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Anderson Cooper 360 Degrees
Trump Links Greenland Threats To His Nobel Peace Prize Snub, Trump Ramps Up Pressure Campaign To Acquire Greenland; DOJ Appeals Judge's Order Restricting ICE Tactics; Pentagon Orders 1,500 Troops To Prepare For MN Deployment; At Least 40 Killed In Collision Of Two High-Speed Trains In Spain; 100 Plus Vehicle Pileup In Snow Western Michigan; Fractured Support For Trump One Year Into Second Term; Fashion Legend Valentino Dies At 93. Aired 8-9p ET
Aired January 19, 2026 - 20:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ERIN BURNETT, CNN HOST: Breaking news out of Michigan. Take a look at this video filmed by a drone, whiteout conditions, sliding semitrucks, more than 100 cars were involved in this massive pileup on a Michigan Interstate.
This is disaster.
The highway was closed for hours and miles in both directions. As you can imagine, by looking at this, about 10 people were injured. I think that's miraculous in a sense. Dozens more taken to a local shelter, I mean it was freezing, raging blizzard, wind gust up to 40 miles an hour.
Thank you so much for joining us, stay safe. AC360 starts now.
[20:00:41]
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST, "ANDERSON COOPER: 360": Tonight on 360, the President ratchets up his push to take over Greenland and somehow links it to not getting the Nobel Peace Prize, which he says has freed him from thinking purely of peace.
Also tonight, tensions rising in Minnesota with protesters confronting a pastor who apparently is also a local ICE official and 1,500 active- duty troops on standby for possible deployment there.
And later, remembering the man known as fashion's last emperor who made stars shine brighter, princesses nobler and commoners who could afford it look uncommonly beautiful. The remarkable life of Valentino.
Good evening, thanks for joining us.
A little more than 61 years ago, around this time of year, Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for, in their words of the Nobel Committee, his nonviolent struggle for Civil Rights.
Well, tonight, six days later, the President of the United States, who was just given someone else's Nobel Peace Prize because that person needs something from him, is using his own perceived snub by the actual Nobel Committee as a justification for no longer feeling, as he puts it, "an obligation to think purely of peace".
That quote from a remarkable message he sent to the Prime Minister of Norway, is a world away from his frame of mind just a few days ago after accepting the Nobel Peace Prize medal from the woman who was awarded it, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.
He was all smiles then, but now it seems just having the medal is not enough. It seems clear he wanted the honor that goes with it as well.
And in that message to Norway's Prime Minister, he links that self- perceived Nobel diss to his drive to take Greenland from Denmark, a NATO ally. An act which, by his own admission, would not be friendly or peaceful.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
DONALD TRUMP (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We are going to do something on Greenland, whether they like it or not because if we don't do it, Russia or China will take over Greenland, and we're not going to have Russia or China as a neighbor.
I would like to make a deal, you know, the easy way. But if we don't do it the easy way, we're going to do it the hard way.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: Well, that was January 10th. Since then, Denmark and several other NATO countries have moved to symbolic number of troops onto Greenland as the President continued to talk about taking the territory.
On Saturday, he threatened to impose new and escalating tariffs on Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Germany, The U.K. The Netherlands, and Finland, unless a deal to give him Greenland is reached.
Then yesterday, in response to a text from Norway's Prime Minister on the need to ratchet down the confrontation, the President responded with that message, which CNN obtained and I want to read to you in full.
"Dear Jonas" -- that's the Prime Minister -- "... considering your country decided not to give me the Nobel Peace Prize for having stopped eight wars plus, I no longer feel an obligation to think purely of peace, although it will always be predominant, but can now think about what is good and proper for the United States of America." He continues, "Denmark cannot protect that land from Russia or China and why do they have a 'right of ownership' anyway? There are no written documents, it's only that a boat landed there hundreds of years ago. But we had boats landing there also."
"I have done more for NATO than any other person since its founding, and now NATO should do something for the United States."
The President concludes by saying, "The world is not secure unless we have complete and total control of Greenland". Now, for starters, the government of Norway has no say in who gets the Peace Prize. So, the President is wrong in saying Norway decided not to give him the Nobel.
Russia and China are not on the brink of taking over Greenland, which is part of NATO, as is Norway, Denmark and the United States. And there are numerous documents making Greenland a Danish territory, not to mention one from 1951 giving the United States permission to build, operate and maintain military bases across Greenland.
Currently, there's just one in the north of the territory, but during the Cold War there were many, and there's actually nothing stopping the U.S. from building more now. Here's a key Republican member of the House Homeland Security and Foreign Affairs Committee.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
REP. MICHAEL MCCAUL (R-TX): The fact is, the President has full military access to Greenland to protect us from any threats. If we want to put more military in there, we can. We don't have to invade it. If he wants to buy it, that's fine but I don't see a willing seller right now.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
[20:05:03]
COOPER: The President, though, has long had his differences with the alliance, dating back to the first NATO Summit he attended in 2017, where he pushed Montenegro's Prime Minister aside at the group photo.
