Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Interview with Anders Vistisen, Member, European Parliament: Denmark to Increase Military Presence Around Greenland; President Trump Pushing to Cap Credit Card Interest Rates; South Carolina Measles Outbreak Doubles in Size Over Past Week. Aired 9:30-10a ET

Aired January 14, 2026 - 09:30   ET

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

[09:30:00]

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: We've got some breaking news for you now. The government of Greenland and Denmark's Ministry of Defense just announced an increased military presence in and around Greenland starting Wednesday, quoting security tensions. It comes as President Trump is ratcheting up his rhetoric for plans to take Greenland, making the high stakes meeting set for today between the United States, Denmark and Greenland even more intense.

President Trump chiming in this morning ahead of the sit down, saying Greenland is, quote, vital for the Golden Dome that we're building. The premier of Greenland feels very differently, saying just yesterday, that the Greenland does not want to be owned by the USA. And if we have to choose between the USA and Denmark here, we choose Denmark.

Here's how President Trump responded to that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Greenland said today we prefer to stay with Denmark. Do you see that as --

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Who said that?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The premier of Greenland?

TRUMP: Well, that's their problem. That's their problem. I disagree with him. I don't know who he is. Don't know anything about him, but that's going to be a big problem for him.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: With me now is European Parliament member Anders Vistisen. Thank you so much for being here. You just heard the new information coming out of Greenland and Denmark that they are going to have a bigger military presence there. The President of the United States says NATO will become far more formidable and effective with Greenland in the hands of the United States. Anything less than that is unacceptable.

Is that acceptable to you? And what do you make of this new move by Greenland and Denmark?

[09:35:00]

ANDERS VISTISEN, MEMBER, EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: It's frankly quite hard to see how the president can be so misguided and frankly not very informed about the situation. Greenland already is a member of NATO and USA have gone from having 15,000 troops stationed there to only 150 at the moment. That's a U.S. unilateral decision not to be there.

So if it was important for the security of the U.S., why have they withdrawn? The fact of the matter is that the president is very offensive towards the kingdom of Denmark and towards his European allies and the kingdom. And that is a big problem. And that fundamentally challenged the status of NATO and our defensive alliance.

SIDNER: Trump also said that if there is a deal that has been unable to be made the easy way, as he put it, then he will have to do it the hard way when it comes to getting Greenland. What do you think that means? And what are your concerns about it?

VISTISEN: I don't think he really wants to use military force, but I think that it is a clear mistake by the Danish and Greenland government to go to Washington, do a meeting when they are threatened with this threat of military invasion. I think, quite frankly, that they should stay away until the time where the U.S. administration makes it clear that there would be no military intervention.

And I think Denmark should consider to go even further and close down the U.S. consulate in Nuuk and think about how the U.S. embassy in Copenhagen can be adjusted according accordingly to this threat coming from the U.S. administration.

SIDNER: If Trump does it the hard way, and that means military occupation or action against Greenland, how do you expect Europe to respond to this, being that, as you mentioned, Greenland is part of NATO?

VISTISEN: Then you have one NATO member attacking another NATO member, both of them actually founding members of NATO, and doing it off the coast of a third NATO member, Canada. And that would be the end of the defensive alliance, and that will tear a break between the transatlantic relations that have been prospering since the end of the Second World War. That would, in fact, be the end of the defensive alliance of NATO that won the Cold War.

And that would be a very high price to pay for something that the U.S. president, frankly, cannot reasoning why he needs Greenland. He talks about the military purpose. They already have a military treaty to be present in Greenland. They talk about mining. There is an open business for mining if anyone can make a business case up there. But no U.S. company have been able to do that.

And there are no vessels from China and Russia going up and down the coastline of Greenland. So basically, it would be tearing up NATO for nothing. SIDNER: What -- which is significant if that is exactly what happens. I am curious what you think of what you're hearing from the NATO chief. NATO chief Mark Rutte says that all allies agree on the importance of the Arctic and Arctic security because we know that with sea lanes opening up, there is a risk that the Russians and the Chinese will be more active. He is not making a strong statement against U.S. action and some of the things that the president has said and demanded.

