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Trump Says U.S. To Run Venezuela, Rubio Claims It's Policy; Interview With Senator Chris Coons (D-DE); Maduro Set To Make First Court Appearance Tomorrow; Oil Markets React To Maduro's Capture. Aired 7-8p ET

Aired January 04, 2026 - 19:00   ET

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

[19:00:59]

ANNOUNCER: This is CNN Breaking News.

JESSICA DEAN, CNN ANCHOR: You're in the CNN NEWSROOM. I'm Jessica Dean here in New York.

And tonight, Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro in custody here in New York as he awaits his initial court appearance. The Southern District saying that will take place tomorrow in a Manhattan federal courtroom. And it all comes after U.S. forces captured Maduro and his wife during that massive operation inside the Latin American country early yesterday morning.

We are following this from all angles tonight. CNN's Julia Benbrook and Natasha Bertrand are both joining us now.

Natasha, I want to start first with you and what more you're hearing about the Trump administration's plans in Venezuela. There are so many questions around what comes next there.

NATASHA BERTRAND, CNN NATIONAL SECURITY CORRESPONDENT: Well, it seems that for right now the administration is prioritizing kind of administrative stability and repairing the country's oil infrastructure over an immediate return to democracy. And this was reported in a great piece by my colleagues Kevin Liptak and Kirsten Holmes earlier today, which basically says that the U.S. now is trying to use the leverage that it has over Venezuela, both economically and militarily.

Of course, that armada of U.S. warships is still in the Caribbean in order to pressure the current transitional leader, who is Delcy Rodriguez, who was Maduro's deputy, in order to do the bidding of the United States, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, he said earlier today that the U.S. running the country in the way that President Trump alluded to yesterday actually has more to do with the administration using its leverage to influence policy than it does to actually having Americans on the ground running the day-to-day operations of the government.

But here's a bit of what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) MARCO RUBIO, SECRETARY OF STATE: Well, it's not running -- in policy, the policy with regards to this. We want Venezuela to move in a certain direction because not only do we think it's good for the people of Venezuela, it's in our national interest. It either touches on something that's a threat to our national security or touches on something that's either beneficial or harmful.

This is a team effort by the entire national security apparatus of our country, but it is running this policy. And the goal of the policy is to see changes in Venezuela that are beneficial to the United States, first and foremost, because that's who we work for. But also, we believe, beneficial for the people of Venezuela who have suffered tremendously.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERTRAND: So the administration obviously is trying to use its economic leverage primarily through that oil blockade that it has been enforcing against Venezuela oil sanctions. It is trying to convince American oil companies to go back into Venezuela, given what they believe will be a period of relative stability or what they hope will be a period of stability. But obviously, there are going to be a lot of questions about just how receptive Delcy Rodriguez actually is to that, given her prior remarks that have cast some doubt on whether or not she's going to be as pliant as the administration wants.

DEAN: And Julia, turning to you now, the president is headed back from Palm Beach, where he's been for the holiday season. He's headed back to the White House. What has he been saying today?

JULIA BENBROOK, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right. He's on his way back from his Mar-a-Lago resort. He spent the last couple of weeks for the holiday there, and that is where he watched this complex operation, which led to the arrest of ousted Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro play out. And while there are still a lot of questions, we're starting to get a bit of a clearer picture of what Trump meant when he made that stunning statement that the United States would run the country until there is a judicious transition.

He was pressed and pressed on exactly what that is going to look like, and he said that some of the top administration officials that were standing behind him, that included Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, as well as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, would be involved. He was also asked specifically about Venezuela's opposition leader, the Nobel Peace Prize winner, Maria Corina Machado, and if they were in conversations with her, her potential to lead.

And he essentially ruled that out, saying that he didn't believe that she had the support and respect within Venezuela needed to step in.

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He did say, though, that the United States was in conversations with Venezuela's vice president, Delcy Rodriguez, who is in that acting role now. But she has made several comments calling for the immediate release of Maduro and saying that she does believe he is the legitimate leader. So lots of potential complications there.

Now, top U.S. officials have been working, including Rubio, to develop a structure for Venezuela's government going forward, and he gave several TV interviews throughout the morning. He was pressed on if he sees Rodriguez as a legitimate leader.

