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Trump On His Way To DC For Inaugural Celebrations; Trump Plans Aggressive Immigration Crackdown On Day One; TikTok Threatens To Go Dark On Sunday; Netanyahu: Biden & Trump Support Israel Going Back To War If Hamas Doesn't Follow Ceasefire & Hostage Deal; Netanyahu Demands Names Of Hostages To Be Freed On Eve of Ceasefire; Phase 1 Of Israel-Hamas Ceasefire & Hostage Deal To Take Effect In Hours; Greenland Minister On Trump's Ambition To Buy The Island; Education Cuts Could Hit Trump Base In Kentucky County; Teacher Layoffs, Bigger Classes: Potential Federal Education Cuts Could Hit GOP's Base Hardest. Aired: 6-7p ET

Aired January 18, 2025 - 18:00   ET

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


[18:00:00]

JESSICA DEAN, CNN HOST: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I am Jessica Dean in New York. And right now, President-elect Donald Trump and his family are enroute to Washington as they prepare to celebrate his return to the White House, which is now less than 48 hours away.

Tonight, Trump is meeting donors and supporters at his National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia. A fireworks show also planned, but at some party, others on Trump's transition team are working on new executive orders to be ready for day one of his presidency.

CNN's Alayna Treene is joining us now from Washington.

Alayna, several of these executive orders would start that aggressive crackdown on immigration. What more do you know about that?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN REPORTER: That's right.

And this is really going to be one of the biggest pushes we are going to see from Donald Trump's policy team with these executive orders moments after Donald Trump is sworn in. He is going to have some executive orders, I am told, that are put out immediately after being sworn in later in the day as well.

But like I said, immigration is going to be one of the key focuses of this, and we are going to start to see some of those sweeps that Donald Trump referred to repeatedly on the campaign trail, trying to go into metropolitan areas, go into what he calls sanctuary cities, and try to begin the deportation process for many immigrants.

Now, I do want to talk about just some of the three big camps that we know, some of these executive orders fall into, and you have this up here on the screen now.

So one of them is about interior enforcement. Like I said, those ICE sweeps in these major metropolitan areas that have seen a major influx in migrants in recent years. But then you're also going to see some policy action as it relates to the border. We know that Donald Trump has been preparing to potentially issue a National Emergency Declaration, something we've seen him do many times in the past during his first administration, and that would be to try and free up resources from The Pentagon and send them to the southern border.

He has also talked about adding additional asylum restrictions and wanting to focus on the remain-in-Mexico policy, something he tried to do and did during his first term, wanting to bring some of that back and roll back what Joe Biden had undid of his immigration policies during his first term.

Now, we did hear, I know you spoke with last hour, I thought it was a great interview with Jason Miller, one of Donald Trump's advisers. He did address some of this, particularly the immigration issue. I want you to take a listen to how he put it.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JASON MILLER, PRESIDENT-ELECT TRUMP SENIOR ADVISER: There are already 1.3 million people who are in this country illegally that are already approved for deportation, but for various reasons, they haven't been sent back either to the country that they came from or if they're going to be sent to a third country.

But these people are already processed and approved to be deported, but it hasn't been done yet. So those will be, I think, a couple of the areas of the main focus. But like the president said, we've got to get the criminal illegals out of this country. They are just -- the country has become way too dangerous.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: Now that part there, Jessica, where Jason Miller at the end was saying the criminal immigrants in this country. I know that that is going to be really the first wave. Donald Trump and his team have said that they, first and foremost, want to focus on trying to deport the immigrants who have committed crimes, who are here illegally and have committed crimes in the United States. That will be something you will see done very early on through some of these executive actions.

And I want to say as well, that we know much of this is coming from -- will come, but is currently coming from Stephen Miller and Tom Homan, Donald Trump's deputy chief-of-staff for policy, Tom Homan, who is kind of going to be Donald Trump's border czar. And they are really going to be doing a lot of this immigration policy from the White House. That is going to be the power center for a lot of these decisions, even though you're going to see DHS and if Kristi Noem is confirmed as the secretary of that agency, that is where the implementation will be.

But really, a lot of these decision making, a lot of the decision making when it comes to immigration is going to be coming from the White House.

DEAN: Yes, they will really be the driver it sounds like, in all of this.

