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Nobel Laureate Machado: I Am Hopeful Venezuela Will Be Free; U.S. Seizes Oil Tanker Off Venezuela In Major Escalation; "Catastrophic Flooding" Expected In Washington State; Israel Approves Nearly 800 Housing Units In West Bank. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired December 11, 2025 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:22]

BRIAN ABEL, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to our viewers joining us in the United States and all around the world. I'm Brian Abel. Thank you so much for being with us.

It is Wednesday, December 11th, 5:00 a.m. here in Washington, D.C.

And straight ahead on EARLY START.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ABBY PHILLIP, CNN HOST: A dramatic escalation. After months of tough rhetoric and boat bombings, the U.S. has now seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela.

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: The oil tanker, who owns that oil that oil tanker?

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We'll get that information later.

HOLMES: Okay. And have you spoken to Maduro since your last conversation?

TRUMP: No, I haven't.

HOLMES: There's only been one conversation.

TRUMP: No.

ELEX MICHAELSON, CNN HOST: Breaking news impacting the West Coast. An atmospheric river in the Pacific Northwest. Governor Bob Ferguson has declared a state of emergency.

GOV. BOB FERGUSON (D), WASHINGTON: It absolutely will not just be historic and break records. It will shatter those records.

ROSEMARY CHURCH, CNN ANCHOR: Italy has a delicious reason to celebrate. It's cuisine just became the world's first to be awarded UNESCO status.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Our culture is 90 percent is about food. So, to be recognized worldwide about the passion and the love.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(MUSIC)

ABEL: And we begin with the first public remarks from the Nobel Peace Prize Winner. After her daring and dangerous journey to Oslo, Norway, Maria Corina Machado says she hopes Venezuela will be free. The opposition leader is considered a fugitive by the Maduro government. She didn't make it to the Nobel ceremony, but she is in the Norwegian capital right now and just wrapped up a news conference with the Norwegian prime minister.

The Nobel laureate said she's telling the world why Venezuela matters, that there will be no peace until elections are respected, and that courage comes from the things we love.

CNN's Pau Mosquera is following all this live from Oslo.

And, Pau, there's so much to talk about here, from Machado's daring trip to her getting to see her family after being in hiding, to greeting supporters, to all she said about Venezuela and U.S. intervention during that press conference that you are at.

So, fill us in.

PAU MOSQUERA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's it, Brian. There's actually a lot of questions that are still waiting to be done to Maria Corina Machado, but we are actually -- we actually had the first chance to get some questions to her when this presser took place at the Norwegian government guesthouse that you can see behind me.

There is -- during this presser, Maria Corina seemed to be very emotional because of getting finally to Oslo. She said that she didn't get no rest at all during the last hours because she spent the time with the family. She's been waiting for this moment, she said. A lot of times she dreamed about hugging back all her family, at least the ones, the relatives that are here physically in Oslo.

We actually had the chance to get one question to her, and that's what she told us. Have a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MOSQUERA: Maria Corina, I'm Pau Mosquera with CNN. So now you've been in hiding for many, many months. Do you think that the government may have known where were you during this time?

MARIA CORINA MACHADO, NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER: I don't think they have known where I have been. And certainly, they would have done everything to stop me from coming here, and actually, I -- I want to take advantage of your question to thank all those men and women that risked their lives so that I could be here today. One day, I will be able to tell you, because certainly I don't want to put them in risk right now. It was quite an experience, but I think it's worthwhile being here with you telling the world what's happening in Venezuela, what it means to you as Norwegians and as Europeans, or from all the places where you come from, why Venezuela matters for the world.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MOSQUERA: So, Brian, you said this has been the very first time that the media present here in Oslo. Weve had a chance to ask Maria Corina about the different things that we are wondering about. She actually said when asked about if she would support military intervention in Venezuela, that the invasion in Venezuela already happened because she said there are Russian and Iranian agents in the country operating alongside with Maduro's regime.

[05:05:01]

Now, today seems like Maria Corina is going to have a busy schedule because after meeting the president of the Norwegian parliament and the prime minister, she now will attend the media again at the grand hotel, where she will be staying at least today, and maybe more nights -- Brian

ABEL: A historic moment as she comes out of hiding. Maria Machado hiding from Venezuela and now a Nobel Peace Prize winner.

Pau Mosquera, for us in Oslo -- Pau, thank you.