I want you to take a listen to what he had to say.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

RUBIO: This is not about the legitimate president. We don't -- we don't believe that this regime in place is legitimate via an election. And that's not just us. It's 60 something countries around the world that have taken that view as well, including the European Union. But we understand that they are -- there are people in Venezuela today who are the ones that can actually make changes.

So, for example, when we want to send in the migrant flights, even though we never recognized the Maduro regime as legitimate, we had to deal with the authorities that controlled the airport. We had to deal with the people who had guns and the people who had control of the airports. We had to deal with them to achieve these objectives. That's different from recognizing their legitimacy.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BENBROOK: And to the point of, would Rodriguez take the steps that Trump and his administration want her to take, he offered this stark warning in an interview with the "Atlantic" earlier today. He said, quote, "If she doesn't do what's right, she is going to pay a very big price, probably bigger than Maduro."

And as I mentioned, he's coming back from this holiday time in Florida, where he has been intensely focused on foreign issues. Since Christmas he has hosted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He's returning, though, with a lot of domestic issues top of mind as well. And there are going to be even more questions coming from Capitol Hill about what has taken place regarding Maduro, as he -- we expect him in court sometime tomorrow.

DEAN: All right. Julia Benbrook at the White House and Natasha Bertrand there in D.C. Thanks to both of you for that reporting.

Democratic lawmakers holding an emergency meeting today on that operation in Venezuela. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer saying he's going to push for legislation to require congressional approval before any additional military action in Venezuela. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries calling the operation an act of war.

I want to bring in Senator Chris Coons, a Democrat of Delaware, to talk more about that.

Senator, thank you so much for being here with us. I really appreciate it. I know that there has been a lot of outrage from your colleagues over the lack of communication and consent, you know, no consent really from Congress prior to this operation. What do you think about that?

SEN. CHRIS COONS (D-DE): Well, thanks for a chance to be on, Jessica. It's been a remarkable period here. First, I'll just express gratitude that no Americans were killed, that our military carried out this operation flawlessly. And I recognize that there's many Venezuelans celebrating the removal of Maduro, a truly brutal authoritarian who misused the resources and harmed the people of Venezuela. But what is alarming to me, what has angered me and many others of my colleagues, is that President Trump and his senior National Security Team wasn't open and honest with us about their plans.

For months they said that the strikes against boats in the southern Caribbean were all about drug trafficking and drug interdiction, and they had no plan for overthrowing Maduro or for sending the U.S. Military into Venezuela. Now that they have done so, sent the military in, captured Maduro, returned him to the United States. It seems today they're just making this up as they go along.

President Trump has no more well-developed plan for how to lead or govern or manage Venezuela than he does how to deliver health care for the American people, or how to move forward in resolving the war in Ukraine, or the suffering of the humanitarian -- the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.

There are too many circumstances where they're making it up as they go along, and we will have a vote, Jessica, in the Senate this week to require congressional consent for any ongoing, larger scale military action, because in recent times when we've overthrown dictators, whether in Libya or in Iraq, with no clear plan for what would happen afterwards, the consequences were terrible for the people of the country and costly for the American service members, who we ended up asking to go in and fix it once we'd broken it.

DEAN: So this vote you're saying is coming up this week. I'm curious what you've heard from your Republican colleagues. Obviously, you all are in the minority in both the House and the Senate. Do you believe that you'll get support on this from your Republican colleagues?

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COONS: Senator Paul is a co-sponsor of the resolution. I don't know if there will be other Republicans who will vote for it. I think likely not.

Look, most Americans view this through the lens that President Trump has been offering. This is about drug interdiction, even though just a few weeks ago he pardoned the former president of Honduras, who trafficked hundreds of tons of cocaine into the United States, and President Trump in his press conference basically said this was about getting access to Venezuela's oil and has threatened in a tone that frankly sounds more like a mob boss than it does like the president of a democracy, Delcy Rodriguez, the vice president, that if she doesn't go along with what we want, there's going to be terrible consequences for her.

What I didn't hear from President Trump or, frankly Secretary Hegseth or Secretary Rubio, was a press for political prisoners to be released, for there to be recognition of the opposition leader who won the Nobel Peace Prize, for there to be free and fair elections or a peaceful transition. Most of what President Trump has focused on is access to their oil and threatening the current leadership with further military action. That's what's opening the door to a very risky next chapter with no clear plan from this administration.

DEAN: And so if you have this vote and it doesn't -- this measure does not pass and you don't get additional powers when it comes to consent, and the president still saying that the U.S. is now running Venezuela, laying out what you just said there, what could -- that could potentially involve, what can Congress do about it? What role will you have?

