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Stocks Tumble Over Greenland And Renewed Tariff Threats; DOJ Pushed FBI To Probe Campaign Contributions To Minnesota Officials; Zelenskyy Skips Davos To Focus On Power Outages Across Ukraine. Aired 7:30-8a ET

Aired January 21, 2026 - 07:30   ET

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

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[07:31:35]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right. You are taking a look at live pictures there from snowy Davos. President Trump is on his way there right now. He landed in Switzerland just moments ago. He is in a helicopter and is set to land there very soon and set to deliver remarks at the World Economic Forum in the next hour. Investors, of course, will be watching this speech very closely and so will all of the world leaders who are there.

Taking a look at futures right now, they are down slightly after stocks did tumble over Trump's ongoing clash with European leaders over his desire to take Greenland and the threats of new tariffs on eight key allies. The Dow ended the day down 871 points. It was the worst day for the markets since October, and you remember why -- when Trump threatened to increase tariffs on imports from China.

CNN senior reporter Matt Egan watching all of this for us. Investors are waiting to hear what he says, obviously, and the emotion we will see, right, on Wall Street.

MATT EGAN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Yeah. Well look, Sara, markets are much calmer this morning, but it feels like a fragile calm, and it does come ahead of some major catalysts later on today.

Taking a look at U.S. stock futures, they were in the green earlier this morning, but they've been drifting lower, so they are pointing to a slightly lower open this morning. But investors are really bracing for two things, right? The president's speech in Davos where hopefully we get some more clarity on the Greenland situation, but also this Supreme Court hearing where Fed independence is on the line and at stake.

Now, all of this comes after, as you mentioned, a terrible day yesterday for markets. The Dow down by almost two percent -- more than that for the S&P and the Nasdaq. The worst day since October. And all of this was triggered by alarm over the president's plan to use tariffs in his quest to try to take over Greenland, right? This has really concerned investors who had hoped that the worst was over when it comes to tariffs. Market veteran Ed Yardeni -- he told me markets do not like the fact

that the president is using tariffs as a bully club, in this case, against European allies.

And this has all sparked a return of that "Sell America" trade that we saw last spring --

SIDNER: Right.

EGAN: -- after the president rolled out those Liberation Day tariffs.

The U.S. dollar falling by almost one percent yesterday, including, notably, against the euro. And, of course, the president's tariffs are aimed at hurting the European economy but it's actually the dollar that lost ground.

Treasury yields -- they went up to a four-month high. That's not just the Wall Street problem; that's a Main Street issue too because the higher treasury yields go, that means the more expensive that mortgages are going to get.

And the VIX volatility gauge -- that's the fear indicator on Wall Street -- spiking by almost 30 percent yesterday alone. And so investors -- they're taking money out of some of those U.S. assets and they're going into gold and silver.

And one other point about the sell-off yesterday. The S&P 500 lost about $1.2 trillion in market value. That's more than the estimated cost of buying Greenland, which is reportedly around $700 billion. Not an apples to apples comparison but still just shows you some of the scale of the losses there.

And as we look at futures -- again, pointing to a slightly lower open. Hopefully we get some clarity on the Greenland situation.

[07:35:00]

Ed Yardeni, the veteran investor -- he told me that history shows geopolitical crises -- they tend to be buying opportunities because these issues do tend to get resolved quickly. Hopefully that's the case again here.

SIDNER: Yeah, or not. I mean, what you're saying, sort of, is with the military -- they don't have to put military anywhere. They can fight using -- whether it's the dollar or whether it's divesting for the United States. So there is an interesting dichotomy happening here.

EGAN: Yeah, absolutely, Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Thank you, Matt.

EGAN: Thank you, Sara.

SIDNER: Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: This has -- also as we're waiting for the president -- become the most built-up speech in the history of Davos. The world is waiting to find out what the president will declare when it comes to Greenland.

Amid fights with friends and new tariff threats over this, one country is definitely taking notes -- China. The Chinese vice premier took the stage in Davos with a very clear message of as the U.S. is picking fights, we're open for business.

Here is one of the quotes. "China is not a trading partner..." -- sorry, "China is a trading partner, not a rival, for other countries. China's development presents an opportunity, not threat, to the world economy."

