Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

Trump Says U.S. in Charge of Venezuela After Maduro's Capture; Maduro to Make First Court Appearance in New York After Capture; Trump Issues Veiled Threats, Implies Other Countries Could be Next. Aired 7- 7:30a ET

Aired January 05, 2026 - 07:00   ET

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

[07:00:00]

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: The breaking news, deposed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro will be leaving a New York City jail any minute and will then be before a judge for a first appearance in federal court in just hours. We're tracking all of the movement this morning.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: What's next? The better question this morning might actually be where's next, after President Trump issued a veiled threat overnight to other countries, spurring anxieties about Colombia, Greenland, and Cuba.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: Then there is the oil. The oil, the president very publicly wants. New reporting on how he intends to get it and what it might mean for oil prices.

We have a packed morning. I'm John Berman with Sara Sidner and Kate Bolduan. This is CNN News Central.

BOLDUAN: Let's get to that breaking news this morning. We're standing by to see the now ousted and deposed leader of Venezuela in New York City. Nicolas Maduro is set to soon depart the jail that he's been held at since Saturday for his first court appearance on U.S. soil today. And there are also now in new images of Maduro and his wife in custody at New York's DEA headquarters. You're seeing some of these images right here.

Maduro is now facing drug, weapons and narco conspiracy charges. The couple was captured in dramatic and violent U.S. military operation in Venezuela early Saturday morning. Beyond the global reaction to this military intervention, there are now huge questions, why did President Trump launch this operation and why now? Also is the operation that he ordered legal and who exactly is now running the country?

Delcy Rodriguez, Maduro's number two, is now Venezuela's acting president, though President Trump, who returned to Washington last night, is already threatening her with a fate that's, quote, probably worse than Maduro's if she doesn't cooperate, just as Trump also told reporters this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: We're dealing with the people. We're dealing with the people that just got sworn in. And don't ask me who's in charge because I'll give you an answer and it'll be very controversial.

REPORTER: What does that mean?

TRUMP: We are in charge.

We're going to run everything. We're going to run it, fix it. We'll have elections at the right time. But the main thing you have to face is a broken country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: All right. We're going to show you live pictures right now outside the detention facility where he, Maduro, has been held. He's expected to depart there any minute now. We're keeping a very close eye, understandably so, on every aspect of this. And we're going to be tracking his movements as he leaves this detention facility, this New York City jail, and heads to a federal courtroom to face a judge for the very first time.

CNN's Omar Jimenez is outside the federal courthouse in New York, where this is all going to happen this morning. Omar, set the stage for what is about to happen today.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: About how fast things change, Kate. I mean, if you think about it a little bit more than 48 hours ago, Nicholas Maduro was leading the Venezuelan government from Venezuela, and now here he is in New York City. And we are here at this federal courthouse awaiting him, arriving here for this first hearing as part of this indictment. That is part of the reason the United States government has used to justify the capture and abduction of Venezuela's leader here.

You know, we were tracking Maduro's movements when he first arrived to New York City over the weekend, and he typically was moving by motorcade, a combination of helicopter and motorcade throughout the city. So, we'll watch to see what that mode of transportation looks like today as we await some of those movements from the Metro Detention Center in Brooklyn.

But just to give you an idea of what he's facing in court. This indictment is a 25-page indictment signed by U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton, four counts here. You mentioned the nature of some of the charges here, narco-terrorism, conspiracy, cocaine importation, conspiracy, weapons charges as well. So, we're going to be watching to see what exactly the nature of this hearing is.

But I want to read just a tiny bit of the indictment itself, because I think it, it gets to sort of the core of what the United States government is arguing against Maduro. This is an indictment that primarily covers based on what's written a span of 1999 to 2025.

[07:05:00] And they allege he sat atop an illegitimate government that for decades has leveraged government power to protect and promote illegal activity, including drug trafficking. That drug trafficking has enriched and entrenched Venezuela's political and military elite.

And that sort of seems to be the through line through much of the indictment here, and likely what will be the basis for what the U.S. government argues in court at the very least, and this stunning soon to be expected prosecution of a now former Venezuelan leader.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely. Let's show these live pictures we're shooting you. You can't see them, Omar, because you're standing outside the courthouse where all this is -- they're headed -- will be some point headed your way, but we're now tracking something of a little motorcade leaving this detention facility. Obviously guidance on exactly who is where and what is coming in and in a developing situation. But we're going to be tracking this because it does look as if they are making their way, leaving that detention facility in Brooklyn and headed right to Omar's location. Omar?

