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Norway Sending Two Defense Personnel to Greenland; Trump Holds WH Event Amid Tensions with Greenland, Iran; Soon: Undocking of Space Capsule to Bring Sick Astronaut Home; South Carolina Measles Outbreak Doubles Over Past Week; Au Pair Testifies Banfield Wanted to "Get Rid" of His Wife. Aired 3-3:30p ET

Aired January 14, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

STUART GIETEL-BASTEN, CHINA DEMOGRAPHICS EXPERT: And to have just one small piece of connection, of course, that is a positive. But what -- what you would never want for this to be is a way that -- that it -- that substitutes more meaningful social interactions, that substitutes real-life contact.

MIKE VALERIO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Are You Dead is more than just an app. It's a reflection of changing lifestyles and evolving challenges in China, a simple tool addressing a very real concern.

Mike Valerio, CNN, Beijing.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Warning and Threats: As Iran's ruling regime cracks down on protesters, President Trump weighs his options and makes a vague threat that the U.S. could take strong action in response.

And Denmark ramps up its military presence around Greenland, as President Trump says it's unacceptable for the territory to remain in Denmark's hands and top officials meet to discuss its future.

And Countdown to Splashdown: Four astronauts will soon be headed home after an unprecedented medical evacuation from the International Space Station. The hatch will be closed just minutes from now.

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

Happening now, the Trump administration facing mounting pressure on two fronts of the world stage. Right now, Denmark, Finland and Sweden are increasing their military presence in Greenland. President Trump is demanding total U.S. control over the island for national security purposes, saying that anything less would be unacceptable.

Today, the foreign ministers from Denmark and Greenland met with top Trump administration officials, the Vice President and the Secretary of State at the White House. But they came out of their meeting with what they describe as a fundamental disagreement over the territory.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) LARS LOKKE RASMUSSEN, DANISH FOREIGN MINISTER: It's clear that the President has this -- this wish of conquering over -- over Greenland. And we made it very, very clear that this is not in the interest of the kingdom. The Premier made it very, very clear yesterday that Greenland, for the time being and for a foreseeable future, will remain within the kingdom of -- of -- of Denmark. And therefore, this is a -- a -- a common position that we want to work with our American friends and allies. But it must be a respectful cooperation and it must respect the red lines.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KEILAR: At the same time, President Trump is threatening strong action against the Iranian regime amid its ongoing crackdown against anti- government protesters. U.S.-based human rights activists say at least 2,400 people have been killed so far.

Let's go to President Trump. He is speaking live right now. Here he is.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm sure if -- happens, we'll -- we'll all be very upset, including you will be very upset. But that's just gotten to me, some information, that the killing has stopped, that the executions have stopped. They're not going to have an execution, which a lot of people were talking about for the last couple of days. Today was going to be the day of execution. And another piece of information that I think is very important is the leaker has been found and is in jail right now. And that's the leaker on Venezuela, a very bad leaker.

So, there could be some others and we'll let you know about that. We're out on their trail. But the leaker has been found and the leaker is in jail and will probably be in jail for a long time. Let's see what happens. So, we'll let you know. We'll keep you apprised as to what's going to happen with that.

And I want to thank all of the incredible people behind me, political people, both Republicans and Democrats, because they like whole milk, whether you're a Democrat or Republican, whole milk is -- right? That's a great thing. The senator was in the office many years ago. It feels like many years ago, but quite a while ago, right at the beginning of my first term ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes, Elijah Cummings.

TRUMP: Right, with Elijah, a very good person. You and I had a good relationship with him. At that time, I think you were a congressman. You've -- you've made a lot of progress. (INAUDIBLE) ...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Some -- some would disagree.

TRUMP: No, I don't -- I think you -- I think you did a great job. It's great -- it's great to have you here again.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Thank you. TRUMP: Appreciate it. So, today, I'm delighted to sign the Whole Milk for Healthy Kids Act into law, which is a very important thing for our farmers and I think maybe more important for our people.

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN HOST: We're going to keep monitoring these remarks from President Trump in the Oval Office as he is now signing an executive order related to schools serving 2 percent milk.

[15:05:00]

Perhaps the most noteworthy -- newsworthy things the President has said specifically about Iran, he believes that the killing of protesters is stopping. It is slowing down. The President previously described this as a -- a form of a red line that the government in Tehran should not cross.

Notably, as of a few days ago, he said that help was on the way for these protesters, but then he refused to elaborate on exactly what that meant. It's possible that there may have been some kind of message sent to the White House, though the President said that he stopped all dialogue with the regime.

