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Unease in Venezuela after Maduro's Capture; Warnings Fly at Colombia, Cuba, Mexico, Iran and Greenland after Trump's Venezuela Attack; Trump Speaks to House Republicans at Retreat; Iranian President Offers Dialogue as Security Forces Crack Down on Protests. Aired 10-11a ET
Aired January 06, 2026 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
[10:00:00]
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UNIDENTIFIED MALE (voice-over): Live from CNN Abu Dhabi, this is CONNECT THE WORLD with Becky Anderson.
BECKY ANDERSON, CNN HOST (voice-over): And welcome to the second hour of CONNECT THE WORLD. I'm Becky Anderson in Abu Dhabi, where the time is just
after 7 o'clock in the evening. We are standing by to hear from U.S. president Donald Trump, who is due to meet with House Republicans in
Washington this hour.
They are hovering at the start of a critical election year, of course, which will determine the president's power to push through his agenda. And,
of course, on the heels of a seismic foreign policy move over the weekend, the capture of Nicolas Maduro.
The situation in Venezuela still tenuous even as president Trump claims he is in charge there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON (voice-over): Well, footage verified by CNN shows visible gunfire and anti-aircraft rounds over Caracas on Monday night. There were reports
of a misunderstanding. The White House says U.S. was not involved and authorities in Venezuela say the situation is calm. The city is clearly on
edge.
Tensions in fact escalating right around the world as the Trump administration, emboldened, it seems, by its swift invasion of Venezuela,
openly mulls military action in other countries.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: While we await Donald Trump, let's have a look at this, as we CONNECT THE WORLD. We are going to try to connect the dots for you here.
That's what we do on this show.
From the so-called Donroe Doctrine to the impact of oil, to the new threats to Colombia, Greenland and others, to how this will all reverberate to
China and to Russia and even Iran, I'm bringing in all the power of CNN's expert analysts.
Good friend of the show, Stephen Collinson in Washington; Nic Robertson in London; Paula Newton, who is today in Ottawa for you.
Thanks for standing by, everybody.
Stephen, sometimes a picture can speak 1,000 words. Right. And have a look at this. This is how the Trump war room account is depicting the Donroe
Doctrine.
Here's how Stephen Miller put it.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEPHEN MILLER, WHITE HOUSE DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF FOR POLICY: We live in a world in which you can talk all you want about international niceties and
everything else, but we live in a world, in the real world, Jake, that is governed by strength, that is governed by force, that is governed by power.
These are the iron laws of the world that have existed since the beginning of time.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Just break that down for us, if you will, and what it says about Trump's big picture objectives at this point.
STEPHEN COLLINSON, CNN WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT: What we're seeing, I think, is the clearest distillation of a force that's been building across
both Trump's terms. It was there right at the beginning. Now it's being implemented.
This idea that America is the most powerful nation in the world, it can use brute force to apply to reach its individual goals. It doesn't have to
worry about international law. Trump has proven on the domestic front that that kind of approach can subvert constitutional constraints on the
presidency.
I think the administration looks at the Western Hemisphere and sees a region where it can apply force with not much pushback. There's already, I
think, a political movement to the Right in many of the countries which the administration has been encouraging and which it approves of.
And look what it just did. It just went into a country 1,000 miles from the U.S. mainland. It plucked away its president and suffered no U.S.
casualties.
[10:05:00]
So from that point of view, this is their doctrine and it's working. I think the big question is, as Trump talks about threats to Colombia, to
Mexico, you see the potential possibility of pressure building on Cuba, is how much of this is sustainable in terms of U.S. capability.
And not just military but diplomatic, financial and the political underscoring for these adventures abroad in the United States.
ANDERSON: Yes. It's fascinating.
Nic, let me bring you in. Donald Trump has made it clear. And, look, none of this is new. He's made it clear that geoeconomics, specifically oil and
critical minerals, are at the heart of his foreign policy.
As Stephen points out, this is not new, including this push to take over Greenland, which is assessed to have rare earths, titanium, graphite.
I spoke last hour to Danish member of parliament -- he's an opposition member of parliament -- Rasmus Jarlov. Have a listen to part of that
conversation.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RASMUS JARLOV, MEMBER, DANISH PARLIAMENT: There's nothing they need in Greenland that they do not already have exclusive access to. And the best
thing for them would be to talk to us like normally and ask if there's anything more that they could get and they could get it.
But the idea that they will annex Greenland, attack it, bribe it into becoming part of the United States is very, very dangerous. And it may be
one of the most illegitimate land claims ever in history.
There's no historical claim. There's no moral claim. There's no threats from Greenland. There are no drug lords in Greenland. There's no
illegitimate government in either Denmark or Greenland. There's no excuse for this. None at all. There's no legitimacy behind it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: Not mincing his words; NATO and European leaders, Nic, also weighing in.
What are we hearing?
NIC ROBERTSON, CNN SENIOR DIPLOMATIC EDITOR: Yes. This is the Coalition of the Willing meeting. Ahead of that in Paris, president Macron hosting that,
of course. But the German chancellor Merz, the Italian prime minister, the British prime minister, the Danish prime minister, amongst others, also
present.
