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Venezuela on Edge; Trump Meets With Republicans; Country Marks Five Years Since January 6 Riots. Aired 11-11:30a ET

Aired January 06, 2026 - 11:00   ET

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

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ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.

PAMELA BROWN, CNN HOST: Breaking News, two major stories unfolding this hour, President Trump speaking to House Republicans just days after capturing Venezuelan President Maduro.

WOLF BLITZER, CNN HOST: And up on Capitol Hill here in Washington, an unofficial meeting marking five years since the January 6 attack, House Democrats aiming to -- quote -- "set the record straight."

We want to welcome our viewers here in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer with Pamela Brown, and you're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

We begin this hour with the breaking news as we track major stories, President Trump delivering a key speech right now to House Republicans, as the U.S. asserts its control over Venezuela and as the party heads into this year's midterm elections with a very, very tiny, very slim majority.

BROWN: Also today, Democrats are holding an unofficial hearing to mark five years since the January 6 riots on Capitol Hill.

BLITZER: And in Venezuela, things remain very tense. Listen to this. Listen.

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BLITZER: That gunfire that we just heard as police shot at drones overhead.

We have full coverage coming up for all of our viewers. Our chief international correspondent, Clarissa Ward, is also on the scene. She's in Colombia neighboring Venezuela. CNN senior White House correspondent Kristen Holmes is here with us. And CNN national security correspondent Kylie Atwood is as well.

But let's begin with Venezuela and its neighbor, Colombia, a very tense situation right now, Colombia's leader sounding the alarm after President Trump threatened that it could be his next target. Clarissa Ward is in Colombia for us.

What's the latest, Clarissa?

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That's right, Wolf.

Colombia's President Gustavo Petro firing another salvo President Trump's way in this ongoing war of words between the two presidents, taking aim at the 1825 Monroe Doctrine that President Trump has appropriated, calling it the Donroe Doctrine,

President Petro taking to X and writing that effectively the Monroe Doctrine seeks to make sovereign Latin American nations into colonies. He went on to write -- quote -- "That goes completely against international law. It's the same doctrine around living space that Hitler used and it caused two World Wars."

One could add it's also the same logic that President Putin has used for his aggression in Ukraine, that President Xi has used for possible action in Taiwan. In another post, President Petro went on to say, really calling on American voters, saying help construct an international democratic order, please.

Now, behind the scenes, Wolf, definitely, officials here want to kind of tamp down the rhetoric, the growing animosity between the U.S. and Colombia. CNN spoke to the minister of defense in particular, and they are really focused now on ensuring that 1,400-mile-long border between Colombia and Venezuela is secure.

Some 30,000 Colombian troops have been deployed across it. And while the situation remains relatively calm inside Venezuela, it is certainly very tense. We saw last night some chaotic scenes with sporadic gunfire after some kind of a miscommunication or misunderstanding between various security factions on the ground.

It was quickly resolved, Wolf, but certainly speaks to the fact that people inside Venezuela, and particularly the security forces after what happened to Maduro, are very much on edge. We are also hearing reports of these colectivos, these armed gangs that are loyal to the government, going around, searching cars, rounding up journalists.

And so, for Colombia right now, the priority very much on making sure that border is secure and that these tensions between President Petro and President Trump are subdued, Wolf.

BLITZER: Interesting. Go ahead, Pam.

BROWN: Yes, really important reporting there from Colombia.

I want to go now to Kristen Holmes from the White House.

How did the president address Venezuela in his speech today?

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KRISTEN HOLMES, CNN SENIOR WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, Pamela, there's still a lot of questions about what's next for U.S. involvement in Venezuela, but that didn't stop the president from praising that operation to capture Maduro. Take a listen.

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DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: People are saying it goes down with one of the most incredible -- it was so complex, 152 airplanes, many, many -- talk about boots on the ground. We had a lot of boots on the ground. But it was amazing.

And think of it. Nobody was killed. And on the other side, a lot of people were killed, unfortunately, I say that, soldiers, Cubans, mostly Cubans, but many, many killed. And they were -- they knew we were coming, and they were protected, and our guys weren't. Our guys were jumping out of helicopters, and they're not protected, and they were. But it was so brilliant.

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HOLMES: Now, that's really all he said when it came to Venezuela so far. It is an ongoing speech.

