Trump Questions NATO Commitment To Defending U.S.

24:48Mark, of course, Mark Carney, the leader of Canada. The comments were a clear tit for tat. This is one day after Carney warned world leaders of a dangerous rupture in the global order, the suggestion being it was caused by Trump. Let me be direct. We are in the midst of a rupture, not a transition. Let's bring in Canada's longtime ambassador to the S, Kirsten Hillman, who is exiting our fair country, going back to our neighbors to the north. So Prime Minister Carney's comments seem to resonate with the president. He seemed to hear it. He posted this A.I. picture on Truth Social where you have the American flag not only on Greenland and Venezuela, and Cuba, but also on Canada.

25:33What do you make of this all? Look, I think that in terms of the president's comments, it's clear. It's a benefit to Canada to have the United States as our one and only neighbor. We're deeply integrated economies, and it's been a very mutually beneficial relationship. But make no mistake, it's a very good relationship for the United States as well. Yeah, but he says, address this part of it. Canada lives because of the United States. Canada lives because of the strength of Canadians, because of the ingenuity and hard work of Canadians. You know, and right now that's what we're focused on. We're focused on doing for ourselves what we can in this time of volatility, in this time of change.

26:18But we're also keen to continue to have a very productive relationship with the United States. We're your biggest customer. We buy more from you than any country in the world. Manufactured goods that create lots of jobs here. So it's a very complex and deep relationship that we are, you know, we're in the middle of, I think, a change, as the prime minister said. But the prime minister is very focused on Canada and doing things for ourselves. He didn't call it a change, he called it a rupture. And in another one of his lines, Prime Minister Carney warned allies, quote, if you're not at the table, we're on the menu.

26:50Do you think his warning, the prime minister's warning to European allies, like Emmanuel Macron or Keir Starmer of the UK, do you think it landed? You know, we'll have to see what they make of it. I know that it was well-received at Davos. I think we all saw that. But I also think the prime minister, he's setting out his vision for his leadership and our country. That's what he was trying to do. If that type of leadership, if that type of vision resonates with others, then that's good news because we are a country of allies. We're a country that's interested in making sure that we're working well with our allies.

27:20Well, you know, I do have to ask. You talk about this relationship we have and we're allies. Canada had a recent military simulation in which the U.S. invaded Canada. This is reportedly the first in about 100 years. Was that triggered by what's going on right now, what President Trump is saying? I don't know the details of this. You've heard of it, though, right? We do, yeah. We do military simulations of all kinds. I guess that's a question for our chief of defense staff and, you know, why she feels she needs to be having certain things done. What do you know or make of this announcement by President Trump that there's some sort of framework for a deal for the U.S.

28:02and Greenland? It looks, based on the sketchy details we have, that it's kind of just, it looks like President Trump's just throwing in the towel. But I don't know what the details are. Honestly, we don't know the details either. I guess our premise is if it's good for the people of Greenland and if it's good for Denmark, if it's something that they're willing to participate in and leads to a solution that works for them, then that's great news. So I don't know if this is the last time you're going to be on the show, but it's been an honor to have you and a pleasure. You know I have Winnipeg roots.

28:32I do. My great-great-grandfather was the mayor of Winnipeg for four days, then he lost the recount. So great to have you here. Great. Thank you so much. It's been a pleasure. And tell all my cousins up in Canada. I sure will. Thanks, Jake. President Trump did not just single out Canada. He had a long list of complaints about plenty of nations. Some of their leaders were sitting right in front of him today. That's next.

28:55The relationship between the FBI director and the president has always been complicated. Unravel the complex dynamic in the CNN original series, Standoff, the FBI, Power and Paranoia, premieres Sunday, March 22nd on CNN and next day on the CNN app. In our politics lead, in a frigid Davos, Switzerland, let's talk about how President Trump went scorched earth today. Aside from making his demands for Greenland, he did take aim at some of his favorite targets. Take a listen. Kennedy gets a lot of freebies from us, by the way. They should be grateful also, but they're not. After the war, we gave Greenland back to Denmark.

29:34How stupid were we to do that? But we did it. But we gave it back. But how ungrateful are they now? And I love Europe, and I want to see Europe go good. But it's not heading in the right direction. They don't appreciate what we do. I'm talking about NATO. I'm talking about Europe. They have to work on Ukraine. We don't. The United States is very far away. We have a big, beautiful ocean separating us. We have nothing to do with it. The timeless art of diplomacy. Mike Dubke, let me start with you. So President Trump said he's close to striking a deal when it comes to Greenland. We don't know the details.

30:17The New York Times is reporting it might be allowing the U.S. to have sovereignty over some new military bases, which I'm not sure how that's different at all from how military base program. or are we? I don't know. I'm not really sure. He hasn't really announced. Brent Scott Hong Kong. Well, do you know anything? I do not know. I do not know. I think, look, we were, the president's been serious about Greenland. I think it was, it started out as a bit of a joke. People at least thought that at the beginning of the administration. And then he's really been very, very serious about it. It has been surprising to me how much it has dominated the discussion in Davos.

30:57The first 20 minutes of his speech was about economics, was about energy, a whole bunch of other things. And then he finally got to Greenland. But that has also been what's been dominating the coverage of his speech all day. Okay, what do you think? Obviously, President Biden, for whom you worked, had a slightly different style when it came to working with allies. Yes, like he thought it was useful for us to strengthen our relationships and have an effective working relationship with the free world. Yes. Look, I think when it comes to Greenland, I mean, look, first of all, I guess it's Taco Wednesday, right?

