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What We Know with Max Foster

E.U. Leaders Agree to New Security Guarantees For Ukraine; Trump Administration Reignites Talk Of U.S. Taking Over Greenland; Trump Celebrates Maduro Capture: "Nobody Can Take Us"; Justice Department: Just 1 Percent Of Epstein Files Released; Iranian Security Forces Target Protests Despite Trump Threats. Aired 3-4p ET

Aired January 06, 2026 - 15:00   ET

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

[15:00:27]

MAX FOSTER, CNN HOST: Can Europe trust Donald Trump?

This is WHAT WE KNOW.

Warnings about Greenland in the morning. Security guarantees for Ukraine at night. That's the reality of dealing with U.S. President Donald Trump for

European leaders in Paris tonight.

The heads of France, the U.K., Germany and Ukraine just finished a news conference on the future of Ukraine alongside top envoys from the White

House. They've agreed to new security guarantees that would see British and French boots on the ground in Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire with

Russia.

All of this against the backdrop of the past few days after the capture of Venezuela's Nicolas Maduro. The White House is again talking about the

annexation of Greenland, sparking outrage from some European governments. Some of those leaders were pressed repeatedly as to whether the U.S. could

still be trusted.

Britain's prime minister insists they can.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

KEIR STARMER, BRITISH PRIME MINISTER: The relationship between the U.K. and the U.S. is one of our closest relationships, particularly on issues on

defense, security and intelligence. And we work with the U.S. 24/7 on those issues.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: These efforts to get a Western agreement on Ukraine comes as a rift develops between the U.S. and Europe about Greenland. Seven European

leaders, including the U.K., France, Germany and Denmark took the unusual step today of telling Washington to stop talking about taking over

Greenland, which is a Danish territory. The Europeans issued a joint statement saying the kingdom of Denmark, including Greenland, is part of

NATO.

Greenland belongs to its people. It is for Denmark and Greenland and them only to decide on matters concerning Denmark and Greenland.

CNN's Melissa Bell joins us live from Paris.

It was extraordinary, wasn't it, Melissa, looking at that press conference and the tightrope these leaders were walking.

MELISSA BELL, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT; That's right, Max, at the very moment when NATO unity was being reaffirmed on Ukraine, of

course, there was this specter of Greenland, which would seriously divide NATO, even perhaps, Max, threaten it in its entirety. In the end, it was

not discussed at all in this meeting of some two dozen heads of state, Mark Rutte, the secretary general of NATO, was there, as well as were members

including Ursula von der Leyen of the European commission and a number of senior diplomats as well.

It was the first time a Europeans insisted on this, the French presidency, that the American emissaries, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff had attended

one of these meetings of the coalition of the willing that had been going on now for 11 months, sometimes in Paris, sometimes elsewhere. It was the

first time they attended in person, and that does appear to have borne its fruit.

What's emerged are these guarantees, binding guarantees that they believe they can offer to Ukraine in the shape of a multilateral force on the

ground, far away from the contact line that would involve British and French troops. A monitoring mechanism of that contact line that would fall

under the leadership of the United States. We had a chance, Max, to catch up with Mark Rutte, the secretary general of NATO just after the meeting,

and we were able to ask him more.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BELL: Could you tell us more about the role the United States would play? We've been hearing a lot about the backstop and what it would look like.

What does it look like now after this meeting?

MARK RUTTE, NATO SECRETARY GENERAL: Generally speaking, it means that when it comes to building up the Ukrainian armed forces, making sure that if

there has to be some surveillance of a ceasefire and a line of contact, that the U.S. will play a big role, making sure that if, the Russians would

attack again, it is clear that then all of us, the Europeans, but also just have to make sure, of course, that first of all, Ukrainian armed forces,

but if necessary, also the others will prevent Russia from being successful.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BELL: This was from the point of view of those gathered here in Paris today, the big breakthrough that, unlike the Minsk agreements of a few

years ago, they have a genuine, they believe, steadfast plan that would give these guarantees to Ukraine. The big question now, of course, what

happens when this latest agreement comes back to Moscow? And how far negotiations can actually begin on those sticking points where that contact

line lies, of course, Max. But also the question that so far Moscow has been very clear on that they wouldn't accept NATO boots on the ground.

