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Greenland Asks to Meet with Rubio as Trump Pushes to Acquire Island; Trump Backs Maduo Loyalist Over Venezuela Opposition Leader; U.S. Begins Operation to Seize Venezuela-Linked Oil Tanker; Judge Postpones Testimony in Trial of Former Uvalde School Officer. Aired 8- 8:30a ET

Aired January 07, 2026 - 08:00   ET

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

[08:00:00]

SAM MANGEL, FEDERAL PRISON CONSULTANT: ... Every inmate gets one wool blanket, which means they're probably wearing the prison jumpsuit that you saw him in yesterday to sleep as well.

BRYNN GINGRAS, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The Bureau of Prisons doesn't comment on current inmates, but Maduro and his wife are likely housed in the segregated area of the prison, not with the general population, in separate cells, and alone.

MANGEL: His case, he is a security risk in general population. No one knows what other inmates might think of him, other gang members, other drug cartel members. So putting him in general population at any time, I think, would be a tremendous security risk for the facility.

GINGRAS (voice-over): Now, instead of being catered to, according to a Bureau of Prisons handbook, their life likely includes a 6 a.m. wake up, with time scheduled to meet with their attorneys daily, outdoor exercise five hours a week, and daily visits by health personnel.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Are you good?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No!

GINGRAS (voice-over): In recent years, judges, attorneys, and activists have sounded the alarm about the horrific state of MDC, including staff shortages, stabbings, and killings.

ELI HONIG, CNN SENIOR LEGAL ANALYST: Bureau of Prisons has an obligation to take care of prisoner health and safety and is really historically quite poor at it. But again, in this case, they better be on top of it.

GINGRAS: Brynn Gingras, CNN, New York.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

SARA SIDNER, CNN ANCHOR: Buying or invading. We have new CNN reporting this morning on President Trump's fixation on acquiring Greenland. The White House now saying he's looking at many options and he's not ruling out military action. We're learning new details now also about the man behind the deadly

mass shooting at Brown University and the killing of an MIT professor. What is revealed in transcripts investigators just released and a series of videos the shooter made after those attacks.

And how deputies stopped a suspected drunk driver. Police say he was driving the wrong way for miles.

I'm Sara Sidner with John Berman and Kate Bolduan. This is CNN NEWS CENTRAL.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: This morning, a U.S. polar power play for Greenland. The Trump administration turning up the pressure to acquire the island. The president says he wants it for national security, and it does seem that Europe is now taking him very seriously. New reporting from the Washington Post says U.S. officials in recent days have presented a U.S. move against Greenland as an increasingly concrete possibility. That's in conversations with European counterparts. Again, that's according to the Washington Post.

What would that look like? Sources tell CNN that Secretary of State Marco Rubio has privately downplayed the threat of U.S. military action, telling lawmakers they are considering buying Greenland instead, but the White House explicitly said they are not taking military force off the table. This does raise some concerns, not the least of which is that Greenland is a territory under the King of Denmark, which is a NATO ally. Moments ago, we spoke to a Danish member of the European Parliament who said they will not be pressured into giving up the island.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ANDERS VISTISEN, MEMBER OF EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: The time where powers can buy and sell former colonies, self-governing territories, is long gone. It's not something that is feasible, it's not something that can be done, and it's not something that is realistic in any way or form. And to be frank, I think we in Denmark are quite fed up with this attitude from the U.S. administration.

And the clear message is that it's not for sale, it's not something you can negotiate about, and you're not going to be able to pressure or bully us into submission on this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: Denmark's prime minister has said a U.S. attack on Greenland would spell the end of NATO. Denmark and Greenland now say they want a meeting with Secretary Rubio -- Kate.

KATE BOLDUAN, CNN ANCHOR: Joining us right now to talk about this, CNN global affairs analyst Brett McGurk and Barak Ravid. It's good to see both. Thanks, guys. Barak, your headline today is quite something. And getting directly to what John was just talking about, Trump's Greenland threats put transatlantic alliance on death watch. What are you hearing? BARAK RAVID, CNN POLITICAL AND GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Well, Kate, I think there was -- yesterday, in Paris, there was really an awkward moment when, on the one hand, the leaders of France, U.K., and Germany stood side by side with President Trump's top advisors and discussed security guarantees for Ukraine. And they actually got really close and they're much more aligned than ever on this issue. But at the same time, all the leaders in Europe were really concerned about Donald Trump threatening to take over Greenland by force.

