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ISIS-Inspired New Year's Eve Attack Plot Near Charlotte Foiled; Venezuela Has Detained at Least 5 U.S. Citizens Recently; Lifestyle Physician Helps You Reset Your Digital Well-Being. Aired 3:30-4p ET

Aired January 02, 2026 - 15:30   ET

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

[15:30:00]

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN HOST: Right now we're learning some new details about what the FBI is calling a foiled ISIS-inspired attack on New Year's Eve near Charlotte, North Carolina. An 18-year-old man is now in custody after authorities say he was communicating online with undercover agents about the deadly plot. CNN's Dianne Gallagher is in Charlotte with more on the investigation.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

DIANNE GALLAGHER, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Federal agents say they stopped a teenager who was planning to use knives and hammers in a deadly attack on New Year's Eve in support of ISIS. The 18-year-old who's from Mint Hill, North Carolina, that's just outside of Charlotte, made his first appearance in federal court Friday morning. Christian Sturdivant is charged with attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

Now the FBI says he planned to use knives and hammers which they found under his bed along with a manifesto in a search this week of his home according to their complaint. And he wanted to use them to injure and kill shoppers at a Mint Hill grocery store and the nearby Burger King where he works. So it is important to point out that though this was planned to take place on New Year's Eve, it was not targeting a New Year's Eve celebration.

Still, the U.S. attorney told me that based on notes it's believed that Sturdivant wanted to target Christians, Jews, and the LGBTQ community. Now in December, federal agents were made aware of some TikToks using ISIS ideology from a screen name that they later linked to Sturdivant. They said that throughout the course of the month he communicated with not one but two covert online officers who he thought were members of ISIS but were actually with the NYPD and the FBI.

He allegedly told the NYPD undercover that he would do quote, jihad soon and he began talking about the plan specifically including sending photos of the weapons to the FBI undercover agent.

[15:35:00]

Now in a December 29th search of his home a warrant indicates that they found handwritten papers one of them labeled New Year's 2026 attack that described a plan to stab around 20 to 21 people before being shot by law enforcement.

And according to the complaint this isn't the first time that Sturdivant has had interactions with the FBI. Back in 2022 when he was just 14 years old there was an investigation after it seemed that he was talking with somebody who was purportedly an unidentified member of ISIS in Europe telling him to dress in all black, knock on doors, and then stab people. He allegedly tried to follow through with that but was stopped by his grandfather.

The special agent in charge on Friday said that investigation in 2022 was closed after the family got him mental health assistance and off of social media.

Dianne Gallagher, CNN, back to you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

KEILAR: And we are joined now to talk more about these developments by Juliette Kayyem. She's a former assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security. She's our CNN senior national security analyst.

What's your initial reaction here, Juliette, to what we're learning about this particular suspect?

JULIETTE KAYYEM, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY ANALYST: So the allegations appear to be very solid in terms of his intent of causing harm, his material, his acquisition or his ownership of things that would do harm and then writing down basically what his plan was. Which is he wanted to be, you know, killed by cops in a sort of martyrdom event that would have -- it looks like he was looking at markets where there would be a lot of people at them.

So in terms of the the allegations, at least what we see so far, you have a teenager who has essentially been interested in ISIS since he was 14, has mental health issues, was able to access ISIS online, but no proof, at least not in the allegations of a direct link between ISIS and him. It's that they were clear, the government was clear, this was ISIS inspired.

He was online doing what many people who are ISIS inspired do, which is essentially trying to do planning, learning about planning and learning and becoming radicalized.

KEILAR: He allegedly told covert agents he wanted to get a gun, but they don't believe he was able to do that. What do you make of that?

KAYYEM: So there might have been a number of reasons. One might have been costs. The other might have been his previous -- we don't know it yet -- his previous mental health record. It appears that he lives with some family members, so he's not independent.

So there might have been a lot of reasons for that. What I think is interesting in the indictment is it shows how the FBI and the U.S. Attorney's offices are dealing with this particular ISIS threat. So ISIS is still a threat. They have targeted a number of European and U.S. interests in terms of

New Year's Eve. This particular case is not the kind of big event that we mostly worry about, you know, multiple attacks, multiple people involved in attacks like what we saw in Paris many years ago.

Nonetheless, this is how they're recruiting now, which is people who may have mental issues, but also are very interested in ISIS, are looking for a cause or a meaning for their interest, and are attacking people based on their religion, in this case, Judaism or Christianity, or their class, and in this case, the LBGTQ community. So this continues to be a threat. And how we're figuring out about it is these contacts that are being made online are then intercepted by law enforcement.

And what was interesting in this for someone like me is it wasn't just the FBI, it was the New York Police Department, which has a very, very comprehensive counterterrorism division.

KEILAR: Yes. Can you talk a little bit about that, that kind of cooperation between the local and between the feds and how essential that is?

