associated with this island.

ALEX PLITSAS, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: You know, there are a couple of legitimate national security concerns that -- notwithstanding the fact that we have agreements to be able to put basing and troops there for defensive purposes anyway. But, you know, intercontinental ballistic missiles launched by Russia or China in the event of a nuclear war would likely cross over that area. There are, you know, rare earth element deposits that have been -- that have been sighted. And obviously now with warming in the arctic, you know, freedom of navigation movement is a big deal and the United States has purchased additional icebreakers.

So, there are legitimate national security concerns, but that's, you know, completely separate from the manner in which we're attempting to take control.

BOLDUAN: Exactly. You've said exactly what I was just about to say. What you're saying is separate from what is to be debated.

What is -- from all of your sources that you're talking to, Kim, in terms of over in Europe, I mean, where does -- where does it head? I mean if they -- if they're being backed into a corner, it's, what level of kind of de-escalate is there left in terms of talking President Trump down on this issue, rather than saying, well, finally, we're going to have to bring back up retaliatory tariffs ourself.

DOZIER: Well, Davos is an opportunity for them to meet with him face to face. And for various leaders that he's still talking to, you see that Giorgia Meloni of Italy doesn't want to use the so-called European trade bazooka. She wants to use diplomatic measures. And Keir Starmer of Britain has said the same thing. So, they're going to try, I'm sure, to get him behind closed doors and say, you can do everything you want to do within the bounds of NATO, within the bounds of your 1951 treaty with Greenland, there is no need for this, to at least try to shame him into some sort of logical behavior.

But, you know, there's a lot of anger over there. And there's also anger in the populations across Europe at being bullied like this. So, if they have to use that trade bazooka, they are going to have the backing of their peoples pretty much.

BOLDUAN: Alex, I also want to ask you about where things -- how things are developing in Iran.

[09:10:04]

Iran's president, just yesterday, said that any aggression directed at the country's supreme leader would be seen as all-out war against Iran. That's coming after President Trump had called for new leadership in Iran. What is the impact, do you think, of the -- of President Trump seeming to walk up to the line and talking about committing strikes inside of Iran and then seeming to pull back from it? What are you watching for now?

PLITSAS: Sure. I've been watching and listening and speaking to folks in the region as well, and some of the intelligence officials. And what's become clear is there was a realization that we simply didn't have enough forces. The president got out in front of the military in terms of him wanting to take action. But because the national security strategy has, you know, deprioritized the Middle East and focused on the western hemisphere and the Pacific, we had multiple aircraft carrier groups in the Pacific. We had one in the Caribbean, including a third of the deployed U.S. Navy off of Venezuela. So, we simply didn't have the forces in the region.

That said, you know, Prime Minister Netanyahu has made it clear that he's not going to allow the Iranians to reestablish the deterrence they had with their ballistic missile program that they were rebuilding and restocking. Although the Israeli intelligence services are telling me they've got about a third as many launchers as they did, you know, before the war in June. Separate completely from the protests. And now that that's started.

So, there's a realization that the regime in Iran is going to continue to be a problem and that this is going to be a cyclical pattern of violence until something changes. Yesterday we had a dozen F-15s that were flown in from the U.K., into Jordan, along with refueling tankers. And we have the USS Abraham Lincoln carrier strike group that crossed through the Straits of Malacca yesterday in Asia. It's about five days out from being on station. So, the strike window of the U.S. is going to do something will open probably next weekend and the president will have this week and then going forward to make whatever decision he wants to make about taking action in Iran.

BOLDUAN: Laying out a really important timeline here of when to watch for next moves, as that aircraft carrier will get into theater.

Thank you so much. I really appreciate it, both of you.

John.

BERMAN: Happening now, 1,500 active duty soldiers are on standby for possible deployment to Minneapolis should President Trump decide to invoke the Insurrection Act. A U.S. district judge issued a preliminary injunction restricting ICE and other federal immigration agents from using force against or arresting people who are peacefully observing, criticizing, or recording their operations in Minneapolis. One family says they were trying to get home from their son's basketball game when they were tear gassed in their car. The mother said she had to administer CPR to her infant child.

Let's get to CNN's Julia Vargas Jones, who is live in Minneapolis.

A cold morning there. It's been very cold, but still the activity very much still going on, Julia.

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It is, John. We just saw as the first protesters seem to have arrived here outside, excuse me, the federal building, the Whipple Federal Building that has been the staging area for federal agents. That concern of being caught in the middle of those kinds of operations, John, has been brought up time and again by protesters that we spoke to here on the ground who said, you know, they don't want their children to have to go through that or even witness some of those operations. We saw some of those ourselves as we drove through the city. Many of these community members using small little 3-D printer whistles to warn neighbors of ICE operations happening here on the ground.

But I do want to turn just to where we are right now outside this federal building. We have been seeing images of clashes between police and protesters. But I do want to say, John, that it has calmed down. Now the DHS secretary, Kristi Noem, said that that order from the federal judge wouldn't change anything, wouldn't change the conduct of ICE agents, federal agents, on the ground. But something has changed.

Yesterday we were here for the majority of the day and we did not see a single detention of any peaceful protesters or pepper spray or tear gas used to disperse the crowd. Instead, we've seen a heavy presence of the Hennepin County Sheriff's Department. They have set up barricades, bike racks, as they called, along this sidewalk. That has kept protesters from going into the street. And that has also, John, very expertly prevented those clashes from happening. Perhaps, we could hope at least, that it would stay this way, and that those protesters will continue to voice their opinion peacefully and avoid any further clashes with those federal agents.

