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Trump: Greenland Negotiations Give U.S. Total Access for Defense; Trump Backs Off Greenland Threats After Insulting Allies; Vance to Visit Minneapolis as Tensions High Over Immigration Crackdown; Trump Wraps Up Meeting with Zelenskyy in Davos; Jack Smith Testifies on Capitol Hill About Trump Investigations. Aired 8-8:30a ET

Aired January 22, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: You can watch Jean's live coverage on CNN All Access, on CNN.com, and the CNN app. There is so much going on, and Jean's been doing an amazing job covering it all.

A new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump set to depart Davos after a whirlwind 24 hours in which he alienated NATO allies, took back threats of tariffs over Greenland, as there are questions now about the details of the so-called framework of what was actually agreed to over Greenland.

Big anticipation on Capitol Hill. Former special counsel Jack Smith testifies in public for the first time. New details on what he plans to say on his investigations into President Trump.

And it is looking like an epic winter storm. Feet of snow, the potential for days without power, well over 125 million people in the path. The latest forecasts you need to hear.

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

BOLDUAN: All right, let's get to the breaking news this hour. Right now, President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy are meeting on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos. The president's envoys leading negotiations to bring an end to that, that the war there, they're set to meet with Vladimir Putin in Moscow for another round of talks.

Now, this comes as Trump is wrapping up not only a busy time in Davos, but just a busy day there. Already today, he officially launched his so-called Board of Peace. 19 nations attended the ceremony, but notably, none of them were major European allies. The group was created originally to oversee the rebuilding and reconstruction of Gaza, though the president has hinted, and the charter seems to state, it could go far beyond that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: See, I'm a real estate person at heart, and it's all about location, and I said, Look at this location on the sea, Look at this beautiful piece of property, what it could be for so many people. It'll be so, so great.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: And what John was mentioning on Greenland, there are new questions around what the president called a framework of a future deal when it comes to Greenland. He told Fox Business just now that it will give the United States, quote, total access to the island for national security and defense. But what that means and what that means in his long-term goal of owning it, quite vague -- John.

BERMAN: All right, with us now is former National Security Advisor and former ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton. Ambassador Bolton, let's play what the president said just a short time ago about this framework of a deal over Greenland.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will have all -- everything we want. We're getting everything we want at no cost.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So the Golden Dome will be on Greenland?

TRUMP: A piece of it, yes. And it's a very important part because it's everything comes over Greenland. If the bad guys start shooting, it comes over Greenland. So we knock it down. It's pretty infallible. It's amazing.

You know, Ronald Reagan had the idea a long time ago, but we didn't have any technology at that point. The concept was great, but there was no technology. Now we have unbelievable technology. I mean, Virtually 100 percent.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So what are we talking about, an acquisition of Greenland? Are you going to pay for it?

TRUMP: We're talking about -- it's really being negotiated now, the details of it. But essentially, it's total access. There's no end. There's no time limit.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BERMAN: So, Ambassador, what does that sound like to you, and how different is that really than the current situation?

JOHN BOLTON, FORMER TRUMP NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER: Well, it sounds to me a lot like the 1951 Defense of Greenland Treaty, which I explained to Trump back in 2019, apparently without having much impact. I think he's trying to react in that interview to the widespread coverage of his U-turns in Davos, giving up the threat of using force against Greenland, giving up the threat of tariffs against eight European countries. I think there are a lot of ways you could handle how the NATO alliance, particularly the U.S., but the NATO alliance as a whole, takes care of dealing with the Chinese and Russian threats in the Arctic.

And by the way, the threats are not just to Greenland. They're to Alaska, they're to Canada, they're to Norway, and to the entire alliance. So there are a number of models that could be used. One model very familiar to Europeans. is what are called the British sovereign base areas in Cyprus. When Cyprus became independent of Britain in 1960, Britain kept sovereignty over two base areas. Maybe that's a model.

There are many ways to do this.

[08:05:00]

This should not have been hard. There is no need to cause damage to the NATO alliance as Trump has done. We could have negotiated this six years ago.

