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Rep. Jimmy Gomez (D-CA) is Interviewed about Greenland; Trump Speaks at World Economic Forum. Aired 8:30-9a ET

Aired January 21, 2026 - 08:30   ET

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

[08:30:00]

ALAN LEVENTHAL, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO DENMARK: NATO continue to exist as it is? We're talking about a NATO country invading another NATO country. You have to keep in mind, Greenland is part of the NATO umbrella. What does that mean for the Russians?

I heard yesterday that Foreign Minister Lavrov justified the taking of Crimea because of the U.S. threat of military action in Greenland. What does it mean for China in their interest in the takeover of Taiwan? This has enormous consequences. So, I would hope that reason will prevail and we will achieve what our goals are in Greenland through the existing relationships, through our close ally, Denmark and Greenland, and expand mineral rights, security rights, whatever we want, because that's all achievable within an existing framework.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: When it comes to diplomacy in this moment, what kind of diplomacy is needed? Because what we're -- what we've seen throughout this second term, especially of President Trump, is, is diplomacy like Mark Rutte said, and how he very -- tries to speak the language of President Trump and be very complimentary to President Trump in order to get what he wants, which is a continued relationship with NATO.

Then you have the French president, you have the Canadian prime minister. They are taking a very different route, as if a line has finally been crossed.

What kind of diplomacy do you think is needed in this moment?

LEVENTHAL: I think we have to come to the realization that the president is serious about this. The administration is serious. And what's happened is, the EU countries now are standing up. They understand the threat to their economy. They understand the threat to NATO. And I think we have to be clear.

I also think that the U.S. Congress has to step up. You know, this is not Venezuela. You know, Venezuela was a brutal, corrupt dictatorship, running drugs, in bed with our adversaries. This is Greenland. You know, the American people get this. The vast majority of the American people are opposed to military action in Greenland. We can achieve our goals working with our allies and working with our NATO allies. And that's the reason that I hope will prevail.

BOLDUAN: You could achieve those goals before saying you wanted to take Greenland, and you can achieve those same goals after. Let's see where the diplomatic off ramp is, if one chooses to take it.

Ambassador, thank you very much for coming on today.

Sara.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, joining us now is California Congressman Jimmy Gomez.

Thank you so much for being here, Congressman Gomez.

REP. JIMMY GOMEZ (D-CA): Yes, of course.

SIDNER: Let's start with Greenland, of course. Trump is still insisting he will take Greenland as he is landing there in Davos. His former ambassador to the EU says, this is just tough talk. He won't take military action, but his tactics will force European leaders to make a deal with him on Greenland faster. Do you buy that?

GOMEZ: I don't. I have -- a Republican colleague of mine once told me, don't take Trump literally, take -- but take him seriously. And that's what I'm actually worried about, that he's very, very seriously about taking over Greenland by any means necessary. And that's why I introduced a piece of legislation called the green -- the Greenland Sovereignty Protection Act, to prevent any use of federal funds from being used to annex, invade, coerce the -- or the annexation of Greenland to the United States because it's too serious. If you do it, you rupture the NATO alliance. You also damage our intelligence sharing amongst our allies. You damage our economic security. It is one of the biggest blunders in U.S. history. This is going to be worse than Bay of Pigs. This is going to be a blunder of epic proportions because the cost doesn't justify the means and just -- doesn't justify the ends. This is a serious deal, and we need to make sure that Congress steps up, because the only people that can stop them are Congress, because we have the power of the purse.

SIDNER: Speaking of Congress, do you have support for your bill? I mean, what is Congress going to do if this continues to ratchet up and there is some movement, some military action or other kind of action, such as him putting the tariffs on Europe, what is Congress doing? And do you have support for your bill?

GOMEZ: One of the things I'm doing is having conversations with my Republican colleagues to try to get them to understand that Trump is not bluffing. Some of them think that he's just using it as a negotiating tactic. I don't. I think he's dead serious. Other ones know that he's serious. It's a matter of getting those people that are rational and understand what Trump is capable of doing and bringing them to our side.

We already have some senators.