We also want to talk about this notable person on the guest list for Trump's inauguration. That's China's vice president. It is a first to have that high of a ranking of a Chinese official to come to an American inauguration.

What more do you know about that? Because back to that Jason Miller interview, I did ask him about that. And he said, this is not about, in his words, being buddy-buddy, but about opening a dialogue, so the president-elect can have a sharper relationship or be tougher with China.

What do you know about that?

TREENE: I think that's exactly right in some sense. I mean, just having covered Donald Trump for as long as I had, he said this repeatedly during his first term. He said this repeatedly on the campaign trail that many of the United States' foreign adversaries, people like China and its President Xi Jinping or Vladimir Putin of Russia, Donald Trump believes in having these open dialogues, of wanting to have conversations with them and having some sort of real relationship. That is how Donald Trump believes is the best way to deal with America's adversaries, and that is I think, what we are seeing kind of play out now with Donald Trump's rhetoric toward China.

We know, of course, that he spoke with Xi Jinping on Friday on a number of topics, including TikTok, with that impending ban set for tomorrow, but also having, as you mentioned, one of Donald Trump's or, excuse me, one of China's top officials from the Communist Party attending the inauguration on Monday for the first time, I should say, is a massive departure from what we've seen in years past and events like this in years past.

[18:05:17]

And Donald Trump is really welcoming that and touting that.

Now, I will also say, of course, Donald Trump is still going to have a very hard line, hawkish kind of stance toward China. He has a lot of his policies, including tariffs, that he has been talking about repeatedly that he wants to impose on China.

We also know his Secretary of State, if confirmed, Marco Rubio is someone who is very hard line on China as well. He is actually sanctioned by Beijing. So I do think you're going to see kind of, you know, this difference between, on one hand, having this hard line policy, but also Donald Trump wanting to maintain some sort of open dialogue with Xi Jinping and China overall -- Jessica.

DEAN: Alayna Treene, thank you for that reporting. We appreciate it.

And joining us now, CNN senior political commentator and former assistant to President George W. Bush, Scott Jennings, and CNN political commentator, Paul Begala.

It is great to have both of you here as we get ready for a big 48 hours here in the United States of America.

Scott, I want to start first on day one. These immigration executive actions, Trump and his team kind of saying they want it like shock and awe. They want to go ahead and put a lot of these things into motion.

What do you think? How do you think that's going to play out? And, you know, I was talking to Ron Brownstein last hour. He said one of the only places or one place where he thought Trump could go wrong, even though he is coming in with historically high approval ratings, is if he overplays his hand on something like this. Do you think that they are trying to modulate for that as well as they go through with this?

SCOTT JENNINGS, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Well, I totally disagree.

I mean, if you look at the polling from "The New York Times"/IPSOS survey today, Trump's plans on immigration, including mass deportations and especially deporting people who are violent criminals, is overwhelmingly popular. I mean, people want this. They voted for it and there is no time like the present to get started on it.

So I am not surprised that this is going to be a big focus of day one. I am not surprised that he has empowered his border czar, Homan, to get started on this.

This is the animating issue of Donald Trump. When he started his campaign back in 2015, this is the issue that animates him. It largely animates the Republican base. If he gets this right and he gets the economy right, he is going to have a great term.

And so, I am glad to see him getting started right out of the gate and you're going to see Republicans on Capitol Hill overwhelmingly supportive of this.

DEAN: And Paul, Scott mentions this "New York Times" polling, which I think is important because most Americans, as he is saying, 55 percent say they agree with deporting all immigrants who are here illegally, 63 percent say they're okay with deporting immigrants who are here illegally and arrived in the last four years, 87 percent are good with deporting immigrants who are here illegally and have criminal records.

So how do the Democrats adapt to those numbers and this new political landscape? Because they have been running the other way in a lot of ways on this issue.

PAUL BEGALA, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL ANALYST: Well, yes, they need to return to Barack Obama's policies.

Barack Obama deported far more people than Donald Trump ever did. Obama's first term, he deported 3.2 million people. Trump only deported 2.1 million people.

The difference is Trump wasted a lot of money on his stupid wall and a lot of places, it fell down and people climbed over it. That was a waste of money. If Mr. Trump follows the Obama policy, target people who are here, not only here illegally, but who have committed crimes or have criminal records, every Democrat, every -- almost -- most of the Democrats will support that solidly.