COONS: Well, first, it's laughable to think that we could actually run Venezuela. It is a country twice the size of California with 25 million people active domestic armed guerrilla groups, complex gangs and narco trafficking. So the idea that we could run Venezuela any more than we could run Iraq at the cost of sending 100,000 troops there, frankly defies credibility.

But second, if Republicans step up and do their job as the Article One power and say that there shouldn't be further military action without our consent, there's a lot we can do. If Republicans fold their arms and say, nope, we're willing to let President Trump do whatever he wants with our military overseas, with no clear evidence of an imminent threat, then I think folks around the world will be even more anxious.

Our trusted ally, Denmark, will wonder what it means when Trump continues to make threats against Greenland. Our ally Panama will wonder what it means when he threatens Panama. Heck, even Canada has reason to worry if there's no checks or balances provided by the Republicans in the Senate.

DEAN: I want to focus lastly -- come back to just Venezuela right now because in January of 2025, the Biden administration raised the bounty on Maduro to $25 million, to which the Trump administration then raised it to $50 million. Clearly both administrations wanted him captured. They wanted him arrested. Republicans have argued Trump just went ahead and did it, that he took action. What do you say to that thinking?

COONS: So, look, there is precedent for our capturing a dictator of a foreign country and returning him to the United States to stand trial. This was the case of Manuel Noriega. Immediately following that, the duly elected president was sworn in because Noriega was using military force to maintain control of Panama. It was a brief, concise military action. One could argue it also needed congressional approval.

But I think what is most alarming about this moment is that shambolic press conference by President Trump yesterday, where he said these guys, and points to Hegseth and Rubio, are going to be running Venezuela, which clearly was news to them. And he said, we have no hesitation putting more boots on the ground. And today he threatened further military action against the Venezuelan people through their vice president.

I'm concerned about the lack of a plan for how to move forward without threatening violence or occupying Venezuela. I'll remind you, we have a huge armada of U.S. naval vessels, and it took 150 American aviators and planes to carry out this mission. This is an expensive and complex military operation, and it will not produce significant benefits to the United States or American oil companies for years to come.

So, frankly, the bottom line here is, President Trump, what's your goal?

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Are you trying to restore democracy? Are you trying to interdict drugs? Are you trying to access oil? And how much of a price are you asking American service members, our men and women who serve us around the world to keep us safe, to make in order to achieve whatever your actual goal is?

We deserve an answer, and so do the American people and the men and women of our armed forces.

DEAN: Yes, back in December, after that briefing by Hegseth and Rubio, I know you told the press you didn't have any clarity on what they were doing, and it sounds like you were still seeking that clarity, and you still don't have the clarity that you want.

Senator Chris, thank you so much. We really appreciate it.

COONS: Thanks, Jessica.

DEAN: Still ahead, with international law at play, will the drugs and weapons charges against Maduro stick? A criminal justice attorney who's no stranger to high profile cases weighs in.

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DEAN: After a dramatic capture by elite U.S. forces, the deposed president of Venezuela now finding himself in a federal detention center here in New York, Nicolas Maduro is preparing to appear in federal court tomorrow on drug trafficking and weapons charges. Experts say his legal team is most likely to argue Maduro's arrest violated international law.

David Oscar Markus is joining us now. He's a criminal defense attorney who's represented a number of high profile clients, most recently and notably Ghislaine Maxwell and others.

David, it's great to see you. Thank you so much for being here with us. First of all, our colleague John Miller reporting just about an hour ago that as of then, Maduro still didn't have an attorney, that he could end up tomorrow with a public defender. Walk us through what that process is like. DAVID OSCAR MARKUS, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Yes, thanks for having

me, Jessica. So he'll make his first appearance tomorrow, and I'm sure he'll have a court appointed lawyer because he hasn't had time to meet with private lawyers, to hire a private lawyer. So he'll have someone appointed for the first appearance, and then he'll start going through the process of interviewing folks, figuring out who he wants to hire. You know, he was just flown here. He hasn't been meeting with American criminal defense lawyers, so that will take some time. The judge will give him some time, probably 30 or 45 days, to get a lawyer on board.

That lawyer is going to have to work through getting paid because Maduro is on the sanctions list, which means any lawyer who wants to get involved is going to have to go through a process to get a license. It's very time consuming, but it will get done. And he will, I'm sure, get very good representation going forward.