And it looks like the world is listening. The Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, delivered a historic rebuke to the -- to the U.S. under President Trump from the Davos stage, saying that American dominance exists only as part of a "fictional international rules-based order."

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARK CARNEY, CANADIAN PRIME MINISTER: It seems that every day we're reminded that we live in an era of great power rivalry. That the rules-based order is fading. Let me be direct. We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: And joining us right now is retired Admiral James Stavridis, CNN senior military analyst and former supreme allied commander of NATO.

Mark Carney there, Admiral, declaring the rules-based order led by the United States is a pleasant fiction, saying this bargain no longer works and we're in the midst of a rupture, not a transition. That's the prime minister of Canada.

What do you hear in that?

ADM. JAMES STAVRIDIS (RET.), CNN SENIOR MILITARY ANALYST, FORMER SUPREME ALLIED COMMANDER OF NATO, PARTNER, THE CARLYLE GROUP, AUTHOR, "THE ADMIRAL'S BOOKSHELF" (via Webex by Cisco): Two other points to be made. He's also a former central banker of two different countries. He led the central bank of U.K. -- United Kingdom -- and, of course, of Canada. Now he's the prime minister of Canada.

And the quote from that speech that really sent a chill up my spine, Kate, was him quoting an ancient Greek historian. I'm Greek American and I'm required to point this out. But he quoted Thucydides, saying that we are in an era in which the strong do what they will; the weak suffer what they must. This was an extraordinary speech, and I would say worth a read if you haven't had a chance to do so.

So bottom line, I'm going to tie those two lead-ins together. Where was Mark Carney last week? He was in Beijing -- first time a Canadian leader has been in Beijing in a decade -- cutting a big trade deal with China. Guess who is right behind him? The European Union. And oh, by the way, if we slap tariffs in this adventure to acquire Greenland on Europe, they're going to do the same right back to us. Those who live by the tariffs can die by the tariffs.

So I think this is a moment in which I am hoping to see our president de-escalate the situation. We'll know a lot more in an hour or so.

BOLDUAN: That's absolutely right.

The president's argument, while there have been -- there's been quite an evolution in why he wants Greenland, it is now centrally focused, he says, in the name of national security and the Golden Dome that he is intent on building. Let me play this for you.

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DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're building a Golden Dome and having Greenland makes it a much more effective Golden Dome. And even beyond missile defense but it is so important for the Golden Dome. It's so important for just national and actually, international security.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: And continuing to tie it all together, the treasury secretary told CNBC today "Greenland is strategically important for his Golden Dome project to protect the U.S. and he's invited Canada into that if they want to pay their share."

Is this critically important to U.S. national security? How real is this Golden Dome project?

STAVRIDIS: It's a real project. I think it is extremely important to our national security. And I'll add to the Golden Dome conservation two other points. Greenland sits astride the east-west routes of the sea lanes between the United States and Europe. That's the largest trading relationship in the world. Defending those is critical.

[07:40:00]

And then finally, look at how Greenland points like a tongue up into the Arctic. It is a key to the Arctic. So yes, absolutely, Greenland is vital for our national security. But Kate, that doesn't mean that we need to conquer Greenland, put troops there, and rip it away from the Kingdom of Denmark. So often in life how you do something can be more important than what you're doing. This is one of those cases.

We can do everything the president needs and wants and justifiably argues for in Greenland by working with the Danes, with the Greenlanders, and within the constraints of the NATO alliance. The package is already there. We don't need to invent a new one to get done what we need to for our security.

BOLDUAN: It is great to see you, Admiral -- and always, when you get to pull out another Greek philosopher's quote. It's now -- you're now two for two, I believe, actually. It's great to see you. Thank you so much -- John. JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: So how is this playing with voters here? How much are people focused on it? There's been a suggestion among some that one of the things the president is trying to do by focusing on Greenland is maybe to distract from other things.

With us now CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten. So how much are people focused on Greenland opposed to other things?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: Yeah, OK. So this is the whole idea, John. The President of the United States didn't like the focus on the Epstein files. We're going to change the subject and we're going to go over to Greenland. And from that perspective it's worked.

Look at this -- Google searches versus December. For the Epstein files down to the floor. Far fewer people are searching for the Epstein files, down 72 percent. Of course, you can't poll lower than down being 100 percent -- versus for Greenland. Look at this. The highest on record, up like a rocket -- almost up 1,600 percent. My goodness gracious.