Today in Paris, a declaration was signed between President Zelenskyy, Keir Starmer and President Macron, there will be French and British troops on

the ground with that American backed mechanism for insurance, ensuring that peace remains in Ukraine.

[15:05:03]

The question whether or not at this stage the Russians will accept it -- Max.

FOSTER: Melissa Bell in Paris -- thank you.

Well, the White House is continuing its pressure campaign to take control of Greenland. It calls Greenland a strategically important location and

says the U.S. is best equipped to protect it. A Danish parliament member tells CNN, the White House needs to brush up on its history before meddling

in Greenland's affairs.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RASMUS JARLOV, DANISH PARLIAMENT MEMBER: And since 1380, so for 646 years, Greenland has belonged to Denmark, uninterrupted and undisputed the entire

time. So, this may be one of the most well-established ownerships of territory in the world. It is not disputed by anyone. It has never been

disputed by the United States themselves.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump is hailing the military operation that ended with the capture of ex-Venezuelan leader

Nicolas Maduro. In a speech to House Republicans today, Mr. Trump celebrated the American forces that carried out that mission.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

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. You know, our guys are jumping out of

helicopters and you're not protected. And they were, but it was so brilliant.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Let's bring in Jeff Zeleny now, because, Jeff, we were looking at that press conference earlier that was meant to be about Ukraine, but

people were talking about Greenland. And that's off the back of what happened in Venezuela. There are countries outside the U.S. very concerned

that that capture of Maduro is a precedent that might affect other countries.

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF U.S. NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Well, I think concern would certainly be warranted given the events of the weekend in

Venezuela. It certainly. I mean, for all the talk we hear from President Trump, he's long talked about Greenland going back to his first term in

office. But I think now this is an entirely different moment and matter, indeed.

The reality here is that the Trump administration and a few advisers, and certainly the president's own volition here, he wants to control the

Western Hemisphere. He's been quite blunt about it. So, the bigger questions are, what would become of the NATO alliance?

I mean, as we all know, President Trump has very little respect and regard for the NATO alliance. He's talked about it extensively during his first

year in office, and certainly he did during his first four years in office. I think a bigger question is President Trump still has yet to make the case

for why the Venezuela operation was in the national interests of the United States. Yes, it was an arrest of a Maduro, and certainly many can celebrate

the actual military operation. It was quite remarkable indeed.

But in terms of making the case to the American public, why it's necessary, President Trump has spent very little, if any time doing that. The same

with Greenland. He talks extensively about needing it for you know, to protect against a Russia and China, but rarely mentions there actually are

U.S. military bases on the ground there. So, it's unclear if this is something that the president is very serious about. But certainly, he has

to be taken seriously here.

But it's also a distraction for many other things that are on his plate. First and foremost, the affordability of crisis in the United States, the

looming midterm election, situation facing Republicans and of course, the release of the Epstein files. So, that doesn't mean all these things can't

be true at once. But it is true that the president would much rather talk about Greenland than many other immediate challenges right before him.

FOSTER: It also puts NATO in an impossible situation, doesn't it? Because Venezuela isn't a member of NATO. Greenland is and, you know, it raises the

question of a NATO member invading another NATO member and how the rest of NATO responds to that.

ZELENY: It is really, really hard to get your mind around how the rest of the NATO alliance would respond to that, because, of course, an attack

against one is an attack against all, but not written in the language is if the attack is done by one. So, I think, you know, only recent history here

in the United States after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, when the NATO allies came to the aid of the U.S., that was the moment for the alliance to become

a show, its importance, I guess. I mean, to use, the metaphor.

So, it's unclear what would happen except simply destroy the alliance. I mean, it would just absolutely. It's hard to imagine NATO even existing if

President Trump decided to attack Greenland or somehow consume Greenland.

[15:10:05]

So again, it is unclear if how well thought out this is. Again, he's talked about it for a very long time. And the one difference is, I think for

Venezuela is the oil factor. Venezuela, is certainly that seems to be the chief reason that President Trump is very eager.

But of course, that is complicated as well. The U.S. oil companies have barely jumped at the idea of going in there. I mean, so many complications,

so many questions about the stability of the government and who's even running the country.

So never mind all these other countries that the president is throwing out. He has many questions to answer about Venezuela.

FOSTER: Jeff Zeleny, appreciate it. Thank you.