KEILAR: Yes, he did seem to give the administration some credit for saving protesters. So, we will certainly be looking to see more on that story. Let's get right to CNN's Kristen Holmes at the White House. Kristen, the President said today NATO would be, quote, "more formidable with Greenland under U.S. control." That is the other story that we are following right now after a big meeting at the White House between the foreign ministers of Denmark and Greenland with the Vice President and the Secretary of State. Where do conversations stand right now?

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, there's a lot of U.S. intervention foreign policy going on right now. But when it comes to Greenland, we know those conversations are going to be ongoing. As you noted, that meeting wrapped up between the leaders of Denmark and Greenland with Vice President J.D. Vance, as well as Secretary of State Marco Rubio.

We heard from the leaders of both Denmark and Greenland who said that it was a constructed atmosphere, but it -- that there are still fundamental differences that persist. Now, what they are doing is they're going to form what they're calling a high-level working group. The idea behind it being that they can get at some of what they have heard from the White House that President Trump is upset about when it comes to security without actually giving over the keys to Greenland, which they have said themselves is a red line.

Now, they were very clear, these leaders, that they weren't sure if there was an agreement to be met here. But I do want to note one thing. When you talk about having a meeting behind closed doors with Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, these are the two people that the White House has relied on over and over again to really do this negotiating for the White House.

It's not the same kind of interaction you're having when you bring in President Trump and these leaders and then put a bunch of cameras on them, and you see President Trump kind of trying to put the screws to them. So, clearly, this was the beginning of ongoing conversations. But the White House continues to say President Trump will only go forward with this if he owns Greenland. Greenland's saying that's not happening, so it's unclear where they're going to actually end up.

SANCHEZ: Kristen Holmes, live for us at the White House. We're going to keep monitoring remarks and see what the President says, if anything, on that meeting between the Vice President and Secretary of State and those officials from Greenland and Denmark, as well as any other news that he might make. 0

Still to come this afternoon, South Carolina's measles outbreak doubling in size in just a single week, as we learn that more parents are opting out of childhood vaccines across the country.

Plus, this dramatic case, the au pair who was having an affair with Brendan Banfield, testifying in his trial for the killings of his wife and another man. We have the latest there.

KEILAR: And later, we're closely watching as four astronauts are about to depart the International Space Station and make an early return to Earth after reporting a medical issue. We'll have that and much more coming up on CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

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[15:12:43]

SANCHEZ: A historic mission is about to be underway to bring a sick astronaut home from space. This is going to be the first ever medical evacuation from the International Space Station. In just a few hours, we're expected to see the Dragon capsule undocked from the outpost, bringing home these four members of NASA's SpaceX Crew-11. One of them had what NASA officials are describing as a situation a week ago, leading to this rare and rushed return to Earth. But NASA is not revealing the illness or who it is that's suffering from it. If all goes well, the early exit will mean just three people will be left to man the ISS.

CNN's Tom Foreman is here with the latest.

So, Tom, tell us what we're going to witness shortly.

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: What is happening right now is the beginning of the undocking process, which basically means what you're trying to do is have the members of Crew-11, these four people, come back through this sort of airlock between the ISS and the capsule. Now, if we want to talk about the -- the crew itself, you're looking at them right there, the four in blue there. The one facing you right now in the middle, that's Zena Cardman. She is the commander. And the man who just got covered up there but who's back is to you, that's Mike Fincke. He is the -- the pilot of this flight.

They are the two Americans in the crew. The one on the right is a Japanese astronaut. The one on the left is a Russian cosmonaut. We don't know which one is sick. We know there was an incident that happened about a week ago, and they're trying to deal with that, and they just feel like they need to get them back to more complete facilities here. So, they're beginning undocking now, moving over, putting on their spacesuits, checking out all the systems, make sure the capsule is ready to separate.

SANCHEZ: We're looking at live images right now from this sort of intermediary spot.

FOREMAN: Yes, I believe it's called like the vestibule.

SANCHEZ: The vestibule.

FOREMAN: The sort of ...

SANCHEZ: And -- and we -- it looked like we just saw somebody. There's somebody moving in and out of it right now. So, this is obviously an active area of the ship as we're watching this action unfold. How long is all of this going to take, Tom?

FOREMAN: This is a long process. This thing is moving about 17,000 miles an hour right now. So, if you consider that, they're going to have about a 12-hour process to get them back to Earth. Even this, even though you're moving very fast, they're taking the steps slowly because especially when these crafts start actually separating. The dynamic movement like that, that's when they have to be really on edge to make sure it works because the potential for bad physics coming to play, something happening, they have to be ready for it.