What do you think of that?

VISTISEN: I think he's a quite weak leader of NATO, and he is apparently in the pocket of the U.S. administration more than leading an alliance of free countries. He also called the president daddy, I think, at some point. And I actually think for a man who has been prime minister of the Netherlands for many, many years, I think he's making a fool of himself.

And I think he frankly looked quite ridiculous as the head of an organization that should be a federation, defensive federation of free states from the U.S. to the European allies and Canada.

SIDNER: Sounds like you think diplomacy might be dead here. Anders Vistisen, thank you so much for taking the time to speak to us. I know that there are a lot of people watching the region right now to see what happens next, especially in this diplomatic meeting ahead today. Appreciate your time -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: President Trump is planning to crack down on credit card interest rates, saying that the American public is getting, quote, unquote, ripped off. The new numbers on how Americans feel about that.

And it's an obstacle course like no other, snowboarders racing across mountaintops. The video is amazing.

[09:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, President Trump is pushing to cap credit card interest rates at 10 percent. It's unclear exactly how he would do that, and there are debates about whether it's good policy and could hurt the very people it is intended to help. Nevertheless, it is a proposal that is out there that is generating a great deal of interest.

With us now, CNN chief data analyst, Harry Enten. When I say it's generating interest, Harry, how much?

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: It is generating a ton, a ton of interest, John Berman. I mean, just take a look here at Google searches for credit card rate cap up 3200 percent versus a year ago. Up like a rocket in every single poll that I have looked at. It's an extremely popular policy and therefore I'm not sure about the policy, but it is great at this point. Great, great, great politics. BERMAN: Yes, maybe the victory firm is merely talking about it, whether or not it goes through. Why? Why do you think there's so much interest in this?

[09:45:00]

ENTEN: Why is there so much interest in this? Why do I say it's great politics? Well, take a look here. How Americans feel. Credit card debt is a stress in my life. Look at this. You got the majority of Americans. 55 percent say credit card debt is a stress in life.

More than that were cost of living ranks in terms of the top issues in terms of what's affecting you and your family. It is number one, number one, in poll after poll after poll. So when you see this, you see a majority of Americans saying credit card debt is the stress of my life. And you see that ranking number one cost of living in terms of the top issues.

That is why there's so much interest in something that I think a lot of Americans think can address the very issue that they feel is numero uno and that is the cost of living.

BERMAN: How part is it of an issue has credit card debt become?

ENTEN: Yes, So this is another reason why I think this is great politics. Is, you know, oftentimes we see issues that divide Americans, liberals and Democrats on one side, conservatives and Republicans on the other. But take a look here. Percentage with credit card debt, 49 percent of Democrats, 48 percent of independents, and 51 percent of Republicans. It is a bipartisan problem in this country.

So all of a sudden, Donald Trump is saying, hey, let me find an issue in which I can unite the different factions in this country behind something that I am trying to propose here. This is it, baby. This is an issue that Democrat -- that unites Democrats, independents and Republicans because the percentage with the credit card debt amongst Republicans, independents and Democrats, it's pretty much gosh darn equal.

BERMAN: What are the chances though that there is actually a cap based on people betting on it?

ENTEN: Yes, OK, so essentially you see this. You see it's good politics, right? You see, of course, that the Google searches are way, way up. But in terms of the chance that it actually happens, chance the federal government caps credit card rates. At this point, the calcium prediction market has it at only a 33 percent chance.

So good politics talking about it, but actually getting it accomplished, that I think is a little bit tougher to do. And the prediction markets agree on that.

BERMAN: Yes, it's not nothing. 33 percent is not nothing. However, it may be more about the discussion, more about the proposal than actually passing.

ENTEN: Correct. We'll see what happens because politics these days always surprises.

BERMAN: Harry Enten, thank you very much. We got a lot of news this morning. More after the break.

