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Trump Says U.S. Will Cut Off Oil That Cuba Has Been Receiving From Venezuela; Trump Says Likely To Keep Exxon Out Of Venezuela After CEO's Comment; About 1,000 More CBP Agents Deploying To Minneapolis; Thousands Of Nurses Go On Strike At Major NYC Hospitals; Former Dem. Rep. Mary Peltola Announces Senate Run In Alaska; Mattel Releases First Barbie With Autism; Victim Of Deepfake Nude Images Creates Course To Help Others. Aired 1:30-2p ET

Aired January 12, 2026 - 13:30   ET

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

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[13:32:43]

BORIS SANCHEZ, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Cuba's president is telling President Trump, "No one dictates what we do" After Trump declared there will be no oil or money going to Cuba, zero, and then urging the Caribbean nation to make a deal before it's too late. Critics charge that Venezuelan oil has essentially propped up the Cuban regime.

For decades, they've been getting enormous aid packages from Venezuela, as much as 100,000 barrels of oil a day during the early 2000s. Let's go live to CNN Havana Bureau Chief, Patrick Oppmann. Patrick, tell us more about the response from the Cuban government.

PATRICK OPPMANN, CNN HAVANA BUREAU CHIEF: You know, it's telling that these two sides, the Trump administration and the Cuban government, can't even agree if they are actually talking. Donald Trump says that his government is in touch with the Cuban government. And here, they say that the only talks they've had have been about migration accords and there are no high-level discussions going on, but also leaving open the door to the possibility of those talks taking place.

And yes, while Cuba's President, Miguel Diaz-Canel says that Cuba will not be dictated to, the reality is Venezuelan oil has been absolutely crucial to this island over the decades. It's hard to imagine the economy here surviving without it. And so, President Trump threatening to cut off that oil could have a major impact.

Let's hear a little bit more about what President Trump said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, (R) PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: We're talking to Cuba, and you'll find out pretty soon. And one of the things I want taken care of, I mean one of the groups I want taken care of are the people that came from Cuba that were forced out or left under duress. And they're great citizens of the United States right now. You have a lot of people forced out of Cuba unfairly. So we're going to take care of, most importantly, right now, we're going to take care of the people that came from Cuba that are American citizens or in our country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

OPPMANN: And so, Trump essentially saying there that any kind of deal that would allow Venezuelan oil to come back to Cuba would require some of the property that was taken away from Cuban-Americans throughout the years of the revolution being returned to them. That is a hefty order the government here has resisted. But, of course, they are in a very precarious position at the moment.

[13:35:00]

SANCHEZ: Patrick Oppmann, live for us in Havana. Thank you so much. Brianna?

BRIANNA KEILAR, CNN CO-ANCHOR OF "CNN NEWS CENTRAL": Turning to the future of Venezuela and President Trump's plan to rebuild the rundown oil industry of a nation with the world's largest oil reserves, Trump said that the U.S. is "inclined to keep Exxon out" because he didn't like this response from Exxon's CEO when oil executives gathered at the White House on Friday.

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DARREN WOODS, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, EXXON: If we look at the legal and commercial constructs and frameworks in place today in Venezuela, today it's uninvestable. And so significant changes have to be made to those commercial frameworks, the legal system. There has to be durable investment protections. And there has to be a change to the hydrocarbon laws in the country. We're confident that with this administration and President Trump working hand in hand with the Venezuelan government that those changes can be put in place.

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KEILAR: Joined now by Andy Lipow, the President of Lipow Oil Associates, which is a petroleum industry consulting firm. All right, President Trump saying now after that from Exxon's CEO that he's inclined to cut Exxon out of Venezuela. How do you view that considering Exxon doesn't really seem that inclined to get into Venezuela in any big way anytime soon?

ANDY LIPOW, PRESIDENT, LIPOW OIL ASSOCIATES: Well, thanks very much for having me. First, Exxon is asking for what the rest of the oil industry wants, is a change in the current legal and commercial framework in order to go in there for a decades-long investment profile. So, what I think is going to happen is Exxon really is spending a lot of money next door in Guyana where they're producing hundreds of thousands of barrels per day and seek to increase that production over the next couple of years.

So the industry, by and large, really needs change in Venezuela to spend any money. And that's where we stand today, waiting on that change. KEILAR: Yeah, I mean, Exxon has invested in oil reserves there in Guyana, in Esequibo, which is a region that both Guyana and Venezuela claim, right? And last year, there was Venezuela sending a warship to one of Exxon's floating oil production vessels in that area. Do you see that kind of security threat as more or less likely under the current Venezuelan regime if Exxon is on the president's bad side?

LIPOW: Well, I think it's less likely that Venezuela is going to send warships going forward. And actually, that opens up a huge opportunity for Exxon and others to explore for oil offshore Venezuela in areas adjacent to their finds in Guyana. And that really could be a huge upside.

KEILAR: But do you think that Exxon, as they're viewing this, talk to us a little bit about the timeline, because President Trump has said, yes, they've had problems in the past because they didn't have Trump as president. And I mean, problems is sort of an understatement, right? When you talk about what Exxon and other big oil companies went through in Venezuela in the 2000s. How do these kinds of companies see that assurance considering they operate on quite long timelines and he's only president for three more years?