But it doesn't answer the questions that lawmakers have had as well, as many Americans, as to what exactly does this mean for the United States and for Venezuela? So I do want to go through a little bit of what we have gathered, and this is from talking to senior advisers, U.S. officials. We had Stephen Miller on our air yesterday with Jake Tapper.

We have also heard from President Trump. This is currently the U.S. position on Venezuela. Trump, he has said that the U.S. is in charge of Venezuela. He actually said in an interview that he himself was in charge of Venezuela. The U.S. involvement is a -- quote -- "ongoing military operation."

I do want to get back to that in a second. That's something Stephen Miller said. Using control of the Venezuelan economy over leverage or as leverage over new leadership, that was something U.S. officials had told us. It was reiterated by Stephen Miller. That's how they're going to try and get the new acting president, Delcy Rodriguez, to be able to do what the U.S. wants her to do, and that the White House has not ruled out future indictments of Venezuelan officials.

Now, one of the things I do want to quickly note, ongoing military operation, this is completely different from what we had heard from a number of U.S. officials who were saying this wasn't a military operation, that instead this was a law enforcement operation legally. That's why they were saying that.

Now, who is actually running Venezuela? All we know now is that there is a team of people who is in charge of talking about policy and planning for the future. And that includes Marco Rubio, Pete Hegseth, J.D. Vance, Stephen Miller. But yet no one has still been able to tell us what exactly the day-to-day U.S. involvement is going to look like beyond what we know, which is this attempt to try and rebuild the oil infrastructure and try and keep a stable administrative government.

BROWN: And, Kristen, you mentioned the ongoing military operation that we're hearing from the administration.

And I'm wondering, Kylie Atwood, what exactly that means, and who from the U.S. is in charge of that?

KYLIE ATWOOD, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so as Kristen was saying, there are multiple senior officials in the administration who are in charge.

When Trump announced this military operation over the weekend that led to the ouster, the capture of Maduro, he said that the people standing behind him were in charge. That included, as Kristen was saying there, Stephen Miller, who's the deputy White House chief of staff in charge of really homeland security.

It includes the secretary of defense, Pete Hegseth. It also includes J.D. Vance, the vice president. He wasn't there, but we know he's involved. But the tip of the spear here is really Secretary of State Marco Rubio. He's also the acting national security adviser. And we have learned that he has been really critical to crafting this overall policy.

Since he has come into the administration, he has really focused on Central and South America. He is the son of Cuban immigrants, which is a really important piece. And, obviously, the Cuban economy is really fueled by the Venezuelan economy and their oil output there.

And this has been an area that the secretary has really focused on for his entire career. During the first Trump administration, sources told us that Rubio was actively engaged with Trump administration officials at the time, urging them to put more pressure to oust Maduro. Obviously, that didn't come to fruition then, but it has come to fruition now.

And the other thing that we have learned over the course of our reporting is that he really teamed up with Stephen Miller, whose purview is technically homeland security. But Stephen Miller and Rubio really developed this Venezuela policy together. They had many meetings together.

The day-after planning for Venezuela was primarily housed in Stephen Miller's office at the White House. Sources said that's for a number of reasons, the first being this is an administration that's worried about leaks, and they know that there aren't many leaks out of the White House. They are worried about leaks out of the State Department and also because of the trust that Rubio and Miller developed together.

So we will watch and see how this evolves. But as we're trying to figure out the players here and who's going to work below them, we will be looking at Stephen Miller and Secretary of State Marco Rubio as really the leaders on this portfolio.

BLITZER: Kylie Atwood, thank you very, very much. Good reporting, as usual. As usual, Clarissa Ward, thanks to you as well. And, Kristen Holmes, thanks to you. All of you, thank you very much.

Still ahead, there's a lot going on today. The House committee that investigated the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol is reconvening to -- quote -- "set the record straight on the insurrection." We will have the latest on that hearing. That's coming up as well.

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BROWN: Also, the Department of Health and Human Services scrapping several vaccine recommendations for children.

Stay with us. You're in THE SITUATION ROOM.

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BROWN: In Venezuela, the capital city of Caracas is on edge just a few nights after the U.S. captured its president, Nicolas Maduro.