But here is the risk, and I heard Alayna's reporting on this. I've seen others. A lot of these Trumpers are talking about targeting blue cities, blue counties. That's not targeting criminals, that's targeting politics.

And I want to give them a really important warning. I really want him to succeed, honestly. He is going to be my president, if he succeeds, we succeed. But if he does that, he will screw up that economy that Scott Jennings just talked about.

You know, there are 3,060 counties in America. Donald Trump carried 2,633, eighty-six percent of counties he carried. Good for him. But all of those counties, 86 percent of counties, only produce 36 percent of our GDP. The overwhelming majority of our economic growth, of our wealth, of our jobs, of our taxes, of our income come from those 427 little old blue counties. And if he targets blue America, instead of targeting criminal undocs, he is going to have a huge problem because he is going to kill the goose that lay the golden egg.

He has got this booming Biden economy he is inheriting, and I am worried he is going to screw it up by putting politics ahead of law enforcement.

DEAN: And Scott, I want to get your thoughts on that. I just now looked in the monitor and I see you're wearing a tuxedo. We will talk about that later as well.

But first I would like to get your thoughts on what --

BEGALA: He is a handsome devil.

DEAN: Yes --

JENNINGS: Emphasis on the "devil."

DEAN: What Paul is saying, which is this -- which is the tie of immigration to the economy and how that needs to be balanced.

JENNINGS: Yes.

DEAN: What do you think about that?

[18:10:03]

JENNINGS: Well, look, I think the populations they are going after, they've been pretty clear about, people that are violent criminals, people that have an existing criminal record who committed violent crimes in the United States. We know who these people are.

The other population, as Jason Miller said in your interview earlier, is this 1.3 or 1.4 million people who have existing deportation orders. They've already been adjudicated by the US courts. They're ready to go.

And so you've got two populations. I really don't think the US economy hinges on violent illegal aliens. And about 1.3 million people that have deportation orders. So I think if they start there, the American people are going to support it. I don't think it is going to have a huge impact on the economy.

And as Paul pointed out correctly, when Barack Obama deported millions upon millions of people, I don't recall the US economy collapsing over that. So I really do think the pools to start with are obvious. If they live in blue areas, so be it. If they live in red areas, so be it.

What I hear from voters and what I think Republicans want is to just get them out. This is why they voted for Donald Trump, because they want the border crisis solved and part of that is immigration enforcement in the country. We've had millions of people flow over in the last four years, no emphasis on deportations, but that all changes on Monday.

DEAN: And, Paul, I want to talk to -- because we don't have a ton of time -- we could talk a lot about immigration, but I do want to hit on TikTok because so many people in America are watching this, and they want to know where this goes.

The Biden administration says they are going to kind of keep a hands off approach tomorrow when this goes into effect. It is for the Trump administration to deal with. Where do you see this going and what are you watching as the dynamics at play here?

BEGALA: I'm watching Trump get away with murder.

He was right about TikTok when he was president. He said, this is an app controlled by the Chinese Communist Party that is essentially collecting data from -- not essentially, it is collecting data from American citizens and giving it to the Chinese communists, our enemies. So, he came out against it.

Democrats and Republicans came together, heeded Trump's call, passed a bill, bipartisan bill to kick TikTok out, make them sell to an American owner or some other non-communist Chinese owner.

And then one day he flipped. Now, why did he do that?

We know. There is reporting. He met with some TikTok billionaire and just flip-flopped. The facts didn't change. The Chinese Communist Party is still the adversary of America. They are still an evil regime. They are still spying on Americans.

And now, Mr. Trump has flip-flopped on this and I think it is an enormous problem and I really think he needs to get right on this.

Again, Alayna's reporting is excellent. Marco Rubio has a wonderful record being strong on China. Mike Waltz the incoming National Security advisor, very tough on China. Even as a Democrat, I am really happy to see those men come in. But I am very worried that Mr. Trump flip-flopped for the wrong reasons here. He is putting his own political donations, apparently ahead of our National Security.

DEAN: And, Scott, what do you think about that? And the fact that, again, this was a unanimous ruling, we rarely get those from the Supreme Court backing this bill or backing this law, rather, and a lot of Republicans, to Paul's point, are splitting with the president on this. They still want this ban to go into effect and find -- either find you know, get rid of it or find an American buyer.