DEAN: And this again of the king, John Miller, laying it all out for us. But he said, you know, this could take a year to get to trial, maybe longer. This is going to be quite a drawn-out process. Again, something you're very familiar with, these processes and how long they take. What should people anticipate in terms of how long this might take and how we might see this play out?

MARKUS: You know, John has it exactly right. It's going to take a long time to get to trial. I would say at least a year. Any criminal defense lawyer who comes in is going to want to have time. Now you have to balance that with your client being in custody and in custody in a terrible place, a soul crushing place. That MDC is one of the worst prisons you can be in. I had a client there. You mentioned Miss Maxwell, she was there. It's a terrible place.

It's frigid inside. The food is terrible. It's moldy. It's bad. You lose weight, you age in there. You're going to be isolated as a high profile defendant. You're not going to be in general population, they say for your own safety. So it's going to be really, really difficult conditions for him. And then to prepare for trial, you know, the lawyers are going to have to come in, meet with him for a couple of hours.

You can't bring your cell phone in. You have to get a computer that's safe, they say, not connected to the internet to review discovery. So it's going to be a difficult, lengthy process for Maduro and his lawyer.

DEAN: And again, because you've had high profile clients in this exact prison, what is -- what might make him different than some of the other inmates? You mentioned that he'll be held by himself. What might make him the same?

MARKUS: So this is really wild. You know, we can look back to the Noriega case in Miami, and because he argued he was a prisoner of war, under the Geneva Convention, he got to have a special unit in the jail. They actually -- his two prison cell suite, they called it the presidential suite. It was -- he had electronics, a telephone, exercise equipment. He had it all back then. So the first thing that Maduro's lawyers are going to be arguing for

is that he's a prisoner of war. He needs special accommodations. He shouldn't be held in what's called the SHU, the special housing unit, which is a very difficult place to be. He should have, his lawyers are going to say, the Noriega presidential suite.

DEAN: Very interesting. And so in terms of the defenses here, the potential defenses he might have, what would an attorney, a defense attorney be looking at here?

MARKUS: There's going to be a lot of legal and factual defenses, Jessica. So first is the legal defense, sovereign immunity. You saw this defense again with Noriega in the late '80s, but Noriega wasn't the president of Panama at the time. So Maduro has a lot stronger case to argue for sovereign immunity. Remember, Trump says that heads of state should not be prosecuted, that he argued successfully before the Supreme Court and won.

There are cases saying foreign heads of state, too, should not be prosecuted for actions taken as heads of state. So he's going to have that argument. Of course, the United States is going to say we didn't recognize him as a head of state. So he doesn't have that defense. And so that'll be interesting. No court has really ruled on that other than the 11th Circuit in Noriega. This will be in the Second Circuit out of New York, a different circuit. And so not governed by the 11th.

Then you have all of the factual defenses. This is going to be like your classic drug case. There's going to be cooperating witnesses, what we call snitches, coming in to testify against Maduro and the criminal defense lawyer is going to be able to impeach those witnesses and try to argue that this really isn't about drugs.

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This is about regime change. And so, you know, both sides are going to have really strong arguments. I also think the venue was an interesting choice, Jessica, because they could have brought this case down here in Miami where I'm from, where the jury pool is much more anti-Maduro than it is in New York, much more pro-Trump in Miami than it is in New York. They chose New York, which is a more difficult venue for the prosecution than Miami would have been.

DEAN: That is an interesting point. David Oscar Markus, great to have you. Thanks for that insight. We appreciate it.

MARKUS: So nice to see you, Jessica. Thanks.

DEAN: Thanks.

Still ahead, outgoing Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene says President Trumps action in Venezuela ignores America first. We're going to talk about that with our panel. More on that just ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[19:30:17] DEAN: President Donald Trump calling the United States operation in Venezuela an extraordinary success, but former fierce Trump ally and now outgoing Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene sees it another way.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

REP. MARJORIE TAYLOR GREENE (R-GA): My pushback here is on the Trump administration that campaigned on Make America Great Again that we thought was putting America first. I want to see domestic policy be the priority that helps Americans afford life after four disastrous years of the Biden administration.

We don't consider Venezuela our neighborhood. Our neighborhood is right here in the 50 United States, not in the Southern Hemisphere.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DEAN: Joining us now, CNN senior political commentator, David Urban and CNN contributor, Lulu Garcia-Navarro, great to see both of you.

