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U.S. Targets New Sanctions on Six Shipping Companies and Nephews of the Current Venezuelan Leader; Time Person of the Year Went to A.I. Architects. Aired 3-3:45a ET

Aired December 12, 2025 - 03:00   ET

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

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KIM BRUNHUBER, CNN ANCHOR: Welcome to all of you watching us around the world. I'm Kim Brunhuber. This is "CNN Newsroom."

New sanctions on Venezuela. The U.S. is taking aim at family members of President Nicolas Maduro and six shipping companies.

The Trump administration says it is unsure whether to send a representative to a Ukraine peace meeting in Paris while Ukraine is working with Europe on a revised plan.

And Thailand's caretaker Prime Minister will speak with President Trump soon as tensions with Cambodia are escalating.

UNKNOWN (voice-over): Live from Atlanta, this is "CNN Newsroom" with Kim Brunhuber.

BRUNHUBER: The U.S. is intensifying its pressure campaign on Venezuela.

The U.S. announced new sanctions Thursday that target three of President Nicolas Maduro's nephews. Two of them have already been convicted on drug charges in the U.S. but were later released in a prisoner swap. The sanctions also target six shipping companies that allegedly move Venezuelan oil.

Now, that's happening as the U.S. ramps up military action against suspected drug boats. Lawmakers are pressing the White House to release the video of a controversial double-tap strike on September 2nd. It killed the survivors of this strike earlier that day, raising questions about whether the move was legal.

But the top White House Republican who attended a classified military briefing on Thursday said this.

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REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), U.S. HOUSE SPEAKER: What the video shows is that these individuals were there, they were able-bodied, they were not injured, and they were attempting to recover the contents of the boat, which was full of narcotics. We have exquisite intelligence about all of this.

There was another vessel in close proximity that was headed their direction. They seemed to be waving their arms at some point to indicate that that vessel that was off outside of the video that we have was headed that way, and so that they could continue their mission.

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BRUNHUBER: The U.S. raised the stakes Wednesday when it seized an oil tanker near Venezuela's coast. As CNN's Kristen Holmes reports, President Donald Trump doesn't have a clear answer about what's behind the escalation.

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KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SR. WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: A day after the United States seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, President Trump said that the pressure campaign against the leader of that country, Nicolas Maduro, was about a lot of things. Take a listen.

DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: Well, it's about a lot of things, but one of the things it's about is the fact that they've allowed millions of people to come into our country from their prisons, from gangs, from drug dealers, and from mental institutions, probably proportionately more than anybody else. They've treated us badly, and I guess now we're not treating them so good.

HOLMES: Now, earlier in the day on Thursday, during a press briefing, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that this tanker was now in U.S. possession, was going to be brought to a U.S. port, and that the United States would eventually seize control of that Venezuelan crude oil that was aboard that tanker.

Now, one of the things to note here is that that seizure ended up being really a clear escalation in President Trump's efforts to oust Maduro. He had moved on from just those boat strikes to now seizing this. We also saw the Secretary of Treasury announcing a number of new sanctions against Maduro's family members and oil companies earlier today.

Now, all this comes as President Trump has continued to threaten to strike inside land in Venezuela, but I will tell you that I have spoken to a number of White House officials who say that there is really no appetite for that, so perhaps this is what they are doing or what they are looking at doing instead.

Kristen Holmes, CNN, the White House.

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BRUNHUBER: Venezuela went to the International Maritime Organization on Thursday, filing a complaint about the tanker's seizure. Stefano Pozzebon has further reaction from the Venezuelan government and the country's new Nobel laureate. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: The Venezuelan government has been rattled by the growing escalations in the Southern Caribbean, especially after the United States conceded the seized control of a tanker off the coast of Venezuela early on Wednesday. It was carrying sanctioned oil allegedly towards Cuba and then onwards to Asia.

CNN understands that the tanker is now en route to the U.S., where the oil will be seized following a legal process. But Caracas is protesting vociferously. The government of authoritarian President Nicolas Maduro has issued a statement late on Wednesday talking of a blatant theft and saying that this constitutes an act of piracy.

The seizure of the oil tanker marks a new tactic employed by the White House in their strategy to put pressure on Nicolas Maduro.

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One of the first ones to applaud this new tactic was Maria Corina Machado, the opposition leader who arrived in Oslo late on Wednesday to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Here is what she said.

MARIA CORINA MACHADO, VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION LEADER: So we ask the international community to cut those sources because the other regimes that support Maduro and the criminal structure are very active and have turned Venezuela into a safe haven for their operations.