JENNINGS: Yes, and there is an American buyer or a bid out there. Kevin O'Leary is part of it. He has been on our air talking about that. And I guess, Trump has the flexibility to extend this for 90 days to see if that deal can go through, and maybe it will and maybe that's a way to respect what the Congress did, which is to say we are not going to have the Chinese Communist Party app in our country, but if it ends up selling to a friendlier owner that isn't using it to spy on us and maybe isn't using it to brainwash, you know, the masses here in the United States, that would be okay.

And I think if that's where we land and the data stops going back to China and the brainwashing stops, then that will be okay.

But make no mistake, overall, his posture on China needs to remain what it has been, hard line. Paul is right. Some of his appointees are hard line on China. I like it that we are going to have a dialogue with China, but we have to remember at their core, these are our geopolitical adversaries economically, militarily.

This is the enemy of the United States and it is okay if we talk to them, but whether it is on military, economic or even this social media stuff, we've got to keep our eye on China, because I can assure you, they don't have anything good in store for the United States and we are going to have an administration to be really hard on that.

DEAN: And then, worth noting that TikTok CEO is going to be at the Inauguration as well, which is an interesting dynamic to watch.

Okay, both of you stay with us. We are going to talk more on the other side of the break about President Biden's final hours in the White House, how history will view his presidency.

We will be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:19:03]

DEAN: As Trump prepares to be sworn into the Oval Office, President Biden will be departing with historically low approval ratings. Despite that, Biden said last week he still believes he could have beaten Trump in the election.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I think I would have beaten Trump, could have beaten Trump, and I think that Kamala could have beaten Trump, would have beaten Trump.

When the party was worried about whether or not I was going to be able to move, I thought even though I thought I could win again, I thought it was better to unify the party.

But I didn't want to be the one who caused a party that wasn't unified to lose an election.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: CNN is learning those remarks are the source of fresh tension between the president and Vice President Kamala Harris.

Scott and Paul are both back with us now.

Paul, why is Biden continuing to say these things out loud?

[18:20:04]

BEGALA: Because he believes them. Yes, I mean, he wants to burnish his legacy going out the door.

His legacy is not going to be political, right? As a Democrat, I am very happy he delivered us from Trump. Pretty unhappy that Trump won again. His legacy is going to be far more defined by the substance. And I guess, nobody is telling him what to say in his last hours in office, but he needs to not try to relitigate the election because even Democrats think he made a terrible mistake in running at all. And, you know, the results show it.

Now, I will say in his defense, incumbent parties all around the world are losing right, left and center. I mean, from Britain to Botswana, from India to Italy, from Japan to Germany, everywhere in the world, incumbent parties are losing.

So it was a tough year to be an incumbent party, but I do think Biden choosing to run and not opening it up to an open primary for the Democrats really did hurt his party.

DEAN: And Scott, we have also additional reporting, Biden now has some strained relationships with former Democratic allies like former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. And as Paul noted, it is just -- it is a way to go out. I can't imagine this is how he thought this is how he would be walking away from Washington.

Do you -- look, you're a Republican. I know that's where you are coming from here. But how do you think he will be remembered? And do you agree with Paul it won't necessarily be for the politics of it.

JENNINGS: Well, I disagree with that somewhat. I mean, 50-plus years of his life was spent in politics. So it is all we really know about Joe Biden is Joe Biden the politician, because that is what he has done with his life and he has been in the public eye for so long. I also, you know, he did deliver us from Trump in one election, but he delivered us Trump in '16, and he delivered Trump stronger than ever in '24. I mean, Donald Trump right now is at the apex of his power. He is more popular than ever. His ideology is more popular than ever.

And I think it is in large part because people were comparing the results of Biden and Trump won and saying, we are going back to Trump and this was a lot better than what we got under Joe Biden.

So I think a lot of his legacy, frankly, is going to be bookended by the fact that he and Obama gave us Trump the first time, and then he gave us Trump 2.0 stronger than ever the second time.

His numbers are very low. It is possible they could go up. A lot of former presidents see their numbers go up over time.

DEAN: I mean, Trump, right? Yes.

JENNINGS: Trump did. George W. Bush, my old boss did. I mean, you do get some softening of it, but he is in really bad shape and it is not all policy. You know, Joe Biden made some promises that he was going to be an honest president, he wasn't. That he was going to be a moderate president, he wasn't; and that he was going to try to restore the soul of the nation. I don't think anybody believes that he did that.