ZELENY: Sure.

FOSTER: Well, as the Trump administration openly mulls military action in other countries, one of Venezuela's neighbors is pushing back. Colombian

President Gustavo Petro has accused the Trump administration of colonialist ambitions. He's vowing to take up arms if the U.S. attacks. Colombia's

acting foreign minister says there's a meeting today with the U.S. representative in Colombia. She's expected to file a sharp response to

American officials.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ROSA YOLANDA VILLAVICENCIO, ACTING COLOMBIAN FOREIGN MINISTER: We have also stated that we reject all threats made against any country, and that

we reject colonial style administrations once we have achieved national sovereignty. An offense against the president is an offense against our

country and a violation of all the democratic processes which have been going on for years. This is our position.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: For more on the tensions between the U.S. and Colombia, CNN's Clarissa Ward reports from Bogota.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: 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, 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 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.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Well, coming up, is it too late for Maria Corina Machado? The Venezuelan opposition leader plans to return home soon, but the White House

says putting her in charge would be absurd.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:16:42]

FOSTER: As questions swirled over who is actually running things in Venezuela. Tensions there are mounting and security forces loyal to former

President Nicolas Maduro are patrolling the streets, looking to prevent anyone from celebrating his capture. The country's interior minister posted

these videos online.

After receiving a classified briefing on Venezuela. The U.S. senate majority leader says he's now hopeful that acting President Delcy Rodriguez

can work with the United States in what he describes as a constructive way. Adding to the tension, video verified by CNN that shows anti-aircraft fire

over Caracas. Sources saying some of the gunfire near the presidential palace was related to confusion between paramilitary groups tied to the

regime.

Stefano Pozzebon is in Bogota. He's usually in Venezuela, of course.

Just explain to us what's playing out, Stefano, within the country right now.

STEFANO POZZEBON, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Pulling out, Max, is essentially the new person in charge, Delcy Rodriguez, Nicolas Maduro's own vice president,

asserting her new authority as the new acting head of state. For now, acting head of state. Given that one way or another, the Venezuelan should

go to an election to elect the replacement of the former president, who is now sitting at the metropolitan detention center in in Brooklyn, New York.

However, Delcy Rodriguez, asserting her authority, when it comes to Venezuela, the president normally asserts that their authority by sending

out security forces wearing balaclava, questioning regular citizens about their political allegiances.

And that's why we're seeing those videos of Diosdado Cabello, the interior minister, clearly an ambitious man who has been at the center at the core

of the Venezuelan government since at least 1999, shouting out slogans similar to the ones that was in the video that you played in the lead, one

of them says, "Never traitors, always loyal," loyal, of course, to whoever is in charge in Miraflores, the presidential palace. And now the person in

charge is Delcy Rodriguez.

For example, today, on Tuesday, Rodriguez held a meeting with the high council of food sovereignty. Clearly a key area of concern for a nation

where over 80 percent of the population still live below the poverty line is food security. And so, Delcy Rodriguez wanted to put her stamp on that

particular area of concern, but also we are learning, after the last half an hour or so from sources that told "Reuters" that envoys from Rodriguez

are already holding conversations with envoys from the White House on how to boost the exports of Venezuelan crude to the United States.

One of those areas of cooperation so close to Donald Trump's heart that, of course, Delcy Rodriguez knows that she will need to check in -- to check

that box in order to keep her job as the current acting president of Venezuela, as her predecessor faces drug charges up in the United States --

Max.

FOSTER: Okay, Stefano, appreciate it. Thank you very much. A few communication problems there, but we got there in the end.

The Venezuelan opposition figure, Maria Corina Machado, says she plans to return to Venezuela soon as she's long been touted as a possible future

president, but has been in hiding for over a year.

[15:20:00]

Machado hasn't been back to Venezuela since accepting her Nobel Peace Prize Award in Norway last month. At a Fox News interview, she defended her

decision to dedicate that award to Donald Trump.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

INTERVIEWER: I mean, it's not very usual that people will dedicate the Nobel Peace Prize to the leader of a different country and say publicly, he

deserves this more than I do. But you did that.

MARIA CORINA MACHADO, VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION LEADER: Let me be very clear. As soon as I learned that we had been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, I

dedicated to President Trump, because I believe that at that point that he deserved it.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: But it's unclear if that message will resonate with the White House.

Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller telling CNN, giving Machado the presidency isn't on the cards

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STEPHEN MILLER, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF: It would be absurd and preposterous for us to suddenly fly her into the country and to put her in

charge, and the military would follow her and the security forces would follow her?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well, what we don't know then is, has Maria Corina Machado missed her moment?

Joining me now is Christopher Sabatini, senior fellow for Latin America at Chatham House.

Thank you so much for joining us.

CHRISTOPHER SABATINI, SENIOR FELLOW FOR LATIN AMERICAN, CHATHAM HOUSE: Thank you.

FOSTER: I mean, the impression we were getting was that Machado was completely being supported in many different ways by America. Suddenly, she

loses that support. What's the word on what went wrong there with the relationship?

SABATINI: Two things fundamentally went wrong. First is that it wasn't really so much the relationship, but so much is the Trump administration

wanting to avoid potential chaos. But the first thing that happened was all along the buildup that's been occurring over the last six months of the

navy, off the U.S. navy, off the coast of Venezuela. Maria Corina Machado, the opposition, was telling Marco Rubio and the White House that, you know,

the fall of Maduro was imminent, that there would be a palace coup. They only needed to rattle their sabers a bit.

That obviously didn't occur. And so, Donald Trump was stuck with the situation, which he had to then extract Nicolas Maduro. But the second

reason is, is that, quite frankly, Stephen Miller in this case has a point.

To fly in an outside leader, and let's be honest, Maria Corina Machado has the support of the Venezuelan people. Her candidate overwhelmingly won the

election in 2024. That was stolen from them by the Maduro government.

But right now, for her to inherit a regime, an entire apparatus that over the last two decades has been built by a single party state, and that is --

was the party created by Hugo Chavez. And then, of course, Nicolas Maduro, a member, is a very difficult proposition because you would simply be just

be decapitating a head of state and putting in someone else.

I understand the legitimacy of Maria Corina Machado's claims to the presidency, or at least claims to be able to be in the government, but I

think right now, quite frankly, the Trump administration made a pretty wise decision.

FOSTER: They would have had conversations, obviously, with Maduro's deputy ahead of him going, I'm assuming, would she have promised access to oil to

get his support? I mean, how would she have got into that position?

SABATINI: Well, first of all, Delcy Rodriguez, the vice president who's now the acting president, she's always been the public face of this

administration. The Maduro administration, she's negotiated with oil companies, she's negotiated with bondholders of Venezuelan debt. She has a

team of economists, which is actually a rarity in this government, believe it or not. But so, she's always been seen as somewhat of a technocrat.

And I think, quite frankly, because she's seen as being close to the private sector. In fact, quite frankly, a number of the oil companies that

have been in touch with her are close to Donald Trump. So, there's a certain sense of they could trust her and that she was a known quantity

among a lot of the investors.

So I'm not sure she promised anything up front, but I'm sure that she knew precisely what would be, if you will, the price of her acquiescence.

FOSTER: If there was to be an election, would Machado win? And where would that put America?

SABATINI: So hopefully, that's where we're moving right now, first of all, to an election, although a lot has to be done, including, if you will,

disarticulating the security apparatus, creating the conditions for free and fair elections. If we get to that point and if Maria Corina Machado

this time is allowed to run because she won the primary in 2023 but wasn't allowed to run as a presidential candidate because of the Maduro controlled

Supreme Court prohibited her.

If she were to run this time and there should not be a ban this time. Yes, I think quite frankly, she would -- she would win. She's a Nobel Peace

Prize laureate. She proved her courage. She proved her logistical expertise in monitoring the elections in 2024, which is a vast network of civil

society activists.

She is the real deal. And I think, quite frankly, she's the most popular person right now in Venezuela.

FOSTER: Okay, Christopher Sabatini, really appreciate your insights, as ever. Thank you for joining us.

SABATINI: Thank you.

FOSTER: Still to come, a top aide to President Trump lays out the case to justify American imperialism, even against a NATO ally.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:28:27]

FOSTER: Well, U.S. President Donald Trump's new world order shapes up in Venezuela. He's also warning other sovereign nations. Mr. Trump has

repeatedly said the U.S. needs Greenland from the standpoint of national security. He told Mexico to, quote, get their act together. He specifically

threatened Venezuela's neighbor, Colombia. And he promised that Iran would get hit very hard if it killed protesters.