LIPOW: Well, I think that's the difficulty that many of them face. The state of the Venezuelan oil industry is in disrepair. They really need to get boots on the ground just to assess what the infrastructure looks like. And if we're thinking about increases in Venezuelan oil production, which is below a million barrels a day, perhaps in the next 12 to 18 months, there's tweaks they can do to get another 200,000 barrels a day or so out of the ground, but they really need to spend $10 billion a year over the next decade to make a material difference to even double the current rate of production.

What Exxon CEO said though, clearly rubbed the president the wrong way. How do you see what he said? He was saying that Venezuela in its current form is uninvestable, but they're sort of looking at things they can do and they trust that this administration is going to get things going in the right direction. How did you view those comments?

LIPOW: Well, frankly, I think the word uninvestable was not what the president or the industry wanted to hear, given that a lot of people look at the 300 billion barrels of reserves as an opportunity going forward over the long haul.

So I think once hearing that word, things went downhill in the impression that Exxon was leaving the administration, but Exxon has really went on to say that they would be willing to work with the administration and the government of Venezuela. And if invited, they would send personnel down there to assess the situation.

[13:40:00]

So I don't feel that Exxon has really closed the door on investing in Venezuela. They're just quite circumspect on when they would like to do that and what conditions are necessary.

KEILAR: Andy, great to speak with you. Thank you so much for your insights.

LIPOW: Thanks for having me.

KEILAR: New videos out of Minneapolis revealing some more disturbing encounters between civilians and federal agents just days after a woman was shot and killed by an ICE agent there. We'll have the latest on the tense situation right after this.

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[13:45:20]

SANCHEZ: An already tense situation in Minneapolis is now facing a new surge of Border Protection agents. Two federal law enforcement sources tell CNN that around 1,000 additional agents are deploying to that city, adding to some 2,000 federal agents already there. Tensions between federal law enforcement and local counterparts are rising days after an ICE agent shot and killed an American citizen, mother of three.

New video shows some disturbing encounters, including federal agents spraying what appears to be a chemical irritant at activists who had confronted them in a residential neighborhood. Customs and Border Patrol Commander, Greg Bovino is also now in Minnesota and sources say that he's a part of these conducted targeted operations, including door knocks. Let's get some perspective now from former FBI Assistant Director, Chris Swecker.

Sir, thank you so much for being with us. As we're anticipating this additional 1,000 or so agent deployment to Minnesota, how do you expect that to affect conditions on the ground?

CHRIS SWECKER, FORMER FBI ASSISTANT DIRECTOR: Yeah, good afternoon. Well, I think that if you drain the politics out of this, and this is really in the eye of the beholder, the actual shooting itself -- if you drain the politics out, people don't get to impede law enforcement officers during the performance of their duties.

So the reason they're bringing these officers in is because the ICE facilities are being blocked and they're not allowed to get through the crowd with their vehicles to go about their daily duties. When they do get out into the field, there are people impeding them as they're trying to go about their daily duties. So you have to take more officers to do that.

You have to take officers to protect the facilities, the ICE facilities. Every detention -- detainee has to be moved by at least two people at one time. So you got people moving detainees around. So it's resource intensive. I doubt very seriously if many of those are actually going to get into the field to actually go out and do enforcement operations.

SANCHEZ: So last month, Minneapolis strengthened its separation ordinance which bars city officials, including police, from carrying out federal immigration enforcement. Notably though, our understanding is that ICE agents in the state were instructed to call police if they encountered any violent protesters. What do you make of that? Should these agents rely on local police?

SWECKER: Well, what we were hearing is that it's hit or miss as to whether they'll come to their aid if they're involved in a violent confrontation. And again, that's another reason why they're bringing in more ICE officers. It's a state that doesn't really cooperate with ICE and immigration and border officials.

So it does take more people to do your job. I mean, there are a lot of people out there that don't want gun laws enforced or drug laws enforced or even traffic laws enforced, but you don't get to decide whether -- that you don't have the right to go out and impede these officers while they're trying to do their job.

SANCHEZ: Would you say that their prerogative when it comes to non- violent protesters should be to de-escalate or to engage them in some of the ways that we've been seeing via videos posted online of different incidents?

SWECKER: Yeah, if they're not blocking or impeding the operations of the officers, I think, they're there to exercise their First Amendment rights. We fought for 300 years to do that -- to have that right. And if they're on the sidewalk and they're not impeding the officers, there's no point in engaging with them. Let them exercise their rights.

I think, you have to draw that distinction. They may be annoying you, they may be agitating you, but if they're not impeding you or obstructing you from doing your job, there's no reason to engage with them.

SANCHEZ: So you had mentioned the shooting last week as something being in the eye of the beholder. I wonder what you know about what state officials have as options, whether they could potentially bring state charges or fight in court to have access to participate in the investigation being conducted at the federal level. We heard from Minnesota's Public Safety Commissioner suggesting that they lack necessary evidence.