[08:05:00]

And it was this split screen moment that I think showed better than anything else. How the relationship between the U.S. and Europe today is so fragile and so destabilized.

BOLDUAN: And Brett, one thing the Danish Member of Parliament reminded me of this morning is that the United States used to have many military installations on Greenland. Now just one, but that's not Greenland's doing right. I mean, what do you see in this?

BRETT MCGURK, CNN GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: Yes, you know, Kate, if I was in the Oval Office with a president, any president, you asked what exactly do you want us to achieve and then how. And when it comes to Greenland, it is true, the strategic contested area of the Arctic with global warming, with Russia, China investing massively in these ice- breaking ships, it's an important strategic area. But here's the good news. Denmark is part of basically a NATO ally.

We have a treaty with Denmark from 1951 that basically allows us to have any military presence we want in Denmark. We have standing committees about military presence, security presence in Greenland, and also about access to resources, trade, and everything. So anything we might want to do in Greenland, and it is strategic territory, we can do through our friends and allies in Denmark.

And I have to say, I have built international coalitions, and Denmark is one of our best allies. When everyone is something really hard, whether it was ships in the Red Sea, whether it was actually military forces to go into the heart of Iraq in the worst days of ISIS. I used to go to Copenhagen because Denmark is one of our staunchest allies.

So whatever we want in Greenland, it is strategic. That is true. Pick up the phone and talk to the Danes. And I think you'll have a very receptive conversation. We can get everything we want because it's a NATO ally and one of our strongest allies.

BOLDUAN: It's almost like you're -- you're literally describing an entirely different universe, because that is exactly what is not coming from the administration and -- from the administration on this. I mean, they're they continue, Brett, they're talking about not ruling out military action in Greenland. Like they are saying that publicly.

MCGURK: Yes, Kate, I got to say, and I thought Barak's split screen is exactly right. Look, if Donald Trump wants a Nobel Peace Prize, it runs through Ukraine. And the work that was done by his envoys, by Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff yesterday in Paris, was very, very important. We're getting closer to what that security guarantee would actually look like, the key component of the deal.

And to get that deal in Ukraine, you have to remain united with our NATO allies, because Putin is waiting for a break between the U.S. and NATO. It's what he wants, and a break between the U.S. and Ukraine. So just focus eyes on the prize here on what is the priority. Get that deal in Ukraine.

This is a complete distraction, and I think it is totally counterproductive. And I just go back to just work through the Danes. We can get everything we want.

Look, I've talked to a lot of my European former counterparts, I mean, they see this as Trump acting as though, like manifest destiny, the kind of -- this is basically our territory. We have a right. It's going to be part of our -- part of the United States.

It's not going to work. It's just not going to work. It risks fracturing NATO and it risks basically making the hard things, the priorities, such as ending the war in Ukraine, even harder.

So hopefully we can back off this, sit down with the Danes, figure out what we need, because it is strategic. We should be there and we should have deep relations through Denmark with Greenland. I totally agree with that.

BOLDUAN: I'm always very impressed how hopefully you can remain after the many years you have spent in and around Washington and working in administrations and in government.

Barak, are these from everyone that you're talking to and what you guys are describing is like this and the split screen, but is it a split screen anymore? I mean, what from who you were talking to is this issue of Greenland now linked? How do they unlink the pressing issues that NATO is facing and the United States needs to work with NATO allies on like getting Russia to stop its war in Ukraine? Clearly it makes it more complicated, but can they delink it now?

RAVID: Well, I think the administration wants to believe that you can deal with those two issues separately. I spoke yesterday to one of Trump's top advisers and he said, look, security guarantees for Ukraine is one thing. Greenland is another thing. It's not connected in any way.

And also, Secretary of State Rubio yesterday held a call with his G7 counterparts and tried to reassure them, you know, no, we're not talking about invading Greenland in any way. But then came the White House statement that said more or less the opposite. So it's unclear that, you know, when Secretary Rubio speaks to his European counterparts time and time again, trying to reassure them about different things.

And then the other message comes from the from the White House. So it's unclear if he -- if his line is really the policy.

[08:10:00] And I think for the Europeans, it's very hard to differentiate between, on the one hand, trying to work with the U.S. on Ukraine, on the other hand, trying to push back on what the U.S. wants to do in Greenland.

