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One World with Zain Asher

U.S., Russia, Ukraine Holding Peace Talks in Abu Dhabi; No Major European Countries Have Joined the Board; Kushner Unveils Lavish Post-War Plan for Gaza; Growing Outrage Over 5-Year-Old Boy Detained by I.C.E.; Millions Across U.S. Bracing for Historic Winter Storm. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired January 23, 2026 - 11:00   ET

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

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ZAIN ASHER, CNN HOST, ONE WORLD: All right, coming to you live from New York. I'm Zain Asher. My colleague, Bianna Golodryga is off today. You are

watching "One World". We're tracking talks underway in Abu Dhabi, Ukrainian, American and Russian negotiators all attending the first known

trilateral meeting since Russia's war on Ukraine began nearly four years ago.

This comes after U.S. President Donald Trump's Special Envoy Steve Witkoff and his son in law Jared Kushner met with Russian President Vladimir Putin

in Moscow on Thursday. Witkoff and Kushner are attending today's talks in Abu Dhabi along with Ukraine's top negotiators.

Russia is sending a military team, not its diplomatic point man. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he has held consultations with his

delegation on speaker phone and will remain in constant contact with them. Let's go live now to the White House, where we find our Kevin Liptak.

So, Kevin, Zelenskyy saying, obviously this trilateral meeting is a clear step forward, just in terms of a possible path to peace, but territory

still does remain a key sticking point here. What do we know so far?

KEVIN LIPTAK, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yeah, and you know, we've been hearing for some weeks now that this plan is 90 percent completed,

that they have worked through all of these sticky issues, but it is clearly that last 10 percent which is the question of territorial concessions, that

is proving difficult to overcome.

And you heard that directly from Zelenskyy, yesterday you heard Steve Witkoff, the President's Foreign Envoy, kind of allude to the fact that

there is one issue that remains, despite these months and months of attempts to bring a peace deal over the finish line. And that is going to

be a point of discussion as they sit down in Abu Dhabi today.

But I do think it's notable that this is a trilateral format meeting. It's going to be the U.S., the Ukrainians and the Russians now sitting down at

last to discuss this amongst themselves. It had been a format that President Trump himself had suggested would be useful after meeting

Vladimir Putin in Alaska last summer, but never essentially came to fruition.

And so just the format of this meeting, this new format, I think, could be a sign that things are continuing to progress, however incrementally. And I

think the effect that, that will have is it will make any future negotiations, just between the U.S., or just between Russia and the U.S.

more difficult.

It will be raising the question of why the trilateral format doesn't proceed. And so just putting this into place, I think, will be important

going ahead. Now, I think the limit, the expectations are somewhat limited. You know, no one expects them to emerge from this meeting having figured

out how to carve up the Eastern Donbas region, which, at the end of the day is the ultimate task here.

Even President Trump sounded somewhat pessimistic that this would all end very quickly. Listen to what he said last night on Air Force One.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: What's happened here is there were times when Putin didn't want to make a deal, times when

Zelenskyy didn't want to make a deal, and it was like opposite times. Now I think they both want to make a deal. We'll find out.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LIPTAK: Now there are two other issues that I think the U.S. wants to ensure that both Russia and Ukraine can accept. One is this question of

security guarantees that had been a point of quite intensive discussion between the Ukrainians and the Americans over the last several weeks about

what exactly that would include.

And of course, they need to ensure that Moscow can accept those security guarantees as any part of peace deal. The other aspect is the post war sort

of financial situation for Ukraine, and it will certainly cost billions and billions of dollars to help rebuild that country.

That's something that Steve Witkoff has said that he will be focused very intently on, as well as Jared Kushner, the president's son in law, who is

part of the negotiating team here now. Yesterday, when Zelenskyy was emerging from his meeting with President Trump at Davos.

