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The Source with Kaitlan Collins
Trump Drops Threats, Announces "Framework" Of Greenland Deal; Wright: Trump's Greenland Push Is About National Security, Not Resources; Jury Acquits Former Uvalde Officer On Charges He Failed To Confront Gunman In 2022 School Massacre. Aired 9-10p ET
Aired January 21, 2026 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[21:00:00]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, ANDERSON COOPER 360: --that could set record low temperatures during what's typically already the coldest time of the year. The Arctic cold will start to hit the Midwest and Plains on Thursday, snow and ice start to develop over the Central and Southern Plains, Friday.
We'll continue to watch the storm, obviously, as it progresses over the week. A lot of reporting on this, in the days ahead.
Thanks for watching. That's it for us. The news continues. I'll see you, tomorrow.
"THE SOURCE WITH KAITLAN COLLINS" starts now.
KAITLAN COLLINS, CNN CHIEF WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, CNN HOST, THE SOURCE WITH KAITLAN COLLINS: Tonight, after weeks of escalating threats, President Trump has found an off-ramp with Greenland.
I'm Kaitlan Collins, live from Davos. And this is THE SOURCE.
And it is 03:00 a.m. here in Switzerland. And with four words, in a Truth Social post, President Trump walked back from weeks of threats that had left NATO allies shaken, and questioning the very future of the NATO alliance.
They're not exactly breathing a big sigh of relief tonight. But there is some cautious optimism here on the ground, after the President announced what he described as a framework for a future deal on Greenland and the Arctic. He offered almost no details about what that framework actually includes.
But it's an announcement that came hours after the President ruled out taking Greenland by military force, which, in itself, was a big shift.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT, UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: People thought I would use force.
I don't have to use force. I don't want to use force. I won't use force. (END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: After that speech, in a meeting with the NATO Secretary General, the President said, and I'm quoting him now, that they had Formed the framework of a future deal with respect to Greenland and, in fact, the entire Arctic Region.
To CNBC, he used a phrase you're probably familiar with. He called it the concept of a deal.
And when I questioned him here in the halls of the World Economic Forum, after that Truth Social post came out, it was the President's pause that stood out to me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Does it still include the United States having ownership of Greenland, like you've said you wanted?
TRUMP: It's a long-term deal. It's the ultimate long-term deal. And I think it puts everybody in a really good position, especially as it pertains to security and minerals and everything else.
COLLINS: How long would the deal be, Mr. President?
TRUMP: Infinite.
REPORTER: Did you speak to Denmark?
TRUMP: There is -- there is no--
REPORTER: Did you speak to Denmark?
TRUMP: There is no time limit. It's forever.
COLLINS: And how would you ratify the deal?
REPORTER: Will there be money involved?
TRUMP: It's signed forever.
REPORTER: Will there -- will there be--
COLLINS: But you haven't signed anything yet, right?
TRUMP: It's a deal that's forever.
REPORTER: Will there be an effect in any way, Mr. President?
COLLINS: Can--
REPORTER: Will there be an effect?
TRUMP: No money (ph). People are--
REPORTER: But you are observing-- TRUMP: People -- what happens is people are out there, and they're working it right now. They're working the details of the deal. But it's what's called an infinite deal that's worked on.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Keep in mind, those comments came hours after the President insisted the United States would only accept full ownership of Greenland.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You need the ownership to defend it. You can't defend it on a lease. Number one, legally, it's not defensible that way. Totally. And number two, psychologically, who the hell wants to defend a license agreement or a lease?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: So obviously, a long way from those comments to the President's announcement. And the Danish Foreign Minister did say that at least the day is, quote, "Ending on a better note than it began." That comment really just goes to show how much the President's threats had rattled allies who are gathered here in Davos this week.
You can almost feel the tension at certain points in the room today. It was a room that was standing room-only for the President's speech. And as he came on stage, he greeted his friends, and his enemies, and made comments like this throughout.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: China makes almost all of the windmills. And yet, I haven't been able to find any windfarms in China.
They make them, they sell them for a fortune. They sell them to the stupid people that buy them. But they don't use them themselves.
Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.
Emmanuel Macron, I watched him yesterday with those beautiful sunglasses.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: What the hell happened?
We have many places like that, where they're making a fortune because of the United States. Without the United States, they wouldn't be making anything.
I mean, we're taking people from Somalia, and Somalia is a failed -- it's not a nation. Got no government, got no police, got no military -- got no nothing.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: As the speech veered into the political at times, the President's comments raised a lot of eyebrows, including those of the former Vice President that I found outside the room right afterward.
[21:05:00]
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: And what did you make of, hearing it from the U.S. perspective, given so many of the European friends that are in the room?
