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Trump Links Greenland Threats to Nobel Peace Prize Snub; Deadly Train Crash in Spain; Trump to Politico: It's Time for Leadership Change in Iran; FBI Briefly Opened Civil Rights Investigation into ICE Agent Who Shot Good. Aired 10:30-11a ET

Aired January 19, 2026 - 10:30   ET

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

[10:30:00]

LT. GEN. BEN HODGES (RET.), FORMER COMMANDER, U.S. ARMY FORCES IN EUROPE: -- security, then let's load some guys up, get them up there. But I don't think they're going to do that because I don't think this really is about security. If it's about minerals, companies could be up there right now digging through the ice and the rock to find what's underneath it. Nobody's there because it's just not practical right now.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN ANCHOR: I mean, what do you think it's all about then?

HODGES: I think this is the president looking at -- well, first if you read the National Security Strategy that was published back in November where he lays out Western Hemisphere is ours and we're going to control it so that nobody else can come in, specifically Russia and China and get access to the resources or the critical geographical spaces. So, that's part of this is implementing that strategy.

But it also, I think there's a part of the president's team that thinks we want to make the United States geographically bigger. I mean, physically add something to the territory of the United States. And of course, Greenland is about two and a half times the size of Texas. So, that would be -- not be in -- that would not be inconsequential. The problem is it is damaging the cohesion with our allies upon whom we depend. We could not even defend the Arctic if we didn't have allies.

If we own Greenland right now, and our -- all of our allies said, OK, well we can't trust you Americans. We're not going to help you. The United States could not defend the Arctic without those allies. So, I think from a strategic standpoint it just does not make sense. And this is why I think also our senior military leaders would have to be thinking, is it lawful to attack a NATO ally according to Article 6 of the Constitution? And I think some of them would say no.

BROWN: Well, and then you have Article 5 saying attack on one is an attack on all. So, I mean, there's all kinds of questions this raises. Lieutenant General Ben Hodges, thank you for offering your perspective on this.

Well, just ahead here in the Situation Room, CNN is on the scene of a deadly high-speed train crash in Spain as investigators comb through the wreckage to try to figure out what went wrong. You're in the Situation Room, and we'll be right back.

[10:35:00]

BROWN: We are following breaking news. At least 39 people are dead and dozens more injured after two high-speed trains collided in Spain. In this new video, you can see the twisted wreckage of the train cars. Witnesses describe a horrific scene of the dead and the injured. Investigators say the trains were passing each other when three cars at the back of one of the trains left the tracks.

Let's go live now to CNN's Pau Mosquera. What are we learning about this investigation? Just so sad.

PAU MOSQUERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes. Well, Pamela, we know that at least 200 officers of the Guardia Civil are being deployed on the ground zero. And right now, what they are trying to do is to identify the bodies that they are finding under the wreckage. Over the morning, they have been also deploying cranes to move the different carriages that we derailed this Sunday afternoon to try to search for more bodies and identify the remains that they keep finding.

But they were very clear on this purpose, they said that this work can take a lot more days, meaning they can get until the rest, until the end of this week. And right now, we are in Adamuz, Pamela, four kilometers away from where this train clash took place yesterday. And here behind me, you can see the social center from this municipality where the families of those still missing did come over the morning to get some more information. But most of them, they are right now going to Cordoba. Pamela.

BROWN: All right. Pau Mosquera in Spain for us, thank you. Well, Iran is issuing a chilling warning to the White House saying that any aggression directed at the country's supreme leader would be seen as a declaration of, quote, "all-out war." That warning comes after President Trump called for regime change, telling Politico in a new interview, quote, "It's time to look for new leadership in Iran."

A U.S.-based rights group is reporting that nearly 4,000 people have been killed in Iran's anti-regime protests in just three weeks, with more than 24,000 protesters detained. And authorities in Iran are suggesting that executions are still on the table for some anti- government demonstrators, despite President Trump's claim that they had been stopped.

Joining us now is CNN political and national security analyst, David Sanger. David, how serious is this threat from Iran in your view?

DAVID SANGER, CNN POLITICAL AND NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST, WHITE HOUSE AND NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT, NEW YORK TIMES AND AUTHOR, "NEW COLD WARS": Well, I'm sure that the threat is serious. Their capability to carry it out may not be quite as serious. Obviously, they were significantly degraded, their capabilities, in the June 12- day war with Israel. And that's the same time that the U.S. did the attacks on the three major nuclear sites. But if you're going to contain Iran in this period of time, particularly if you're concerned about the possibility of missile retaliation and so forth, it's a moment when you really need to have the allies together, particularly the European allies, who have been so critical to imposing sanctions. So, if you think about what your Greenland segment had and what you just heard here, put the two of those together. There's probably never been a moment when we more need to have unity among the allies.