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BROWN: Gunfire can be heard amid reports of confusion between security units. And CNN also verified this video of antiaircraft fire over the city. The government says police were firing at drones that did not have permission to fly.

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Joining us now is CNN senior military analyst Admiral James Stavridis. He commanded the U.S. Southern Command and is a former supreme allied commander of NATO.

Admiral, nice to see you, a lot going on.

So Nicolas Maduro's vice president has been sworn in now to succeed him, at least for the time being, right? So, essentially, the same government remains in power. How volatile is Venezuela right now?

ADM. JAMES STAVRIDIS (RET.), CNN SENIOR MILITARY ANALYST: I think it is still under control. I don't see a civil war breaking out. I don't see massive protests against this move.

So I think there's a reasonable chance, in the short term for Secretary Rubio and the team to go in, work with the remnants of the Maduro folks, and then, over time, Pamela, bring in the opposition and get to free and fair and honest elections, let's say three to six months from now. I think we can land the ship, but it's certainly -- as you can see from the videos you're showing now, it's still a volatile situation. BROWN: Yes, help us better understand that time frame that you

pointed out, because there have been analysts who have pointed out that Trump is not really talking about instilling a democracy right now in Venezuela and holding an election.

Why do you think that should take that amount of time for that to happen?

STAVRIDIS: Simply the logistics of the moment, meaning you have got to have police forces. You have got to have some level of services provided to people. You have to have a functioning society.

And if you're going to have that in this moment, unfortunately, the Maduro regime is still in place. We didn't change the regime, we merely decapitated it. So I think the choice for the United States is, at least in the short term, work with the Maduro folks. You probably are going to move to an amnesty for many of these people.

That's quite typical in Latin America after a change of governance. And then you can begin to thread in those opposition figures, perhaps a transitional government. And if we don't get to free, fair, honest elections in the three-to-six-month time frame, then I think you will start to see this situation unravel.

BROWN: And Stephen Miller, a top White House official, was on our air last night with my colleague Jake Tapper, and he talked about the fact that there is an ongoing military operation there in Venezuela. Does that signal to you that there could be more incursions in Venezuela? What do you make of that?

STAVRIDIS: It does.

And, thankfully, we have no, obvious, anyway, boots on the ground. We have a lot of boots at sea. And I think this is what Stephen Miller was quite clearly referring to. Pamela. There's 15,000 sailors, Marines, Special Forces that are really just a few miles off the coast. Frankly, it's a great example of the power of maritime and naval forces.

You don't have to have them in direct threat zones ashore, but they still act as a kind of hammer offshore that can be reapplied. So, believe me, the Maduro remnants that are still in power know that that force is there. That's kind of the good news. The bad news is, you're burning through money. It's very expensive maintaining that level of forces at sea.

You have got to have the air forces to back them up from distance. And, above all, there is an opportunity cost because those forces are not deterring China. They're not deterring Russia. They're not prepping for Iran. They're not training for the kind of big combat operations.

So there's an opportunity cost and financial cost.

BROWN: So just to broaden this out, in the wake of that raid, President Trump has issued fresh threats to other governments, including Mexico, Cuba, Colombia, Iran, and even Greenland. And on Greenland, that is a territory that Denmark claims, right? Denmark is part of the NATO alliance.

So what would that mean, given the agreement that they all make, all the NATO countries make, that an attack on one is an attack on all?

STAVRIDIS: An attack on Greenland would, in effect, shatter the NATO alliance. I think that's a bad trade-off for the United States.

Look, there's three ways the United States could get Greenland. Number one, you could invade. We could certainly have the military capability to do that, simply claim it. Bad idea. End of NATO. A terrible example through the rest of the world.

Second thing you could do is use soft power. You could work with the Danes, work with the Greenlanders, get proprietary concessions for the rare earths, increase the defense posture around there. And, third and finally, you could buy Greenland.

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Now, that sounds kind of preposterous in today's world, but for anybody who's been to the beautiful U.S. Virgin Islands, where did we get those? We bought them from Denmark about 100 years ago. We bought Alaska. We bought the Louisiana Purchase. So, not impossible to think about a purchase.

I like door number two, kind of work with the Danes, work with the Greenlanders. As the Greenlanders say, we're not for sale, but we're open for business. Let's be the business partner of choice, use soft power. That's how you want to kind of pull Greenland toward the United States.

