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Trump Calls on Congress to Cap Credit Card Interest Rate at 10 Percent; Trump Says He Won't Use Force to Acquire Greenland; Sen. Mark Kelly Says He May Run for President. Aired 12:30-1p ET

Aired January 21, 2026 - 12:30   ET

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

[12:30:00]

DANA BASH, CNN CHIEF POLITICAL CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR OF 'INSIDE POLITICS': -- meantime, the banks have a lot to say about this.

VANESSA YURKEVICH, CNN BUSINESS & POLITICS CORRESPONDENT: They certainly do. Listen, a one-year cap on credit card interest rates at 10 percent sounds great, especially when you compare it to the average interest rate for credit cards, which is 19.62 percent, according to Bankrate. And we know that many credit cards carry interest rates of more than 30 percent. But what does it mean sort of for everyday Americans in practice?

Well, initially, it could be good in the short term. It could offer some relief, obviously lower monthly payments on interest rates, including possibly paying back that debt a lot sooner. But it could lead to issuers restricting the number of credit cards that they issue because interest rates are checks and balances for non-payment, and they're less likely to issue credit cards to folks with lower credit scores.

That would impact, Dana, Americans who actually need that line of credit the most. And they may turn to other more expensive options like personal loans or payday lending or buy now and pay later. It would also just slow down consumer spending, which is the biggest driver of the U.S. economy, and banks make a lot of money off of interest rates. So they are obviously very, very opposed to this.

We heard from Jamie Dimon, the CEO of America's largest bank, JPMorgan, who talked about the fact that there are some Senators out there, Elizabeth Warren from Massachusetts and also Bernie Sanders from Vermont, who actually support this 10 percent rate cap on credit cards. He jokingly said in Davos earlier that maybe they should do a test run in their states.

Listen to him today.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JAMIE DIMON, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER; JPMORGAN CHASE: It would be an economic disaster. I think we should test it. In my view, and I can't do this, you know, because it would be antitrust, but the government can do it. They should force all the banks to do it in two states, Vermont and Massachusetts, and see what happens. (LAUGH)

DIMON: And then I think, I think the left will learn a real -- everyone who thinks manipulating pot prices will learn a real lesson. And the people crying the most won't be the credit card companies, it'll be the restaurants, the retailers, the travel companies, the schools, the municipalities, because people will miss their water payments, their this payment and that payment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

YURKEVICH: So this looks like it may be an uphill battle, primarily because, yes, President Trump needs congressional approval and there has been legislation that has not moved through Congress on this very issue. But also, when you have the CEOs of major banking companies using words like economic disaster, catastrophe, you know Dana, that you're going to get a fight from those individuals and that banking community over this, Dana.

BASH: Yeah. And just a reality check, when the president brought this up last week or the week before, the House Speaker, who almost never says anything negative about anything with regard to the president, said, yeah, I don't think so. That's not going to happen. We'll see now.

Vanessa, thank you so much, such important context on this.

And President Trump has said as of this morning, that he will not use force to acquire Greenland. What do the people there think? Do they believe it? Nic Robertson is there and he'll be here next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:37:40]

BASH: President Trump had a lot to say about his desire to acquire Greenland this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We need it for strategic national security and international security. This enormous unsecured island is actually part of North America on the northern frontier of the Western Hemisphere. That's our territory. I don't want to use force. I won't use force. All the United States is asking for is a place called Greenland.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Nic Robertson is there in Greenland right now. So, Nic, how are the people responding to the promise that the president made that he won't try to take that country by force, but still insisting he wants it to be part of the U.S.?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah, I think they're taking it cautiously. I mean, obviously, it's something people were looking for. They wanted to hear that language. They would like to have heard a whole lot more about a complete reverse course over Greenland. The president has made it really clear he still wants to take it.

People I've talked to say, well, we're not really sure if we can actually trust the president on this. Will he stay true to that commitment? We've heard from the Danish foreign minister today saying, look, we're willing to talk to the United States about their concerns, but not about the sovereignty of Greenland. And that's been the message from here.

People are reassured by what they're hearing from the Danes, from what they're hearing from their European partners. They are concerned that under pressure from the United States, then there might be, their future could sort of somehow get into a discussion where it changes. And that's still a worry. They do worry that President Trump is really going to ramp up pressure on those European countries.

Just listening to the language that he used today, deriding and chiding European leaders and the state of Europe, that really doesn't give the people of Greenland much solace. And I think they will have noticed as well in the president's speech today, he didn't really talk in a way that he was reaching out to the people of Greenland and using a softer language and saying this is why you'd be better with the United States.

He put it in the language of why he wants it. And this is the language that has always worried them. So the fundamental issue for the people of Greenland remains that the president wants it.