BROWN: I mean, can we even call them allies anymore, honestly, David? I mean, do they consider the U.S. an ally? Where do we stand here with the Western alliance?

[10:40:00]

SANGER: You know, certainly the NATO alliance still exists on paper and still does things every single day. But, you know, just thinking about the discussion you had a few minutes ago with General Hodges, play this out over the next period of time. I was just doing this with a European -- senior European official.

So, the president has imposed tariffs on close European allies, Britain, France, Germany, many others who have been declaring that Greenland's part of Denmark. Then supposing they do retaliatory tariffs, and then the president turns around, as you could imagine him doing, saying any country that doesn't support the U.S. on this cause doesn't get Article 5 protection. That is to say the guarantee the U.S. would come to their aid if they were attacked by Russia or others.

I mean, this is playing right into what both the Mullahs and what Vladimir Putin would love to see happen, which is to say the breakup of NATO.

BROWN: You bring up Vladimir Putin. So, my follow-up question to that is the fact that he has been invited to join Trump's board of peace. This is a committee that will oversee the reconstruction of Gaza, according to the Russian spokesman, Dmitry Peskov.

A U.S. official also told CNN, David, that members of the committee will receive a permanent seat if they pay $1 billion. I mean, what do you make of Trump inviting someone like Putin to be on a board of peace as the Russia-Ukraine war remains ongoing?

SANGER: Yes. Somewhat remarkable, particularly because Russia's interests in the Middle East have not been our interests in the Middle East. You saw that, of course, in Syria where Russia had bases and so forth. But the more remarkable part is this is a Russian leader who just led successive attacks on various parts of Ukraine. And it was refused to sign on to the peace agreement or even a ceasefire because he thinks he's winning, and he may be right along the way.

So, while I can understand the desire to have outreach and cooperation with Russia on Middle East issues, inviting him to membership on a board of peace, I didn't see that one coming. BROWN: Well, and then also in the broader context of Greenland we were just talking about. I mean, Donald Trump says that it's because, in his words, Russia is posing such a big threat in the Arctic that the U.S. must gain control of Greenland. So, it's just interesting, the bigger picture there --

SANGER: It is, and I wrote a piece that's in today's Times that basically said --

BROWN: I read it. It's not that big of a threat.

SANGER: Right.

BROWN: Yes.

SANGER: It basically makes the same point. You don't need ownership to defend the region.

BROWN: Yes. I read their piece. It was an excellent piece. David Sanger, thank you so much.

SANGER: Thank you.

BLITZER: Coming up here in the Situation Room, preparing for deployment to Minnesota, the Pentagon is readying 1,500 troops while the state's National Guard is also standing by. Who takes precedent? We'll discuss next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:45:00]

BROWN: We are following breaking news. CNN has learned the FBI briefly opened a civil rights investigation into the ICE agent who shot and killed 37-year-old Renee Good in Minneapolis. But the bureau then switched the probe to focusing on whether the agent was assaulted. The investigation is now centering on Good's actions as well as those of her widow.

With us now is CNN legal and national security analyst, Carrie Cordero. Good morning. What is your reaction to this from a legal perspective here?

CARRIE CORDERO, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, it sounds like if the FBI opened an investigation, FBI has authority to invoke an investigation on their own. They don't need the approval of the Justice Department just to start the preliminary part of an investigation. And so, the normal course of action, if there's a question about whether civil rights were violated in a particular instance and there's going to be investigation, FBI could do that.

So, the question that this raises for me is did FBI follow its normal procedure, open an investigation into the officer as to whether or not Renee Good's civil rights were violated the way they normally would off of a civil rights squad? And then was there any kind of improper influence by the Justice Department that came in and said, no, we don't want that investigation to continue?

BROWN: And that is a fair question because you have Todd Blanche, the United States deputy attorney general, who said the FBI won't investigate the ICE shooting of Renee Good, said that there's no reason to. Let's take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TODD BLANCHE, DEPUTY ATTORNEY GENERAL: We don't just go out and investigate every time an officer is forced to defend himself against somebody. We investigate when it's appropriate to investigate. And that is not the case here.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BROWN: So, is that true that it wouldn't investigate a situation like this typically of the officer?

CORDERO: Yes. I think what it sounds like he's saying is that in every single circumstance when there is a use of deadly force, that doesn't trigger an FBI investigation. But this case, especially because the videos have been so public, everybody can see them for themselves.