He would go on throughout his first term to talk about pulling out of the alliance, according to his former National Security Adviser John Bolton, and others. He did also to his credit, help persuade many NATO members to increase their defense spending, both in in his first term and with an agreement this summer under which member countries agreed to ramp up spending to five percent of their GDP by 2035.
Now, that said, just 12 days ago he was asked by "The New York Times" what he would do if forced to choose between obtaining Greenland and preserving NATO. He didn't rule out leaving NATO, saying, "It may be a choice".
And in that same interview, when asked about simply building more bases there instead, under that 1951 treaty. Here's what he told "Times" correspondent CNN analyst, David Sanger.
The President said: Ownership is very important.
David Sanger: Why is ownership important here?
The President: Because that's what I feel is psychologically needed for success.
Then the "Times" says Katie Rogers interjected: Psychologically important to you or to the United States? To which the President replied: Psychologically important for me. Now, maybe another president would feel differently, but so far, I've been right about everything.
We begin tonight with CNN's Alayna Treene at the White House. So, there's new reporting on a phone call between President Trump and the British Prime Minister about why European troops were sent to Greenland. What more have you learned?
ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, that's right and our colleague, Jim Sciutto actually spoke with a senior British official, Anderson. And essentially, they told him that during this phone call, the President ultimately conceded that perhaps he had gotten, "bad information" on the European deployment of troops to Greenland and kind of giving some European officials hope that perhaps the President is beginning to see some of their protests and really be more receptive to some of the arguments that they are making now.
Of course, this is after we had seen several European NATO countries send a small deployment of troops to Greenland to participate in some of the military exercises there. But look, I think this is very notable because from my conversations with people in that building behind me, Anderson, many of the people who are in the presidency are talking to him about Greenland, and you know, agree with him.
Many of Trump's top officials agree that Greenland is important for the United States' National Security, but many of them do not agree with him on the ways of trying to achieve that goal. And some are hoping that, you know, ruling out potentially military intervention and really leaning toward more cooperation with NATO allies, with Denmark and Greenland, about trying to secure you know, National Security, being able to use Greenland for more missile defense systems, which is a big goal of the President's. They're hoping it could lead to that and that is exactly what some European officials we spoke with as well, my colleagues and I, for this new story we have tonight, are saying.
They are hoping that they can work out some sort of a deal, even potentially renegotiating the initial deal that gave the territory to Denmark, perhaps that could be an off ramp here.
And I do think it's important in all of this as well, Anderson, to talk about why the President is so fixated now. This is a conversation I'm hearing a lot with a lot of my sources calling me up, being, why is the President so fixated at this moment?
And I'm told it's because he is more emboldened than ever after the successful capture of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela, a big reasoning that the President views that, particularly in the aftermath of that operation, is he believes that the United States influence in the Western Hemisphere is more important than ever.
And now, he wants to set his sights on the Arctic in a similar way. And so, that's part of why this has been such a focus for Trump in recent days.
COOPER: Alayna Treene at The White House. Thanks, Alayna, appreciate it.
Joining me now is Democratic Senator Ruben Gallego. He's put forward a bill, along with fellow Democrat Ro Khanna and Republicans Lisa Murkowski and Don Bacon, that would reaffirm America's support for the sovereignty of Greenland and Denmark.
Senator, beyond this new bipartisan bill, earlier this year, you also introduced a resolution to block the use of funds for military action against Greenland. Why?
I mean, when you hear the President say he no longer feels obligated to, "think purely of peace," how much does that concern you?
SEN. RUBEN GALLEGO (D-AZ): Well, it concerns me a lot, because the people end up paying the price of when leaders don't think about peace first, our young men, you know, from Ohio, from New Mexico, from Arizona, from New York that end up going fighting these dumb wars.
So, a leader doesn't think first about peace, has never experienced war, and it's going to be a young woman or young man that's going to end up dying in Greenland because of a dumb man's decision and a petty man's decision to take care first of his ego instead of instead of National Security. So, that number one, is my first primary concern, because it's not the Trump, Jr. kids, not, you know, Don, Jr. it's not Barron, Jr. None of them are going to be going to these wars.
It's going to be another Ruben Gallego. It's going to be another, you know, Schmidt from Ohio. It's going to be another Navajo friend of mine that's going to go fight these wars of these rich men just to fill a hole that he has in his soul.
The other thing that worries me is what this means for National Security. Without him doing anything, without him actually going to Congress, without him going to the American public, he's going to destroy NATO, destroy our whole economy, all because he feels that he got slighted for not getting a Nobel Prize.
This is a man that cares about himself, not about this country and he will screw this whole country in order to make himself feel better in the process.
[20:10:36]
COOPER: How much of this is just about a lack of confidence or a lack of interest he seems to have, or has exhibited in the past about NATO itself?