AL GORE, FORMER VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Well, I think it was a classic Trump performance. I would hate to be the fact-checker that had to go through that speech.
But I think there was one element of the speech that I would interpret as a positive. I think perhaps because of the stock market's reaction yesterday, he appeared to back down from his previous threat to use military force to acquire Greenland. And if I'm interpreting that correctly, I think that's a good thing. It was, of course, crazy that he would do such a thing in the first place. But I think he backed down, and that's good.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: There was another point in the speech that has gotten a lot of attention, where the President repeatedly was referring to his much-desired Greenland as Iceland.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: I'm helping NATO. And until the last few days, when I told them about Iceland, they loved me. They called me daddy, right? The last time? Very smart man said, He's our daddy.
They're not there for us on Iceland, that I can tell you. I mean, our stock market took the first dip yesterday because of Iceland. So Iceland's already cost us a lot of money.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: You heard it yourself, four times there. The President called Greenland, Iceland. It stood out, given it is a territory that he wants so badly, he has threatened the global world order over it.
The White House press secretary, though attempted, afterward, to correct a reporter who pointed out the fact that the President said Iceland, instead of Greenland, with Karoline Leavitt saying that his written remarks referred to Greenland as a, quote, "'Piece of ice' because that's what it is."
Yes, he did refer to it as a piece of ice. He also referred to it as Iceland. And what was not -- what was in his written remarks is not always what generates the headlines, as we know from the President's speeches. It's the moments where he also goes off script. And it remains unclear tonight still if the United States, in this new framework that the President has announced, acknowledges that Denmark has sovereignty over Greenland.
But beforehand in the President's speech, he did go after some of his favorite targets, including one who was standing there, inside the room, listening to the President's speech. We saw California governor, Gavin Newsom. He was grinning when I looked at him over, as the President was name-checking him during that speech.
So, I caught up with Governor Newsom, right after Trump left the stage.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Governor Newsom, you called that a remarkable speech. You were obviously named by President Trump during that speech.
GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM (D-CA): Yes.
COLLINS: What was your reaction to what he had to say about you?
NEWSOM: None. I think he said something very different last night. I didn't hear Newscum. I heard New Green Scam. But, I mean, come on, that's -- it's -- it was remarkably boring. It was remarkably insignificant.
He was never going to invade Greenland. It was never real. So that was always a fade. And so, he says, Well, we should negotiate. Well, everybody here has been willing to negotiate for a year. All right? So, it had fire and fury, signifying absolutely nothing. Even by Trump standards. I was rather curious.
And there was borish parts of it, but those were not even that consequential, including name-checking people he likes, people he didn't like. So, I just -- that was non -- honestly, it was just, I was a little disappointed, it was a little non-plus.
COLLINS: Did it stand out to you that he said Iceland multiple times, when he was talking about Greenland?
NEWSOM: You know, and that every time a windmill turns, it costs a $1,000. A lot of stuff stands out. None of this is normalized. There's a normalization, a deviancy of consciousness and comments and commentary and no other president -- he's held to the curve. He's graded on a curve. I mean, it's really some jaw-dropping and remarkable statements that just fly in the face of facts and evidence and commonsense, so.
But they're so -- you've heard them over and over and over again. Again, for the European audience, that may have been a new speech. My God, there wasn't anything new about that speech for the American audience. The only thing that was new is he said he's willing to negotiate. But wait a sec. That's not new either, because he's been saying we've wanted to negotiate for over a year.
COLLINS: You criticized world leaders when you got here, saying that some of these European leaders have capitulated to the President. And you said you should have--
NEWSOM: In the past, by all sides (ph).
COLLINS: --you should have brought kneepads.
NEWSOM: Right.
COLLINS: What have you heard from them since then?
NEWSOM: A lot -- I heard a surprising number say, Glad you made those comments.
The exact opposite of what you might expect. They needed to hear those comments and to know that people in America have that point of view and perspective. And so, I was very--
COLLINS: Do you want to name names?
NEWSOM: Absolutely. But I'm not. But I would like to.
[21:10:00]
And I thought yesterday's comments by Prime Minister Carney were effective, and Macron's comments, and obviously the EU president's comments were effective, and they helped shape. But the markets more so. What Trump said today and how Trump said it. It's not even -- it's all of this is so simple, so basic. It's not complex. And yes, so, you know, markets are back, gold is still running higher, so there's some medium- and long-term uncertainty.
COLLINS: Last question for me. You think that he changed, talking about military force in Greenland, because the markets were affected?
NEWSOM: No, I don't think he was -- I don't think -- I don't think the military force was ever real in the first place. But I think the tone reflected deep anxiety here.