[08:35:00]

The senator from Alaska, the Republican, was out in Denmark, and she understands the seriousness of the situation. But now we need the entirety. So, we're going to -- we're going to present this bill in rules. We're going to try to get it passed there. If it's not passed there, we're considering either doing another appropriations bill, a must pass bill, so that Trump -- we put it on his desk, he's going to have to sign it one way or the other. So, we're -- there's still a lot of different avenues to take, but it's a -- there's a lot of game to play.

SIDNER: All right, let me bring us back here to home. While there are, you know, there's a big fight that Trump is picking in Davos over Greenland. There is a huge fight back here at home when it comes to his immigration crackdown, particularly in -- we're seeing it there in Minneapolis and the surrounding areas.

Now, the police chief in Brooklyn Park is speaking up against ICE tactics because suddenly now his officers, while off duty, have been caught up in this.

I want you to listen to what he has said has happened.

(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 fell 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 of how many of our community members are falling victim to this every day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: What support can you give him? What do you think should be done about ICE's tactics?

GOMEZ: Well, first I want everybody to know that we said that this would happen when it started in Los Angeles. I went on TV and said that they're just going after people based on what they look like. And Trump's America with ICE and CBP all over the streets, I knew that I would be at risk. People that look like me. People that have an accent. People that work at restaurants or do jobs that other Americans wouldn't do. I knew that they would go after them just based on the fact that they're at the wrong place at the wrong time. So, if they're going after police officers, I'm not shocked, because in Trump's America, if you're Latino, you look Latino, you look foreign, you're guilty until proven innocent. And that's what that situation shows.

So, he needs to help -- I think that was a big statement to make. We also heard of something very similar happening in Brooklyn. We're seeing that play out all over the country. So, what we need is people to speak up and stand up against this deportation machine, because it doesn't care who they are. And also, we've seen, when it came to Renee Good, they're willing to

make up facts to -- when it comes to a shooting of an individual who is white, who is a white woman, and they didn't even care. And now they're not even investigating that murder.

So, one of the things that they can do is, one, enforce the law on the books and make sure that anything that ICE is doing in the streets of America that violates local law, state law, that they should be enforcing. And then, two, make sure that they're talking to the Police Chiefs Association of America, asking them to -- to step up, because they have a voice within their own associations.

So, there's a lot they can do if they want to do it. And -- but that's one of the things I want to say, no one is safe in Trump's America.

SIDNER: All right, thank you so much, Congressman.

We are going to go now to Davos where Donald Trump, President Trump, has just been introduced. And you see him taking the stage here. This is the most highly anticipated moment because people have been waiting to hear what he says in this speech as he comes on stage beforehand, threatening to take Greenland. You see him there shaking hands with those folks that are in Davos.

And now we shall hear from the president and see what he says as tensions are really, really high between the United States and Europe.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, thank you very much, Larry. It's great to be back in beautiful Davos, Switzerland, and to address so many respected business leaders, so many friends, a few enemies, and all of the distinguished guests. It's a who's who, I will say that.

I've come to this year's World Economic Forum with truly phenomenal news from America. Yesterday marked the one-year anniversary of my inauguration. And today, after 12 months back in the White House, our economy is booming, growth is exploding, productivity is surging, investment is soaring, incomes are rising, inflation has been defeated, our previously open and dangerous border is closed and virtually impenetrable.

[08:40:04]

And the United States is in the midst of the fastest and most dramatic economic turnaround in our country's history. Under the Biden administration, America was plagued by the nightmare of stagflation, meaning low growth, and high inflation, a recipe for misery, failure and decline. But now, after just one year of my policies, we are witnessing the exact opposite. Virtually no inflation and extraordinarily high economic growth. Growth like I believe you'll see very shortly, our country has never seen before. Perhaps no country has ever seen before.

Over the past three months, core inflation has been just 1.6 percent. Meanwhile, fourth quarter growth is projected to be 5.4 percent, far greater than anybody, other than myself and a few others, had predicted. Since the election the stock market is set 52 all-time high records. So, that's in one year, 52 records, adding $9 trillion in value to retirement accounts, 401(k)s and people's savings. People are doing very well. They're very happy with me.