John.

BERMAN: Julia Vargas Jones in Minneapolis this morning, standing by for the possibility of more activity today. Thank you.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: So, two trains collide in Spain. More than 30 people are killed. Why officials are calling this crash and what happened truly strange as they searched for answers now.

And an Arctic blast is sweeping across the United States. Tens of millions of people now facing bone-chilling temps. What you need to be watching for today.

And the Los Angeles Rams eking out a win after the Bears made a huge comeback to take them to overtime.

[09:15:05]

The wild ending to last night's action in the NFL playoffs.

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BOLDUAN: There's new video coming in this morning from the scene of a train crash in southern Spain. Rescue crews seen breaking the windshield to get inside. At least 39 people were killed and dozens more were injured when the high-speed train derailed, collided with another train.

[09:20:02]

And this happened on a straightaway portion of the track. Spain's transportation minister thus calling the crash truly strange.

CNN's Pau Mosquera is near the crash site in Spain.

Pau, what are you learning about this? What's the latest?

PAU MOSQUERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's it, Kate, we are just four kilometers away from where this train crash took place this Sunday afternoon. And we cannot move any closer to that because Guardia Civil is actually stopping all the journalists that are trying to get there by car as they want to keep the road clear for the emergency services.

But we know that at least 200 agents of the Guardia Civil, as well as emergency services, are working on the grounds here to try to move all the carriages that derailed, to try to find the bodies, the people that are still missing. But they are not confirming so far how many people are still not being unidentified or still missing.

But what we certainly know, Kate, is that still a lot of families are coming here to Adamuz, this town located in the province of Cordoba, to ask the authorities if they know anything at all of the relatives that they are missing.

This is the case, for example, of Abdul Rahman (ph). This is a person who came directly from Madrid, a lot of hours ago, and he has been all around the province asking in the different hospitals, asking to the different city councils if anyone has information of his sister-i-law, Ava Mir (ph), who is 45 years old and was in the eighth carriage of the train that first derailed. So far he has no information at all.

So, it's just not the families of those that are still searching for the relatives, but also here in this town that they're still shocked for what happened a few hours ago. I spoke with some of the people that live here in this small town of just 4,200 inhabitants, and some of them, they were talking to me with tears in their faces, saying that what happened yesterday, it is just something horrible. And they have never seen something like that.

And they also told me that they expect the authorities to keep working, investigating to clarify what is the cause of this accident, but above all, to get to identify all the people that is still missing.

Kate.

BOLDUAN: Yes, that's just -- the video is just so horrible coming from the scene, that's for sure.

Pau, thank you very much for your reporting. John.

BERMAN: All right, new this morning, bitter cold and subzero wind chills sweeping across much of the United States. Even Florida has freezing temperatures this morning. And a new round of snow could be on the way.

Meteorologist Chris Warren is with us.

You know, Chris, we've been speaking to our reporters, you know, in Minneapolis and then down in West Palm Beach, and they're all wearing winter jackets this morning.

CHRIS WARREN, AMS METEOROLOGIST: It's cold. Most of the country, an overwhelming majority of the country, will be experiencing temperatures below freezing this week. This the scene in southern Alabama yesterday. This is snow about 70 miles from the Gulf Coast. And only about 15 miles from Florida, here in Alabama, the snowy scene with flowers. That's right. A reminder that this is the south we're talking about. Any time of the year there could be blooms and green in some of the bushes and some of the trees. But with temperatures like this, it is definitely wintertime across much of the U.S.

Current temperature. What the thermometer -- you check the, you know, the temperature of the thermometer. It's seven below in Minneapolis. But when you go outside, what it's going to feel like on exposed skin, 28 degrees below zero. Frostbite can set in, in about ten minutes to exposed skin. So, about 70 percent of the U.S. will be experiencing the temperatures that are going to be below freezing this week.

Here's a look at the forecast wind chills. So, this is what you have to plan for when you're choosing what to wear throughout the day, you got to think about what it's going to feel like, not just what the thermometer is going to read. So, the wind coming and blowing that little warm, protective air that your body generates that heat, blowing it right off, making it feel like it's 26 in Atlanta early on. By the evening, it's still going to be feeling below zero by a lot in the twin cities and Chicago. Tomorrow morning, same story, still quite cold. Not much milder in the afternoon. Still in the 30s and 40s, all the way down to the I-10 and south. Temperatures quite, quite chilly.

Snow, yes. Still have it. Mainly around the Great Lakes, where there will be impactful snow. That extra moisture helping to get extra snowfall out of the atmosphere. And with that, whiteout conditions possible at times.

Here's that next system, Tuesday into Wednesday. And the amount of snow that's going to fall in some areas will be measured in feet.

Also, John, looking ahead to this weekend, the European forecast model and the GFS, the American model, both showing and now details will be worked out here, but the potential is there somewhere in here, big ice and possibly snow in the south.

[09:25:07]

Possibly a big, high-impact event this weekend. BERMAN: Yes, so not just worried about today, but worried about it all

the way into the weekend.

Chris, thank you very much for that.

Today, Prince Harry in court for a showdown with a British tabloid. The allegations from Harry and other celebrities that private investigators planted listening devices and recorded private calls.

Tonight, the big night. A champion will be crowned in college football. I got to say, this is a game that no one could have predicted a year ago.

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