[12:40:00]

And I think the sort of key indicator here today for the people of Greenland that they're not out of the woods on this and far from it. The government issued a 'what to do in the time of crisis' pamphlet. They put that out today telling people to make sure that you've got enough supplies to last you five days of water, five days of food.

You know, have your hunting rifle and ammunition handy because you may need to be out hunting. So the country is really still, in essence, the government has put it on a crisis footing despite the president saying. It's that lack of trust really at the moment.

BASH: Yeah, Nic, you mentioned the president going after European allies, Canada, NATO. Let's just play some of that.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: They have to get out of the culture that they've created over the last 10 years. It's horrible what they're doing to themselves. They're destroying themselves. They don't appreciate what we do.

Talking about NATO, I'm talking about Europe. They have to work on Ukraine. We don't. What we have gotten out of NATO is nothing except to protect Europe from the Soviet Union and now Russia. Canada lives because of the United States. Remember that, Mark, the next time you make your statements.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: And Nic, as we mentioned earlier in this program, NATO came to the defense of the United States after 9/11. And just beyond what you're hearing from officials there in Greenland, I know you're in touch with sources all over Europe. How were those remarks received?

ROBERTSON: Negatively, hugely negatively. This is, you know, Mark Carney yesterday talked about a rupture that's going on, not a transition in the world. And I think that points to it. And President Macron will feel the same. President Trump today sort of chiding him for -- yesterday, he was chiding him for wearing sunglasses. I think that President Macron has an eye infection and he doesn't want people to see the redness in his eyes.

But these very personal attacks and there were attacks on the British Prime Minister, Keir Starmer yesterday as well, verbal attacks. And this really sort of undermines any sort of political maneuverability for a prime minister or a president in any of these countries to be able to have a strong relationship with the United States, or particularly with President Trump at this time, because politically, it doesn't play well for them.

They're being berated at home, so in front of their own public. People are criticizing Keir Starmer for not standing up and being strong enough. Last year, he was looking good because he'd done well in trade relations with the United States. He says all of that.

I think one other small point to make is, you know, what the president says about NATO not delivering, what he says about the state of Europe, what he says about the threats around Greenland, people here and in Europe don't recognize what the president is saying.

In the same way, perhaps people in Washington, D.C. didn't recognize the Washington, D.C. that the president was describing last summer, that that's not what they see. There's a huge disconnect in the realities that the president puts across and the realities that the people in those places actually live in. That doesn't create political space for European leaders to have a good relationship with this White House.

BASH: Yeah, I would imagine. Nic Robertson in very icy Greenland. Thank you so much for that. Stay warm.

Coming up, from denial to deliberation, we have new reporting on Democratic Senator, Mark Kelly's presidential ambitions. Stay with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[12:48:14]

BASH: Democratic Senator, Mark Kelly is now admitting he may run for president. He talked over fried chicken in Atlanta with our colleague, Isaac-Dovere, and Isaac asked the Arizona Senator about rumors that he will run in 2028. Here's how Senator Kelly responded. (BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SEN. MARK KELLY, (D-AZ): I have not decided. It's a tough decision, right? And there's plenty of time to decide.

EDWARD-ISAAC DOVERE, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: Certainly. Are you more drawn to it now than you were?

KELLY: No. I think it needs to be the right person at the right time. I think, once we get after this election, we'll start to figure out what that is.

DOVERE: Yeah.

KELLY: And I think it also is going to depend a little bit on how we do.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: This interview is featured in Isaac Dovere's new piece on CNN.com where he writes in part, "Prison or the White House. Mark Kelly is having to consider whether either place is a realistic possibility." And Isaac is here now. I want to hear about what you talked about, but I have to say that made me hungry. How was the chicken?

(LAUGH)

DOVERE: The chicken was OK. The mashed potatoes were good. The interview was better, though.

(LAUGH)

BASH: OK, there you go. Well said. Now, look. I mean, obviously, with Senator Kelly, the whole question last cycle in 2024, whether he would be Kamala Harris' running mate, it was definitely out there and he, by all accounts, was interviewed for it. But now, he is thrust into the spotlight by Pete Hegseth.

DOVERE: Yeah, look, this is a moment. He told me that he never anticipated that any of this would have happened, even when he recorded the bit for that video of the Democratic veterans and service members who were just reiterating that members of the military do not have to follow illegal orders.

[12:50:14]

And I actually tweeted at the note that Kelly saw that Elissa Slotkin got. They were in a secure facility getting a briefing on Venezuela at the time, back in November, and they come in and give Slotkin a note that says the president just posted about your arrest.

BASH: There it is.

DOVERE: Right?

(LAUGH)

DOVERE: And Kelly told me that he looked over at it and thought -- I won't quote exactly what it says, because he cursed. And then Slotkin came in and told him, oh, he called for your execution too. And ever since then, he's been on this intense journey that not only has taken him very much into the spotlight, but now has taken him into court.