David, I want to start first with you and what Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene just said. Do you think she's right?

DAVID URBAN, CNN SENIOR POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: She clearly has a -- maybe she doesn't have a passport, maybe she doesn't study history, but Venezuela is clearly in our backyard. Maybe she never heard of the Monroe Doctrine, which has kind of governed and helped guided U.S. foreign policy for a hundred-plus years.

Venezuela and the stability of the region and the Caribbean, South America, the oil reserves, all the things that Venezuela just democracy in the region, all those things are incredibly important to America in the short term and the long run. The Trump administration should be applauded for what they did.

And listen the administration can walk and chew gum. They're going to have to address all those things that she's talking about. They've going to have to address, you know, the "affordability" issues that are being talked about, right. But this is a good thing for democracy. It's a good thing for the people of Venezuela, the people in South America and it puts dictators and bad guys on notice all over the world.

You can't continue to do what you do, the Biden administration talked about it. The Trump administration had a bounty on this gentleman's head. And finally, President Trump took action and limited action and, you know, there's obviously a lot yet to be written, but things look good so far.

DEAN: Lulu, I want to get your thoughts on the politics of this, but I also want to let our viewers know you've covered Latin America extensively throughout your career, so you have a lot of expertise on this and a lot of history. So, I want to know what you think about the politics about this, but also what has stood out to you over the last day-and-a-half? LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, CNN CONTRIBUTOR I think that this has been shocking. And I think, you know, to David Urban's point clearly Venezuela is in the national interest of the United States and what happens there. And clearly there has been a sense for a very long time that the United States has ignored Latin America and only really focused on it when there were issues to do with immigration or drugs. The broader question here, though, is what is this actually about? And, you know, we have more questions than answers, when we saw President Trump speaking yesterday, he was all over the place.

I mean, he was talking about taking over Venezuela and now we see his Cabinet, Marco Rubio, Secretary of State having to walk that back. What does it mean to say that the United States will be sort of in control of a huge South American country? What does that mean for the sovereignty of those nations that we rely on for trade, for cooperation with those big problems that we face here in America, like immigration?

And, you know, again, to David Urban's point, what it actually also says to the world is that the United States is going to take unilateral action without really consulting their allies and friends. And that really does change the world order in a substantial way. So, I think we're in uncharted territory here. And indeed, I think there's a lot yet to be written.

DEAN: Yes, and, David, look, Lulu brings up a key point that I keep hearing over and over again, which is, okay, now what? What's the plan? And, you know, we had this polling from CBS that found about 70 percent of Americans opposed U.S. military action in Venezuela, that a majority of people didn't understand why we would take action there. So, all of that being said, how critical is it for the Trump administration to explain this properly, not just to Congress and others, but to the American people?

URBAN: Yes, I think that the explanation isn't necessarily, I think it's going to have -- it's what's going to actually happen in the coming weeks, days and months in Venezuela is going to dictate those numbers, right, the polls favor, what's going to happen with the people in Venezuela, the diaspora of the Venezuelans who fled Venezuela over the past decade or so, the Venezuelan economy collapsed, Colombia and other places in South and Central America, in the United States.

So, the administration is going to have to explain in the short term what their objectives are and how they're going to attain that. But, you know, to just push back on, Lulu, a little bit, unilateral action in the Western Hemisphere is something that's been, you know, again, with the Monroe Doctrine, and then you had the, you know, Roosevelt Corollary and then the Kennedy kind of push in with Cuba and missiles in the Western Hemisphere, there are certain things that are so clearly within our interests --

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NAVARRO: David, of course, all those things have happened but what were the effects of those things? I mean, none of those things are shining bright examples of, you know, great statecraft of the United States. And in fact, what we saw with Cuba, for example, is that a lot of the intervention led to the rise of people like Fidel Castro. And so, the problem that --

URBAN: Yes, but we didn't have a nuclear war, Lulu, is what happened.

NAVARRO: -- is that the focus only happens when there is military intervention instead of partnership and working with governments to try and shore up those democracies. I agree with you, I have been to Venezuela multiple times and what has happened there has been a tragedy. It has been the biggest refugee crisis in the hemisphere, eight million people ended up leaving that country over the disastrous Maduro regime.