And they put out a joint statement; 15 heads there, putting out a joint statement about how the Greenland is -- the security of Greenland is
something that the Europeans, as part of NATO, along with the United States, work together on, that there's no shortage of effort.
There's an increase in spend. There's an increase in tension. There's an -- in training, rather. So the message is somewhat soft and subtle. And if I'm
correct, your last guest thought that this message was a bit too soft and subtle for the United States, who he said, you know, doesn't -- don't
accept the word no when they hear the word no.
But this, the language, the diplomatic language that's being used by Europe, I think it's in the final paragraph where they really get the very
clear clarity, because, until that moment, they're saying we're working, were stabilizing, were doing the security in Greenland. We do it with your
help.
But at the very end, they say this -- and let me just read it to you, because I think this makes it very clear.
"Greenland belongs to the people, belongs to its people. It's for Denmark and Greenland and them only," very clear language, them only, "to decide on
matters for Denmark and Greenland."
So perhaps the language is still being very diplomatic, as we've heard from the Europeans about Venezuela, their concerns there.
But this statement makes it very clear that Greenland is on the agenda in Europe. They are concerned and take it seriously, take the U.S. threats
seriously about Greenland, and they want they want to try to head it off and they want to do it diplomatically.
ANDERSON: Yes.
Paula, one leader who is really not worrying about diplomatic language anymore is the Colombian president, who has no truck with Donald Trump.
Quote, "If you read the first few paragraphs of the national security policy, you will understand that the Monroe Doctrine aims to make sovereign
Latin American nations colonies again."
Not my words; the words of the Colombian president, no less. And let's have a listen to more from our colleague, Clarissa Ward, who is in Colombia.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
CLARISSA WARD, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Behind the scenes, we are seeing a concerted effort from Colombian officials to try to tamp
down the rhetoric. You mentioned that post yesterday, where President Petro said, you know, I put my weapons down years ago and vowed never to fight
again.
But I will pick up arms and fight if there's any U.S. military intervention. Meanwhile, the defense minister saying, hold on a second.
We're not enemies. We need to work together. We have four decades of assisting the U.S. with its counternarcotics strategy.
[10:10:00]
And the focus right now really needs to be on ensuring for Colombia that that 1,400-mile-long border with Venezuela is secured.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ANDERSON: Paula, talk to us about the key security concerns on the ground in that region.
PAULA NEWTON, CNN ANCHOR AND CORRESPONDENT: You know, the point that the security situation is still incredibly fragile, the way you know that even
the United States understands that this is an issue, is the fact that they did turn to Delcy Rodriguez, who is now the interim president; before, the
vice president.
They believe that that stability was key and that it would have a priority over any democratic transition. And the reason, Becky, is that we're not
just talking about the military, which, of course, in some areas of Venezuela, does not have any power and control but instead it goes to
paramilitary groups.
In some areas, Becky, it is very closely tied to narcotrafficking, even from Colombia. And you will have some elements in Venezuela, some whole
towns and villages, that are controlled by those drug gangs that necessarily do not have any connection in --
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON: Paula let me jump in. Appreciate your insights. Donald Trump just about to start in Washington. Let's listen in.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
DONALD TRUMP, U.S. PRESIDENT: -- coming over here and I said, I love those Republicans and I meant it. I said, except for maybe a couple. I don't love
them. But the people in this room, I don't know if those couple are here. I don't know. I don't care if they're here or not.
But we love you and you've done an amazing. You've done an amazing job. You love the country. You're doing what's right for the country.
And I want to wish everybody a Happy New Year, the most successful House Republican majority in decades and we did it with not a big majority,
right?
This was not a, that was not a big majority but it's a unified majority and it's people that know what it takes to make America great again.
So together, we had 12 months of unprecedented success in 2025 and now we're going to make history and break records with the epic midterm victory
that we're going to pull off. It just doesn't seem to happen for people that win the presidency.
It's an amazing phenomena (sic), you know, you win the presidency and we sure as hell are having a successful presidency, I will say that.
But even if it's a successful presidency, it's been nothing like what we are doing. We had a very good day two days ago too. But even if it's
successful, they don't win. I don't know what it is.
There's something psychological like you vote against. You can win by a lot. We won every swing state. We won the popular vote by millions. We won
everything. But they say that when you win the presidency, you lose the midterm.
So you are all brilliant people. Most of you're in this business longer than me. That makes me smarter than you, because look where I am, right?
No, it doesn't. But I wish you could explain to me what the hell's going on with the mind of the public, because we have the right policy. They don't,
they have horrible policy. They do stick together. They're violent, they're vicious. You know, they're vicious people and they stick together like
glue.
They don't have a couple of the people that we have, a couple of people, not too many, really very few.
And that's why I want to just say that before we go any further, I want to express our tremendous sorrow at the loss of a great member, a great,
great, great member, Congressman Doug LaMalfa, who passed away yesterday, as you probably have heard.
And he was the leader of the Western Caucus, a fierce champion on California water issues. He was great on water. He wanted release the
water, he'd scream at him and a true defender of American children. He was a defender of everybody. And our hearts go out to his wife, Jill, and his
entire family.
You know, he voted with me 100 percent of the time. And, by the way, he wasn't a 3:00 in the morning person.
Do you know what I mean by that?
