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Virginia Double Murder Trial Continues; Crackdown in Iran; Trump Demands Takeover of Greenland. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired January 14, 2026 - 13:00   ET

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

[13:00:00]

DANA BASH, CNN HOST: Hurting the ultimate winner of the primary.

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: Yes.

And it's very interesting. It's not just happening in Michigan. It's happening in Texas. It's happening in Maine. This is like a petri dish for the message that the Democrats have come up with in the 2028 race.

Everyone's looking at these races to see what works. Everyone that's thinking of running for president is really keeping an eye on this.

BASH: Yes, no question about it.

Thank you all. Great discussion. I learned a lot, as always.

Thank you for joining INSIDE POLITICS today.

"CNN NEWS CENTRAL" starts right now.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: Demanding nothing less than full control, President Trump arguing for a U.S. takeover of Greenland just hours before top officials from the territory and Denmark arrive at the White House. We're about to hear what happened during those talks.

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: And Iran's internal war. The ruling regime warns protesters that anyone arrested will be considered guilty of opposing the government, as President Trump vows strong action without saying what that might be.

And an alarming new report on vaccination rates, as a measles outbreak in one state doubles in size.

We're following these major developing stories and many more all coming in right here to CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

SANCHEZ: Breaking news to CNN. We're standing by to hear from the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland fresh off their high-stakes meeting with Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

President Trump has made what he wants clear. He says anything less than full U.S. control of Greenland is unacceptable. As a result of all this tension, Denmark is stepping up its military presence around the territory starting today. And we're also learning that fellow NATO member Sweden has also sent troops.

Let's go live to Nuuk, Greenland, with CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson.

Nic, what are you anticipating from this press conference that is soon set to start?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: We should get a sense of how the meeting went.

Look, the Danish foreign minister went in there saying that he wanted to lower the temperature, sit in the room, eye to eye, and have a conversation, a more realistic conversation. But the stakes going into that meeting, as you say, President Trump saying, unacceptable if the United States not able to control Greenland, the threat hanging over it, of course, if not the easy way, the hard way.

From the Danish perspective, it was announced by the military, as you mentioned, just before that meeting going in that they're increasing their military presence in and around Greenland, air force, navy, troops, Sweden joining them in that. I think we can expect other NATO nations to join.

And the reason they gave for that was increased security tensions in this arctic region. And that implies -- we don't know that they meant it, but it certainly implies that those security tensions that have increased are coming from the United States, from the rhetoric from the White House.

So the positioning going into the meeting is very clear. I don't think anyone is expecting to see an armada of NATO arriving here or thousands of Danish troops disgorging from military aircraft in the airport here in Nuuk, which is pretty close to where we're at.

But already we have seen small numbers of Danish forces arriving here. It is rhetoric -- it's beyond rhetoric, but the numbers that we have seen so far, it's not token because the Danish have a military command here. The Northern Command is here. They have troops here. And the number ramps up depending on the military exercises that they're doing.

But it's not -- it's not a massive number, but it is a very, very clear signal going into the meeting that they're not backing down from that position that Greenland wants to be part of Denmark and rejects being part of the United States.

SANCHEZ: And what are you hearing from Greenlanders on the ground that you have been speaking to?

ROBERTSON: They know that this meeting is high-stakes. They know that it's the big meeting. They really want to know what's going to come out of it. They're very concerned because Greenland itself, population 57,000, largest island in the world, 12th largest country in the world, is very concerned that they don't have an army, that if the United States did decide to do this the hard way and have a military deployment here, then Greenland itself would find itself in a very precarious position.

They're looking towards NATO to give them that support, that military support, but, of course, the United States is part of NATO, so they really want that as a very, very strong and powerful diplomatic message.

But it's a narrative coming from President Trump that caused concern here, not just that he says this could happen in the easy way or the hard way, but the fact that President Trump has a narrative about security threats here that just doesn't match the reality that the people in Greenland see.

[13:05:06]

President Trump says there's an immediate and big threat from China, from Russia, from their ships in and around here. And the people of Greenland don't see that. So there's already that sort of credulity gulf, if you will, with how President Trump is framing it.

They also point to the fact that the United States under the 1951 treaty can have any number of military bases it wants inside of Greenland, that it can have any number of troops that it wants here, that it has the rights to mine rare earths and minerals here, that the government -- I spoke to the deputy mining minister a couple of days ago.

And he said, look, our door is open for the United States to do this. And it has been since that agreement in 1951, but he said, recently, we're just not seeing interest from U.S. companies to come here and invest because they say it takes investment. They have strong, tough environmental laws. It takes investment to get those minerals.

