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Early Start with Rahel Solomon

Trump Admin Officials Brief Key Lawmakers On Venezuela; Maduro's VP Rodriguez Formally Sworn In As Interim Leader; White House Questions Denmark's Claim To Greenland; Ukraine Allies Meet In Paris Today Over Security Pledges. Aired 5-5:30a ET

Aired January 06, 2026 - 05:00   ET

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

[05:00:25]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN ANCHOR: Good morning and welcome to our viewers joining us from the U.S. and all around the world. I'm Rahel Solomon live this morning in New York.

And we begin this morning with our breaking news coverage and the questions that remain over who is currently running Venezuela after the U.S. operation to capture the now ousted President Nicolas Maduro. In a new interview, President Donald Trump summed up who he believes is in charge of Venezuela with one word, "me". He also told NBC News that Venezuela will not have new elections anytime soon, saying, quote, we have to fix the country first.

Meantime, the Trump administration is defending its actions in Venezuela, stressing that there is no U.S. occupation there.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE WALTZ, U.S. AMBASSADOR TO THE U.N.: As Secretary Rubio has said, there is no war against Venezuela or its people. We are not occupying a country. This was a law enforcement operation in furtherance of lawful indictments that have existed for decades. The United States arrested a narco-trafficker.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: The U.N. ambassador there, referring to Nicolas Maduro, who appeared Monday along with his wife for their first appearance in a U.S. federal court on drug and weapons charges. Both pleaded not guilty.

And the Trump administration has now briefed a key group of lawmakers from both parties on what happens in Venezuela. The meeting leaving them split along party lines.

CNN's Manu Raju is on Capitol Hill with more now on the mixed reactions.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE) MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: After more than two hours with top administration officials behind closed doors in the first briefing that Congress has had in the aftermath of that stunning attack that occurred on Saturday morning in Venezuela that led to the capture of Nicolas Maduro and his wife, members came out of this classified briefing really divided along party lines. Democrats sharply critical of this mission. Chuck Schumer, the Senate minority leader, said that he had plenty of questions, did not get his questions answered, and had a number of concerns about the policy going forward because there are a number of questions about how long the United States will be in Venezuela, what President Trump means about running Venezuela, how they will actually get the oil out of Venezuela as the president has promised to do. And whether any of this is actually legal in moving ahead.

But behind closed doors, the briefers gave their justification about why this was a legal operation. They did not rule out going into other countries as well, because they said that if others have similar issues, like the arrest warrant on Nicolas Maduro, potentially there are signs that potentially the United States could consider going in to those nations as well that was caused, that caused significant strain among Democrats.

But Republicans defended the administration's actions, including the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, who I asked in the aftermath of this whether or not the United States how long the United States would stay in Venezuela, what the actual plan is, and the speaker made clear that this would not go as far as some believed and ruled out the possibility of boots on the ground, American boots on the ground in that country.

You said the United States has not occupied Venezuela, so how is he going to run Venezuela? Like the president has said, repeatedly saying that the United States is in charge of Venezuela? And how much is this going to cost United States taxpayers in terms of dollars and troops.

REP. MIKE JOHNSON (R-LA), SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE: The way that this is being described, I think is accurate. This is not a regime change. This is a demand for change of behavior by a regime. We don't expect troops on the ground. We don't expect direct involvement in any other way beyond just coercing the new the interim government to get that going.

SEN. CHUCK SCHUMER (D-NY), MINORITY LEADER: I did not receive any assurances that we would not try to do the same thing in other countries. Their plan for the U.S. running Venezuela is vague based on wishful thinking and unsatisfying.

RAJU: Now, the lawmakers who emerged from this closed door briefing indicated that the United States would work with Delcy Rodriguez, the vice president of the country, and that they expected eventually that there would be free and fair elections in Venezuela, and that there would be some level of cooperation with the United States in getting the oil onto market. Much different message than from the president, who said the United States will go in and take the oil and would sell it, and the United States essentially would profit off of that. And they also had a different message about elections happening.