Where the speaker goes, sir, could you call up?
Could you call?
I said, what time is it, Speaker?
Sir, it's 3:00 in the morning.
Could you make a couple of calls?
How many?
Nine.
So I'd start calling, I'd start calling 3:00 in the morning, I said, like I shouldn't use any names. I'm just going to create problems. But hi, Jim and
I'm not talking about Jim Jordan had never had a call 3:00 in the morning for him but I'd say, hi, Jim, how you doing?
I just called to say hello. You know, 3:00, OK, sir. Sir, you haven't spoken to me in three years and it's now 3:00 in the morning. So I know
what you want. You want my vote.
And usually they'd almost always, they'd give it but they wanted to be called. And with Doug, I never had to call. He was with us right from the
beginning.
[10:15:00]
I love those guys. I must say I probably love them the best. You know, the guys that I don't have to call, they know we're doing the right thing. I
have a couple that are going to be with us all the way but they just want the call. They want love. They need love.
They're more insecure than a lot, most of you. It's true. No, most of you are secure people. don't -- you're all laughing. No, most of you are secure
people.
I had a couple say, look, I could have Trump call me all the time. I just have to break his ass a little bit and he'll be calling, calling, calling.
But I appreciate those. We actually had a little party. We opened up a beautiful section of the White House in the Rose Garden and we had a party
for all of those people that I never speak to and vote for me.
And, you know, I spoke to Doug but I didn't speak to him about, I mean, never had a problem. And I was really saddened by his passing and was
thinking about not even doing the speech in his honor but then I decided that I have to do it in his honor. I'll do it in his honor because he
would've wanted it that way. He would've wanted that way.
He would've said, do that speech. Are you kidding me?
Do this speech, big guy.
But he was a fantastic person, man, that, that was a quick one. I don't know. I don't know quite yet what happened but boy, it's a tough one. He
was just with us. He was our friend, all of us, every one of us.
And I also want to send our best wishes to Congress and Jim Baird and his wife, who are recovering from a car accident, they're going to be OK. But
they had a pretty bad accident. And we're praying that they get out of that hospital very quickly. He's going to be fine. She's going to be fine. But
it was a bad accident.
And I want to thank the man who has been central to so many of our triumphs. He really has been. He's the guy that would call me to make those
calls all the time. He is always working and he's a nice person.
You know, he's a very nice -- he's a high quality person. But I would tell you he's a very tough cookie. I've seen both sides. Not often do I have to
see the other side because he's just -- by nature, he's a very fine, religious -- I like that. He's a religious person.
I like that. I like religious people. It usually means they're more honest. Sometimes it doesn't happen that way. I've had the -- I've had some real
religious ones that did numbers on me and I said, I'm going to get them someday. They got me by surprise but it's usually good, OK, right?
And his name is Mike Johnson, Speaker Mike Johnson.
He has my complete and total endorsement. Stand up, Speaker.
So you know but it is true. A lot of times they'll say, I wish Mike were tougher. Tougher. He's tough. He's tough as anybody in the room, actually
but can't be tough when you have a majority of three.
And now, sadly, a little bit less than that. I mean, a little bit less than that maybe but you can't be Trump. You can't -- I want -- you know, you
make 10 enemies, 20 enemies, that's the end of that, right?
Everybody loves him.
I would say there's one person he's given up on. I mean, I think it is just -- he just gave up on this guy. He's so bad, he never votes for us. But no
matter how good, he won't vote for us. There's a sickness there, you know?
There's something wrong. You can have the greatest bill, the greatest for the country, forget about for Republicans, great, great, great for the
country, I'm a no vote. We don't even bother calling him.
But I want to thank another guy because he went through something that none of us have gone through. I went through a little shot but I get that
throbbing feeling every once in a while. But what he went through was incredible and that's Steve Scalise. He got hit hard.
Where's Steve?
Steve?
He's a tough cookie. He was dead. I went to the hospital. His wife was crying so much. He was a mess. Oh, yes, yes, she loves you. That's the only
thing I learned about Steve, that he has a wife who loves him, because I've gone to hospitals where guys are in bad shape and the wife couldn't care
less. She's waiting. She's looking for the next guy.
Who's the next guy down the pike?
Who the hell is the next guy?
He's died. I said, that's so bad. Oh, yes.
I had one where the dog died and the husband died at the same time. I said, it's so, so much. She couldn't give a damn. The guy left her a fortune. Can
you imagine?
[10:20:00]
He shouldn't have left her anything but she was much more concerned -- it's true. Oh, the dog was devastated. The husband, he was like an afterthought.
Your wife loves you Steve. She's a great wife.
Another one who has a great wife, Jackie, is Tom Emmer, right?
Look at you. You have a great wife but you haven't been tested like these guys. You have been -- we don't want to test her, right?
She's incredible. She's a strong, beautiful, great person. She's a great person. She actually liked me at the beginning when we were having little
fights. We weren't even having fights. We just didn't know each other. We didn't know each other.
And I heard he said something negative about me. He was right about the subject. But you're not supposed to say ever, even though you're right.
But Jackie was saying, I'm telling you, he's a great guy. She was fighting for me. And now I love this guy. He's great. Jackie's right about -- she
was right about both of us, I think, right?
