Return to Transcripts main page

CNN News Central

CIA Conducted Drone Strike on Port Facility in Venezuela; Pipe Bomb Suspect's Lawyers Argue He Should Be Released Pending Trial; Mamdani's Net Favorable in New York City. Aired 8:00-8:30a ET

Aired December 30, 2025 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

MARY SCHIAVO, CNN TRANSPORTATION ANALYST: And of course, one of the things we all talked about back then was the -- able to locate through pingers underwater. Those have improved, better batteries. So things have changed.

OMAR JIMENEZ, CNN ANCHOR: Yes. Well, we'll see what results come this time around, but certainly a search to keep an eye on. Mary Schiavo, appreciate you taking the time.

All right, a new hour of CNN NEWS CENTRAL starts right now.

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Breaking overnight, a CNN exclusive, the CIA carrying out a drone attack on Venezuelan soil. It's the first known U.S. strike inside that country. Is this about the Trump administration's drug war or a move towards forcing regime change? We'll break it all down for you.

Plus, we are learning more about the crash that injured former world champion boxer Anthony Joshua and left two of his close friends dead. The latest report on his injuries.

And how this brand new dash cam video could be the key to finding the missing teenager in Texas who vanished on Christmas Eve.

I'm Sara Sidner with Omar Jimenez. John Berman and Kate Bolduan are both out today. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

JIMENEZ: All right, we're going to start with the CNN exclusive this morning. Sources exclusively telling CNN that the CIA carried out a drone strike on a Venezuelan port facility. It's the first known U.S. attack on a target inside Venezuela. Now, President Trump first acknowledged the strike in an interview last week.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: And we just knocked out -- I don't know if you read or you saw, they have a big plant or a big facility where they send the -- you know, where the ships come from. Two nights ago, we knocked that out, so we hit them very hard.

(END VIDEO CLIP) JIMENEZ: Now, this comes after months of U.S. strikes on suspected drug boats in international waters off the coast of Venezuela. And just yesterday, the U.S. military conducted yet another deadly strike on a suspected drug trafficking boat, this one in the eastern Pacific Ocean.

I'm going to bring in CNN's Zach Cohen, who joins us now. So Zach, what can you tell us about these latest details that we know and obviously how it fits into the wider context of what the United States has been doing in terms of Venezuela the last few months in particular?

ZACHARY COHEN, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER: Yes, Omar, this CIA drone strike appears to be a major escalation. And it's one that Donald Trump, the U.S. president, has been projecting for several weeks now as he's been threatening strikes against targets on land inside Venezuela. But now we're learning through sources that that has actually happened.

And it does appear to signal an aggressive new phase of this ongoing pressure campaign against Venezuela. leader Nicholas Maduro. That's somebody who you may remember White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles in an interview with Vanity Fair recently said Donald Trump wants to push Nicholas Maduro out of power, and this CIA strike, this covert operation, appears to be a step in that direction.

We're learning through sources, though, that this strike was carried out earlier this month on a facility located on the coast of Venezuela. It appears to be a port and a dock-type facility, one that the U.S. believes was being used by the gang Tren de Aragua to load drugs onto ships and for transport. And this facility was vacant at the time of the strike, we're told. So because of that, there were no casualties.

But still, this is a movement in a more aggressive. direction by the U.S., which has really focused its strikes on those alleged drug boats in international waters to date. And I think it's important to note, too, that the way that this came to light is really remarkable as well. If Donald Trump had not let it slip effectively in that radio interview that there was a U.S. strike of some sort on a target on land in Venezuela, we may have never found out about this.

And CIA operations are typically really shrouded in secrecy, so that makes this revelation even more remarkable as we're continuing to watch the U.S. carry out those boat strikes. You mentioned the Pentagon announcing its own additional strike on an alleged drug boat in international waters just yesterday. They've killed over 100 people, alleged drug traffickers, in these strikes.

But still really not providing much evidence to support the claim that these boats are carrying drugs that are destined for the United States. And that's something that continues to raise questions both about the strategy the Trump administration is trying to put into place and also the legality of this military operation.

JIMENEZ: Yes, just another -- the latest development, I should say, in what's been an ongoing dynamic between these two countries. Zach Cohen, appreciate the reporting as always -- Sara.

SIDNER: Thank you so much, Omar. Joining us now, CNN global affairs analyst Kim Dozier and Brett McGurk. Thank you to both of you for being here early this morning. Kim, in this latest strike inside Venezuela, do you see this as the U.S. pushing further toward a potential war with Venezuela?

[08:05:00]

It's the first time they have hit land.