[05:05:02]

The question is, will the when will that happen? And will it be something that will satisfy President Trump? That remains unclear, but at the moment, what we're hearing from Capitol Hill is a divided reaction along party lines. Democrats upset that they were not briefed and that this omission, they say, should not have happened in the way it did.

Republicans falling in line behind the president's actions.

Manu Raju, CNN, Capitol Hill.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOLOMON: Meanwhile, in Venezuela's capital, hundreds of protesters came out in support of captured President Nicolas Maduro. Demonstrators could be seen holding banners and signs in favor of the former president. The outpouring of support comes as Maduro's vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, was formally sworn in as the country's interim leader on Monday. President Trump says that he believes that Rodriguez is willing to do what the U.S. thinks is necessary to, quote, make Venezuela great again.

But he also said that he won't rule out a military operation if Rodriguez stops cooperating.

CNN's Paula Newton has more. Now on a look at the landmark day in Venezuela's national assembly.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA NEWTON, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): It is a bold statement that the old guard in Venezuela is still in charge. Lawmakers in the national assembly gathered to open a new session, an unprecedented one as a loyal operative of the regime of Nicolas Maduro was sworn in as acting president. Even in taking the oath, Delcy Rodriguez denounced Maduro and his wife's capture, saying she was in pain for the kidnaping of two heroes while Maduro was shackled and on his way to his first appearance in a New York courtroom. His inner circle returned to a familiar playbook, calling on Venezuelans to hit the streets and protest Maduro's incarceration.

Even his son, Nicolas Maduro Guerra, was installed once again in parliament. Emotionally pledging his allegiance to Rodriguez.

Adding, "The homeland is in good hands, dad."

REP. DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ (D-FL): We seem to have swapped one head of the snake for another, and we absolutely have to make sure that what the result, that the result from the arrest and removal of Maduro, who was illegally holding office and who violated U.S. and international law, that we move towards a transition. NEWTON: On the streets of Caracas, the shock of the last few days is

giving way to a return to business as usual, and a regime that is all too familiar. Hundreds of political prisoners remain in custody, and citizens have been warned the regime is aggressively hunting down U.S. collaborators. Government media parrots the line that the entire country stands with Maduro, even though Rodriguez is herself now vowing to engage in a cooperative agenda with the U.S.

The regime, though, its guardians still in place, returned emboldened to this performative display. In fact, the events of the last few days seem to vindicate the revolutionary ideals among maduro loyalists that the U.S. posed a clear and present danger to the country, and only a dogmatic, zealous devotion to the regime could fight it.

Paula Newton, CNN.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SOLOMON: And joining us now from London with her perspective is Celia Czusterman, a Latin America associate at Arundel Associates.

Celia, wonderful to have you this morning. You have said before that getting rid of Maduro will not be enough. So, what will be enough? I mean, what needs to happen now?

CELIA SZUSTERMAN, LATIN AMERICA ASSOCIATE, EARENDEL ASSOCIATES: Well, I mean, I really have no clue. I'm not going to pretend to know what is going to happen, but I think there are three possible scenarios and none of them is very promising. I mean, the first the first one would be just a transition, an orderly transition to democracy to be held in 30 days time, which I think is highly unlikely.

The second one would be to criminalize continuity, which, so you have the removal of the maduro and his wife, but everything else stays in place. And this is a criminal network that has been deeply ingrained in Venezuela and has been for the last 20 years. So it's not going to be easy to get rid of.

And the third possibility, of course, is an escalation to what is happening. And realize that the Americans are not have -- Venezuela and the bombing has stopped. Then they may feel that this is the time to go into the streets and claim for Maduro.

So, whatever happens, I think the most benign scenario, the first one is certainly not going to happen because at no point during his press conference at Mar-a-Lago, President Trump mentioned the word democracy. So, this is not a transition to democracy as we were used to understand when we were talking about the 1970s and '80s in Latin America, transitioning from dictatorship, military dictatorships to democracy.

So, here, we don't really know what we're transitioning to.