GALLEGO: It's all of that. This is a man again that only cares about him and himself first. He doesn't like commitment to other countries have that are based on alliances, based on trust, because this man has no trust in anybody else, and he would rather just break whatever he can to get what he wants. And if we pay in the process, we as Americans, pays the price, he doesn't care, right?
This is the danger now. He's a problem, let's be clear, the reason he's there is because we have cowardly Republicans in the Senate, in the House that are not standing up to this man. We have a couple really brave people that are willing to join us, but we actually had a unified Congress, unified Senate.
Republicans who actually were listening to the actual Article I part of the Constitution then we could actually stop this madman from doing. He is leading us down a road that could take us to war, that would permanently destroy what we understand as our country right now.
Right now, there are people that are aligning themselves. Think about this. They're aligning themselves against the United States. They're trying to figure out whether they can be better friends with Russia or China versus us. The country that created NATO, the country that, you know, liberated Europe. People are now questioning whether or not they can trust us anymore. How does this end well? It does not and it's all because this man is being petty. He's putting himself above the country.
COOPER: Well, it seems like European leaders' strategy so far has been to basically try to de-escalate reason with the President, find some kind of an off ramp. Do you think there is an off ramp?
GALLEGO: No, and I've been very clear. He is a madman. He is insane. He's only thinking about himself. Everything you're hearing --
COOPER: And you know that he's insane?
GALLEGO: Yes, I'm sorry where are we at this moment where we don't understand what's happening in this country? The man is threatening war against a NATO ally. We all think this is rational, right? Let's accept what's happening here. He is not rational right now. He is destroying our world reputation or potentially our economic opportunity or economic mighty power around the world because he is being petty. None of this is rational. Everyone needs to stop pretending this is rational.
COOPER: Senator Ruben Gallego, I appreciate your time tonight. Thanks very much.
Still to come, we hear from a NATO commander aboard a Danish warship deployed to Greenland about the military training currently underway there and the message President Trump is sending to Americas allies with his unprecedented demands.
Plus, frightening images from Michigan, where a snowstorm caused a massive pileup, more than a hundred vehicles. The image just remarkable from this drone left drivers with few good options. We'll tell you about that.
And, a St. Paul church service interrupted by protesters seeking out a top ICE official. Now, the Justice Department says it's investigating the incident as tensions in Minnesota remain high and 1,500 Army soldiers are on standby in case the President decides to send them in.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:17:58] COOPER: New pictures tonight from the Danish military of additional troops arriving for what's being called Operation Arctic Endurance. This is an exercise led by Denmark with help from other NATO allies, in part to send a message to the biggest NATO ally, namely the United States, which is unsettling enough even a distance, let alone on Greenland, where the idea of America as an adversary is hard to come to terms with.
More now from CNN's Nic Robertson.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
(PRIME MINISTER OF GREENLAND LEADING THE ANTI-U.S. PROTEST WITH HIS PEOPLE.)
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Greenland's Prime Minister and his people are walking a tightrope at anti-U.S. protests over the weekend in the capital, Nuuk the biggest yet, trying not to inflame already overheated international tensions.
The Prime Minister not mentioning President Donald Trump by name, saying were all standing here together today to show that were united in not accepting what's happening to us. Many here feeling like bystanders to their own destiny.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now, I think as a generation, we're kind of scared for the future because it feels like we don't have enough power to make our own decisions fully.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's scary to think about it, and it's scary at night to try to sleep and it's the talk of the day every day.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: A couple days ago, we talked about buying a rifle.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, for defense.
ROBERTSON (on camera): Wow, that's serious.
Gun store owners we've spoken with say they're not seeing a spike in sales, but purchases of camping stoves, gasoline, freeze dried food is going up. Driven, they say, by the crazy language President Trump is using and concerns that events here really are out of their control.
Now, Denmark's move to have NATO allies trained for Arctic security has further angered President Trump, who is threatening tariffs on the contributing countries.
Compared to other NATO partners, how tough are the conditions up here?
[20:20:08]
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It is very, very tough, and that's also why we have to train up here.
ROBERTSON (on camera): The Danish commander in charge tiptoes around the politics of it all.
As NATO commander are you personally surprised that a NATO partner could be threatening another NATO partner?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Look, I will not go into politics, but I work perfectly together with the U.S. military. We have done that for decades in in Bosnia, in Afghanistan, in Iraq. And we do it also today.
ROBERTSON: As a Dane who suffered a lot of losses in Afghanistan, many per capita, as the United States, is it disappointing to you that we're in this position.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Frankly, it is.
ROBERTSON (voice over): Yet even while marginalized, no one here is giving up hope yet.
ROBERTSON (on camera): Do you think this is going to be resolved diplomatically?
SVEND HARDENBERG, GREENLANDIC BUSINESSMAN: I think so, well, all of us are hoping that that will be solved and the dialogue has started. And I'm assuming that that will go in a very positive direction for everybody.
ROBERTSON (voice over): Greenland-born exec, Svend Hardenberg is running point for his mining company to get a minerals and rare earth's project mired in local politics into production and turning a profit for Greenlanders.