So if the idea was to distract from the Epstein files and focus on -- focus the American people on something else, it has been a success by that metric.

BERMAN: We don't know if that was the goal here, but if it was --

ENTEN: If it was.

BERMAN: If it was.

Now how is staying focused on Greenland opposed to the Epstein files in terms of focusing on an issue that's good for you?

ENTEN: Yeah, OK. So if this was the idea, right -- well, it's a bad idea politically speaking. Why do I say that? Because take a look here. Trump's net approval rating on the Epstein files -- look at that -- just absolutely awful. Thirty-eight points below water. But any try to buy Greenland is somehow even more unpopular. Look at this. It's 40 points below water. There is barely an issue out there that's worse for Donald Trump than the Epstein files.

But any attempts to buy Greenland or use military force on Greenland, which even polls worse than this, is one of them. It is arguably the most unpopular thing that Donald Trump can try to do is mess with Greenland.

BERMAN: So Greenland is polling worse than the Epstein files.

ENTEN: You got it.

BERMAN: All right. How is the president's approval rating right now compared to other presidents in this term?

ENTEN: Yeah. So the idea might be hey, Donald Trump sees my approval ratings are low. I might try and raise them. This won't do it. And the truth of the matter is if we're talking about a year in the term, number two, look at this. I've got all the last six presidents who went in the term -- number two -- got a year in -- and you see this.

Ronald Reagan, Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, George W. Bush. Donald Trump is below all of them. The only person who is even lower than Donald Trump when it comes to his net approval rating at this point into term number two is Richard Nixon. And any comparison when you are into term number two and an approval rating that you have -- if you're anywhere close, as he's the only one lower, that is not a comparison that you want on your dial.

BERMAN: This is the middle of Watergate.

ENTEN: Yes.

BERMAN: Harry Enten, thank you very much -- Kate.

ENTEN: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: There's exclusive new CNN reporting today. Sources say that Justice Department officials pushed the FBI to investigate the political campaigns of Minnesota officials including, apparently, Governor Tim Walz and Congresswoman Ilhan Omar. The goal, to see if they illegally benefited from Minnesota's fraud scandal.

CNN's Katelyn Polantz has this new reporting and she's joining us right now. Katelyn, tell us more about what you're learning.

KATELYN POLANTZ, CNN CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Kate, this is coming from sources, and we have been able to confirm that this is going on behind the scenes at a time where the Justice Department has a lot of attention on Minnesota.

In this instance, it's the top leadership of the Justice Department in Washington pushing the FBI to investigate political campaigns, largely of Democrats, in the state of Minnesota. That could potentially include the governor. It could include Rep. Ilhan Omar. And it is about campaign money.

So in this idea, the Justice Department was looking at a recent report in the newspaper Washington Examiner that looked at how there could have been campaign donations given to politicians in Minnesota when the money had come from illegal or potentially illegal public benefits fraud schemes -- so that viral sensation of looking into the public benefits fraud, the community care centers -- that issue.

[07:45:10]

The Justice Department is now trying to point the FBI to look at political leaders in the state, very likely to be Democrats, and people that Donald Trump wants to see investigated.

The FBI, though, told the Justice Department in the last few days that they are looking into -- they've followed this public benefits fraud scheme very extensively over the past several years but in this instance they have found no hard evidence of anything worthy of a campaign finance violation charge -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: Also in Minnesota, and this is separate, is you now know that the Justice Department has issued subpoenas for at least five officials in the -- in the state.

What are you learning about this?

POLANTZ: Yeah, Kate. This is another area where the Justice Department is putting their attention toward Minnesota at this very moment after the death of Renee Good and as they continue to be fighting with the federal government against the state leadership. This is a different set of subpoenas. This is a grand jury investigation -- a criminal investigation being led by the prosecutors there.

And they're subpoenaing top officials for essentially how they responded to immigration officials -- federal officials in that state, looking at communications, a possible obstruction probe. No one's been charged here and these subpoenas -- they are for documents only. They're going to the offices of each of these state officials -- the governor, Tim Walz, the mayor of Minneapolis, the mayor of St. Paul, as well as the attorney general of the state of Minnesota.