KIMBERLY DOZIER, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, it seems that this is part of the slow ratcheting up of pressure on Maduro militarily. Everything short of actually putting boots on the ground, which Donald Trump knows his base doesn't want. All of America doesn't want to get lost in another forever war because Venezuela is vast, and that is likely what it could become.

But It's hard to see how hitting one dock does more than frustrates the narco-terrorist operation, to use the Trump administration's term of art. However, it is in a performative way. It shows that Trump is doing something off the coast of Venezuela with all those ships there.

SIDNER: Yes, Brett, this was covert until Donald Trump talked about it. What does it suggest using the CIA to carry out the drone strikes?

BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Yes, Sara, I've been around covert operations and overt operations. A covert operation, it's known inside the U.S. government as a Title 50 operation. That's the code, the U.S. code that kind of basically defines what you can do with intelligence assets like the CIA.

A Title 10 operation is classic DOD military operation. This is Title 50. Why do you choose Title 50? Because you don't want to talk about it, and you might have reasons you don't want to talk about it.

But the definition of a covert operation is it's covert. So the fact that this was discussed on radio show, and now is being discussed openly, I think really raises the question, why are we doing this under Title 50 authorities and not Title 10 authorities? Under Title 50, Sara, the only people that really would know about this or should know about this are people inside the U.S. government with a need-to- know basis for carrying out the operation or the decision-making, and the intelligence committees in the House and Senate.

Both those committees would have been briefed on this operation, and the administration has to provide what's called an identifiable foreign policy objective for any Title 50 operation like this. So we know the White House has gone to the Congress in those committees and has identified an identifiable foreign policy objective, a law it's trying to do. Look, I think it's better to do all of this under Title 10.

We have about a quarter of our U.S. naval assets off the coast of Venezuela. This is a major endeavor, and I think the American people and the Congress should know exactly what we're trying to do here. What I can see is, as Susie Wiles put it, this seems to be a regime change type operation.

That doesn't mean we're about to invade Venezuela, but the objective, the objective clearly, it seems, is to get Maduro out of power. How this strike under covert authority advances that objective to me is quite unclear.

SIDNER: Speaking of which, it may have remained covert for a long time because had the president not talked about it, because we've heard nothing from Nicholas Maduro. What do you make of that, Kim?

DOZIER: Well, the fact that the president has blurted it out, essentially he's declassified, at least the fact that it happened. And that really loosens the lips of those people who were briefed on such an operation. It also means that the enemy knows the U.S. is coming.

Now, CNN's reporting is that there was nobody at this facility when it was hit, but you can bet now every similar facility is going to have guards and possibly some sort of counter drone technology that will quickly get put into place because now they know there's an active threat. That is why you usually don't talk about something like this.

It's unclear whether President Trump accidentally mentioned it because he didn't know what aspect it was carried out under, to Brett's point, under Title 50, which means you normally don't talk about it for years, if at all, or that, you know, he actually wanted to signal to Maduro and the American public that, look, we did this and we can do this again.

SIDNER: Brett, you alluded to this, but Donald Trump has said over and over again that the U.S. needs to get out of wars. I remember back in 2018 when he said the United States cannot continue to be the policeman of the world. When you look at this isn't forcing regime change exactly that. And do you see this as as a serious change in the administration's thinking and process when you consider they've also struck targets inside of Nigeria as well.

MCGURK: Look, I think, Sara, the Trump administration, the president has demonstrated he's not afraid to use American power in the pursuit of interests as he might define them, against terrorist groups, against Iran's nuclear program. And I think many of those operations, again, have been fully briefed to Congress and the American people are quite justified.

[08:10:00]

Here, there's -- I mean, how this plays out over the next year is going to be quite interesting, because in the administration's national security strategy, they basically define America's national security interests, first and foremost, in our own hemisphere. And they actually named a Trump corollary to the Monroe Doctrine, which is basically we are the preeminent power in our hemisphere, and we're going to say what's going to happen. And they've kind of drawn a line here to begin that new doctrine in Venezuela with the objective for Maduro to leave power.

Now, if a year from now Maduro is still in power, I think it calls into question that entire strategy. But on your point, Sara, I do not see the administration leaning towards like an invasion of Venezuela, a Panama-like operation that we saw under George H.W. Bush back in 1989, 1990. But what I'm seeing is an objective to get Maduro out of power and then kind of making it up as you go along for how exactly that's going to be achieved.

So that might be one reason they chose Title 50 here, because once you strike in Title 10, you're really in it. You're in a military conflict with Venezuela and we're not quite there yet.

SIDNER: Kim Dozier, Brett McGurk, I do appreciate it. And you guys have a wonderful New Year, Omar.