SOLOMON: Cilia, I am having some audio issues hearing you. So apologies, but let me just -- if I do have you still up. We have heard ambassadors for countries such as Russia and China speak out against this operation. At yesterday's U.N. Security Council meeting. Notably, also some U.S. allies like France also criticized the actions.

How does the ousting of Maduro in this way, from your perspective, change the relationship that the U.S. has with nations like Russia, like China?

SZUSTERMAN: Well, it changes things completely. And in fact, it works in the favor of China and Russia. It was very interesting to hear the Chinese representatives talk about a multipolar, multilateral world. And talking about development and peace and stability and now, of course, both China and Russia will feel that they have an open hand to act as the United States has done in their own spheres of influence.

So, this is really bad news for the world as we used to know it, which wasn't perfect, but certainly is going to be. We will find out that it was much better than the sort of everybody, everything is up for grabs in the world that we seem to be in Beijing in now.

SOLOMON: Okay, we'll leave it here. Cilia Szusterman, appreciate the time this morning. Thank you.

And the raid on Venezuela is raising questions about who the Trump administration might target next. We'll talk about the country's recently threatened by the U.S.

And later, President Trump offers an ambitious timeline for rebuilding Venezuela's oil industry. Why experts say it might not be so easy and how U.S. oil companies feel about it.

We'll be right back.

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[05:16:37]

SOLOMON: Welcome back.

Since the raid on Venezuela, the Trump administration has issued warnings to several other governments, from Iran to Colombia to Cuba, even Mexico. But its focus could first turn to the Danish territory of Greenland. Donald Trump has reminded everyone of his desire to take over the island, telling reporters on Sunday, let's talk about it again in 20 days.

None of this is going over well in Greenland or Denmark. Now, the White House deputy chief of staff is openly questioning Denmark's claim to the territory.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN MILLER, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF: The real question is, by what right does Denmark assert control over Greenland? What is the basis of their territorial claim? What is their basis of having Greenland as a colony of Denmark? The United States is the power of NATO. For the United States to secure the arctic region, to protect and defend NATO and NATO interests -- obviously, Greenland should be part of the United States. Nobody's going to fight the United States militarily over the future of Greenland.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

SOLOMON: All right. Let's bring in CNN international diplomatic editor Nic Robertson, who joins us live this morning from London.

Nic, it appears that Denmark and Greenland are taking these veiled threats, maybe not so veiled quite seriously. What can you tell us?

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yeah, prime ministers of both countries are pushing back very strongly. Mette Frederiksen, the Danish prime minister, who, incidentally, will be in Paris or is expected to be in Paris today for the coalition of the willing talks on Ukraine, where there will be U.S. representatives around that table, has pushed back very clearly saying and this is very strong language, I think, in diplomatic terms. That if one NATO partner was to attack another, that would be essentially the end of this transatlantic alliance, which has been the strongest military alliance for decades, has sort of overseen and kept in place world security, not just in a transatlantic basis, but globally, that it would be the end of that ending, a period of stability since World War II is what she is saying.

So, the Danish prime minister and the Greenlanders as well are taking this more seriously, I think, than the threats last year when President Trump raised this issue. And the way that its being framed again by Stephen Miller subsequent to what President Trump has said in this very strong and clear language that the United States is just able to go and do it, and no one's really going to stop them. That is causing a lot of concern and anxiety and would have very wide implications, not just for Europe, but for the United States. And I think what the Danish prime minister is trying to say here, it would have wide implications for global security.

SOLOMON: Yeah. And, Nic, perhaps a lot of anxiety among European leaders about how best to respond to the operation in Venezuela. I mean, on the one hand, you have some who perhaps don't want to be on the wrong side of President Trump. And yet you are hearing some come out critically. I mean, walk us through the sort of diplomatic issue for some of these countries who are trying to understand and trying best to figure out how to respond.

ROBERTSON: Yeah, I think there's a very clear sense that you don't come out and essentially tell Donald Trump off for what he's done. You use careful diplomatic language and walk a tightrope. And that's what we've seen from the E.U. And that's what we've seen from the British prime minister as well, both saying that they uphold and believe in the writ of international law.