HARDENBERG: We will be paying the Greenland government just on royalties equivalent to U.S. dollars 5.5 billion in that period of time. And then you have job creation, infrastructure investments.
ROBERTSON (voice over): He is bullish about Greenland's potential, sees benefit in Trump's business first style, but even he is staying out of the red-hot diplomacy.
ROBERTSON (on camera): With the United States' help with that development if the United States had control in Greenland.
HARDENBERG: Well, that's a scenario some would speculate on. I would not speculate on that.
ROBERTSON (on camera): You don't think it's even a remote possibility that the United States is going to control Greenland at some point?
HARDENBERG: I don't think so.
ROBERTSON (on camera): Why not?
HARDENBERG: It's -- when I'm looking at how everything is transpiring. I don't see that as an option.
ROBERTSON (voice over): In a land of uncertainty, Greenlanders are embracing what they can control, themselves, letting go of tensions on skis and skates, or escaping the geopolitical strains with music and comedy.
Hard reality, no one here is laughing for long. Still hoping Trump runs out of bluster.
Nic Robertson, CNN, Nuuk, Greenland.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: Much more ahead tonight, including breaking news on a judge's order limiting what federal agents can do in response to nonviolent protesters in Minnesota. The administration is pushing back, and we'll talk about how.
Also tonight, the worst possible combination of cars, trucks and winter conditions, how this massive pileup happened and why it could have been far worse than it looks.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:27:17]
COOPER: Breaking news tonight, the Justice Department is appealing a judge's order restricting how federal agents respond to protesters in Minnesota, which includes restrictions on tactics like using pepper spray on nonviolent protesters, arresting peaceful protesters and stopping people in their cars without cause.
Meanwhile, the DOJ says its investigating this chaotic scene at a St. Paul Church on Sunday. Officials with the Civil Rights Unit are on the ground tonight, probing the protesters behind the demonstration.
Activists say a pastor of the church is also a local Acting Director of an ICE field office, but the DHS refused to confirm that. With the President repeatedly suggesting he could invoke the Insurrection Act. The Pentagon has ordered 1,500 active-duty soldiers from the 11th Airborne Division based in Alaska, to prepare for possible deployment to Minnesota.
I'm joined now by former federal prosecutor and JAG officer Margaret Donovan, former federal judge, Shira Scheindlin and former federal prosecutor and deputy assistant attorney general, Elliot Williams. Elliot is also the author of a fascinating new book called "Five Bullets," which reexamines the 1984 headline making shooting of four Black teenagers by Bernie Goetz, or who, of course, became known as the subway vigilante.
We'll talk to him about that in a moment.
Judge, what stands out to you about the judge's order restricting ICE agents use of force?
SHIRA SCHEINDLIN, FORMER U.S. DISTRICT COURT JUDGE: What stands out to me is that basically reads as common sense. It seems like a symbolic order. She's basically saying, don't retaliate against protesters for exercising their right to free speech. Don't use pepper spray against peaceful protesters. Don't arrest peaceful protesters.
And finally, don't stop or detain drivers in their cars unless you have probable cause or reasonable, articulable suspicion to do that. So, all of that is just basically follow the law.
And so, the response is going to be we don't do that anyway because we're not talking about peaceful protesters. They're not peaceful. They're yelling at our agents. They're using swear words. They're telling them, get out of town and that's not peaceful. So, it's kind of a standoff.
COOPER: Well, I mean, Elliot, that is what Secretary Noem said in this interview yesterday. She said that, that judge's order didn't change anything for how were operating on the ground, because it's basically telling us to do what we've already been doing. If that is the case, why would the DOJ then be appealing this ruling?
ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Because it's still a ruling in effect by the court that is adverse to them, and it behooves them. It behooves them to appeal, to try to get it overturned.
I mean, the interesting thing about and this is picking up on exactly what the judge said is that the judge was ultimately ruling that you should not break the law. You should allow people to exercise their First Amendment rights and not apprehend people who are doing nothing.
So, it's odd in that sense, but it's also odd for the Department of Justice to say that, well, wait a second. You know, we were just doing this thing.
SCHEINDLIN: But there was one interesting thing she said that I think was new. She said, it is okay to follow the ICE agents around in a car behind them, and that's new. She said no court has really ruled on that, but it's okay to do that. So that's interesting.
COOPER: Margaret, when it comes to deploying active-duty U.S. troops, airborne, I mean, airborne troops are highly trained --
[20:30:25]
MARGARET DONOVAN, FORMER JAG: Yes.
COOPER: -- very, I mean, they're very effective at --
DONOVAN: Yes.
COOPER: -- what they traditionally do, what are your concerns you have, or what things should people watch for?
