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U.S. Lawmakers Meet With Leaders Of Denmark, Greenland; Protesters Rally Against Trump's Efforts To Control Greenland; Multiple People Detained At ICE Protest Near Minnesota Federal Building; Poll: Majority Of Americans Call Trump's First Year A Failure; Trump's Job Approval Plummets Nearly One Year Into Office; Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) Is Interviewed; Trump: New Tariffs On Denmark And Allies Until Greenland Deal Made; Talks Resume Between Hospitals & Union Amid NYC Nurse Strike. Aired 6-7p ET

Aired January 17, 2026 - 18:00   ET

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

[18:00:28]

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN HOST: Hello, everyone. You are on the CNN NEWSROOM. I am Bianna Golodryga in New York. Jessica Dean is off tonight.

E.U. Ambassadors will be holding an emergency meeting tomorrow, according to an E.U. diplomat, as President Trump escalates his threats to take over Greenland.

People there have taken to the streets, with Trump saying today that he will impose new tariffs on Denmark and several other European allies unless a deal is made to purchase the island.

A U.S. delegation of bipartisan lawmakers has been meeting in Copenhagen with leaders from both Denmark and Greenland.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): There are no pressing security threats to Greenland, but we share real concern about Arctic security going forward as the climate changes, as the sea ice retreats, as shipping routes change. There are legitimate reasons for us to explore ways to invest better in Arctic security broadly, both in the American Arctic and in our NATO partners and allies.

SEN. LISA MURKOWSKI (R-AK): Support for our friends and allies, whether they be the Kingdom of Denmark or others, should not be a partizan issue.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GOLODRYGA: Betsy Klein joins us now. And, Betsy, how is The White House? How is the President responding to condemnation now from these threats from not only Democrats, but Republicans, like we just heard from Lisa Murkowski?

BETSY KLEIN, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER AND WRITER: Exactly. I mean, the President, for now, is staying firm on this, and we have seen him use tariffs and the threat of tariffs as a key negotiating tool to get leverage over U.S. trading partners, right now, taking that tactic to Greenland.

Trump has said for a very long time, starting with his first term that the U.S. must have control of Greenland and that has spurned significant pushback from Greenland, from Denmark, which controls the Arctic island, as well as here at home from the American people.

A new CNN poll says that 75 percent of Americans oppose Trump's efforts to control Greenland, but the President, escalating that once more today with a tiered tariff threat that could have significant economic impacts going forward with key trading partners.

I want to read to you from his post to social media, the President says, "Starting on February 1st, 2026, all of the above-mentioned countries -- Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, the United Kingdom, The Netherlands and Finland will be charged a 10 percent tariff on any and all goods sent to the United States of America. On June 1st, 2026, the tariff will be increased to 25 percent. This tariff will be due and payable until such time as a deal is reached for the complete and total purchase of Greenland."

But we are already hearing, as you mentioned, from those European officials reacting in very stark terms with significant concerns. We heard after meetings earlier this week with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, along with Vice President J.D. Vance and Greenlandic and Danish officials from one of those officials, that was the Danish Foreign Minister, he said that this came as a surprise after what he described as constructive talks in Washington.

We also heard from French President Emmanuel Macron. Macron said that this tariff threat is unacceptable and it has no place in this context.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer says that the tariff strategy is completely wrong, along with a stark warning from European Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen. She said tariffs would "... undermine transatlantic relations and risk a dangerous downward spiral."

So certainly, much to discuss when European officials gather for an emergency meeting in Brussels tomorrow. But I want you to listen to how the Trump administration is rationalizing this move from U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Mike Waltz.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHAEL WALTZ, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE UNITED NATIONS: I promise you, their lives will be safer, stronger and more prosperous under the umbrella of the United States, and furthermore, if you look at Denmark's defense expenditures, they have zero heavy icebreakers. They really have no Navy in the Western Hemisphere to speak of, and they certainly aren't contributing in a meaningful way to the Golden Dome, space or other types of missile defense we have to have.

(END VIDEO CLIP) KLEIN: Now, European countries have deployed troops to Greenland in the past week. Officials say that that is for the Arctic security that President Trump and his top aides say is needed -- Bianna.