And the expectation is that as he fights this attempt to strip away his pension and his rank, that this will likely get pushed to the Supreme Court. What all that attention has also done is made a lot of people start talking to him very seriously about running for president. And for Kelly to, I will tell you without much prompting, say yes, he is thinking about it and talking about being the man -- who might be the man or the woman for the moment.

But when I was in rural Georgia with him, very far from the Washington bubble, what I kept on hearing, again, without prompting from people, people saying to me, maybe he is the man for this moment.

BASH: Oh, well, that's interesting. I mean, particularly given the fact that this all was precipitated by a tragic event that was 15 years ago this month, where his wife, Gabby Giffords, she was a politician. She was in Congress. She was somebody who was thought of to go to the Senate. He was not just an astronaut, because that's a pretty big deal, but he wasn't a politician.

LAUREN FOX, CNN CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, I mean, he actually brought this up on the Senate floor last week when he filed his lawsuit to fight the Department of Defense. And he said in that speech, like, this was never supposed to be me and I never expected to be in this position, but here I am. And he isn't someone who came into the Senate and everyone looked at him and thought, that's a guy who's running for president.

BASH: No, not at all.

FOX: He very much is somebody who has kept his head down and done the work when it comes to national security-related issues, immigration- related issues, and he's really built his brand among his colleagues. But, obviously, this is a really unpredictable time, and the Democratic primary is going to be very wide open, and there's going to be time for Democrats to decide what lane they want to be in.

And, obviously, it's all going to unfold in the years ahead. But I just think it's a really interesting moment for Mark Kelly, and I will say, like, in the last four months, things have shifted dramatically for him.

BASH: Listen to a little bit more of what the Senator told Isaac.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KELLY: I feel this, like, obligation, more so than anything I've ever done in my life, to fight back against an unhinged president and a weaponization of the federal government against the constitutional rights of, I don't know, a million -- DOVERE: Yeah.

KELLY: -- retired veterans.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: Phil?

PHIL MATTINGLY, CNN CHIEF DOMESTIC CORRESPONDENT AND ANCHOR: I think this actually -- this connects a couple pieces together, which is there's no more astute observer of the Senate, the upper chamber, than Lauren Fox, who it almost felt like when he arrived, he kind of backed into it. And then he was a swing-state Senator.

BASH: Although, it was pretty hard. He had to run three times.

MATTINGLY: No, no, but that's what I'm saying.

BASH: Yeah.

MATTINGLY: -- when he initially did. And then a swing-state Senator who had a bunch of tough re-elections coming, so that's the focus. And we all know when you're in that position, you are focused on the home state. You are not trying to make a national profile.

And it's where kind of the connective tissue of issue and moment and a party in desperate need of someone are all kind of converging at once. And I don't know where that leads, but it's very clear it's weighing heavily on him.

BASH: I want to turn to another -- I wouldn't even say potential 2028er, probable 2028er -- Gavin Newsom who is in Davos right now. And the president talked about him. He was in the audience when the president spoke this morning. I think we have a picture of that. He's certainly, Jasmine, one of the president's favorite foils.

JASMINE WRIGHT, WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, NOTUS: Yeah, I think that there's two parts to this. One is that every Democrat that the president mentions either by name or on Truth Social, their profile is automatically heightened. They're automatically becoming some more of a household name than they were. You're seeing that happen with Mark Kelly.

Obviously, Gavin Newsom has been a household name for some time, but it's still having the effect of powering these people's profiles. And then you have Gavin Newsom, who I think when you talk to a lot of Democrats outside of D.C., they say that I like the way that Gavin Newsom is taking the fight to Donald Trump, even if I don't necessarily know him personally or I don't like him personally.

[12:55:00]

And he has really seized on that. You see him in every moment possible go after Trump. You're seeing him do it on social media in a way that is meant to parody what Trump has been doing and his team has been doing it. You're seeing him doing it in any media availability. I mean, some of those photos from Davos were so funny because you see, like, the president's team, like Susie Wiles, Marco Rubio kind of in the foreground, and then you see Gavin Newsom, like, looking over their shoulders, right?

(LAUGH)

WRIGHT: So he's everywhere and kind of the perfect foil in a way for Democrats for this moment, but obviously, this moment is very far from 2028.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: I mean, for this moment, that's the key.

WRIGHT: Yeah.

ZELENY: I mean, there's no doubt that the winner of 2026 often is not the winner of the primary the next year, but all these people will be out there. The big question, though, how much do voters want to hear about Donald Trump, or --

BASH: Yeah.

ZELENY: -- are they willing to turn the page here? So it's just too early to know, but a great story, and we'll see if he wins that -- or if the Democrat wins that special election in Georgia.

BASH: Thanks, everybody. Appreciate it. Thank you for joining "Inside Politics." "CNN News Central" starts after a break.

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END