DONOVAN: Yes, so this is extremely unusual. You do not deploy the active duty to do what is effectively domestic law enforcement operations. Domestic law enforcement officers are trained in these circumstances basically in de-escalation. The military is trained in the opposite. They want to escalate. They want to use violence of action. So what concerns me about this, the 11th Airborne Infantry Division, it's an elite unit among active duty units. They are trained on combat operations that they usually execute in foreign countries on foreign citizens. That is relevant because they are not trained in applying the Constitution to American citizens. So that's going to matter when they are asked to be considering whether something is protected by the First Amendment for peaceful protest or the Fourth Amendment against search and seizure.
COOPER: How do you think they would be used? I mean, would it be to try to -- I mean, what role would they play?
DONOVAN: That's a very good question. I think under the Insurrection Act, the president would say that he is using them to try to control an insurrection, which is, I'm going to leave the irony there at the table, but the president claiming there's an insurrection. But, you know, that is going to be, I think, just another self-created chaotic scene.
You would have this active duty infantry unit. You've got the Minnesota National Guard. You've got reports about the Texas National Guard coming in. And so it's sort of a self-created powder keg in Minneapolis.
COOPER: It's a lot -- I mean, Elliot, just in terms of federal involvement, it's a huge number of different agencies and groups all working there. Has the situation on the ground, I mean, in any way calls for this, do you think?
WILLIAMS: Well, it's hard to say. The Department of Justice and Homeland Security would claim that the situation on the ground necessitates it. But, you know, back to all these discussions about the Insurrection Act, a lot of that hinges on state and local law enforcement's inability to do their jobs.
And one cannot -- you know, these are certainly chaotic scenes, stressful scenes, but state and local law enforcement does have it under control, at least as far as we can see from where -- what we're seeing here. So the idea that federal agents are necessary or federal troops are necessary in order to keep the peace is just --
COOPER: Judge, do you have concerns about active duty military personnel?
SCHEINDLIN: I do, for the reasons that Margaret said. They're simply not trained for civil situations, civil protests. These are basically peaceful protests. Sure, there's shouting. Sure, there's swear words. But there really haven't been violence.
COOPER: It's also interesting, Elliot, to hear that the federal government is standing in civil rights investigators, but they are to investigate these protesters.
WILLIAMS: Right. Look, every presidential administration switches its notion of what civil rights is and what civil rights enforcement ought to be. This is quite remarkable, only because this is targeting people who are engaged in First Amendment-protected activity.
You are allowed to speak and protest and even criticize the government and, quite frankly, in public do so, even in front of law enforcement, as long as you're not obstructing or impeding them or getting in their way or trying to hurt them or dox them. Those are all things that are against the law, but merely engaging in forms of protest is absolutely lawful.
DONOVAN: And can I just add, you know, one inconsistency about the Insurrection Act? The last time that this was used in America was in response to the L.A. riots. And in that instance, 63 people had died, and the governor of California had actually requested that the president invoke the Insurrection Act.
In Minneapolis, one person has died, and that person was killed by the federal government. So there is an extreme disconnect there between if -- the administration's purported justification here and in past uses.
COOPER: Elliot, I want to ask you about your book. It's a fascinating read. It's called "Five Bullets." Why -- what about the case of the so-called subway vigilante made you want to re-look at this?
WILLIAMS: Right. For a few things, Anderson, old is new with all things public safety in America. And a lot of the fights that are at the center of the book "Five Bullets" are still going on today -- notions of race, crime, vigilantism, and who's allowed to step out and act when they're afraid.
I would also note that all of this discussion of Minneapolis and National Guard troops in cities hinges around the idea of how safe cities are and how safe people feel. Well, this was a big fight happening in the 1980s as well, and it's raging on today. It's this demonization of folks in cities, and that Goetz Bernhard (ph) gets his head, and that actually led to his opening fire on these four young black men.
So there is a lot that we're continuing to grapple with --
COOPER: It's also such an interesting look back at New York -- I mean, 1984 is when the shooting took place.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
COOPER: I was in high school in New York growing up here. It's such a different city than it was, I mean, in some ways.
WILLIAMS: And no one can really get their heads around that. I was nine, much younger than you at the time, Anderson. But, no, I was nine years old, and it was one of the formative news stories of my childhood watching it play out.
[20:35:00]
And I think it shaped how I view law enforcement and crime and race and all sorts of other things. But New York City was so mythically rough in the early 1980s in a way that the Labradoodles and -- COOPER: Right, yes.
WILLIAMS: -- Whole Foods-ism today simply were not the case. You're talking about a homicide rate that's four times what it is today. It was just a rough, gritty, tough place --
COOPER: Yes.
WILLIAMS: -- and out of the ashes of that --
COOPER: It's fascinating to revisit it through your book.
WILLIAMS: Yes.
COOPER: Congratulations on it.
WILLIAMS: Thanks, Anderson.
COOPER: The book is "Five Bullets: The Story of Bernie Goetz, New York's Explosive 80s and the Subway Vigilante Trial that Divided the Nation." Thanks, Judge, to you, and, Margaret, to you, as well. Thank you.