[18:05:12]

GOLODRYGA: All right, Betsy Klein, as we noted in the last hour, we are still waiting on the Supreme Court to rule and that could come in the coming days now on whether or not these tariffs that have been imposed by President Trump are even legal.

You will continue to follow all of this for us. Thank you so much.

Meantime, thousands of people have been rallying in Denmark and Greenland against Trump's takeover threat. Large crowds of protesters waved Greenland's national flag while chanting and holding signs that read "Greenland is Not for Sale."

CNN's Nic Robertson spoke to some of the demonstrators about how they are feeling.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: The Prime Minister is front and center there of this protest.

(JENS-FREDERIK NIELSEN speaking in foreign language.)

ROBERTSON: It really feels like most of Nuuk is out here. They are all on the streets. They are all carrying the Greenlandic flag. People we've been talking to have been very clear, they are concerned about President Trump's rhetoric and this is a protest meant to send a very clear message to him, "Hands off Greenland. Greenland is not for sale."

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We are here to demonstrate because of these threats of being annexed by the States and the Trump administration and we do not accept this kind of aggression.

ROBERTSON: What -- are you more worried this year than you were last year?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Exactly.

ROBERTSON: How real are those fears become of his language?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: More and more realistic since he said it for a year ago, where we were also out demonstrating, he keeps on. So of course, it is an increasingly concern for all of us and we have seen what he does in Venezuela and Iran. He doesn't respect anything. He just takes what he thinks is his and what he wants to do.

ROBERTSON: And before the protesters moved off, there was music, there were poems. There was a minute of silence, much of it in the native Inuit language.

(UNIDENTIFIED PEOPLE speaking and singing in foreign language.)

ROBERTSON: But when you look at the families coming out here and the smiles on peoples' faces, it is very clear, this is a peaceful demonstration.

(UNIDENTIFIED MALE speaking in foreign language.)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is not for sale!

(CHEERING AND APPLAUSE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We do not want to be Americans.

ROBERTSON: Did enough people come out to send that strong message?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I did not expect so many to be here, but it warms my heart to know that we are all united together to stand by and fight Trump.

ROBERTSON: You're the next generation.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes.

ROBERTSON: So, what does that mean to be the next generation and face this?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now, I think as a generation, we are kind of scared for the future because it feels like we don't have enough power to make our own decisions fully.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is scary to think about it, and it is scary at night to try to sleep and it is the talk of the day every day.

A couple days ago, we talked about buying a rifle.

ROBERTSON: Yes. For defense?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.

ROBERTSON: Wow. That's serious.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, it is serious.

(PROTESTERS singing)

ROBERTSON: It is beginning to wind down now, an hour-and-a-half of marching, of protesting, of listening to their leaders. The sentiment I have got from so many people here is they hope their voices are being heard. They feel alone. They feel that this is their moment to speak up.

They've done it today and their leaders were with them.

Nic Robertson, CNN, Nuuk, Greenland.

(END VIDEOTAPE) GOLODRYGA: Our thanks to Nic Robertson for that report.

Well, right now in Minneapolis, crowds of demonstrators are marching in subfreezing temperatures outside of a federal building, continuing to protest against the presence of ICE agents in the city and the fatal shooting of Renee Good.

Our CNN field crew has observed multiple people being detained today and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz also is mobilizing the state's National Guard to support the state patrol if needed, but they have not been deployed to the city's streets as of yet.

This coming, as sources tell CNN that the Justice Department is investigating Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey over alleged obstruction of federal law enforcement.

Julia Vargas Jones joins us now live from Minneapolis.

Julia, what is the scene? It looks like more people there are gathered behind you. And I do see a law enforcement vehicle there by you as well.

[18:10:06]

JULIA VARGAS JONES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. This is the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office. We are seeing an increased presence of the Sheriff's Deputies here outside the federal building, Bianna.

It is not something that we've seen in the past few days. Also, in the past 20 or 30 minutes or so, we've seen a lot of people starting to leave this demonstration. It was mostly peaceful. But as we have been reporting, there seems to be some individuals that crossed the line, at least in the view of these officers. That is when they push back.

Now, as we had mentioned before on Friday, yesterday, there was a federal judge who issued a temporary order that determined that federal officers could not use pepper spray or teargas or deploy pepper balls, as we have seen here and that hit our crew in the past two days in peaceful protests.

