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Trump on His Push to Take Over Greenland: We Have to Have It; Trump Escalates Tariff Threats as European Leaders Push Back; Prosecution to Call Two More Witnesses in Banfield Murder Trial; Subzero Wind Chills are Gripping the Midwest, Great Lakes. Aired 8- 8:30a ET

Aired January 20, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

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JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Vinegar, because that's what they put on fries there, strangely enough. Fries covering a beach after a container ship spilled its cargo, a cleanup operation is now underway. This cargo ship apparently lost 17 refrigerated containers of food during a storm. One resident said, quote, from a distance you would think the beach was covered in yellow sand like on a tropical island. Maybe every beach in England looks like this.

That's a little bit odd of a reaction there. Also washing ashore, lots of onions. So there's that.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts now.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, the breaking news overnight, President Trump taking the fight over Greenland to a whole new level, releasing private text messages from world leaders doubling down on his threats to take Greenland, mocking and threatening U.S. allies. The French president said to take to the microphone this hour. We'll be listening in.

Plus, the trial is set to resume against the Virginia man accused of carrying out an elaborate plot to kill his wife, who the prosecution plans to call to the witness stand today.

And Brooklyn Beckham spilling the tea on what appears to be some serious family drama. What he is saying now about his mother, Victoria Beckham.

I'm Kate Bolduan with John Berman and Sara Sidner. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

BERMAN: Yes, breaking this morning, a live look at market futures. All the major indexes down significantly, sharply across the board. This is a live look at nerves, a live look at investors rattled by what President Trump is saying about Greenland as he slaps new tariffs on countries or his threat to slap new tariff on countries unless there's a deal for the U.S. to take over Greenland, whose leaders have said no thanks. This is markets reacting to the president's social media rants overnight, sharing his private screenshot, a screenshot of a private text message from Emmanuel Macron of France. In it Macron said quote, "I do not understand what you are doing in

Greenland." The president also posted a purported text message from NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, saying quote, "I am committed to finding a way forward in Greenland."

And Trump shared an AI generated image of himself planting an American flag in Greenland. That is what the markets are reacting to. And this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I don't think they're going to push back too much. Look, we have to have it. They have to have this done.

They can't protect it. Denmark, they're wonderful people. And I know the leaders are very good people, but they don't even go there.

And, you know, because a boat went there 500 years ago and then left, that doesn't give you title to property. So we'll be talking about it with the various people.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: This is what the president is focused on this morning. This is what he is focused on as he heads to Europe, to Davos, where he will meet with all kinds of European leaders there.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. Joining me now, CNN's Jeff Zeleny and Tia Mitchell, the Washington bureau chief for the Atlanta Journal- Constitution. Thank you both for being here this morning.

Jeff, the president's overnight being very aggressive again about his desire for Greenland, slamming allies and releasing private text messages. He's now heading to Davos. What are you learning about the plan there -- Jeff?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, Sara, good morning. This is how year two is beginning. And one thing that is clear, he has united NATO allies, but against the United States in his plan to try and acquire Greenland.

So there's no doubt that the White House, the president is serious about this. He has been talking about wanting Greenland literally for since about 2017. That's when I first remember him talking about it.

And look, he is not letting up on this. It's an extraordinary moment where world leaders are releasing text messages to one another, playing out behind the scenes. History has not seen anything like this in this new modern age, if you will.

But behind the scenes, the president is flying to Davos this evening. He'll be meeting with world leaders over the next couple of days. But we're beginning the second year of the Trump presidency with one of the biggest controversies of his first, these on again, off again tariffs.

And they really have rattled the economy. They're rattling the markets. So the question is, where does this go from here?

Is he really going to go forward with imposing a 50 percent tariff on France, for example, or 25 percent tariffs on other countries? So it seems like basically the second year is going to be similar to the first year. But the Supreme Court is going to have a ruling on the tariff decision that could come this morning. It could come later on.

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So that is going to also impact this administration significantly on one of the biggest sort of soundtracks of the first year. And that is his trade policy.

SIDNER: Yes, there are huge implications, as you say, Jeff, with the Supreme Court decision. Meantime, he is threatening more tariffs. Tia, while the President Trump is really going after allies on Greenland, we're also seeing House Speaker Mike Johnson in Europe delivering a message from the U.K. to the Parliament there. How is Trump's own party responding to this obsession with Greenland and all of these threats?

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINTON BUREAU CHIEF, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: So I think there's a difference in their private response to their public response. So privately, I think there are a lot of Republicans who are very troubled by it. They think it has been hurting them at the ballot box during the off year elections.