[05:20:07]

And if you will, that is sort of a -- an -- a very soft, diplomatic way of saying we don't think or we do think that you broke international law in what you did in Venezuela, which is what the U.N. is saying very clearly, but also trying to put up guardrails so that whatever the United States does next with Venezuela or anywhere else doesn't breach those same international laws. So, there's that part of the sort of diplomatic tightrope and in part because they don't want to anger President Trump, because they do have important economic and security relations with the United States.

But at the same time, they're also saying that Maduro was not the -- was not the legitimate representative of the Venezuelan people. Indeed, the British prime minister saying that the U.K. would not shed tears about the removal of Maduro. So, they're sort of nodding in acceptance to what the United States has done. But trying in a way, deftly, diplomatically to stop it happening again. It doesn't seem to be the sort of language, this soft diplomatic language that the United States is particularly in tune to at the moment. Certainly not when you listen to President Trump, certainly not when you listen to Stephen Miller either.

SOLOMON: Yeah. All right. Nic Robertson reporting for us there in London -- Nic, thank you.

Ukraine's allies are meeting today to finalize security pledges for the war-torn country. What to expect from their meeting after the break.

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[05:25:48]

SOLOMON: Ukraine's allies are gathering in Paris today to finalize contributions for future security guarantees. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will be joined by more than 27 leaders and senior U.S. negotiators Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner.

CNN's Melissa Bell joins us live from Paris for more on this.

Melissa, you are in Paris as these talks continue. Give us a sense of who will be there today and what they plan to accomplish.

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, it is the first time, Rahel, that American representatives will be here in person for one of these meetings of the coalition of the willing, as its been called. This was the format created just under a year ago here in Paris, that aimed to bring together allies of Ukraine, Europeans, but also the United States.

Today, for the first time, both Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff will be in Paris to attend alongside many of the other European leaders that will be here for the support. These important talks, as will President Zelenskyy.

As for the Ukrainian president, he really has been adopting these last couple of days. Rahel, a strikingly less optimistic tone than he had over the course of the last few weeks. You'll remember that even at that meeting at mar-a-Lago just before Christmas, he spoke confidently of the 10 percent of agreement that remained to be reached in order for peace to be restored to Ukraine. Now really explaining that there are two possibilities. One, that these talks progress, that peace is found, that Russians prove willing to negotiate on the remaining 10 percent, the other that the war continues.

And he's been really preparing his country for that, reshuffling his cabinet, putting in charge of his presidential team as his chief of staff, Kyrylo Budanov, who was the head of military intelligence, replacing Andriy Yermak, you'll remember who got ousted from his position after he got caught up in the scandal that so rocked Kyiv. The corruption scandal at the end of last year.

So, President Zelenskyy placing his country on a war footing in case it needs to remain there. But also all leaders and specifically European leaders, Rahel, really looking forward to this. Paris format today to hope to make progress on these key points. First of all, finding out how a ceasefire were it to be agreed with Moscow, could be monitored. What future deployment in Ukraine of some of those forced coalition of the willing troops would look like, and how they can work with Americans to provide that backstop, the security guarantees that are so needed.

All of this, though, which will risks being overshadowed by all of that friction over not just what happened in Venezuela over the weekend, but more specifically the comments of President Trump on Air Force One about Greenland. These last couple of days, we've heard very forcefully from the Danish prime minister reacting to that yesterday, urging the American president to turn down his rhetoric. All of this and the fears of NATO fracture as a result of that very belligerent talk, will also be planning over this meeting, even as they try and find agreement on those much-needed security guarantees for Ukraine -- Rahel.

SOLOMON: Yeah. Stephen Miller also doubling down on those comments from Trump as Denmark and Greenland appear to be taking these comments quite seriously.

Melissa Bell for us there in Paris, Melissa, thank you.

And after the U.S. operation in Venezuela, tensions are rising between the U.S. and Colombia. And Colombia's president firing back at President Trump. More on that ahead on EARLY START.

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