Bessent, you know, to talk about him, reflecting the anxiety heard from everybody, including all the business leaders, reflected in the markets when they opened, reflected in comments of the leadership here yesterday, and three critical speeches, I think reflected the tonality of this speech. And so, in every way, it didn't surprise me at all, except for how -- how just redundant it seemed to be with what he always says.
COLLINS: Thank you, Governor.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Now, Governor Gavin Newsom wasn't the only potential 2028 Democratic candidate who was here in Davos. We also saw Michigan's Gretchen Whitmer, Kentucky's Andy Beshear. Both spotted. Both also expressing concern about what the President had said and what it has done to NATO allies and how they have felt about it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We give so much and we get so little in return. And I've been a critic of NATO for many years. And yet I've done more to help NATO than any other president, by far.
The problem with NATO is that we'll be there for them a 100 percent, but I'm not sure that they'd be there for us.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: When I caught up with Governor Beshear, he had a very different message for European leaders than his Democratic colleague and potential 2028 rival from California.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Governor, thank you for being here.
We are truly standing right outside of where the President just delivered this speech. There's been a lot of reaction from a lot of the Europeans and policymakers in the room.
As governor, in the United States, what did you make of his speech?
GOV. ANDY BESHEAR (D-KY): Oh, the speech was dangerous, it was disrespectful, and it was unhinged. You saw him calling into question alliances that have kept our world stable for my entire lifetime. You saw him make fun of world leaders in the room, who we call friends. You saw him ramble on in stories and even try to do voices. I mean, this is really concerning, and for the United States, frankly, embarrassing.
COLLINS: Did it reassure you at all that he said he would not use military force? Though he basically made the argument that he could, that he would not use military force to take Greenland.
BESHEAR: He spent probably a quarter of his speech talking about our military might, talking about different things in recent operations in Venezuela, saying, Maybe others should think about doing things like that too, because of the bargaining that comes after it.
No, I think leaders are leaving more concerned, after that speech, than ever before, especially in the way that he talked about Greenland that apparently was so important to him, he called it Iceland, numerous times.
COLLINS: Yes, he called it Iceland, maybe four times.
What have you been hearing from people who are here attending Davos, whether that is world leaders or others, in terms of-- BESHEAR: Yes.
COLLINS: --their thoughts on the President?
BESHEAR: It's devastating to our European and Canadian allies. We've gone from leader of the free world, to the bully on the playground. President walking around, with his aides, saying, We can do something simply because we have the power to do it, and that somehow justifies it.
These are countries that have looked up to the United States for so long that we have provided leadership, been a bastion of democracy. And look at how this President is talking about our friends and our neighbors.
Just think about the close relationship with Canada. Canadians have followed us into every major conflict we've been in, whether we were right or wrong. This President has so disrespected them that they're now talking to China. That makes us much less safe on our northern border.
COLLINS: Well, he basically said Canada owes its existence to the United States.
BESHEAR: Yes. Yes, that was hugely disrespectful. And you now understand why Canadians have stopped buying American products like bourbon, why they stopped going to tourist destinations like Las Vegas. Every state can tell you how much their economy is losing because of those comments.
But I think about the speech both, in terms of how detached it was from what's going on in the United States. He claimed that inflation was under control, that our economy was doing great. So, that is not understanding or acknowledging the financial insecurity of our families. But then he makes our country less secure based on -- on calling into question global alliances that the rest of the world needs to believe that we are a 100 percent committed to.
[21:15:00]
COLLINS: What message do you think it sends when he says that the 2020 election was stolen, and that prosecutions are coming in the United States?
BESHEAR: One, that he can't get over it. He lost. He lost. Move on. You're president again.
And second, that he's weaponized this DOJ. But judges are going to continue to throw it out. And he doesn't seem to recognize that every time we go to court, when he does an illegal action, we win. And that's another loss for Donald Trump. It's another example of violating the law. It's another example of him violating his oath of office that I'm pretty sure he put his hand on a Bible when he took.
COLLINS: Can I ask you one last question? A fellow governor of yours, Gavin Newsom, is also here. And when he got here, he was really critical of the other European leaders. He didn't name them, but he said that he believes they'd basically capitulated to President Trump.
Is that how you see it, as another prominent governor in the United States?
BESHEAR: I don't think that's what we need. We already have a president attacking these European leaders, leaving them with little choice but to find other options other than the United States.
My message here is America is more than just the President. The American people believe in our relationship with Canada. The American people believe in our relationship with Europe. The American people don't think we need to be taking any territory, much less Greenland, and recognize all we have to do is ask for the access that we need.