Since my inauguration, we've lifted more than 1.2 million people off of food stamps. And after four years in which Biden secured less than $1 trillion of new investment in our country. Think of that, one trillion. Substantially less than that in four years. We've secured commitments for a record-breaking $18 trillion. And we think when the final numbers come out, they'll be closer to $20 trillion of investment. That's never been done by any country at any time. Not even close.

Just over one year ago, under the radical left Democrats, we were a dead country. Now we are the hottest country anywhere in the world. In fact, the United States economy is on pace to grow at double the rate that was projected by the IMF just last April. And with my growth and tariff policies, it should be much higher. I really believe we can be much higher than that. And this is all great news, and it's great for all nations. The USA is the economic engine on the planet. And when America booms, the entire world booms. It's been the history. When it goes bad, it goes bad. The whole -- we all -- you all follow us down and you follow us up. And we're at a point that we've never -- I don't believe we've ever been. I never thought we could do it this quickly. My biggest surprise is I thought it would take more than a year, maybe like a year and one month. But it's happened very quickly.

This afternoon I want to discuss how we have achieved this economic miracle, how we intend to raise living standards for our citizens to levels never seen before, and perhaps how you too, and the places where you come from, can do much better by following what we're doing because certain places in Europe are not even recognizable, frankly, anymore. They're not recognizable. And we can argue about it, but there's no argument. Friends come back from different places -- I don't want to insult anybody -- and say, I don't recognize it. And that's not in a positive way. That's in a very negative way. And I love Europe, and I want to see Europe go good. But it's not heading in the right direction.

In recent decades it became conventional wisdom in Washington and European capitals that the only way to grow a modern western economy was through ever increasing government spending, unchecked mass migration and endless foreign imports. The consensus was that so- called dirty jobs and heavy industry should be sent elsewhere, that affordable energy should be replaced by the green new scam, and that countries could be propped up by importing new and entirely different populations from faraway lands.

This was the path that sleepy Joe Biden administration and many other western governments very foolishly followed, turning their backs on everything that makes nations rich and powerful and strong. And there's so much potential in so many nations. The result was record budget and trade deficits and a growing sovereign deficit driven by the largest wave of mass migration in human history. We've never seen anything like it.

Quite frankly, many parts of our world are being destroyed before our very eyes, and the leaders don't even understand what's happening.

[08:45:01]

And the ones that do understand aren't doing anything about it.

Virtually all of the so-called experts predicted my plans to end this failed model would trigger a global recession and runaway inflation. But we have proven them wrong. It's actually just the opposite. In one year our agenda has produced a transformation like America has not seen in over 100 years. Instead of closing down energy plants, we're opening them up. Instead of building ineffective, money-losing windmills, we're taking them down and not approving any. Instead of empowering bureaucrats, we're firing them and they're going out and getting jobs in the private sector for two and three times what they were making in government. So, they started off hating me when we fired them, and now they love me.

Instead of raising taxes on domestic producers, we're lowering them and raising tariffs on foreign nations to pay for the damage that they've caused. In 12 months we have removed over 270,000 bureaucrats from the federal payrolls. The largest single year reduction in government employment since the end of World War II. Nobody thought that was coming, but we had no choice. To make a country great, you can't have all federal jobs.

We've cut federal spending by $100 billion and slashed the federal budget deficit by 27 percent in the single year. It's going to go down quite a bit more from that. Driving inflation way down from the record highs of the Biden administration. Every month they went up and up and up.

I promised to cut ten old regulations for every single new regulation. But instead, I've cut actually, till this point, 129 regulations for every one new regulation approved. So, every time they come in with a new regulation, we do at least ten. But so far it's averaging out to 129, if you can believe it.

In July we passed the largest tax cuts in American history, including no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security for our great seniors. We also provided 100 percent expensing. That's the one they like. And bonus depreciation for all new equipment and capital investments to help companies expand and shift production to America. They are so in love with that. They build a plant. They're able to deduct it immediately, the whole thing, rather than waiting 38 to 41 years in the old days.