And on the way out the door, oh, by the way, he is pardoning his son retroactively for anything and everything, going back a number of years. That did not sit well with the American people.

So when you consider the inflation, Afghanistan, border, the pardons and really Joe Biden not living up to what he said he was going to be, I think it is going to be hard for him to make a comeback in the near term, although I admit that history sometimes is a little kinder to presidents once they are -- once we've forgotten just how bad it was on their watch.

DEAN: And, Paul, I do want to get your response to what Scott just said and I also just -- I am curious your thoughts on this too, because we were -- the data on Biden obviously leading with these historically low approval ratings.

People feel like their life is harder. They clearly voted Trump in. They feel like life is too expensive. At the same time, you know, people -- incumbents are losing everywhere left, right and center, all across the world. People aren't happy generally and when they are not happy, they want a change. And how much of that -- what is the kind of balance of all of those factors, too.

BEGALA: Yes, that's really important. I do want to correct -- it is an opinion, Scott says it, President Biden was not honest. Believe me, if he thought Joe Biden was not honest. Wait until he sees Donald Trump. Okay, the master of mendacity, who has the most long distance relationship with the truth we have ever seen.

So I am sorry. I am trying to give him the benefit of the doubt. I want him to succeed. But please, if you want to talk about honesty, you can't be for Trump.

Now on Biden, look, the substance of Biden, I think history will be very kind to him. He came in to office and we had a pandemic, the worst in a century. We lost 462,000 people to COVID in his first year. His last year, we lost 14,000. Okay, so check.

Inflation was terrible. It probably killed his career. It went up to nine percent, now it is down to 2.9 percent. Check. We've tamed inflation, Joe Biden has.

How about jobs? Mr. Trump lost 2.1 million jobs. Joe Biden created 16.1 million. The best first term, one-term performance in jobs in the history of America.

Judges. He confirmed 235 judges and a wonderful one on the Supreme Court, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. Maybe most importantly, for the first time in a quarter century since my old boss Bill Clinton handed the keys to Scott's old boss, George W. Bush, for the first time in a century, America in a quarter century, America is not involved in a war.

[16:25:06]

He ended those forever wars. Trump said he would, but didn't. Biden did.

So peace, prosperity, honesty, civility, justice -- I think he actually -- he has a terrific record. Now, politically, they've tossed his party out and I accept that. By the way, my party doesn't lie about election results. When we lose, we honor that and we will have the peaceful transfer of power. I do hope all of those Trumpers in the rotunda on Monday will behave themselves better than the last time they were in a rotunda, when they attacked 147 -- wounded 147 cops.

So yes, I am really proud, actually, of the work Joe Biden did for our country.

JENNINGS: I've got to say, I am on my way to a ball. I think Paul has already been out to one already. I'd like get into whatever he is drinking and the description of the Joe Biden presidency because --

BEGALA: Some of that good Kentucky bourbon you gave me, Jennings.

JENNINGS: -- if everything you said was true, he should have had no trouble getting reelected and he should not have a 34 percent approval rating. The truth is, on so many issues, on so many issues, he failed.

And not only did he fail, but he and his people were dishonest with the American people about it, telling us the border is secure when it is not, telling us that the Afghanistan pullout was a wonderful accomplishment.

And most damagingly this year, last year, telling us that he was fit for office when clearly he was not and the biggest cover-up in modern political history took place on his watch and I guess at the direction of him and his top people. That is going to live with him for a very, very long time. Even Democrats now admit that Joe Biden was not with it, and they all went along with it, too, and they have no one to blame but themselves.

I do agree with what Paul said earlier, he should never have run for re-election, but the fact that he is now saying he could have won is delusional. And the fact that he is saying Kamala Harris could have won is basically saying she ran a crap campaign. So he is left his own party in somewhat political chaos.

DEAN: Well, we are going to have to leave it there. I feel like we could go back on this -- back and forth on this all night. I think it is fair to say you two see the history of the Biden administration differently.

But Paul and Scott, thank you. And Scott, enjoy the ball. You do look very dapper in your tuxedo there.

JENNINGS: Well, if this punditry doesn't work out, I will be able to --

BEGALA: I have the better of the argument, Scott has the better of the wardrobe.