31:28Because we've heard, we've, you know. Here we go. Taco stands for. Taco Wednesday. We've heard a lot of tough talk about. Your microphone, I'm told, is bad right now. So we're going to get, we're going to go to you. All right. I can lean in. While the microphone is fixed. Should I just, should I take my? We can borrow, we can share. Well, you're very polite. I know. There's a lot of diplomacy here. I appreciate it. But while we fix that, and they put the camera on, Mike, and they fix the thing, let me ask you about this. Michelle Tafoya. Yes. Because you and I were just talking about your beloved Buffalo Bills, and I was expressing my condolences.

32:03We have seen, as football fans, Michelle Tafoya on the sidelines reporting on NFL games. She just launched a bid to run for the U.S. Senate from Minnesota. Here's a little bit of her ad. for too long hard-working people have been ripped off by criminals corporations and career politicians and the people doing everything right are the ones paying the biggest price well i'm not going to stay on the sidelines any longer a little sidelines yeah i like that little play on words what do you think i mean minnesota generally speaking is a pretty tough place for a republic to win statewide but you've got well you've got a state in chaos right now and i'm not just talking about ICE.

32:47I'm talking about before that, why Tim Walz, the governor, decided not to run for reelection. Because of that fraud scandal. Well, waste, fraud, and abuse. It was defined by that scandal. So I think whenever you've got an open seat, you've got a state in chaos, and then you have your opponents, the Democrats, who are pitting a centrist against a progressive, and that's going to be a fairly fierce primary. You have an opportunity to pick up an open seat, and the Republicans just got a, you know, quote unquote, sideline celebrity to run. So I think it's a good thing for them and a good pickup opportunity.

33:21What do you think, Carrie? I think the reality check here is that a Republican has not won statewide in Minnesota in 20 years since Tim Pawlenty in 2006. You know, we have you're looking at a year where Trump's unpopularity in the state is high. His popularity is sinking. the impact of the ice raids in Minnesota have continued to cause his favorability to take a hit. You know, Michelle Tafoya, obviously she can run as an outsider, and that's a compelling argument. But she's also somebody who's had a political podcast for the last three years, which will be ripe with opportunities for the Democrats to pull out quotes to tie her to an unpopular Trump.

34:00So I think the idea that this is going to be a pickup opportunity for Republicans is probably a little far-fetched. It will be interesting to see what her getting into the race does, inducing not only her own fundraising because of her national profile, but also fundraising for the Democratic candidates who have jumped in quickly to say Trump was able to recruit his number one choice for this race. We're going to need more resources. So it will be interesting to see how they're able to capitalize on that too. So let me, now that your mic is working, let me just jump back because I was asking you about what you're seeing, what you saw in Davos today from President Trump.

34:31Yes. Well, I was just saying when it comes to Greenland, it's Taco Wednesday. I mean, we've heard nothing. You have to explain what taco means. We have Trump always chickens out. That's an acronym, folks. This was something that was bandied about when he, before Liberation Day. You didn't want him to send in troops. Of course not. But I do think that the president's words matter. And so when you have Trump consistently running this playbook of laying out the most belligerent, most aggressive position, walking back from it, signaling to our allies that they can't feel confident about where the United States stands and what our position is, I think that's a problem.

35:06And that only continues to create an environment where the Europeans are going to be inclined to look elsewhere. They're going to be inclined to look to China. They're going to be inclined to look to India if they feel like the United States isn't a reliable partner. And I think that's what we saw from Trump today in Davos. Not just Europeans, because we saw Canada talking about new ties with China. Right. But we're also having Canada and the Europeans and others continue to talk to the United States. You call it taco. This is really the way that Trump has negotiated as a developer and as president 1.0 and 2.0.

35:43You take a position, put it so far out to the side that your adversaries come running over trying to have a conversation about that and you get back towards the middle and you still win most of what you're looking for. So I think it's a bit rich to say that the Europeans are going to walk away from America, that Canada is going to walk away from the United States and our relationship with them. What you have with Donald Trump is a politician who acts in a different way that has a following in the United States and frankly has a following in Europe. Part of all of the European right of center groups that are emerging now, a lot of that has to do with what Trump and the United States is, what Trump has done in the United States over the last several years.

36:25But the only tangible results that that strategy has gotten thus far has been the application of tariffs that have essentially raised prices for Americans. So you've had Trump lay out, you know, I'm going to, we're going to put a 200 % tariff, 180 % tariff, and we'll actually know we're going to come back down, we're going to find middle ground. Well, actually, it's just going to be 15%. Well, Americans are paying the price for that. So the idea that Trump throwing out a rhetorical, far-fetched argument in order to win back some position in the center that's been good for the country, I don't think the tangible results of that have borne out.

37:00All we've gotten out of that are tariffs. I think the bottom, and I'll just be quick about this, I think the bottom line of the speech today really was that first 20 minutes where he articulated a path forward for Europe and he articulated that the United States is not backing away from the world. And then we decided to talk about Greenland. He liked the part that was on the teleprompter. They always like the part that's on the teleprompter. As the former communications Educations director? I absolutely do like the telecom performance. Thanks to both of you. Appreciate it. We're monitoring jury deliberations right now in the trial of that former Uvalde school police officer.

37:34There's a lot going on. We're going to go back in a moment to Uvalde.