The view here is that President Trump is speaking about to them somewhere that doesn't sound like Greenland to them, because what he says is happening here, they don't see happening.

SANCHEZ: Wow.

Nic Robertson live for us in Nuuk, Greenland, thank you so much for that report -- Brianna.

KEILAR: We're also closely watching the situation in Iran, where President Trump is weighing military action over, he says, the regime's brutal crackdown on nationwide protests.

A warning that some of the images you're about to see are disturbing. New social media video shows at least 100 people dead at a makeshift morgue. CNN cannot independently verify how many people have been killed, but a U.S.-based human rights group says at least 2,400 protesters have died in the anti-government demonstrations. And another 18,000 have reportedly been arrested.

President Trump is warning Iran against any executions of those prisoners, vowing that the U.S. will take strong action in retaliation.

CNN's Kristen Holmes is at the White House.

Kristen, how soon could the administration make a decision on Iran?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Brianna, what we're told from U.S. officials is that right now they don't have a firm decision on what kind of action they would actually take.

We had that meeting yesterday, the national security team, where they really refined those options, but there hasn't been anything definitive. But we're also told by U.S. officials that President Trump himself now feels obligated to take some kind of decisive action when it comes to Iran, because essentially he himself set this red line.

And he's very aware of presidents in the past setting a red line and then not crossing it or having the other side cross it and then not having any kind of action and what that looks like.

So I want to play for you just some of what we have heard from President Trump when we talk about him setting his own red line. This was yesterday when he was asked about Iran executing protesters.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We will take very strong action. If they do such a thing, we will take very strong action.

TONY DOKOUPIL, HOST, "CBS EVENING NEWS": And this strong action you're talking about, what's the endgame?

TRUMP: The endgame is to win. I like winning. When they start killing thousands of people, and now you're telling me about hanging, we'll see how that works out for them. It's not going to work out good.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: So, obviously, that is just one of a number of threats that we have heard from President Trump.

Now, we are told from these U.S. officials that the national security team is split on whether or not they want to do a kinetic military strike. They do insist that any military action that they take is not going to involve U.S. troops on the ground.

And, of course, one of the things that they're weighing so heavily is, is the benefit of this any kind of military action going to outweigh the risk? We know from U.S. intel reports already that there is an indication that Iran itself is preparing options to retaliate and to strike against U.S. bases in the Middle East.

KEILAR: All right, Kristen Holmes, thank you so much for the latest there.

Still to come: The Pentagon is sending dozens of military lawyers to Minneapolis, as confrontations between federal agents and protesters escalate. Plus, an au pair turned mistress is back on the stand testifying about

an alleged plot to kill her lover's wife and frame an innocent man for the murder.

And then later: A measles outbreak in South Carolina doubles in size, as we're getting some new data about the number of parents opting out of childhood vaccines.

We will have that and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:13:44]

SANCHEZ: It's now been one week since Minneapolis resident Renee Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent. And violent protests since then between federal agents and local protesters continue to escalate.

In response to the growing number of clashes, the state attorney general today asked a judge for a temporary restraining order against the DHS ICE operations there, citing an increased pattern of illegal conduct among ICE agents.

And an exclusive CNN poll reveals that most Americans surveyed, more than half of them believe the deadly shooting of Renee Good was an inappropriate use of force. About half say the incident reflects bigger problems with ICE's enforcement tactics, and more than half say the agent's actions are making U.S. cities less safe.

CNN senior national correspondent Ryan Young is on the ground for us in Minneapolis with an update on the escalating tension there and the unrest.

Ryan, do you think the judge is going to grant this order?

RYAN YOUNG, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, that's an interesting question.

And this -- of course, this played out in court today, but it was all by phone, Boris. So there's no video of this. Obviously, these are federal courts, so we can't shoot video anyway. But you could hear the judge basically saying they're delaying everything until Monday.

So we will figure it out. And, of course, at one point, there was talk about whether Martin Luther King Day would affect that, but they decided to come back on Monday, and they're going to take that up again, the judge noting that this is an emergency, but, at the same time, there has to be precedent for the things that the local government is fighting for.

[13:15:11]

But, at the same time, there has to be precedent for the things that the local government is fighting for. If you could hear behind me, you could hear these people here for a vigil. They decided to be here for three hours, each hour for one of the kids that was left behind by Renee Good and the three shots that hit and ultimately killed her.

This is happening today here. We have seen people come and go as they pay their respects, but, obviously, it's been tough for the community members here, who feel like the violence that happened two blocks over and we will show you some of this video just yesterday.