POZZEBON: The Venezuelan government is heavily dependent on oil exports for its revenue. According to estimates, these exports constitute up to 90 percent of the foreign income for the entire country.

And in the last few days, Maduro held phone calls with several world leaders, including Russia's Vladimir Putin and the president of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. And yet he has not shown any indication that he would be prepared to step down anytime soon.

For CNN, this is Stefano Pozzebon, Caracas.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: The U.S. is still considering whether to send a representative to a meeting in Paris with Ukrainian and European leaders. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says President Trump is, quote, "sick of meetings just for the sake of meeting." Ukrainian and European leaders are discussing the latest U.S. draft proposal.

President Trump spoke about the slow progress on Thursday. Here he is.

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TRUMP: I thought that we were very close with Russia to having a deal.

I thought we were very close with Ukraine to having a deal. In fact, other than President Zelenskyy's, people love the concept of the deal. You know, we threw something out.

This is a four-part deal. Well, there's four or five different parts. It's, you know, a little bit complicated because you're cutting up land in a certain way.

It's not the easiest thing. It's sort of like a complex real estate deal times a thousand, right?

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BRUNHUBER: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he spoke to the U.S. about security guarantees for Kyiv in the event of a deal. President Trump vowed to help with security. And Zelenskyy said any peace deal needs a series of guarantees from a variety of countries.

Here he is.

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VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, UKRAINIAN PRESIDENT: This would be, would mean real, solid, legally binding security guarantees for our country.

And they must actually be implemented. Of course, we, of course, a working model of security guarantees is impossible. And we underlined it.

Impossible without Europe and all members of our coalition of the willing from Canada to Japan, Australia, New Zealand. If there is a need for elections now, there must be a ceasefire, at least during election process and during voting. And this is something that must be discussed.

And honestly, we think here in Ukraine that America should speak to the Russian side about this.

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BRUNHUBER: Ukraine and European allies are working on a revised peace proposal from the U.S. CNN's Melissa Bell takes a look at what's in the plan.

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MELISSA BELL, CNN SR. INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: President Zelenskyy has been speaking in a little bit more detail about the revised peace plan that has now been handed back to the United States, a 28-point peace plan that has now been revised by the Ukrainians to have just 20 points.

What he's been telling journalists is that this is a plan that has now been worked on by Europeans and Ukrainians and therefore represents, he says, a European vision for ending the war in Ukraine. Within those points, one detailing the Ukrainian position, which is that the idea of a demilitarized zone could function only for the Ukrainians along the contact line, not handing over the whole of the Donbass to the Russians as they had hoped for initially. There is also within the revised plan the idea that Ukraine would

receive NATO-style Article 5 protections without actually joining NATO. In fact, any mention of it joining NATO has been removed, as has the language that might have barred the country from any hope of joining NATO at some point. There is the inclusion also of the idea that Ukraine might be able to join the European Union in 2027.

So a number of points that Ukrainians have turned into the basis, they believe, of further negotiations that can now take place. We expect that over the course of the next few days, those talks will continue between Europeans, the United States and Ukrainians.

The big question on the minds of many European diplomats and leaders, officials as well, mainly is what Russia will make of the changes to its initial 28-point plan and whether it is actually willing to negotiate.

Melissa Bell, CNN, Paris.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BRUNHUBER: And earlier I spoke to John Lough, the head of foreign policy at the New Eurasian Strategies Center, a London-based think tank, and I asked him about whether Russia will budge on its demands for the Donbass region. Here he is.

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JOHN LOUGH, HEAD OF FOREIGN POLICY, NEW EURASIAN STRATEGIES CENTER: It's very difficult to see how Russia is going to move on this issue. It seems to be a red line that Putin is determined to gain control of the Donbass region.

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He has signaled that if he can't achieve this through a negotiation process, then he will simply fight for it. It is true that the Russian army is advancing very, very slowly in this region, and the Ukrainians believe that it would probably take them several months at least to be able to conquer that territory.

So Putin really has a choice here. Does he make some sort of compromise and effectively claims that territory? President Trump is proposing to just turn it into a demilitarized zone, possibly into some sort of free economic zone. Nobody really has any real idea of what all this means.

But he would effectively save Putin the effort of having to fight for it while then being able to claim that the Ukrainians have effectively abandoned it.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, as we heard, that plan apparently includes security guarantees that are supposed to be like NATO's Article 5, but not actual NATO membership. I mean, you've studied Russian behavior for decades. I mean, would Russia accept that? And would something like that actually deter Putin from coming back for more later? LOUGH: Well, I think it depends very much on the nature of these

guarantees. I think we have to be careful of the word guarantee here, because what does it actually mean in practice?