My hope is that after this President is done, that we can repair these relationships, get back to being the model for the world that we are, and I think Americans take pride in that. And where we are right now is unfortunate. And I think if citizens of the United States sat down and watched the rambling hour and a half of that speech, they'd be frankly embarrassed, it was on the world stage.
COLLINS: Governor Beshear, thank you for stopping by and joining us.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: After his speech today, President Trump offered this take on how it was received.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: We got great reviews. I can't believe it. We got good reviews in that speech. Usually they say, He's a horrible dictator-type person. I'm a dictator.
(LAUGHTER)
TRUMP: But sometimes you need a dictator.
But they didn't say that in this case. And no, it's commonsense. It's all based on commonsense. You know.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Joining me now is President Trump's former National Security Adviser, Ambassador John Bolton.
And Ambassador, it was quite a day, so I'm excited to get your take on it.
Because I think one question coming out of this given, as everyone's been watching this debate over Greenland play out, do you think, based on what we know right now, and this potential rework of that 1951 agreement with Denmark and the United States, over Greenland, does it sound like the United States got anything that it did not already have access to? JOHN BOLTON, FORMER TRUMP NATIONAL SECURITY ADVISER, FORMER U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N., AUTHOR, "THE ROOM WHERE IT HAPPENED": Well, it certainly doesn't sound like it. We obviously are lacking details on this framework. But I told Trump about the 1951 treaty, back in 2019, when he first raised buying Greenland. So, the course was obvious, that far back.
Look, he took back his threat to use force. And I agree with others who have said, it never really was credible. If he had directed the military to attack Greenland, there would have been a political earthquake in this country.
But then later, he also backed off the tariff threat. Maybe it had to do with the markets yesterday. I'm not so sure.
I think he has latched on to whatever this framework is as a way to climb down. He'll declare victory. But the lesson is, it's not quite Trump Always Chickens Out, but it's pretty close.
It shows how utterly incoherent his policy-making, I hesitate to use that word, really is, and how damaging it is to the United States, after we have worked many -- across party lines, for decades, to build up trust and good faith and reliance in U.S. leadership. That's an American asset, that's valuable to us. Trump has squandered it by the kinds of remarks he makes. And it's going to take a lot of work to repair. He didn't do anything in the rest of his speech and comments today to repair the damage he's done.
COLLINS: So, you view this as another example, the President kind of making a maximalist demand, and then backing off of it, as he did today?
BOLTON: Well, that's correct in a bargaining sense.
But just ask yourself, people watching should ask yourself, do you treat your friends that way when you have a disagreement with them? Do you threaten to punch them in the nose to get their attention? Trump can't see the difference between dealing with allies and dealing with adversaries, and that cost America.
There is something to the idea of followership. If we provide leadership, we need people who are willing to give us the benefit of the doubt and rely on our good faith, because we're looking out for our interests by looking out for the Alliance interest.
I think Trump doesn't understand what the NATO alliance is. He didn't in his first term. It may be even worse in his second term.
[21:20:00]
COLLINS: One thing that is -- he wants to talk about tomorrow is the Board of Peace. He's got this big speech. The invitations just went out. It's focused on Gaza. But what I've been told is it's actually much bigger -- or their vision for it is going to be much bigger than that. I asked him about extending an invitation to President Putin, given he has obviously invaded a neighboring country, about asking him to join this Board of Peace. This is what the President told me earlier.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Mr. President, about Russia trying to come and take over Greenland. If you're worried that Putin would do something like that, why invite him to join your Board of Peace?
TRUMP: Because we want everybody. We want all nations. We want all nations where people have control, people have power. That way we are never going to have a problem. This is the greatest board ever assembled, and everybody wants to be on it.
But yes, I have some controversial people on it, but these are people that get the job done. These are people that have tremendous influence. If I put all babies on the board, it wouldn't be very much. So, he was invited. He's accepted. Many people have accepted. I think -- I don't know of anybody that hasn't accepted.
But it's going to be -- I think the Board of Peace will be the most prestigious board ever, and it's going to get a lot of work done that the United Nations should have done. And we'll work with the United Nations. But the Board of Peace is going to be special. We're going to have peace.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: We do know so far, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Italy have declined, at least so far, to be on that board.
But what did you make of his answer there about why he thinks Putin should also be on this board?
BOLTON: Look, this is an embarrassment to the United States that any president would say things like that. You bet, Vladimir Putin gets things done. So does Xi Jinping. How about Kim Jong Un? Did he invite him? The President of Belarus is on the Board. Viktor Orban of Hungary. It's no wonder other people are saying, No.
