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Trump Turns to Economy as Foreign Policy Issues Intensify; Minnesota and Illinois Sue Over Trump Immigration Crackdowns; Opening Statements to Being in Brendan Banfield Double-Murder Trial. Aired 7- 7:30a ET

Aired January 13, 2026 - 07:00   ET

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

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SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: New this morning. President Trump is taking his economic pitch to Detroit today, but it is the international conflicts that loom largest. Will he attack Iran? Will he back Venezuela's opposition leader? And will he move to take Greenland? High-stakes meetings on all those fronts on this week's agenda.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Minnesota and Illinois are fighting back and taking the Trump administration now to court. Will a judge bring the administration's operations on the ground and that crackdown to a halt?

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: The last place you want to be on the slopes, caught in the middle of an avalanche. What happened to this snowboarder who tried to ride it out?

I'm John Berman with Kate Bolduan and Sara Sidner. This is CNN News Central.

SIDNER: Happening today, President Trump is looking to shift his focus back to matters at home, the economy. But the international challenges loom large. He's set to travel to Detroit today to talk about the economy, but later, he's also expected to meet with his national security team to discuss potential military options against Iran, as the death toll day arises to more than 500 in the regimes crack down on anti-government protests.

Today's meeting comes as the president says, he's looking at, quote, very strong options for military intervention, but The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Vice President Vance and top aides are urging him to pursue diplomacy first. On Wednesday, Secretary of State Marco Rubio set to meet with Danish officials about the president's push to acquire Greenland. Then on Thursday, the president is expected to meet with Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado after the U.S. ousted Nicolas Maduro.

CNN's Alayna Treene is live this morning at the White House. Give us some sense of what the president is trying to do today with all that is happening on the international stage.

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: Yes, that's right, Sara. The president is traveling to Detroit, really the heart of the auto industry here in America, to try and refocus some of, you know, his administration policies and his rhetoric on manufacturing and also trying to tackle higher consumer costs.

Now, all of this, of course, as we've continued to report about the anxieties that are gripping U.S. households, particularly with the high cost of living and, of course, that buzzword affordability throughout the country.

Now, of course this comes, as you mentioned he's turning his attention away really from foreign policy today to focus on this issue. And it comes, as we've heard from many Trump administration officials, but also a lot of the president's allies, really trying to get him to focus in the months ahead before November's really important and pivotal midterm elections on issues here at home, domestic issues, and particularly, of course, the economy and trying to address that issue of affordability.

Now, to give you a sense of what he's doing, he's going to be speaking today at the Detroit Economic Club. He's also expected to tour a Ford Production Center. And, really, a big part of today's speech, in addition to the economy, is that focus on manufacturing. I'd remind you that the president vowed repeatedly throughout his time on the campaign trail that he would usher in a new manufacturing era.

But that hasn't really been seen just yet. We've heard the president kind of promise that we're going to see, you know, better pricing and better manufacturing moves for that community here in the country. But his tariffs have impacted that in certain ways, despite the president saying that he thought tariffs and bringing -- would bring down costs for manufacturing companies. I'd remind you actually that on Sunday, the president reiterated his claim that new car plants would boost jobs, even though there's still little evidence to prove that.

And I'd also remind you that some of the backdrop among all of this is kind of grim right now. Factory employment fell nationwide by 8,000 jobs in December, dipping below levels seen during the president's or President Trump's first term. And the stress state of the U.S. manufacturing comes despite the president's pledge, that, again, his aggressive tariff push would actually help manufacturing across America.

But another big thing on the agenda today, going back to this foreign policy issue, is, of course, Iran and what the president is ultimately going to decide on potential intervention amid the deadly protests in Iran against the government there.

[07:05:07]

The president is set to be briefed today. We've reported with top members of his national security team, that include Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, as well as the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Dan Caine.

I remind you as well what we heard from Karoline Leavitt yesterday, she essentially said that airstrikes are just one of the many, many options that the president is considering. We know other options that have been presented to him include things, like potentially going after the country's cyber, some sort of cyber attack or sanctions. So, all of that also expected today. Sara?

SIDNER: Yes, well it's cabinets sort of urging him to go with diplomacy first. We will see what happens, what the president decides.

Alayna Treene, thank you so much for all of that this morning. Kate?

BOLDUAN: This morning, Minnesota and Illinois are suing the Trump administration, arguing that the president's immigration crackdowns in their states violate the Constitution. Both lawsuits lean on the Tenth Amendment protecting state's rights. Both lawsuits are now asking judges to halt the administration's crackdown operations that are ongoing and still a very big way, as we know.

Minnesota says that the crackdown has terrorized its communities, put a strain on local police and be because of the clashes between protesters and ICE agents. The state says local police have been diverted from their usual duties because of all of this, instead, forcing them to work overtime, now costing taxpayers more than $2 million.