I mean, security guarantees always depend on the quality of your forces, first of all, then of your political relationships with allies, all these things. But quite understandably, the Ukrainians are saying, look, if we have to give up some territory and effectively, Zelenskyy is accepting that he's probably going to have to do that, even though he's claiming that he's going to have to put this to a national referendum, that in return from their allies, they do receive something reliable in the form of security assurances.

But at the end of the day, I think it's going to be down to the Ukrainian armed forces to be Ukraine's ultimate security guarantee. And here, in fact, the assistance of Ukraine's allies is extraordinarily important, because it is going to require building up the Ukrainian army, making sure it's properly equipped, properly trained, and in a position to fight if it absolutely needs to. And that will then be an effective deterrent.

And I think the Russians have learned one thing from this war, which is that their assumption that the Ukrainians simply wouldn't have the will to fight, which seemed to them to be the case in 2014 when they annexed Crimea, that's on this occasion proven to be completely wrong. The country has mobilized very effectively. It's kept the Russians at bay now for nearly four years, and the losses inflicted on the Russian side have been absolutely colossal.

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BRUNHUBER: Dozens of people in Myanmar have been killed in a hospital strike, why the U.N. human rights chief says it could be a war crime.

Plus, renewed fighting between Thailand and Cambodia has President Trump calling on both countries to lay down their weapons and look at whether he can salvage the ceasefire or if it's already too late. That story ahead, stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Reuters is citing sources in western Myanmar who say at least 30 people have been killed in a military airstrike on a hospital, another 70 people are reportedly injured, one with says the hospital took a direct hit and was completely destroyed. The U.N. human rights chief says such attacks may amount to a war crime. Government forces have been battling rebel groups in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, since the 2021 coup.

Now to Gaza and some newly released video of a poignant scene from two years ago.

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Those were six Israeli hostages celebrating Hanukkah in a tunnel in Gaza months before they were killed by Hamas. You can see them hugging and lighting makeshift candles on a menorah made of disposable cups. Other videos show them playing cards or chess while sitting on mats on the floor.

Hostages and Missing Families Forum says the video was recorded by Hamas as propaganda, but the humanity of these six people shines through.

Residents of Israel and the West Bank are cleaning up after a winter storm dumped heavy rain on the region. More than a dozen people got trapped in their vehicles and had to be rescued. The rain made a bad situation even worse for people in Gaza.

Hundreds of tents sheltering displaced families were flooded. Authorities say fuel shortages and vehicles damaged during the war made it impossible to cope with the disaster. The U.N. and Palestinian officials say they urgently need at least 300,000 new tents for 1.5 million displaced people.

Thailand's caretaker Prime Minister says he will speak with U.S. President Donald Trump in the coming hours amid ongoing border clashes between his country and Cambodia. More than a dozen people have been killed since armed skirmishes erupted Monday, it's the most intense fighting since July when Trump was able to end the conflict with calls to each country's leader. Earlier this week, while speaking to CNN, Thailand's foreign minister hinted that the fighting could escalate.

Joining us now is Pavin Chachavalpongphun. He's a professor at the Center for Southeast Asian Studies at Kyoto University. Good to see you again, thanks for joining us here.

So last time you and I spoke, you were doubtful the deal would hold. So I guess no surprise now seeing this ceasefire seemingly fall apart.

PAVIN CHACHAVALPONGPUN, PROF., CENTER FOR SOUTHEAST ASIAN STUDIES, KYOTO UNIVERSITY: Yes, of course. It's not really accidental for the ceasefire to collapse, given the domestic crisis in Thailand.

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I just want to speak from the perspective of Thailand. In the past few weeks, the Anutin government encountered a number of crises. For example, the flood in the south, and also, which is more critical, has been the seemingly intimate link of key Thai elites with the scammers across the Thai-Cambodian border.

So we can say that the return of the war between the two countries could be a tactic of the current government to divert attention from domestic failure, to deal with those problems, and basically to create war. So that's why we are leading to the collapse of the ceasefire.

BRUNHUBER: Given what you say there, I'm wondering how far they'll take it, because the Thai military said it wants to cripple Cambodia's military capability for a long time to come. I mean, if it's just a distraction from domestic troubles, that certainly sounds like a very aggressive goal.