URBAN: So, would you agree it's a net positive what just occurred, what the Trump administration just undertook is a net positive for Venezuela and for the region? You can admit it, it's okay.

NAVARRO: Let's see. No, I don't know what it's going to be. I don't, because this is the thing. If you remember President Bush sitting under a banner saying mission accomplished after the invasion of Iraq and that statue fell down. I was there that day, and it seemed like a net positive then, too. But it wasn't, and so the history gets written not in days. As you know, as a military man, it gets written in weeks and months and in years. And so, we don't know where this is going.

DEAN: Okay, we're going to have to -- David, I'll give you a quick --

URBAN: I would suspect the people going to bed in Venezuela tonight are much happier than they were under the Maduro regime. That's all I would say.

DEAN: All right, David and Lulu, it's great to see you both. I really do appreciate your perspectives on this.

URBAN: Thanks.

DEAN: Appreciate it.

We're going to come back. We're going to talk about how U.S. efforts to claim large Venezuelan oil reserves could have a major impact in the global market. Stay with us.

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[19:42:05]

DEAN: We're now getting our first look at the global oil market since the U.S. captured Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife over the weekend, and in the first hours of trading, the price of U.S. oil is up just slightly despite that uncertainty, Venezuela controls about a fifth of the world's global reserves. And joining us now to discuss is Bob McNally, an energy consultant and president of the European Energy Group.

Oil futures opened down slightly but are now up. Bob, walk us through what you think it says that there was nothing too dramatic at the outset of trading.

BOB MCNALLY, INTERNATIONAL ENERGY CONSULTANT: Hi, Jessica. You know, what it says is, is that while Venezuela is a whale when it comes to reserves of oil in the ground, it is a minnow when it comes to producing and exporting oil in the global oil market that determines the price of gasoline you and I pay at the pump.

So Venezuela is just simply too small, there hasn't been a meaningful disruption, really not much has changed and so the oil markets are sort of yawning tonight.

DEAN: Yes, so it sounds like you were not surprised by what we're seeing in this early trading.

MCNALLY: Absolutely not, no, his really -- Venezuela really matters for after the Trump administration is over with. It matters for 2030, 2035 because only in coming years will we begin to see if everything goes well, millions of barrels, more of Venezuelan oil production. It's really a long-term prize, not a near-term factor.

DEAN: And the President says he wants U.S. oil companies in Venezuela. Obviously, you don't have a crystal ball, but what could that potentially look like? How might that change the current dynamics?

MCNALLY: Well, we have a, it is not a crystal ball, we have a template, we have a history -- 20, 25 years ago, U.S. companies were in Venezuela. Exxon was there, ConocoPhillips was there, Chevron is still there. What we need is a government that would come in and sort of repeat the opening that Venezuela went through in the mid-1990s, where it still kept the sector nationalized to a great degree, but it opened the sector to foreign companies to come in and invest and make money.

So, it's really a return to that period when U.S. companies and with U.S. companies, we got Venezuela up to three million barrels a day or more. So, now they're producing a little less than a third of that. So, really it's a return to the mid-1990s.

DEAN: And so Bob, walk us through because not everybody knows -- the President has talked about a return to when America was there and when American companies were there. What happened between then and now? Why were they forced out and where does that leave us today?

MCNALLY: Well, unfortunately, Hugo Chavez happened. 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 didn't organize and plan and run the wells well. So, he ran the system into the ground. He didn't invest in the system.

PDVSA, the national oil company of Venezuela, was very powerful, very smart people. They all left, they went to Canada, the Middle East and so forth. So, he chased the people away. He destroyed the sector. The production has dwindled down and they ruined it. And they just sucked money out of it for whatever they're spending their money on. [19:45:32]

DEAN: And so now, as we wait to see what happens, because we still have a lot of questions, what are you watching for in the coming weeks, days, months?

MCNALLY: Well, I'm looking to see what will the successor regime look like? You know, I worked for President Bush and I was in the White House when we went into Iraq, and there, we decisively removed the government and had a plan for what came after.

Now, that is arguable how well that turned out. But we had a plan.

With President Trump, we've just sort of taken Maduro off the chessboard. He's in New York, but it's not clear what the next steps are and what the plan is for a successor regime to, you know, meet our national interests, meet our commercial interests that we can work with. We seem to be sort of making it up as we're going along. Maybe that will turn out better than Iraq did. I don't know, but I'm looking to see who will be the new rulers of Venezuela.