These hostile words risk materializing into action after what we saw this weekend in Caracas. It all suddenly feels very real.

The White House deputy chief of staff has -- has a blunt explanation on why the Trump administration has the right to control weaker countries or

territories, including Greenland.

Here's what Stephen Miller told CNN's Jake Tapper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MILLER: We live in a world in which you can -- you can talk all you want about international niceties and everything else. But we live in a world in

the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power. These are the iron laws of the world.

JAKE TAPPER, CNN HOST: But are you saying that --

MILLER: -- since the beginning of time. The United States --

TAPPER: But in terms of day to day operations in Venezuela, that is president -- acting President Rodriguez, right? It's not some sort of

American emissary.

MILLER: No. What I'm saying is, and we'll keep going here, Jake. So I want to say what I'm saying, and you'll follow up.

But what I'm saying is just one level above that, which is that, by definition, we are in charge because we have the United States military

stationed outside the country.

[15:30:03]

We set the terms and conditions. We have a complete embargo on all of their oil and their ability to do commerce. So, for them to do commerce, they

need our permission for them to be able to run an economy. They need our permission.

So, the United States is in charge. The United States is running --

TAPPER: So --

MILLER: -- the country during this transition period.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: So, what we want to know, is Donald Trump's world governed by force, in the words of Stephen Miller?

Joining me now is CNN politics senior reporter Stephen Collinson. I mean, it was an absolutely fascinating interview, wasn't it, because it gave us

this insight into the White House's perspective on its global position?

STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN POLITICS SENIOR REPORTER: Yeah. And I think this is not just a reverse, a reversal of almost everything America has stood for

in the last 80 years. It tells us something about how American foreign policy has become almost the personification of Donald Trump's belligerent

character. The idea here is that the United States is stronger than anybody else.

So, it therefore has the right to enforce its will on a weaker party, especially in the Western Hemisphere, where obviously it's the biggest and

most dominant power. How that works when you talk about Europe and especially China and the Pacific, is another question. But Miller basically

here is saying that the United States is going to run the Western Hemisphere.

Notice in his interview there, he didn't at all talk about the sovereignty of individual nations. What right the United States has to run Venezuela to

give it permission to enact commerce. All that matters is American interests. What doesn't matter is the sovereignty of other countries and

the international laws, which the United States itself was the dominant figure in writing after the Second World War.

FOSTER: I guess it's how the world used to work, right? Hundreds of years ago, I guess.

COLLINSON: Yeah.

FOSTER: They're just going back to that. But what you're saying is that that peace project after World War II is disintegrating.

COLLINSON: Right. That was based on the idea. Right back to the Atlantic charter agreed between Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt that big, powerful

countries did not have the sovereign right to dictate or swallow up smaller countries. This, of course, is an issue that's right at the heart of the

push for peace with Ukraine and why many people are worried that Trump is leaning towards Russia rather than the party that was actually invaded

Ukraine.

I think Donald Trump is very different from almost every other modern American president. He's a throwback to an equally authentic version of

American presidents of the 19th century, who were seeking to acquire land in places like Louisiana, for example, who used tariffs, who pursued

mercantilism and tried to use American strength, especially in the Western Hemisphere, to create dominance. He's a 19th century gilded age president I

think in many ways much different than the internationalists that almost exclusively, apart from his own first term, have been in the White House

since 1945.

FOSTER: So he's talking about the western hemisphere, because obviously the other hemisphere is dominated by the other global power. But in the

Western Hemisphere, he then comes up against Russia, right? And the great defense against Russia is NATO. That's why European leaders are so

concerned about this attack on Greenland, because as we were hearing from a guest earlier you know, an attack on Greenland would be -- would collapse

NATO effectively because it would be two NATO countries at war.

COLLINSON: That's right. And I think -- so, the Trump Miller argument is that the United States can defend NATO better than Denmark can, or the

European union can. In many ways, that's a facile argument, because Greenland is already NATO territory. As Stephen Miller pointed out in that

interview, the United States is the biggest power in NATO. If Washington wanted to reinforce that territory, it has every ability to do so. It

already has a base there. It has an agreement with Denmark. The alliance could make a decision to reinforce Greenland.