But Tom has been incredible. He's incredible at what he does and he's a great team player.
Your conference chair, Lisa McClain, is so strong and powerful and beautiful and thank you, Lisa. Thank you. Thank you.
And I think they're broadcast. You know, we said we don't care if the press comes or not. So when I say that, that means they're broadcasting all this
and I'm letting my feelings out because it's true. I feel that way about so many people in the room.
I could say it about many of the people in the room, some I don't know as well but many of the people in the room. They're incredible people. You're
incredible.
ANDERSON: Well, that's Donald Trump, riffing at a meeting of House Republican lawmakers at the Kennedy Center. I've still got Stephen
Collinson and Nic Robertson with us.
We were broadcasting that because we wanted to ensure that, if Donald Trump said anything about the current news, that being Venezuela and the other
threats that we've seen from this U.S. administration, including the president himself.
What is going on in Paris with the Coalition of the Willing and what they've said about Greenland?
Stephen, we you know, we wanted to ensure that we didn't miss anything. But at the moment, as a news organization, quite frankly, we're not missing
anything from what Donald Trump has -- is doing. He's sending a lot of love and kindness, to House Republican lawmakers.
Look, do you want me to start with what you make of what we've just heard?
Or do you want us, Stephen, just move on?
COLLINSON: Well, you know, there was an interesting detail there, actually. He announced the death of a Republican congressman, Doug LaMalfa
from California.
With the retirement of Marjorie Taylor Greene, the one-time MAGA lawmaker from Georgia, yesterday, that means that House Speaker Mike Johnson can
only lose two votes now on any vote in the House of Representatives. That shows you how thin that majority is even before we head into the midterm
elections in November.
So I think what the president obviously is doing here is trying to buck up what has been quite a volatile political base in Washington; in the House,
at least. That was evidenced over the Epstein matter. You know, that doesn't mean that there's going to be consequences in the Republican Party
for this raid that snatched Maduro.
I think with one or two exceptions, most Republicans are behind that. But it does speak, I think, to the dynamics that are behind all this foreign
policy adventurism. And it does get us to the question, I think, of how strong Trump's support is going to be.
How much willingness is there going to be in Congress to finance potential multiple military operations in Venezuela or Colombia or Mexico or
everything else the president is speaking about?
So although it was Trump just doing his weave, as he calls it, you know, there were quite interesting points there.
ANDERSON: Yes. No, and you make a very good point. And he started this off by bemoaning the fact that sitting presidents tend to -- their parties tend
to do badly in the midterms. And he's making the point at the beginning of all of this that he doesn't understand that.
And then, as you say, clearly an attempt here to really rally the -- rally those House Republicans at the beginning of what is going to be a tough
year. There is no doubt about that.
And many in the MAGA base -- and you and I have talked about this a lot -- just don't necessarily see, particularly with the Epstein files, for
example, but also with the affordability crisis in the States and whatnot.
That, you know, the MAGA -- there was a there was a significant cohort of the MAGA base who say this is not a Trump administration or an
administration that is working for our best.
[10:25:00]
Nic, when it comes to great power competition, China and Russia were key allies of Maduro. And at face value, you would think that that is a big
blow for them, his seizure and incarceration now in the States.
Is there an argument that Trump's actions actually embolden both or either of those countries to act more boldly in their own spheres of influence?
Stand by with that. I just want to go back to Donald Trump, because I think he's completed his riff or his weave and back on message. Let's have a
listen.
(JOINED IN PROGRESS)
TRUMP: -- country was, boom, turned off. That's when they knew there was a problem. There was no electricity. Caracas said, there's no electricity.
It's not a -- the only people with lights were the people that had candles was just off.
So we got him a little by surprise. But it was a brilliant -- it was brilliant tactically. It was an incredible thing.
But I watched where Schumer -- he's such a bad guy. I mean, I've known the guy for a long time and he's such a bad guy. You know, at some point, they
should say, you know, you did a great job. Thank you. Congratulations. Wouldn't it be good?
I would say that if they did a good job, their philosophies are so different but if they did a good job, I'd be happy for the country.
They've been after this guy for years and years and years and, you know, he's a violent guy. He gets up there and he tries to imitate my dance a
little bit but he's a violent guy. And he's killed millions of people.
He's tortured -- they have a torture chamber in the middle of Caracas that they're closing up. But he's tortured people. And now what they do, the
radical left, they actually have people and it's hard to get them. They're all paid people. Most of these people are paid.
You know, they're paid when they have brand new, beautiful, printed signs by like the highest quality printer. And you have a woman, free Maduro. And
the sign is, before we even did the attack, she goes, free Maduro.
Why do you want him freed?
I don't know but he should be free. Oh, she reads the sign.
What does that say?
It says free -- well, that's what I believe.
And, you know, you see the sign, it's like, Lisa, we should all have quality signage like that. The one thing I want, I want their sign maker.
The guy is -- he does beautiful signage. You know, the old days was better when they used to write out their own sign, wasn't it?
They'd make a sign in the basement. They'd have an old broken board holding up a sign and it's made with a magic marker, sloppy as hell and it meant
something. But today, when you have that yellow and black, they should use different colors a little bit.