He was relatively upbeat, which I think is notable. That's not always been the case after these meetings. He said that they discussed potential new

air defense systems. That's something that is always sort of on Ukraine's wish list. But I think that's also a sign that even Zelenskyy himself, as

he's asking for these new defenses, is aware that this war may not be ending anytime soon.

ASHER: Kevin Liptak, live for us there. Thank you so much. Right, President Trump says a massive U.S. armada is heading towards Iran right now. The

U.S. naval fleet appears, very least, a clear warning to Iran's regime, as Iran continually, continues, rather to brutally crack down on anti-

government protesters.

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Tens of thousands have reportedly been arrested and thousands killed.

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TRUMP: You know, we have a lot of ships going that direction, just in case, we have a big flotilla going in that direction, and we'll see what happens.

It's a big force. We have a big force going toward Iran. I'd rather not see anything happen, but we're watching them very closely.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: There's no official word on which strike group is headed to the Middle East, but the USS Abraham Lincoln is the nearest one. Right,

President Trump's "Board of Peace", which aims to rebuild Gaza and tackle global conflicts, is moving forward without one of America's closest

allies.

Trump has withdrawn his invitation to the Canadian Prime Minister after Mark Carney's speech in Davos, in which he said the rules-based order is

fading. This is Trump held a signing ceremony on Thursday. So far, no major European countries have joined this "Board of Peace", many citing concerns

about the inclusion of Vladimir Putin.

Meantime, Trump's son in law, Jared Kushner, revealed the group's lavish blueprint for a post war Gaza. The plan includes hotels, schools, medical

facilities and up to 180 skyscrapers, apparently. Hundreds of businesses across Minnesota are expecting to close as part of a statewide economic

blackout today.

Organizers called for the measure to protest what they see as increasingly aggressive I.C.E. tactics on the streets of Minneapolis. This is outrage

grows over a five-year-old Minneapolis boy. His father, who were taken into custody by federal agents outside their home on Tuesday.

Both Liam Conejo Ramos and his father are being held in an immigration detention facility in Texas. The school board chair who witnessed the

incident described the scene.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARY GRANLUND, SCHOOL BOARD CHAIR, COLUMBIA HEIGHTS PUBLIC SCHOOLS: I heard, what are you doing? Don't take the child. His mom -- like there are

people here that can take him. There was another adult who lived in the home that was there saying, I will take the child.

I will take the child. Somebody else was yelling, they saw that I was there and said, school is here. They can take the child. You don't have to take

them. And there was ample opportunity to be able to safely hand that child off to adults. And mom was there. She saw the window, and dad was yelling,

please do not open the door. Don't open the door.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: The family's lawyer says they are legal immigrants from Ecuador who have applied for asylum in the United States. But Trump officials,

including the vice president, have a very different take on what happened.

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JD VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: When they went to arrest his illegal alien father, the father ran. So, the story is that

I.C.E. detained a five-year-old. Well, what are they supposed to do? Are they supposed to let a five-year-old child freeze to death?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ASHER: CNN's Priscilla Alvarez has more details about why the five-year-old and his father were detained and where exactly they're being held.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We're learning more about the circumstances around the detainment of a five-year-old child and his father

in suburban Minneapolis earlier this week. Now we're still trying to get answers as to what exactly unfolded.

But according to the family's lawyer as well as school officials, when the apprehension occurred, the mother was in the household wanting to have her

son with her, the father asking that she not open the door to federal immigration agents, fearful that she too would be taken into custody.

And then he, with his son, took custody and was taken later to a detention facility in Texas. Now, again, we are still trying to seek additional

answers as to everything that unfold in here, because the Department of Homeland Security has disputed that account, and in a post on X this

morning, has said that their law enforcement took care of the child at the time, quoting here, got him McDonalds and played him his favorite music to

comfort him.

Now fast forward after that encounter. And what we do know is that the father and the son are at a facility in Texas that is intended for migrant

families. Now I reported on this facility extensively. There are hundreds of migrant families that have gone through there.