37:43We have some breaking news for you in our Law and Justice League. The jury is considering the fate of former Uvalde, Texas school police officer Adrian Gonzalez, and they are deliberating at this hour. Gonzalez faces 29 counts of child endangerment in connection with the May 2022 massacre in which a gunman killed 19 children and two teachers. CNN's Shimon Prokopez is in Corpus Christi where the trial is being held. Shimon, have we heard anything from the jury this afternoon? Yeah, Jake, you know, the jury is really working here. They've been deliberating now for about five hours. And one of the first notes that they gave to the judge was they were asking for all of the evidence.

38:21They were asking for an easel, markers. They wanted the witness list. And then they sent a second note asking for a monitor or a laptop so they could watch video. One of the key pieces of evidence in this case is Adrian Gonzalez's own words in a statement that he made to the Texas Rangers just the day after the shooting. Of course, this case is all centered around the fact that prosecutors here allege that Gonzalez did not take action to try and stop the gunman. Now, both sides this morning made their final closing arguments to the jury, arguing why, respectively, he should be convicted and why he should be acquitted.

39:02And both attorneys arguing that this case will set precedent. Take a listen. You convict them, what does it tell all the police officers? It's going to tell them, I'm not getting in that crap. I'm not getting in that chair. If I see somebody running towards the school, I'm not going after them. Because if I'm mistaken and it takes me to the other side of the building from where the shooter is, and then I can't understand or know where the shooter is, I can go to prison. I can get prosecuted. Are we going to continue to hold teachers and students to a higher level of responsibility than we are going to hold police officers for school districts who raise their hand and say, I will be a police officer.

39:51Those hallways will be mine. Those children are my people. Those classrooms are at my houses. I will protect them. Are we going to continue to do that? And so the jury continues to deliberate. It's unclear at this moment, Jake, how late they will go. But no doubt, whatever their decision ultimately is, is going to send ramifications through law enforcement all across the country. Family members are here waiting. It's been really an emotional nine days here. And they here, too, are waiting and hoping for justice. Jake.

40:26Welcome to The Lead. I'm Jake Tapper. For this hour, a lot of buzz, very few details, after President Trump claims that there's some kind of path that he's agreed to on Greenland. He calls it, quote, a framework of a future deal. He says it, quote, puts everybody in a very good position. What does any of this actually mean? I'm going to ask Republican Congressman Dan Crenshaw. Plus, we're also going to talk to Republican Senator Tom Tillis, who joins us from Davos. Also, Vice President Vance is headed to Minneapolis tomorrow to meet with ICE agents and give a speech defending the administration's immigration crackdown.

40:58The trip comes as a new immigration enforcement campaign begins in Portland, Maine, another state with a sizable Somali population. And a wild twist in college football, Duke University is now suing its own star quarterback, trying to block him from transferring schools. Is there any precedent for this? What kind of impact could this have on other college players? That's ahead.

41:27Breaking news in the lead tonight. CNN is learning new details of what may be part of the, quote, framework of a future deal on Greenland that President Trump announced this afternoon. A source says it includes renegotiating a 1951 agreement with Denmark that formalized the U.S. military presence in Greenland. The U.S. had more than a dozen military facilities in Greenland during the Cold War. Afterwards, all but one closed. Now Trump wants more. A NATO spokesperson says a prospective deal could include a provision that bars China and Russia from operating in Greenland. The announcement comes several hours after Trump spoke at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, where he seemed to back off on using military force to take over the Arctic island by force.

42:11I don't have to use force. I don't want to use force. I won't use force. All the United States is asking for is a place called Greenland. You can say yes, and we will be very appreciative, or you can say no, and we will remember. CNN's Kristen Holmes is at the White House for us. Kristen, what are the details in this supposed framework? Well, look, there's still a lot of questions because we don't know what an actual renegotiation of this 1951 agreement would look like. As you said, this was the agreement that formalized U.S. military presence in Greenland. And at the time, during the Cold War, there were more than a dozen military installations or buildings there.

42:54Now there is one left. But one thing to note is that Denmark had essentially said that they welcomed more military presence from the U.S. as President Trump was issuing these threats, talking about security. So not really clear what's different about them offering to increase U.S. military presence in Greenland and this renegotiation. But the other part of this is that we have learned that the NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte, who President Trump credited with helping come up with this framework, this was an idea he had been pushing, this idea of renegotiating because he believed it would help satisfy President Trump, at least in some ways.

43:33Now, while we still don't know the details, it does seem as though this idea of acquiring Greenland is off the table. Listen to this exchange between our Caitlin Collins and President Trump about that. Does it still include the United States having ownership of Greenland like you've said you wanted?

43:53It'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. How long would the deal be, Mr. President? Infinite. Did you speak to Denmark? There is no time limit. It's forever. Now, I did ask the White House for more details on what exactly this framework would look like if our NATO allies were on board. This is the statement I just received moments ago from the press secretary. She said this. She said, if this deal goes through and President Trump is very hopeful it will, the United States will be achieving all of its strategic goals with respect to Greenland at very little cost forever.

44:38President Trump is proving once again he is the dealmaker in chief as details are finalized by all parties involved, they will be released accordingly. So clearly they're saying that not everybody was 100 % on board yet. We had learned that there was still briefing going on of all the NATO partners, but it certainly seems as though this provided somewhat of an off-ramp to President Trump, to the Trump administration, as things were growing increasingly tense with our European allies. And he was getting a lot of pushback even from his own allies, Republican lawmakers and even within the administration when it came to his rhetoric around Greenland.