This is a miracle taking place. Nobody thought it would ever be done by any country. But it's done by us. Was what made my first term the most successful four year term that we've ever had from a financial standpoint. And now we've upped it. This is a ten-year program, not a one-year program. But you're allowed to deduct everything in one year. Used to be 38 to 41 years.

With tariffs we've radically reduced our ballooning trade deficit, which was the largest in world history. We were losing more than $1 trillion every single year. And it was just wasted. It was going to waste. But in one year, I slashed our monthly trade deficit by a staggering 77 percent. And all of this with no inflation. Something everyone said could not be done. There were a couple of brilliant people that actually thought I was doing the right thing. I thought I was doing the right thing. Now they all think I'm doing the right thing because they can't believe the numbers.

American exports are now up by more than $150 billion. Domestic steel production is up by 300,000 tons a month, and it's doubling over the next four months. It's doubling and tripling. And we have steel plants being built all over the country. Nobody thought they'd see that. Factory construction is up by 41 percent. And that number is really going to skyrocket right now because that's during a process that they're putting in to get their approvals. And we've given very, very quick, fast approvals.

In the process, we've made historic trade deals with partners covering 40 percent of all U.S. trade. Some of the greatest companies and countries in the world. We have countries as our partner too. The European nations, Japan, South Korea, they're our partners. They've gone into massive deals with us, especially on oil and gas. And these agreements raise growth and cause stock markets to boom, not only in the U.S., but virtually every country that came to make a deal because, as you've learned, when the United States goes up, you follow.

[08:50:08]

It's really become a staple in America.

I've stopped the nation-wrecking energy policies that drive up prices while sending jobs and factories to the world's worst polluters. They are indeed polluters. Under sleepy Joe Biden, new domestic oil and gas leases fell by 95 percent. Think of that. And they wonder, why was gasoline going up so fast? The gasoline actually topped $5 a gallon, in some places $7 a gallon, and more than 100 major power plants were violently shut down by incompetent people that had no idea what the hell they were doing.

Under my leadership, U.S. natural gas production is at an all-time high, by far. U.S. oil production is up by 730,000 barrels a day. And last week we picked up 50 million barrels from Venezuela alone. Venezuela has been an amazing place for so many years. But then they went bad with their policies. Twenty years ago it was a great country and now it's got problems, but we're helping them. And those 50 million barrels, we're going to be splitting up with them and they'll be making more money than they've made it a long time. Venezuela is going to do fantastically well. We appreciate all of the cooperation we've been giving. We've been given great cooperation. Once the attack ended. The attack ended. And they said, let's make a deal. More people should do that.

But Venezuela's going to make more money in the next six months than they've made in the last 20 years. Every major oil company is coming in with us. It's amazing. It's a beautiful thing to see. And the leadership of the country has been very good. They've been very, very smart. The price of gasoline is now below $2.50 a gallon in many states,

$2.30 a gallon in most states. Then we'll soon be averaging less than $2 a gallon. In many places it's already down even lower, $1.95 a gallon. Numerous states are at $1.99. Numbers that nobody has heard for years. Actually since my last administration. We got it down to around those numbers.

I've signed an order directing an approval of many new nuclear reactors. We are going heavy into nuclear. I was not a big fan because I didn't like the risk, the danger, but they have -- what the progress they've made with nuclear is unbelievable. And the safety progress they've made is incredible. We're very much into the world of nuclear energy. And we can have it now at good prices and very, very safe.

And we're leading the world in A.I. by a lot. We're leading China by a lot. I think President Xi respects what we've done, in part because I've allowed these big companies building these massive buildings to build their own electric capacity. They're building their own power plants, which, when added up, is more than any country anywhere in the world is doing. I read recently an article in "The Wall Street Journal" that China is creating so much energy. And they are. I've got to hand it to them. But we're creating as much or more, and we're letting them do that.