CHACHAVALPONGPUN: Well, that also shocked Thai people, including myself. But I guess this is a part of the latest wave of Thai nationalism, and it has been beneficial for the army to say so. We have to remember that the Thai army has long been involved in Thai politics, and by clinging on nationalism like this.

This is a way for the army to further entrench itself in politics and the Anutin government seems to allow the army to play such a role. But to what extent that we can believe in terms of the Thai army wanting to crush Cambodia once and for all, a lot of people seem to be doubtful on that. This is a big thing, and we still hope that some external pressure from ASEAN and also from the United States will play a role here.

BRUNHUBER: Okay, well, let's talk about that external pressure then. President Trump says he's going to make a phone call today and fix this. Last night he promised he'd get the truce, in his words, back on track. Do you share his confidence?

CHACHAVALPONGPUN: Well, I'm not so confident now, because this is not the first time President Trump said something like this. And this is definitely not the first time the U.S. intervened in crisis.

Every time the U.S. intervenes, they seem to speak just basically for short-term solutions. That's what I'm trying to say. Nobody, including the United States, is really interested in looking into long-term sustainable plans to rebuild peace between the two countries.

In Thailand, we seem to understand that. President Trump has been very keen. This is so much so his personal project in order to achieve a certain kind of reward, for example, a Nobel Peace Prize.

But whether that could be translated into real pressure from the United States, nobody is quite sure.

BRUNHUBER: Speaking of the pressure, the first time around, President Trump got both sides to stop fighting by threatening to cut off trade talks. I mean, is that the pressure he's going to use again? And will that work a second time around, do you think?

CHACHAVALPONGPUN: Well, I mean, it could work.

If the U.S. really goes into that, we are talking about real sanctions. Maybe sanctions is too big a word. But the U.S. will have to apply serious pressure, especially in using the conflict between Thailand and Cambodia as a leverage for a tax negotiation with Thailand.

But the U.S. also has to remember that the U.S. and President Trump are not the only actors in this region. We also have to think about the relationship between Thailand and China.

Let's assume that if the tax talks collapse between Thailand and the United States, Thailand could easily turn to China for economic security on top of political security. China has long provided to Thailand.

BRUNHUBER: We'll end on this. You spoke about everybody looking for short-term solutions, especially the President here. But as you well know, this border dispute goes back to old colonial-era maps.

Given that neither country has really accepted where the line should be, is there any realistic path to actually settling this for good?

CHACHAVALPONGPUN: It is very difficult to settle, because of the legacy of the history. But I also have to clarify this point.

[03:25:08]

Territorial conflict has been there. But every time when conflict erupted, it always caused by other factors and other reasons. For example, like this time, more or less, it has been driven or motivated by Thailand domestic politics.

But in doing so, history and also territorial dispute has become so useful for them to be manipulated. So that is the point, I mean, this territorial conflict, it's just like any other territorial conflicts in the world. Sometimes it is better not to talk about it, not to touch it, right?

But also the two countries have their own mechanism, like border general committee, which for many years has been working really well. So I still believe that the territorial conflict is not the core problem that created war this time and the previous times.

BRUNHUBER: We'll see what, if anything, comes from that phone call later today. Pavin Chachavalpongphun, thank you so much for speaking with us again. I appreciate it.

CHACHAVALPONGPUN: Thank you.

BRUNHUBER: The U.S. says its recent seizure of an oil tanker may not be its last. It had the possible damage to Venezuela's economy if the U.S. carries out more operations like this one and she fled to Norway to accept the Nobel Peace Prize. A look at why Venezuela's top opposition leader says she plans to go back home soon.

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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to all of you watching us here all around the world, I'm Kim Brunhuber. Let's check today's top stories.

New U.S. sanctions on Venezuela are targeting three nephews of President Nicolas Maduro. Two of his nephews were previously convicted on drug charges in the U.S. but later released in a prisoner's swap. Sanctions announced Thursday will also hit six companies and vessels that allegedly transport Venezuelan oil.

The U.S. is still considering whether to send a representative to a meeting with Ukrainian and European leaders. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt says President Trump is sick of meetings just for the sake of meeting. Ukrainian and European leaders are discussing the latest U.S. draft proposal in Paris this weekend.

Thailand's caretaker Prime Minister says he expects to speak with U.S. President Donald Trump in the coming hours. This comes as armed military clashes between Thailand and Cambodia continue along their disputed border. Trump is keen on salvaging the ceasefire he brokered earlier this year.