Coming up, now to Spain, where the Prime Minister is promising to get to the truth. Their words behind what caused two high speed trains to collide in one of the nation's worst railway disasters. At least 40 people are dead, dozens more injured after both express trains derailed, some train cars plunging down an embankment.
One government official called the crash extremely unusual because it happened on a straight stretch of track that was recently renovated. Some passengers escaped through windows and the roof of the trains after Sunday night's crash. This is video inside one of the train cars showing the chaotic scene. Many people had to wait hours to be rescued because of the twisted metal.
In western Michigan, a massive pileup involving more than 100 vehicles, including several jackknifed tractor trailers during whiteout conditions. Authorities say at least nine people were injured in this accident. Looking at it, it's incredible there weren't more.
It happened this morning along a stretch of Interstate 196 southwest of Grand Rapids. Remarkably and thankfully, despite everything you see there, there are no fatalities.
Up next, a year into President Trump's second term, our John King returns to Iowa for a new All Over The Map report. He talks with voters who offer clues on what may happen in midterm elections.
And later, remembering legendary fashion designer Valentino, who died today at the age of 93. We'll talk to the documentary filmmaker who knows all about his incredible life and his legacy ahead.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
[20:41:36] COOPER: President Trump marks his first full year back in office tomorrow, a year in which the Trump administration has moved quickly to reshape the U.S. and the president's vision. And while there have been a few checks on his power so far, 2026 brings with it midterm elections and the possibility of Democrats retaking control of one, or perhaps both, chambers of Congress.
CNN's John King goes back to Iowa to see how voters are feeling today about President Trump's job performance in the upcoming elections.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A new year and a new election cycle.
BETSY SARCONE, IOWA VOTER: What I'm really happy with is that Donald Trump is not OK with the status quo.
CHRIS MUDD, IOWA VOTER: We need to win in November because I think they're going to try to impeach him.
KING: You're open to voting for a Democrat?
SHANEN EBERSOLE, IOWA VOTER: Of course. I wish that Washington could get along like House.
KING (voice-over): And we begin in Iowa again.
KING: This was our first group, August 2023, when we started All Over The Map. Our first big question was, could Donald Trump come back after January 6th? Did he still have his grip on the Republican Party?
So why are we back now? He's been back in the White House for a year. And that one-year anniversary happens to coincide with January of a midterm election year.
KING (voice-over): First stop, the Ebersole cattle farm, Rural Kellerton.
KING: How are you?
EBERSOLE: It's good to see you.
KING: How are you doing?
KING (voice-over): Calving season before election season.
EBERSOLE: And then they'll calve in a pasture just like this. They're all of our old mama girls.
KING (voice-over): Shanen Ebersole speaks politely but plainly. There are signs of Trump's Austrian (ph).
EBERSOLE: We definitely have choices. We can say calm down. We can say talk nice. KING (voice-over): Ebersole was a Nikki Haley supporter, but reluctantly backed Trump in the end. Three out of five is her first year grade. The economy feels a little better, and illegal immigration is way down. But Trump's big Argentina beef bailout didn't feel so America first, nor does talk about somehow taking Greenland.
EBERSOLE: I don't agree with that in any way, shape, or form.
KING: So that's not what you voted for?
EBERSOLE: No.
KING (voice-over): Ebersole's take on Washington, Trump picks too many fights. And people in Congress, she says, worry too much about money and power, and too little about family farmers or finding compromise.
EBERSOLE: There is a lot of that. You know, you don't have to walk through it. You have to wade through it because it's like knee deep in your neck of the woods.
KING (voice-over): She says that frustration includes her Republican congressman, Zach Nunn.
KING: OK, cows, raise a hoof. Who thinks Zach Nunn's doing a good job in Congress? Nobody.
EBERSOLE: I could probably agree there. That is one call that I might make.
KING: You're open to voting for a Democrat?
EBERSOLE: Of course. I think that you have to vote for the person that best meets your goals.
KING: The 2026 midterm stakes here in Iowa are enormous. The state is picking a new governor, a new United States senator, and all four of its House seats, of course, are on the midterm ballot.
There's two ways to do this. You do it the fancy GPS thing, or you do it the old-fashioned way. And you know what? I like old school.
KING (voice-over): Next stop, Des Moines and its fast-growing suburbs.
SARCONE: There's that saying, Trump was right about everything, and that's kind of how I'm feeling right now.
KING (voice-over): This breakfast conversation, our sixth visit with Betsy Sarcone, dating back to August 2023. Her shift, beyond dramatic. A DeSantis, then a Haley voter, said she would vote for Joe Biden if Trump won the Republican nomination. But she changed her mind.
[20:45:09]
SARCONE: I think Biden probably changed me more than Trump. I think watching nothing be done, you know, for four years about an open border. KING (voice-over): Now she gives Trump an A-minus, loves the immigration crackdown, just closed a big real estate sale, and thinks the economy is picking up.
Sarcone laughed at Trump's 2020 election fraud claims when we first met. Another big change.
SARCONE: I'm starting to question the election of 2020, right?