[15:15:07]

So, that's going to happen after a while here. Then the capsule will drop away, will drop to a lower orbit. It will slingshot around the earth several times and get ready to around sometime between 3:30 and 4:00 Eastern Time, in the morning, this coming morning, 3:30 and 4:00, that's when they're hoping to splash down off the West Coast. And then, of course, they'll move this person for medical checkout then.

And again, I'm not sure what we're going to even see after the splashdown. First of all, it's in the dark.

SANCHEZ: Right?

FOREMAN: But secondly, normally, you see the crew coming out. I'm not sure if we're going to see that as they ...

SANCHEZ: That's a good ...

FOREMAN: ... the health information of these astronauts.

SANCHEZ: That's a good point. I mean, HIPAA laws notwithstanding ...

FOREMAN: Right.

SANCHEZ: ... there is a public interest in knowing perhaps what happened. Do you think we might ever find out? FOREMAN: We might at some point. I suspect somewhere we might. But

they're very protective of it. And NASA all along, you know, their approach to all of this is, look, we're dealing with a problem that we have to address for our space program and for our astronauts. The person who it is happening to doesn't matter. And their privacy should be protected while we get the information. So, we're better prepared for what lies ahead.

SANCHEZ: And potentially a -- a trip to Mars. Imagine if something like this happens ...

FOREMAN: It's a long way to go for you to get medical help.

SANCHEZ: ... Tom Foreman, thanks so much for that reporting. Brianna?

KEILAR: South Carolina is seeing a post-holiday surge in measles cases. The state's health department says infections have more than doubled over the past week, 124 new cases were just reported yesterday and that brings the state's overall total to more than 430. At the same time, new research shows that more parents across the country are opting out of childhood vaccines.

In the South Carolina county where this measles outbreak is growing, for instance, nearly 8 percent of children had a non-medical vaccine exemption for school in 2024, which is up from 2 percent just 10 years ago. Let's bring in Dr. Paul Offit, director of the Vaccine Education Center at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.

All right, Dr. Offit, first off, just talk to us about what is driving this surge in cases.

DR. PAUL OFFIT, DIRECTOR, VACCINE EDUCATION CENTER, CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL OF PHILADELPHIA: Well, so a decrease in vaccine rates. I mean, overall, if you look at the United States, most parents vaccinate their children. About 92-, 93 percent of people in this country vaccinate their children. The problem is there are pockets like now in Spartanburg County, South Carolina, where there's a lesser rate of immunization. And whenever you see immunization rates fray, the first disease that comes back is measles. It is the most contagious human infection. It -- you don't have to have face-to-face contact with someone with measles. You just have to be in their airspace. And I don't think people realize just how contagious this virus is.

KEILAR: Yes, incredibly contagious. Talk to us about how bad this can get. I mean, how worried are you that kids could actually die here?

OFFIT: Well, I'm a child of the '50s, so I had measles. At that time, measles would cause three to four million cases. It would cause 48,000 hospitalizations, primarily from severe pneumonia, severe dehydration and to some extent encephalitis, which is infection of the brain. And a quarter of those children, the 1,000 children that would get encephalitis, would be blind or deaf, and 500 children every year would die.

Because of the measles vaccine, we eliminated measles from this country by the year 2000, but it's come roaring back because a critical percentage of parents have chosen not to vaccinate their children.

KEILAR: Do you get the sense that these outbreaks are sort of speaking to those parents who are reticent to vaccinate their children? Do you think that it's getting through?

OFFIT: It's certainly getting through to parents who support vaccines, because I'm getting a lot of emails from parents saying, should I vaccinate at six months of age, instead of waiting to 12 to 15 months of age? I -- I think it will. I think that's the point. You know, the -- the inventor of the measles vaccine, the current measles vaccine, was a man named Maurice Hilleman, and he had disseminated cancer in 2004, but measles was starting to come back.

And I asked him that question. I said, do you think it's -- it's possible for us to educate about the importance of the -- the vaccine, to educate about the seriousness of the disease, or do we have to see the disease come back in order to convince people. And he took a long time before he answered that question. And he looked back at me really with a tear in his eye and said, no, I think the virus is going to have to come back in order for people to realize how bad this can be. I hope he's wrong, but he might be right.