JIMENEZ: All right, coming up, the man accused of placing pipe bombs in Washington, D.C. on the eve of January 6th is set to appear in court today. We have a brand new filing from his attorneys just in. We'll tell you what it says next.

Also, after a Texas teenager vanished on Christmas Eve, this new video could help investigators get some answers. We'll bring you the latest.

And winter weather is back with a vengeance. The powerful storm disrupting travel. You've probably dealt with some of it. And bringing bone chilling temperature drops. We'll tell you what the country's seeing, coming up.

[08:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: All right, breaking news this morning. We are learning new details now about the legal defense of the man accused of planting pipe bombs in Washington, D.C. on the eve of the January 6th attack. In a new filing, attorneys for Brian J. Cole argue he should not be detained pending trial.

They say he's been diagnosed with autism and is no danger to the community. But prosecutors say Cole gave a detailed confession after he was arrested earlier this month on charges of placing bombs outside the Republican and Democratic Party headquarters. Cole is set to appear in court today for a detention hearing.

CNN senior legal analyst Elie Honig is here. In this case, you had, look, a lot of circumstantial evidence, his phone pinging in the area where these bombs were placed. The buying of components. But then you have this confession. Is there any chance that the judge is going to say, OK, defense attorneys, yes, we're going to grant a request for him to leave.

ELIE HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: There's this close to 0.0 percent chances you're ever going to get in a case like this that the judge allows this person out on bail. The confession, to me, really puts the proof here over the top because, as you said before that, before they had his confession, prosecutors had a solid case, but a circumstantial case. You can build a case on circumstantial evidence, but they had to link the evidence of what he bought at Home Depot and what was in the bomb.

And there's not a forensic match. They just say the same type of components that he purchased wound up in the bomb. The fact that he's in the vicinity of the area on that night. That's fine, but now that he's admitted it, he's got nowhere to go. So judges look at that because judges are much more likely to hold someone pending trial if they believe it's very likely this person ultimately pleads guilty and gets convicted by a jury. So big change in the evidence there.

SIDNER: I do want to ask you about these new filings that just came out. Is there anything in there that stands out to you?

HONIG: No, it's a fairly standard defense filing asking for bail. There's two relevant bail factors. Is the person likely to flee and is he a danger?

On the flight issue, Mr. Cole's lawyers -- we just got this motion in -- argue essentially he's a young man, he has close ties to the community, he doesn't have an incentive to flee. And on the dangerousness issue, they say this is -- keep your face straight here. They say, well, he's not done anything bad in four years.

It's like, well, how about on January 5th, 2021, when he allegedly set two pipe bombs at the RNC and DNC? So I think this is the defense lawyer somewhat going through the motions, doing what he has to do, reading between the lines. I think the defense lawyer realizes he's not getting this guy out now.

SIDNER: Yes, I do want to ask you about something curious here. So this happened on the eve of the January 6th insurrection and the we are hearing in this confession from him that this was about 2020. This was in his mind that the 2020 election was rigged and he was -- said people need to ask questions about this. Trump pardoned --

HONIG: Right.

SIDNER: -- folks who were involved in the January 6th attack. Is there any link here that that could be used in any kind of way?

HONIG: So this is so interesting and watch for this. It would not surprise me to see this defendant, Mr. Cole, his lawyer, argue at some point that he should be covered by Trump's pardon of all the people related to January 6th. If you look at the pardon, it says it applies to anyone who was convicted of offenses on or about January 6th around the Capitol building, right?

Now the argument is going to be from the defense team. Well, he had the same purpose as the people who stormed the Capitol. They all believe the election was stolen. He plants the bombs just a few hundred yards away from the Capitol grounds at the RNC and DNC, and he did it just hours before the attack.

I think the response from prosecutors will be, that's not what this pardon means. First of all, he's not been convicted yet. But second of all, the clear intent of the president when he issued this pardon on day one, January 20, 2025, was to pardon people who had been convicted up to that date. But you know who clarify all this, is Donald Trump.

Look, if Donald Trump meant to pardon someone in this position, he can come out and issue a pardon for Brian Cole today if he wants.

[08:20:00]

And if he did not intend for his pardon to apply to future cases, he can come out and say that as well. But I think it's a long-shot argument, but I think it's an interesting one, and I do expect Mr. Cole's lawyer to raise it at some point. So you called it first.

SIDNER: That's wild, actually. That's actually wild to think that that might be used in this case. But it was wild to see all those folks pardoned who had gone through long cases, many of which I sat through --

HONIG: Yes.