45:14All right, Kristen Holmes, thank you so much. Appreciate it. We spoke with Republican Senator Tom Tillis from Davos earlier today. This was after President Trump's speech, but before this claim of a framework of a Greenland deal. And joining me now from Davos is Republican Senator Tom Tillis of North Carolina. Senator, thanks so much for joining us. I want to get to your reaction to the speech in a second. But first, since you were in the room to hear President Trump's speech, what was the reaction in the room to what the president had to say? Well, there was a lot of silence. Of course, I was sitting with the with the U.S.

45:53delegation and the people that traveled with the president. But I saw a lot of quiet hands down during the during the speech. What was your reaction to the speech? Well, you know, I think it was an opportunity missed. Davos, this is the first time I've ever been to Davos, but I'm concerned with many of our allies, our partners, militarily, economically, starting to think that they have to diversify away and de-risk from the United States of America. That's very concerning to me. Look, I get the president's goal to get the NATO members up to their commitments, and I'm glad he's done it. He's done an extraordinary job better than any president since the NATO alliance was forged.

46:38But I'm beginning to sense that they're looking at worst-case scenarios for the current U.S. posture, and that could lead to a disadvantage to the United States. And more importantly, the democratic world is at its best when we're working together, we're trading fairly. I think that the president's right to hold some of the countries accountable. But when you cast them all in the same light, I think it's a mistake. I also think that we have to continue to thank the NATO partners that honored their Article 5 commitment, went to Afghanistan with us and lost lives in defense of our great country.

47:13That is a profound responsibility, the Article 5 commitment. And the fact that the only time it's ever been initiated is in defense of the United States, I think the American people need to understand. Yeah, I mean, that's something that's interesting. You're right. President Trump successfully pushed a lot of these countries to uphold their commitment to spend a certain amount of their GDP on defense spending. But he also in recent days, he reposted something that said that NATO was the enemy within. And then you heard the president say a day ago that he doesn't think NATO members would honor the Article five commitment.

47:51an attack on one is an attack on all, when, as you note, the only time that's been invoked was other countries coming to our defense after 9-11. And in fact, I believe Denmark, the country at issue here that owns Greenland, I think they had the highest or among the highest per capita loss of life in the war in Afghanistan on our behalf. In fact, they had almost exactly the same per capita loss as the United States. That's why I became emotional when I went to the memorial in Copenhagen. I was wondering what the families, the loved ones of those soldiers were thinking when we're showing this sort of disrespect to a nation that literally on a per capita basis gave as many lives in some of the most contested areas of Afghanistan as you can find.

48:38This is just not the way to keep the free world together. The only person or persons who are happy with the notion of causing this problem, this tumult, to this uncertainty in NATO is Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping. They've got to be cheering from the bleachers. President Trump said today that he, quote, won't use force to take over Greenland. That appears to be his clearest statement, yet ruling out the use of the U.S. military. Do you think that assuaged any of our European allies? Well, first, I think it was a false concession. I mean, with all due respect to the president, I don't believe that the Congress would sit still if he were to take this by force.

49:20I think there would probably be sufficient votes to pass a War Powers resolution that would be veto-proof. So let's just be honest with our friends and our allies. And let's be respectful to them. Jake, we could have whatever we want in terms of presence in Greenland today without having to spend a dollar. And to my fiscal conservative colleagues out there, how about this? not spending billions of dollars to take territory that we've already been given unfettered access to and even have an agreement dating back to 1951 that Denmark and Greenland have said that they would expand and make more accommodating.

49:58Greenland is a country or is a territory that needs massive investment in infrastructure and massive investment just to support the basis. And by the way, a couple of years ago, they offered to sell one of their military bases in the most attractive part of Greenland, where the ports do not freeze in the winter, for a dollar. So to my fiscal conservative colleagues, let's project power in the Arctic. Let's get a multinational NATO force there, and let's do it on a far more economically sustainable basis than this administration is contemplating. I just don't get it. I want to play something else that President Trump said today on Greenland about what the U.S.

50:36did after World War II. Take a listen. After the war, we gave Greenland back to Denmark. How stupid were we to do that? But we did it. But we gave it back. But how ungrateful are they now? How do you interpret that remark? I go back to those souls listed on that memorial wall and wonder what the mothers, the fathers, the brothers, sisters and spouses are thinking today. They were grateful. That's why they went to Afghanistan. That's why they served along American servicemen and almost certainly saved the lives of American servicemen and gave their own lives. This is not who we are. This is not how you maintain the most important and profound and successful military alliance in the history of this planet.

51:32It's disrespectful, it's unproductive, and it's unsustainable. Several European leaders have expressed bewilderment at the very least at the president's threats to impose these huge tariffs on any NATO allies who oppose his attempt to take Greenland. I want you to take a listen to what the Belgian prime minister said about how Europe can now go forward. Europe is at the crossroads where it has to decide. Until now, we tried to appease the new president in the White House. we were very lenient also with the tariffs, but now so many red lines are being crossed that you have the choice between your self-respect.

52:15Being a happy vessel is one thing. Being a miserable slave is something else. How worried are you that the U.S. is at risk of permanently damaging relationships with some of our country's oldest and closest allies? Well, I think that we can repair the relationships, and I hope that the president will get the advice that people with stars on their shoulders know how important the alliance is and know how important it is to our own sophistication, our capabilities. We learn far less. We are far less exquisite in our ability to execute when we're not testing ourselves among our allies. However, it is a little bit rich that we're talking about the home of NATO and the battle, the famous battle of the bulge, not meeting their 2 % requirement.