I don't think the thing is going to get off the ground. It was originally, as you said, designed for Gaza. But apparently, he now has global ambitions. I don't know who's talking to him about this. It may be entirely his idea. But this is a failure from word one.
And what it shows is he's not focusing on what the real threats to the United States are out there in the world. And that's the growing China-Russia axis, the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, which he's still vainly trying to seek a ceasefire for, or worried about China's hegemonic ambitions along its Indo-Pacific periphery. We've got real threats, and he's building a Board of Peace, charging $1 billion for each country that joins. As I say, this is embarrassing. This has nothing to do with American national security. It has everything to do with Donald Trump's ego.
COLLINS: Yes, we'll be watching, obviously, that signing, closely tomorrow.
Ambassador John Bolton, as always, thank you for your thoughts.
And up next here in Davos. I caught up with the President's Energy Secretary. He told me why the President wants Greenland so badly for reasons beyond national security.
And also, that a giant winter storm that is about to hit the United States. A 180 million Americans are now in the path, and up to a foot of snow is in the forecast. We'll have the latest for you, ahead.
[21:25:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: Tonight, as we're working to learn more about the framework deal, the President says he struck with the Chief of NATO, on Greenland. Given the White House has said tonight, only the details will be revealed once it is finalized.
But before the President had posted on Truth Social about this deal, I grabbed his Energy Secretary, Chris Wright, in the hallway, about why exactly the President wants Greenland, and what exactly he is hoping to do with it.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: And I'm here with Energy Secretary, Chris Wright. We just left the room where the President was delivering his speech here at Davos.
One thing that he did there, that he came out, maybe surprised a few people, he ruled out using military force to acquire Greenland, something that he spent a good, significant part of his speech on. Is that something that had been discussed and that had been planned? What was your reaction to that?
CHRIS WRIGHT, ENERGY SECRETARY: Look, President Trump has been all-in on NATO since he arrived. His goal has been to strengthen NATO, get the rest of the countries to increase their defense spending, get them also to follow more commonsense energy policies, so their economies become stronger and they can re-industrialize. He's all-in together in growing NATO stronger. So of course, there's a little bit of friction on this issue. But no, I'm not surprised at all that he ruled out force. This is -- we're all in NATO.
COLLINS: One thing that you said recently, while you were here at Davos, is that taking Greenland, having the United States possess Greenland, as the President wants, is not about capturing resources. You said it's about national security.
I think some people might look at that and say a big part that the President has talked about is not just national security, but also the rare-earth minerals and all of that that Greenland does have in his possession. WRIGHT: I think he's more promoting that for economic development opportunities for Greenlanders. This is expensive place to mine, it's a remote place. Is that -- is there an interest to capture those resources for the U.S.? Absolutely not. This is about national security. But if you have U.S. economic involvement in Greenland, are there opportunities for upside jobs and economic opportunity for the locals? That's one possible option, absolutely.
COLLINS: Have you been mapping that out? What would that look like in terms of the investment, the cost, if the President is as realistic about it as he says he is?
WRIGHT: It's, as they say, it's, look, there's a little bit of mining in Greenland. There's been an interest in having mining there. But since it's a remote region, it's just more expensive to do things there. So, you've got to find the right place with easy road access and the right long-term view to develop that.
[21:30:00]
But if that was -- if that was a U.S. territory, or whatever, would the country go above and beyond to try to create economic opportunity there? Absolutely, it would. But Greenland has always been about national security.
COLLINS: If it's about national security, why not use the existing agreement in place, where the United States could put a military base there today?
WRIGHT: We have a military base there today. So yes, there's ways to do this. But I think the President said, If we're going to make the huge investments of the Golden Dome, and build a large national security system, and it's in the Western Hemisphere, he's always felt strongly that it's better, ultimately, under U.S. sovereignty. Ultimately, under U.S. sovereignty.
COLLINS: Can I ask you on Venezuela? I know that will be a part of the President's speech tomorrow that's focused on foreign policy.
One Republican, Thomas Massie, has questioned why the United States needs to keep the money it makes from the Venezuelan oil in a Qatari bank account, instead of just using it in the United States.
What is the answer to Thomas Massie, who's raised that question?
WRIGHT: This just sanctions, and U.S. law, and the ability to flow funds quickly. From the extraction of Maduro and his wife on drug charges, to flowing money back into Venezuela was about a week. We wanted to move as quickly as we could to stabilize the situation in Venezuela. And we have sanctions that we're in the process of removing and rejiggering on Venezuela.
But we just did something that was simple and expeditious. Always under the control of the United States government, all these accounts are under United States government control. Ultimately, in the long run, will that just flow through U.S. territory? Sure, it will. COLLINS: So ultimately, it won't be in a Qatari bank account. It'll be in a United States bank account?