So that kind of makes you think, okay, so what is this really about? There are a lot of rare earth minerals in Greenland. That's a key focus of

Trump's foreign policy elsewhere. And in many ways, I think this is a president who wants wins and acquisitions.

It seems silly, but it's not that different from when he puts his name on the Kennedy Center. He wants something else to put onto his legacy. He

wants to be seen as one of those presidents that expanded the territory of the United States.

[15:35:03]

That I think, is just as much what this is about as Trump making some deep strategic calculation that the United States needs to have Greenland, as he

says it, for its own security.

FOSTER: Stephen, thank you.

COLLINSON: Thanks.

FOSTER: U.S. stocks are brushing off any geopolitical fears meanwhile, rising to record highs. The Dow has been up for almost an entire session

getting ever closer to 50,000 points.

This is our Business Breakout.

Cold weather causing massive disruption at Amsterdam's main airport, with one airline saying it's running out of deicing fluid. KLM says it's been

using deicer around the clock, but its supplier can no longer guarantee new deliveries. Hundreds of flights have already been canceled.

China has banned the export of some rare earths and other items to Japan. Tensions between the two countries have grown since November, when the

Japanese prime minister warned of a possible military response to any Chinese invasion of Taiwan. A Chinese government spokesperson said the new

restrictions were in direct response to those remarks.

Hilton says it's taking immediate action after the Department of Homeland Security complained that its agents were being refused service at one of

its hotels. DHS posted screenshots that appeared to show immigration agents being told they weren't welcome at a Hampton Inn property in Minneapolis.

The hotel, which is independently owned and operated, is now being removed from the Hilton system.

The U.S. Energy Department says Secretary Chris Wright is set to meet with oil executives this week to discuss a possible return to Venezuela for

their companies. Chevron is currently the only U.S. run oil company in the South American country, as CNN's Brian Todd reports, now, years of

underinvestment and economic crisis have left Venezuela's oil industry in a state of disarray.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BRIAN TODD, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Following the dramatic capture of Nicolas Maduro, President Trump put it bluntly America was taking over

the running of an underperforming oil power.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's been horribly run. The oil is just flowing at a very low level.

TODD (voice-over): Why are Venezuela's oil reserves so important to the U.S.? Analysts say it's not just that Venezuela has the largest oil

reserves in the world, sitting on over 300 billion barrels of crude, but it now has the potential to eventually reclaim its status as one of the

world's top oil producers, with a type of oil that fits America's needs and capabilities to a T.

CLAYTON SEIGLE, SENIOR FELOW, CENTER FOR STRATEGIC & INTERNTIONAL STUDIES: Venezuela's particular kind of crude oil, which we call extra heavy, is a

perfect match for the sophisticated oil refineries that the U.S. energy companies have invested in and built in the Gulf Coast.

TODD (voice-over): In the hours after Maduro's capture, President Trump made this claim about Venezuela's oil trading history with America.

TRUMP: It was the greatest theft in the history of America. Nobody has ever stolen our property like they have. They took our oil away from us.

They took the infrastructure away.

TODD (voice-over): Experts say it's not true that Venezuela stole America's oil. The oil itself, they say, was always Venezuela's.

But one analyst says part of Trump's claim is correct that Venezuela did expropriate some of the assets and infrastructure of American oil companies

in Venezuela.

SEIGLE: There were two major rounds of expropriations. One of them was in the `70s, and another one was in the early to mid-2000s under Chavez, the

former strongman.

TODD (voice-over): It was under Hugo Chavez, analysts say, that Venezuela's status as an oil power began to spiral.

BOB MCNALLY, PRESIDENT, RAPIDAN ENERGY GROUP: A communist dictator came in, nationalized the resources, kicked out most of the U.S. companies, and

then invited the Russians and the Chinese to come in. And then he -- he didn't organize and plan and run the wells well, so he ran the system into

the ground.

TODD (voice-over): Then Maduro ran it further into the ground, to the point where now Venezuela produces less than 1 percent of the world's crude

oil.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

TODD (on camera): How long will it take to revitalize that decaying operation, as President Trump has promised to do? Well, despite Trump's

promise that U.S. oil companies are ready to race back into Venezuela, CNN has learned that they've been hesitant to commit to that. Experts say those

companies will want to see some real political stability there first, and that could take years, if not decades.