SIDNER: -- and a jury returned guilty verdicts. It will be interesting to see what happens here, Elie Honig. But it's always a pleasure to have you. Thank you, sir.

HONIG: Happy New Year.

SIDNER: Happy New Year -- Omar.

JIMENEZ: All right, just ahead two days, Zohran Mamdani will become the mayor of New York City. We're going to have new details about the big name who will introduce him at his New Year's Day inauguration.

And tragedy for one of the biggest names in NASCAR. Denny Hamlin's father is killed, his mom critically hurt after a house fire. We'll bring you the details coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:25:06]

SIDNER: All right, first on CNN this morning with Zohran Mamdani less than two days away from leading America's largest city, CNN has learned that Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will introduce him at his inauguration on New Year's Day. The ceremony will also feature another progressive leader. No big surprise here, Senator Bernie Sanders.

New York and the country is about to see if Mamdani can keep his bold promises like expanding universal childcare and freezing the rent for many people. CNN's chief data analyst Harry Enten joining us with the odds. How are New Yorkers feeling about Mamdani as we get very close. Yes, you know --

HARRY ENTEN, CNN CHIEF DATA ANALYST: It's close.

SIDNER: It's close.

ENTEN: It's close. I'm looking at my fake watch. At least you have a real watch on there.

SIDNER: Let's do inauguration day.

ENTEN: Whatever, I just look at my cell phone. Look, if we look at how New Yorkers, New York City folks are feeling about Zohran Mandani. Look at this up like a rocket higher and higher as Jackie Wilson, a great singer used to say, right?

Mamdani's net favorite rating in New York City in September. It was plus 14 points. Look at where we are now, plus 38 points. That's a climb. If you do the math right right with me right here, Sara Sidner, 38 minus 14. That's a rise of 24 points in the positive direction. As I said, up like a rocket. New York City voters have never felt better about the man that they elected to lead this city come 2026. He is quite the popular dude right now.

SIDNER: Before governance. That is often a thing, right?

ENTEN: Yes.

SIDNER: It's -- it's -- it's much harder once you get in there. Looking into 2026, Republicans were hoping that Mamdani would hurt Democrats statewide. What are you saying when it comes to that?

ENTEN: Yes, OK, so right now, you know, we're talking about the honeymoon period, right, for Zohran Mamdani, very much in the Jackie Gleason state of mind, another show that was based in New York City. Net favorite rating, let's look at New York State, right? You have New York City, and then you wind it out to New York State, right?

A lot of Republicans statewide were hoping to run against Zohran Mamdani, but look at this, Zohran Mamdani, plus 15 points on the net favorite rating statewide, that's, I believe, the highest it's been. The much bigger drag, the much bigger drag is Donald Trump heading in the 2026 state. While we're talking about -- look at that -- 30 points underwater.

If Zohran Mamdani were something he'd be the Empire State Building way up there in the clouds in terms of popularity compared to other politicians in the state of New York. And Donald Trump well he would be like a garbage dump out on Staten Island.

SIDNER: Wow that's a pretty strong words there.

ENTEN: That's a 45 point difference that's strong words but you know what they're true words.

SIDNER: Waiting for the Truth Social on that one. All right, one of the most controversial policies was Mamdani saying, I'm going to make New York buses faster but the key word here free. How do New Yorkers feel about that prospect?

ENTEN: This was a very controversial thing, right, Sara Sidner, very controversial thing. But look at this, New York City voters on free buses by taxing millionaires and billionaires more. Look at this, 50 percent supported in New York City compared to 41 percent who oppose it.

Now, here's the key thing, right? We're talking about millionaires, billionaires, the whole idea. Will there be this rush of billionaires to leave New York? Will there be this rush?

Well, take a look at the prediction market, the chance of eight or more billionaires leaving New York City by the middle of next year. Look at that. It's just 21 percent.

SIDNER: It's not very high.

ENTEN: It is not very high. What we're seeing is that people who are putting their money where their mouth is think that the billionaires are full of this. They're full of talk, but they're not going to be able to walk the walk.

SIDNER: We will see what happens. That is a very low number there, though. We will see. Harry Enten it is great to see you and have a happy New Year. I think I'll see you again, though.

ENTEN: I think you'll see me again but --

SIDNER: Are you going to come back next hour?

ENTEN: No, I'm not going to come back next time. I'm going to see you on the air tomorrow night.

SIDNER: Oh, that's right.

ENTEN: I'm going to see you on the air tomorrow night. You'll be in Austin and I'll be in Prescott, Arizona.

SIDNER: Good times.

ENTEN: That's right.

SIDNER: Nice and warm. Stay with us. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END