But the yellow is a beautiful shade of yellow. No, I want to find out who that is. I want him to work for the Republican campaign. He's much better
than our guy, whoever the guy is.
But the United States proved once again that we have the most powerful, most lethal, most sophisticated and most fearsome, it's a fearsome military
on Planet Earth and it's not even close. You know, I've been saying it for a long time. Nobody can take us.
Nobody -- we don't want it to have a discussion but you read all and you see everything else. Nobody could have done that. Nobody has our weapons.
Nobody has the quality of our weapons. The problem is we don't produce them fast enough. We're going to start producing them much faster. We're going
to be very tough on the companies.
We have the best weapons in the world but it takes too long to get them, including allies, when allies want to buy them and they have to wait four
years for a plane, five years for a helicopter. We're not letting that happen anymore. We're telling our defense contractors, you're going to
start building faster.
You know, a guy makes -- I have a big problem with it. I'm the king -- I have sold more Boeings than any human being on Earth. They gave me award,
salesman of the year. I said, what about salesman in the history of Boeing?
I've sold more Boeing planes than any man in history by far, probably over a thousand planes. I said, that's the good news. But why should they wait
three, four years to get a plane?
They should build them, get them immediately.
The F-35s, it takes too long to get them. The Apache helicopter, I mean, I had India coming to me, sir, I've been waiting five years. We're changing
it. We're changing it. India ordered 68 Apaches and Prime Minister Modi came to see me. Sir, may I see you, please?
Yes. I have a very good relationship with him. He's not that happy with me because, you know, they're paying a lot of tariffs now because they're not
doing the oil but they are. They've now reduced it very substantially, as you know, from Russia.
We are getting rich because of tariffs, by the way. I hope everyone understands that. They hate to report it. We're going to have over $650
billion poured into our country or coming in shortly because of tariffs. You know, they're finding all of these pockets of money.
[10:30:00]
A couple of weeks ago, sir, we're off by $39 billion. Oh, is that good or bad?
Meaning, do we have it or are we short of it?
Sir, it's 39 billion that we can't account for.
That means we have an extra 39.
Yes, sir.
I said, well, what are you saying?
We don't know where it came from.
I said, check the tariff shelf.
Sir, that tariff doesn't start until September. He said, no, no, it started about a 1.5 months ago. Check it. Comes back 25 minutes later.
Sir, you were right. that came from tariffs. This never happened to us before where we find plus 39 billion, not million, plus 39 billion. They
were missing.
We've taken in $650 billion or shortcoming and that's because I'm being nice. If I want to be and we have national security because of tariffs and
frankly, we have a big Supreme Court case. I hope they do what's good for our country. I hope they do the right thing, where the president has to be
able to wheel and deal with tariffs.
And you know, if you have the right president, it's good. You have the wrong president, you know, if you have the wrong president, nothing's good.
Tariffs are the least of your problems. We found that out for four years. We had the worst president. Did the worst job. They had the worst policy.
We have to even run against these people.
Now I won't say cancel the election. They should cancel the election because the fake news will say he wants the elections canceled. He's a
dictator. They always call me a dictator. Who?
Nobody's worse than Obama and the people that surrounded Biden. Not Biden. I don't think it was Biden. He didn't know what the hell was going on. OK.
The election was rigged. He had no in he had no idea what happened. He still doesn't.
The autopen. And by the way, you ought to make a big deal out of the autopen. The autopen was your president because most of the things were
signed by autopen. And you're not allowed to do that. I signed very little. Now I just sign everything because it's just so crazy.
But you know, like I had the other day,, we elevated a general to four stars. I think you should sign that. You know, that's a big deal. A general
did a great job. Was elevated to four stars. And I had the gentleman and I signed it in front of him, held it up. You know, you got to sign that. You
can't give it to an auto pen.
And you can always tell an auto pen. One thing, it has two little tiny dots. You know that two little dots. You know what that's from? two pins,
they go bing being. They're wonderful things but you got to sign it. And the law is you have to sign it.
If somebody's, you know, telling the autopen person, he has to be authorized by the president of the United States. Well, he wasn't. The guy
barely knew the president. How many times did you speak to the president, right? He said two. And they just spoke about the weather. It was like
this. But he was never authorized to sign.
And I think it's what is it 95 percent of the things were signed by autopen. You can tell because the autopen is a nice clean signature and his
signature is a mess. The only thing he signed was which is nice was Hunter's pardon. That would
No, that's the only thing that we could find that he signed. Most of it he didn't sign. So somebody's sending papers to sign and he wasn't the
president. He first of all the election was rigged. You ought to have voter ID. You ought to insist on it.
You ought to insist on it. Can you imagine? In California, they not only don't have voter ID but if an official at the voting booths, which they
don't have, by the way, because it's all male, if an official, a voting official, even asks somebody for voter ID, sir, would like to see your
identification. Do you come from our country?
They put him in jail for tampering with the election. OK, we got to straighten this out before it gets too crazy. California is more corrupt
than any place. California is more corrupt than Minnesota. And I won Minnesota. Well, Tom's going I think so.
Well, it's can't be proportionately probably nothing's more corrupt. Right. Yeah. Right. You got He says you got to win. I'll tell you what I did.
great there three times. I was surprised three times. That's those elections are corrupt. They got you one time, too.