KAYYEM: So they would be working together through the Joint Terrorism Task Force. I am assuming that both parties, the FBI and the New York Police Department, both knew of their outreach, or at least being contacted by the teenager, by the defendant. And then that is sort of fed into an information platform that's the Joint Terrorism Task Force.

Because he was in North Carolina, that then would have moved to the U.S. Attorney's Office, the Joint Terrorism Task Force in North Carolina that then would have executed the warrant and done the arrest. That's basically how the network should work.

[15:40:00]

And it looks like and no -- I just have to say no police department compares to the New York Police Department in terms of its counterterrorism efforts. They are very much aligned with what the federal government is doing. And that's exactly what happened here.

KEILAR: Yes, for good reason. Juliet Kayyem, thank you so much. Really appreciate your insights.

And ahead as the tension with the U.S. rises, Venezuelan security forces have detained several Americans. Why the Trump administration believes the Maduro regime is trying to build leverage?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: Right now, U.S. officials are gathering information as a source tells CNN Venezuelan security forces have detained at least five Americans. The details about those captured in recent months have not been released. Trump administration officials believe Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro may be trying to build leverage as the U.S. steps up its pressure campaign. [15:45:03]

With us now, former NATO Supreme Allied Commander and CNN Senior Military Analyst Admiral James Stavridis. He's also a partner at the Carlyle Group, an international investment firm, and he served as commander of U.S. Southern Command as well.

Admiral, I wonder what you think about this. They appear to have been detaining Americans, and it sounds like the circumstances vary. Some possibly involved in some kind of drug related interactions here, but nonetheless, detaining them as Maduro is signaling a willingness to negotiate, what kind of leverage does that give him?

ADM. JAMES STAVRIDIS (RET.), CNN SENIOR MILITARY ANALYST: It gives him a fair amount of leverage, but certainly not something I believe the Trump administration is going to run away from. Let's face it, this kind of activity we see over and over again, notably in Russia. Think of the Griner case, where a WNBA basketball star is held on trumped up charges.

We see it in Iran, where typically Iranian Americans get rounded up. It's a well-known playbook in the authoritarian state. So I think Nicolas Maduro is making a mistake here.

My own read of the Trump administration is they're not going to back down because he holds a handful of Americans. Final thought here, Brianna, the logical question would be, well, what are we going to do about it? And the answer is, all of our military contingency plans have annexes to both operation plan, contingency plan, to do everything we can to safeguard, extract Americans if necessary.

Again, we've seen this playbook run before. I think we'll be well prepared to respond to it.

KEILAR: As he's signaling a willingness to negotiate, he's offering to do more to combat drug trafficking and access to Venezuelan oil. How are you reading this overture from him?

STAVRIDIS: I would say it indicates that the pressure campaign the Trump administration began, I think in earnest, about six months ago, but increasing with the strikes on the drug boats, then moving to the confiscation of illegal oil being shipped out of Venezuela. Now the most recent reports of strikes on the shore of Venezuela. I think, in essence, we've gotten his attention, and now he's looking for an exit.

And his idea of an exit would be, on the one hand, to conduct the kind of negotiations you correctly point out, particularly about commercial opportunity, about a willingness to concede some level of democratic oversight in the country. But on the other hand, as we started the conversation, he's grabbing up American citizens, thinking he can have some bargaining chips to play.

KEILAR: He's not saying, oh yes, I'm going to step aside, right? There's a lot of discussion about the Trump administration here actually desiring regime change, and that this certainly isn't just about drug trafficking. What about the possibilities of the U.S., you know, having some kind of interaction, and it becoming perhaps more clear if that is the goal?

How is that going to play out if the goal really is regime change, and could there be unintended consequences of that?

STAVRIDIS: There can always be unintended consequences anytime there's a regime change. And we know that from bitter experience over the last 20 years in the forever wars, regime changed in Libya when Qaddafi was overthrown, regime changed in Iraq when Saddam Hussein was overthrown, regime changed in Syria when Bashar al-Assad was overthrown. Sometimes the consequences come out better.

Syria may come out well. Sometimes the nations descend into real chaos the way Libya has. The point is, as you are engaging in regime change as a government, you need to understand the outcome can be very unpredictable.

Here in Venezuela, my own read -- you'll get differing opinions on this -- but my own read, having been a commander of Southern Command and lived, studied, traveled through the regime for decades, I think the Venezuelan people are not going to descend into chaos. I think there's a lawfully elected government, led by a man named Edmundo Gonzalez, the Nobel Peace Laureate Maria Machado, has a following.

[15:50:00]

I think there are the bones of a democratic regime coming in behind Nicolas Maduro. So the real point here is, can Team Trump put enough pressure on Maduro, offer him an exit, maybe to Cuba, maybe to Russia? And final thing to consider, Brianna, it may well be not Maduro making the decision to go, but those around him, the generals in particular, who say, hey Nicolas, "Vaya con Dios," time for you to go.

KEILAR: Yes, we'll see what the Venezuelan military obviously is going to have a vote here, so we'll see. Admiral Stavridis, thanks for being with us.