Will they be the old Maduro folks? Or will they be opposition? And will they cooperate with the United States? Will they allow our companies to come back in on terms that will allow them to make money in future years?

DEAN: All right, Bob McNally, thanks so much for some context. We appreciate it.

MCNALLY: Thank you.

DEAN: Still to come, jury selection in the first criminal trial in the Uvalde school shooting begins tomorrow. A look ahead at what to expect.

You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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[19:51:15]

DEAN: More than three years after the shooting at Robb Elementary in Uvalde, Texas, in which 19 children and two teachers were killed, the trial of a former school resource officer, Adrian Gonzalez, will begin tomorrow. He is facing 29 counts of abandoning and endangering a child. Gonzalez was one of the first officers on the scene, but according to the indictment, he failed to follow his active shooter training.

CNN Shimon Prokupecz is joining us now from Corpus Christi, Texas.

Shimon, this is a story you have covered from the beginning. So, what can you tell us as we head into tomorrow?

SHIMON PROKUPECZ, CNN SENIOR CRIME AND JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Yes, so, the trial is happening here in Corpus Christi because the attorneys for Adrian Gonzalez, that former officer, asked for a change of venue.

And so, that's why we're here. We're 200 miles outside of Uvalde, quite a distance. Many of the family members are going to have to travel this way, all the way here to watch this trial and some of them will be testifying.

The trial itself is going to be televised, so it will allow family members who don't want to travel to at least watch. But it's a day that many of them have been waiting for because they're hoping still that there's some kind of accountability that people will have to come into court and will have to answer many questions.

There have been so many investigations and so much finger pointing. And for this trial, this has to do with the one officer who prosecutors allege did not distract or did not delay the shooter. They allege that he was one of the first officers on scene, that he had potentially the ability to challenge the shooter and did not and are basing that off of evidence that they have, one of which is the statement that the defendant made, Adrian Rodriguez, and where he explains his actions that day. In fact, most of it is his inaction that day. And that's what all, he was charged with in this case.

So we are expecting hundreds of prospective jurors to show up here tomorrow. We could have a full jury by the end of the day. And then on Tuesday morning or afternoon, we could begin testimony and hearing from witnesses and victims and a teacher who survived that horrific incident is expected to testify this week.

So it's certainly going to be a very tough week here, a very emotional week with family members here and witnesses gathering here as this trial gets underway.

DEAN: Certainly, and Shimon, will be there for it. Thank you so much for that reporting.

After our break, the five things happening this week to keep your eye on. You're in the CNN NEWSROOM.

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DEAN: Here's a look at the five stories we'll be tracking this week. Wednesday marks the one year anniversary of the day the deadly Palisades and Eaton Fires ignited in Southern California. Those wildfires killed at least 31 people and destroyed more than 16,000 buildings, the majority of which were people's homes. Several benefits are planned for this week, beginning with this morning, with thousands of runners turning out for the inaugural Altadena Forever Run.

Tuesday, marks five years since the insurrection on the U.S. Capitol following President Donald Trump's 2020 election loss. Thousands of trump supporters rioted, forcing their way inside trying to stop the certification of Joe Biden's 2020 win. Five people died in connection with the riots, including a Capitol Police officer. On the first day of President Trump's second term in office, he granted clemency to nearly 1,600 people already convicted or awaiting trial related to that attack.

Also this week, Congress will be back in session after its holiday recess. Trump administration officials are set to brief a select group of bipartisan lawmakers on the operation in Venezuela. This, after the President and Secretary of State said they did not inform Congress before the operation over a fear of leaks. A number of lawmakers have expressed outrage that they were not informed.

GOP Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene will officially resign from Congress this week. The once close ally of President Trump has been critical in recent months that the president and that criticism continued this weekend following the actions in Venezuela. She said, today, the strike betrays the promise of America First and ignores the MAGA movement.

We'll also be keeping a close eye on the market this week after President Trump's historic attack on oil-rich Venezuela. Here's a look at the U.S. stock market futures. Dow futures steady, crude oil futures slightly lower.

Thank you so much for joining me tonight. I'm Jessica Dean. And remember if you're here in the U.S. you can now stream CNN whenever you want using the CNN App. Just visit cnn.com/watch for more on that.

The CNN special, "I'm Chevy Chase and You're Not" is headed your way next. Have a good night. We'll see you next weekend.

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