We have new information now on the Venezuelan oil tanker seized by the U.S. Satellite imagery, it shows the ship had been hiding its true whereabouts. Its transponder put it at a location off the Guyana coast last month, when it was docked at a Venezuelan oil terminal. Guyana's maritime authority says the vessel had also been sailing under a false Guyana flag. Venezuela is condemning the capture, calling it an act of international piracy.

The U.S. attorney general says the tanker was transporting sanctioned oil between Venezuela and Iran that was being used to support terror groups. A U.S. official says the ship was seized in international waters and that more seizures are possible.

CNN's Kristen Holmes picks up the story from the White House.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: President Trump announcing that the U.S. had seized an oil tanker off the coast of Venezuela, offering very few details. We have now seen the video released by the attorney general, Pam Bondi, of the seizure. We are told by U.S. officials that this was done by the coast guard with assistance by the Navy, and that this boat was carrying Venezuelan crude oil.

Now, the same U.S. official says the boat was headed for Cuba, eventually going to land in Asia. We should note that most of Venezuelan oil ends up getting sold to China, but unclear right now if that's where this was heading. But there are still going to be a lot of questions. This comes as President Trump has ramped up his pressure campaign on Nicolas Maduro. The two leaders spoke roughly two weeks ago. I was told at that time by a White House official that President Trump had issued somewhat of an ultimatum, unclear if this was part of that.

Up until now, all we've seen is those strikes on boats, generally off the coast of Venezuela. These alleged narco terrorism boats and these strikes that we've heard so much about.

President Trump, he has threatened strikes on land. But so far, that's all that has been, is just those threats. And this is clearly the seizure is clearly a vast or a major escalation in this pressure campaign, as we see President Trump and his administration trying to essentially remove Maduro from office.

Kristen Holmes, the White House.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ABEL: All right. To the latest on the war in Ukraine now. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is expected to join a virtual meeting of Ukraine's allies today to discuss how to move forward with peace talks. Ukraine delivered an updated version of the U.S. drafted peace plan to the Trump administration on Wednesday. The new details were hammered out during Ukraine's talks with the European allies earlier this week.

Clare Sebastian is keeping an eye on those developments and joining us now from London.

And, Clare, as we wait for the U.S. response. President Trump seemed to throw some cold water on the Ukrainian president during a meeting at the White House just yesterday. When asked what he meant when Trump said Zelenskyy needs to accept realities. So, what's the latest on this peace plan?

CLARE SEBASTIAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yeah, well, I think this is why the sort of frenzied diplomacy continues at such speed, Brian. Ukraine needs support from its European allies more than ever now, with pressure mounting, obviously not just from Russia, but from the White House as well.

President Trump, he spoke to his some of his European counterparts on Wednesday. The leaders of France, Germany, the U.K. He said it was a good conversation, but he then lapsed into this sort of musing. I would say that it took that form on Wednesday about whether Ukraine should hold elections, which is which is, of course, a Kremlin narrative that we've seen ramping up in recent weeks and months.

So, I think that does ramp up the pressure on Ukraine. The coalition of the willing meeting today, that's a grouping of more than 30 countries who have in some way said that they would be willing to contribute to postwar security guarantees for Ukraine. And Russia's foreign minister, meanwhile, says that they have also sent a proposal to the U.S. for security guarantees, collective security guarantees, they call it. Russia is also demanding security guarantees for Russia, be part of a final settlement.

And the U.S., as we know, has received, we believe, from Ukraine. The latest version of their proposal, which has been whittled down to 20 points and taken out some of those issues that would be a redline for Ukraine.

So that is where we are. What I will say is that on the ground, activity continues. We've seen overnight drone attacks on both sides. The larger of the two, it seems, coming from Ukraine to Russia overnight, Russia saying that it intercepted some 287 drones over multiple regions, including -- including Moscow. And what you see there is an attack, this is from the Ukrainian security services, on a sanctioned tanker in the Black Sea, heading towards the Russian Black Sea port of Novorossiysk.

[05:10:08]

This is the third time Ukraine has claimed to have attacked a sanctioned tanker in the last couple of weeks, and they also this morning, we heard from the security services, a source there saying that they hit an offshore oil platform in the Caspian Sea, which is the first time they've hit an offshore facility there and the first time they've hit an operational offshore platform.