KING: He lost the election in 2020.
SARCONE: I don't know.
KING: He lost the election in 2020.
KING (voice-over): The suburbs revolted against Trump in his first midterm, and Democrats are banking on it again. But Republicans don't have to worry about Sarcone. She likes Congressman Nunn and loves that her daughters can use a school choice plan passed by state Republicans.
SARCONE: They've done a lot of great things for us in Iowa.
KING (voice-over): East now, 120 miles from Des Moines to Columbus Junction, Louisa County is rural, a tiny piece of Iowa's most competitive congressional district.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Hi, I'm Jill (ph).
KING: Hey, it's John. How are you?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Nice to meet you.
KING (voice-over): Local Democrats held this potluck to begin their midterm organizing. They know the math. Donald Trump won 70 percent of the county vote last time.
KING: Pressure bother you or pressure excite you?
MICHELE PEGG, LOUISA COUNTY DEMOCRATIC CHAIR: Pressure is pressure. You're kind of like a little duck out here. You kind of paddle like hell underneath and smooth sailing on the surface. That's what you have to do.
KING (voice-over): Michelle Pegg is the new county Democratic chairwoman, eager to register new voters, happy to knock on doors with Trump flags. In the end, though, she says Democratic candidates need to win back rural voters who feel forgotten.
PEGG: If you want the office, you have to sway the voters. It's how your message is packaged. And can you get out here? I mean, there's beef farmers. Go down a rural county. Go down a highway. Go down a gravel road. Go down a Class B road. Knock on a door.
We'll see how it goes.
KING: Thank you. Merry Christmas, everyone. Thank you.
KING (voice-over): One more stop, 140 miles north.
KING: Two of Iowa's four House races were blowouts back in 2024. This is Shell Rock in the second congressional district. The Republican margin of victory here was about 63,000 votes in 2024. In the fourth district out in western Iowa, it was more than twice that.
But two of the districts are pretty competitive. In the third district in southwest Iowa, the Republican incumbent won by just shy of 16,000 votes. And in the first district, just south of here in eastern Iowa, the margin was tiny, 799 votes.
KING (voice-over): Midwest Solar is installing the new panels on this Shell Rock car dealership. Chris Mudd is the CEO and a Trump guy from the beginning. On the drive out, a new twist to a familiar conspiracy.
MUDD: I think this election fraud, I think information is going to come out on that. Maybe Maduro is going to be able to offer some information about some of those things that happened in 2020. Like I told you long ago, I believe that the election was stolen from him.
KING: This is one on which we disagree.
MUDD: Yes.
KING (voice-over): Business took a hit when Trump killed Biden clean energy incentives. But high electricity prices are driving sales now. And Mudd's support of Trump is unflinching.
MUDD: My life is similar, OK, but my optimism is greater because I believe the things that Trump is doing are good for our country.
KING (voice-over): Mudd's gut tells him Trump's support is down just a bit. He knows Republicans struggle when Trump's not on the ballot. He's nervous about 2026, even here.
MUDD: I am a Trump guy, but I am concerned about we need to win in November. You know, we need to -- because I think they're going to try to impeach him. And it's going to cause havoc for the country.
KING: 99 counties.
KING (voice-over): It was Iowa that launched Trump on his 2024 comeback. Now, Iowa gets a big say in whether even Trump country wants a midterm reset.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
COOPER: And John joins us now. John, you noted in the piece that Democrats see some opportunity in Iowa. I say that Trump won three times. Do the numbers back up that confidence?
KING (on-camera): Yes and no. Number one, the Democrats better understand, and they do understand, Anderson, the steep uphill try there. They have to improve their standing in rural voters. They have to hope the suburbs come back.
Donald Trump, just a little over a year ago, won 94 of those 99 counties. So it is a red state. But just look at our most recent poll, right? 58 percent of all voters nationally say Trump's first year is a failure. And look at those numbers.
His approval rating as president, underwater, just 39 percent. How's he doing on the economy? 39 percent. Immigration is a huge issue, even to Trump voters. He's underwater at 42 percent. Healthcare, a big part of the affordability crisis, had a very personal issue, 36 percent. Foreign affairs, 39 percent.
Democrats have a huge opportunity, and Republicans acknowledge it. If the election were tomorrow, the Democrats would take back the House without question. The only part is the margin. So I can tell you from my travels, Anderson, there are a lot of people out there who want change and who are unhappy. Even Trump voters who say, I like some things, but a whole lot of stuff. He's just gone too far.
[20:50:07]
COOPER: Yes. John King, thanks very much.
Coming up next, the passing of a fashion icon. Valentino, the Italian designer whose love of glamour and style in La Dolce Vita made him a one-name legend across the globe. He's died at the age of 93. We look back at his remarkable life and career.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
[20:55:05]
VALENTINO GARAVANI, ITALIAN FASHION DESIGNER: I remember very well when I was young.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
GARAVANI: I was faking to sleep.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes, pretending to sleep.