DEAN: I know, but I like the blue tie, too.

You're both very sharply dressed, so thank you.

JENNINGS: Yes, if this punditry doesn't work out, I will be able to show you two to your table at the next dinner seating.

DEAN: We look forward to that.

All right, Scott Jennings, Paul Begala, thanks to both of you.

JENNINGS: Thanks.

DEAN: In just a few hours, 15 months of captivity will come to an end for some of those Israeli hostages kidnapped and held by Hamas for months and months and months, but Israel's prime minister, warning his country won't hesitate to resume its war if that ceasefire and hostage deal falls apart. More on that next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:32:07]

DEAN: We are only hours away now from a long-awaited ceasefire between Israel and Hamas taking effect. But in an address today, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel reserves the right to go back to war, quote, "if necessary." And that it would do so with the support of the United States. CNN Analyst Barak Ravid is reporting tonight, citing multiple sources, that Donald Trump's incoming national security adviser, Mike Waltz, met with the families of American hostages to date in Washington and reported the Trump administration is committed to seeing all three phases of the deal come to pass. CNN's Senior Global Affairs Analyst, Bianna Golodryga, is joining us now from Tel Aviv.

Bianna, I know you've been there in the days leading up to this, what we're going to see come take - happen tomorrow? What will the next few hours look like as we move toward 8:30 AM where you are?

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, Jessica, we know that this is a very tenuous, fragile deal that was agreed to between Israel and Hamas. It's set to begin the ceasefire tomorrow morning, 8:30 local time here in Israel. Already, we've had some setbacks in terms of timing as to the TikTok of the ceasefire in that we were supposed to receive the Israeli government and thus then the media was supposed to receive a list of names of the three Israeli female civilians who are expected to be the first to be released tomorrow at 4 PM. That was scheduled to be released 24 hours before that release.

So, doing the math, we were supposed to have those names at 4 PM today. That did not happen. Still, the Israeli government and government officials believe that this deal and the ceasefire hostage deal will come to fruition tomorrow, and we are expecting to see those three female civilians handed over to the custody of the IDF sometime at 4 PM. It could be much later. We've seen delays like this in the previous Israel-Hamas ceasefire hostage negotiation deal back in November of 2023.

So, that is where things stand right now. You can imagine that the families are very alarmed and very concerned, waiting to get these names, waiting to see if their loved ones are among those who are expected to return to Israel in phase one of this deal. And phase one would see the release of 33 Israeli hostages.

The concern though, Jessica, is whether or not phase two and then phase three will ultimately be implemented. And therein lies an even more difficult dilemma for the prime minister, who is on the receiving end of a lot of pushback from the far-right members of his coalition, because that is when we expect to see the remaining Israeli hostages come back, but also see an end to the war and the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza.

[18:34:58]

Prime Minister Netanyahu, in his address today, while stating that Israel reserves the right to go back into Gaza, also said this as far as reassuring families that he will do everything he can and it is a top priority to bring all of the hostages home.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BENJAMIN NETANYAHU, ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER (through interpreter): The cabinet and the government have approved the plan for the return of our captives. This is a war goal we will not relent on until it is completed. I know that this concern is shared by all the families in Israel. I promise you, we will meet all the goals of the war. We will bring everyone home.

(END VIDEO CLIP) GOLODRYGA: And that is exactly what the Israeli public wants to see him deliver on. Once these female civilian hostages will come back to Israel, they will be immediately transported to one of six hospitals here, where they will be admitted and treated, along with their families. They are all asking for privacy. But, of course, this will be a big relief once we start seeing these hostages finally come home, Jessica.

DEAN: Absolutely. And just excruciating in those hours leading up to that to make sure it goes all as planned. Bianna Golodryga in Tel Aviv for us. Thank you so much for that reporting.

Still ahead, American expansion. President-elect Trump wanting to expand the U.S. footprint, and his plans could include Greenland. But the territory says it's not for sale. Up next, we're going to talk with Greenland's Minister of Business and Trade, who says that doesn't mean there aren't opportunities to work together.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[18:40:51]

DEAN: One of President-elect Trump's more unusual plans leading up to his second administration has been his repeated insistence he wants to buy Greenland, last month calling it, quote, "an absolute necessity." The only problem, of course, the island territory is currently not for sale. Greenland is a semi-autonomous territory of Denmark, notably a U.S.-NATO ally.