Brian Todd, CNN, Washington.

FOSTER: Still to come, the U.S. Justice Department says it's still reviewing two million documents relating to Jeffrey Epstein. Next, why they

haven't been released yet.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[15:42:42]

FOSTER: The U.S. Justice Department has released less than 1 percent of its files relating to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The

department had until December 19th to release all of its files. So far, the DOJ has released just more than 12,000 files.

However, Attorney General Pam Bondi says more than two million documents are still being reviewed.

CNN senior reporter Marshall Cohen is with me.

I mean, to see the extent of the files they've got on their hands is extraordinary. We haven't seen anything yet, have we, it feels like. But

the Justice Department does, to be fair, have a massive job on their hands.

MARSHALL COHEN, CNN SENIOR REPORTER: They do, Max, and they are begging for more time and more patience because, as you said, there might be two

million documents still out there.

So let's just zoom out for a second and remind everybody that Congress passed a law in November requiring everything to be released within one

month. Now, that's a difficult time frame to adhere to. If there's millions of documents and you have four weeks to get it out, you're probably not

going to meet the deadline. And clearly, the DOJ didn't meet the deadline.

But they did reveal in a court filing yesterday some details about what is going on behind the scenes to try to get this stuff out. So I'll just go

through some numbers here for you, Max, the Justice Department said more than 12,000 documents have already been released, which is over 125,000

pages, but nothing has come out for the last two weeks. And that's because there are as many as two million still out there that FBI agents and

justice department lawyers are reviewing, page by page, to make sure that they don't accidentally release anything about the victims.

The good news about that two million figure, Max, is that the Justice Department thinks a lot of them might be duplicates, which should speed up

the process.

One thing I should note, though, that the Justice Department did acknowledge in that filing last night was that there were some documents

and some materials that victims, Epstein victims believed should have been redacted that, quote, "unfortunately" were not when they were first

released. But the DOJ says that they have been working hard to. Whenever anyone raises a concern to take it off the Internet, scrub it, redact it,

and then repost it with the correct redactions.

[15:45:05]

One more thing the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, Jay Clayton, said in this filing a little bit about the efforts to get this

material out, quote, "The goal of these efforts is to facilitate the release of materials under the act, promptly and to continue to protect

victim privacy to the maximum extent possible. Max, they say they are working in good faith. They say they are trying to comply with the law.

But I got to tell you, just in the last hour, a group of senators sent a letter to the Justice Department inspector general, the in-house watchdog

at the DOJ, asking for an investigation to audit whether the DOJ is complying with the law.

And, Max, it wasn't just a bunch of Democratic senators sending that letter. There is one Republican on it, Lisa Murkowski from Alaska. So, this

is a bipartisan call for more scrutiny into the rollout of the Epstein files.

FOSTER: It's interesting. Marshall, thank you.

Still to come tonight, officials in Iran cracking down on protests despite warnings from the U.S. We'll have the latest.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

FOSTER: The monitoring group Iran Human Rights is reporting at least 27 protesters, including five teenagers under the age of 18, have been killed

amid a crackdown, a government crackdown in Iran. There are reports government forces have carried out widespread arrests and the number of

people detained now exceeding 1,000.

Iran is amongst the countries now facing U.S. President Donald Trump's threats, he says if the government starts killing people, then they are,

quote, going to get hit very hard by the United States.

CNN's Paula Hancocks has more

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

PAULA HANCOCKS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): A female protestor is dragged from a street in Tehran.

Demonstrators run for cover as gun fire is heard in Malekshahi, a city in Iran's Western Ilam province. It is a familiar and brutal response to

nationwide protests now in their second week.

The Iranian currency is collapsing, inflation rising, and the cost of living becoming hard to bear, shopkeepers, traders and students on the

streets blame government mismanagement. Officials say publicly they are willing to talk.

[15:50:00]

SANAM VAKIL, CHATHAM HOUSE: The government is trying to be more amenable to dialogue. President Pezeshkian has offered to mediate and engage his

acknowledged responsibility.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): But as the president offers dialog, the security forces are cracking down. Attacking protesters holed up in this hospital in

Ilam.

Social media footage shows forces inside looking for injured protesters and those trying to hide.

The U.S. State Department said, quote, "The assault on the injured with tear gas and live ammunition is a blatant crime against humanity."