People were asking serious questions about why the heavy-handed tactics were used in the neighborhood. As folks kind of surged in, we witnessed 10 agents on top of one man. We also watched agents actually, unfortunately, spray each other with some of that chemical deterrent as they tried to spread this crowd out of there.

One of the things that's impacting this neighborhood and the people around here is, when they see the ICE agents coming in, they are calling 911. This put a strain on the local police department. In fact, take a listen to the chief of the Minneapolis Police Department talk about what they are dealing with on a day-to-day basis.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRIAN O'HARA, MINNEAPOLIS, MINNESOTA, POLICE CHIEF: They're not coordinating, but we are getting literally dozens of 911 calls every day, in some cases from federal law enforcement, in some cases for from people in the community.

And it is definitely placing an additional strain on our already short-staffed police department, diverting resources away from preventing street crime, investigating crime, to try and manage a lot of the chaotic situations in the street.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YOUNG: Boris, you asked a clear question. I want to make sure I was pretty clear at the front of this. The TRO was not granted today, so the ICE agents are basically still in place.

Let's not forget, there's more than 2,000 of them right now surging throughout this area. That's more than both police departments, St. Paul and Minneapolis at the same time. We keep hearing stories and have seen people trying to follow what they believe are agents. We haven't heard the whistles today.

And outside the Whipple Building, we saw some of those clashes last night and more flashbangs used on protesters outside that building.

SANCHEZ: Ryan Young, thank you so much for that update from Minneapolis -- Brianna.

KEILAR: CNN has learned the Pentagon is preparing to flood Minneapolis with dozens of military lawyers as part of the Trump administration's immigration crackdown.

At least six U.S. prosecutors have already resigned over how the Justice Department is handling the investigation into last week's deadly shooting. CNN legal analyst and former federal prosecutor Elliot Williams is

with us now. He's also the DOJ's former deputy assistant attorney general for legislative affairs and the former assistant director for legislative affairs for ICE, all titles that are helpful to understand your experience and how it pertains to this.

ELLIOT WILLIAMS, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Today.

KEILAR: Is this unusual what the Pentagon is doing here?

WILLIAMS: No, it's not unusual at its most basic level. Of course, it is common within the government for attorneys to be loaned one place or another, to surge when there just isn't a need.

Look, the government -- despite what everybody says about the government being too big, actually is quite understaffed in many areas, and lawyers in the immigration context are actually -- the government just needs more of them, regardless of where anybody is about this issue. You just don't have enough personnel.

What is remarkable is the backdrop to all of this with the deployments of personnel in Minneapolis, with sort of the boots on the ground, with the sort of surge in immigration enforcement that's far greater than certainly I have seen at any point in my career, even having worked for ICE.

So, simply putting lawyers someplace not a big deal, but this world that we're in right now absolutely remarkable, Brianna.

KEILAR: That many lawyers, what does that signal that they're going to be doing and what can they do?

WILLIAMS: Right.

Now, again, there is an enormous back load of immigration cases. Even forget Donald Trump. Forget Barack Obama.

KEILAR: That's right.

WILLIAMS: It's just -- yes.

KEILAR: That's why in the immigration -- the bipartisan legislation, part of it was increasing this kind of infrastructure, right?

WILLIAMS: Right, infrastructure around immigration judges and immigration lawyers.

KEILAR: Right.

WILLIAMS: So that at its core is a good thing, because it makes the system more efficient.

Now, again, given all of the statements that the administration and the president have made about what their goals are with respect to immigration, it's, number one, politically controversial and certainly quite controversial in Minneapolis, given that now a lot of law enforcement personnel are surging there to increase immigration activity, and a lot of folks who, quite frankly, don't appear to have backgrounds in immigration, which itself is somewhat of a problem.

KEILAR: Speak to that a little bit, because you are surging. You're surging law enforcement for immigration.

WILLIAMS: Right.

KEILAR: And now you're surging the lawyers, right?

WILLIAMS: Right. Right. Exactly.

KEILAR: So it's sort of the one-two.

If they don't have that background in -- what do they need to catch up in?

WILLIAMS: Sure. Well, it can be done.

[13:20:00]

Think of it this way. Most orthopedic surgeons who might operate...

KEILAR: Now you're really scaring me.

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: No -- but, listen, no, but could probably do the basics of your nose and throat surgery-- or not surgery, but just sort of could look in your throat and tell you what's wrong, because they studied it for a little bit in law school, but they're not experts in it. They haven't devoted their entire careers to it.

And I would say, by extension, people think of lawyers as able to do anything and learn anything on the spot. But someone who's not an immigration or criminal law expert, but quickly put into position of having to prosecute these cases, operates at a bit of a disadvantage.