Now, while we just saw was the use of at least some kind of chemical agent, we saw a number of people be hit by it and we watched as that unfolded, unclear if these were people that had been being watched by some of the drones that the federal government has up here in front of us and targeted specifically or if this was just to disperse the crowd in violation then of that order from that federal judge.

But I want you to hear from one of the medics that is right now treating some of these people. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICOLE KING, NAVY VETERAN, PHYSICIAN: I am, not here to be an agitator, I am here to be a helper.

I think those of us who understand how bad things are right now feel like we've kind of been abandoned by our leadership from a political and legal and kind of police standpoint, and people do feel like they're having to kind of take things into their own hands.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

JONES: Now, there have been a number of protesters here, Bianna, with megaphones and with signs reminding others to remain peaceful. That goes in alignment with both what the governor and what the mayor of Minneapolis have said to please keep these demonstrations peaceful and not then play into the hand of the federal government in the words of the Democratic mayor here, Jacob Frey.

And that is most of the time being listened to. People are listening to those warnings, to those calls for peace. But it is difficult. There is a lot of frustration here. There is a lot of anger.

And the reason, time and again, that we hear both in chants and talking to people here, is that they are afraid for their neighbors who are being targeted they say for looking a certain way, for having a skin of a certain color and they say that they are afraid of going to work, they are afraid of taking their children to daycare. That is why the majority of the people that we spoke to say that they are here today. They said they could not stay silent.

But of course, as tensions rise, that is what we are seeing right now. A lot of people leaving, a lot of Minnesotans do not want to be part of anything that could turn violent -- Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: All right, Julia Vargas Jones, thank you so much for covering it for us and please stay safe.

Still ahead for us, what to watch for in Iran in the coming days as a U.S. carrier strike group makes its way to the region amid violent protests.

Plus, President Trump's failing report card from Americans as he rounds out his first year back in office.

And later, thousands of nurses in New York walked off the job earlier this week and have yet to return. We will have the latest on negotiations with their union.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:18:30]

GOLODRYGA: President Trump today telling POLITICO, "... it is time to look for new leadership in Iran." Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, earlier implied that Trump was to blame for what he called casualties and damage caused in anti-regime protests over the last two weeks.

Now, Trump responded saying, "What he is guilty of is the complete destruction of the country and the use of violence at levels never seen before."

Now, according to a U.S. based rights group, at least 2,885 protesters have been killed, including 19 people under the age of 18.

We are joined now by Vice President and Director of Foreign Policy at the Brookings Institution, Suzanne Maloney.

Suzanne, it is always good to see you. Thank you so much for taking time on a weekend.

I gave you those numbers for one human rights group, but from everything you've been hearing and what we have been hearing and some has been reported, the numbers could be thousands of times larger than that. The numbers of those killed in the past couple of weeks.

And I was listening to you in a podcast where you spoke with one of my good friends, Yonit Levi, just this week. You and I spoke as well, and your message was what we have seen from this regime should be intolerable for the world, and it should be intolerable, then that this regime still exists.

Given that, given that the President has responded saying basically the same thing, we've got more reinforcements headed for the region, what is the number one thing that the United States and its allies could do to effectively make sure that this regime is seeing its last days?

[18:20:10]

SUZANNE MALONEY, VICE PRESIDENT AND DIRECTOR OF FOREIGN POLICY AT THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION: Well, I think ultimately, it will be the Iranian people who overthrow the Islamic Republic, but they need the support of the international community, and they need for President Trump to deliver on what he promised which is to ensure that nothing like this can ever happen again.

I think that what we are seeing with the movement of military assets, the strike carrier group into the region, would enable the United States to respond militarily as President Trump promised via social media over the course of the past week, however, it is not clear to me that military action alone will truly bring down this regime.

This is a very well-entrenched system in Iran. It has been in power for almost 47 years and simply taking out the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, won't be the end of the Islamic Republic.

There is going to have to be a wider campaign of pressure from the international community, there is going to have to be efforts to try to completely delegitimize this regime internationally, and to ensure that it has no recourse to try to stay in power.

But it is not going to be easy, and I suspect it is not going to be a short effort.