And many of those families, particularly under this administration, have similarly been plucked out of their daily routines in the United States and

then place there while they continue their immigration proceedings or face potential deportation. Children at this facility range from infants to

teenagers.

There have also been reports of poor conditions in the facility. Again, the administration has disputed that, but similarly, in court documents said

that they are continuously trying to improve the conditions.

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And to give you a picture as to what this looks like, while this is a facility that's designed to house families again, it has a series of beige

trailers with dedicated spaces for a library, gym and classroom. But all the same, it is so striking for the children, in particular, who had been

living in the United States to be in this type of detention setting, even with library and gym available to them because on same they are in a

detention setting.

And that is what advocates and attorneys have long been warning of and have been concerned of in this case. Now, as for the immigration history of Liam

and his father. We do know that in December of 2024 they presented themselves at with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

They used what was known at the time as the CBP One app that meant that they had an appointment to present themselves after vetting, could be

cleared, paroled into the United States, therefore released into the United States, and then would continue, in this case, to apply for asylum.

What is unclear, however, is if there was a point in which that asylum was terminated or found to be ineligible, we're still asking those questions as

to why for example, the administration targeted the father in this enforcement operation. So again, we're still trying to get answers here.

But what we do know is that this family did come to the United States in December 2024 was, as the family's lawyer has said, doing everything by

quote, the right way. And now the father and the son find themselves in this facility in Texas for migrant families. Back to you.

ASHER: Right, still to come here on "One World". Millions across the U.S. are gearing up for potentially historic winter storm expected to slam more

than half the country. We'll have the latest forecast for you after the break. Plus, the leaders of Denmark and Greenland get together to talk

after Donald Trump announces what he calls a framework of a deal.

We'll look at whether they'll give it a green light or not.

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ASHER: Right, we are tracking a potentially catastrophic winter storm developing across the United States. More than half the country is bracing

for historic levels of snow, ice and extreme cold from Texas to the northeast. The long-lasting system is expected to disrupt travel on roads

and trigger widespread power outages that could last into at least early next week.

At least 12 states have already declared a state of emergency. Several governors are warning as well of people to stock up.

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GOV. ABIGAIL SPANBERGER (D-VA): We are expecting large amounts of snow fall freezing rain and sleet. And we also expect Virginia will experience

dangerously low temperatures, power outages and unpredictable road conditions.

GOV. JEFF LANDRY (R-LA): I urge everyone listening and watching to begin to plan ahead.

GOV. GREG ABBOTT (R-TX): Don't begin getting prepared late tomorrow for think you can get around doing it on Saturday.

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It's going to be too late.

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ASHER: CNN Meteorologist Allison Chinchar joins us live now. I mean, we're expecting about half the country, Allison to be slammed. I mean,

dangerously cold temperatures, up to a foot of snow in some parts. 172 million Americans essentially under some kind of weather advisory. Just

walk us through what we can expect.

ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yeah, so it all stems from the cold air that's already starting to come down from Canada and into the

Midwestern U.S. Look at some of these wind-chill numbers. OK, so this takes into account the actual temperature, but then also about a 20 to 30 mile

per hour wind.

So, it feels like minus 51 in Duluth, negative 43 in Green Bay, and it feels like a minus 30 right now in Chicago, but all that cold air is going

to spread southward into areas that don't normally get very, very cold across the southern tier. This means that as that system begins to arrive

into the south, with that cold air already being in place, you're now going to have some snow and ice in places that just don't normally see it.

You have a stretch of more than 2000 miles of alerts going from New Mexico all the way up to New England, but it's really going to be focused over the

southern tier as we head through the day today. So already some rain showers across New Mexico and areas of Texas. But as we head into tonight

and the temperatures start to cool down.

That's when you're going to start to see this, more of that changing into the pink and purple color indicating we're getting some snow and ice

instead of rain. Once we head into Saturday, that system begins to spread eastward, taking with it the chance for snow and ice again, into places

like Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and then by late Saturday and into Sunday, now we start to see more of the focus over the Carolinas,

Georgia and into some mid-Atlantic states as well.