They think it's not voting well for the midterms. Publicly, they're more measured. You do have some lawmakers like a Senator Tillis, for example, like the Representative Bacon, for example, who are more likely to publicly criticize Trump.

These are lawmakers that also are not running for re-election. The vast majority of Republicans, including Speaker Johnson, want to be on Trump's good side. They want to be considered loyal to him.

They don't want to be perceived as publicly undermining him or disagreeing with him. So they're trying their best to, you know, reassure allies without directly contradicting Trump. And so when we saw Speaker Johnson speaking to the British Parliament, he said things like, you know, this has been overblown by the media.

You got to -- they're taking Trump literally, but not seriously. And I thought to myself, that's a great line. But what does that really mean when you're -- when President Trump is considered the leader of the free world and his allies don't want us to take his words literally, but they do want us to take his words seriously?

Like, what does that even mean in context, in reality? And I think just that Speaker Johnson trying to kind of wordsmanship his way into diplomacy shows the limitations of that when you're talking about Donald Trump.

SIDNER: Yes, there are a lot of diplomats probably scratching their head going, how do we read this and how do we go forward? Jeff, as you mentioned, today marks year two. This is the day that the president took office a year ago.

He won on two major issues, immigration and the economy over and over and over again, that's what the polls said. So what is the public at large saying about the president's aggressive approach when it comes to immigration, which he also linked to the economy?

ZELENY: Look, by and large, the public overall after one year of this Trump administration is frustrated. And our poll on Friday showed that about six in 10 Americans are grading his first year back in office a failure. And the economy and immigration are largely sub themes of that.

Let's start with the economy. The president promised to bring down prices. He promised to bring down the electricity bills, the cost of groceries, the cost of goods.

He talks about this roaring economy, but that is not what most Americans are seeing. Instead, they are seeing him talk more about Greenland, him talk more about foreign interventions. And that is one of the reasons that his approval numbers have driven lower.

And on immigration, yes, there's no doubt that he effectively stopped illegal immigration coming across the border. Some Republicans I talked to wonder why he didn't declare victory on that and move on to something else. And they believe if he would have done that, his numbers on immigration and overall would be higher.

Instead, they are going on this very aggressive immigration policy. We're seeing it play out in the streets. And that is not what some people voted for here.

So going into the second year of his administration, this midterm election year, affordability and the economy is front and center in the Republican ability to hold a control of Congress. And most presidents, in fact, almost all presidents, with the exception of one recently, George W. Bush, have lost a seat in their midterm year.

So President Trump is aware of this. In fact, I'm told he's obsessed by the midterm elections. That's why they wanted to redistrict and change the maps.

So for all the conversations about the Greenland and things, it is issues closer to home that are going to dominate his second year in office.

SIDNER: Yes, and certainly immigration with the madness and the chaos that is going on in Minneapolis with a lot of fear, a lot of frustration there is going to play into this as well. How people see that.

Jeff Zeleny and Tia Michelle -- Mitchell. Sorry. Thank you so much for being here. I will get your name right, girl. I will get it right. It's early -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: This morning, testimony is about to begin again in the trial of the man accused of pulling off an elaborate plot to kill his wife involving the family's au pair. New details coming in this morning on who is now expected to take the stand.

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Plus, winter weather, man oh man. Triggering a massive highway pileup. Dozens of drivers colliding amid whiteout conditions

And a measles outbreak growing and now hitting a major college campus.

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BOLDUAN: This morning, testimony set to pick back up in what has been an astonishing murder trial, a Virginia man accused of carrying out an elaborate plot to kill his wife. Prosecutors argue that Brendan Banfield was having an affair with the family's au pair. And then the two plotted to kill his wife and another man at the family home.

The au pair, you'll remember, pleaded guilty to manslaughter already in exchange for her testimony that happened last week. And now we're about to pick back CNN's Jean Casarez is back with a preview of, well, I mean, what we saw last week. So what is ahead?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The prosecution has said they have two more witnesses for this morning, one being one hour, the other 15 minutes. They did not say who the witnesses are. However, in their opening statement, they said the blood spatter is going to tell you jurors beyond a reasonable doubt Brendan Banfield killed his wife, murdered his wife.

And so we believe one is going to be a blood spatter, the blood spatter that goes onto the walls and on the blinds. And we did see that in some of the crime scene photos. The other one we don't know.

But I got to tell you, last week was all about forensics, right? So many pieces of evidence and the forensics is really favoring at this point the defendant, the murder weapon, which is the knife.

And it was shown to the jurors. And you can tell there is blood on it. On the sharp edge, the DNA is Christine Banfield's. Makes sense if she was murdered with that knife.