So, look, even as the pressure mounts on Ukraine from Russia and from the White House, Ukraine is continuing to try to impose costs, in particular on Russia's oil industry -- Brian.

ABEL: Clare Sebastian for us in London -- Clare, grateful for your reporting, as always. Thank you.

Here in the U.S., the National Weather Service predicts potentially catastrophic flooding in the Pacific Northwest. It's being caused by a strong atmospheric river over the region, dumping rain that has shattered the daily record in the city of Bellingham, according to the National Weather Service. At least 100,000 people are being advised to evacuate their homes as a precaution. Washington's governor has declared a state of emergency ahead of the worst of the floods, hoping to secure federal assistance for recovery efforts.

Earlier, he spoke with CNN's Elex Michaelson about the evacuation orders and what's to come.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

FERGUSON: I'm just here to say it absolutely will not just be historic and break records. It will shatter those records. So, our message to folks who are receiving those orders today thoroughly as we speak, to evacuate, it's approaching 100,000 Washingtonians -- listen to the experts. Listen to your local officials, and evacuate right away to critical, critical situation and truly historic. In the more than 100 years we've been tracking our river systems.

MICHAELSON: So, Governor, what should we expect in terms of timing when this is going to be at its worst? What to expect overnight?

FERGUSON: Well, it's evolving situation, so it depends on which part of the state you look at. And by the way, this is a true statewide issue. But what we're especially focused at in the next handful of hours is the Skagit River. That's about -- I'm in North Seattle right now talking to you. The Skagit River about an hour north of me if you were to drive along the Skagit River.

What we're going to see around 4:00 a.m. is that river reaching its peak. And again, this is going to be six feet at least above the historic high mark for that river. So, this is something no local resident has ever experienced or their ancestors may have been on the river for many years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ABEL: Still to come. Criticism from the Palestinian Authority after Israel approved the construction of hundreds of new homes in the occupied West Bank.

Plus, the U.S. Federal Reserve cuts interest rates as expected. But Fed Chair Jerome Powell is sounding a cautious note about what comes next.

And pizza, pasta and prosecco have now been officially recognized as cultural heritage by UNESCO. We'll explain what that honor means for Italian food.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[05:17:32]

ABEL: The Israeli government has approved the construction of nearly 800 new housing units in the occupied West Bank. Israel's finance minister calls the move the continuation of a clear strategic process. But the Palestinian Authority says it undermines the peace process and efforts for Palestinian statehood.

Meanwhile, Israel has reopened the critical Allenby crossing between the West Bank and Jordan. It's been closed since September and is a major route for bringing food, tents and other aid into Gaza.

CNN's Paula Hancocks is joining us now from Abu Dhabi with the latest.

And, Paula, what more can you tell us about the aid crossing as well as this housing approval and reaction from Palestinians?

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Brian, starting off in the occupied West Bank, when it comes to these extra housing units being approved, this is something that we are seeing more of when it comes to the Netanyahu government, and also that the finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, who's made it very clear that this is his plan to ensure that there are a lot more settlements being approved to make sure that there is less of a chance of a Palestinian state being able to be created.

The West Bank, of course, being a critical part of that Palestinian state. We've heard from the Palestinian authority office that the president's office saying that this really undermines those efforts. They're calling on the U.S. President Donald Trump to get involved and to try and prevent this.

We've also heard from peace now. This is an Israeli anti-settlement watchdog, and they have said that these announcements are happening continuously, even if you don't hear about them, the fact that they are having these meetings on a weekly basis, that hundreds of housing units are being approved all of the time, saying that the intention is to try and normalize this process and to try and lessen the international and public criticism.

Now, these settlements, it's worth pointing out, are deemed to be illegal under international law -- Brian.

ABEL: And, Paula, meanwhile, the enclave, as it looks to receive more aid, is getting hit with a significant weather event. How is that impacting Gaza?

HANCOCKS: Yes, this is Storm Byron and its had a devastating impact over the last 24 hours.

[05:20:02]

We are seeing significant flooding across the Gaza Strip. Of course, many people are still living in tents at this point, with no actual structures available to be able to live in. Weve heard from the U.N., something like 850,000 people are living under these conditions, and that is not a condition you want to be in when you have significant storms, significant rainfall coming into the Gaza Strip. Now, we've heard from the Gaza civil defense, they had about 2,500 distress calls throughout the night, people asking for help as their tent was being flooded.