You'll also notice we start to get a little bit of a warm up. So, some of those areas that had snow and ice now transitioning back over to rain once

that temperature gets a little bit warmer on Sunday, but then the cold temperatures come right back later on.

So, they're going to get another dose of those cold temperatures leading to snow and ice along the back side before all of this finally exits much of

the region once we get to early Monday. So, in total, here's a look at some of those snows fall numbers. Again, widespread totals of at least eight

inches, but some folks could see well over a foot of snow before this finally exits and ice this is really going to be the biggest concern in

terms of impacts.

Some of these locations could pick up half an inch to up to an inch total of ice. You think about, yes, that being a problem on the roads, but it

also starts to accumulate on trees and power lines, and that could end up triggering some pretty widespread power outages, especially in these areas

where you have that higher concentration of ice.

Even some of the folks that may say, get a little bit of snow and a little bit of ice, if the ice comes after it just compacts all of that snow down,

and that weight really becomes an issue for a lot of the trees and power lines. And so that's going to be a big concern for a lot of these areas in

the next 72 hours.

ASHER: Right. Allison Chinchar, live for us. Thank you. As this massive winter storm sweeps across the U.S., if you are planning to fly in the next

couple of days, you might want to reschedule. More than 1300 flights planned for Saturday have already been canceled.

Several airlines are also waving rebooking feeds, including Delta, Southwest and United States prepare for the worst. Let's bring in CNN's

Pete Muntean joining us live now from Ronald Reagan Airport in Washington, D.C. I mean, what can we expect?

I guess if you're traveling this weekend, as I mentioned, it might be a good idea to sort of rethink travel plans, because we're expecting a foot

of snow in certain parts, and as Allison is talking about dangerous ice as well, Pete.

PETE MUNTEAN, CNN AVIATION CORRESPONDENT: Can we expect Zain, if you're traveling this weekend to stay put, I think that is the big thing.

ASHER: Yes.

MUNTEAN: You know, pretty manageable today for airlines, although tomorrow will be so much worse. Just want to show you how things are going right

now. This is the departures board here at National Airport, and right now, not a lot of red on the screen.

We've seen very few cancelations here today, although this will look totally different come tomorrow, and the snow is really expected to peak

here overnight Saturday into Sunday. And so, this is going to be a whole heck of a lot of red come the time that the storm hits here.

And by the way, the D.C. area is not a place that deals with snow very well. We don't get these huge wall ups very, very often. The last time

there was a pretty big blizzard here was 2016, before that in 2009 what airlines are doing right now is essentially, they are moving the parts and

pieces so things are in place and out of the way of the storm.

Just take a look at the tarmac here at National Airport. American Airlines is a big hub for them, and the airline says right now they're trying to get

planes out of the way of the storm, and also, they're bringing in extra workers and employees to places that will be impacted by this.

We're talking dozens of airports. They need to get ready with de-icing equipment.

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They need to have extra employees on hand here. Also, it's going to be bitterly cold after this storm passes. In fact, the high temperatures here

in D.C. won't really crest beyond zero centigrade. We're talking maybe like 29 Fahrenheit is the high at some of the peaks next week.

So, it will be really, really tough for all of these workers out on the ramp to get the work done, loading bags, marshaling airplanes. That's going

to be hard. Let's take a look at the big number tomorrow, because tomorrow is really going to be the start of the main event of the snow.

We're talking 1600 cancelations. That number continues to go up and up as we keep checking flight aware it's going to be damp and the airports that

are going to be disproportionately impacted by this are the airports that typically don't see snow. American Airlines is being hit pretty hard by

this.

Dallas Fort Worth, one of its main international hubs, one of its main pass throughs for Latin America and beyond. 60 percent of all flights there have

already been canceled tomorrow a Dallas Love Southwest Airlines, big hub. 50 percent of flights there have been canceled on Saturday, places that

don't see snow, Oklahoma City.