BERMAN: Yes, given what you're saying there, if this really isn't in your mind much different than the 1951 agreement, you know, was the juice worth the squeeze here?

BOLTON: No, not only was it not worth the squeeze, Trump has caused enormous harm to the alliance. He has convinced many Europeans, I think, contrary to reality, that the entire United States really has no use for Europe. He has shredded decades of American effort, Republican and Democrat, to build up relations of trust and good faith and reliance on American leadership. And that's an American asset which he has ripped apart. Now, we can fix it probably, but there was no need to cause the damage in the first place.

BERMAN: I want to play you one thing he did say about the United States' relationship with Europe and the members of the NATO alliance. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: But the problem with NATO is that we'll be there for them 100 percent. But I'm not sure that they'd be there for us.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: What's the impact of a statement like that, Ambassador?

BOLTON: Well, people, I'm sure, tried to keep a stiff upper lip, but absolute disbelief that a President of the United States could say something like that, knowing that NATO was there for us after 9/11 and went with us in substantial part into Afghanistan. That's the kind of insult that normal people, you know, dealing with friends where they may have a disagreement or business associates or suppliers or contractors, you don't try and overcome a disagreement by insulting a trusted partner. And that's what he's doing. And it's totally gratuitous.

BERMAN: Well, so Ambassador Sondland, former Ambassador Sondland, was speaking to Kate a short time ago and said, the only way you get something from Europe -- and he was praising the framework of the deal in Greenland. Now he's saying the only way you get concessions like that is by threatening and strong arming them. They won't do things, he says, if you just ask nicely. What do you think about that analysis?

BOLTON: I think that's idiotic. This is a prescription that you treat your best friends the way really, we should be treating our adversaries, to take a maximalist position and try and deter them from acting against us. It is a fact that Europe has made a lot of mistakes over the years in terms of its own defense. The West as a whole has made a severe mistake since the collapse of the Soviet Union by not providing adequately for defense, and we're paying for that failure now.

But allies make America stronger. If Trump knew anything about history, he might remember what Winston Churchill said, that the only thing worse than fighting with allies was not having allies to fight with. Russia and China essentially have no allies in the world. They have a satellite like Belarus in Russia's case. We have enormously greater influence because of the alliances we have, and in the case of NATO, but every other American ally is watching, Australia, Japan, South Korea, watching how Europe is being treated. This is plain evidence of the harm that's being caused.

BERMAN: Ambassador John Bolton, we appreciate your time this morning. Thanks for being with us -- Kate.

BOLDUAN: The Vice President is headed to Minneapolis today to meet with ICE agents as clashes continue. The new reporting on how ICE guidance to agents has dramatically changed the internal memo, laying it all out.

Plus, former Special Counsel Jack Smith this morning will have his first open and public testimony of his investigations and failed prosecutions of President Trump. We're going to take you to Capitol Hill where this is all going to be playing out.

And millions of Americans need to be preparing. What's threatening to be a catastrophic winter storm is set to hit about half the country. We're keeping an eye on the forecast that's coming up.

[08:10:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: All right, I am live here in Minneapolis. We are expecting the arrival of Vice President J.D. Vance amidst very cold temperatures, but a very hot topic that has this city, the residents, some local and state leaders feeling that the Twin Cities is at times and it's some neighborhoods under siege by ICE. We are learning also about a new memo that was revealed by a whistleblower who basically said, look, ICE has changed its policy, its longstanding policy, and is now allowing its agents to forcibly go into homes without a warrant.

Some say that is going to violate the Constitution's Fourth Amendment. Let me let you listen to how Senator Richard Blumenthal saw that as he is investigating what is happening here on the ground when it comes to ICE tactics.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[08:15:00]

SEN. RICHARD BLUMENTHAL (D-CT): Americans should be terrified that this secret ICE policy authorizes agents to break down doors and ransacked through their homes, arresting or detaining people without a judicial warrant.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: So you hear him there talking without a warrant. This is people that ICE say in their defense, people who they say have a final deportation order that they would be going after and entering homes without a warrant. But all of this has caused a lot of consternation here on top of what was already here, an intense belief by some here in the community that ICE is going above and beyond its constitutional rights.