SWECKER: Yeah, I mean, in normal circumstances, this would be a joint investigation. I've been involved in these situations before. And if everybody is getting along and it's a state where they are, -- you're cooperating with federal law enforcement officers, they can at least shadow the federal investigation. Since it was a federal officer, there's a primary jurisdiction there, but the state can investigate and indict for manslaughter charge under state law.

[13:50:00]

That happened to an FBI agent in 1992 in the Ruby Ridge standoff where a federal marshal was killed and there was a week-long standoff, and an FBI sniper killed one of the subjects and he was indicted in the state court and that was upheld by the 9th Circuit and then the case died away. The county prosecutor decided not to prosecute.

But there is precedent and there is, in a sense, concurrent jurisdiction here, but the federal -- it's a federal officer conducting federal duties and that becomes the question, was he lawfully exercising his federal duties. That may go to court to decide that subject.

SANCHEZ: Yeah, we'll see what comes next. Chris Swecker, thanks so much for joining us.

SWECKER: Yeah, thank you.

SANCHEZ: Of course. Brianna?

KEILAR: Now to some of the other headlines that we're following. Nearly 15,000 nurses are on strike in New York City after failed contract negotiations. Three major private hospital systems are affected here. For now, the facilities remain open with help from temporary workers, but many non-emergency surgeries have been postponed and some patients are being transferred elsewhere.

The Nurses Union is demanding hospitals address major staffing issues, workplace safety, and they want limitations on the use of artificial intelligence.

And former Democratic Representative, Mary Peltola launches her Senate campaign in Alaska. Peltola has been heavily targeted by Senate Democrats to help increase their presence in the Republican-controlled chamber. Peltola thinks she can win over Alaskans who have mainly voted Republican since 1959, by pledging her support for term limits. Peltola will run against Republican, Dan Sullivan, who is seeking his third term.

There is a new Barbie on the clock. See what sets her apart from other dolls, next.

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[13:56:25]

SANCHEZ: So, Mattel has announced that they are releasing the first Barbie with autism. The doll carries a pink fidget spinner, wears pink noise-canceling headphones to help with sensory overload, and holds a pink tablet signifying a communication device. Her gaze shifts slightly to the side, reflecting how some people with autism avoid direct eye contact.

The doll's release comes amid renewed attention on autism, following some controversial claims from the Trump administration about the possible link between autism and acetaminophen use during pregnancy. Brianna?

KEILAR: Teenager Elliston Berry's world came crashing down at 14, which is when she found out that a classmate had used artificial intelligence to make and share a deepfake nude image of her. Not knowing where to turn, she spent nine months fighting to get the photos removed from social media, and now she has created a course to hopefully save others from this alarming and growing trend.

CNN Tech Reporter, Clare Duffy is with us now. Clare, what can you tell us about this?

CLARE DUFFY, CNN TECH REPORTER: Yeah, Brianna, we have seen this really troubling rise in the creation and sharing of these deepfake nude images as A.I. tools to create them have become more prevalent. And Elliston Berry wants to stop this from happening to more young people.

One report last year found that one in eight U.S. teenagers say that they know someone personally who has been the target of nude deepfakes. That is a remarkable statistic, and she wants to help people who have been victimized by this kind of harassment to understand that there are support resources available.

So she teamed up with consulting firm, Pathos, and cybersecurity firm, Adaptive, to create this online training course to teach middle- and high-school students and also their parents and educators about A.I. deepfakes, deepfake sexual abuse, and also about sextortion, this other troubling trend that we've seen where scammers will threaten to release nude images, often of minors, if they don't turn over money or more images.

And I asked Elliston, who I spoke with alongside her mom, Anna McAdams, what she learned from her experience that she's incorporated into this course. Take a listen to what she told me.

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ELLISTON BERRY, DEEPFAKE VICTIM: All of the individuals, all of the victims understood what was going on, but we couldn't do anything. And when we went to our administrator, we went to our teachers looking for help, they were more confused than we were. They weren't able to offer any sort of comfort, or any sort of protection to us. So that's what this curriculum is so important, and that's what it really focuses on, is it really advances and it focuses on the administrators -- focuses on the educators, so that way they are able to protect and they're able to help if a victim were to come to them for a situation like this.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DUFFY: And importantly, this course also discusses the Take It Down Act, this law that was passed last year that makes it a crime to create and share these kinds of images. What they're trying to do here is make it so that would-be perpetrators know that there are big consequences for creating these kinds of images, Brianna.

KEILAR: Good for her, looking out for others. It's really amazing. Some countries like Indonesia and Malaysia have actually taken legal action to stop deepfakes. What can you tell us about that?

DUFFY: Yeah, so Indonesia and Malaysia have temporarily banned Grok. This is the A.I. chatbot from Elon Musk's xAI, after weeks of backlash where users on X were asking Grok to create nude or sexualized images of women and children, many of them apparently without consent. And I think this just speaks to the way that we've seen A.I. tools make it so much easier to create and share these kinds of images, in the case of Grok, directly on social media.

Now, xAI has limited Grok's image generation abilities to only paying users, but I do think that it's likely that we'll see additional action from other countries.