Those subpoenas -- they just were sent yesterday and many of these officials came out not only to say publicly they got them but also this all smells very much like politics and not justice or the rule of law in the state of Minnesota -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: And the pressure on the state coming from the Trump administration taking many different forms we are now seeing.

It's good to see you, Katelyn. Thank you so much for bringing us that reporting -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right. Joining us now, CNN legal analyst and criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor Joey Jackson. He has many hats. He is one smart man.

All right. These subpoenas seek international -- or internal communications about whether local officials support federal immigration enforcement. That's one of the things that they are looking to uncover.

What's illegal about not supporting federal law enforcement?

JOEY JACKSON, CNN LEGAL ANALYST, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Yes. So, Sara, good morning to you. The answer is absolutely nothing. It's concerning.

Now, there is a federal law, and the federal law speaks to trying to hinder or prevent federal officers from doing their job. And if you do it by force, intimidation, right, coercion, those types of things, it makes it problematic. And that means that you're impeding their ability to do it but you're doing it in that way.

The issue though, Sara, is that, you know, simply having a policy disagreement -- there's nothing criminal about that. Simply exercising your right to represent your membership, whether you're the mayor or you're the governor or any other local official, you have an absolute right to do that. And so the issue is whether this -- these subpoenas are actually valid.

And be clear. There are grand jury subpoenas. Grand jurors have vast powers with regard to investigating and doing other things. The question here is whether they are lawfully issued and whether or not they'll actually be quashed, which is a legal term for disregarding and otherwise deemed to be invalid.

SIDNER: All right. I won't to go to something that we heard, because it was really stunning, from the police chief of St. Paul who says his own officers, while off-duty, are being hemmed up by ICE. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHIEF MARK BRULEY, BROOKLYN PARK POLICE: What we're hearing is they're being stopped in traffic stops or on the street with no cause and being forced to demand paperwork to determine if they are here legally. We started hearing from our police officers the same complaints as they feel victim to this while off-duty. Every one of these individuals is a person of color. If it is happening to our officers, it pains me to think how many of our community members are falling victim to this every day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: Excuse me, that was the officer of Brooklyn -- or the police chief of Brooklyn Park.

He says that every single one of the officers who have been targeted by ICE who are citizens are people of color. If ICE is only going by the color of their skin, aren't -- isn't ICE violating their constitutional rights?

JACKSON: In a significant way. And let's remember that a federal judge issued an order and the order was not controversial. The order was to follow the law.

What does that mean? It means that if people are peacefully protesting -- let's talk about that for a minute -- you shouldn't be pelting them or engaging in other violent activity. It means if people are driving their car and you don't have any reasonable suspicion or basis to believe that they're engaged in illegality, why are you stopping them?

[07:50:00]

And so it's highly problematic that you have ICE officials who are out there, allegedly, engaging in aggressive tactics and engaging in tactics that are violative of constitutional law. If somebody is engaged in criminality, by all means they need to be stopped and investigated. If someone's doing something that's otherwise improper or illegal they, too.

But to be doing nothing at all and just going and checking papers -- that's not what the country is all about, it's not what the Constitution is all about, and it's certainly not what the judge in the federal court decision indicated that they were empowered to do.

SIDNER: Yeah, and the administration is trying to get that reversed. They're going back to court. But right now what the judge says stands. And according to that police chief, it is being violated -- his officers among others in the community. So we will have to see --

JACKSON: Yeah.

SIDNER: -- how this all plays out, but it is a really tense situation still there in Minneapolis.

Joey Jackson, it is a pleasure to see you.

JACKSON: Thank you, Sara.

SIDNER: Thank you.

JACKSON: Always.

SIDNER: John.

BERMAN: New this morning actor Timothy Busfield has been released from jail as he faces child sex abuse-related charges. According to the complaint, Busfield allegedly touched twin boys inappropriately on the set of the Warner Bros. produced TV series "THE CLEANING LADY." Busfield's defense attorneys in this hearing spoke to a witness. Associated Press reports that witnesses said the children allegedly involved were never left alone on set.

Busfield's wife, fellow actor Melissa Gilbert, was seen crying in court and thanked Busfield's supporters outside. Busfield has called the accusations lies. He also suggested the children's mother is retaliating because her sons were replaced on the series.

Warner Bros. is the parent company of CNN.