Joining us right now is CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig. Elie, let's focus in on the Minnesota lawsuit. What do you see in it? Do you see -- do you think it is a strong case?

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: No, I don't, Kate. I've read both the Minnesota and Illinois lawsuits. They're really political diatribes masquerading as lawsuits. If you look at what both states are asking the courts to do, it's to kick ICE out of those states and cities and to bar ICE from carrying on federal law enforcement in Illinois and Minnesota. That's the top thing both states asked to do, and they cite zero precedent for that. There is zero precedent for that. There is no way a judge can say, you, federal law enforcement agency, you are not allowed to execute federal law in a certain state or city.

I think the most that the states could get out of this, if they get sympathetic judges, is a judge who's going to ask questions of ICE, who's going to hold hearings, who's going to demand questions about how they're training, how they're carrying out their policy. You also could have judges that issue sort of symbolic orders along the lines of ICE, you are not to violate the law, but that's already the case. It's already not allowed for ICE to violate the law.

So, these lawsuits, which appear to be coordinated, they're potentially powerful political statements, but I don't give him much of a chance of achieving the legal thing that they're asking for in the courts.

BOLDUAN: You know, one thing we heard over and over from Keith Ellison, the attorney general of Minnesota, was that this is a federal invasion of their state. What's the -- like, what is the -- what's kind of the legalese that they're trying to lean on there? HONIG: There is no legalese to that. I mean, it's a powerful sort of rhetorical term. You heard a lot of things about an invasion and how horrible this is. Even if every allegation made in both complaints is true, and we don't know that, it doesn't necessarily give them a constitutional legal remedy here. And, by the way, to be specific about why there's a constitutional problem here, if a judge were to say to ICE, you can't enforce the law in Minnesota or Illinois, it would violate the supremacy clause, which says the federal government gets to carry out federal priorities and the states cannot stop them.

It also would violate Article 2, which gives the federal executive branch the power and the responsibility to execute the law. So, yes, there is a lot of rhetoric about invasion and about the horrible things that Minnesota and any Illinois claim, they might be right, they might be wrong, but they do not give rise to a legal constitutional remedy.

BOLDUAN: All right. Let's see what happens.

It's good to see you, Elie. Thank you so very much.

Also a reminder, as we just -- as I just mentioned, the attorney general of Minnesota, Keith Ellison, will be joining our show a little later this morning. John?

BERMAN: All right. Opening statements coming in a twisted murder trial. Prosecutors say he began an affair with the family au pair. Now he's charged with the murders of his wife and another man.

The mysterious ailments that hit U.S. spies, diplomats, and troops, so-called Havana Syndrome, now a break at last in what might be behind it.

And buried in an avalanche, the terrifying moments for one snowboarder all caught on camera.

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BERMAN: All right. This morning, opening statements begin in the double murder trial of Brendan Banfield. The Virginia father is accused of stabbing his wife to death after carrying on a months-long affair with the family's au pair. Prosecutors say Banfield and the au pair lured a stranger to the house and shot him to death to frame him for the wife's murder. Banfield has pleaded not guilty in the au pair is expected to be the star witness against him.

CNN's Jean Casarez, who will be covering all the twists and turns in this, is with us this morning. What do we expect today?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, they got a jury yesterday. We expect opening statements 10:00 sharp Eastern Time.

[07:15:00] And they actually had a jury by mid-afternoon, and we do know that they asked questions of the jury any bias because this is in the Fairfax County, Washington, D.C. area, it's in Virginia, however, and their thoughts on an affair, their thoughts on domestic issues, all of that. But they got this jury, and it's 12 jurors, four alternates, and the trial is supposed to last four weeks.

And you say four weeks, but this is a double murder trial. And Brendan Banfield, who was an IRS agent, who actually carried a service revolver, so he was in the criminal investigation unit of the IRS, a very accomplished man, but he's charged with two murders. And so the medical examiner will have to go through two different people that died in all of this.

Now, the au pair, she pleaded guilty to involuntary manslaughter. We can call her a killer, but she told law enforcement everything that Brendan Banfield in 2022 had said, you know, I got to get rid of my wife because you and I are meant to be together. And she says he devised this plan, where he went on a sexual website, fetlife.com, purporting to be his wife, Christine, who was a pediatric nurse, by the way, and he hired a man to come to the home as an escort. And he brought -- the escort brought his knife because that was part of his role playing.

And once the escort got into the bedroom, Christine was still asleep that morning, the au pair and Brendan Banfield, according to prosecutors, went in the room and he shot the escort, Joseph Ryan, and then he started to stab his own wife to death, and so he's double murder. But let's not forget their four-year-old child, four years old, because, according to prosecutors, Brendan Banfield in the au pair put the four-year-old child in the basement when they then went upstairs, and according to prosecutors, murdered two people.