KEILAR: So, what do you see this looking like? Where -- are we just -- are -- are you expecting that we're just going to see these sort of pockets of, you know, officially numbers in the hundreds, but we also know that unofficially the numbers could actually be higher than that. How do you see this kind of playing out? Is it a map like that in different states? Is it spreading to -- in some cases, going to be much larger? What should we prepare to see here?

OFFIT: I think it will -- it will get worse. I mean, I -- I was in Philadelphia in 1991. That was 30 years into the availability of the measles vaccine. We had 1,400 cases and nine deaths in our city because it centered on an under-vaccinated community, two fundamentalist churches, and then it spread to the surrounding community.

[15:20:07]

That's what you saw in West Texas with the Mennonite community. And I think measles is a highly contagious virus, and I don't think people realize just how sick this virus can make you. But I hope that that's not the way, the only way we're going to be instructed about how important this vaccine is.

KEILAR: Dr. Paul Offit, it's always great to get your perspective. Thanks for being with us.

OFFIT: Thank you. And we are waiting right now as NASA's Crew-11 is preparing to depart from the International Space Station, an unprecedented departure early from the ISS due to a medical issue. The person in question, we are told, is stable. We don't know a lot of information about it, but we just haven't seen this before, departing early for a reason like this. We're going to keep our eye on these live pictures, and we'll talk more about it ahead.

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[15:25:39]

SANCHEZ: The au pair who is having an affair with a Virginia father says she flipped on her lover over feelings of shame and guilt, agreeing to cooperate with prosecutors in his double murder trial. Brendan Banfield is accused of killing his wife and another man in an elaborate scheme. He's pleaded not guilty and could face life in prison if convicted. CNN Correspondent Jean Casarez has been following this trial.

So, how central, Jean, is this testimony to the prosecution's case? It's critical. It's really, really important because the jury has to believe her theory of the events, which puts Brendan Banfield as the instigator, as the planner, as the one that wanted his wife murdered so he could live a life with the au pair. And the cross-examination has been going on all day today. And he -- he's -- he's making points, the defense attorney.

First of all, trying to show her true character, that she's a gold digger, that she's two-faced, that she wants what is best for her. Let me give you some examples here. It was January 9th of 2023 when that FetLife sexual site account was created, allegedly by Brendan Banfield and the au pair to try to frame Christine's murder right here. Well, she had a long conversation with Christine that day. It was a lovely conversation. So, she's doing this on one side. The other side, she's either the instigator or helping Brendan Banfield create this account that will lead to the demise of his wife.

The other thing is that once the account was created, she testified on direct that she and Brendan did it all together, that she would write some messages to different men on the account about coming to the house, to go up to Christine's room, that he would write some. But today with the defense, she said, I don't know who wrote that, Brendan or myself. I don't know who wrote this message on FetLife.com. I don't know, Brendan or myself. I don't know who wrote. And she had told prosecutors that at least five of the message she had written.

And, you know, there's a plea deal here. She's got to testify according to her story and she can't start to change things. I'm wondering who she's trying to help here. Is she trying to help Banfield? Is she trying to help the defendant to -- to take as much responsibility as possible because she's got the plea deal? The other thing was, this was fascinating, media has started to contact her. They email her and some of these outside production companies, some major documentary networks, and they want to pay her money. And some are paying her money right now, she said, for her commissary, for her media telephone to be able to talk to her family in Brazil because Banfield's family, his mother was paying for everything.

But once she accepted the plea deal, they didn't help her any longer. But she says the media is doing it, that they have offered her at least $10,000 to tell her story. And you could tell she was excited to take that money, but she said, it will help my family. That's why I want to do it, it will help my family. But the defense trying to show that she just wants everything she can for herself. And she wanted to be the wife of Brendan Banfield.

SANCHEZ: Just layers of drama there, Jean. And this is just day two of this trial. What can we expect moving forward? More, I imagine.

CASAREZ: Well, once she's finished, it's going to start to be at some point all about forensics, because a crime scene reconstruction expert, a blood spatter expert, DNA experts, whose DNA is on that knife that actually, you know, killed Christine with wounds up to two and a half inches deep, stab wounds. All of that is going to come in. The prosecutor is going to try to corroborate her story, which is a little iffy, a little sketchy, back and forth inconsistencies with that forensic evidence.

SANCHEZ: Jean Casarez, thanks so much for monitoring that for us.

Still ahead, more on the unprecedented medical evaluation from the -- medical evacuation, I should say -- from the International Space Station. Right now, four astronauts are aboard the SpaceX capsule that is set to bring them home. These are live images. We'll continue tracking this story on CNN. Stay with us.

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