[09:50:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BOLDUAN: Doubling in just a week. That is the dangerous situation playing out in South Carolina right now with an ongoing measles outbreak. The number of new cases reported has doubled over the last seven days, really. And most of South Carolina's 430 plus illnesses reported are among unvaccinated kids. More than 400 other people are in quarantine.

CNN's Meg Tirrell has been tracking this will for quite some time at this point. But what a surge we've seen. What's driving it?

MEG TIRRELL, CNN MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so we've seen this outbreak in South Carolina really growing since October, but the numbers have just gone really out of control in the beginning of the year. If you look at this trajectory, just since the beginning of January, we saw 99 cases added on Friday of last week, 124 additional cases added on Tuesday, so this is just growing incredibly quickly.

Of course, we remember that West Texas outbreak we had last year that topped 700 cases. We're now at 400 here. We have about 400 cases in another outbreak in Arizona and Utah combined right now. So there's a lot of measles going around.

South Carolina says 409 people currently are in quarantine, meaning that they've been exposed and don't have protection through vaccination or prior infection with the virus. This is mainly centered in the northern part of the state in Spartanburg County, where they have some of the lowest vaccination rates for school age kids in entire state and some of the highest rates of nonmedical exemptions for school kids for vaccines for schools.

And so that's concerning a lot of people. And of course, we saw a record number of measles cases last year driven by that Texas outbreak. And it's leading to questions about whether we're going to lose our elimination status here in the United States, which of course we got in the year 2000.

And as you noted, this is primarily among unvaccinated school aged children and some children even younger than the age.

BOLDUAN: Is that what -- what's driving this in South Carolina in such a big way? Is it a low vaccinated state?

TIRRELL: It it is and then also and it's been declining overtime and the state health department says it is that combination, especially of pockets of low vaccination where you can see an average might be around 90 percent. But then you've got some schools, one of which was even 17 percent in the last school year of the childhood vaccination rates are very, very low. But also, they noted that the gatherings over the holidays probably contributed to this real explosion we're starting to see now.

BOLDUAN: All very important and so important to track. Meg, thank you so much.

TIRRELL: Thank you.

BOLDUAN: Sara.

SIDNER: All right, on our Radio Free this morning, actor and director Timothy Busfield is due in a New Mexico court today after he surrendered facing child sex abuse charges. He's accused of inappropriately touching twin boys in the set of a TV series he's directed. One of the alleged victims told police it began when he was seven years old.

Busfield is best known for his roles on "30 Something" and "The West Wing." He denies the allegations, saying that the mother of those twins was angry because he took the twins off the show.

All right, today, 4 astronauts are returning to Earth a month early from the International Space Station. This afternoon, they will get into a SpaceX capsule and undocked from the station. NASA says one of the crew has a medical issue and it needs to be checked out thoroughly.

This is the first ever medical evacuation of the International Space Station. Splashdown is expected off the California coast early tomorrow.

[09:55:00]

And hold your breath if you are afraid of heights. Four professional winter sports athletes have completed the ultimate challenge. Oh my God, it is a very narrow course in the Italian Alps, nearly a quarter mile long. It's called Slope Style on the Edge. I'm already getting freaked out. I have anxiety right now. With steep lifts on either side, there is no room for error here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FELIX GEORGII, X GAMES WAKEBOARD CHAMPION AND SNOWBOARDER: The main challenge is to ride the course here, is to be really, really precise, to land perfectly, to not try two crazy things that you are not sure with. You want to do the stuff you know how to do it, land perfectly and keep going on the -- on the on the rest of the track.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SIDNER: I just can't. He's never getting past the nerves. Riding the tightrope is the best feeling ever. There is nothing about me that is perfect. I would die for sure.

BOLDUAN: I mean, it looks amazing.

SIDNER: No way.

BOLDUAN: If I can pull that off.

SIDNER: I like to watch it.

BERMAN: The real challenge is not falling off and dying. That's the real challenge to me.

BOLDUAN: Perfect.

BERMAN: All right, thanks all for joining us. This has been CNN NEWS CENTRAL. "THE SITUATION ROOM" up next.

[10:00:00]