GOLODRYGA: Right, and what we've seen transpire in Venezuela with the U.S. snatching Maduro, and that wasn't regime change, that was really dictator change. The administration here in the United States at least thinks for the interim, it can work with the remaining regime there in Venezuela, can't really compare these two countries and these two leaderships, though.

Iran, for all -- I mean, Venezuela for all of its failures, its edict is not death to the United States, death to Israel. That is what we are hearing from the Iranian, from the regime, from the Ayatollah on down, even some of the so-called moderates in the country, if they were to replace him, that doesn't change. That is not expected to change.

So, what does the day after look like in your view at this point, a lot of focus has been on the son of the Shah, Reza Pahlavi, who is here in the United States. He introduced what looked like an impressive list of policies over the next hundred days or so after the fall of this government.

But how realistic is that?

MALONEY: Well, I think you raise several very important points here. The first one is the fact that the regime itself cannot be eliminated by simply swapping out the top leader. In fact, even if the entire clerical apparatus were removed from the Islamic Republic, that would only empower the very people with the military grade weapons who were killing people on the streets over the course of the past ten days.

The Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps are precisely the -- and the broader security forces would be empowered if we were simply to try to decapitate or de-clericize the Islamic Republic. And so, we really need not just for regime change, but a wholesale transformation of the Iranian leadership that will take time, that will take effort.

You also raise the question of Reza Pahlavi. He has been a very important figure. He clearly has some constituency within Iran, but the idea that someone who has been outside the country for 47 years, who has never managed a significant organization, who has never led a government of any kind is going to be able to parachute into the country after what we expect to be continuing turmoil and set up a stable leadership, I think it seems a little bit fanciful.

And so, what we really need to be doing is looking for a situation of building up the expertise within Iran, creating the opportunity for people who have served in the government within Iran, obviously not those who are political, who are part of the regime itself, but this is a large government apparatus with people who have considerable knowledge about how to manage all the apparatus of government, and we need to be able to be in a position to be encouraging defections from the regime, to be creating a parallel set of institutions that can be prepared to step in to govern Iran with people who understand the context on the ground.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, this is also fast paced, though. I mean, the question is, has that already been planned out? How stable is a replacement regime or government in the country? We hear from Reza Pahlavi here in the U.S. There are many that are under arrest currently in Iran, but these are definitely going to be some very trying and dangerous days and weeks to come.

Suzanne Maloney, we will continue to follow your work as well. Thank you.

MALONEY: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: And still to come for us, the numbers are out. New polling reveals how Americans feel about President Trump's first year back in office and the issues dragging that rating down.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:29:25]

GOLODRYGA: Well, Tuesday will mark one year since President Trump's return to office, and a new CNN poll is showing some cause for concern. With the majority of Americans polled, 58 percent calling it a failure.

When we look at the President's approval rating, you see Trump losing ground among a key group and that is Independents.

We are joined now by CNN senior political analyst and Bloomberg columnist, Ron Brownstein.

Ron, good to see you.

So, leading up to the election last year, I remember you and I were speaking about the importance of focusing on independent voters.

RON BROWNSTEIN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: So what is perhaps similar, from what we've seen with President Trump and President Biden is that there is frustration among voters as to their handling of the economy, though Trump still has support of Republicans, but Independents seem to be going lockstep with how they viewed President Biden's handling of this issue.

What does that mean for Trump?

[18:30:19]

BROWNSTEIN: Yes. I mean, absolutely. I mean, I think voters by and large are frustrated that they are not getting the thing they wanted most out of the Trump administration, which is a more affordable cost of living, and they are getting a lot of things that they either didn't expect or didn't want, the kind of the neo-imperialism we are seeing and the threats -- international threats, the extent to which the -- the -- the ICE enforcement has unfolded in a militarized, highly aggressive way.

I mean, if you look at the CNN poll, Bianna, Ron Brownstein, I think what's really striking to me is there's not only a depth of decline, there is a breadth of decline. I mean, the overall job approval rating, the approval rating on the economy are down to 39 percent. If it was really that low in November, it's going to be a very bad night for Republicans. I mean, for comparison, in 2018, during the, you know, so-called --

so-called blue wave election, his approval rating on election day was 45 percent in the exit poll. So, he's well below that. And that's the depth.