We have also seen Greg Brovino, the head of ICE operations here in town, right after an appeals court issued a statement that allowed ICE to continue its very aggressive tactics using things like CS gas against protesters. We saw Greg Brovino himself throwing a CS canister at protesters who he believed had gotten too close after warning them that he was going to deploy it.

So tensions here still extremely high as the vice president heads this way. Now, the vice president is expected to meet with ICE. He has been very complimentary and supportive of ICE. But you have the opposite situation here where the state and local leaders have been saying that ICE needs to get out of Minneapolis and the Twin Cities.

You also have several scenarios here that have been quite disturbing to some residents where American citizens have been detained by ICE, one detained in his underwear outside. Taken around and then eventually dropped back off when he was able to prove that he was a U.S. citizen. So there is a lot of consternation still here early this morning, even in these frigid temperatures, we have seen already one protester who has come out to stand outside of this federal building here.

Where, by the way, they have definitely put up more security. These huge fences did not exist a few days ago. Those are now up, partly probably because of the number of protesters who have been coming out here, but also the visit from Vice President Vance. Who is also expected to meet with local community members as well as some of the local officials, though we have not been told exactly who -- Kate and John.

BERMAN: A lot to watch there, Sara. Great to have you there. Back to you shortly. I the meantime, we'll be right back.

[08:20:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) BOLDUAN: All right, we're going to take you back to Davos right now looking at this video of President Trump. He spoke to cameras as he was leaving a meeting with the Ukrainian president just moments ago. Let's listen in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Trump, you've got the deal.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: President Trump, can you come to the cameras?

TRUMP: We have a ways to go. They're meeting with President Putin today, as you know. The meeting was good with President Zelenskyy. We'll see how it turns out. A lot of people being killed.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What do you want for them --?

TRUMP: The war has to end.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Is there a deal?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So you didn't get the deal today, Mr. President?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you claim (INAUDIBLE) support.

KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR AND CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: What did President Zelenskyy say to you, President Trump?

TRUMP: We hope it's going to end. A lot of people being killed. Last month, they had 30,000 people killed. 30,000, mostly soldiers. And it's really a war that has to end.

COLLINS: What did President Zelenskyy say to you about joining your Board of Peace?

TRUMP: We didn't discuss that.

COLLINS: Do you want him to join?

TRUMP: We didn't discuss that.

COLLINS: And how did the meeting go? I mean, you've obviously been working on this meeting.

TRUMP: So I think the meeting with President Zelenskyy was good. It's an ongoing process and a lot of people being killed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: But why he didn't get the deal. President Trump, are you going to get the deal today?

TRUMP: We'll have to see what happens. We're meeting with Russia. We're meeting with Russia that'll take place tomorrow. They're going to be meeting with President Putin. I had a very good meeting with President Zelenskyy. Everybody wants to have the war end.

COLLINS: On your Board of Peace President Trump, are you disappointed that major traditional allies have not joined yet, President Trump?

BOLDUAN: All right, that's President Trump as he was leaving the meeting, as very clear with the Ukrainian President. Kaitlan Collins was there asking some of those questions, and she's joining us now. Kaitlan, a good meeting, but clearly no deal.

COLLINS: Yes, I think that was really the big takeaway there, Kate. And obviously they did not let the press pool that's traveling with the president go into that bilateral meeting. I was told it was a very small group that was in the room as President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelenskyy were just meeting just up those stairs. That President Trump descended a few moments ago.

He said it was a good meeting. He said that word -- used that word repeatedly, but clearly no breakthrough on what this meeting and the future of this war obviously isn't happening in Ukraine was going to look like. We weren't expecting any kind of breakthroughs to happen in that meeting there because obviously Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, who were both here and we're just leaving with the president. So obviously they have not yet traveled to Russia.

But they are traveling to Russia to have that meeting that the president was talking about with President Putin. And so I think that is something key that people will be watching for.

[08:25:00]

As we know, territory has been one of the last standing things standing in the way when it comes to sticking points in terms of actually getting to an agreement here. And so, of course, there have been countless meetings between President Trump and President Zelenskyy, who is actually going to address Davos, the conference that we're at right now. So we'll see what President Zelenskyy has to say about that meeting.