53:06These countries that fall short, have fallen short for years, are a part of the reason why we are here today. And so while I've tried to say that I disagree with the president's posture right now, they own some responsibility for us being here because they combined for a$2 trillion shortfall in the first 20 years of this century. We would have an industrial base, a capability, and maybe not even an incursion into Ukraine if we had a NATO that had spent that$2 trillion. And that's just the minimum amount. Imagine if they were achieving the goals they're prepared to do now. So to my Belgian colleagues, pay up.

53:44Get the legitimate argument off the table that has infuriated this president, and rightfully so. The president also touted today what he calls the booming U.S. economy. He's saying that incomes are rising. Inflation has been defeated. What was your response to that?

54:01Well, you know, I think we have a little bit of a disconnect. I don't think it's productive to say that we don't have an affordability crisis. It's coming from from many people who have never wanted for anything in their lives. I'll take people back to that trailer park I grew up in and I'll ask them whether or not they're feeling good today. My guess is we've got a lot of work to do. And the only way you address a problem is recognize that it exists. From a trailer park to the U.S. Senate to Davos, Republican Senator Tom Tillis, thank you so much for your time. Thank you, Jake. Much more ahead on President Trump's whirlwind day in Switzerland, including the dig he took at NATO allies.

54:39Well, some of them were sitting right there. Plus, our small business series is back. Tonight, we're going to head to Minneapolis to see if the Trump administration's immigration crackdown is impacting local companies, along with his tariffs. Stick with us.

55:00Back in our Worldly today, during his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, President Trump questioned NATO's commitment to defend the United States. And he said this. What we have gotten out of NATO is nothing except to protect Europe from the Soviet Union and now Russia. I mean, we've helped them for so many years. We've never gotten anything. What President Trump did not mention was the only time that the NATO alliance invoked its collective defense treaty, Article 5, was to defend the United States after the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks. Joining us now, Republican Congressman Dan Crenshaw of Texas, a Navy SEAL veteran.

55:44And I don't have to tell you about other countries joining the United States after the 9-11 attacks. NATO formed a coalition to fight the war in Afghanistan along U.S. forces. You fought in that war. What's your response to the president questioning NATO's commitment to Article 5? Look, it's true. I've done operations with the Canadian SAS, lived on a British SAS base. Yeah, we're all allies. But I would also say, look, friends are allowed to fight and have these kind of bitter conflicts sometimes. I still think NATO is stronger than ever right now. And we're having this interview on the heels of quite a day in Davos with Trump's announcement and this announcement of an agreement over Greenland with the NATO secretary general.

56:35So I would also point out, you know, when everyone was worried about Trump's commitment to Ukraine, we've seen him take much further steps that have actually put the Russians on their heels in a negotiation position, allowing Ukrainians to use Western weapons to strike inside of Russia, actually putting those sanctions on those Russian oil companies that we have long called for. So, look, he's a maximalist negotiator. Everyone should know that by now. But from his actions, you know, this is very much a pro-NATO and pro-Western president. So you said NATO is stronger than it's ever been. I guess on the level of the fact that NATO countries are now spending more on their defense as agreed to, sure.

57:16But if you talk to leaders of NATO countries, UK, France, Denmark, Belgium, on and on and on, Italy, they seem very concerned about the alliance because of what you call President Trump's maximalist approach. Well, yeah, let them be concerned. I mean, if they want to express their hurt feelings, they can write me a letter. I'll put it on my website. But in the end, it truly is just by the actions and by the facts. And you mentioned one of them, the greater spending on defense. And now an agreement on Greenland, which has immense strategic value. And, you know, the U.S. is really the only one capable of both defending it, utilizing it properly, fending off the Russians and Chinese.

57:58And of course, it has, there's the mineral, the rare earth mineral aspect of this, which is incredibly important. So yes, I would say it's really one of the strongest times that we've seen in NATO. People are allowed to have these diplomatic hurt feelings. But in the end, look, we've got our real enemies and Trump is taking them on without NATO's help. So, you know, that's, I think it's been quite the year. So let's talk about this framework for a future deal on Greenland, the president claiming that he's arrived at this with NATO Secretary General Ruda. Obviously, the NATO Secretary General does not control Greenland.

58:36Denmark does. One assumes that Denmark is part of these negotiations as well, although there's so little we know about this framework. I do want to ask you, though, in terms of Greenland, Don Bacon, Congressman Don Bacon was on the show earlier, as was Senator Tom Tillis, two Republican congressional colleagues of yours. And both of them seem to think that all of this could have been achieved, what the president wants to achieve without all of the drama, as Bacon said. JOHN MCWHORTER, President, The President of the United States of America, possibly. I don't have access to the multiverse. I can't create a different timeline and see if we could have just gotten what we wanted by sending nice letters.

59:20Look, the president operates how he operates, and he wants deals done fast, and he uses a maximalist approach to do it. And look, we're getting a deal pretty fast. Again, I don't know the details, just like you don't know the details. I think the most important part of this is these rare-earth mineral deposits. I mean, Greenland is, I think, the eighth-largest rare-earth mineral deposits in the world. and it's important stuff. It's graphite, zinc, these kind of things, but also things like words you've never heard, like dysprosium or terbium. You might think I'm talking about adamantium or something, but I'm not.