And the breadth is that he's really declined relative to his vote in 2024 among every group in the electorate. I mean, you -- you cite independents, but it's also true among college-educated whites, people of color, which is where he made his most important gains in '24, and even the core of the Republican base in the Trump era, whites without a four-year college degree are much more equivocal on his performance and even net negative on his impact on the economy than they were in 2024, when he won about two-thirds of them, the most of any candidates since Reagan.

GOLODRYGA: Yes. And hands down, the number one issue for these voters polled was the economy and that and immigration are the two issues that really got him back ...

BROWNSTEIN: Yes.

GOLODRYGA: ... into the White House. And -- and given what we are seeing play out in streets across Democratic states and cities in this country, Minneapolis, we've been covering for the past few weeks now. You have a new piece out in Bloomberg titled "This ICE Crackdown Is Making the Case for Real Immigration Reform." You're calling this an overreach. Many Americans polled are saying the same, even those that did want to see the President do something more about immigration.

Historically, how can this be used as a way for Congress to step in this type of overreach to really make some reforms then?

BROWNSTEIN: Well, first of all, from early in his presidency, the public has begun to differentiate between his actions on the border, which still have broad support, majority support. People respect that they have regained more control over the southern border, but they are differentiating between that and his actions in the interior and the way the enforcement agenda has been kind of unfolded through this highly militarized, highly confrontational, you know, door-by-door, street-by-street kind of confrontations.

And, you know, for all of the turmoil that has been unleashed by this immigration offensive, the economic impact, the social impact on neighborhoods, the -- the recoil that you -- you refer to in polling, they're just getting started. I mean, they -- they've really, you know, they've arrested around 360,000 people is the best estimate. There are 14 million undocumented immigrants in the country. And even if you imagine some portion of them, you know, undertake what's called self-deportation, try to project out from all of the tension we have seen to get to this point over what the next three years would look like to really put a material dent in that larger population.

And I think that is what is spurring more conversation in Congress that says this is just not -- it is not viable to deal with this problem solely through the Iron Fist. And you're beginning to see discussion, particularly in the House, of a bipartisan alternative, which makes a big concession from the immigration reform packages in '06 and '13 that passed the Senate on a bipartisan basis. This does not provide a pathway to citizenship, but does allow legal status for people who were here before Biden and do not have a criminal record.

And look, I mean, while Trump is president, probably not going to move very far, but he may inadvertently demonstrate that it is simply impossible to do this solely with the Iron Fist that conservatives prefer.

GOLODRYGA: Yes, a really fascinating piece. I urge our viewers to -- to go to Bloomberg and read it. Ron Brownstein, always good to see you. Thank you.

BROWNSTEIN: Thanks for having me.

GOLODRYGA: Well, President Trump says that he'll now impose new tariffs on some of America's European allies. If a deal cannot be made to turn Greenland over to the United States. California Democrat Brad Sherman from the House Foreign Affairs Committee joins me next right here in the CNN NEWSROOM.

[18:35:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:39:37]

GOLODRYGA: Well, tonight, President Trump is digging in on his efforts to take control of Greenland, saying that the U.S. will impose a new 10 percent tariff on several European allies starting February 1st unless a deal is reached. Trump says that this is in response to a move by several countries to send troops to Greenland. But tonight, the E.U.'s foreign policy chief says these new tariffs will only benefit Russia and China.

We're joined now by Democratic Representative Brad Sherman from California. He serves on the House Foreign Relations Committee.

[15:40:08]

Congressman, thank you so much for your time tonight.

I know that you are one of the co-sponsors of a new bill, "No Funds for NATO Invasion Act." There is, I believe, one Republican who has signed on to this legislation. Do you think that you'll be able to get more?

REP. BRAD SHERMAN (D-CA): I think we will. The President is tearing NATO asunder. Republicans have cared about our national security along with Democrats, and NATO has been at the keystone of that. And this 10 percent tariff does nothing but hurt the American people. It's not part of a strategy to improve our exports or improve our economy. It's part of a strategy to rip NATO up and deliver for Putin. I can't think of a worse policy, although Trump may be able to come up with a worse one tomorrow. GOLODRYGA: Well, he also says it's initially 10 percent as of February

1st and will go up to 25 percent in June. But all of this is coming as we are waiting to hear from the Supreme Court, which could be early next week, on whether these tariffs themselves are legal. What do you make of the President really doubling down on an issue where the Supreme Court may come back and say you've got to rescind all of this?