Naaja Nathanielsen is joining us now. She's Greenland's Minister of Business, Trade, Mineral Resources, Justice and Gender Equality.

Naaja, thank you so much for being here with us. I just first want to get your reaction to Trump's ambitions and the fact he has refused to even rule out U.S. military action here.

NAAJA H. NATHANIELSEN, GREENLAND'S MINISTER OF BUSINESS, TRADE & MINERAL RESOURCES: Well, thank you for having me. Yes, of course, it was a very surprising statement from the President-elect Trump on Greenland. I think we have been doing a lot of research in Greenland trying to figure out what is this about. And when we try to cut through the rhetoric, what we are hearing is that there is a concern from the U.S. side on national security matters and we do understand that.

Greenland is a part of the Western alliance, as you mentioned. We are part of NATO. We are a close ally to the states. And we do understand the necessity for military presence in Greenland. So we think that is manageable through dialogue and partnership.

DEAN: And so to that point, you wrote an op-ed recently in The Washington Post in which you wrote in part, we do not want to be part of the United States, but we see ample opportunities to make a deal that could benefit both of our countries. What do you think a deal like that might look like? NATHANIELSEN: Well, we already have an agreement with the U.S. It was signed in 2019 under the first Trump administration and regarded mineral exploitation and research. And I think we have been trying for some time now to get - to take any interest from the U.S. in order to expand that agreement from 2019.

So I think we already have some common ground we can work on. We do have a lot of opportunities in Greenland. We have 39 of the 50 minerals deemed critical by the U.S. We can work together on data, on existing projects, on future projects. so I think there is a lot of possibilities as is.

DEAN: And the President-elect has highlighted Greenland's strategic location in the Arctic, especially as a tool to oppose Russia and China's influence in that region. I want to get your assessment of that and the threat that those two nations pose.

NATHANIELSEN: Well, we do understand that. And as it is, we already have an over 80-year-long relationship with the U.S. You have military presence in Greenland and have had that for 80 years. So I think we already committed to a long-term relationship with the U.S. And we understand the necessity of that. And we are fully willing to look into an expansion of those - that presence in the future.

We do recognize that the world is changing. We do recognize that it is important to make sure that the Western alliance is safe and secure. So, we're absolutely interested in looking into that.

DEAN: And I'm also just curious how people in Greenland are reacting to this.

NATHANIELSEN: Of course, they're worried about the rhetoric. I think there's - you need to cut through some of the rhetoric and say, well, there is a concern from the American side on national security matters. There's - there might be a wish to expand on the mineral sector part. But then there is the idea of maybe annexing Greenland or buying Greenland. And that, of course, sparks a lot of concern in the Greenlandic population.

We are a democracy, but - a small democracy, but still a democracy. We have our own government. We have our own parliament. And, of course, we do hope that our closest allies will respect that.

DEAN: All right. Naaja Nathanielsen, thank you so much for your time. We appreciate it.

NATHANIELSEN: You're welcome.

DEAN: Teacher layoffs, bigger classes, ahead how President-elect Trump's push to shut down the Education Department could end up hurting his Republican base the most.

[18:45:06]

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[18:49:43]

DEAN: Of course, President-elect Trump made a lot of promises on the campaign trail and now we're waiting to see which of those he will follow through on, and how that might take shape. One target on his side is the education department, which he has pledged to eliminate early on in his administration. And as CNN's Kyung Lah reports, it could actually hurt most the areas that voted for Trump.

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KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INVESTIGATIVE CORRESPONDENT: Well, Jessica, when Donald Trump is inaugurated on Monday, the anticipation is that there'll be a flurry of executive orders. Now, one of the priorities that he has said in his campaign is to eliminate the Department of Education.

If that means that that federal funding will disappear for some of the school districts, the voters he'd be hurting the most are some of the ones who are the most vulnerable in this country, and the ones who supported him the most.

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(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JENNIFER BLANKENSHIP, PRINCIPAL, BELL CENTRAL SCHOOL CENTER: Good morning, all you Bulldogs. It is a great day to be a Bulldog and I'm ...

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH (voice over): Bell County, Kentucky.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TOM GAMBREL, SCHOOL SUPERINTENDENT: Almost 80 percent of our students are underprivileged.