59:51These are real, and they're very real for our defense industry. So yes, it was a maximalist negotiation effort, but NATO's going to be stronger because of it, because when America is stronger, and let's be honest, NATO is America. When America is stronger, NATO is stronger. Those are the facts. And what we really need to do is at least one of these, there's two major mines in Greenland, and one is majority owned by a Chinese company. That has to be a key part of this agreement, and I'm assuming that's what we're going to be pushing for. Because when it comes to the defenses, we already have that agreement with Greenland and the Danes.

1:00:26We already have a space space there. It's critical to our space infrastructure or ability to see what's coming, early warning detection, missile defense, that kind of thing. but if we want to actually produce the weapons and technologies we need of the future for the next several decades we need to start thinking a lot more about critical minerals and our ability to process them so i work on that on both the intelligence committee and on the energy and commerce committee where we oversee critical minerals and permitting reform all these kind of things um and and here's the other problem greenland slash denmark has not been great on this right they put a in 2021 they they banned certain uranium mining they're always against a lot of this stuff.

1:01:08And so that's a problem. Like we're we're literally tying our hands behind our back when we have real adversaries to face. Republican Congressman Dan Crenshaw of Texas. Thanks so much for joining us. Appreciate it. And as always, we appreciate your service. Thanks, Jake. President Trump keeps referring to Greenland as a piece of ice. So out of all the pieces of ice in this world, why is Greenland the one he's so focused with getting for the U.S.? We're going to break it down next.

1:01:42We're back in our World 8, and we're looking to answer the question that many of you have. Why Greenland? Why is President Trump so set on taking control of this Danish territory? The answer, in part, has a lot to do with bases and boats. CNN's Nick Payton Walsh takes a closer look now at the heated battle for this frozen but vital landscape. The race for Arctic control has run through the Cold War and now the melting ice of the climate crisis. The Russians had long been ahead. It is really their biggest coastline and defence hub. These dots, their bases. They've expanded and developed some facilities.

1:02:19This likely a nuclear missile storage facility. They've added MiG-31s, runways, often overshadowing NATO. But Russia's development has, it seems, been challenged by its invasion of Ukraine. One estimate putting casualties from ground units from their Arctic ground forces at about 80%. Now, remember, the capabilities of bases count more than their sheer number. But the US has around eight in Alaska and is down to one in Greenland. NATO member Canada, an ally, is enhancing three, bringing it up to about nine. and Norway's coastline, also a NATO member, is peppered with military facilities. Militaries, though, are also here partly for economic reasons.

1:03:04The climate crisis and ice stall has left vital shipping routes often open like these, a shorter path that China is keen to exploit, and potentially there are rare earth minerals, other resources, that are easy to get to if the ice sheet gives way. But the Arctic's role in defence is vital to Russia and its enemies. What's important is the Kola Peninsula here, where Russia keeps its second-strike nuclear submarines. They need to get through the so-called Bear Gap and the Giyuk Gap in order to move on towards the United States. And so an unlikely nuclear war would also be fought over Arctic skies, with most missile paths over this area.

1:03:48And so it's likely where most missile defenses would be best placed as well. Look, a weakened Russia, an ice melt, possibly leading to more resources exposed and busier shipping lanes. This is all heightened competition up here in a series of vital races. Nick Payton-Walsh, CNN, London. And our thanks to CNN's Nick Payton-Walsh. The Trump administration just scored a legal victory when it comes to how federal agents can operate around peaceful protesters in Minneapolis, Minnesota. That story's next.

1:04:25Just in and the National League clashes are continuing on the ground in Minneapolis today between protesters and federal law enforcement officers. You can see the smoke there. Protesters say federal agents detonated following a confrontation at a gas station. The tensions continue as White House officials tell CNN that Vice President J.D. Vance plans to meet with ICE agents in Minneapolis Thursday. He's expected to deliver remarks defending the immigration operations and addressing fraud allegations tied to the Somali community in Minnesota. And a federal appeals court is now freezing an order that had put guardrails on how ICE agents and other federal agents could operate around Minnesota's peaceful protesters.

1:05:02That's a win for Trump and his Justice Department. But while we're talking about Minnesota, let's turn now to our Business Leaders series, where we talk to small business owners here on The Lead about the impact of President Trump's tariffs. for Smart Set Community Printing, which is a 40-year-old full-service printing shop in Minneapolis. It's not just the tariffs, it's the Trump administration's recent immigration enforcement that's been rapidly transforming their business and the community. Owner Kevin Brown joins us now. Kevin, you're the very first business owner we've had to join this series to respond to a different Trump administration policy instead of the tariffs.

1:05:37What has business been like for you and other nearby businesses since the Trump administration sent this surge of ICE and federal law enforcement agents to Minneapolis?

1:05:50Thanks for having me, Jake. It has been profound impacts on the small business community here in South Minneapolis. I'm located in the Seward neighborhood, so we have predominantly East African businesses. I'm next door to one of the daycares that was supposedly exposed by Nick Shirley in his video. A couple blocks away, we have a large Hispanic business district, and right now things look like the darkest days of COVID. Streets are empty, stores are closed, restaurants are shuttered. It is just almost a complete standstill of economic activity here, And a lot of that is because of the fear that's being created by the armed, masked invasion of ICE agents in our neighborhoods.

1:06:52Is the daycare center next to you a legitimate daycare center? Absolutely. You see kids playing there every day, at least when it's warm around. Yeah, there seemed to be this idea that if you didn't let some strange guy you didn't know with a camera into your daycare center, that somehow that was some sort of evidence of something. It sounds like it wasn't, at least in this instance. You've stayed open and set up an ice resistance resource center to help support the community. Tell us how that came about. Well, so, you know, it's very important to us to protect our neighbors and our fellow small business owners here.