BOLDUAN: Brett, this started with Venezuela. The U.S. ousted Maduro, but his people are still in place. The opposition leader that Trump is not backing, that some say Trump threw under the bus when he should have been embracing Maria Machado. She was just asked in a new interview, essentially, if she thinks Delcy Rodriguez, the now acting leader and Maduro's former VP, is the right person to lead. And she said that Delcy Rodriguez, in her view, is the main link to the U.S.'s main adversaries. Let me play this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MARIA CORINA MACHADO, VENEZUELAN OPPOSITION LEADER: The main link, the main actor that has relations with Russia, with Iran, and other countries that, you know, obscure and criminal activities in Venezuela.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BOLDUAN: I mean, what do you think of that? What do you do with that? And can, should the administration be working with a Maduro acolyte now?

MCGURK: I think the word that comes to mind after the very successful operation in Caracas this weekend, the word that keeps coming to my mind is hubris, because when you have a successful operation like that, I think there's a risk to think that, wow, look at that, we took some risk, it was very successive, we were so decisive, and now let's think of what else we can do. And since that operation, you've had President Trump talking about Colombia, Cuba, and now Greenland.

And I just -- I mean, that clip is very important because Venezuela is, to say the least, very unfinished. It's very uncertain. Nobody can really articulate where this is going. We've taken on a huge piece of business there.

We do not want to get sucked into something that we can't handle. And I think you have to prioritize and focus on that. Otherwise, you're going to become just totally unconstrained and lose prioritization.

That is very risky. That's why hubris keeps coming to mind. You know, Greenland had really not been discussed over the last six months.

It's back now after the operation in Venezuela. And the operation of Venezuela, at least Kate, does have a colorable legal basis. There was a warrant for Maduro. There's a $25 million bounty on his head, even from the Biden administration.

All the talk about these other countries and just the raw exertion of power in our hemisphere, I think, is very dangerous and at risk fracturing those alliances that actually make America strong. So focus on what matters here. Venezuela, very important. Ukraine, keep working on that deal. And then there's a huge global

agenda agenda that is coming with massive velocity. President Trump will have a summit with Xi Jinping in the spring.

Taiwan, Gaza, which Barak knows so well about, all these issues. And of course, Iran and the protests still going on in Iran. Very serious, massive global agenda. And just try to stay focused here. We don't need to be moving on Greenland right now.

BOLDUAN: Yes, I mean, when you list out the to-do list in the coming six months, Greenland, the talk of Greenland is all the more eyebrow raising. It's great to see you both. I really appreciate it as always. Thank you -- Sara.

SIDNER: All right ahead, new details this morning of the moments that led up to the deadly mass shooting at Brown University. Police recovering several videos left behind by the shooter.

And the trial against a former Uvalde school police officer taking a dramatic turn. Why the judge canceled today's testimony and what that could mean for the entire trial.

And danger on the tarmac at one of the world's busiest airports. What caused passengers to be evacuated on the runway?

[08:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BERMAN: All right, we do have breaking news. We are just getting word of a U.S. operation to seize an oil tanker that had been headed to Venezuela now headed out to the Atlantic. What might be crucial, interesting, and make this a very serious situation is that Russia had been taking measures to protect this tanker.

Let's get right to CNN's Nic Robertson, who was monitoring this situation, bring us up to speed where we are. We're talking about a ship known as the Bella 1.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN INTERNATIONAL DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes, and it's a ship that we should perhaps more accurately say was known as Bela 1 and then became known as the Marinara. It changed flag at sea. It changed flag at sea to become a Russian-flagged vessel, which will, from what I understand, have heightened the interest in interdicting this vessel. And it will have been interpreted that it was trying to evade detection and capture.

This is a process of the U.S. tracking this vessel all the way from Venezuela, all the way across the Atlantic, and we understand that this interdiction took place in Icelandic waters in their exclusive economic zone off of Iceland. It's been tracked there by U.S. aircraft. Recently, Reuters is reporting that there are Russian naval vessels involved, but a source telling CNN that this operation is underway.

We know that this ship has been tracked very carefully all along its path. The reasons why an empty oil tanker would be boarded, it doesn't appear to be an imminent national security threat, which is quite often why you see ships in this part of the world being interdicted. But it does appear to be trying to escape its responsibilities, what it's done by this long effort to run away from U.S. naval vessels, as well as changing its flag on its course.

[08:20:00]

Further details about precisely what's been done, where the ship goes next, those remain unclear.

BERMAN: Nic, is there any information? What is known about efforts to deconflict with Russia if Russia was -- because there were reports all morning long, all night long, that Russia was sending ships to protect this vessel.

ROBERTSON: We can speak here in Europe, at least, about what we've seen in Finland. For example, last week, the Finns interdicted a vessel that they believed was acting on Russia's behest. It was cutting data cables off their coast. They did it because it was a national security threat.