I did ask about the Board of Peace because there has been an invitation extended for Ukraine to join that Board of Peace that the president formally was discussing and meeting with world leaders about this morning. He's also invited President Putin to join, and he was defending inviting President Putin last night when we spoke to him down here in this exact same spot, saying that he couldn't just have a bunch of babies as he put it on that board. And obviously, Ukraine's thinking on that has been they cannot be on a board, a Board of Peace, certainly much less with President Putin while he's waging a war in their country and trying to take territory that Ukraine -- that Russia hasn't even, you know, taken over during this war.

And so that is a sensitive matter. The president says, though, they didn't even discuss that. They were obviously talking about the war in and of itself. And so a lot of key questions going forward on that. And then I will note at the end there, he did not respond to my question about those traditional U.S. allies, Norway, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, not yet joining his Board of Peace.

It doesn't mean that they won't, but right now they are not taking that step forward as he is now heading back to Washington from here. BOLDUAN: And some of the hesitancy is exactly what you're getting at, which is the fact that Russia was offered -- Russia has been extended the invitation, and also the scope of what the charter of this Board of Peace really is going to be hitting on. Kaitlan, thank you so much for being there. President Trump is still in Davos, rounding out his trip, and we'll be heading back to the States shortly. Thanks so much, Kaitlan.

Also this morning, we're keeping an eye on Capitol Hill because it's looking to be quite a day. Former special counsel Jack Smith will face lawmakers, this time in public, for the very first time to testify before the House Judiciary Committee about his investigations into Donald Trump. Smith's legal team now says they're prepared for lawmakers to engage in quote, unquote, political theater. And well, I mean, say another way, you know, par for the course for a hearing on Capitol Hill regardless.

And they also make a point to say that the former special counsel is not afraid of President Trump. This morning, Politico has a first look at Smith's prepared remarks, directly addressing the two indictments that he brought against Trump, and that he will tell lawmakers, in part, this. "President Trump," has charged, "was charged because the evidence established that he willfully broke the very laws that he took an oath to uphold."

CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor, Elliot Williams, joining me now for much more on this. It's good to see you, Elliot. You were, just as perspective, you have really inside knowledge in what the kind of the preparation that goes into a hearing like this. You were counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee. How do you think these lawmakers, I guess both sides of the aisle, are going to be approaching this today?

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Right. I think they're really speaking to their respective constituents because, you know, step back, Kate, this really, this hearing is going to be a re-litigation, both of the 2020 election and of the 2023-ish investigations into Donald Trump, which the two political parties up in Congress see very, very differently, as we all know. Now, what is fascinating about all this is that this is a public hearing at all. You know, as you might know, as viewers might know, Jack Smith was the one pushing to have the hearing be public, which is quite remarkable.

Typically, it is not the witness who wants the public hearing, but Congress who does, so it can make a big show about it. So expect a lot of fireworks today.

BOLDUAN: I think that's definitely a good interpretation of what could be coming, and probably hours of it. What are you going? We have -- what was it? Hours and hours of testimony that happened behind closed doors with that that Jack Smith has already offered with that in mind. What are you listening for then today?

WILLIAMS: I'm listening for how the members of Congress and Jack Smith alike handled this idea of investigation into phone records of United States senators. Now it is a painfully common tactic in investigations to seek the metadata of information of people who are on the receiving end of phone calls from someone being investigated. There's no secret that Jack Smith was investigating Donald Trump, and he placed calls to senators.

Had he called Democratic senators, those records would have been swept in as well. Simple to explain. Now, it's very easy for supporters of the president or, you know, some of the members on Capitol Hill to say that senators were being spied on. That's a talking point that people hear.

And that's not quite what happened. I'm really looking forward to how aggressively that gets pushed by Republicans, but also how clearly and cleanly Jack Smith can explain, wait a second, you can have your disputes with the special counsel investigation, but on that point, nothing to see here.

BOLDUAN: All right. Elliot Williams.

[08:30:00]