LAH (on camera): What kind of poverty are you talking about with some of these kids?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You're going to create your own ...

GAMBREL: I would be confident in saying that when they leave on Friday, they may not eat again until Monday.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH (voice over): For school superintendent Tom Gambrel, funding is more than just books.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GAMBREL: When coal mining was basically eliminated in our area, we've been losing population. When you lose students, you lose funding. The elementary and middle school principal is Jennifer Blankenship. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLANKENSHIP: Remember, boys and girls, I love you, I believe in you and I've got your back.

LAH (on camera): You are acutely aware of money.

BLANKENSHIP: Oh, acutely aware of it.

LAH: Do you have to be acutely aware?

BLANKENSHIP: You do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH (voice over): Every year of her 28 years as an educator here, Blankenship fought for every dollar for her kids.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LAH (on camera): How much of this room is funded?

BLANKENSHIP: The entire room.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH (voice over): A third of all of Bell County, Kentucky school district funding in 2021 came from federal sources. So this district is listening as incoming president Donald Trump pledges this:

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: One other thing I'll be doing very early in the administration is closing up the Department of Education in Washington, D.C. and sending all education and education work and needs back to the states.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH (voice over): What exactly that means for a state like Kentucky is unclear. Trump won this state. In Bell County, 84 percent voted for Trump, yet it deeply relies on federal funding. And that's not unusual.

A CNN analysis found the 15 states that most rely on federal funding for its public schools in 2022 all voted for Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BLANKENSHIP: And I voted for President Trump.

LAH (on camera): I mean, you're an educator.

BLANKENSHIP: Yes.

LAH: You didn't vote for Trump eliminating federal funds. BLANKENSHIP: No, I did not vote for that. I voted for President Trump to make America first again and to improve our lives.

LAH: Do you believe that he would cut funding for this county?

BLANKENSHIP: I want to say in my heart, absolutely not. I do not think that's what the voters want. If we have federal cuts, then that's going to mean bigger classroom sizes. I would lose teachers, first and foremost.

LAH: How many?

BLANKENSHIP: It's devastating for this school in particular.

GOODNIGHT: If these cuts happen, it'll be awful. It'll be awful for our kids.

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LAH (voice over): Mrs. Goodnight, as her fourth and fifth graders call her, grew up in Bell County. Her son is a third grader here.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GOODNIGHT: They're not going to be as prepared in their adult lives. Just because they're here in Appalachia doesn't mean they don't deserve it. They deserve it just as much as anybody else.

GAMBREL: My first position was a part-time custodian in the district.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH (voice over): This superintendent is still doing multiple jobs, taking on paying invoices and answering the district's phones just so he can save money on administrative help and send more money to his classrooms.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

GAMBREL: I don't think that anyone in our county wants to cut our school funding. I don't think that anyone voted for that.

LAH (on camera): Do you mind if I ask who you voted for in the election?

GAMBREL: I voted for Donald Trump and I voted against Amendment 2.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH (voice over): Amendment 2, so-called school choice, would have allowed Kentucky tax dollars to go to non-public schools. But it failed overwhelmingly in Kentucky, even though President Trump supports the policy.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) GAMBREL: The education of our students is the most important thing to me that - that's my job. I don't think that either of my votes will harm our students overall.

JESSICA WINKLER, CHILDREN ATTEND BELL COUNTY, KY SCHOOLS: Have a good day. I love you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LAH (voice over): Jessica Winkler, mom of three in the school district, says there's a simple reason why voters choose this path.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

WINKLER: The biggest thing to understand is that I feel like the people of this community prioritize conservative values, and they vote there first.

LAH (on camera): What would you say to anyone who has a vote on whether or not federal dollars come to Bell County?

WINKLER: To a lot of people, this is simply a political issue or an issue of economy. But to small-town America, it's about providing, whether impoverished or not, a group of kids to be successful at the next level.

[18:55:04]

It's way more than just a political issue. It's an issue of community.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

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LAH: We don't have an exact plan for Trump's federal school funding. All we know is what Trump and his allies have said. We know that it is a priority to try to eliminate the Department of Education and send that federal funds to the states. Whether that means it's going to happen on day one, we just have to wait, Jessica.

DEAN: All right. Kyung Lah, thank you so much for that reporting.

We're also getting new reporting about where President-elect Trump wants to go as president. We'll talk more about that. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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