BERMAN: Look, some of the alleged details here, just horrible. Like I said, you'll be following this case. Opening statements begin at 10:00 A.M. sharp, correct?

CASAREZ: And the defense has pleaded not guilty to everything and they do have a case, because there is one forensic investigator that may be a witness for the defense saying the device that actually signed on to this fetlife.com, it never got out of the control of Christine. So, there may be some issues in regard to, did the pediatric nurse herself do this? Family members say, no way, that was not her.

BERMAN: All right, we will wait and hear that testimony. Jean, thank you very much for that.

CASAREZ: Thank you.

BERMAN: Kate?

BOLDUAN: Next hour there's new data and a new look coming out of whether high prices are sticking around. The final consumer price index report for 2025 is set to be released. Expectations right now of it at showing inflation cooled slightly in December. Show you a look of futures this morning, where they stand at this moment. Monday, the Dow hit a record-high, recouping losses from earlier in the day. Investors seeming so far to shrug off the Trump administration's new criminal investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. The S&P 500 also closed at a record high.

Ahead for us still, battle of the A.I. chat bots, Amazon's Alexa taking on ChatGPT in a whole new way. We're going to take you inside Amazon's new push to make Alexa both a website and a so-called close friend.

And a Monday night football blowout for the Steelers, what could also be Aaron Rodgers swan song.

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SIDNER: All right. The final spot in the divisional round of the NFL playoffs locked in and the Houston Texans are moving on. They rolled past those Steelers last night.

Let's go to Houston and its native son, Andy Scholes. We know what you're going to say.

ANDY SCHOLES, CNN SPORTS ANCHOR: Let's go, Sara. What a game. What a performance from the Houston defense. What else could you say about them? I mean, thank goodness the Texans have the best defense in the league because Quarterback C.J. Stroud did not have his A game last night.

Now, coming into last night at Texans, they had never won a road playoff game in their history, and the Steelers had won 23 straight home games on Monday Night Football. But those streaks would both come to an end. Stroud, he tied a playoff record fumbling five times in this game, and he lost two of them. He also threw an interception, but the Texans defense picked him up and then some. Here in the fourth quarter, they sacked Aaron Rodgers and Sheldon Rankins picks it up and he is going to rumble 33 yards for the touchdown. That pretty much put this one away.

Texans hold the Steelers to 175 yards, their fewest in a playoff game since 1947. Final was 30-6, Pittsburgh's worst home playoff loss in franchise history. Fans were actually chanting, fire Tomlin. They've now lost seven straight playoff games. The Texans meanwhile now on to Foxborough to face the Patriots on Sunday, and here was head coach DeMeco Ryans after the big win.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DEMECO RYANS, HOUSTON TEXANS HEAD COACH: It was the outstanding defensive performance, one of the best that I've seen. (INAUDIBLE) has a really talented offense, a talented quarterback who's, you know, played at a high level for a long time. So, I'm proud of our defensive performance. I think this is the best performance we've had in our team history. (END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: Now, late in that fourth quarter Rodgers, he threw a pick six, and that very well could have been the final pass of the 42-year- old's career. Now, Rodgers though would not say if he is in fact retiring after the game.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AARON RODGERS, PITTSBURGH STEELERS QUARTERBACK: And I'm not going to make any emotional decisions. Disappointed, you know, obviously, and such a fun year, you know, a lot of adversity, but a lot of fun.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SCHOLES: All right. Elsewhere, after leaving LIV Golf, Brooks Koepka is now back on the PGA Tour. The five-time major winner has been reinstated to the tour immediately as a part of the returning member program.

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Now, that program, it's only available to players who have won a major or the player since 2022. Now, Koepka had to donate $5 million to charity, and he can't win any FedEx bonus money this year. The tour estimates his financial repercussions to return. It could be between 50 to $85 million.

And now, Sara, all eyes, hey, are going to be on Bryson DeChambeau, John Rahm and Cam Smith to see if they take part in this return program. If they do, the future of LIV Golf would certainly be in jeopardy.

SIDNER: It's expensive either way you cut it. Andy Scholes, I know you're containing your excitement about your Houston team, and we forgive you for it.

SCHOLES: Am I?

SIDNER: But John is over here judging because he's thinking his Patriots are going to take you all down. We'll see.

SCHOLES: It's grudge match.

BERMAN: The Texas defense is very, very good, very good. I will say --

SIDNER: He's worried.

BERMAN: -- Drake Maye is about 60 years younger than Aaron Rodgers, so it could be a slightly different outcome. We will wait and see.

SIDNER: That's wrong. Aaron's going to come for you. All right, John, I'll let you handle that.

BERMAN: All right. Standing by for one of the most anticipated Supreme Court cases of the year, the justices will decide whether transgender athletes can be banned from women's sports.

And horse on the lam and the carriage too, dashing out of Central Park, right into the busy streets of New York City and the mayhem that ensued.

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