WRIGHT: I'm sure it'll move that way. Absolutely. It's just a pragmatic decision, accounts controlled by the U.S.
COLLINS: Energy Secretary, Chris Wright, thank you for your time.
WRIGHT: You bet.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COLLINS: Up next here on THE SOURCE. My political sources are going to join me to talk about the President's day here in Davos. What did they make of the dig he took at NATO allies, while some of them were actually standing there in the room?
[21:35:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: They called me daddy, right? The last time? Very smart man said, He's our daddy.
COLLINS: What did you make of what he said about you calling him "daddy" and what Europe thinks of him now?
MARK RUTTE, SECRETARY GENERAL OF NATO: United (ph).
COLLINS: Is there trepidation?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: No comment there from the NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte. We were trying to see what he thought of that shoutout, as I guess you could put it, from President Trump today.
One thing that we do know tonight is European leaders are breathing a bit of a sigh of relief, after the President dropped that demand to acquire Greenland outright, and his threat to punish the countries that were standing in his way if he didn't get it. It was a pretty remarkable reversal, given it was just the last week when the President said he wouldn't accept anything less than Greenland being in the hands of the United States.
But today, here at Davos, he doubled down again on why he believes the United States needs to own Greenland.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: You need the ownership to defend it. You can't defend it on a lease. Number one, legally, it's not defensible that way. Totally. And number two, psychologically, who the hell wants to defend a license agreement or a lease? (END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Just hours after that, the President took to social media to announce that framework of a future deal.
But what about the ownership that he said he wanted? This is what the President told me.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: Does it still include the United States having ownership of Greenland, like you've said you wanted?
TRUMP: It's a long-term deal. It's the ultimate long-term deal. And I think it puts everybody in a really good position, especially as it pertains to security and minerals and everything else.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: My political sources tonight are:
Kate Bedingfield, who was the White House Communications Director for President Biden.
And David Urban, a former Trump campaign adviser.
And Kate Bedingfield, when you hear that answer from the President, do you take that as a no?
KATE BEDINGFIELD, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, WHITE HOUSE COMMUNICATIONS DIRECTOR UNDER PRES. BIDEN: I do take that as a no. Because, if the answer was yes, if he'd gotten what he has been claiming for weeks that he wants and that he would stop at nothing to get? He would have said yes. So clearly, the answer is no.
But I think the bigger question here is, what has all of this gotten Trump? What has this -- all of this gotten the United States of America over the last couple of weeks?
You've got -- he has an electorate at home who's frustrated that he's not focused on costs, that he's not focused on the high cost of living.
And he's spending his time making these bombastic threats, first, about invading Greenland, then about owning Greenland. He's spent a bunch of time alienating our most stalwart allies, at a time where we should be holding tight to our allies. We should be encouraging them to look to the United States, as they're thinking about their own security, thinking about their own economic future. We should be encouraging them to look to the United States and not to China.
And yet, you have the President sort of rambling in this almost nonsensical way, on the world stage, and jamming his finger in our allies' eyes.
So, what is this getting us strategically? What is this getting us economically? And what is this getting Americans across the country? I would argue, nothing.
COLLINS: David, how do you see it? What do you think it's getting Americans?
DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR, FORMER TRUMP CAMPAIGN ADVISER: Yes, well, listen, obviously Kate and I disagree.
And Kaitlan, great reporting there, all day long, from Davos. Got a lot of great -- got a lot of great scoops there with different people.
COLLINS: Thank you.
[21:40:00]
URBAN: Look, I think that the President got exactly what he wanted, right? He's going to get -- we're going to get some land in Greenland for a -- in the long run. The President is right in saying that people -- no one ever washed a rented car, right? That's kind of the old saying.
And I think the President strongly believes that, as well as many others do, that Greenland, if we don't have some real stake there in Greenland, that at some point the Russians and the Chinese may, and we want to -- we want to keep that from happening ever in the long run. And the only way to be doing that is to be able to put a lot of U.S. presence there. And the agreements allow some of that, but maybe not in totality.
So, I think the President thinks, if he's going to put the Golden Dome there, if the United States is going to invest a lot of money in infrastructure, that we should own parts of those things, maybe the bases on which those are located.
And I think the mineral rights and other rights that are there, as your interview with Secretary Wright so correctly pointed out, it's hard to get to some of that stuff. That doesn't mean it's not going to be gotten to at some point or the United -- the world needs that.
And then finally, the thing that's super-important about Greenland are the shipping lanes, right? It's really about who's going to control the Arctic, the passages of ships, through a lot of those straits as the climate changes and shipping lanes get free up from ice, the Arctic becomes more and more important, and Greenland becomes more and more important.