[10:50:00]

There clearly is a question, I think, from any reasonable observer that there at least should be an investigation given the circumstances of what were taking place right then, the use of deadly force against an individual who was unarmed.

BROWN: And how unusual is it to shift a probe and investigate the victim who is now?

CORDERO: Well, the victim is deceased.

BROWN: Right.

CORDERO: And so, I don't see how there could be any investigation of her to the extent that they're conducting an investigation of whether she and her widow were somehow responsible for the environment at the time. They would have to focus their current investigative activities on the widow.

BROWN: Do you think the Renee Good family could successfully sue the ICE officer, potentially?

CORDERO: Those types of cases are difficult. I'm sure that they're looking at it at this time. But in federal law enforcement, it is difficult to bring those cases.

BROWN: They have a lot of protections under the Constitution. All right. I also want to ask you about this protest at a church, right? We've learned that the DOJ is vowing to press charges after these protesters, and I believe we have video of it right here, went into the church, disrupted the services there. Attorney General Pam Bondi posted on social media and appeared to call this the intimidation of Christians, saying, quote, "If state leaders refuse to act responsibly to prevent lawlessness, this Department of Justice will remain mobilized to prosecute federal crimes and ensure that the rule of law prevails."

So, what is the law the DOJ could use to prosecute these protesters?

CORDERO: Well, interestingly, it could also sort of fall into the civil rights category as well, that the rights of these individuals in the church to practice their religion are being impeded by these protesters. And so, the Justice Department could potentially look at whether the activities these individuals are engaging in goes beyond what would be their protected activities.

You know, this all comes in the environment, Pamela, of the court order that was issued by a federal judge in Minnesota last Friday, limiting activities that ICE agents could do with respect to protesters. Justice Department, now it sounds, is coming down with a different way that they want to engage in protection of civil rights, protection of First Amendment activities in particular.

BROWN: And again, First Amendment activities give protesters the right to make their voices heard, peaceful assembly, right, on public property, but it's different when you get into private property, right?

CORDERO: It's different on private property. This is their First Amendment right to engage in their religion. The protesters, you know, are allowed to engage in their activity, but yes, private places have an ability to not have that type of activity in their place.

And the question that we're coming to is how is law enforcement going to protect the rights of protesters to engage in their First Amendment protected activity at the same time not be intimidating other people for whatever rights they are engaged in?

BLITZER: That's a fair question. Carrie Cordero, thank you so much. Still ahead here in the Situation Room, breaking news from the NFL. CNN is learning that Bill's head coach, Sean McDermott, is out. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[10:55:00]

BROWN: We are following breaking news this morning. The Buffalo Bills have fired their head coach, Sean McDermott. This comes after their devastating loss to the Denver Broncos on Saturday, ending their season. McDermott led the Bills for ninth season, got them to the playoffs for eight of those, but never to the Super Bowl.

Let's go live now to CNN's Coy Wire. Coy, I am solo today here on the anchor desk. Wolf Blitzer, I imagine, is having a tough day after that loss. And I'm sure you are too, Coy.

COY WIRE, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: That might be a good thing. Yes, this is wild. This is a -- it's an absolute stunner. I'm sure Wolf is probably wondering what is happening, as many Bills fans are. This has been a wild NFL season. 10 head coaches have now been fired. And of course, the latest, the Bills' Sean McDermott, just hours ago, he led Buffalo to become the second winningest team in the NFL during his nine years there. But they were just eight and eight in the playoffs after this weekend's heartbreaking loss to the Denver Broncos in Denver. Coach had a 98 and 50 regular season record, five AFC East titles.

But as you mentioned, Pam, no Super Bowl appearances for him or his star quarterback, Josh Allen. Still a firing that is just sending shockwaves around the NFL. Coach McDermott is a great leader. He will be a highly sought-after candidate, as will that new head coaching position in Buffalo. President of Football Operations and General Manager Brandon Beane will lead the coaching search. There will be a new leader kicking off the season for Wolf Blitzer's Bills, and they're in Buffalo's brand-new stadium that they will be opening and unveiling next season, Pam.

BROWN: I wish we could get Wolf Blitzer in to give us some live analysis. We'll have to do that soon when he's back here on the desk. All right. Coy Wire, thank you so much. And the next hour of the Situation Room starts right now.

Happening now, Greenland grab. New insight from President Trump himself about what might have fired up his push for the Danish territory despite growing pushback from Europe. And troops on standby at the Pentagon order soldiers to prepare for a potential deployment not overseas, but to Minnesota after a week of intense protests around Minneapolis.

Well, welcome to our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Pamela Brown. Wolf Blitzer is off, and you're in the Situation Room.

And we begin --

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