BROWN: All right, Admiral James Stavridis, always great to have you on and hear your perspective. Thank you so much.

STAVRIDIS: Thanks, Pam.

BLITZER: He knows his stuff. He knows Central America, Latin America.

BROWN: Oh, yes.

BLITZER: He was head of SOUTHCOM, the U.S. military's Southern Command. He knows what's going on.

BROWN: He does.

BLITZER: Right now, a former Uvalde school police officer is on trial for his response to the deadly shooting at Robb Elementary School that killed 21 people, mostly kids.

We will have the latest from the courtroom. That's coming up.

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[11:25:39] BLITZER: Happening right now, members of the former January 6 Select Committee are holding an unofficial hearing to reexamine their findings regarding what happened during that Capitol Hill insurrection.

The discussion comes five years to the day after supporters of Donald Trump stormed the U.S. Capitol, intent on stopping the results of the 2020 presidential election from being certified. The committee found the violence was fueled in part by the urgings of President Trump, who wrongfully insisted that the election was stolen from him.

Last hour, one of the Democratic leaders of the committee spoke about why it's so critical to revisit what happened then. Listen.

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REP. BENNIE THOMPSON (D-MS): Remembering January 6 is not an exercise in partisanship. It's an obligation to those who have sacrificed for this country and all those who will in the future. Democracy depends on the courage of those who will defend it and on our willingness to hold accountable those who wish to destroy it.

Today's forum is another step toward the goal of justice, another way of honoring our oath, another way of showing that our constitutional republic is bigger and stronger than its enemies or one man.

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BROWN: All right, let's go live now to CNN chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju on Capitol Hill.

Manu, what's the reaction been on the Hill to this meeting and this unofficial hearing?

MANU RAJU, CNN CHIEF CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, Republicans are ignoring this altogether, and that is in keeping in how this day, which once unified the two parties, has now led to deep divisions over the last several years, because of -- in large part because of Donald Trump and what he has said about January 6, and what he has called this, a day of love, and defended January 6 rioters, ultimately leading to pardoning all of the January 6 rioters on his first day in his second term in office.

Much different than it was five years ago on this day. I was in this building at that time, and at that point, Republicans and Democrats alike were universally condemning what happened. They were condemning the rioters, but now we're seeing Democrats are having this hearing today.

Remember, they're the minority in the House, so it's now a mock hearing of sorts that's happening in the House. And the House Republican majority, they're in a retreat right now with Donald Trump talking about a whole host of other issues, not on this one.

But perhaps one issue is -- exemplifies the divide over January 6 is the hanging of a plaque that was required under federal law to be done by 2023 in the United States House of Representatives. The speaker of the House has been criticized by Democrats for refusing to hang a plaque commemorating the police officers who defended the Capitol on that day.

And this came up in the hearing earlier today from Congressman Jamie Raskin, who helped investigate the January 6 attack.

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REP. JAMIE RASKIN (D-MD): Republicans today are observing this solemn anniversary by doing exactly nothing. They have even refused to hang up the plaque which a bipartisan congressional majority voted to put up to honor the officers who defended the Capitol and the peaceful transfer of power and the vice president on J6.

It took them 24 hours to put up a new plaque allegedly changing the name of the Kennedy Center to the Trump-Kennedy Center, 24 hours. And that was illegal. That's like graffiti that was put up on the Kennedy Center building. They have a legal requirement to put it up, and I call on Speaker Johnson to put it up today.

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RAJU: And Speaker Johnson's office responded to questions about this just in the past day or so, a spokesperson saying that it's -- quote -- "not implementable" to hang up that commemorative plaque.

Didn't elaborate exactly what was not implementable about it, but went on to say: "If Democrats are serious about commemorating the work of U.S. C.P. Officers, they are free to work with the appropriate committees of jurisdiction to develop a framework for proper vetting and consideration."

So that there, Wolf, just shows you how this day now fundamentally divides the two parties at this moment in the Capitol -- Wolf.

BROWN: Yes, what a change.

BLITZER: Yes.

BROWN: What a change over these last several years.

Manu Raju on Capitol Hill, thank you -- Wolf.

BLITZER: All right, I want to bring in Rahm Emanuel right now. He's CNN senior political and global affairs commentator and former U.S. congressman from Illinois.