But I heard a long time ago but they got you. But they got to straighten those out. But we have to have voter ID. And you know, when you confront a
Democrat about voter ID, like in a debate or something, I said it a couple of times with Biden and just want they're very embarrassed when they say we
want voter ID, voter identification.
[10:35:00]
This -- the only reason somebody doesn't want that is because they want to cheat.
Our elections are crooked as hell. And you can win not only win elections over that and not only win future elections but you'll win every debate
because the public is really angry about it.
And you ought to you ought to pass the safe act or whatever you're going to call -- is -- are we going to save act or the save America act?
I think we're going to change the name a little bit. You're going to put that up for a vote. I think everybody in this room certainly should do it.
And it's a bad vote for them because they're voting against things like voter ID and other things that are almost equal to voter ID.
(CROSSTALK)
ANDERSON: This is Donald Trump. He is addressing House Republicans at what has been described as a retreat for the group there at Kennedy Center. So
he's popped across from the White House. He's in Washington.
And he's -- well, he's telling a lot of jokes. And he is riffing with the crowd. He's also made some false claims about a rigged election, touting
his tariffs, claiming that they have brought enough -- billions into the U.S. and he has also said he has sold more Boeings than any other person.
And we will keep an ear out for any -- anything of substance here that we think may be useful as we continue to provide insight and analysis on what
is going on in Venezuela and the fallout from the U.S. seizing the president there.
Paula is with me. Paula Newton is in Ottawa and Stephen Collinson is in Washington and Nic is in London for us.
Paula, let me get back to you. This speech is somewhat illustrative of a new world order and no one feels that more than Canada, where you are,
traditionally a close ally of the United States.
It has been since the beginning of the second presidency -- in fact, right out of the gate, January of last year -- Canada has been in Donald Trump's
crosshairs.
What's the thinking there about this most recent brazen foreign policy decision, that being to seize the Venezuelan president and take over
effectively, Venezuelan oil industry?
NEWTON: Well, look, I think Canadians are incredulous right now in terms of the speed with which the Trump administration is moving in very
unorthodox ways, in ways that weren't even predicted when Donald Trump took office nearly a year ago. There are three separate issues I want to talk
about, though.
First is Venezuela, right?
Mark Carney, the prime minister here, very much in keeping with the European allies. He is at that meeting in Paris right now. He spoke with
Maria Corina Machado on the phone the other day. She, of course, is, you know, the Nobel Prize winner, the person who rightfully should be back in
Venezuela, involved in some kind of a transition.
What he outlined, though, was the issue of the rule of law. And there will be a debate among allies as to how much to back Donald Trump in this, even
though many continue to say that it is true that Nicolas Maduro has survived for so long in persecuting his own people and really presided over
the further economic demise of Venezuela. That's one.
Two, the oil of it all, right, Becky, I mean, many have talked about how the Venezuelan oil is in competition with the Canadian oil. Many
politicians, including Donald Trump in the United States, saying we don't need Canadian oil.
Given the infrastructure right now, that is just clearly not true. Canada will continue to have some challenges with its own oil when it comes to
trying to get that oil to market or, more precisely, that oil to refineries, whether it's in the United States or beyond. That will continue
to happen.
But Venezuela is a long way from displacing Canadian oil.
Even if that happens, does it present a challenge for companies here in Canada?
You bet, Becky. But it also presents a challenge for those refineries in the Midwest, who continue to say that, look, we need Canadian oil. They get
it at a discount right now to the international price. And that is also significantly important if you are filling up a gas tank in the United
States.
But Becky, I also want to bring up this issue of Greenland. Right. It may come as a surprise to many. Just look at a map. Canada has both the
shortest land border with Greenland, ostensibly Denmark, and one of the largest maritime borders in the world with Greenland.
And at issue here is Arctic security. For so many years -- and this goes back to prime minister Stephen Harper, who really highlighted Arctic
security and tried to work with the United States on it -- it was supposed to be Russia, Becky, that was a threat to Arctic security.
And so many passages or opening up there now in terms of alternative routes, because of global warming. And that's why some believe, you know, a
lot is at stake in the Arctic. But now it is the United States that threatens a lot of that Arctic security. And it is, even right now at this
hour, a partner with Canada in trying to secure that Arctic security.
[10:40:04]
Incredibly complicated, Becky, and fair to say, for a country like Canada, middle power changing by the hour.
ANDERSON: Yes.
Steve, let me bring you in. As Donald Trump continues to address House Republicans there at the Kennedy Center, lots of arm-waving going on.
Donald Trump continues to insist that Venezuelans are thanking him for his, quote, "intervention."
But do American voters care about this?
Why has he done this politically from a MAGA perspective, Stephen?
COLLINSON: Well, I think if you look at most of the polls ahead of this intervention, most Americans were against an intervention. I think Trump's
display of power can help him, to some extent, in the conservative base, although there are these questions of whether this really is America First.
Trump voters like displays of strength and of someone that doesn't really care about international law. That could help him with the base. It's
interesting that Trump has addressed this almost exclusively on, at least to begin with, on conservative media.