STAVRIDIS: Always, thanks Brianna.

KEILAR: Now to some of the other headlines that we're watching this hour, another atmospheric river set to hit waterlogged California, widespread flooding in the San Diego area, submerging cars and swamping portions of two interstates. It also shut down a stretch of the Pacific Coast Highway in Orange County, just north of San Diego. Flooded roads could become a familiar sight here in the coming days, as more wet weather is expected into early next week.

Also, Malaysian transportation officials tell CNN three underwater drones are being deployed in a renewed search for missing flight MH370. A Texas-based firm began the search on Wednesday. It's the latest attempt to solve a more-than-decade-old mystery of that flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing that vanished with 239 people on board.

And to head tips on how to successfully unplug from your devices if a digital detox is part of your New Year's resolutions, stay with us.

[15:55:00] (COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KEILAR: You've heard about dry January, but what about a digital detox? If your devices seem to take up too much of your time and energy, you're not alone.

Enter lifestyle physician Dr. Aileen Alexander. All right, doctor, I know, I guess maybe, let's see, I have 39,482 unopened e-mails, which might mean that maybe I don't spend enough time digitally, or maybe it means that I'm just overwhelmed. What are the telltale signs that your digital space has become too cluttered?

DR. AILEEN ALEXANDER, GENERAL PRACTITIONER AND LIFESTYLE PHYSICIAN: I think it has to be how you feel, isn't it? It's how you feel about those unopened e-mails. It's how you feel about those notifications.

It's what happens inside your body and how it makes you respond. And I think one of the big things I want to say about this too is like, it's not our fault that we're struggling with these things, because social media has been created to be addictive. These platforms make money off us being online.

And so they have psychologists that curate them in such a way that we keep scrolling, we keep moving through them, we keep going on the e- mails, we don't delete the e-mails, we don't work through them, because it's so overwhelming.

KEILAR: Yes, it really is. And is there such a thing as -- is there such a thing as like winding down from some of this stuff? Or do you kind of have to go cold turkey?

I mean, how should people address this?

ALEXANDER: That's such a good question. And I think going cold turkey is really, really hard because we get a dopamine hit, we get happy hormones from being on these platforms. It feels good at the moment.

But it's often after we've been on social media or after we've been using our phones, because we're not connecting with people, we're not connecting in an authentic way. And often we end up feeling bad about ourselves, because we have all these unread e-mails, because we think we should be able to get to the bottom of the pile. And I think the other part as well is, after we've been on some of the social media platforms, like doomscrolling, comparing ourselves to others, and other people's maybe Instagram perfect lives, then we feel that we're stuck.

And so instead of going cold turkey, I would really encourage somebody to think about the why, like, what is it that they want to achieve? Is it that they want to be on their phone list? Is it that they want to get to the bottom of the e-mail pile?

Thinking about why that's really important to them? Like, is it about a focus thing? Is it that their phone's distracting them?

Is it that their phone's making them feel anxious or overwhelmed? Or maybe they simply want to be more present with their kids or be a role model in the home. And once you have your why, then thinking about how do you feel when you're on your phone versus when you're not on your phone, and then making a little bit of a plan as to how are we going to address that?

So if it is those hundreds, thousands of unread e-mails, is it a case of going in and deleting them one by one? Or do you just go click delete all? I think everybody's different.

And we need to have an individual approach to each.

KEILAR: I'll just tell my boss, Dr. Alexander said delete them all. And so that's what I did. I've heard some people do different things.

They've set their phones to black and white. They find that less in -- that sort of pulls them less. I've heard people say, say the thing you're going to do when you're going to pull up Instagram, you know, if it's, I'm going to check out my ex's Instagram page, you might sound so dumb saying it that you're going to not do it. Are there any other things that you can think of that people might be able to use?

ALEXANDER: Yes, yes, there's loads of tips. And like, being honest with you, we could open up ChatGPT right now where we could look at the tips. But I think we need to anchor it back into the why is it so important for us?

Like, what are we missing out on in life by being connected to our phones? What would or could we do with that time instead? And once you've got that set in stone, then thinking about the tangible tips of how do we go about changing things?

[16:00:02]

So one of the important things I always say to patients is, where do you charge your phone? Is it charged beside your bedside? Or is it charged in the kitchen? Because you're far less likely to use your phone first thing in the morning, if it's not there.

That is the other piece as well is thinking. Yes, thinking about notifications, should we turn notifications off on the phone, so you need to actively go and log in rather than it buzzing. And thinking as well about celebrating the small wins.

So if you've charged your phone in another room, if you've taken the notifications off, or maybe even put your phone in a drawer, then celebrating the fact that you've done that. And then reflecting rather than thinking about, oh, I didn't do that right, or I didn't do that right. So positively reinforcing the good behaviors.

KEILAR: Yes, so good. Dr. Alexander, thank you so much.

And "THE ARENA" with Kasie Hunt starts right now.

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