So, I think the President got -- you know, he starts out with bombastic claims, as always in negotiating, and he retreats back to something that's more rational and normal and gets what he wants. It's how it's been going on here for a long time, and I think our NATO allies knew that going in.
COLLINS: Well, I don't know, they seemed pretty shaken up about it, based on the conversations we've heard, and trying to schedule emergency meetings over this.
But Kate. Susan Glasser, of The New Yorker, was saying that the President has been talking about this, obviously as we know, since his first term. She actually spoke to him about it in November 2021, I believe, about why he wanted it.
And she talked about what the President told her today. She was doing a podcast on this. And this is what Susan Glasser said.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SUSAN GLASSER, STAFF WRITER, THE NEW YORKER: I think his answer still is the real answer today. He basically told us, Look, I love maps. I looked at this on a map. It's massive, and we should have it.
And, you know, he said at the time, in November 2021, It's really just like a real estate deal to me, except it's a lot bigger.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COLLINS: If that is the logic, Kate, how do you think world leaders negotiate with him, basically on that? What does that actually look like, do you think, behind the scenes?
BEDINGFIELD: Well, the logic is sort of nonsensical. I mean, Denmark is a close NATO ally. The United States has, I believe, World War II era deals that allow us to put military assets in Greenland if we want to.
I mean, there is no -- this is -- it's like Trump has created a problem in want of a solution. I mean, this was not something that we were struggling to use our relationship with NATO, and our relationship with Greenland, and our, you know -- we weren't able to do what we needed to do there.
So, for him to have, again, like created this problem, thrown out these really bombastic statements, that ultimately can, I would argue, erode our allies' trust in the United States' ability to be a consistent partner, being a consistent ally.
Now, maybe this situation plays out, everybody breathes a sigh of relief that he's not going to take Greenland by force. But each time he does this, he erodes the confidence of our allies in the United States as a steady partner, and that does have cost, over time.
And to your question, Kaitlan, about how world leaders can negotiate with somebody whose logic is essentially nonsensical. I'm not sure they can. I don't think that he has put forward a plan here that any rational leader could negotiate with in good faith. He sort of says what he's -- what crosses his mind, and then a couple hours later he says something else that crosses his mind, so. And I do think that that is doing damage, over time, to the United States' standing in the world, and to our economic and our national security interests.
URBAN: Yes, but Kaitlan, just real quickly, to Kate's point. Look--
COLLINS: Yes, and we'll continue to monitor--
URBAN: Yes -- and I was going to say, NATO had a 2 percent funding goal for many, many years. Nothing ever happened, right? You heard the Secretary General say, If Donald Trump weren't president today, NATO wouldn't have met that 2 percent, nor would they had met at The Hague last year and voted to do a 5 percent. Wouldn't have happened without Donald Trump.
And so, Donald Trump pushing NATO, continue to push NATO, and push NATO to defend themselves, step up and do more, in defense of the NATO alliance, I think is a good thing for Americans. I don't think, at the end of the day, America is weaker. I don't think NATO is weaker. I think the alliance is stronger because of the President's bombast. You may not like his style, but substantively, America is safer today because of it all.
[21:45:00]
COLLINS: Yes, Mark Rutte gave him credit for upping defense spending.
David Urban. Kate Bedingfield. Great to have you both here joining us. Thank you so much. Wish you were here in Davos.
Up next, though, we turn back to the United States. A verdict is in and a serious note in the trial of that former Uvalde police officer Adrian Gonzales (ph). CNN's Shimon Prokupecz has covered all of this. He's going to join me live outside the courthouse on what the reaction is in Uvalde tonight.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUDGE SID HARLE, FOURTH ADMINISTRATIVE JUDICIAL REGION, SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS: In each of the 29 counts, we the jury find the defendant, Adrian Gonzales (ph), not guilty.
You may be seated.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[21:50:00]
COLLINS: That was the moment in a Texas courtroom, just in the last hour, as a jury acquitted the former Uvalde police officer, Adrian Gonzales (ph), who had been accused of failing to confront a school shooter in 2022. Gonzales (ph), of course, had been one of the first officers to arrive at Robb Elementary that day for a gunman went on to kill 19 children and two teachers.
And CNN's Shimon Prokupecz joins me now.
And Shimon, obviously you have covered this case incredibly closely. What more can you tell us about what it was like in the courtroom, as this verdict was read, and what the reaction has been just in the last hour?
SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Certainly for the families just devastated. I've been covering this now for almost four years. And they just feel that there's -- there was so much failure here, and they were hoping that there would be some accountability. They told us that they were hopeful. They were hopeful, despite the hurdles.