Happening now, Prince Harry versus the press. The tense moments taking place at this moment in a courtroom.

And the Northern Lights like you have never seen them before unless you regularly go to space.

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[07:55:53]

BERMAN: Happening now, Prince Harry is in a London courtroom testifying in a privacy trial involving British tabloids. He's one of seven people, including Elton John and actress Elizbeth Hurley, suing the publishers of The Daily Mail. The plaintiffs accuse the tabloid publisher of illegally obtaining and misusing private information dating back years.

A bizarre series of break-ins near the campus of Coastal Carolina University -- bizarre, sticky, potentially delicious. Police say a suspect poured milk on a couch, dumped queso on a TV, and flipped furniture. Police arrested a man seen on video. They say he also poured syrup throughout the house. At least one other home was hit.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AARON AUDESSE, STUDENT, COASTAL CAROLINA UNIVERSITY: There was just a bunch of milk all over the place. Uh, they dumped milk on his couch. Yeah, my buddy was calling him the "Milk Bandit."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: The suspect, apparently a student at the university, broke into a room while a couple was sleeping. He has been charged with three counts of burglary.

And new pictures of the Northern Lights apparently from an unusual perspective. They were taken by a Russian cosmonaut onboard the International Space Station. The phenomenon is caused by high-speed particles from solar storms slamming into the Earth's atmosphere. It's nice you can see them up through a camera because I continue to submit, Kate, that you really can't see them with the naked eye anywhere on Earth.

BOLDUAN: But it's so cool.

BERMAN: Yeah. If you can get a ride to the International Space Station, it's great.

BOLDUAN: Yeah. Well, thank goodness someone's there and can bring us this amazing aura or whatever.

BERMAN: Let's hear it for the cosmonauts.

BOLDUAN: It doesn't even look real. Maybe it's not.

BERMAN: Maybe.

BOLDUAN: Kidding, kidding, kidding. Naked eye -- Berman put some clothes on.

Here we go. Let's turn to this.

Ukrainian President Zelenskyy will not be attending the World Economic Forum in Davos. The reason being new Russian strikes on Ukraine have crippled the country's energy grid. According to Ukrainian officials, in the middle of a brutal winter heating has now been knocked out to more than 4,000 apartment buildings in yesterday's attack alone leaving more than a million Ukrainian households now struggling through a bitter winter freeze without electricity, obviously heat, or running water.

CNN's Nick Paton Walsh is tracking this one for us. Nick, what is going on there?

NICK PATON WALSH, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yeah. I mean, the cold horrific, hovering around about zero Fahrenheit often at the moment. And 4,000 homes in the capital Kyiv it seems without heating. At this particular point, 60 percent of the capital without electricity.

This is a result of repeated, relentless, targeted Russian strikes over the past weeks to cripple the energy infrastructure. That has a knock on effects to heating as well. There are reports too of mobile phone issues as well. And remember, some of these aging systems -- when they stop, they freeze. They need reheating. And that can have its own knock on effect as well.

And so a very targeted campaign here by Moscow, who has potentially seen its progress on the front lines not as fast as it wanted over the summer and back end of last year, now trying to make the impact of its arsenal felt inside the capital itself.

You mentioned Zelenskyy staying behind to deal with this -- yes -- but he also said that he wouldn't be going to Davos unless he felt that there was potential for documents to be signed relating to the $800 billion prosperity fund his officials have been working towards and potential security guarantees for Ukraine from the U.S. in the event of a peace deal. That's clearly not on the table.

They key discussion about Greenland, many say, distracting global attention from what could have been progress around Ukraine. We may see some developments, Kate, in the hours or days ahead.

And it appears that the White House's envoy Steve Witkoff will be talking to or possibly even meeting the Kremlin and maybe Vladimir Putin, the Russian president himself, in the 24 hours-48 hours ahead. That is likely to be involving some presentation of an updated kind of peace deal.

We know it's pretty hard to find anything that the Kremlin will sign onto. Will they rebuff this latest attempt and most importantly, in this current state of febrile presidential mood, will the president choose to blame Ukraine for not attending Davos or signing onto a generous enough deal for Russia or will he think that Vladimir Putin should sign up to something. That's unclear.

But so much riding on this next diplomatic move while ordinary Ukrainians in the capital -- many of them freeze.