And merely trying to rush cases through with folks who don't have the background in something actually does a disservice to all parties, to the government and the folks who are swept up in it.

KEILAR: OK, so if they don't have all of that expertise...

WILLIAMS: Right.

KEILAR: ... immigration officials often have a lot of latitude. Is that the case with immigration lawyers?

WILLIAMS: Well, certainly, the system provides a lot of latitude to everybody, just the discretion to carry out cases.

Now, again, lawyers do have the decision -- have the ability to make a decision to bring a case or not. They can decide, we can either allow this person to stay in the country, we can let them stay for quite some time, or just drop the case. And a lot of that does come down to the individual immigration attorney.

Regardless of what anyone's politics are on the issue, though, what you want is expertise. And a lot of this surging is sort of bodies at the expense of expertise in the law.

KEILAR: So, it's not as if this is sort of just happening, right?

WILLIAMS: Right.

KEILAR: The Pentagon authorized up to 600 military lawyers to serve as temporary immigration judges last September.

WILLIAMS: Right.

KEILAR: This administration is largely dismantling the JAG system in the military as it has kind of operated before...

WILLIAMS: Right. Oh, yes.

KEILAR: ... and moving a lot of these lawyers to serve as immigration judges. What does that tell you that, months ago, they were shifting people into this role, sort of the lead-up to some of these plans?

WILLIAMS: Right.

Now, no one should be surprised, given what the president on the campaign trail had pledged to do with immigration in terms of removing a million people from the country a year, which are just absurd numbers based on how the government is currently funded.

Now, something I said before, and I have said, frankly, throughout my entire career, we need more immigration judges. And regardless of where you are on this issue, you want the system to work efficiently, either for the benefit of people you want to stay or for the government to get people out of the country who shouldn't be here. You just need the bodies.

Now, what the administration appears to be doing is just sort of forcing more folks in who simply don't have the expertise. And that's not good either. I mean, the real solution here is Congress to just get together and come up with some plan for funding and staffing all of our immigration apparatus in the way that it really should for the needs that it has right now.

KEILAR: I had to sinus surgery once. I was very glad to have an ENT do it.

(CROSSTALK)

WILLIAMS: Was it an orthopedic surgeon who did it? Probably not.

KEILAR: It was not an orthopedic surgeon.

WILLIAMS: And it's a good thing. You want experts to be doing the expert work.

KEILAR: I don't know. Maybe they would have done a good job. I'm glad I didn't have to find out.

WILLIAMS: Exactly.

KEILAR: All right, thank you so much, Elliot.

WILLIAMS: Thanks, Brianna.

KEILAR: Next: from au pair lover to prosecution witness. A husband's mistress is now testifying in his double murder trial.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[13:27:45]

KEILAR: The au pair who was having an affair with Brendan Banfield is back on the stand today in his double murder trial. Questioning has so far centered around why she ultimately agreed to cooperate with prosecutors and plead guilty to involuntary manslaughter.

SANCHEZ: Banfield is accused of killing his wife and another man in February 2023. Prosecutors say the two carried out this elaborate scheme together

CNN correspondent Jean Casarez is following the trial.

So, Jean, what more did we learn this morning?

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, it was all about cross- examination for the bulk of the morning. They're at lunch now. It will continue this afternoon.

But what the defense attorney is trying to show, John Carroll, is that everything she testified yesterday to about this elaborate plan that Brendan figured out so he could get rid of his wife because he didn't want to get divorced, to hire someone to come in as an escort, and then for him to go in and yell "Police" and shoot him in the head and kill him because he was an intruder, and then he could save the day, and then kill his wife and blame it on that escort, saying that he went in to murder the wife.

So there she is, Juliana, right there. And it was -- all morning, it was jailhouse letters that she wrote to show how her emotions were changing through time to show that she finally was desperate and would say anything to get out.

We want to show everybody some of these jailhouse letters that she actually wrote to different people, one being Brendan Banfield's mother, who was supporting her at that time. It's interesting, also paying for attorney.

So she says: "I'm not going to cooperate with them. There's nothing on you, so I don't know what they're going to use."

Now, that was December of 2023. And then she says: "Sometimes, I just think to myself, like, I can't believe I'm facing life in prison for someone. Things weren't supposed to be this way, right? But people are stupid, including me, and make mistakes, act without thinking. That's how I did."

So is that placing the responsibility solely on her? But as the defense kept going through this, she finally in fall of 2024 gets to the point where Brendan isn't corresponding with her anymore, the mother is still paying for everything. His mother paid to get her commissary food, phone privileges to Brazil. But she finally is presented with a deal.