On the underside of the handle of that knife. The there at Brendan Banfield's DNA is not on the knife at any part of that knife. And underside of the handle is Joseph Ryan, who is the escort that came with the knife for the role playing.

And Christine Banfield's DNA is on the underside of that knife, but not Brendan Banfield. So defense should start their case this afternoon. The question is, who are they going to call?

How much of a case are they going to have, right? Remember, this is a double murder, though. And in that 9-1-1 call, Joseph Ryan, Brendan Banfield says, intruder into my bedroom. I shot him. He admits it.

And this is, as I said, double murder. You've got to show beyond a reasonable doubt. Joseph Ryan and also Christine Banfield.

How's the defense going to get around him saying on the 9-1-1 call, I shot him.

BOLDUAN: There is a lot more to come. And this is, I mean, as you mean, it's always so important to have you, Jean, because you can bring so much context around it. Thank you so much.

All set to pick back up this morning. Do not forget, you can watch Jean's all access coverage of this trial, the Brendan Banfield murder trial on CNN.com -- John.

BERMAN: All right, is this the morning the Supreme Court could throw a major legal wrench in the president's tariffs? We are standing by for decisions this morning.

And eye popping cold sweeping a huge part of the country already causing huge problems like this 100 car pileup.

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BERMAN: Happening now, absolutely frigid temperatures sweeping much of the country, epic cold. And that's not all. A major winter storm is headed right toward tens of millions of people.

Let's get right to meteorologist Chris Warren. What are we looking at here, Chris?

CHRIS WARREN, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Well, John, first, I want to show you and remind you what can happen in winter weather. Here is that massive pileup in Michigan and what low visibility and slippery roads because of the snow can do. Now with that in mind, throw in something else, ice. And that is going to be a huge concern this weekend.

I'll get to that in just a moment. First, the additional snow that's going to happen over the next few days. It's going to be around the Great Lakes.

High impact in the pink and purple colors. There a foot, maybe even a couple of feet when it's all said and done. And here's a look at what you're dealing with when you walk out the door right now.

It's cold and we're going to see some reinforcing cold air. There will be a brief warm up the next day or two. And of course, it's winter.

So warm up means getting above freezing and then setting the stage by the end of the week, early week. Cold air locking in and locking in far to the south as well. So with cold air in place, any moisture will be bad news.

And that is what we're looking at unfortunately. Here is Friday and pink is ice. So think of the rain freezing on contact to stuff, whether it's roads, sidewalks, trees, power lines. That's what we can be dealing with. Going through time here. This is eight o'clock on Friday, ice. If this plays out, there's still time to see exactly how it's going to go. Who's going to get what?

And you're going to be really wanting to pray for snow because snow is going to be a far better scenario than ice. Still ice falling and accumulating or accreting throughout much of the areas here in pink.

Snow is purple. We continue to see this now. It's Sunday going into Sunday evening.

Some of these major cities likely, if this plays out the way it is, likely could be without power for days. With the amount of snow we're going to see to the north, some pockets seeing heavier snowfall. We'll get to the finer details of as far as how much in the next few days here as we get closer to the event.

But the ice accumulation, the potential here from North Carolina to Texas, again, extremely dangerous travel, John, and potentially power out for days.

BERMAN: Yes, I mean, people are talking about this like it is a serious, serious threat, certainly around Atlanta with the ice there. But I know you said we're going to get to the snow totals in the next few days. But people in Washington are talking like this could be a huge, huge amount.

WARREN: Yes, wait, here's the thing, as big of a story it will be for people in Washington that could see, you know, you know, potentially a lot of snow. This ice, John, is something that we have not seen in a long time. If it plays out the way it could, we're talking about textbook kind of stuff.

In some areas, you're telling your kids and your grandkids about this kind of an event here.

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If it plays out again, it's still early. Don't want to go, you know, too wild yet. But we're seeing the signals, you know, pretty early also showing that something's going to happen.

It's just a matter of who gets it and who gets the worst of it.

BERMAN: All right, needless to say, everyone needs to pay very, very close attention to this over the next few days. Chris, thank you very much for that -- Sara.

SIDNER: I remember "Snowmageddon" in Atlanta. Do you remember, remember that?

BERMAN: Remember when they had like a quarter of an inch?

SIDNER: Yes, and it stopped everything. Imagine. This is different. This is real.

BERMAN: This is really life-threatening in some places.

SIDNER: Yes. It's terrifying.

All right, coming up, a family feud made painfully public. The son of David and Victoria Beckham is lashing out against his parents.

And there's also some major snow happening elsewhere. That is Russia. John is playing hide and seek with me right now, but he would never be found if he fell into some of these swirls.

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