JIMENEZ: Yes. And, actually, I can actually see a feed of, I believe, the motorcade you're talking about as well. This is actually a similar motorcade to what was used to transfer Maduro when he first arrived to New York City, being transported by helicopter from Fort Stewart north of the city here. It was a similar sort of lineup of that armored vehicle you can see there in the middle of your screen with that white van sort of in front of it as well.

So, it's a combination based on what we saw on the ground of DEA personnel, of other federal law enforcement. And this transportation through this armored vehicle is something to watch as well as we await their expected arrival a little bit later today here at this federal courthouse gate.

BOLDUAN: Absolutely, Omar, and as you said very well, oh, how quickly things change as we continue to track this motorcade now through New York City. We really appreciate, Omar. Sara?

SIDNER: All right. We will continue to watch that for you and give you all the details as soon as we see who emerges from that armored vehicle there.

In his remarks overnight, President Trump also issued a new warning for Venezuela's new leader, Delcy Rodriguez, saying she needs to comply with the U.S. Well, he didn't stop there.

CNN's Alayna Treene is at the White House. Alayna, what more did the president say, because he talked about several countries giving them warnings now?

ALAYNA TREENE, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: He did, and I want to start with some of what we heard from him regarding the situation in Venezuela, because, of course, a lot of reporters, all of us here at CNN as well, are trying to parse what he means when he says that we will run the country. And he doubled down, Sara, on that assertion again when speaking to reporters on Air Force One, that's despite Secretary of State Marco Rubio, of course, from the top diplomats, who's been really leading a lot of this Venezuelan operation. He kind of backed away from some of that yesterday, Rubio, instead saying that the US is looking to coerce Venezuelan's current leadership to cooperate.

But the president continued to say that we are in charge and he was also asked specifically about what he's looking from Venezuela's now Interim President Delcy Rodriguez. She was, of course, Maduro's vice president. He essentially said he wants total access. He said, we need access to oil and other things in the country. And he said, if she does not cooperate, she will pay a big price, he said, probably worse than Maduro, because Maduro gave up immediately.

But, Sara, to your point about other countries now kind of coming in to this conversation, look, a lot of global leaders responded to the capture of Maduro and the strikes in Caracas with a mix of condemnation and support. And even those who did support, you know, the capture of Maduro, many other countries, US allies agree that Maduro was an illegitimate leader. Some are worried about the precedent this could set, and a lot of questions are also now turning to what is the U.S. going to do about Greenland, partly because the president has been bringing Greenland up in some of his conversations as it relates to what happened with Venezuela and Maduro.

I want you to take a listen to what he told reporters about this overnight.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I will say this about Greenland. We need Greenland from a national security situation. It's so strategic. Right now, Greenland is covered with Russian and Chinese ships all over the place. We need Greenland from the standpoint of national security and Denmark is not going to be able to do it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TREENE: So, look, that is something that is not welcome news to, of course, Denmark. Greenland is a Danish territory. And the president has long been saying that he wants Greenland to become a U.S. territory, not a Danish territory, he argues, for national security reasons to counter the aggression from Russia and China in the region.

He also added, though, in those comments there. He said the E.U. needs us to have Greenland, but he also said, we will worry about Greenland in two months. Let's talk about Greenland in maybe 20 days. So, that bringing some new pressure onto this conversation.

And it does come as well after the president had recently appointed Republican Governor of Louisiana Jeff Landry to serve as his special envoy to Greenland.

[07:10:06]

Sara?

SIDNER: All right. Alayna Treene, thank you so much.

I just want to go back quickly to these pictures that we're seeing right now. We are seeing a motorcade there in New York. You are seeing, you know, the police in front. There was a typical New York traffic situation where they had to move a truck along, but you're also seeing most importantly this armored vehicle there.

We are waiting to find out if that is indeed former president of Venezuela heading to the helipad where he'll be taken into Manhattan, from Brooklyn, from that detention center, and will have his first appearance in court. We will wait to see if that is indeed who is in that armored vehicle in that long motorcade there.

All right, John?

BERMAN: All right. The first criminal trial over the failed response to the Uvalde school shooting begins just hours from now. We have new exclusive reporting on what the officer on trial was told minutes before the gunman entered the building.