We understand from the civil defense, they say a number of tents were swept away as well. So, this is really not just a weather event in Gaza. This is a desperate worsening of an already desperate situation. There was supposed to be millions of tents that were going to be brought into Gaza to try and help this temporary situation and other structures that people would be able to live in. But we're hearing from the U.N., from international NGOs, that not enough has come in, that a fraction of what was agreed upon has been allowed in. Theres been delays at the crossings. Theres also, of course, the security situation within Gaza when trying to distribute this kind of aid. So, it's an extremely miserable situation to say the least, for those on the ground in Gaza.

And of course, the concern as well is of the open sewers, the waterworks, the water treatment centers have been largely destroyed or severely damaged by Israeli airstrikes over the past couple of years. And so that waste is now being mixed in with rainwater and push through the living quarters of hundreds of thousands of people across Gaza -- Brian.

ABEL: Just exacerbating an already difficult humanitarian situation.

Paula Hancocks for us in Abu Dhabi -- Paula, thank you.

Still ahead on EARLY START, Brian Walshe's attorneys poised to lay out his defense against a murder charge and more. We'll have the details on the case against him.

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[05:26:47]

ABEL: In the coming hours, jurors will head back into court in Massachusetts in the trial of Brian Walshe, the man accused of murdering his wife, then disposing of her body and lying to police about it.

Ana Walshe's remains have never been found. The prosecution rested its case on Wednesday. Walshe's legal team will begin with his defense today.

And CNN's Randi Kaye recaps the case against him so far.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LARRY TIPTON, ATTORNEY FOR BRIAN WALSHE: Brian Walshe never killed her.

RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): On recordings of police interviews played in court --

BRIAN WALSHE, ACCUSED OF KILLING HIS WIFE ANA: Please, please, look at anything that's going to help you.

KAYE (voice-over): Brian Walshe told police his wife, Ana, left the house the morning of January 1st for a work emergency, then vanished. Investigators say it was a lie. Data from Brian Walshe's cell phone shared with the jury, show he texted his wife's phone in the days after her disappearance.

January 2nd, 7:18 p.m., where are you? Please call, text or email.

January 3rd, 6:39 a.m. I'm worried. Please call or email.

A couple hours later, if I don't hear from you this morning, I am going to report you missing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, her device was never recovered, sir.

KAYE (voice-over): By the time Walshe sent those texts, he knew his wife was dead. The defense now claims she died suddenly in bed and that Brian Walshe panicked after finding her. Just before his trial started, unbeknownst to the jury, Walshe pleaded guilty to disposing of her body and misleading police, but insists he didn't kill her. He has pleaded not guilty to murder.

Witnesses for the prosecution laid out in disturbing detail, internet searches that Walshe allegedly made, starting before 5:00 a.m. the day in question.

NICHOLAS GUARINO, MASSACHUSETTS STATE POLICE TROOPER: How long before a body starts to smell, Google search. Article, 10 ways to dispose a dead body if you really need to, Page 7.

KAYE (voice-over): Prosecutor Greg Connor says Walshe also searched, "is it possible to clean DNA off a knife? Best way to dispose of body parts after a murder. And better to throw away crime scene clothes or wash them?"

Cell phone data shared with jurors show after his wife's death, Brian Walshe went shopping. That's him on January 1st on surveillance video at Lowe's, wearing a mask and surgical gloves, purchasing hundreds of dollars worth of supplies according to prosecutors. In his cart, five gallon buckets, dozens of towels, disposable rags, and a hacksaw. Prosecutors say this is him on surveillance video at a CVS.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What was purchased in the transaction? According to the receipt.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Five bottles of hydrogen peroxide spray.

KAYE (voice-over): Prosecutors say a man matching Walshe's description appeared on surveillance at Home Depot, too, where he bought cleaning supplies and a hatchet. After that, the jurors learned of more Google searches. "Hacksaw best tool to dismember. Can you be charged with murder without a body? And can you identify a body with broken teeth?"

On cross-examination, Walshe's defense attorney argued those Google searches may not have been anything nefarious.

TIPTON: That if someone entered specific search terms like how to dispose of a body, the results could simply be here, take the body to a cemetery, something like that.

KAYE (voice-over): Prosecutors also shared this surveillance video of a man resembling Walshe from early January 2023, throwing away black trash bags in a dumpster near Walshe's mother's home and various other locations.