GARAVANI: And I was dreaming, dreaming about a movie star, dreaming about everything beautiful in the world. My mother used to say, you are a dreamer. You always dream, dream, dream, dream about stupid things.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
COOPER: That's from the 2008 documentary "Valentino: The Last Emperor." The legendary Italian fashion designer died today in Rome at the age of 93. His mom may have scoffed when he was a kid, but Valentino made his dreams come true. And in the fickle world of fashion, he was at the top far longer than most, dressing everyone from Elizabeth Taylor to Jackie Kennedy to Julia Roberts.
His life was lived on an extraordinary scale, on and off the runway. I got the opportunity to meet and spend some time with Valentino a number of times over the years. And my thoughts are with his family and friends and his longtime partner in life and in business, Giancarlo Giammetti.
Joining us now is Matt Tyrnauer, who directed that 2008 documentary, "Valentino: The Last Emperor." So Matt, I appreciate you being on. It's called "The Last Emperor." He really was this larger than life figure, and it's a particularly fitting title today. Can you just talk a little bit about what interested you about him and what you saw up close?
MATT TYRNAUER, DIRECTOR, "VALENTINO: THE LAST EMPEROR": Well, I gave the movie the title "The Last Emperor," and I remember he and Giancarlo said, no, no, we don't like it. But I think in retrospect, it really holds up. What I ended up capturing when I spent two years for him making the movie was really the twilight of the last great moment of European fashion.
And he and Giammetti reinvented the game of fashion. They started in the early 60s, and then they made a global fashion. They were at the forefront of that in the 70s, all the way up through the retirement in the 2000s. And you see this rarefied world of luxury and style, and someone who really embodied his own brand by being the designer at the top, but also living the lifestyle that he projected onto his clients.
COOPER: I mean, the lifestyle he lived of private jets and private yachts and multiple homes and just meticulously curated. I mean, just beautifully -- I mean, kind of living on a scale that it's kind of unimaginable, even for billionaires who just don't have the kind of style and taste he had.
TYRNAUER: Yes, no one can really figure out how they did it. I mean, they did have a big budget, but they really maxed it out. There was one moment when we got on the Gulfstream private plane, and there were five pugs in tow that, you know, various butlers were loading onto the plane.
And they all were sitting in a row on a banquette at the end of the plane. It's sort of an iconic shot in the film that even people with tons of, there they are, you can see them with tons of money, don't live like that. They really were over the top.
Gianni Agnelli, who was sometimes called the unofficial king of Italy, as the chairman of Fiat said, actually don't know how Valentino does it. He lives better than I do.
COOPER: What was it about the pugs, by the way, that made them his breed of choice?
TYRNAUER: It's interesting. He was so obsessed with beauty. And pugs -- I actually love pugs. I think they're adorable and wonderful. They're almost -- they're very human dogs. But they're not traditionally beautiful when you kind of put them in human terms. But I don't know, maybe it was the contrast of their stubbiness when he was all about an elongated silhouette. They were anything but that.
COOPER: And, I mean, it was his lifelong friendship and patronage by, I guess, Jackie Kennedy that really launched him into the fashion stratosphere. Is that right? And Elizabeth Taylor, I guess, as well.
TYRNAUER: Yes, I mean, they chased movie stars and put their dresses on them before anyone else really did that. But it was Jackie Kennedy after the presidency when she was a widow in New York and depressed. And a friend of hers said, there's a young designer in town. Why don't you go get a new wardrobe? See what he has to offer.
And she went to a trunk show of Valentino and she bought the entire collection. And she wore him exclusively for more than a decade and really made him a household name. In fact, her second marriage was in a dress designed by Valentino.
COOPER: Oh, wow. And GiGi (ph), his longtime business partner, who they -- they were in a romantic relationship initially, I think, after they first met in 1960, I think it was.
TYRNAUER: Yes.
COOPER: GiGi (ph) post -- Giancarlo posted a tribute to Valentino this afternoon on social media with just the word forever. Can you talk about their relationship?
TYRNAUER: You know, one of the reasons I wanted to make this movie was when I went to visit them, they hadn't really been open about their romantic partnership, which had ended some decades before. But they continued to be kind of what I call an uber marriage.
And I think it's just a wonderful example of a kind of spousal relationship that transcended romance and went into business and just a total lifestyle and more than -- much more than 50 years that they spent together after having met. You see it there on the Via Veneto in 1961. It was really one of the most extraordinary spent together after having met.
You see it there on the Via Veneto in 1961. It was really one of the most extraordinary relationships I've ever seen. And that's really what I made the movie about.
COOPER: Yes. And, I mean, to those who were close with them, I mean, you can't think of one really without the other in so many ways, both in business and in life.
Matt, I hope a lot of people watch the documentary. They can watch it streaming. Valentino, it's called "The Last Emperor." It is a fascinating, a rare look at their life.
Matt Tyrnauer, thank you.
That's it for us. I'll see you tomorrow night. In the meantime, the news continues. The Source starts now.