We're talking Atlanta, Nashville, Memphis. Atlanta, the biggest hub and one of the biggest hubs for -- the biggest hub for Delta Airlines, and one of

the busiest airports in the world that will be hit pretty hard. So, we will see as this goes on, the impacts aren't going to be limited just to the

places that snow falls. This will be beyond that and a big nationwide impact.

ASHER: All right. Pete Muntean, live for us there. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Right, the leaders of Denmark and Greenland are meeting at

this hour. Denmark's Prime Minister arrived in Nuuk earlier on Friday, one day after Donald Trump announced what he called a framework of a deal on

Greenland.

The details of which he now says will come in the next two weeks. Both Denmark and Greenland have repeatedly rebuffed Mr. Trump's push to annex

Greenland, but the president told reporters that this new framework would let the U.S. do whatever it wants apparently.

Keep in mind that Greenland is a Danish territory, Denmark says. NATO military exercises in Greenland will continue throughout the year. Let's

bring in on Nic Robertson joins us live now from Nuuk. So, it's been quite a week just in terms of the president as, yes, essentially flip flopping on

Greenland.

Obviously, we heard earlier in the week that there wouldn't be any kind of military intervention in terms of acquiring Greenland. And then Donald

Trump backed off this idea of European tariffs, but then announced this so- called framework of a deal that a lot of people have been quite confused about.

What do we expect the leaders of Denmark and Greenland to say on this., Nic?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah -- Mette Frederiksen, the Danish Prime Minister, arrived here about 2.5 hours ago,

went into a meeting with Jens-Frederik Nielsen, the Greenland Prime Minister. That meeting was pretty quick.

And then they did something you don't often see politicians do these days. They took a walk of the very snowy streets here in Nuuk. They went to meet

some school children greet them, and the parents and guardians with them. Then they went to a meat market as sort of a traditional meat market, whale

and seal it appeared to be there.

Then they came into this government building here, where they you can see here, and they've been in here, I would say, about an hour and a half. Now

we're waiting with a lot of other journalists, waiting for them to come out of this building, hoping to get some comments, hoping to learn some more

about that deal that President Trump is talking about.

We've asked that question already this morning. We didn't get very much more on it. The Prime Minister of Denmark, however, Mette Frederiksen, she

did say, when she was here this morning that this is a serious situation, that they are working through it on a political and diplomatic track right

now, in unity with the people, with the Prime Minister of Greenland.

And really that walk they talked today did kind of emphasize the unity, the joint position the Danish Prime Minister, before she got here in Nuuk,

she'd already had a meeting this morning with Secretary General of NATO, Mark Rutte. Mark Rutte commented at that meeting, Denmark committed to

NATO, to building up Arctic security here, to committing more resources to making sure the whole Arctic is safe.

But as for the details in that deal, we're not getting any more at the moment, and the prime minister here in Greenland yesterday told us he

didn't have those details. So perhaps getting a little more from Mette Frederiksen, not clear, but she's getting ready, we understand to leave

that vehicle you're seeing there.

The police are on standby. And quite remarkable earlier today to see her and the prime minister here, Jens-Frederik Nielsen, walking the street.

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It was just, I got to say, it was a bit tough to keep up with them the snow and ice made that hard. But I think the message to project that unity, that

they're here together, those details, they're elusive for us, at least.

ASHER: Yeah, as you mentioned, it is important to project unity at a time like this. Nic Robertson, live for us. Thank you so much. All right.

TikTok, once faced a precarious future in the United States, but it's now clear the wildly popular app isn't going anywhere.

The video sharing platform confirms that a majority American owned joint venture has been formed to run its U.S. business. The arrangement was

revealed just one day before President Trump's deadline for the app's American assets to be spun off by Chinese parent company, ByteDance.

TikTok has more than 200 million American users. Right, stay with CNN, is much more "One World" in about 30 minutes. But first CNN "Creators" is up

next.

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(CNN'S CREATORS)

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