1:07:32I'm also the president of the Neighborhood Business Association, and there are a lot of requests for information such as, you know, what legal rights our citizens have, our business owners have. And so we worked with community groups to compile those resources and make them available to anyone who wants them free of charge. Are you concerned at all about retaliation or intimidation from ICE agents? I expect it will happen. I know other business owners who have spoke to national media, and the next day ICE shows up with an audit of their I-9 forms. You know, we've been in business for 40 years.

1:08:20We are very involved in in the community. And, you know, there's no reason to stop doing what we've always done right now. But it is scary. You know, what's happened is it's no longer about illegal aliens here. The scale of the occupation here is so disproportionate. With 3 ,000 federal agents here, everyone of color is afraid to leave their house. They've pretty much gone through their targeted list. Then they went after people who are legal non-citizens. Now they're going after just anyone of color. So we have 20 percent of our workforce in Minneapolis is people of color and 10 percent of our business owners.

1:09:11Those people don't want to leave their house because they don't know what will happen if they accidentally run into ICE agents. The business, again, is Smart Set Community Printing. It's in South Minneapolis. Kevin Brown, thank you so much for your time today, sir. Thank you, Jake. In between taking swipes to key U.S. allies and teasing a deal on Greenland, the president returned to one of his favorite topics at the Davos World Economic Forum. Colorado Governor Jared Polis is here to respond. That's next.

1:09:46In our politics lead, as President Trump hit the global stage today at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, meeting with world leaders as trade and peace agreements hang in the balance, he could not help but return to one of his favorite subjects. his baseless claims that the 2020 election was rigged. It's a war that should have never started and it wouldn't have started if the 2020 U.S. presidential election weren't rigged. It was a rigged election. Everybody now knows that. They found out. People will soon be prosecuted for what they did. Of course, it was actually President Trump and his associates who faced charges for attempting to overturn the results of that election based on the wild and unhinged election lies.

1:10:32Let's discuss this and education issues also with Democratic Governor Jared Polis of Colorado. Good to see you, Governor. I want to bring up the 2020 election subversion effort because one of President Trump's associates is former Mesa County, Colorado clerk, Tina Peters, who was convicted of related crime, sentenced to nine years in prison. You have drawn the ire of President Trump because you hold the power to potentially pardon her. He does not because it's a state charge. In a Truth Social post on New Year's Eve, the president wrote to the scumbag governor and the disgusting Republican rhino DA who did this to her.

1:11:07I wish them only the worst. May they rot in hell. Free Tina Peters. We should note that it wasn't just the Republican district attorney who went after her, but a number of Republicans who thought what she did was tremendously offensive and damaging. What's your response to the president and his claims about the 2020 election? well i i think you're elevating her by by saying she's somehow an associate of the president i i maybe they've met maybe they haven't i don't know but at most it would have been once or twice if they've ever met she was a a clerk who when it broke basically broke into a office of machines there were no ballots in that office she was not part of january 6th or or any of that i i don't know what her own political views are on whether elections were fair or not but there was a crime she committed, and obviously we're looking at what the appropriate sentence is for that crime.

1:11:58This charge of the president's making that somehow the election was skewed really hits at the heart of our democracy, which is fair and free elections. I have a very high degree of confidence in elections across this country, especially in Colorado, where I certainly have first-hand knowledge. We have paper ballots there. They can be recounted. They're there. It's administered through a system of county clerks with oversight by the state. And I have a high degree of confidence that every vote is counted. And if people try to vote illegally, then their votes are thrown out. There's actually been people been prosecuted for trying to cast other people's ballots.

1:12:29So you have recently indicated you're considering clemency for Tina Peters. Do you have any concerns that any sort of clemency might help validate Trump's wild claims about the 2020 election? We just learned that Doge officials, for example, improperly accessed Social Security data last year, apparently in some sort of attempt to validate Trump's lies about fraud. Who did that? I'm sorry, not this particular inmate. No, no, no. Doge officials. My only point is that like this. Oh, Doge. Doge. Yeah. Yeah. It continues is my point. Yeah. Yeah. And if people in Doge did that, then of course they should be prosecuted.

1:13:11I don't know the facts of this. But, you know, in any particular case, you look at what did somebody do? How do they try to subvert the system? We did have somebody who tried to cast other people's ballots. They were discovered. We have a signature verification system. It works quite well. So in our state, you can check on your status of your ballot. You get updates over text. So it all works quite well. If anybody tries to subvert that, of course, they should be held accountable to the law. And that is the same across the entire country. So I hope that if there are people that are trying to illegally cast votes or people that are trying to somehow game the system, that, of course, we have enough checks and balances where we can catch that.

1:13:49And I'm confident we do in Colorado. Let's turn to another important issue. Education enrollment in Colorado public schools dropped by more than 10 ,000 students this school year. The report from your state's education department also notes, quote, the enrollment of Hispanic students also declined by 4 ,395, which was in contrast to 2024 when Colorado saw an increase of 8 ,722 Hispanic students from the previous year. What do you attribute this decline to? Yeah, so this is really interesting because our population is going up. People are moving here. Our population increased about 1.1 percent.

1:14:21Number of kids in school decreased. Two factors. The slow burning one is demographics that's happening across the country. People having less kids. The bigger one is immigrants that were part of our community or either going underground, in some cases are being deported or in some cases leaving. So we did lose a lot of first generation students. But there's also that slow burn of simply people having less kids, even while our overall population continues to increase. So it's something that we care a lot about what's happening to these kids and where they're going. We certainly hope that families aren't afraid to send them to school.