He's done a few interviews with mainstream outlets. So it's clear who he's talking to. As usual, he's not talking to the entire country. He's talking
to his supporters. So I think it's going to be interesting to see clearly what that speech at the Kennedy Center shows or now the Trump Kennedy
Center, as Trump has renamed it after himself.
What it shows is the Republican problem here. He's having a great time. But what a lot of those Republican lawmakers wanted to do was to go there today
to hear how the president is going to address the key issue of the election, which is not Venezuela.
It's the increasing anger among many Americans, including Americans in the middle that decide elections in the United States, about the high cost of
living, housing, grocery prices, increasing fears about job losses. We're seeing a lot of anxiety about the impact of artificial intelligence. Trump
doesn't have a midterm message on that issue.
Those are the things that are probably going to decide the midterm elections. And that is why we keep talking about whether this -- while, you
know, clearly being something that Trump wants to do for his own persona and legacy, his adventures in the Western Hemisphere, whether ultimately
that could be politically self-defeating at home.
ANDERSON: I mean this is existential stuff for a lot of men and women in that room, who may not make it through these '26 elections.
Can I just ask you what's Donald Trump's attitude toward Congress at this point?
Has he -- has he done what he needs with Congress?
Does he care at this point?
COLLINSON: Well, that was a very interesting comment that he made before Christmas. In one of his speeches in Pennsylvania, he said, we don't need
Congress. And often Trump says the truth out loud.
He's passed his big, beautiful bill, which is essentially a massive tax cut. That was passed. You know, some people didn't think that could pass
because of the very narrow majorities.
There's no Republican agenda for the next year. Subsidies for the ObamaCare health premium are suddenly shooting up. Well, the premiums are shooting up
because the subsidies have expired. Millions of Americans are going to see their health care go up. There is no answer from the White House on that or
from the Republicans.
So it's really hard. What Trump, I think wants Republicans to do is to run on the fact that he's closed down the southern border, that he says he's
restored respect for the United States in the world, that he's brought all this money in, in tariffs, even though those tariffs are pushing prices up
increasingly for consumer goods.
That's a backward-looking message. And it makes it a lot easier for Democratic Party, which has had its own troubles in finding a way to talk
to American people convincingly about the issues they care about, for them to just say, well, this is a president who just cares about invading
foreign countries and he doesn't care about you.
ANDERSON: Understood.
Nic, just want to get back to the kind of, you know, the international diplomacy here, post this weekend in intervention in Venezuela and the
seizing of the president there.
What are President Putin's calculations in all of this as Europeans meet with Witkoff and Kushner for Ukraine peace talks as we speak, by the way,
in Paris?
ROBERTSON: Yes, I mean, look, if we just listen to what the Russian ambassador said at the U.N. yesterday.
[10:45:02]
Very critical of the capture of Maduro. If you look at what happened when vice president Rodriguez was sworn in last night in Caracas, among the
first to greet her were the Russian ambassador, the Chinese ambassador and the Iranian ambassador.
So you know, if you're really wanting to control Venezuela and what it does, not just economically but its relations, its posture and position in
the world and the way that its friends and allies think about it, that doesn't seem to be disruptive.
Its allies are still there, standing by it. And so I think the question then becomes president Trump is the Monroe Doctrine, the Monroe Doctrine of
the 21st century, almost 200 years later. It's not about European colonialism around the world now.
It's about his view of spheres of influence and his stamping the U.S. position on the Western Hemisphere.
But it begs that question now, you know, for example, today, when you see South Korean leader going to talk to the Chinese leader, and you understand
how they how that relationship develops, you can see South Korea, an ally of the United States, eyeing president Trump, setting himself up for the
guardian of the Western Hemisphere.
But where does that leave the East?
And it perhaps leaves the allies in the East feeling more exposed and therefore needing to seek better relationships with the big power out in
the East. That's China.
How does China view this?
China view views it as well. Trump is making it clear we can exert our influence where we want to, because that's the new Donroe Doctrine.
What does Putin think?
Putin looks at Trump's Western Hemisphere and says, well, where's the boundary for that hemisphere in, you know, coming back toward Russia in the
east?
Where does it lie?
Well, Trump's making it pretty clear it doesn't lie, including Ukraine.
But where does it lie in Europe?
Does it lie including the Baltic states?
Is Finland out of it or into it?
The claim over Greenland is only going to exacerbate that. So I think, you know, from a Putin perspective, you're now looking at Trump declaring a
type of world order, a type of spheres of interest.
They can now look to work out where the boundaries of those spheres of interest are. I think the one thing I would add about what we heard from
president Trump there is about the need to ramp up arms production in the United States.
It's the same in Europe as well. Look, very big picture, when the world builds up big arsenals of weapons in a febrile democratic or collapsing
democratic environment, it should be -- it is troubling to many, particularly democratic world leaders.
ANDERSON: Good to have you both, Nic, Steven, thank you for standing by, as we've been discussing, the brazen capture of Nicolas Maduro is changing
the dynamics.
And thank you, Paula. Sorry, I didn't realize you were still there.
Changing the dynamics of international politics before our eyes, when we come back, a look at how Iran's position is impacted given president
Trump's renewed threats. That is up next.