SHERMAN: I'm hoping very much that the Supreme Court will rule our way. Congress never intended to give up its taxing power to this degree. And I -- my fear is that the President will look at one of the other vague statutes and try to use tariff power there if the Supreme Court blocks him from what he's doing now.

GOLODRYGA: I want to ask you also about what is happening in Iran, exchange of words, ratcheting up tensions there between the supreme leader, blaming President Trump for all of those that his regime has murdered. Thousands we know have been killed. Tens of thousands have been injured and arrested over the past two weeks. The President then responding this morning saying that that country needs to have new leadership. This is more assets. Carrier strike groups are approaching the region right now. A, do you think the United States should intervene, should step in?

This is something that the Obama administration, in retrospect, was very upset about not addressing after 2009 and regretted. Do you think that the President is right for setting a red line?

SHERMAN: Well, I think Obama did too little. I think the President seems to be threatening to do too much. We need to be supporting the Iranian people with our voice and helping them with the technology so that they can get around the blockages of the -- the Internet. We need to be funding pro-democracy groups both openly and perhaps not openly.

But ultimately, the demise of this regime is the work of the Iranian people. I'm not sure that an American military attack would be helpful. And I -- it would certainly cause some Iranians to rally behind their leaders in a fit of patriotism. But ultimately, this regime has got to go. It was certainly never elected. It's just done a terrible job for the Iranian people. And I look forward to democracy in Iran, something I've been working on for 30 years.

GOLODRYGA: So, when you talk about other options, there are non- kinetic options as well that experts have said that the President could use, especially in the short term that could really be beneficial to Iranians there, and that is restoring Internet access and -- and tearing down, really, the -- the -- the curtain, the iron curtain there where we -- we have no access to -- to get any sort of information from people there as they are cut off from the Internet. What can the U.S. do? What should the U.S. be doing to do just that?

SHERMAN: Well, Trump pulled the plug on Radio Farda, on our broadcasting television satellite radio into Iran. That was a mistake. Not that Radio Farda couldn't have done a better job. It deserved to be reformed. But we need to get the truth to the Iranian people. The truth is more powerful than our aircraft carriers. Getting the Iranian people to understand what's happening and what's

happening in each city in Iran is just critically important. And it's a shame that our broadcasting resources were dismantled.

GOLODRYGA: Would you support cyber operations?

[18:45:00]

SHERMAN: I support cyber operations to get information into Iran and to help them get information back to us. That -- I -- I -- I think that there ought to be a freedom of expression in Iran. The Iranian government tries to prevent it, and we should open it up technologically.

GOLODRYGA: Congressman Brad Sherman, thank you for your time. We appreciate it.

SHERMAN: Thank you.

GOLODRYGA: And after the break, where negotiations stand between thousands of nurses in New York City and their union nearly a week into their strike. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:50:09]

GOLODRYGA: Contract talks have restarted for 15,0000 New York City nurses who've been on strike for six days now. These negotiations are with two of three major hospital systems affected, while talks have stalled with the third. CNN's Leigh Waldman reports from New York.

LEIGH WALDMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Bianna, despite the snow and rain today, you can see for yourself, the nurses here are showing up, striking here right outside of Mount Sinai in East Harlem, making their voices heard on now the sixth day of what is the largest strike in decades.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

WALDMAN (voice over): A sea of nurses flooded a sidewalk in the Bronx outside of the Montefiore Hospital. bvc

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MICHELLE GONZALEZ, NURSE, MONTEFIORE MEDICAL CENTER: We're out here to make sure that there's enough nurses to take care of our patients safely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALDMAN (voice over): Nearly 15,000 nurses walked out of the job this week as talks between three private hospital systems and the New York State Nurses Association failed to reach a contract agreement.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LIBNI ADROVER, NEUROSURGICAL ICU NURSE: Why is it so hard? You know what I mean? Why is it so hard for them to give us a fair contract?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALDMAN (voice over): The NYSNA union is asking to beef up staffing inside of hospitals, to pay nurses more, and to increase security in and around hospitals.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ADROVER: You punch everybody else outside in the street, you get charged. You get punched as a nurse. Your manager is like, what could you have done different to deescalate this situation?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WALDMAN (voice over): Meanwhile, the hospital system is at the center of the strike. Montefiore Einstein, Mount Sinai, and New York- Presbyterian maintain the asks by the union are unreasonable. In a statement, New York Presbyterian said NYSNA's latest proposal for an approximately 25 percent wage increase would amount to more than $2 billion over the next three years, which is unrealistic.