The U.S. president has already threatened to step in if protesters are killed.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We're watching it very closely. If they start killing people like they have in the past, I think

they're going to get hit very hard by the United States.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): A move against the Iranian regime that Israel's prime minister has been encouraging.

ESMAIL BAGHAEI, IRANIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY SPOKESMAN: Actions or statements raised by figures such as the Prime Minister of the Zionist regime or some

radical American officials regarding Iran's Internal Affairs amount under international norms to nothing more than incitement to violence, incitement

to terrorism and incitement to killing.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): U.S. military attacks on Venezuela over the weekend and the capture of President Nicolas Maduro will be watched closely in

Tehran.

VAKIL: I think Venezuela adds icing to a really clearly baked cake for Iran. The Islamic Republic has learned the hard way that President Trump is

unpredictable.

HANCOCKS (voice-over): Although the Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei does still have some support, there are increasing calls for his removal,

both inside and outside the country.

Paula Hancocks, CNN, Abu Dhabi.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Meanwhile, scores of foreign tourists are stranded on a remote Yemeni island after a rising tension on the mainland disrupted travel

there. Socotra is about 300 kilometers, or 180 miles south of Yemen's coast. While CNN can't independently verify exactly how many are stranded,

European and American travelers on the island told CNN, there are hundreds and several days of waiting has taken a toll.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TIZIANA CASONATO, STRANDED ITALIAN TOURIST: If it is a delay of one day, two days, you can accept it. But now, it's becoming a problem for all of us

because we must go back to work and it will cause a lot of problems to all of us because we have activities, we have jobs that we cannot go back to.

ADRIANA RUFLI, STRANDED ITALIAN TOURIST: Unfortunately, we stumbled upon this situation of ongoing geopolitical issues that have been affecting us

for a few days now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Well-known for its dramatic cliffs, white beaches, exotic plant life, Socotra island has long been shielded from regional conflict, making

it a hub for tourism. But last week, fighting between Saudi-backed and UAE- backed forces led to closure of all ports of entry.

The Swiss bar hit by a deadly New Year's Eve fire, hadn't had a mandatory fire inspection for five years. Swiss prosecutors have opened a criminal

investigation after 40 people died in that blaze. The town's mayor says he deeply regrets the council failed to inspect the bar.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

NICOLAS FERAUD, PRESIDENT, CRANS-MONTANA: In accordance with Article Eight, paragraph two of the order on fire prevention measures, the

municipal safety officer must carry out an annual inspection of the public establishments. As you can see, the periodic inspection was not carried out

between 2020 and 2025. The municipal council became aware of this fact by consulting the documents submitted to the public prosecutor's office this

weekend. We deeply regret this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

FOSTER: Meanwhile, on the slopes above the ski resort, a touching tribute to those who died, skiers forming a heart on Sunday in memory of the

victims.

In Berlin, thousands of people have been left without power in the freezing cold, and fixing the problem could take days. This, after an attack on the

power grid claimed by leftist extremists.

One of the people affected was CNN's Fred Pleitgen. Even without electricity, he did manage, though, to file this report.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: We have a bit of a situation here in the south of Berlin after an attack on the power

grid. There is a severe power outage that is going to be going on for several days, possibly almost a week. And we have no power, no heating.

Luckily, we still have running water. And now, we've also been hit by an arctic blast.

So at the moment, the temperatures are about minus two to minus three during the day, minus eight, minus nine, minus 10 during the night.

[15:55:00]

So right now, we're all pretty much in survival mode. What I've done so far is I've bought these two generators that I'll show you right now. And I

want to apologize to the neighbors for all the noise that's out there. But, yeah, right now, we really have no other way to get any sort of electricity

into our house.

There's been a claim of responsibility for all this by a group called the Vulkan Group, which allegedly is fighting against rich people and for the

environment. Let me just show you some of the places that are suffering right now. That over there is a refugee shelter where people are hanging

their groceries out the windows so that they don't go bad.

Behind me now, you will see that there is a daycare facility. Obviously, the kids can't go there, meaning a lot of parents have their kids at home

in this very difficult time.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

FOSTER: Fred Pleitgen there reporting, not watching the show.

That's WHAT WE KNOW though. Stay with CNN. We have more after the break.

END

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