(MUSIC PLAYING)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(MUSIC PLAYING)
ANDERSON: Well, Iran is facing renewed threats from the U.S. president over its handling of protests, which are across the country. Mr. Trump says
the Iranian government could get hit hard if it starts killing people on the streets.
[10:50:00]
The demonstrations were this time set off by a cost of living crisis. Iranian president Masoud Pezeshkian has offered to mediate. But we are
still seeing scenes like this shared widely on social media. That's people running for cover as gunfire erupts.
I'm joined now by Mohammad Ali Shabani. He's editor of Amwaj.media, a digital platform that focuses on Iran as well as Iraq and the Gulf, regular
guest on this show.
Let's just start with where we believe these protests are currently and how widespread.
MOHAMMAD ALI SHABANI, EDITOR, AMWAJ.MEDIA: So Becky, I think, geographically, they are nationwide. And we're seeing the involvement of
shopkeepers and traders, merchants, students and a lot of working class people outside the capital in Tehran.
We've seen a lot of violence, particularly in the southwest of the country, and also the involvement of weapons, not just on the part of the
authorities but also imagery of some protesters being armed. So this is this has potential of getting worse.
But right now it seems contained compared to previous rounds of protests in 2022, 2009, et cetera.
ANDERSON: So Donald Trump has threatened to intervene in Iran twice now before and after the operation to address Maduro over the weekend.
How does that seizure, the seizure of the Venezuelan president, change the calculus, if at all, for Iran in the face of these threats to the regime by
the U.S. president?
SHABANI: That's a -- that's a really good question. I guess when Iran looks at Venezuela, the number one -- there are a number of (INAUDIBLE).
Number one is has Trump cut a deal with other members of the Venezuelan government?
So that's a big question mark that nobody's really answered.
So is there a question about Maduro having been taken out and his vice president, for instance, dealing with the United States?
And how could that look, Iran?
That's the question number one, I imagine. It's on the minds of many people in Tehran.
And number two is a look at how major powers such as Russia and China have reacted. So Iran and the United States went through a military conflict in
June. At that time, there was no Russian intervention, no Chinese intervention. So that's another thing they're kind of looking at.
And I think the third aspect from the Iranian perspective is how the Trump administration is characterizing the Venezuela operation right now. The
secretary of state, Rubio, has been speaking about a law enforcement operation, saying that's not a military operation.
So that has a -- has a bunch of legal consequences within the United States.
So for instance, do they need congressional approval or support for that kind of operation?
How does that look in the Iranian setting?
Would Congress need to be on board with an operation against Iran, for example?
ANDERSON: Right.
SHABANI: So there are a bunch of different legal, political issues. And I think in Iran, they're looking at the bigger picture.
ANDERSON: I've got two further questions for you and we've got about 2.5 minutes. Donald Trump told FOX News that Maduro tried to negotiate with the
Americans but that Donald Trump wouldn't do it. Let's play that clip for our viewers briefly.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
TRUMP: That's why, you know, he wanted to negotiate at the end and I didn't want to negotiate. I said, nope, we got to do it. You know, he was
trying to negotiate at the end. You probably saw that. And trying hard to make a deal.
And I said -- and, you know, this could have been a very foolish thing if it didn't work out. But I said, nope, we can't do it.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
ANDERSON: You wrote that this is music to the supreme leader's ears.
Why?
SHABANI: I think ayatollah Ali Khamenei all along has been saying that negotiating with the United States is absolutely pointless, that the U.S.
administration seeks nothing short of the total capitulation of Iran, particularly after the attacks in June.
But having said that, we also see Khamenei making efforts to distinguish between what he calls protesters and rioters, meaning that he wants to
avoid triggering the red lines for intervention that Trump has outlined. That's number one.
Number two, we're seeing some signs of the Iranians basically signaling that the United States is interested in negotiations. Now whether that's
going to actually result in a deal is a different question.
ANDERSON: The last question I have is a very simple one. For weeks, months now, there has been talk that Iran could be hit again. And certainly Donald
Trump is making these threats, you know.
Should the regime hurt or kill protesters, what's your sense of the calculus here?
[10:55:00]
I mean -- and from the perspective in Tehran, do they believe that they are under military threat any time soon?
SHABANI: We are receiving signals from Israel, for instance. They've had - - received one recently from Netanyahu by the Russians that there's no interest in escalation.
Having said that, after June, after the surprise attack, which took out most of the military command, key military sites, they're not taking any
chances. I think the military is on standby.
Just today, a few hours ago, they went out and even signaled a potential change in the military doctrine, meaning that they may take action, they
may attack if they sense a credible threat.
This is very different from before, when they would say, essentially, that they would only retaliate after coming under attack. So they're not taking
any chances. I think they're ready for an attack.
The question is, how long is such a conflict going to last?
Previously, we've seen these things last a few hours, a few days.
Is -- are we looking at something more dragged out, which would be the, I think, nightmare of Trump and also very problematic for Iran, much more
difficult to contain?
I think that's the key question.
ANDERSON: Fascinating. Good to have you. Always a pleasure, Mohammed. Thank you.
And that is the end of these two hours, CONNECT THE WORLD on CNN. But "ONE WORLD" is up next. So please stay with us. From the team working with me
here in Abu Dhabi and those working around the world, it is a very good evening.
END