Mount Sinai stated 23 percent of its union nurses showed up to work Wednesday despite the strike. Strikers are skeptical that nurses are crossing the picket line.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GONZALEZ: At the end of the day, Mount Sinai nurses, Montefiore nurses, New York-Presbyterian nurses are out on strike for safe staffing. And we are going to fight until we get our contracts.

WALDMAN (voice over): This strike comes three years after a three-day long walkout by New York City nurses that resulted in safe staffing wins. But now NYSNA President Nancy Hagans says hospitals have gone back on that deal.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NANCY HAGANS, NURSE/NYSNA PRESIDENT: Those three hospitals decided to roll back and we're not going back. We want to improve our staffing. We want workers protection.

GONZALEZ: We want to go back into our homes. Our hospitals are our homes. It's time to start bargaining fairly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(END VIDEOTAPE)

WALDMAN (on camera): The nurses that we spoke to say that they are prepared to be out here striking for as long as it takes for them to get what they call a fair contract. Bianna.

GOLODRYGA: Our thanks to Leigh Waldman.

Well, winner takes all. The undefeated Indiana Hoosiers will soon take on the University of Miami in Miami. But it's also home for the Hoosiers star quarterback. We'll have more on that next.

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[18:57:51]

GOLODRYGA: When the Indiana Hoosiers face the Miami Hurricanes on Monday night for college football's national championship game, consider this. The quarterbacks for both teams actually played their high school football in Florida. But Monday's championship game will be the first time they have played one another in a game.

But there are further connections here and CNN's Brynn Gingras takes us to the Miami high school that's playing a central part in Monday's big game.

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BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): Go 25 miles south of Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, where college football's biggest showdown is set for Monday night, and you'll land here, Columbus High School, a school that's, well, got some skin in the game.

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DAVE DUNN, HEAD FOOTBALL COACH, CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS HS: We have seven people with Columbus or Columbus alums that are all tied to this game.

Welcome back.

GINGRAS (on camera): Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRAS (voice-over): That's Columbus's football coach Dave Dunn. We first met last year when we came to chat about Fernando Mendoza, Indiana's breakout quarterback, a Heisman winner who played for Dunn.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

Gingras (on camera): Last time I saw you -- wait, Fernando hadn't won the Heisman. I.U. hadn't yet won the Big Ten. They certainly weren't playing for a national championship.

DUNN: Yes.

GINGRAS: What a rise.

DUNN: Yes.

GINGRAS: What do you think?

DUNN: It's -- it's been an unbelievable month. (END VIDEO CLIP)

GINGRAS (voice over): A fairy tale season that will be capped off when Fernando and his brother Alberto, his backup quarterback at I.U., return home to take on Miami. They'll face friends, three high school teammates play for the hurricanes.

Miami's head coach Mario Cristobal, and assistant coach Alex Mirabal round out all Columbus High alumni who will be on the field.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DUNN: And I coach with coach Mirabal here. He was an offensive line coach here at Columbus, and Coach Cristobal's nephew was on our staff. And his two sons are on our team. All five players played for me here.

GINGRAS (on camera): What does it just feel as a coach?

DUNN: It's like a proud father moment -- almost. How many times do I get a chance to see seven of our people compete for a national championship in our backyard?

GINGRAS: Are you getting text messages from friends saying, hey, coach, you should brush your shoulders off? This is pretty cool that you got this many players playing in a national championship game.

DUNN: A few of those, but probably more ticket requests. I've got more of those than I have accolades, but it goes with the territory.

JOHN LYNSKEY, AMBASSADOR OF ALUMNI RELATIONS, CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS HS: Let's go way back. Shall we?

GINGRAS: Yes.

LYNSKEY: This is 1986 and 1987 school year.

[19:00:02]

GINGRAS (voice-over): The connections to this school run even deeper. The Mendoza brothers' dad also played football at Columbus alongside Mario Cristobal.