We know that the Swedes a few weeks ago interdicted a vessel believed to be connected to Russia off of their coast for similar reasons. It creates the impression because Russia has ships tracking this particular tanker that is empty, that is on the run that maritime analysts say they believe was heading for the High Arctic North towards Murmansk on the Russian coast that it was trying to evade capture and get all the way back to Russian port, but it was empty.

So why the protection around a Russian tanker? Why the protection if there's no oil there that can be that can be seized? That raises the question, what is on board that will be or could be of interest to the United States?

Is it simply a message to say you cannot take or try to take oil from Venezuela, even if you're empty because you have changed flag along the course because you're trying to evade responsibility, evade capture. We know it's you. We're going to stop you. We're going to send a message.

But that doesn't really get to why Russia would want to protect it so heavily. So I think there is more to learn about this ship, about who may or what may have been on board this ship that ran away from Venezuela at this time.

BERMAN: All right, obviously, we have a lot more to learn over the next few minutes, namely, what is the progress in this operation to seize this vessel? What is the Russian response? Will there be one, if any, a verbal response even to what's going on?

Nic Robertson, will you get back to reporting. Obviously, we're monitoring the situation very, very closely.

Also this morning, what we're learning from a series of videos found in the storage unit where police found the Brown University shooter, what hints does it give about a possible motive?

[08:25:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

SIDNER: This morning there is a major development in the trial of former Uvalde School police officer Adrian Gonzalez. He is accused of botching the response to the deadly Rob Elementary School mass shooting in Texas in 2022. The judge abruptly cancelled today's expected testimony after evidence came out yesterday that prosecutors may not have shared in advance with the defense as required by law.

This is now fueling questions about whether the judge could determine there is a mistrial. Here with me now is CNN senior crime and justice correspondent, Shimon Prokupecz. This was quite a moment here in this case. Tell us what you are learning this morning.

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it certainly is. And, you know, the impact on the family members who were in this courtroom waiting for this trial they were sitting there and they were stunned by what was happening and these are family members -- keep in mind, you know, I've covered this for over three years now -- who don't have a lot of faith in this district attorney that's trying this case -- the district attorney of Uvalde County. And to see this happen.

she basically yesterday admitted in court under oath when she was questioned by the defense -- this was so strange yesterday -- that the judge stopped testimony and had the defense attorney start asking the prosecutor questions about this piece of evidence, this testimony.

A teacher testified that she saw the gunman. And this was all new information to the defense team. They said that the prosecutor never shared that this witness was going to come in and say that she saw the shooter. And so the judge stopped testimony at that point. dismissed the jury for the day and said we'd be coming back to court today because he needs to figure out how to fix this and what does he do.

Now the defense attorney said that they can -- there is that possibility that they could ask for a mistrial but they have not made that decision. It depends on a lot of obviously strategy and stuff and then they'll decide on what they want to do. So this afternoon they're all coming back to court and we should hear what they want to do either way.

This is not good for the prosecution because judge could ultimately give some ruling, admonishing them and letting the jury know about this. They could strike the testimony from this teacher completely. So we'll see what happens later this afternoon.

But this was just the first day of testimony, and it just already sets up a terrible precedent here. It sets kind of fear in the family members who were in the courtroom and the family members who have been watching this trial. And later this afternoon, we'll see what happened. We haven't even gotten to the victims yet. We haven't even gotten to

the major eyewitnesses to all of this. Hopefully that will happen and the trial will continue, but we won't know until later this afternoon.

SIDNER: Yes, and Shimon, what did the prosecutor say to this accusation that they had this information but didn't disclose it to the defense? Did she -- because I know she took the stand, not with the jury there, but talk to the judge about this.

PROKUPECZ: Right. While she admitted that the witness -- here's the thing. She admitted that the witness came in. They interviewed this witness in December.

She had previously given statements to investigators back when this happened. She never said that she saw the shooter. And she talked about the day and what it was like when she took the children out of her classroom. She was a teacher in one of the classrooms where no one was injured.

She was taking out the students. She said that she during that time, she saw the gunman. She never had previously said this to the investigators. She said it to the DA back in December. And the DA said, well, yes, you know, I figured everyone knew this already, and that she sort of didn't think this was such a big deal.

And the other thing was just kind of insensitive in some ways. The DA said, well, I was running a law practice at the time, and, you know, she had sort of like she had a lot going on. But the fact is that she admitted she had this ...

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