I'm very proud of it. It was my idea. I said, you can't create this much energy. We needed more than double the energy currently in the country just to take care of the A.I. plants. And I said, we can't do that. We have an old grid system. And I came up with the idea, you know, you people are brilliant, you have a lot of money, let's see what you can do. You can build your own electric generating plants. And they looked at me. They didn't believe me. All of the names that are, I think, in the room right now, if you want to know the truth, they didn't believe it. And I said, no, no, you can. They came back two weeks and they didn't have the plant. They said, we thought you were kidding. I said, no, not only am I not kidding, you're going to have your approvals within two weeks. I always say nuclear will -- nuclear will take three weeks. But most aren't going that. They're going oil and gas. They're even going coal in some cases.

Because of my landslide election victory, the United States avoided the catastrophic energy collapse which befell every European nation that pursued the green new scam. Perhaps the greatest hoax in history. The green new scam. Windmills all over the place. Destroy your land. Destroy your land. Every time that goes around, you lose $1,000.

[08:55:03]

You're supposed to make money with energy, not lose money.

Here in Europe, we've seen the fate that the radical left tried to impose on America. They tried very hard. Germany now generates 22 percent less electricity than it did in 2017. And it's not the current chancellor's fault. He's solving the problem. He's going to do a great job. But what they did before he got there, I guess that's why he got there. And electricity prices are 64 percent higher. The United Kingdom

produces just one-third of the total energy from all sources that it did in 1999. Think of that, one-third. And they're sitting on top of the North Sea, one of the greatest reserves anywhere in the world. But they don't use it. And that's one reason why their energy has reached catastrophically low levels with equally high prices. High prices, very low levels. Think of that. One-third and you're sitting on top of the North Sea. And they like to say, well, you know, that's depleted. It's not depleted. It's got 500 years. They haven't even found the oil. The North Sea is incredible. They don't let anybody drill. Environmentally, they don't let them drill. They make it impossible for the oil companies to go. They take 92 percent of the revenues. So, the oil companies say, we can't do it.

They came to see me. Is there anything you can do? I want -- I want Europe to do great. I want U.K. to do great. Sitting on one of the greatest energy sources in the world, and they don't use it. In fact, their electricity prices have soared 139 percent. There are windmills all over Europe. There are windmills all over the place. And they are losers. One thing I've noticed is that the more windmills a country has, the more money that country loses and the worse that country is doing.

China makes almost all of the windmills. And yet I haven't been able to find any wind farms in China. Did you ever think of that? It's a good way of looking at it. They're smart. China's very smart. They make them. They sell them for a fortune. They sell them to the stupid people that buy them. But they don't use them themselves. They put up a couple of big wind farms, but they don't use them. They just put them up to show people what they could look like. They don't spin. They don't do anything.

They use a thing called coal, mostly. But China goes with the coal. They go with oil and gas. They're starting to look at nuclear a little bit. And they're doing just fine. They make a fortune selling the windmills, though. And I think really that's one that they wouldn't be surprised if it stopped. They would -- they are shocked that it continues to go. They're more very friendly with me. They're shocked that people continue to buy those things. They kill the birds. They ruin your landscapes. Other than that, I think they're fabulous, by the way. Stupid people buy them.

The consequences of such destructive policies have been stark, including lower economic growth, lower standards of living, lower birth rates, more socially disruptive migration, more vulnerability to hostile foreign adversaries, and much, much smaller militaries. The United States cares greatly about the people of Europe. We really do. I mean, look, I -- I am derived from Europe, Scotland and Germany. One hundred percent Scotland, my mother. One hundred percent German, my father. And we believe deeply in the bonds we share with Europe as a civilization.

I want to see it do great. That's why issues like energy, trade, immigration and economic growth must be central concerns to anyone who wants to see a strong and united west, because Europe and those countries have to do their thing. They have to get out of the culture that they've created over the last ten years. It's horrible what they're doing to themselves. They're destroying themselves. These beautiful, beautiful places. We want strong allies, not seriously weakened ones. We want Europe to be strong.

Ultimately, these are matters of national security, and perhaps no current issue makes the situation more clear than what's currently going on with Greenland. Would you like me to say a few words of Greenland? I was going to leave it out of the speech, but I thought -- I think I would have been reviewed very negatively.

[09:00:01]

I have tremendous respect for both the people of Greenland and the people of Denmark. Tremendous respect. But every NATO