And police come to the rescue of a boy after he fell through the ice and it's all caught on camera.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:15:00]

BERMAN: All right. You are looking at live pictures of an armored vehicle that is in a helipad -- at a helipad in Brooklyn. We believe the deposed Venezuelan leader, Nicolas Maduro, is in that armored vehicle and that he will exit soon on his way to the federal courthouse in downtown Manhattan, where he will face federal drug and weapons charges. Again, we believe Maduro is in there, will be getting out very shortly. We will keep our eye on that over the next few minutes, even as we bring in CNN Senior Legal Analyst, former Federal Prosecutor in the Southern District of New York at the courthouse where Maduro will be very shortly, Elie Honig. Elie, good to see you this morning.

There, I believe, is the deposed Venezuela leader, Nicolas Maduro. Let's just take a moment to watch him on the move out of the armored vehicle now in that tan jumpsuit, being moved from the armored vehicle now into an SUV. Okay, so a movement of vehicles. There we will see where he goes next.

But, ultimately, Elie, he is headed to the courthouse for his first court appearance. Just give a sense of what happens this morning inside the court and what we will learn.

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Well, John, some of what's going to happen today is formalistic and by the book, but we will learn some important new details today. So, the formalistic part, Maduro and his wife will be advised of the charges against them. They will surely enter pleas of not guilty at this point. The judge will theoretically consider bail, but neither of them will get bail. What we will learn will come when we get to the scheduling part of this. The judge will say essentially, I'm going to give you however long for motions. Sometimes judges give a few weeks, sometimes judges give a few months, so we'll get a sense of what the pacing looks like. The judge may also ask the defense team what type of motions do you intend to file. That could give us some insight into what the defense could be here.

The other major thing that we'll learn today is whether Maduro has actually gone out and hired himself private defense counsel. Now, sometimes that can take a few days. If that's the case, then he may have a temporary defense lawyer appointed, but we will get a sense today of who will be on Maduro's defense team eventually.

BERMAN: Yes, we're going to figure out who's speaking for him today. We simply do not know that yet. And, again, as we were talking, Elie, we believe Nicolas Maduro's wife got into that SUV, so they're both now in that SUV ultimately headed to the courthouse.

When Maduro does have lawyers, whether it be today or for the long- term, what is it likely that they will argue here?

HONIG: So, John, they are going to raise some fairly unique issues of international law and of constitutional law in an attempt to get the indictments dismissed against them. They're going to argue that the arrests violated international law, that the U.S. violated the sovereignty of a foreign nation. They're going to argue that Maduro and his wife had some sort of immunity for their actions because they were acting as the head of state and in their political capacities.

Those arguments have not come up much in U.S. courts. The closest precedent was in the prosecution of Manuel Noriega, which started in late 1989, carried into 1992, where similar arguments were made and rejected.

Now, we don't have a lot of precedent on this. The Supreme Court has said, and other courts have said in various cases, that even if somebody is arrested improperly in a foreign country, that does not mean that the indictments get dismissed against them. So, we'll see. We'll learn a lot from these cases.

And, John, if I could just add a little sort of geographic background to what we're seeing here, so the MDC, the federal prison where Maduro is held, is right on the western bank of Brooklyn. It's a little bit south of the southern tip of Manhattan. The courthouse where he's being taken to is in the southern tip of Manhattan. It's maybe two miles away as the crow flies. Ordinarily, the way they would transport a prisoner from the MDC over to the federal courthouse in Manhattan is you would drive that person over the Brooklyn Bridge.

Now, that may be impractical given the circumstances here, and that may be why we're about to see, as you see the helicopter here, that may be why they're going with the helicopter route so they don't have to deal with the Brooklyn Bridge at 7:20 A.M. on a Monday morning in New York City. BERMAN: Well, look, traffic always a problem, always a problem in New York, but right now he's from an armored vehicle to an SUV. We do see a helicopter there. We'll keep our eyes on it, Elie, throughout the morning.

Just talk to us more about this federal case against Maduro and how it compares -- you brought up the former leader of Panama, Manuel Noriega, who the legal justification for the seizure of Maduro was largely based or justified on.

[07:20:02]

How does the case compare to that? How does it compare to the case against the former Honduran president whom President Trump just pardoned?

HONIG: Right, so there are a lot of similarities there. If you look at the indictment of Maduro, other than the fact that he happens to be the sitting president of -- or was the sitting president of Venezuela, it looks similar to many other large-scale international narcotics trafficking indictments that you would see out of the Southern District of New York. The allegations here are that Maduro, in his capacity as a powerful corrupt politician of Venezuela, used his power to partner with other major drug trafficking cartels, including the FARC, including groups out of Mexico, including the Zetas, to transport dozens and hundreds of tons of cocaine into the United States.