Returning now to our top story. The White House is sharing its plans for the oil tanker seized off the coast of Venezuela. Officials say the vessel will be moved to the U.S. and its cargo will stay there as well.

Reuters is quoting President Nicolas Maduro saying that the ship carried two million barrels of Venezuelan oil. A senior U.S. official told CNN that more tanker seizures are possible.

Last hour I spoke with an energy and geopolitics strategist at GlobalBarrel.com and I asked Thomas O'Donnell how Venezuela would be affected if more oil tankers are taken by force.

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THOMAS O'BARRELL, ENERGY AND GEOPOLITICS STRATEGIST, GLOBALBARREL.COM: There's two aspects here. Of course if they can't export any oil for a long period of time this would be very difficult for the regime.

I think what we have here is a problem where Trump really wants to get Maduro out. He wants to scare him and squeeze him. He really doesn't want to commit troops or get involved inside the country.

It could escalate, although the opposition tells him everything will go fine. Don't worry, just decapitate the regime. So this is another pressure tactic.

But the regime doesn't care about what the people eat. That's why there's 8 million refugees since Maduro's been there. So cutting off the oil is more pressure but it still would take a very long time before the regime itself would be squeezed enough to in some way shake it.

BRUNHUBER: Yes, but this does represent a huge percentage of their income. I think 90 percent of their foreign income comes from oil. It's a huge economic blow for the country, right?

O'BARRELL: No, I agree with you. This is something a fellow who had been fired by Chavez in 2000 told me.

Look, everyone's arguing how much oil will PDVSA put out under Chavez? 2.5 million? 2 million? He said it doesn't matter. If they get half a million for years, the regime can live and who

cares about the people? And that's what they have done. So they still have gold, they still have -- they don't care about the economy.

There is no business class that's independent anymore of the state. Everything comes from the state to the people. Unless the people rose up, and that is not a path that the opposition is willing to take.

[03:35:03]

So Trump has a problem here. How to really force him out. I'm sure he's calling him up and threatening him and so forth.

I agree. It makes it harder in the long run after several months or a year or so, it'll make it harder for Maduro to pay people in the military and keep them loyal. Pay the colectivos, the armed groups that are in the barrios and so forth that support the government.

Yes, but there's a limit to it is what I'm saying.

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BRUNHUBER: Nobel Peace Prize winner Maria Carina Machado says she's taking things one day at a time since arriving in Oslo, Norway. The Venezuelan opposition leader met Thursday with Edmundo Gonzalez, the opposition candidate who replaced her on the presidential ballot last year after the Maduro government banned her from running.

Machado arrived in Oslo just hours after the Peace Prize ceremony. Despite being considered a fugitive by the government, she's vowing to keep up the fight for Venezuela's freedom. Here she is.

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MACHADO (through translator): We need to start preparing and making plans now because we're going to have to work very hard. Germany knows precisely what it's like to rebuild a country after a conflict, a period of division and without its institutions. We're going to do it.

And we're going to do it well. Just as Germany was able to do it. So I'm sure they'll bring us enormous lessons on how to manage a process of this complexity.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRUNHUBER: We'll be right back with more here on "CNN Newsroom." Please do stay with us.

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BRUNHUBER: Welcome back to CNN, this is your Business Breakout. The U.S. judge has sentenced Do Kwon, the so-called cryptocurrency

king, to 15 years in prison, that's according to the Associated Press. Kwon pleaded guilty to fraud charges linked to digital currencies that he developed with his company Terraform Labs. The judge called it fraud on an epic generational scale that caused everyday investors to lose $40 billion.

Lululemon says its CEO, Calvin McDonald, is stepping down after seven years. The leadership shakeup comes as the athleisure wear company known for its high-seated leggings struggles to attract American customers and compete with newer brands. The company's shares were up in after-hours trading following the CEO announcement, Lululemon is still searching for a new leader.

Time Magazine has named its Person of the Year and this year's coveted spot goes to the Architects of A.I. The magazine names the usual tech giants Mark Zuckerberg, Sam Altman, and Elon Musk among others as having a major influence on the new technology. The magazine created two covers for this year's Person of the Year.

Christmas came early for some very wild guests at a zoo in southern England. Have a look, the lions and primates got to dig into some Christmas packaging. While the elephants and penguins were spotted exploring other holiday-themed decorations, the zoo's animals manager says adding these novel items into their enclosures helps spark the animals' senses and natural behaviors.

That wraps this edition of "CNN Newsroom," I'm Kim Bruhuber. "World Sport" is next.

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