This was going to be a very difficult case for prosecutors to prove. It's a charge that has never really been used in this way, here in the State of Texas. It's only the second time that a school police officer was charged in this way. And so, they understood it was going to be tough, and it was tough.
But nonetheless, the emotion from them just came out, because they have been sitting here during this trial for nine days, listening to this testimony about their loved ones, about their kids, some of whom died that day, some survived, and it was just a lot to handle, for sure. When this verdict was read, almost immediately, many of them ran out and they were just in tears and crying.
We also heard from the defendant here, and he thanked this team. It was the first time we had heard from him. And thanked people for their support.
But there is still going to be another trial here. We expect there to be the trial for this former school police chief, Pete Arredondo. He's also charged in connection with failures here. So, there's still a lot more to go for the families. They're hopeful. But again, that case is also going to be very difficult for prosecutors to prove.
This community, these families, at every turn, I have felt that there has been failure. And understandably, they feel that again tonight, as they are still seeking that accountability for the failures here, failures that have been documented and reported on, and many agencies admitted that they had failed those children that day, Kaitlan.
COLLINS: Yes, and I don't think anybody would dispute that these parents and these children and these teachers were failed. But, you know, and legally speaking, obviously that's one thing. You talked about, the difficulty and obviously the unusual nature of the charges themselves.
But Shimon, given with what care that you have covered this story, and with the persistence that you have, I do think there's a lot of questions about where this leaves these families, you know? And just how they feel tonight, with the raw emotion of this being brought back up again, obviously.
PROKUPECZ: Yes, there's a lot of emotion, because they sat in this courtroom, and there was evidence that came in, photos of the crime scene, of their loved ones, hearing their names mentioned in court. That was so hard for them and so difficult for them.
They also weren't always pleased with the way the case was going. There was a lot of concern over how the case was presented. And many people, many legal experts and other folks that were involved in this case, thought it was going to be really difficult for the prosecutors to prove their case. And they have a difficult road ahead now in this next case. COLLINS: Yes.
Shimon Prokupecz, obviously, we all appreciate your reporting so much. Thank you for joining us tonight.
Up next. We're going to check in on another breaking story in the United States. There's a looming winter storm. It could set records, and not in a good way. We are tracking this enormous weather system, and also where it looks like right now it is going to hit the hardest.
[21:55:00]
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
COLLINS: One of the most extreme winter storms in years is just a few days away, and it's expected to bring ice and heavy snow to nearly half the United States this weekend.
Our CNN Meteorologist, Allison Chinchar, has the latest forecast.
ALLISON CHINCHAR, CNN METEOROLOGIST: Yes, Kaitlan. More than 70 million people are under some type of winter weather alert. And I think the key thing is just that, the sheer amount of people that are expected to be impacted by this storm. And we are looking at snow showers from the Rocky Mountains, all the way over to the Atlantic Ocean in some form.
Now, some folks are just going to get snow. That's the purple color you see here. The green, those area's just simply going to get rain. It's this pink area where you're likely going to have a little bit of a mix of everything, starting off as rain and transitioning to some type of sleet, freezing rain, snow, type of mix, as the system progresses eastward.
So, here's a look at Friday evening. You really start to see a lot of that wintry precip beginning across states like northern Texas, areas of Oklahoma and into Kansas. Then as we push it forward into Saturday morning, you really start to see a lot more of that pink and purple color really filling in across the map, indicating more of that winter weather beginning to impact some of these areas.
This system itself continues to slide off to the east by Saturday evening. And then into Sunday morning. Now you're really starting to see more of that pink color spread into, say, the Carolinas, Georgia, into Virginia. And again, for some of these areas, you are talking significant amounts of ice accumulation, which is never a good thing to have, because that's when you start to see a lot of widespread power outages from all of that ice accumulating on trees and power lines.
[22:00:00]
But here's the thing. The weather models aren't necessarily in complete agreement. So you have one, for instance, that has more of a northerly track, which is going to bring more of that snow and ice to places farther north. The other track keeps it a little bit farther south. This would include places like Charlotte, Columbia and Atlanta, ending up getting a little bit more ice, as opposed to rain or snow.
Now, here's what we do know. Again, regardless of which city ultimately ends up getting the most, this swath here, the very dark purple color, now you are looking at over a foot of snow, and some of these areas could end up picking up over an inch of ice.
COLLINS: Allison Chinchar, thank you for that. We'll keep track on that storm.
And thank you for joining us tonight. We'll be back here, live from Davos, again tomorrow night.
"CNN NEWSNIGHT WITH ABBY PHILLIP" starts right now.