1:14:52A lot of the messaging we're doing is it's safe as possible in school. We can't guarantee any place being safe, but you should be confident knowing that the state will not cooperate in immigration enforcement except when it's related to a crime. We've seen Rahm Emanuel, the former ambassador and Chicago mayor, who's contemplating running for president in 2028. He's a Democrat, obviously. We've seen him talking a lot about education on the campaign trail and talking about successes that some conservative states have had by embracing phonics as a way of reading and how he's basically making the argument that Democrats, Democratic states should learn from Republican states and vice versa.

1:15:30What are your thoughts? Absolutely. And Rahm's a good thinker in this area. We need a national strategy around education. That's what's so alarming with President Trump sort of breaking up the whole Department of Education, whether we even have one or not, I don't know. It's a matter, of course, of national preparedness, of our economy succeeding, but it's also a matter of individual opportunity at the learner's level for every kid across the country. So making sure we have good school choices, making sure we have science-backed curriculum like phonetics for kids to learn reading is absolutely critical.

1:16:04I'm really thrilled to see potential presidential candidates not only talking about it, but really putting the thought into developing real plans. Governor Jared Polis of Colorado, thank you so much, sir. Appreciate it. Thank you. He just led their team to its first ACC title in more than 60 years. So why is Duke University now suing its star quarterback? That's next.

1:16:30Our sports lead now, the quarterback who led Duke University to its first conference title since John F. Kennedy was in the White House. He wants to change teams. But wait, there's a flag on the play. Duke is now suing its own quarterback, Darian Mensah, who announced Friday he wants to enter what's called the transfer portal for student athletes who want to go to a different school. Let's go quickly to our replay analyst, Christine Brennan. And so, Christine, a university suing its own student athlete? What's this about? What they're saying is that the contract that he signed, a two-year deal, basically$4 million a year, that's NIL, name, image, and likeness, that that contract includes this wording, according to the Duke Chronicle, that he cannot play anywhere else until end of December of 2026.

1:17:16So if he can't do that, and if this contract, also Duke says that they have the licensing agreement for his NIL and that this needs to go to arbitration. So he wants to both. He wants to go, the word is, to the University of Miami, where he could be the starting quarterback. They need a quarterback after their quarterback who lost to Indiana the other day is now gone. And of course, Duke went to court and now has a temporary restraining order saying, not so fast. We have to play this out. You can't just leave. So you mentioned NIL, which is name, image, likeness. It's a way that student athletes can make money.

1:17:50Is the fact that Duke is suing him directly related, you think, to the introduction of all this money now that college athletes can get? Yes, and also the winning that Duke did with this quarterback. The idea being they flooded it with money. Basically, Jake, this is the Wild West. Right. And, you know, we will find out what a court in North Carolina rules, probably in early February, on this particular case, whether he will go to Miami or he will stay at Duke. Although it's hard to imagine him staying at Duke now that you've got this legal back and forth going on. This is the new normal for college sports, especially big time college sports, especially football, men's basketball, even women's basketball to a certain degree.

1:18:35Everyone's transferring. There's money to be made. And, of course, most people are very pleased that the student athletes can now get some money. That is now a new standard. But within this, the idea of who controls the athlete, and if he did, in fact, sign a contract saying he can't play anywhere else until the end of this year, well, then obviously the court would certainly look at that. And we should know, just for context, Mensah transferred from Tulane to Duke. So it's not like this is the, you know, he has a history of transferring. If he wins, what does that mean? I mean, if it goes to trial and he wins, it's an arbitration now, but if it ultimately goes to trial and he wins, what does that mean for the future of college sports?

1:19:16Well, I think, again, it's probably the same step, just a step further, Jake, which is that it's the Wild West. Anything goes. There are, again, the players having control. This all started when coaches would make all their money and then just decide to bolt and leave the kids they recruited in the lurch as they went to another program and went to the pros. So the idea was let's give student athletes the opportunity to make money. And that's worked very well. It's worked well for gymnasts, for Caitlin Clark. It's not just male athletes. It's not just football players. But this is about what kind of contract he signed and what he is able to do as a quote-unquote free agent.

1:19:52Can he go somewhere else or is he bound for that second year at Duke? So weird. Also, like this also just comes as like college football is so kind of strange now. I mean, in the ACC, the Atlantic Conference that Duke's in, you have teams that are on the West Coast. Stanford. Pacific, Stanford, Cal, right? I mean, so can you make any sense of this for us? Is it just like, as you say, Wild West, anything goes? It is that. Then there are the feel-good stories within this. So for those who loved Indiana winning, and I have three siblings, a brother-in-law and a niece. We did a profile of that quarterback like a month or two ago.

1:20:27Amazing story. Well, that's also the transfer portal. He transferred, and that's also NIL money. So there's a lot of great feelings about it, but there's also the other side of it. Bottom line is we're going to have this kind of moving around. This is the new normal for these big money sports, football, men's basketball, women's basketball. And the athletes deserve, I think many people think they deserve some of this money. The question is what kind of chaos ensues because of this. Yeah, if college sports should be exactly the same as professional sports in terms of just bopping around wherever you can get the best deal.

1:20:59Exactly. All right, Christine Brennan, thank you so much. Appreciate it. If you ever miss an episode of The Lead, you can watch the show on the CNN app. Erin Burnett out front starts right now.