So, the charges here include narco-terrorism, mass importation of cocaine, and there are weapons charges relating to machine guns relating to bombs and incendiary devices. So, what makes this, of course, extraordinary is the fact that your defendant was arrested from a foreign nation while he was theoretically the head of that nation.

So, we will see some unique type defenses here. We will see some invocations of international law that you would not see in a normal case. But this indictment really stripped down to its core is not all that different from other indictments that you do see from time to time out of the Southern District of New York charging major narco- trafficking operations into the United States.

BERMAN: So, we'll continue to watch these pictures here. This is in Brooklyn. That is, we believe, the wife of Nicolas Maduro getting out of the SUV on this side, Maduro himself getting out the other side or in the other side. And we expect them very shortly to walk to that helicopter for the very short jump to the lower tip of Manhattan, where they will arrive at the Manhattan Federal Court for their first court appearance there.

You now clearly see Maduro getting out from the other side of the vehicle, both of them now in these tan jumpsuits. Clearly, their legs and arms appear to be bound in some capacity, walking gingerly now to -- and maybe not the legs. I can't tell. Maduro does have a bit of a hindered gait there. They're walking out through that gate toward the helicopter where they will fly to Manhattan. This is their first step now, Elie, of this legal process. And what does history tell us about how long this process will now take?

HONIG: So, federal prosecutions do take some time, John. I would say on average, a normal case like this involving major drug trafficking in the Southern District of New York could take anywhere from a year to two years to reach trial. Now, this one has some additional complicated issues that will need to be litigated it out.

So, I think we're likely to see a trial most like potentially very late in 2026, but more likely some point in 2027. But that's something to watch for today. This judge who both of the Maduros will appear in front of today, Alvin K. Hellerstein has been on the bench for 28 years in the Southern District of New York. He was put on the bench in 1998 by Bill Clinton. He has presided over countless trials. I have tried three cases in front of him to a jury verdict. He tends to move things fairly quickly.

He's not necessarily seen as a pro-prosecution or pro-defense judge. He's seen as fairly down the middle. But we'll see. We'll get a real sense today. Is he seeking to expedite the pace here? Is he going to give the parties just a matter of weeks to file their motions, or is he going to set a more long-term pace? Is he going to -- sometimes judges will say, okay, parties, I need your briefs on your motions within the next two weeks, within the next month. Sometimes judges will say, okay, your motions are due in three weeks -- in three months, defense, and your prosecution replies due three months after that. So, we'll get a real sense today of what the pacing is going to look like in getting this case to trial.

BERMAN: And as we wait for the helicopter to take off, Elie, just very quickly, this judge, Hellerstein, he's 92 years old. Is it unusual for a judge of that age to begin a case like this?

HONIG: It is. So, this judge is technically of what we call senior status, meaning that he has a reduced caseload. Sometimes when you get a huge case like this assigned to a senior judge, they will make the decision either to keep it or to reassign it to an active judge, to a full judge, frankly a younger judge. Judge Hellerstein has to make that decision. We will get a sense today. He may say from the bench, look, I intend to reassign this case, or he may make quite clear that he intends to keep it. He is 92 years old. He is still going fairly strong.

I had a small case, not a criminal case, in front of him in 2019, so six or seven years ago. He's still sharp. He still can handle his courtroom. So, that's another thing to watch for today. Is Judge Hellerstein, 92 years old, going to keep this case or is he going to give us some indication that he intends to reassign it?

BERMAN: All right. CNN Senior Legal Analyst Elie Honig, you're going to stay with us throughout the morning as we continue to monitor this ongoing situation.

[07:25:04] Again, that helicopter there has Nicolas Maduro and his wife. They're taking off very shortly for the lower tip of Manhattan to the New York -- the federal courthouse there. We'll continue to keep our eye on these movements. Kate?

BOLDUAN: It is a remarkable thing to be watching this movement, right?

BERMAN: Yes. I mean, to get from an armored vehicle to the SUV to the helicopter, all to go across the street basically --

BOLDUAN: Absolutely.

BERMAN: -- to the federal courthouse.

BOLDUAN: And as Omar said at the top of the show, just, you know, 48 hours ago, he was the leader of a country of more than 30 million people, like it's just a remarkable turn of events that were watching play out this morning.

Still ahead for us, what does President Trump's Venezuelan operation mean for the world's largest oil reserves? President Trump says the United States will take control of Venezuela's oil. A closer look then at it, and what the U.S. government now wants to do with it.

And right now, Northern California just cannot catch a break, another day of dangerous flood threats for portions of the state after a weekend's worth of record breaking weather.

We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[07:30:00]